ghostofissues | DAY 60, B/E/ANUBIS/PINK GROUP CALL

[ Sometime in the dead of night a few hours after the game, when all call participants are alone and in their dorms, they receive a series of messages from a display name with no number or email attached:

骸: To avoid sudden termination of your purchased video call or any mobile phone devices, please be considerate of the following guidelines:
骸: Do not record this call in any form.
骸: Do not attempt to contact uninvolved parties until after the completion of the call.
骸: Do not attempt to be overly familiar.
骸: Thank you very much.

And then their phones start to ring.

When they pick up, Mukuro’s face appears, beaming. The general angle and slight instability to the picture make it easy to tell he’s pointing his own phone at himself; it seems like he’s completely alone, wherever he is.

“Wherever he is” appears to be the courtyard of an old-style Japanese home, though it’s a bit disorienting to look at. Part of an old wisteria archway is in the shot behind him, but it seems to be, at once, heavily damaged, singed black in places and partly broken down; yet also perfectly whole and in full bloom even out of season; yet also completely chopped down and cleared away. The paper screens as well appear as two different styles simultaneously, the visuals of the two overlapping on top of each other; a worn but well-cared for framework in a darker color of wood and thicker screens, or a more modern-looking, cheaper framework holding paper with a machine-generated uniformity to its texture, or the first style again but with blood and rips and burns smashed and spattered all across it.

It’s probably easier to just look at Mukuro. He gives a cheery wave, with his marbled green nails. ]

Yaho~!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I did get that impression about him, yeah.

[something about ALL THE GHOSTS IN HIS VACATION HOME]

I suppose vengeance is a sort of lust. Mm, if we decide to take Hell's offer, are we specifically pledging ourselves to him, then?

It's not like you really have to. You could always go along with Mammon's little minion, if you want.

After this past week, that sounds exhausting, honestly. But speaking of him, he mentioned that Asmodeus' faction is pretty small, and that... members keep being, um, "taken away"? That seems pretty concerning, given that he's one of the people in charge of all this.

Edited 2018-11-19 01:59 (UTC)

Danna is a younger Prince, so he's still building up his influence. But people switch factions all the time.

Ah, really? I wouldn't have guessed that from what little I saw of him! Go figure. What's he like, in your opinion?

That's getting pretty personal.

Too much so?

I'm more or less in a good mood, so take the warning, okay? ♥

Right, sorry. Noted!

[hmmm]

You were saying that people switch factions all the time. That's not frowned on?

If you asked me, I'd think you were a traitor, but isn't that because I'm so "human"?

Demons... have different ways of thinking, in other words. That makes a certain kind of sense.

The same must be true of Heaven, then. What do they get out of all of this? Is it really just a test of faith?

I don't care what they want.

Not even on a "know thy enemy" level?

I really don't care at all.

Then... could you tell me a little bit more about the stakes? This seems like a lot of work for Hell to go through just to acquire some souls.

Hah? Wouldn’t it be a lot more work to go through every last soul one-by-one testing whether they’re Heaven or Hell or worthless? I don’t exactly get how it works, but it seems like a pretty time-consuming process, you know?

Sure, but it's not like Heaven or Hell are exactly lacking time. Or is this just... some weird byproduct of modernization?

I guess. Maybe I’m the impatient type, but “demons” don’t seem very patient either.

It just seems strange, that's all... but maybe I just don't know enough about demons yet.

I just have a few more questions. The princes, or factions... are there seven of them? Or is that a human conceit? Lilith seems to be a free agent...

[ his eyes stray off sideways ]

There are eight of them, or nine. Lilith-dono is not a Prince, but I'm sure that's only because she doesn't desire it.

[nods slowly]

Do you know... well, someone wanted us to ask if there was any way of truly healing a wound she's "repaired."

Ahahah! Is that what you think happened? I guess that isn't totally off. Hey, what kind of wound do you think Angel | QW5nZWw= suffered to look like that now?

[ just says the whole fucking thing totally casually ]

Those marks can't be taken off. At least not with any method I know about.