piratejournal | 001. voice

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001. voice

Why, exactly, should I waste my time running around in search of an imaginary, wish-granting gem?

[The disgruntled voice you're hearing belongs to Mitsunari Ishida. As haranguing townsfolk has ultimately gotten him nowhere, he's finally taken a look at the apparently magic journal he woke up with. The accompanying note from "Scurvey Dog" has cleared up a couple of things, but the answers aren't quite what he wanted to hear.]

I detest pirates, I detest this absurd place, and all I "wish" for is to know one thing: where I will find the man known as Ieyasu Tokugawa.

For the sake of Lord Hideyoshi, inform me of his whereabouts at once!

[Clearly someone isn't in the mood for smalltalk. There's no "thank you for your time" after this message or anything. That's that.]

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Though we are enemies out of circumstance, I do not hate you, nor do I find your cause unsympathetic, and you have some traits that we find admirable. If you are to be destroyed, we would rather it be by our hands, rather than your own.

[If nothing else, Magoichi's certainly proud enough to think she can defeat him even with her advice.]

Perhaps not, but without Yoshitsugu pouring poisonous words in his ears and driving him further into madness, perhaps he'll be able to find it within himself to put it behind him. He's a good man and I have faith in him.

[For Motochika, this is how simple things are. Ieyasu may speak of bonds, but it's Motochika who truly believes in them.]

Are the others not left to do all the work?

[Apparently now is the time to play 20 questions.]

[Lies have to at least sound plausible, which means sometimes there are statements so completely bizarre it's hard to imagine they're anything but the truth. This falls into that category.]

I... remember nothing of this.

[He certainly sounds like he's trying to remember. His dismayed confusion is just enough to curb his rage.]

When did we have such a conversation?

I amend my statement: save both your advice and your sympathy for your allies. I desire none of it.

[If a lack of enmity could have translated into loyalty towards the Toyotomi it would be different, but that's just not how things turned out.]

And you will not see me die by anyone's hands until he is cold in the ground first.

... Such a simple worldview will be the death of you, Motochika.

[When it comes to bonds, Magoichi has seen so many broken that she knows better than to rely on them, even if she herself would never break the ones she's made. Ethics are the better choice, overall, sticking doing what is asked and leaving it at that.]

But I suppose that's why I'm around, to keep that from that from happening when you find that good men do not always do the right thing.

Very well. Consider it amended.

[If Hideyoshi wanted their loyalty, he shouldn't have broken their rules. Even if Mitsunari never listens, the blame remains squarely with his lord.]

Then I shall be waiting for you, when the time comes. We both know that if such a thing were to happen, I would not be around to see it.

When I sought you out at Osaka Castle.

[Why does no one remember? He knows what he remembers and there's no reason to believe it's untrue, but Magoichi and Mitsunari both know nothing of it. He's assumed all this time that Ieyasu has lived through the same events he has, but he's been reading the journal more closely since this mess has begun and it seems even that assumption was wrong.]

I fear the magic of whatever sorcerer is bringing us to this place has found a new and especially cruel way to taunt me.

[So what if it's simple? It's a perfectly good worldview and it's suited him just fine, thank you. There was a time when he questioned it, but Ieyasu had been innocent after all, so why change how he thinks now?]

Say what you will, Sayaka, but I'll not change my heading.

Again, I remember no such event.

[But he curses Motochika for sounding so genuine.

Magic, though...]

If I were to assume what you've been saying is the truth, would that not imply some sort of spell has altered our memories?

[He can't totally discredit the idea. Something unearthly is clearly at work in some capacity, given what he's experienced so far.]

No, it doesn't seem likely. Perhaps if we were all brought here together, but this is my fifth month here and Ieyasu's fourth. What's more, this isn't the first time I've crossed paths with someone who has lived a life similar to mine and yet not the same. I see that you've even spoken with him, though he has yet to identify himself.

[He's not terribly excited about elaborating on that one.]

[These anomalies are beginning to irritate him. That, and the mental debating whether or not he should even accept them as reality in the first place.

~~Unfortunately for Motochika~~ he's inclined to ask about the aforementioned person he's apparently spoken to. Maybe Mitsunari can seek new information from the man in question. Something to bolster (or discredit) Motochika's claims.]

This man, Motochika. Is he yet another pirate with deplorable taste in companions?

[Well. In fairness, a 'similar life' could mean anything.]

[He'll shrug that one off for now.]

Not a pirate, though I do question his judgment in who he chooses to surround himself with. When I say he's led a life similar to mine, I mean it in more ways than I'd like. He too is Motochika, the man who conquered Shikoku, a captain of his own ship who sails his own seas. I don't understand how such a thing is possible, yet I can't deny that it is. I've even met him face to face and he doesn't begin to resemble me, but there are many aspects of our life that are the same.

[No amount of time passing will lessen how much it vexes him.]

I didn't expect it. Changing your choices because of such a simple conversation is a sign of a weak-willed man, something I know you aren't. Just... keep it in mind. I do not wish my job to be any more difficult than it already is.

[She might unhesitatingly leap into fire if it was to drag him out of it, but she would much rather him not play with it in the first place.]

Aye, of course. "Be mindful" and all that. You've told me many a time.

[Not that he ever listens. Well, maybe occasionally. When it suits him.]

Aki often accompanies Shotaro in field work of her own volition.

[Philip doesn't mind. Information.]

And yet you never listen.

[She sighs. As if he would this time, either. She pauses for a moment to gather her surroundings and notes that there's a reason it started smelling even more of sea salt. The distinct lack of devastation means she made it there before Mitsunari.]

I've made it to the harbor, but I do not see a ship flying your crest. Where are you?

I see.

[You know, he can respect that.]

I assume that you do not accompany them. How do you contribute?

What does it mean? That there could be other men calling themselves Mitsunari Ishida gallivanting about this place, too?

Why the devil isn't any of this making sense?!

[All he knows is that there had better not be a second Ieyasu to contend with. One is already unacceptable.]

It makes no more sense to me than it does you and I've had months to think on it. There are no other Mitsunaris that I know of, though that doesn't mean we'll never see one. There are, without a doubt, two Motochikas, though. One of whom sails with a Mitsuhide that the Demon King we know of would never have taken on as a retainer.

[This one would have fainted dead away if he'd so much as seen Azuchi Castle from a distance.]

[Don't get him started on the issues with his crest.]

I fly a different flag here. Here, let me draw it.

[He scrawls out his Jolly Roger.]

It's not a bad replacement, I think.

Edited 2014-02-21 09:52 (UTC)

[It's been a long time since he's been bothered to think about Akechi Mitsuhide in any capacity. Not since long before Hideyoshi's death, certainly. As a result, he can't place the name at first, though he's never been good with names to start with.

At last he recalls the man, and what a distasteful individual he was.]

How different could they be, if they are both Akechi Mitsuhide?

As different as a black night in winter and a sunny spring morn and I choose my words deliberately on that one. The Mitsuhide I've come to know here is a fragile, emotional creature who needs the Motochika of his world to hold his hand to so much as face the world around him. You needn't concern yourself with either of them or their crew of milksops.

[Perhaps he exaggerates, but not by much.]

You... are indescribably daft, Motochika! How can you heed those dissimilarities and still consider them both to be the same person? Is a simple shared name proof enough to convince you?

[Alternate selves, how do they work?

He hasn't forgotten the myriad other reasons he's upset with Motochika today, but he can't help taking a moment to voice his bewilderment at all this.]

I agree that I fail to see any similarity, but I believe there are a few between the other Motochika and myself. Enough that I'll take his word for it when he names his companion as Mitsuhide.

[Please don't make him tell you about the time Mitsuhide brought up that nickname. It was part of what convinced him that he was indeed dealing with people from some strange alternate world, but Mitsunari really doesn't need to know about it.]

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