( video ) un: achilles

[heelies]

[As when storm-bruised clouds cast their dark pall over the sky, a harbinger of the torrent and tempest to come, so appears the countenance of Peleus' son. He is harnessed in the glorious armor that lame-foot Hephaestus did forge for him, and upon his head fiercely glints the golden helmet which once served as a beacon to the Myrmidons and all of the vast host of war-loving Argives. Like the thunder that is hurled by almighty Zeus who bears the aegis, his voice roars out over the network.]

Koltira, you whose heart is blackened with vile hatred! Hear now the son of Peleus, Achilles, best of all the Achaeans - I whose pride was rent by your blade when you did raise arms without first issuing a proper challenge as is honorable between warriors. I demand that you meet me in single combat, that I may avenge myself and slake my spear upon your blood. Meet me then to the east of the town ere the sun touches the far horizon, where it settles for the night into the couch of the desert - unless the worm of cowardice burrows deep within your breast to weaken your fighting spirit!

It is for this reason that I give my challenge in this public forum, that others may bear witness and hold you accountable to this duel. What say you, Koltira? Recoil not from the bloodshed you so take pleasure in! Long has my anger rankled in my breast, and long has my pride festered without salve potent enough to soothe it, for the cure lies only in victory by dint of my spear. Thus, today I wait no more!

[In the colloquialisms of the locals: This town ain't big enough for the both of us.]

Comments

video ; un: man of still

[figureitout]

[ he'd do half of a fistbump if he believed Sai to know what a fistbump is... ]

I'm glad someone else came to the same conclusion here. But, I mean, if he's willingly walking into the whole thing... [ HIS LOSS TBH if he knows what Koltira is capable of and still challenges him, well, tough luck?? ]

video;

[daimeinashi]

[He does not know, but Stiles should clearly be the one to educate him y/n]

Precisely.

[He appreciates u, man of still, whoever u are. He was able to have a rational conversation with you last time and you're also not lecturing him on how it should clearly be their responsibility to keep Koltira from killing Achilles.]

If he was unable to defeat Koltira-san while he was in that state, the idea that he could do so now is utterly ridiculous. Should he be fool enough to attempt it, then it is best to leave him to it.

[And then he smiles, but it's a bit, uh, plastic. Still not super good at this whole, socially appropriate gestures thing.]

Perhaps Koltira-san will even be magnanimous enough to resurrect him afterward.

[figureitout]

[ yyyyyy u can count on him buddy, let him teach you about all the small friendship gestures ]

Yeah, I mean, judging by this whole "fight me bro" thing, he's not exactly going to listen to rational explanations, so might as well skip the whole thing and go straight to funeral arrangements.

[ and as bad as Sai may be at this whole being friendly and appropriate thing... Stiles cracks up. it's rare, actually, for him to really laugh, as much as he jokes and grins, but this? this is the most perfect kind of sarcasm he can't help but appreciate. ]

Can you imagine? Achilles dies, gets resurrected, ends up losing again and owing a life debt to Koltira? That'd be just beautiful.

[daimeinashi]

Why bother with the latter? If he is so intent on a true battlefield, then we should merely leave him where he falls.

[....aaaand there he goes, ruining the moment.]

[figureitout]

... wow, dude, you don't kid around, do you?

[ HE'S NOT SO MUCH DISAPPROVING but rather... something between impressed with the disregard of anything to do with human life and curious as to what the deal with this guy actually is, because this is some Emotionless Assassin shit if he's ever seen some and coupled with their last discussion... well. ]

You know actually, even after a large battle, they usually burn those who've died because leaving them rotting around would just spread disease and stuff.

argh grammar

[daimeinashi]

[His deal is pretty unpleasant, Stiles. Root is not a good time.]

Yes, after the battle was over and the fighting moves on, or ceases entirely. We can take care of it when we are finished with our mission. If the sandworms and carrion birds haven't done so already, that is.

grammar is a cruel mistress

[figureitout]

[ clearly not......... ]

Well, yeah. Except we're not in a battle or war right now. People have time to, to sit around a campfire and sing songs and go around investigating and stuff, right? I get what you mean, if there's a battle going on, we need everyone available to help. But there's not. Not right now. And no matter who dies... they're still a person.

[ he has a feeling this will not get through to the guy, but... at least he's tried. ] Achilles doesn't sound like the best kind of guy, but he's actually a renowned warrior, like, one of the best that ever lived. Literally. And maybe you've grown up to different rules and ideas, but every life lost deserves some recognition.

[ a pause. ] Most lives. There's definitely some I'd just leave in the dirt.

my turn to be super late lol

[daimeinashi]

Do we have time? Perdition's Rest was just recently attacked by bandits and Deemers both. It is best to remain on our guard until we return to Oska.

[He simply shrugs]

It is impossible to recognize every life that falls in combat. Death is simply a fact of life, especially when we have entered the service of an organization such as ALISTAIR with at least Zymandis as an enemy, and likely others we have not been informed of either.

Regardless, Achilles-san's notoriety in his own world is irrelevant. Our village's current leader is one of the legendary Sannin, the three most powerful shinobi in our history. Were she to fall through a rift and be pressed into service with ALISTAIR as well, my deference is owed, but she will be merely another recruit to everyone else.

[figureitout]

Yeah, I know, I know. Just... you know, even if we somehow ended up in the middle of a war with Zymandis and half of our recruits died, I'd still want to commemorate them somehow.

[ ................... also. ]

What's a shinobi? [ yes, this is what he fixates on in all of that. ]

[daimeinashi]

Even the ones you do not know?

[He's gotten a little bit better at this since his own post. Juuust slightly, after Luffy had finally put it to him in terms he could understand. Their friends would be sad.

But there's still a pretty fundamental disconnect. Sai can understand on a very vague level the value of friendship to a person, but "life" as an abstract concept still holds no intrinsic value.]

A shinobi is the term for our primary military forces. You may know it as ninja.

[figureitout]

Well... yeah. I mean, there's going to be someone missing them, or not knowing they're dead, or — I don't know. I just know if I were to arrive here now, and someone I'd known had been here and fought for ALASTAIR and died, I'd want them to care at least enough to put their name on a memorial stone or a wall or a monument.

[ and because he wants it for those he cares about, it has to apply for everyone else, too — how else would only the names of those important to him be commemorated and others not? ]

.... oh my god, are you serious? Wait, no, of course you're serious, I'm like 98% convinced that's all you can be. So. You're a ninja, dude, that's — holy shit, that's so cool.

[daimeinashi]

[A memorial stone. Konoha has one of those, for shinobi killed in action. It would be impossible for even those of Root to be unaware of it, though the picture Danzou paints is typically not so rosy. Perhaps because he himself does not believe in the purpose of the stone, or simply to instill in Root that sense of themselves as weapons and nothing more--the unseen ones that support the great tree of Konoha from the depths of the earth--their names will never be on that stone, not least of which because they don't actually have names anymore.

He trains them not to exist, and one cannot be remembered if they never existed at all. A good way to do to that is to give the impression that remembrance is not necessary in the first place.]

Ah...it is something you wish to be done for your friends. So you do it for others in the hopes of reciprocation, if it becomes relevant.

[It's that weird transitive property of bonds thing again, just like why these people protect strangers because they do not wish for their own friends to die. Too much of his empathy has been stripped from him for him to be able to truly understand the feeling at its core, but he can sort of piece together the reasoning, working backwards.]

In this case, however, Achilles-san would not be dying in service to ALISTAIR. It would only be for the sake of resolving a personal grudge.

...And yes, I am serious, but--

[He very occasionally has some very weird dry and/or trollish "humor" but it's definitely something that doesn't come naturally.]

What does the temperature have to do with anything?

[figureitout]

... I guess so, yeah.

[ it's a blunt way of putting it, the implication that he doesn't really care about others so much as he does it only for his friends... but is it wrong? he's never been one of those who'd care for others no matter what, he doesn't have the same kind of bleeding heart kindness that Scott possesses.

it's blunt, but it's the truth.

also excuse him for skipping the comment about Achilles in favor of — ]

Dude, it's a saying. A saying. Like, a slang thing. It means "really awesome". You know, kinda like you can say something's "neat" when it doesn't mean everything's clean or in order?

[daimeinashi]

Oh, I see.

[Said in the tone of someone who has never used "neat" in that way.]

People on this team have unusual reactions to ninja.....

[At least you didn't start flailing and pointing like Sanji did tho]

[figureitout]

That's probably because the ninja aren't, you know, actually really common in the world they come from. At least that's true for mine.

[ aside from weird shadow ninja things controlled by the dark fox spirit but let's not get into that... ]

[daimeinashi]

[He frowns.]

I do not understand...people do not react in such a fashion to Koltira-san mentioning what he is, though it does not seem that "death knights" are a common feature of many worlds, either.

[The sad irony is that while Sai doesn't physically require violence to stay lucid he probably cares so much less about hurting people than Koltira does. There's definitely a disconnect to him, in why people might be afraid of the other man, as opposed to similarly enthralled.]