Bits and pieces of Mokuzai were still dripping off the wall and floating about in the zero gravity environment that was the old First Mind temple when Rei finally made her way over towards what was left of the old Prill. Suraisu-Oni was devoured, and Asamu-Oni as well. Asamu-Oni's mana tasted faintly of decay, but in a way that Rei associated more with grilled mushrooms than with any kind of putrescence. Suraisu-Oni, on the other hand, tasted more like gears and grease and pistons. Smoky, maybe. Rei could still feel the fire of the mana her other self had gathered, burning in her chest.
It tickled a little bit.
... When had she started thinking of Amaterasu as her other self? They'd only been joined for a little while now. It seemed strange to her that she would think that about the little girl, eagle, or whatever she was. Kyo-TeeShee. My Kyo-TeeShee and Me. Heehee. Rei tried not to giggle out l0ud, since she thought it wouldn't be appropriate with Mokuzai all in bits and pieces floating around the room and on the wall.
High Dive had made a little pile of bloodied ground meaty bits in a corner, and it wasn't funny at all. Not even a little bit. Well, maybe a little. Especially the shock in Suraisu-Oni's face as she had leapt onto him and begun to devour his spicy anti-soul... Rei shook her head. No. That had been Amaterasu, not her self.
Kiyoshi was moving around somewhere behind her, talking to Mokuzai's Kyo-TeeShee, but all of that seemed very uninteresting to Rei just then. She knew that she needed more than anything to understand the Oni, especially after what she had just learned of their nature. First Minds, First Minds, Firsty-Firsty-Mindy-Minds...
Rei grimaced slightly as she concentrated, and the flow of her own thoughts separated from Amaterasu's, and she understood the difference between the two. For the moment. Amaterasu kept in singing her song about Firsty-Minds, and Rei snatched Mokuzai's head from where it was spinning in the air and set it down to float gently above the pile of bloody bits and pieces.
It was a strange contrast, the peaceful look on that face and the bloody giblets that floated there all in a pile. "Some must be sacrificed if all are to be saved," she murmured to Mokuzai's floating head.
Mokuzai didn't reply.
"I think I'm starting to understand, old man," she said. "What it is we have to do. What it's all about. To sacrifice everything, even our lives, by the thousands, by the millions, for one another..." she trailed off. A last spurt of blood had come out of the bottom of Mokuzai's severed head, and it had provided enough force to send it spiraling towards the upper corner of the First Mind shrine, where two walls met the ceiling.
Clunk.
Clunk.
Clunk.
Once, twice, three times it bounced, and then began to sink back down towards the pile of bits and pieces as the last of the bloodflow ceased, and the kinetic energy imparted to it by impacting the ceiling took over. Down it went, until it finally landed upside down on the pile, and its eyelids fell open.
Rei looked into Mokuzai's sightless gaze for a long, long moment.
"Huh," she said.
Ruins
Cities
7 comments:
charming
Rei's a visceral kind of girl.
If this is indeed my eulogy, Rei is SO haunted.
Nah, this is more Rei in shock in the aftermath of an Oni attack.
I think you should haunt her anyway. Hey, when I do the writeup is there any objection to me embellishing Mokuzai's end just a bit to sound more heroic? "Then the Oni walked over and ground his stricken form into kibbles and bits" just does not have much of an epic feel to it. I am especially looking for the opinions of Mario and Aric, but would like to hear everyone's take before I post anything about it.
don't give a rat's ass.
Embellishment is in the best spirit of storytelling, though I didn't feel it needed much - just play up the offense of his Kata Kariana attack on the Oni beforehand... being ground into hamburger is a pretty dramatic (if not aesthetically pleasing) way to go out.
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