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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Do not patronize me, pirate.

Saika herself has no idea what you're talking about! I will not stand for you to spread these malicious lies!

[Mitsunari figures that he must be lying, or at least somehow mistaken. Otherwise, it would just be too awful.]

[It really was that awful, which is why Motochika isn't sure how to answer.]

I can assure you they aren't lies, Mitsunari. I know what I've lived through, even though it seems no one else does. I had not thought this place we've found ourselves in could complicate things to this extent, but I fear that it's the same magic that's confounded me before finding an especially cruel way to confound me yet again.

[He can hear the earnestness in Motochika's words, and it puts him further on the defensive.]

Allow me to ask this! Where is your proof of all this? Why should I trust you over Yoshitsugu?

Yoshitsugu, may I remind you, did not feel so free as to invite Ieyasu of all people aboard his blasted pirate ship!

All I can offer you is my word and you can take what you will of it. I know there's bad blood between you and Ieyasu and it's not for me to make apologies for him, but he's done me no wrong. In fact, he had it in him to forgive me when many a lesser man would not have and for that I am forever grateful to him.

[Motochika truly is nothing but earnest. He knows a reconciliation between Ieyasu and Mitsunari may not ever be truly possible, but if he could at least get them to co-exist...]

[A little switch goes off in Mitsunari's head, and his anger proceeds to skyrocket.]

Enough! You are an absolute fool, Motochika, like all the others he's won over! I am sick and tired of constantly hearing about the good, virtuous man he's supposed to be!

If that creature were so kind and forgiving, he would not have killed Lord Hideyoshi to begin with!

If Yoshitsugu and Motonari truly masterminded the events at Shikoku and not Ieyasu, then--

Edited (i can type) 2014-02-16 09:42 (UTC)

[And just like that he's caught off guard, hit by a terrible realization.]

--Then why does your anger not also reside with me?

You knew nothing of it, yet you were willing to take responsibility for it and offer up your life. You're an honorable man, Mitsunari, and an honest one. I can bear no ill will towards you.

[He had been quite impressed then, when he had brought Mitsunari's blade to rest but a hair's breadth above the man's head and his gaze had not wavered even slightly. He has no doubts as to his character.]

[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?

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.

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.]

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.]

[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.]

[Mitsunari makes a frustrated sound.]

Fine, then. Let us assume he is actually Mitsuhide, and that this second Motochika is just that.

Ultimately, what do I care?

It does not explain the original issue: the events you claim to remember that I do not!

[The time for learning about that nickname may not be now, but someday, Motochika. Someday.]

[You're making him think, Mitsunari. This isn't really his specialty.]

In a way, I believe it does. Perhaps, somehow, they happened in my life, but not yours. What actions do you recall me taking?

[He takes a second to recall.]

...Seeking revenge against Ieyasu, you expressed an interest in making an alliance with the Western Army. I went personally to that fortress of yours in order to confirm your intentions, and then took you on as an ally, if against my better judgment.

Do you remember otherwise?

I do. That was something I considered, but I chose to seek out Sa-- Magoichi's aid first.

[Could it be that such a small thing could change so much?]

Had I not spoken to her, I may well have done just as you said.

And after speaking with Magoichi, you went to Osaka.

...

Did you encounter Yoshitsugu there?

[His voice is oddly quiet, and it sounds as though it's possible there's a wrong answer to this question.]

I spoke to the One-Eyed Dragon and confronted Ieyasu before Magoichi told me what she had learned of Motonari and Yoshitsugu's plan, but upon receiving word from her I did indeed travel to Osaka and I met with Yoshitsugu there. Why do you ask?

[He's not sure what to make of that tone, but he's answered the question honestly.]

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