[open] coping mechanisms

[shacklebreaker]

Who: Simon Blackquill (shacklebreaker), Taka, and you!
When: 21st December/early hours of 22nd
Where: Various
What: The Twisted Samurai spends the day alone for some personal reflection.
Rating/Warning: AA5 spoilers. Mentions of death/implied suicide. Drankin.

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i. AFTERNOON - CERES GARDENS

[Blackquill's brought his hawk to the gardens to give him some exercise. At the moment he's throwing scraps of meat for Taka to snatch out of midair, making the bird work for his food. If Taka catches it successfully -- which he does without fail, every time -- the hawk is whistled back and rewarded with another treat.

It's not a training session, but rather, a way to get Taka to stretch his wings. The hawk is already well-trained enough that Blackquill doesn't even need a hood or jesses for his bird. The last thing he's interested in is tying his faithful companion down when Taka can fly free, and it gives him a calming sense of peace to watch him soar and dive through the air.

Once Taka has eaten his fill, Blackquill can be found strolling through the gardens. His hawk is hidden in the trees, although anyone observant might notice the bird never strays too far away.]

ii. LATE EVENING THROUGH TO 1AM - NOVUS/REPLEA

[Given today's date, there's morbid appropriateness in stowing away for the evening in what the locals knew as the 'entrance to the underworld'. The bar might be considered seedy to some, filled with criminals and rebel activity as it was, but after seven years on death row, Blackquill is more comfortable with this brand of drinking company than anything else.

Not that he's interested in socialising. He's too wrapped up in his own thoughts for that, nursing a drink at the bar and trying to numb the dull pain that has hung over him all day.

He'd spent seven years in a cell. Seven years, waiting for his own willing demise. For seven years of sleepless nights, confinement and isolation, the past replaying over and over in his mind, he'd marched, slowly but resolutely, towards the end.

Then, at the very last moment, she'd reached out and snatched him from the jaws of death.

Were all those years worth it? Yes, if it was to serve the one more important to him than life itself. But now after all that pain, here they were, in Cerealia. Their world had been destroyed, and they owed their existences here to data. The more he thinks about it, the more he feels he'd failed her. And that her struggles, too, had been for nothing...

But such thoughts are enough to drive a man to madness. Better not to think on it. He downs the last of his beer, and slams down a hand on the bartop for another.

Tonight is going to be a long night.]

iii. EARLY HOURS OF THE MORNING - APARTMENTS

[It's almost 2am when Blackquill returns to the apartment complex. He'd hoped to slip in unnoticed, but as he fumbles to find his room key, the plastic snowman Athena had put outside her room a few days prior bursts into song. Yet again.]

Curse you, you noisy thing-- [He mutters under his breath, rifling through his pockets with more urgency. He'll try and get into his room before anyone on the floor is woken up...]

Comments

[swordboning]

True but a courtroom isn't exactly large. Even a dog could catch a frisbee across that distance.

[The only place he figures he would be in a position to strike her, at this point.]

[shacklebreaker]

Hmph, very true. Then perhaps you would prefer a demonstration?

[swordboning]

If you don't mind. I'm curious myself.

[He is totally up for this.]

[shacklebreaker]

Very well. I'll use that long grass over there to demonstrate.

[He jerks his head, and as if reading his mind, Taka takes wing again, landing in a high branch of a nearby tree. The hawk watches Blackquill expectantly as he tears off a particularly large scrap of meat.]

Obviously it's better demonstrated if he were hunting live prey, but for the sake of this exercise, this is close enough. Watch.

[He throws the meat into the long grass, where for any human observer, it would be nigh impossible to find easily. Taka, however, plummets down, snatching it out of the grass with perfect precision, then landing on the ground nearby to feed.]

[swordboning]

Hawks and other birds of prey are pretty talented. What kind of body structure does it really take to handle the G-Forces they experience coming out of a dive? A human certainly couldn't handle it.

[shacklebreaker]

Birds have a natural advantage, but we have the advantage of science. Humans can withstand extreme g-forces, say, of a rocket launch into space, so long as they have the right equipment.

[swordboning]

True. But even with special equipment, a fighter pulling out of a dive at the extent of its mechanical limits would still force the pilot to pass out. Birds are able to do the same with no issue.

[shacklebreaker]

I suppose their light mass thanks to their hollow bones grants them just that advantage. Us humans are so terribly heavy and ungainly in comparison...

[swordboning]

Humans, certainly. They have their own set of problems, which are unfortunately rather hefty.

[Yeah, he's totally saying that like he's talking about...people that aren't him.]

[shacklebreaker]

Hmph... You don't consider yourself human, then?

[He's less surprised after hearing about all that Heroic Spirit nonsense. Which he's still very sceptical about...]

[swordboning]

No, I don't. Which is no offense to humans but under no circumstances am I actually one.

[shacklebreaker]

But superficially, you appear the same.

[Weird ability to conjure swords notwithstanding...]

[swordboning]

Superficially, yes. But I can move faster than normal human eyes can follow and I can turn into a spirit. I wouldn't deem that human.

[shacklebreaker]

Hmph... I still think that the more I learn about you, the more you seem like a superhero.

[He might just be saying it to poke fun at him, given Archer's less than favourable response when he mentioned it before.]

[swordboning]

The technical term would be legendary hero, even if I don't fit the moral requirements. I'd more call myself an antihero.

[TAKING IT IN STRIDE.

He hates being a hero though.]

[shacklebreaker]

If we're going to debate genres, a hero can be both legendary and an antihero.

Even so, you must agree you have some morals, yes? You don't condone murder, for instance.

[swordboning]

I don't approve of murdering someone who is innocent. [Doing that for an eternity ruined his life, after all.] But if they aren't innocent and it would serve a greater cause, I would do it.

[shacklebreaker]

And how do you decide who is guilty and who is innocent? Even a criminal justice system, with many perspectives, does not always render correct judgements in that regard.

[swordboning]

It's not as if I point at random people and declare their judgement. No, if someone constantly threatens my Master, for example, I may decide that having them around during a certain point in time, such as a crisis, may be more dangerous than not having them around. It isn't something I decide lightly but that's reality.

[shacklebreaker]

I see. To act in defence of your Master is a worthy goal... I can understand such a decision.

[Though he's not sure he could ever justify taking a life himself, even to save his own master, were she still alive. Not unless there really was no alternative.]

[swordboning]

Let's not forget the people here who refuse to even hide that they're mass murderers of some kind. I won't go out of my way to take care of them but if I were under orders to do so, I wouldn't question it.

[shacklebreaker]

There are such individuals in the city? [Well, aside from the one he's talking to... But he's still not sure he believes half of what Archer claims about himself.]

I'd hunt them down and put them all behind bars, were I not rendered powerless in legal affairs here.

[swordboning]

I've seen one or two that I would not trust around any group of innocent people. But I don't attack them because I would prefer my Master's approval.

[shacklebreaker]

Killer robots, and now mass murderers on the loose, with none to hinder them... The clink almost seems tame in comparison.

What are the names and descriptions of these people?

[He can attempt to at least monitor them, even if his hands are tied as far as stopping them goes.]

[swordboning]

We can start with Rider. An extremely tall woman with purple hair just as long. She's usually wearing either glasses or a type of blindfold over her eyes.

[Though she isn't around anymore.]