deernet | video; un: lookingforshinsengumi

Entry tags:

video; un: lookingforshinsengumi

U-Um..

[ When the video starts, the girl visible looks clearly shaken up. She's looking a little pale, but it mostly seems to be since she's scared - since it matches the way her eyes look wider than usually, and the way she's breathing a little hard, like she's been running around for a while now. There's even some drops of sweat at her temples because of it. ]

I'm sorry to bother everyone. [ Despite her state, it's like she somehow can't help but mutter those words first, even offering a faintly apologetic bow of her head before she quickly glances around her and then speaks on. ] But, I-- I.. think I'm in danger, and I don't know what to do about it..

[ A valid reason to ask a question on here, one might say, and yet Chizuru seems so awkward about it all the same. ]

The other day I started seeing ghosts here around town. Um, ghosts I.. I recognize. I'm not sure if they're ghosts, but I can't imagine what else they'd be.. [ Because it's clearly not those people actually being there. ] At first it was just me seeing them and nothing else, but now every time I see one, they rush towards me to try and attack me. It's..

[ She hesitates, but then admits, helplessly, stammering-- ]

It's scary. It's really scary.. Has anyone else experienced this? Or.. what should I do..? I really don't know..

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ .. species, huh. ]

Um, if you don't mind me asking..

[ Since Chizuru knows it can be invasive. Hence why she wants to make sure he doesn't feel like he has to answer, despite apparently being pretty forward about the whole 'different species' thing. ]

What exactly is your species called? I-- I mean.. A lot of people look so human here. You do too. [ And while Chizuru knows that being non-human doesn't always instantly show up on the outside, it still made her feel like a lot of people here were human. Michael included, until now. ]

Oh, I'm a demon.

[Totally caj!]

Oh.

[ Pause. ]

.. Oh!

[ See, back home the few demons Chizuru met were.. pretty open about what they were too, so the casualness he uses to say this isn't too much of a surprise to her as much as the fact that he is a demon is. That's what makes her eyes widen. And since she's used to the demons back home being able to tell she's one too, she immediately blurts out in surprise: ]

M-Me too!

[ Though he's definitely the first demon she's seen who can do all this stuff. ]

I.. didn't know there were others here...

Oh! [.....] Really?

[It's very little to do with appearance, of course. Demons look like all sorts of things back home, and Michael's long since gotten used to how bad his vision is around here. But she doesn't seem to act particularly demon-y.]

[ There's definitely no offense taken on Chizuru's part at Michael seeming so surprised by it. Chizuru knows that she doesn't seem quite as.. tough as most others do. (Even though that's her making the wrong assumption entirely, going by the kind of demons she knows.)

Though it does make her realise he had no idea she was a demon. Are otherworldly demons unable to sense that?! Did she just screw up. It makes her pause for the faintest moment before she answers. ]

Um.. Yes, really. I know I don't very much look like it, but I only found out about it myself a little while before I showed up here..

[ You know, like you can just somehow not know you're a demon. The girl doesn't look like she's lying about it in any way though. ]

...how did you not already know that?

[Michael knows, of course, that demons in other worlds don't work like they do in his. But he's never run into any where demonhood itself was just like...a surprise you get one day.]

I grew up between humans..

[ It's not like she quite knows what being a demon is like where Michael comes from, so the only thing she can do here is try to explain it in terms that make sense when it comes to her world.

Even though she's aware it might not be the case in his. ]

And my father, he.. never told me we were demons. He just raised me as if I was a human, so I didn't have any idea until I met other demons who recognized me as one of them..

Oh - so you were a child, at one point.

[Michael's well aware he's been childish; a lot of immortals are, he thinks. Maybe because they never actually were children, and therefore were never expected to grow out of their behavior? Anyway...]

That's weird. We're really not mistakeable for humans - and we don't reproduce or have families, anyway. We've always been as we are, physically and mentally.

[ .. wait.

He.. wasn't a child? That's more confusing to Chizuru, and it shows on the girl's face. She's even quiet, like she needs a moment to properly process the idea of Michael just.. starting to exist like this at one point. White hair and all. ]

Maybe that means the demons where you come from and where I come from are different..? [ After all, the capacity to be born or give birth is a rather large difference. It's hard to overlook. ] Demons definitely reproduce where I come from. It's actually a pretty big problem, since there aren't many female demons left..

[ If only they had figured out the secret behind just existing. It sure would have made things a lot easier.

Even though it also makes things confusing, since Chizuru's mind is still a little confused about the whole 'just always having existed' thing. ]

[Michael grimaces in reflexive disgust at, you know, the entire concept of reproduction. But all he says is:]

Must be. I've run into demons from others worlds here before, and none of them were a lot like I am. Not too much like you either, I think...is there some kind of god aspect to all of this...?

[Like, God is involved, he means]

[ That question seems to make the girl think for a moment, but then she slowly shakes her head.

It's not exactly a certain shake, though. ]

Not that I know of. But.. I also don't know a whole lot about demons. [ Ironically enough, despite being one. It's what happens when you believe them to not exist your entire life until you suddenly find out you are one... ] But I've never even heard any of the others mention anything about a god.

I think it's just that we're.. um, like a different species compared to humans..

[ It feels weird to say it that way, but it's the best way to convey the core of what a demon is where she comes from, she thinks. ]

Just like how humans and animals are different from each other, I guess. Though it'd be a little much to compare demons to animals..

Oh, that's where you were going with the animal comparison?

[Michael would have gone in the other direction! Most especially in the old days, although now he's got the decency not to say it!]

Well, yes, that's basically what we are too. Just another species. Same thing with angels and other immortal types.

.. huh?

[ It seems that Chizuru doesn't seem to get it for a moment, but then her jaw drops as the realisation how that must've come across sets in. ]

A-Ah--! I.. I mean, that's how the humans see it..!

[ She quickly shakes her head. It's not even that Chizuru is lying, that is how it is in her world, but she can't help but feel overly apologetic all the same. ]

I didn't mean to say anything about you with it..! I-I mean, I think you seem like an amazing demon! You have that wise and dignified look about you..!

Ah, thank you!

[Michael grins, somewhat amused by her discomfort! And also realizing he shouldn't be, so:]

I think people from my world would see it the other way around. The immortals there, at least.

Really..? [ Chizuru thinks of Kazama.

.. well, she guesses that means she could think of at least one person who also sees it the other way around.. ]

What are demons like where you come from then..? Are they very much like you? [ That wouldn't be so bad, she thinks.

Michael seems very kind. ]

Mmm...no, not really. Not anymore.

[Michael never exactly fit in with demon society, generally. A little too hard-working, a little too earnest, and far too ambitious in not-quite-right directions. But back in the day, he was still fairly representative in all the ways that really mattered. Now? God, he hopes not.]

Demons are dicks. They like hurting people for fun, and they're the worst.

[ Wow. Rather direct there, Michael.

On the other hand, Chizuru doesn't necessarily think he's wrong.. but she likes to think that the kind of demons he's describing are the outliers, rather than the standard. After all, that's mostly just Kazama..

.. and maybe Shiranui too..

Maybe Michael is right after all. ]

But neither of us like hurting people!

[ Maybe they will just have to be the ones to buck the trend.

Though after a moment she adds a slightly more hesitant: ]

R-Right?

No, but I don't know if that's innate.

[In fact, he knows for certain it isn't innate in himself. He did like hurting people, once upon a time. He liked it enough to make a career of it, and then he did it so much he got bored.]

But we're sapient beings with free will. It's only natural that some of us would make other choices.

[ Well, at least it's a relief that Michael over here doesn't like hurting people, considering he seems very much capable of pulling out powers Chizuru herself could only ever dream of. Though she's not sure if she likes the idea of the desire to hurt people being innate for most demons..

It's just a little bit too sad. The fact that Chizuru thinks that clearly shows up on her face too, since her expression drops. ]

I wonder if that's why humans hate us so much where I come from. Even those of us who never even were in contact with them in the first place..

[ Judging many by the actions of a few. ]

Could be. It’s a reasonable self-preservation instinct...humans don't really know for sure that we really exist, in my world, but plenty of them are scared of us anyway.

.. really?

[ Nowadays not a lot of people know that demons exist in Chizuru's world either.. But at the same time, because of that, it also seems that only people who truly know they exist are scared in the first place.

It's why she blinks, slowly, before asking: ]

Why would they be scared of something that they think isn't even real..? [ That would mean it can't hurt you, after all. And she doubts Michael is just talking about little kids who are afraid of the dark and what could lurk in it. ]

They don't know, but they do believe it. It's a religion thing.

[Which is nearly the same thing as little kids scared of the dark, in Michael's mind, but nevermind that.]

Most of what they believe about us is wrong. We don't do anything to anyone who's still alive. But we make a good scapegoat for pretty much anything.

[ The idea of the beliefs in demons being part of a religion thing is.. pretty strange to Chizuru. It's not like she knows nothing about religion whatsoever, but it's hard to fit demons into the kind of religion she's used to seeing, rather than it being a part of general folklore at best..

She shifts a little uncomfortably as she thinks about it. ]

At least I guess they did have a pretty good reason to be afraid of them, if most demons where you come from are a lot meaner and scarier than you are.. Even though those humans don't even know that's the case.

[ Maybe those stories in religion are based on something, even if they aren't fully right. ]

Yeah, it was fair enough. Probably had some prophets back in the day with some idea of it all...oh, not real prophets. Sometimes when humans have a near-death experience, or an out-of-body one, if things line up just right they can get brief glimpses of our plane.

[You know, as you do.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

video; un: lookingforshinsengumi

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject