nysalogs | . all you have's your axe to grind . closed

[Takasugi doesn't linger among weary. Darma's profession of intervention is all he needs to hear; he slips from the crowd wearing a smile. The effects of haughty beings descending from the stars, their technology far beyond the simple lives below...

He knows well what happens from here.

The society below is damned, but he'll get what he needs from it. A wider scope, attention turned to the galaxy - to the Storm, to the planets they left behind.

Takasugi isn't difficult to track down for one who knows him so well as Katsura. He's stalled in a fairly vacant hallway, staring beyond a window to the stars. In contrast to the runaway, he's not so unscathed. A gash rips through his shoulder, both sides of his yukata stained in blood.

There are more wounds littered over him, ~~they haven't been specifically threaded yet~~, but none of it effects his posture. Injuries never do; he'd stand until he passed out.]

Yo.

[Something's off when Takasugi feels calmer (it's the exhaustion) than Zura.] Looks like this planet will have its own Amanto to deal with soon. [He's gloating. Unconcerned with what happened to his former comrade - if it's important, Zura will tell him.]

[ There, see? There's Takasugi, battered but alive and shrugging it off, just like Katsura knew he would be. Having his assumptions confirmed makes Katsura feel... something. A little annoyed, a little relieved, a little mad - though the last one is fading, at least until Takasugi makes his quip about the Amanto. ]

Hmph. You can't call it 'soon' when we were down there just yesterday.

[ He sounds more mad about the reminder than the gloating. He doesn't like being an invader any more than he likes being invaded, as it turns out, and he especially doesn't like being forced to invade. ]

[Of course Katsura would think beyond himself. To Takasugi, the citizens of Olymipa and Wyver are just as alien as the Natha, as the creatures they'd fought a decade ago. Yet, from the perspective of a noble leader, the refugees are the foreigners.

Not that they'd intervened on their own accord.] That's true.

The Natha have been using us to interfere for a long time.

[From where they stand, a curve of the planet is visible. Clouds swirl, darkened, unnatural as the dragon's final outcry hangs suspended.] What do you think would happen down there, if they didn't get involved?

Maybe with no one to stop time their world simply would have ended.

[ He sounds a little sarcastic but... sure, that's possible. He'll leave it on the table. ]

And maybe without us helping the natives evacuate there would have been more casualties.

[ Less sarcastic, though still not like he quite believes it. ]

But out presence may have accelerated that man's efforts. And our presence certainly drew resources away from whatever forces might have counteracted those efforts.

[ If nothing else the parade of dragons and fancy horses surely took attention away from more critical matters. Katsura finally reaches up to brush a stray strand of hair away from his face - and only just now seems to realize that it's only stuck there because of the blood. Gross.

He lets his hand fall to his side. He needs a shower, but he'll deal with it anyway. ]

I think it may have happened number of ways - except for how it actually happened.

[ Which is ultimately the issue, in his opinion. ]

[It's too eager, assuming that the world beneath would have simply disappeared. Takasugi craves that end, even for a planet as unremarkable as Nysa, but yearning isn't so readily sated.

Idiots don't die so easily, and this bunch is full of them.

All of the other possibilities aren't hard to imagine, each an entry in a strategic roster. Rattled off like they're somehow capable of influencing what happens next with their own hands.

But they aren't.

Katsura looks like shit, and Takasugi looks worse. But if a war was left to them, neither could have been more comfortable. Except all that they've been given is the role of fodder, sent on errands the lofty Amanto don't wish to trouble themselves with.]

And now they're asking us to keep interfering on their behalf.

[He's not opposed to taking the planet and using it, but when he does, it will be for his own ends.] Will you do it?

Of course.

[ Katsura's tone is clipped and brittle, but his response is without hesitation. ]

The alternative is to seclude myself and wait everything out with a sulk. Even interfering to help wherever we travel next to better protect itself is better than nothing.

[ And plotting against the Natha isn't easy when confined to a space station controlled by them - but even though he's sure Takasugi would love the sound of that, openly discussing it while still on said space station would be a dumb idea even by Katsura's standards. ]

[Accusing him of secluding himself and waiting everything out with a sulk?

How dare you. ~~Absolutely correct though.~~

He's biding his time until something of a wider scope presents itself. Though, in this case, there's the hint of an opportunity dangling in front of them. On the space station, there's no discussing anything about the Natha beyond cursory discontent and suspicion.

Takasugi doubts he's the first one they've heard bemoaning their ways.

Even planetside, the Natha have a network of surveillance. Except for a certain locale - Nadril - the exact location they're being sent to. Takasugi will go, the technology with the capacity to pull the wool over the Natha's eyes too interesting a glimmer to leave in passing.]

You'd be better off helping yourself, instead of people who have no interest in leaving.

[Common ground between them has eroded over the years, but there are some things that just won't crack, no matter what. Edo. Home. Neither of them were finished with that place yet.]

[ There's no doubt he's correct. Katsura knows Takasugi better than he knows almost anyone else. Years of friendship followed by years of a nebulous not-exactly-rivalry can do that to a relationship.

Takasugi's reprimand (that may not be exactly what it is, but it feels like it) earns him a tired look from Katsura. ]

I'm sure you'd find it terribly convenient if helping myself ended up helping you.

[ Seriously Takasugi, just ask. More pressingly, however... ]

I'm more concerned about the ones that can't leave.

[ That is to say, all of their friends in pods. He bets Takasugi hasn't even dropped in to say hi, of course. ]

[A reprimand and a conversation go hand in hand, with them. Not once does Takasugi remember an exchange with Katsura that didn't include at least one of them attempting to lecture the other. It's expected from the honor student, a duty-driven samurai always seeking to imbue others with his wisdom.

But Takasugi had always sought to put a dent in all of that. See, Katsura, there's no honor here.

There's no one worth helping, here. ~~Except him, of course. But he'll never ask.~~]

Oh? Are the Natha holding one of yours hostage? [He sure hasn't even stepped foot into the stasis chamber. His crew is likely in there, he knows, but they were all willing sacrifices from the start.

As for Gintoki - he's up and around, so far as Takasugi knows. And Sakamoto is no doubt still gallivanting around the stars.]

If it was only one it would be easier.

[ They both know Gintoki and Takasugi can shake off damn near anything - hell, sometimes Katsura gets mad enough to just want to leave them both there. But Elizabeth, Shinpachi, Kagura...

Well, he's sure Takasugi doesn't care - and he's not about to bring up Sensei. Though now that he thinks about it... ]

I'm surprised you haven't demanded they wake Gintoki up just so you can pick a fight with him.

[Considering everyone from Earth to be a comrade is nothing but altruistic posturing, even for Katsura. But that's what Takasugi hears when the man bemoans his situation - he's satisfied with the conclusions he's drawn himself.]

Hm? [Why the hell would he want to see Gintoki? Takasugi's smile doesn't fade, but his lips grow taut. His eyes narrow.]

He's awake.

Haven't you seen him? [Three times, Takasugi has encountered the man. That's three times more than he had in a decade - more than enough to believe the idiot's still out there, wasting space.]

[ 'He's awake'? That's clearly news to Katsura. He crosses his arms; his komono sticks to him and he's reminded, once again, that he really needs to shower. ]

I've seen him asleep in the pods.

[ More importantly: ]

You think he could go three months without either of us hearing anything about him?

[Maybe Katsura saw Pakuyasha? The guy from Idaho who looks a lot like Gintoki but isn't? Takasugi doesn't know, but he remembers a bright gleam interrupting his vision multiple times.

It'd left him with a headache.]

I do-

Heh.

Even gravitating towards him, you can't figure out where he's going, huh?

[That makes two of them.]

. all you have's your axe to grind . closed

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