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Daitou knelt in seiza on the floor of his small Section 1 apartment. The cat was locked outside, for now - not his usual habit, but he didn’t want to be interrupted in the middle of this. He took the little black silk pouch out from the front of his kimono - he’d been keeping it close over the last few days, until he had a nice long break to sit down with whatever Locke’s mysterious gift was. He pulled the drawstring open - ‘simply let it fall onto your hand’, he had said, but Daitu tipped the bag out into the floor instead. He wasn’t to keen on the idea of surprises. A single item dropped out of the bag, clattering onto the hard wood floor. It was a small, pale crystal, seemingly glowing with it’s own light. A metal ring surrounded it, like a setting on a gemstone. It looked like... a memory crystal, actually, from the descriptions he’d been given. Carefully, he reached out and brushed the ring with his finger tips - nothing but cold metal. He picked it up by ring, taking a closer look at it - but he couldn’t see anything that stood out to him. He reached up with his other hand to touch the crystal in the center of the ring with one finger.
The walls of the apartment vanished to be replaced by an open courtyard - familiar in a way none of the places he’d visited had been. He tried to turn, look around - and discovered he couldn’t. It was a disconcerting feeling - along with the realization that he couldn’t feel anything around him. “It isn’t your fault. He was unlucky. That’s all there is to it.” His voice, but he had made no action to speak. A footstep, and an angry voice behind him - male, young. Maybe not much older than Thalassa. “‘That’s all there is to it’?! You ended his life! ‘That’s all’?” Another step, and the boy continued, voice getting shakier. “Aren’t Choujin people? Someone’s child? Someone’s father?” There was a sort of desperate plea in there, to have his words and ideals validated.
Daitou turned, finally able to see the other person - a boy for certain, small and red-haired. He looked on the verge of tears. His own voice was deadly calm, almost emotionless as he replied. “Yes, but... I am not a person. I am no one’s child. Because I am a demon’s child.” There was shock at the boy’s face at that, and his hands shoke though the anger did not fade - his words alone weren’t enough to puncture those ideals.
He rose - or rather, the body that he was currently passenger in rose - taking a step up on toporch he’d been seated on. “Tetsu-kun.” The boy, most likely. “There is something I must teach you.” He pulled a folded piece of paper out of the front of his kimono, handing it to the redhead. “The laws of the Shinsengumi.” That word felt...important, somehow. “ - came up with this. Truly, they are laws for demons!” It sounded like he had missed something there - a name? “This is the ultimate governor of the Shinsengumi.” As he stood behind the boy, he could read the words written in neat calligraphy, flowing down the page. Disobeying the samurai code in any way. Leaving the Shinsengumi. Raising private funds. Engaging in private litigation. Engaging in private fights.
“Any Shinsengumi who commits any of the above trespasses will commit ritual suicide.”
With that, Daitou was abruptly thrown back into his own body, able to feel again, able to turn his head to glance around the apartment. The ring was still gripped between his two fingers, but the shine had gone out of the crystal. Used up, he supposed. He rose, a little shakily - there had been a lot to process there - and tucked the crystal into his clothes chest, before unlocking the door and letting a less than happy Prestidigitation back inside. Codes, laws... ‘Shinsengumi’. He had killed someone, it seemed - though that only confirmed what he had suspected from his dream, from the tattoos he’d been given. ‘Murderer’. They had spoken the truth. He would have to think on all this for a while.
From Shinsengumi Imon Peacemaker, Vol 2 pgs 25-29
The walls of the apartment vanished to be replaced by an open courtyard - familiar in a way none of the places he’d visited had been. He tried to turn, look around - and discovered he couldn’t. It was a disconcerting feeling - along with the realization that he couldn’t feel anything around him. “It isn’t your fault. He was unlucky. That’s all there is to it.” His voice, but he had made no action to speak. A footstep, and an angry voice behind him - male, young. Maybe not much older than Thalassa. “‘That’s all there is to it’?! You ended his life! ‘That’s all’?” Another step, and the boy continued, voice getting shakier. “Aren’t Choujin people? Someone’s child? Someone’s father?” There was a sort of desperate plea in there, to have his words and ideals validated.
Daitou turned, finally able to see the other person - a boy for certain, small and red-haired. He looked on the verge of tears. His own voice was deadly calm, almost emotionless as he replied. “Yes, but... I am not a person. I am no one’s child. Because I am a demon’s child.” There was shock at the boy’s face at that, and his hands shoke though the anger did not fade - his words alone weren’t enough to puncture those ideals.
He rose - or rather, the body that he was currently passenger in rose - taking a step up on toporch he’d been seated on. “Tetsu-kun.” The boy, most likely. “There is something I must teach you.” He pulled a folded piece of paper out of the front of his kimono, handing it to the redhead. “The laws of the Shinsengumi.” That word felt...important, somehow. “ - came up with this. Truly, they are laws for demons!” It sounded like he had missed something there - a name? “This is the ultimate governor of the Shinsengumi.” As he stood behind the boy, he could read the words written in neat calligraphy, flowing down the page. Disobeying the samurai code in any way. Leaving the Shinsengumi. Raising private funds. Engaging in private litigation. Engaging in private fights.
“Any Shinsengumi who commits any of the above trespasses will commit ritual suicide.”
With that, Daitou was abruptly thrown back into his own body, able to feel again, able to turn his head to glance around the apartment. The ring was still gripped between his two fingers, but the shine had gone out of the crystal. Used up, he supposed. He rose, a little shakily - there had been a lot to process there - and tucked the crystal into his clothes chest, before unlocking the door and letting a less than happy Prestidigitation back inside. Codes, laws... ‘Shinsengumi’. He had killed someone, it seemed - though that only confirmed what he had suspected from his dream, from the tattoos he’d been given. ‘Murderer’. They had spoken the truth. He would have to think on all this for a while.
From Shinsengumi Imon Peacemaker, Vol 2 pgs 25-29
