recolle | [semi-closed]

[semi-closed]

WHO: Sword Sufferers Anonymous
WHERE: Public Library/Hollingberry Field
WHEN: Friday
WHAT: A bunch of people are turning into swords and it's a wild time. Info-sharing session for swords and/or a place for other people regaining swords to stop by and wonder If They're Next™.
WARNINGS: None; will update if needed!

[SO HERE IT IS. The dust has settled from the insanity of the last month (somewhat), and life goes on in Recolle. Mostly.

Maybe you've heard about it through word of mouth - that some other people are having some weird troubles with their regained weapons. Swords in particular. Maybe you've caught wind of a few familiar terms like "Retrograding Army" and you're curious to learn more, or maybe you've just caught a bad case of Sakura Fubuki-itis and you want to know what to do next. In any case, there are two meetings going on today. One at the library - a perfect place to pour through those history textbooks and look up a little more about all those ye olde historical names and terms coming to mind lately!

The other is in the park, since it's a better place for open discussion without having to worry about getting hushed by a frazzled librarian. This is also the place to pick up any sword care items you could need, since Kashuu's brought a metric asston along with him! Good work, team.]

(Feel free to use this to mingle as you see fit! If you need a reason for your character to show, we can handwave a direct or misfired text from Kashuu. Anyone meandering by who'd have reason to poke their heads in is free to, since these are both taking place in public locations!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ one day, they'll recall each of their missing comrades' faces... with that said, he also remembers the saniwa entity, so he's on the same page as kiyomitsu. ]

I know who you're talking about. They send us out on missions to fight the Time Retrograding Army, heal us when we come back injured, and make us do chores when we're not away fighting. But at the end of the day, we still cared about them and respected them enough to do what they wanted.

[ and in a similar vein, his own memories of walking, talking, and doing people things all come from that place. ]

What do you mean by being called, though? Did they sit down in front of your sword and call you out of it?

Chores?

[WHAT THE HECK. He remembers the missions and the healing now, at least, but he hasn't remembered any-- Oh, wait.]

Geez... I guess that's why I was out there taking care of horses that one time. [The time one threw him into the sun...

He doesn't remember much about the saniwa themselves, though - not a name, a face. Not even the title "saniwa".]

—I think that might've been it? Honestly, it's more like... I felt someone reaching out to me, and the next thing I know, bam! I'm standing in this room and I'm like "oh, I'm the child from the river, hey!" or whatever.

I remember growing vegetables with that eye-patched guy I mentioned a while ago, too. I guess doing chores was our duty, like — taking care of the place we lived in?

[ it makes more sense that way. he also recalls being grossed out by smelly crops and snapping at this eye-patched man, but maybe he should keep that to himself for now... also goodbye kiyomitsu, the icarus of sword boys, flew too high and perished in the skies of the citadel. ]

That's... kind of weird. You make it sound like they pulled you out of thin air.

[ THAT IS... UNSETTLING, this magician saniwa. but if that's really the case, he's not doubting kiyomitsu's words; it's just odd to conceptualize.

additionally, for no reason other than because he is nosy— ] You're from a river area? Or is that from, you know, your other memories?

You still don't remember his name, huh? But I guess that kinda makes sense, if the place we lived in was really as big as it seemed. If we were fighting in a war we probably couldn't afford housekeepers or whatever.

["Also it'd be weird for housekeepers to live in a big place full of swords", he thinks but doesn't say, because he hates everything about that. GOD. Also remember him fondly the next time a horse tries to murder him...

Anyway, as weird as it is:] That almost feels like it's exactly what happened. Which is weird, 'cause I definitely remember things before them? But... I dunno. I don't really know how to describe it.

[He hasn't gotten quite enough pieces together to understand the fact that his human body was literally created from weird saniwa magic yet BUT HE'S GETTING CLOSE!!]

And I'm not sure about that, either. I wasn't from any river area, but I remember talking about myself like that a couple of times. I have nooo idea what it means, though.

[And even though he's still got ties to the river people even in this life, he hadn't really spent enough time in Japan to get it.]

No, I do — it's Mitsu.

[ he says that with such confidence, like -tada doesn't exist at all... but he figured that if he started out with something like "mitsu and i took care of vegetables", kiyomitsu would've probably been like "???", and then he'd have needed to explain anyway. honestly though, they could barely afford jirou's sake intake and the entire fiasco that was the convenience store adventures, let alone housekeepers for a place that houses 50+ sword people.

kiyomitsu will remember weird saniwa magic one day!! for now, theorizing into the wind will have to do. ]

Maybe those are two separate lives? Not in different timelines or anything — but consecutively. Like, maybe one happened before the other?

[ technically that's just one really long life, but look... ]

Eh? Mitsu? That's cute...

[Says Kiyomitsu, who's obviously inherently biased here. HE'LL REMEMBER MITSUTADA EVENTUALLY but for now he just remains a mysterious vegetable caretaker who's apparently hanging out with Rindou in their weirdass base full of poor swords... What a wild ride.]

But that might be it, I guess? I mean - I think, um... [ANOTHER VAGUE HAND GESTURE since they're so fond of vague hand gestures and all.] For me, at least, I think that place we were all staying at came after everything else.

[Including the part where he apparently just straight-up died in an inn somewhere.]

[ OH KIYO, WHAT A BIAS... at least they now know the faces and/or names of a couple of mysterious folks in their weird base of swords, progress. ]

Yeah, I think so too. After all, there's a clear difference between the two. [ he's nodding so sagely; maybe he'll say something meaningful for once.

without breaking his serious expression, he forms circles with his thumb and index fingers and holds them in front of his eyes, trying to remind kiyomitsu of the funky glasses they bought together a couple of months ago. what does he have to say, what is it?? ]

The later life had plastic.

[HIS CUTE NAME BIAS IS REAL!! He's filing all these names away to think about more later though, for sure. Even if so far it's just Mitsu and Mikazuki...

BUT ALSO, SHIT.]

Oh my god. [Rindou strikes with the wisdom yet again... Hilariously not even sarcastically, because Kiyomitsu himself had yet to put together the very obvious time discrepancies there despite knowing already that they're time-travelers?! He doesn't know they're from 2205, okay...]

You're totally right... There's a huge difference?! Well-- I mean, not huge huge, but I definitely remember that we had like, a tractor and everything. But before then, it was... I mean, they didn't even have lights? Like, electric lights.

[What the heck how long was he in the dead sword void.]

[ when will he remember that they're from 2205 and tell the other swords that they're not only sword spirits, but funky sword spirit time travelers??

with that said, kiyomitsu... took that a lot more seriously than rindou had intended. but joking aside, it's true — he recalls the sparring room being lit by electric lights overhead, though his recollections from his previous life are far less detailed, aside from the whole Being Buried Alive thing. ]

Exactly. Things like tractors and plastic didn't exist in, say, the 1600's — whereas swords became outdated by the 21st century, you know?

[ relatable concern, how long as rindou been stuck in the Alive Sword Void... ]

[He remembers the time traveling, at least! If Rindou ever wants his mind blown yet again, just talk to Kiyomitsu about their Battles Across Time...]

Rindou... [RINDOU.] Oh my god. [TRAGEDIES ABOUND--

Really though, he kind of already knew this in a subconscious sense since Swords Are Old. They're in museums, after all! Most things in museums are at least a few decades old, except modern art! But still, actually realizing in a totally surface conscious way is an entirely different experience. So with great feeling, he'll just softly say:]

How old are we?

[ he'll do that one day, so that they can all eventually become time-traveling nerds together... but putting the pieces together is an entire different world than just knowing the pieces are there, and he uncertainly glances down at his sword. ]

I... I don't know.

[ no, he does know — at least the ballpark of the era that he's from. admitting it is a lot harder this time, and there's a pause before he speaks again, hesitantly. ]

Kenta told me that my sword is from before the 12th century.

[Until then, he'll be the lone keeper of the knowledge that they apparently sail through time. WELL HIM AND NOW KENTA good luck Kenta.

Anyway, give him a second to math this one out...]

—That's like, almost a thousand years.

[Holy shit. He's just eying Rindou with an expression that seems concerned, sympathetic, surprised and vaguely impressed all at once. Who would have known that a sword so nice and shiny and bright would really be so crusty and old! Amazing.]

Kenta told me that uchigatana like mine- ["Like me" is still too weird to say.] -weren't created until the 12th century, so you're definitely older than me, too.

I know, it's horrible. I'm not you, but if I start catching up to that, what'll happen to my skin?

[ there it is, that's his greatest concern: wrinkling like an aging grandpa... with that said, he'll absolutely be down with it once he learns that their bodies don't age. he hasn't even started worrying about the important things, like having a thousand years' worth of history to remember.

somehow, it's not surprising to hear that he's older; for some reason, it seems quite natural that way? but there's also something endearing about it regardless, and he'll try to place his hand on kiyomitsu's head to give him a headpat. ]

That puts you— your sword between the 12th and the 21st centuries, then... it doesn't narrow down the pool by a whole lot.

Hey, what the hell is that supposed to mean?

[ARE YOU SAYING HE LOOKS OLD, PUNK. Actually, he's probably not been taking care of his skin as well as he should, with all the stress going on lately... He just gingerly reaches up to pat gently around his eye area, as if he might feel crow's feet forming.

But suddenly he's gone from being Old to being Young, and even though he lets Rindou give him a headpat (which he's becoming increasingly fond of over the months for some reason), he still huffs like a brat.]

Not really, no... I don't know when this was smithed at all and it's pretty hard to find info about it. I know for sure I was around in the 1800s, but that's still waaay less time than you, even then.

You're a little more invested in skincare than I am, right? So I thought you'd know about some products that combat wrinkles...

[ he trails off a little at the end, because why does kiyomitsu sound offended, what did he do wrong?? aka. these dorks and their misunderstandings... but his hair is soft to the touch, and he pulls his hand back once he's given him a good headpat; consider it a return on the nice headpat from july at the beach. ]

You have a smaller time range, so it's probably easier looking into that for now.

[ being from earlier than the 12th century means that he still has to look up all of the centuries after it, as long as he didn't die somewhere in between those years. ]

Do you think it's as easy as googling what was going on in Japan in the 1800's, then choosing what to look into? Or would we have to pick something specific...

Oh... I thought you were saying I was getting wrinkly or something.

[HUFFS AGAIN but it's not annoyed this time, at least. Why must Rindou continue to give him these little heart attacks... Even if they're unintentional. But he'll settle with his headpat, looking contemplative.]

Maybe? I've looked into it a little and that time period sounds super wild. Researching is gonna take so long... Nowhere near as long as it'll take for you, though.

[A SYMPATHETIC LOOK. Rindou's going to have to become a Japanese history major at this rate.]

But with the way memories seem to work, just skimming stuff would probably be enough to trigger more of 'em, I think... And once you start remembering more things, you'll probably have more specific ideas of where you wanna look, yeah?

[Like he's already narrowed things down to the Shinsengumi! And hasn't looked farther than that because he's tired.]

[ what, no, he'd never say such a thing. kiyomitsu has no wrinkles to begin with? ]

I know... I'm hoping I can just skim an entire millennium of Japanese history and see if anything sticks out to me.

[ he lets out the world's longest sigh... to be fair, he's never been fond of learning history, and the idea of slogging through centuries and centuries of it just makes him tired. there's also no guarantee that he won't fall asleep halfway through whatever he's skimming, either. ]

So it's kind of like looking for keywords. [ everything that happens after finding the keywords sounds pretty doable, honestly. while he's not going to directly ask kiyomitsu what phrases he's found, he'll go about it in a more indirect way, like... ] Say, if you learn about the time period around the 1800's, you'll be helping me learn about it, too.

[ the power of friendship... except he didn't actually do much in the 1800's, whoops. ]

[HIS ASS IS PARANOID.]

That's probably gonna be the best way to tackle it from your end, anyway. Otherwise, you're gonna spend the rest of your life trying to dig up info.

[Centuries and centuries of history just There... And the only thing Kiyomitsu knows he remembered for sure is being buried, so that sure doesn't narrow things down.]

Kinda, yeah! Or like how one little memory can trigger more. I remembered more about the enemy we fight after I caught a glimpse of one earlier - like that. [As far as that goes--]

That'll be mostly Bakumatsu, I'm pretty sure.

[ HE DOESN'T WANT TO SPEND THE REST OF HIS LIFE STUDYING HISTORY... but some time between then and now, he's remembered the year his blade was forged and his internal crisis steadily grows. not quite a thousand years old, but pretty darn close. ]

Most of the books I've found at the library were long and concentrated around one era. Where's the dummy's guide to Japanese history, so that I can see what works?

[ the pain of being an old sword... he'll just have to see which centuries spark initial memories. but like a true millennial that's been confronted with an unfamiliar term, he types it into his phone and skims the wiki page that follows, reading out loud the important-looking words that follow. ]

Let's see... that's the mid-1850's, right? The end of the Edo period, pro-imperialists, Shinsengumi...

[At least he's not Ishikirimaru or Kogarasumaru, but he's A True Grandpa... Time to panic! at the library.]

Ugh, too real. I kinda tried doing something like that back when I was seeing if there were pictures of my sword anywhere and it took aaages.

[Only RP magic saved him from wasting days away on that task... That said, this all definitely sounds familiar in an "I cram-researched the heck outta this" way to him now, so he nods along as Rindou lists everything out.]

Yeah - yeah. Shinsengumi was a big thing. That was the whole time when they were trying to decide whether to keep the country shut or open it up, so there were lots of battles. D'you remember anything like that? Wars? I mean, if you're really that old, you were probably around even for Sengoku stuff.

[ the power of rp magic... but when kiyomitsu asks, rindou pauses to reconsider everything pre-citadel he's remembered so far, then shakes his head. ]

I don't think so. I don't remember being on a battlefield, but the place I was buried in was cold and bloody, you know? So maybe they lost a battle, or something.

[ it turns out that it's less "lost a battle" and more "McMurdered in their sleep" but you know, he's still naive. there's another moment taken to pull up the page on the Sengoku Era in a similar way, but he frowns; it's just more old samurai fighting other samurai. keeping track of all of these eras is rough... ]

I mean... [ and then he just sighs a little. maybe closes his eyes. he's tired. ] I've apparently been around since 1053.

Mm... That sounds like it might be the case, yeah. I mean, it's not like there were any shortages of battles and stuff back then, right?

[That moment when he didn't really realize how bloody his country's history was until he had to actually seriously examine it... Heck. AND IT'S JUST GOING TO GET WORSE FOR FUTURE RINDOU, this bean needs to have a nap. Many naps. So many naps.

But lord, his expression shifts again to surprise.]

Seriously? [THAT'S. HE'S SO OLD. After a second of quiet consideration, he just asks:] ...Can you even imagine being around that long? I mean, that's like... Wouldn't you have basically seen the country form, kinda?

People probably fought over stuff all the time, and killed each other for it. That's what makes history, right?

[ once they remember their history in all of its bloodiness, they need permanent sword naptime... nap sessions for all swords.

but there's a moment where he pauses, because he retracts his thoughts from earlier; it was a lot easier five minutes ago, when all he knew was that he was vaguely from earlier than the 12th century, where the youthfulness of his skin was his worst concern. on the other hand, having it solidified in an actual year is, well... ]

Of course I can't. [ he'll get used to the concept of being Ancient over time, but for now, it's still kind of shocking. ] Seeing the country form would depend on who owned me— my blade at what time, though. If I wasn't around with the right people, then I would have missed big historical events, right?

Mm, yeah. That's true.

[...It's still kind of strange to think about, though, that they filled a role in history as "some random things in it". Good lord. He needs a nap already and he doesn't even remember the whole of his history yet... At least they'll have plenty of time to create a nap bunker.

He nods in understanding at that, though. Who would be able to deal with that knowledge easily? To understand it fully? ...Well, Jirou maybe, but Jirou is an outlier.]

That's true, too. I mean, I guess you'll know sooner or later anyway... Where you were and what kinda things you saw. But aaall that time of being around to see things...

[It sounds like A Lot™, to understate things severely.]

[ jirou is a outlier who doesn't need to board the pain train for as long as the other swords do, nor does he need the nap bunker for as long... ]

I'm not sure if I want to know all of that, to be honest.

[ — spoken apprehensively; because does he really want to know more details about things like blood and death and dying? probably not, but the memory gremlins will come for him anyway. ]

Is it really better to have seen a lot of things, though? Or would it be better to remember a smaller period of time, but intensely?

[ he's already asking the real questions... or he's just tired and Fake Deep, and wants an excuse to study less years' worth of history. ]

[semi-closed]

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