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

I was kinda wondering about that, honestly...

[About Kenta's ENORMOUS SWORD which is really truly ridiculous. And here he thought Toshi got off the worst out of all of them...]

I mean, it's really pretty! But yeah, you must have been able to throw cars or something if you seriously threw that thing around in battle.

Even for an Ootachi it's ridiculous. It weighs almost ten pounds, too.

[Because the size of the blade....]

It is a beautiful blade, though. I am actually surprised at the quality of it. Whoever forged this, they are a true crafstman.

[Wow Kenta just compliment your own beauty, gosh. But he can't disagree... Even if he's not well-versed on the intricacies of sword-crafting, he can still appreciate the general aesthetic.]

I like this thing - this little white flippy thing. It's cute.

[Pointing toward the strip tied to the base of the sword's handle...]

But yeah, seriously, doesn't this kinda thing seem more decorative? Kinda like Rindou's, but at least his isn't as heavy as a fat cat.

Shut up Kashuu he hasn't wrapped is head around the whole 'people are swords' woncept, and he doesn't remember being the blade for now.

He glances towards Rindou, who is sitting near Jirou with Kenti in his lap.]

Tachis are meant to be used in combat. Their length and curvature make it easier to fight on horseback than a standard katana. Uchigatanas like yours didn't appear until about the 12th century.

[HE'LL REMEMBER THIS DAY-- No okay he'll probably forget it in the tide of bs that Retrospec constantly shoves their way.

That said, the terms tachi and uchigatana are familiar to him now that he's actually had to look them up thanks to the Enemy Army Memories™. He glances over toward Rindou, too.]

Huh... The 12th century? That's a long time ago. [He's tired already, damn.] —But you really know your stuff when it comes to swords.

[Something he'd said back when they were looking through the exhibit together a while back. Some of his own weird behavior back then may make some more sense now, too.]

What was your type used for, then? Breaking down castle doors or something?

I have had an interest in it since I started Kendo, to be honest.

[He glances at the huge sword again, shaking his head.]

Oodachis were infantry sword, but they're not practical in any sense of the word, so most of them were made as votive offerings for temples. There's almost no records of any of them being used in actual battle.

A lot of them were repurposed into shorter blades, too. I can't remember when exactly, but some law was passed limiting the lengths of the blades that could be carried. That's why there are so few of them left now.

Wow... So one this big is like, super rare then, huh? Or maybe it was an offering, since there's no waaay a normal person would be able to actually use this in a fight.

[But none of them seem normal, so he isn't at all doubtful of the fact that Kenta himself could probably wield this. After all, he remembers taking down a huge enemy by himself with just this small blade at his side... That takes strength that just isn't human.]

That's probably what it was. I...

[Kenta purses his lips as he recalls that night he suddenly woke up after seeing...]

I did remember... being in a temple. On the altar. And being given gifts. But I couldn't see myself. I just knew it was me. I received this a few days later.

[That sounds pretty similar to the memories he can recall pre-Citadel, so he nods.]

D'you think this might've been you, then? Up there on that altar...

[How strange on so many levels, to be asking someone he barely knows "hey how about that memory of just chilling out being a dang inanimate object." ...Or an animate object, he supposes??]

That's the most logical explanation.

[He's not happy with it, but Jirou just wants him to be a sword too and really, it basically is the thing that makes the most sense and that's saying something.]

I just... don't have a memory of it, for now. But there are too many similarities with Jirou's story, or even yours, for it not to be at least vaguely related.

[Wild, the things that love will have you accepting... He's also not at all fond of the idea, but he's had time to adjust on his own, at least.]

You'll probably remember more stuff the more you talk to him, especially if the two of you have memories that are tied together real close. It was like that for me and Yasu, too.

[Jerking a thumb over his shoulder to wherever the nerd is.]

...Even if it's pretty nuts for this to be the most logical explanation.

Honestly, absolutely nothing about this all makes sense and yet it still sounds less fantastical to me than anything have heard about Retrospec so far.

[An empty office building? Employees that send messages on the network but are nowhere to be found? No paper trail? This sound extra shady and that's a yakuza thinking that.]

But I do find it odd that we both received oodachi with very similar decoration patterns. They also look like they were made in the same time period, and then there is the temple connection.

I can kinda see where you're coming from.

[He's described Retrospec as literal cartoon villains before and he's not about to recant that statement, even if they apparently aren't as actively villainous as he first thought...

But! A thoughtful hum, and then:]

Maybe your swords were made by the same smith? Or maybe they were commissioned to match.

[That'd be kind of cute.]

That's another possibility. I'm sure Jirou would love that.

[Here is that smile again as he looks over at his boyfriend smiling and having fun and drinking.]

If they're heirlooms they could also have belonged to the same family. Or they could have been given tot he same temple. I need to look into Atsuta Jinja more. I went there as a child, but that was more than eighteen years ago. And I remember that they have a few thousand blades here, although the only one I remembered off the top of my head was Kusanagi no Tsurugi.

[These two are so in love, goodness... Kashuu is endeared.]

It'd be pretty nice, yeah? Yasusada and I were together a lot of the time too, in the past. [A beat, and then:] I think it helps a lot to have someone who was by your side the whole time.

[Or at least most of it.

Lord, but he doesn't recognize any of these swords.]

Is that the shrine you remember? It's good you know so much stuff about all this.

[SO IN LOVE, KASHUU!]

I think...even if things are crazy, if I'm with Jirou, everything will be fine.

[And it does help that Jirou is in fact much more grounded than people give him credit for.]

It's a pretty famous shrine in Japan. It's huge. But my memories of it are from going there as a child, not...

[A vague gesture towards the assembled company. He doesn't actually remember being held in that shrine if he was indeed a sword on an altar.]

It was Jirou who remembered the name first. That's how I remembered I'd been there before a long time ago.

That's good, y'know? That you two have each other.

[A good and solid balance. He thinks they compliment one another very well, anyway - it'll surely benefit them as things continue to work themselves out in this weirdass city.]

Ah - so he remembered it and then you did? [A nod; that's how he's remembered quite a few things, too.] Maybe if you did a streetview tour on google or something, it'd jog your memories even more.

I was just a child then. Barely five years old, I think. I don't even remember why I went there or who I was with.

[But the streetview thing is actually a good idea.]

Seeing pictures will probably help, though. I'll look into it. They're so famous they probably have a website with pictures.

Mm... Maybe Jirou can look with you, too? I mean, if you're gonna remember stuff and keep remembering stuff, you might as well do it together.

[Says this fool who barely shares his memories with Yasusada even to this day.]

He'll do it if I ask. I think he knows that I need... a bit more time processing this, so he hasn't been pushing me to do it for now.

[Well he does sometimes suggest Kenta is a sword and that he wants him to be but the reason for that is he wants them to be together and Kenta kinda wants that too so....]

It does help to have him. Really.

That's really sweet of him.

[His expression softens a little, since he really does find this kind of support genuinely endearing... He nods a little at the second statement, understanding.]

S'probably a good idea too, anyway... Taking it slow, I mean.

[Even Kashuu had a near-breakdown once he was forced to actually confront the idea he was a sword, which he'd been dodging around acknowledging for literally like 3 months...]

[Kenta suddenly looks a little concerned. Kashuu was originally Jirou's friend, but they've gotten to know each other a little and from what Kenta understands, Kashuu was one of the first one of them to start getting memories.]

You didn't really have that option yourself, did you? That must have been hard.

[He offers a little smile, somewhat grateful but also not keen on making it seem like it was hard. It was difficult, but he's mostly over the worst of it now (or so he hopes?!) so he doesn't want to fish for sympathy for what's passed.]

Lucky for me, Yasusada was still on the network even if he wasn't remembering the same things at the same time. So even if there was a little while where no one knew what I was talking about, I wasn't ever, like... not able to talk to anyone about it at all, like some people.

[He counts his dang blessings every day.]

That's one saving grace of Retrospec...

[As annoyed as he feels with the app, it has brought some people together. But still...]

Do you think these are... past lives? Ourselves in different times?

[They're in agreement there, certainly, even if he'd never actually thank Retrospec for it...

As for the question, though--]

Mm... Well, did you hear about that theory Dave brought up on the network? The thing the sphinx told him?

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