citynet | @DONQUIXOT3, video

[ yes it has been some days. yes this is not the first time she's spoken to the network at large. this time, however, she is showing her face and standing quite proudly this morning in front of a parking lot. cars, empty of gas but otherwise whole, scatter the background. ]

Good morn, dear fellows! I have come to thee today to ask a favor, to grant thee an honor, and help this young knight with a missive most important to all!

[ a beat. she swings into frame an umbrella, popping open the apple printed "lance" with a laugh before closing it as she continues, easy-going like she isn't going to be talking about what she is.

unbeknownst to most, don quixote needs this. ]

Thou may have seen some days ago an anonymous message regarding murder. Well! I am here now, asking thee to assist me with something like it -- nay, the exact same! I would like to see for myself, and as proof of the effects for others, what happens when one dies.

I shall not fight thee, unless thou shall wish for it for I am most happy to oblige, and I shall take only one volunteer. Whomever has the daring, the will, and the capacity to kill, I ask that thee throw thy hand up and seek to claim my life! My dear friends need not apply, for I shall reject thee post-haste!

[ she is NOT letting a fellow sinner do it. not her coworkers. she's been fussed at and she's going to be fussed at again. she might let one of the other city-dwellers do it, given they're both fixers (or formerly) but not her coworkers, war vet be damned.

gregor couldn't do it the other time, after all. ]

However, allow me to lay bare the possibilities of what may happen to thee should thou take it upon thyself to do so.

There is a chance thou may forget that which is most precious to thee, that thou will forget the moment of my death itself, and face... certain difficulties in speaking about it. [ she doesn't know if kromer mentioned that, but it's something regardless. ] I may suffer the same. The goal of this is to learn if it is the victim who forgets, if it is the murderer who doth, or if both have it struck from their mind; the secondary goal, a more personal one, is to learn if both may suffer from the others I have mentioned.

... I understand it is difficult to think of killing another, but I can assure thee, such a thing comes up frequently in my work. We are ever prepared to do so, and to die just as well!

[ helps they don't stay dead but she's not. gonna. say that. it might be odd to wonder what effects who in this case, but. well. a lady keeps her secrets. ]

Any who wish to act as witness may attend as well, for we will have need of thee. I thank thee heartily for thy time and thy consideration on the matter.

[ a small bow, hand to her chest and umbrella tucked behind her, and that's that. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ oh it's her friend!!!!!!! beaming. ]

Nay, I am quite sound of mind!

you can't just let someone kill you because you're curious, idiot.

where are you?

Do thee intend to end my life?

[ curious. not excited, just curious. ]

（ look he's about 98 percent sure if he says no she won't tell him. but it's not like he wants to lie, either. instead: ）

just answer the question.

[ correct. she will not answer if he says no. it would be a waste of time.

... still.

seeing this, she lifts the umbrella and uses it to gesture to the parked cars behind her. there's no pumps, so it isn't a gas station. just one of the larger parking areas that's on the map. ]

I have remained within the first district. However, I would suggest thee keep thy distance if there is no intention on thy part to do as I have asked.

you asked for witnesses, right?

（ off and running, grabbing his jacket as he goes. ）

[ ah, well,

her tone grows a little more serious, more of a warning. ]

Nay, not thee. Thou hath only graduated high school, and a translator has no need to act witness to such a thing. Do not come.

（ he's never really been much for rules anyway. certainly not at the expense of a life, so — ）

i'm not just those things.

do you know what a soul reaper is?

[ ...? ]

Nay, not particularly. One who takes the lives of others?

sometimes.

（ he's not proud of the lives he's taken. to him, it doesn't matter if they were espada, or quincy. he's both of those things too, in a way. so that's not a braggart's claim, but the weary acceptance of someone who's had to make peace with killing. ）

we see souls through to the afterlife.

so don't worry about what i can or can't take.

（ shunpo isn't as fast as he's used to, but it still doesn't take him all that long to get to where she is — a combination of figuring out the gas station's location and the phone's gps.

she hasn't seen him in person yet — but the all black shihakushō looks ominous enough that it'll probably evoke the idea of a soul reaper anyway. it's still frayed at the edges — probably a consequence of his reduced reiatsu — and once he comes out of the flash step movement it stirs the air around him. the dust settles, and his voice sounds hard-edged, annoyance overlaid on concern when he lifts a hand to say — ）

Oy.

[ she turns the umbrella on him immediately, stopping short of slamming it into his arm (even if he moved, her eyes are as trained as any warrior's, the distance remains) and looks him up and down, head tilting as she tries to work out who...

...

well, it definitely does remind her of some of the more murderous IDs her coworkers bore, black and daunting. soul reaper? a fantastic name not out of place on the backstreets. ]

... Thou would make a most worthy opponent, if I sought to fight thee.

[ she'll lower the umbrella, resting on it instead as she had previous. ]

Are thee here to see my soul granted safe passage?

[ spirituality isn't really a Thing in the city, honestly. passing mentions of god. churches run by cultish factions. but spirituality is dead, and souls can be bought. ]

No. I'm here to tell you your plan's stupid.

（ look this town's only big enough for one self-sacrificial moron and girl he's it!!

ah, when shōnens attack. and are used to the laws of the universe accommodating for their ridiculous specialness. failing to convince her doesn't even scan as an option on his horizon — as much as he's eighteen and definitely well beyond where he was when he first picked up the sword, there are certain truths of his world he's come to blindly accept as incontrovertible, and one of those things? main character syndrome. ）

[ oh buddy she isn't the only one!!! just the most outspoken... right now. don grins a little more, laughter more in her eyes than anything else. ]

Oh, is that all? Then thee may take a spot in line, for many people have done so already and will continue to.

[ her support is made up mostly of rubberneckers. it's not different than the city, people wanting to see the morbid for this or that reason. witness for research, for validity, just to see what happens. it's fine. ]

My mind will remain unchanged.

（ girl he's gonna fight you.

maybe literally.

it's how people show love in karakura. have you really lived until you've gotten a kick to the head? smh. ）

And what if it doesn't work? Or what if the person you pick to kill you gets punished? Maybe the memory erasure of the first go around was just a warning. You really want to live with the idea somebody might get tortured because you're curious?

[ she would love a pre-match warm-up actually it'll get her blood moving-- ]

I have made clear the possible consequences to him, and he has still accepted with that in mind. If it doesn't work...

[ ... if it doesn't work out, if she remains dead...

a shrug. it may seem illogical, crazy, stupid to be so carefree and whatnot about death, but-- ]

It is expected in my line of work.

I don't care about your shitty line of work.

（ does! not care!! ）

You're here. A member of this society, whatever it's worth. Did you even try asking that stupid kiosk thing what happens, or are you just eager to rush into death?

[ ...

no, it hadn't even crossed her mind. but why would it, when they hadn't been too helpful prior? why would she, when it's been caught in her mind for near a month now? this was just a good excuse in the end, pushed forward by that anonymous post and made reality -- despite being against the wishes of the very person she's doing it for.

(because it isn't for everyone, really. it isn't for herself either. they're convenient excuses too.) ]

I hadn't a thought to ask them, and so it must be the latter!

[ she shouldn't sound so Fine or Confident about that but she is. ]

Do thee think it would truly give us anything of use? Or simply censor the words, as it has done with others? This is a way to know for certain!

（ girl. ）

It's better to ask. Even a censored answer gives us something.

（ that there's a reason it's censored, perhaps. it's like how you can sift through the pieces of a lie and build the truth out of what isn't said. ）

Otherwise you're just being a damn idiot for no reason. There's no reason to make the extreme your first choice.

（ as if he hasn't done exactly the same thing a million times in the past. sometimes life just be like that. ）

@DONQUIXOT3, video

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