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

[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.

[not_that_sasuke]

Do we have any idea why?

[otakuro]

Um...

We share every letter of Scorpio except for the S unless you pluralize it? Sea-goats and scorpions are natural enemies? Or the gods thought it would be amusing?

[not_that_sasuke]

[You could just say if you don't know...]

So as far as we know, it's probably just chance then?

[otakuro]

Ah... I'm working on it.

I doubt it's entirely random. There's gotta be a pattern...!

[not_that_sasuke]

...If it's linked to astrological signs, we should probably pay more attention to the stories behind each one. If we're going to find hints on what will come next, that's probably our best bet.

[He never really paid them much mind before, but now that things have come to this... he'll have to do some research.]

[otakuro]

The stories behind the constellations? They're mostly based on Greek mythology and that kind of thing, right? I know Gemini is supposed to be Castor and Pollux...

[Atsuro trails off for a few moments.]

You know, whatever the story behind Scorpio is, I don't think it involves ten-breasted, thousand-eye monstrosities.

[not_that_sasuke]

...A what?

[otakuro]

Yup.

Maybe it was in an appendix somewhere.

[not_that_sasuke]

...

[Well then. Yeah, there's basically no way to make even the thought (and it's not a very welcome one at that) any less... bizarre. But he does manage to keep his expression mostly composed at the very least.]

I definitely haven't heard of any stories about anything like... that. But I haven't read that much about astrological signs, either.

[otakuro]

I don't think they'd put this kind of thing into the books even if it were accurate.

Anyway, I was just making a joke. There's probably not much connection between that thing and whatever the constellation of Scorpio is about.

[not_that_sasuke]

Even if it's not completely accurate, I'd be interested in seeing if anything else lines up. If we can narrow things down even a little, it could help us out a lot in just preparations.

[otakuro]

Of course! I'll check it out.

I can tell you now, I won't be at all surprised if the Gemini monster ends up making evil clones of all of us.

[not_that_sasuke]

...I really hope not.

[Yusuke was bad enough.]

[otakuro]

It's bound to happen. Read any story about Geminis and evil twins are involved somewhere.

[not_that_sasuke]

One brother is already more than enough.

[But he's quick to continue:]

Rather than that, shouldn't we worry about the next sign? Sagittarius, wasn't it?

[otakuro]

Right.

I'll keep a lookout for evil centaurs. Where do you think centaurs live -- up in the mountains?

[not_that_sasuke]

I'm not that knowledgeable when it comes to myths. Forests, maybe?

[otakuro]

Ahaha, I'm just joking! It'll probably just appear out of thin air, if anything.

....OK, I'm gonna go see if I can find anything now. I'll talk to you later.

-- Oh. My name is Atsuro, by the way.

[not_that_sasuke]

Good luck.

My name is Sasuke.

[otakuro]

It's nice to meet you! Let me know if you think of anything else, OK?

[not_that_sasuke]

[A nod.]

I'll do that.