bravenewworld | [video] - Masks and Fasting and Fighting

[On the video screen this afternoon are Maya and Shinrei, decked up for Soul Fast. Both of them look rather excited.]

So, it's that time of the year again, everyone! Soul Fast is beginning, aaand I wanted to remind you guys that Ninetails Vale is selling masks and performing the usual ceremonies, as always.

[Maya seems just slightly disconcerted when in the background, Kuzuryuu and Ichigo begin talking.]

What’s a birthday, anyway?

Are you fucking kidding me, even a two-year-old could figure that one out from context.

[Maya clears her throat, rolls her eyes, and continues.]

For anyone unfamiliar with Soul Fast, it's the festival in which we celebrate the communion of the world of the living and that of the dead. It's a great time to honour lost loved ones, or beloved pokémon!

[She leans over and rubs Shinrei's back-scruff, making sure not to disturb her painted fur.]

God, I’m just wondering! What’s your problem, anyway?

I don’t have a problem! Seriously, do you have a brain in there, what else could a “birth day” be but the day someone’s born, moron?!

And what’s wrong with NOT knowing what it is?! I’ve got a brain, but I’m still trying to figure out all this human stuff, alright?!

Pokemon get born, too, dumbass!

I woke up in front of a shrine! And I - rrrgh, never mind! I should’ve figured you’d be an ass over a simple question.

...Um, anyway, like I said, this is a really important festival for ghost pokémon and the like, so remember to honour them with like, sweets and stuff.

[She looks like she's losing concentration.]

Uh, we... will have all sorts of things for you to participate in, and--

You were probably still BORN, stupid! Maya brings Ghost-type eggs home sometimes, I’ve fucking seen them. Just because YOU don’t know anything doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be common sense!

How can it be common sense if I don’t know anything?! That doesn’t even make sense, idiot!

Your lack of damn knowledge is what doesn’t make sense! Were you this idiotic BEFORE you died, too?!

Shut the hell up! At least I’M not an insensitive asshole that’d bite someone’s head off for asking a goddamn question, unlike YOU!

Well who the fuck asked you to ask me, shithead?!

I asked because you brought it up, dog breath!

[Maya finally gets up, handing the warp band to Shinrei, walks to the doorway, and yells. Shinrei winces when she does, waving sheepishly at the camera.]

I'm trying to make a video here! Shut up already!

[She returns to the camera looking exhausted.]

Does anyone know how to make stupid boys stop arguing?

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You...what? [Yuuna blinks, scrubbing her face.]

You think they're like...dead people?

....Yeah. Like, y'know. Some ghosts are like that. Spirits.

Just... spirits that became pokémon.

I think Dori was probably attacked by a dark type once.

[That realization, even if it's just a theory, hits Yuuna very hard. Very hard. Because it makes too much sense.]

And they're all over the Coastal Ruins...[She wipes her face, a sudden feeling settling in the pit of her stomach.]...during the war. That's...when it happened. It had to have.

Y-yeah... I think so.

But I'm not sure yet. I mean, I could be wrong...

[She doesn't seem to think so, though.]

It's just, the connections between people and pokémon-- and the living and the dead-- they're really complex...

They are complicated. I'm...not really anything close to an expert, or even a tenth as well versed as you are...but I know that.

[Yuuna swallows. Because this is hard. It's scary, even, thinking about Dori and all of that.]

And you could be wrong, but I can read expressions well enough to know you don't think you are. And...it would make sense. All that screaming, and that pain. I just wanted to help her the minute we linked with the Warp Band.

And I'm not giving up on that. Have...you had much progress, getting her to calm down?

Well, I didn't do much myself. Actually, Mitsumu figured out that music and rhythmic things calm them down a bit!

And she hasn't been attacking my friend, even though he's been sticking around-- so I think that having other ghosts around to reassure her helps, too.

Ghosts I can do. [She smiles weakly, still overwrought with the whole idea.]

A few of them have followed me home, y'know.

That's good, I think. Ghosts are good to be friends with.

[But she pauses for a second.]

Hey... don't feel too bad, okay?

We can't change what happened during the war, but... we can take care of these guys.

Yeah. I know. It's just...hell, I studied history, and I enjoyed it. But it's a distant thing. Dori...is pretty real. Kinda...brings a lot of shit into perspective. She lived in that time. She...died...because of the way people used to be.

Makes you think. Makes me wonder...just what kind of person she was. And yeah, makes me want to help, too.

If she died because of the way people used to be, then we've really gotta wrk hard and help her out. I know you can do it, Yuuna.

Just a little more, and I think she'll be fine coming home. Even my friend Yomiel's calmed down lately.

Right. I...think I'll probably come by later, just to spend some time with her. Hope that's alright.

[Because now? That little mask is going to get a hug.]

Of course it is! Any time, okay?

Just let me know.

Will do. I'll be by in an hour or so.

[video] - Masks and Fasting and Fighting

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