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

[maybe_a_king]

There's also the possibility it could be a pattern, but it would not happen in every month. We should not let our guard down if this does turn out to be a premeditated and not a, for lack of a better word, "fluke."

[otakuro]

[Atsuro frowns slightly at this thought.]

...So we're playing the Who Gets to Go Crazy Roulette, huh? That's a pain. At least if it were consistent, we'd all be ready for it instead of sitting around hoping that it's not going to happen.

[maybe_a_king]

Consistency would be much too convenient unless there was a greater purpose behind it. If the attacks are regular then that would mean someone is likely behind it, and if someone is then they would expect us to be prepared to do battle against these creatures.

[otakuro]

...

That's too logical. The designers of a game aren't clever enough to think of something like that.

[Siiigh. She was probably right, though.]

...Too bad this isn't a game. There must be something behind it - it might not be something we'd recognize as 'intelligent', but it's not some unlucky one-time thing, either.

[maybe_a_king]

I was thinking more along the lines of some sort of ritual would be involved if such were the case. A ritual in which we would be meant to defeat beings like that. It's not outside the realm of possibility at this point.

[otakuro]

A ritual?... I was thinking we could use some sort of ritual to uncurse the zodiac or something.

[Atsuro briefly considers this for a moment.]

So you're saying, someone wants us to defeat the monsters of the zodiac - when all twelve of them are gone, the city will be saved. Something along those lines?

[maybe_a_king]

I'm saying it's a possibility if it turns out they come every month. Even if they do and it is a ritual, it does not mean it would be for good. We do not know what would happen if there is a creature for each zodiac, but if they are all like this we likely won't have a choice in fighting them lest the city fall into ruins.

Unfortunately we don't have enough information for anything concrete. Not until another being such as this shows up. For all we know this could have been the only one.

[otakuro]

Even if they don't come out every month, you might still be right. I'll eat my hat if we don't see one of each eventually, even if it takes five years.

I wish I'd paid more attention when this kind of thing was popular back in school.

[maybe_a_king]

It was popular to summon monstrous mind-altering creatures to destroy the city on a monthly basis?

[otakuro]

Wha -- No, astrology!

...Actually, I guess a few games along those lines were pretty popular back in the day.

Wait until I have the time to app Elle in. she will be /on this/.

[maybe_a_king]

Oh. I apologize. [she may or may not sound a little disappointed.]

Perhaps there are magazines around to help on that front? I remember a number of girls in school looking through fashion magazines for their horoscopes and such.

[otakuro]

...[He can't possibly imagine why.]

Are trashy magazines really an academic source for this kind of thing...? I guess it can't hurt to check.

[maybe_a_king]

If you want an academic source there's always the library.

[otakuro]

Ten-to-one all it's got are trashy magazines and horoscopes.

[Sigh.]

I wish we had access to the Internet here.

[maybe_a_king]

You never know. From what I remember in school, astrology used to be seen as a serious academic art in ancient times. If nothing else, we'll likely find something out about that time period if we look.

[otakuro]

...Yeah. You're right. We could stand to learn more about the background of this city. For all we know, maybe they were totally devoted to astrology and used it to determine everything about their lives.

[maybe_a_king]

Or perhaps it might have something to do with the demon population? Or any number of things?

If such is the case, would you like to meet me at the library to look up both astrology and the history of Hinoto-Ri itself? We might also get more information on the man in the butterfly mask who brought us here if we go looking for it.

[otakuro]

Sure, sounds good to me.

I guess we've been slacking in doing our part to really understand all of this. We can't protect the city if we don't know anything about it.

[maybe_a_king]

To be fair, most people are not used to being displaced between worlds or thrown into such strange circumstances, myself included. Most people were likely focusing on trying to adapt before looking into the city itself.

[otakuro]

Aha, yeah... I'll cut us some slack. I was... mostly goofing off the first month, to be honest. It's been pretty stressful back home.

[maybe_a_king]

Is it exam time for you where you come from?

[otakuro]

...It definitely was some kind of test; let's call it that, sure.

[maybe_a_king]

Ah. Then I shall leave the matter alone. [Because it definitely sounds like he doesn't want to talk about it.]

[otakuro]

Hah, it's alright.

...I'll meet you by the library in a bit, then? Maybe in a half-hour?

[maybe_a_king]

I'll meet you there.

[Cue the log.]