The Arch Storm

[Ayem]

Kenzou Tenma-Taii, 113th Recon and Assault Division, Hanta-Iseijin.


They call us blind, thrall to a false Emperor.
We laugh, it is the sound of a wave on a distant beach.
The skies we swim teem with life.

We find a flower unfurling among stars. We speak our pleasant lies, we act and take form, and pose.

113th|Kenzou.Tenma.: Neither of us need die.
113th|Kenzou.Tenma.: Return to Hokkaido.
113th|Kenzou.Tenma.: Let us say no more.
[GC]-Rika.Ito: Hai... good that you realized a reasonable way

She dances with us, and she is beautiful. We do not kill, she leaves us.

We dip our toe in the sea of Seto.
A Gunboat '€œLord_X'€, flails beside our Battleship. We think him deranged. The ship crumbles beneath a barrage of light.

We hear the song of another, and meet. They speak of him as Gendo Kaze, but he is no longer.



Together we trap something we did not recognise. These Brigands, what are they? We stop it, harry it. It flees and hides with the Samura. It is watched.

A second flower unfurls beneath Kyushu'€™s sun. We tease and chase, and speak and play games.

[GC]-Chi.Shimizu: Now, what do you want, dogs ?
113th|Kenzou.Tenma.: I repeat my request of your purpose in Kyushu.
[GC]-Chi.Shimizu: What does it matter to you anyway ? You'€™re going to claim something different, no matter what I say.
113th|Kenzou Tenma.: Leaflet distribution is of course permitted, though holding unlicensed demonstrations is prohibited.

We pick her brain. She is... on her way through. We are amused and we leave her muddled.

The Dragons roil in Kyushu, their scales raise the dust of past transgression. We act, and pose and take the part with poetry and politics to temper tongue.

Miyamoto Musashi, the Dragon deserves a name. His words, like swords, cut and feint. The game is matched.

]bd[Miyamoto.Musashi: The Star of Kyushu shines clear today. No innocent blood has been spilled this night.
]bd[Miyamoto.Musashi: And a quiet one it is. It awaits for the Dragons to roar in its direction.
113th|Kenzou.Tenma: Dragons are creatures of misrule and betrayal, may they roar in distant clouds.
]bd[Miyamoto.Musashi: Betrayal? You must be of the Naval Forces, to so blatantly throw accusations they know nothing about.
113th|Kenzou.Tenma: To know one side of a coin is to see the other darkly. Though we accuse, you accuse also. Who knows the whole truth?
]bd[Miyamoto.Musashi: None know the whole truth, but it is not us whom you hear accusing you. We believe in what we trust, and so do you.
113th|Kenzou.Tenma: Then we find agreement on this point, if not in philosophy.
]bd[Miyamoto.Musashi: Our philosophy may differ, but our goal stays the same. Bring peace to Kusari. However, you hand your life in the hands of an Emperor that bases his Empire on a lie.
113th|Kenzou.Tenma: To lie to a child; to say to him, the sun shines and all the world is happy, is a soft cruelty. He will grow in time to see and feel the pain of truth. So it is in government. Lies are told until the children are grown.
]bd[Miyamoto.Musashi: Hai, so you admit that the Empire is based on lies? You confuse yourself brother. Lies are what keeps Kusari in shadows and it needs a Dragon to light its path to glory once more.

The Dragons grow in number, their allies form a rearguard. We withdraw, our flesh-tongue tired.

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