002 [Video/Public]

[otakuro]

[The screen flickers on to a boy wearing an amused grin.]

Everyone!

I've got good news!  You're forgiven!  The angel I summoned said so himself; God would definitely forgive you in a heartbeat because man's heart is weak, as is his mind, and we're all, uh, susceptible to the workings of the Evil One, and even as we wallow in our filth and sin, we -- You know what, forget God; I forgive you.

Seriously, no one could possibly blame you for what happened last week even if some of us were lucky enough to be scorpion magnets.  Misery has it right - the important thing is to make sure that it doesn't happen again.  If you all missed the announcements from the higher-ups, the people who were affected most severely were Scorpios.  ...If you don't know what that means, in modern times on Earth - that's the 2000s - they were born when the Sun was in the sector of the sky dominated by the constellation Scorpio.  This makes no sense if you were born outside Earth or in a time when we didn't go in for ridiculous things like pretending arbitrary sky-pictures meant anything about our lives, but the important thing is that the sun transitions into Scorpio beginning on October 23rd.

Guess what last week was.

The next sign is Sagittarius.  The sun will shift into its sector on November 22nd.

So let's clear a few things out of the way - Everyone who was afraid, can you report in with your sign?  Same thing if you were a scorpion magnet, though maybe that's more of a subjective thing.  And everyone who's a Sagittarius, do you mind if we tie you to your beds from November, oh, 18th-ish to the 23rd?  Your choices are (Yes/Of course/Definitely).  If your name is Jun, (That's kinda kinky) works, too.  If you don't know your sign, Sagittarius goes from late November into late December - so the end of a harvest season into winter in the Northern hemisphere, and the end of spring into summer in the South.

I'll keep track of the data.  It's kinda my thing.

Oh -- this has nothing to do with anything, but I'm working in the computer labs of the university now.  Drop by if you ever need anything fixed or if you just want to say hi.

Comments

[greyerrant]

The dread sagittarius, the constellation associated with my gene father.

Ominous.

[otakuro]

[Atsuro almost visibly flinches.]

Eeeeehhhhhhhhhhhh.....gh.

[He looks slightly disheartened. Just a little bit.]

I can't believe they still have astrology in the year 40 zillion. What if we... sealed you in concrete?

[a_pirate_meant_to_be]

Hang on, I'm a Leo! I though lions were supposed to be all brave and stuff!

[otakuro]

I'm a Capricorn and you really don't want to see me in a swimsuit.

I don't think the intended meaning of the sign has anything to do with what happened - unless it's God telling us that all Scorpios are secretly psychopaths which might actually be true who knows.

Video

[all_wound_up]

[Thankfully, her sign is helpfully printed on her ID card.]

I'm a Leo. And thank you again for helping me last week.

[otakuro]

Ah, it wasn't a problem!

[Atsuro blushes slightly.]

I'm just glad everyone made it through OK. We didn't have any casualties or anything, right?

It looks like you're the second Leo... It's probably time to check if there's any relationship between all of this constellation stuff.

[voice]

[greatseal]

I'm a Gemini and I wasn't affected at all, if that helps your data. Neither was my brother.

I do know someone who was afraid, but I'm actually not sure what his sign is. [It's probably a good time to wheedle birthdays out of everyone she knows...]

[otakuro]

Thanks, Minako. It's looking like it's Leos and maybe Aquariuses who were afraid.

...I don't suppose you know any more about the Zodiac than I do? This stuff about Mars and Venus and being a 'cardinal modality' is like trying to slog through the Tale of Genji.

[whereibelong]

[Xion meanwhile lives in a universe where there are many different worlds. Even if they share the same sky. One sky, one destiny. And she's... never heard of being born constellations.]

Wait, so...

[... She's trying to puzzle through that but...]

You're right, that doesn't make any sense to me.

Um... I had a friend of mine who was afraid but... I don't know any of these signs or anything, though... I guess they have to do with birthdays? [On that note, she doesn't know Aqua's birthday either]

I was okay though.

[otakuro]

Yeah. If you're not from Earth, it doesn't make any sense at all - you can't have the constellations in the same position on a different planet.

I mean, astrology doesn't make much sense in the first place, but...

text

[putonagoodshow]

For one, thank you for taking initiative to do this, as I haven't been able to.

Secondly, I am a Cancer, and given I nearly had an eye taken out, I would say I was one of those being swarmed. It might be better to ask for the other Seven's details from my sister, I'm still not at 100%.

[By which he means he got a lot of punctures from damn stupid scorpions and is still on forced bedrest for fear Reiko will kill him if he moves an inch]

[otakuro]

Thanks, Ideo. Hey, maybe it was 'astrological signs that start with C' - I'm a Capricorn.

[Clearly the mystery is solved.]

There was one guy among you who was afraid, right? Going on about doom... Anyway, I can ask around later. How're you feeling now? Do you need anything?

[destinedwaters]

Hm... I think my card said Aquarius? Though, I'm not exactly certain what all the astrology signs mean.

[Guess who is going to the library now that she knows what subject to look up...]

[otakuro]

And so... you were afraid? If our guess about the Zodiac connection is right, it looks like the signs afflicted by the fear were Leo and Aquarius.

And don't worry about it. I don't, either.

anonymous text;

[handshakegreeting]

I applaud you for taking the initiative in attempting to figure out why exactly it affected those it had. It's impressive to see someone so young attempt to do so.

To answer your inquiry, however:

I am a Capricorn by your standards. While I was not afflicted by fear, I was indeed targeted by the scorpions. I also noticed a slight increase in power for Scorpios and those like myself, however minute it was.

[otakuro]

[From this, Atsuro gathers that whoever is texting is pretty old.]

Thanks! Yeah, that was my sign, too.

[He refrains from making any jokes about compatibility.]

I don't know if I noticed any increase in power... But I did pull off a skill I didn't know my Persona could use. It was a little unexpected.

[Video]

[not_that_sasuke]

Capricorn. I was getting swarmed, too.

[otakuro]

Looks like there were a few of us. I think that's enough of a sample size to make a preliminary report - Capricorns drew the short straw this time around. ...Short-ish straw.

[video]

[electricyousei]

I believe I'm a Cancer. The zodiac isn't an area that was deemed worthy of study when I was learning and it just seemed something silly the women of the crew obsessed over when I was out of it.

That being said, other than being swarmed by scorpions I was fine, and honestly, most of them were deflected by distortion fields.

Also if you need a mainframe to store your data on, I have access to a rather sizable amount of computing power.

[otakuro]

[Ouch. Harsh judgment there. Atsuro is inclined to agree about the scholastic merit of astrology, though.]

That's Cancers and Capricorns who were swarmed, then.

And, uh, thanks for the offer, but I'm just tallying astrological signs here. It's not exactly processor-intensive.

[Videos]

[pastalishe]

What on earth are you babbling about? Angels? Gods? Forgiveness? I hardly see how that relates to happened last week. If you're asking for personal information, you shouldn't hedge it with such nonsense.

My world doesn't follow the calendar you're referencing. However, by referring to my ID card, I can see that my natural birthday falls underneath the sign you call "Leo." [... ... and she was a complete paranoid mess during the event! But, details.]

[otakuro]

I-It was a joke. I thought I would lighten the mood. You know. Everyone going on about how sorry -- ... never mind.

[the trials and tribulations of trying to be funny]

Leo, huh?

[This person seems to require careful handling...]

So going by the reports coming in, I'm guessing you were terrified?

[Atsuro is not good with careful handling.]

[demifemme]

I don't want your stupid angel-based salvation, they're nothing but murderers.

Also you may absolutely not tie me to anything.

[otakuro]

It's... a joke. I didn't even talk to... Never mind. No one here has a sense of humor.

Look, that aside, this is pretty serious. If you're a Sagittarius, we need to do something so you don't start going after us with demon centaurs next month. Obviously, no one's getting tied up, but we can't just sit back and hope nothing's going to happen, either.

[ihaveanannouncement]

[Well then, guess she'll need to break out the fortune-telling books again. But this time, it'll be for a different purpose.]

I'm a Libra. Um, the phenomenon didn't affect me, so I guess the same goes for other Libras.

[otakuro]

It's just a theory right now, still, so I might be wrong. Maybe people who were afraid lived within ten feet from a Scorpio or something.

It does look like there's a pattern forming, though.

[theothermist]

[Welp.]

... I'll see if barricading myself into my room will work.

[otakuro]

N-No, don't do that; I'm joking. We've still got a month to figure this out! ...Tin-foil hats! Someone recommended tin-foil hats.

[video]

[belfire]

Wha- are you saying I'm gonna flip out and turn into a psycho next month?!

[otakuro]

...Crap. I forgot your birthday was coming up!

[Worst best friend ever.]

Uh, I mean, yeah, that's probably not a good thing. Geez. ...Naoya was a Scorpio, though, right? That turned out OK...

[text]

[drakenguard]

This data is extremely interesting. Astrology Signs have been used in history for multiple rituals regarding demonic summoning, but never have I heard of them causing people to undergo severe personality changes.

[Perhaps someone had been meddling in magic? Cursing those of a certain astrology sign and those with an affinity for them...?]

[otakuro]

That... makes sense. I hadn't thought about it in that context, but I think some of the old European ideas on demons connected them to specific astrological signs and dates.

I'm not sure how that connects to what happens, though. It's not like all of us are demon summoners, or even most of us.

[plunderbunny]

I'm a Libra and I felt perfectly fine all last week. Still do, in fact.

[She doesn't sound terribly concerned, probably because if this is a monthly thing, her turn isn't up for almost another year. Plenty of time to figure this out, right?]

There must be a better way of dealing with those affected then tying them up so they can't cause trouble. An antidote or a counterspell of some kind.

[otakuro]

Yeah, I wasn't seriously suggesting that - but it'd be good for them to check in so we know who to be on the lookout for in November, anyway.

We can't devise a countermeasure until we know what we're countering in the first place. It's all pretty... fuzzy right now.

[Voice]

[themortalhalf]

We don't need a sermon.

[There's a brief pause before he speaks again.]

But Leo. Maybe Taurus.

[He'd have to check with Mitsuru later to confirm. But things added up. When shit goes down, she's often the first person you'd hear from—taking charge like she had always been on top of things. And she hadn't said a word that he knows of. That wasn't like her.]

[otakuro]

I can probably figure it out for you - were you totally petrified last week when all of this happened?

Video

[echo_of_a_jedi]

What if we're from an entirely different galaxy and have never heard of Earth before coming here? Why would we still be affected?

Re: Video

[otakuro]

Yeah, you're one of the people I was thinking about specifically.

It doesn't make sense - from a different planet, the position of the sun wouldn't align with the right constellations. ...Actually, you wouldn't even have the same sun.

It might be like the demons. It could be more convenient to take a construct that we've crafted for ourselves and hijack it for a different purpose. Since most of us are from Earth in the 1900s or so, the Western zodiac is an easy template to base a series of attacks off of. It makes it seem more mysterious and spooky or something.

Slotting everyone from outside Earth into the template would be pretty arbitrary - you wouldn't have the same seasons or the same days in a year, so you'd have to map it out pretty roughly. But I guess every planet should have a parallel that's close enough. So if you were born in a time when whatever foliage you have is coming into bloom, that might be equivalent to our spring, even if your foliage is like, arctic man-eating killer plants or something. So we could put you under Pisces or Aries.

[maybe_a_king]

I believe I'm an Aquarius. Is everyone sure something similar will happen next month?

[otakuro]

...No, not really.

To be fair, nothing happened last month. But if it's going to start becoming a pattern, it's better to be prepared, I think. You can all yell at me if we go through November without any problems.

Text

[ineedthemforanalyzing]

According to however the people who hand out these cards determine it for people who don't know their birthdays, I am a Virgo. I guess that fits, from what little I know about astology...

[otakuro]

[............Atsuro refrains from commenting on how everyone belong the age of 17 would probably be Virgo.]

I actually don't know much about how personality traits and that sort of thing are involved. Thanks, though - and you didn't suffer any weird effects last week, right?

[autofocus]

... Scorpio.

....... Sorry.

[And he was being sincere about this, for once his eyes having a slight hint of regrets in his own actions.]

[otakuro]

Ahaha... I said that you're forgiven, right? It's fine - but hey, it will be a whole year before it might happen again, so you can relax now, right?

[cowardlyjustice]

Never afraid of these things, but I'll tell 'ya this, a straight up Capricorn that's also the best thing that ever happened during the beginning of every year.

Do I get a new year's birthday kiss soon instead?

[otakuro]

...
...
...

I... Did I just go from collecting astrological signs to being hit on? Why are the only people who flirt with me guys........?

[akihisaful]

Yeah, I know I get caught off guard with happenings a lot, but something like this is something I'd like to avoid forever.

I'm a... Libra, I think? I was never too keen on horoscopes back in my home world, so I'm not sure. I'm born in October 18th.

...Which was this month! Whoa, I completely forgot about my own birthday, haha!

[otakuro]

Looks like you lucked out - that's barely half a week away from Scorpio.

Uh. Happy belated birthday, though! ...We should take everyone out for a group celebration or something.

text;

[meaningdies]

[Ow, Atsuro. Not funny at all.]

Good to hear that you've gotten a job.

And that was an interesting way to spend a birthday.

[Not horrible, but. Yeah. He'd have preferred to be under his own control.]

[otakuro]

Oh... Thanks! And... yeah. It's pretty sobering to know that it happened to you.

[Somehow, Naoya had become something above this kind of thing. On the level of an angel or a demon.]

Kazuya's Sagittarius. ...If this happens again next month...