Day 9 - THANKSGARBAGE

[pandatrash]

[Did you have a good Trashmas? If you kept any of the gifts that you were given, you will find that the raccoons placed a single poop somewhere in your room. Let us not dwell on the origins of said poop. This is the only punishment for failing to regift your Trashmas gifts.]

[Today's morning announcements are as follows:]

Did you know that after Trashmas, which we regret not calling Shitscram, there's another sacred raccoon holiday? That's right, today is Thanksgarbage! It's the day you cook a big, huge, giant, enormous, humungous feast and we eat all the trash!

[OBNOXIOUS LAUGHTER ENSUES]

It would be totally fucked up to have a killing night after Thanksgarbage, so we're not gonna! Everybody can enjoy food comas in peace! Especially us!

[Should you venture to the kitchen, you'll find it's suddenly stocked with a wide variety of ingredients for all sorts of fall foods; not just the American Thanksgiving and/or pumpkin spice fare, but Japanese ones as well, such as eggplants, persimmons, nashi, kobocha, chestnuts, Japanese sweet potatoes, and everything you need to make oden.]

((Game nav
Recyclr
Trust sheets - these aren't due until Sunday, but the sheet is available to fill out at your leisure. Remember that Sunday itself is NYE))

Comments

[afailedmurder]

Yes, of course! Excuse my indulgence.

[brightens and offers the sword]

[truthstranger]

No, it's fine. I like hearing about it.

[he takes the sword, though, holding it down by his side]

[afailedmurder]

[:>!]

How does it feel? It takes some time to get used to doing it one-handed, so don't feel self-conscious if it's a little heavy.

[truthstranger]

[he lifts it experimentally]

It’s not too bad, but I can see that I’d get tired of swinging it pretty quickly...

[afailedmurder]

Best not to hold back, then. Strike it down without mercy!

[truthstranger]

Right. So, something like this...?

[he tries an awkward overhand strike, far enough from the mannequin that he's just testing the motion]

[afailedmurder]

Not bad! Though you're a bit stiff. Here.

[moves to adjust Shuichi's posture, prodding at his sword arm and the small of his back]

[truthstranger]

A-Ah... mm.

[he stiffens more for a moment before he gets a hold of himself and pays attention to how he's meant to move]

Like this...?

[afailedmurder]

That's the way. Have fun with it!

[backs off with one final pat to the shoulder. bonding!!]

[truthstranger]

Right...

[he takes a steadying breath before trying another strike, and this time the tip of the sword sinks a half inch or so into the shoulder of the mannequin before stopping]

[afailedmurder]

Ouch! That looks like it hurt.

[wink of encouragement!]

Now you want to pull it out. That's a good opportunity to do more damage! You can use your foot for leverage if you need.

[truthstranger]

My foot? Ah...

[it takes him a moment to think of what he probably means by that, distracted again. then he lifts his foot to plant a kick on the mannequin as he yanks on the sword.

It comes free more easily than he expects, and the mannequin falls over]

[afailedmurder]

Knockout!

[humming a little as he props it back up]

[truthstranger]

[Shuichi can't help smiling at Akechi enjoying himself so obviously]

I think it would be a bit harder to do that to an actual person, but... it did feel very dramatic.

...Not that I plan on doing that to an actual person anyway.

[afailedmurder]

Of course not. The most important thing is self-defense.

[SAID WITH A TOTALLY STRAIGHT FACE. to be fair he's used to fighting monsters but... yeah.]

[truthstranger]

Did you end up doing a lot of self-defense?

[afailedmurder]

No.

[a pause as he remembers he doesn't actually have to lie about that]

...Well, yes. But not against humans.

[truthstranger]

Ah, really? What did you fight, then? We... tried to fight back against the Exisal machines in our game, but it never really... quite worked out.

[afailedmurder]

Shadows. They're darker aspects of the human psyche. Or... perhaps spirits that are drawn to it? I've never been entirely clear on the subject.

What's an Exisal?

[truthstranger]

It's... a bipedal robot with a bunch of weapons, like something out of sci-fi. The Monokubs piloted them to keep us in line. Um, they were... some of stuffed animals running things.

[good thing this is also a killing game run by stuffed animals or else this would sound really dumb]

[afailedmurder]

[yyyup]

...You truly are a veteran, aren't you?

[truthstranger]

Unfortunately. It sounds better to be a veteran of fighting darker aspects of the human psyche with a sword...

[afailedmurder]

I can agree with that. Although being a hero of justice can be exhausting in its own way, it definitely feels better to impose your will upon the world rather than the other way around.

[truthstranger]

A hero of justice, huh...

[afailedmurder]

[laughs]

It sounds a little better in my head.