Keeping Promises [For Schon]

[sumarusfinest]

True to his word, Katsuya makes his way to the more quiet ends of the Nexus once he has a semblance of a plan in place for constructing a memorial for the casualties of the demon invasion that stemmed from his home.

He takes a seat near the newly made door to his world, trying hard not to overthink what is about to transpire.

Comments

[sumarusfinest]

"A long time ago, yes. Many of the higher ups knew my father." Katsuya gives a short nod.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"How many of them were excised in the purge?"

[sumarusfinest]

"..Not many. Most have retired already." Katsuya doesn't understand this turn in topic, but he does his best to answer truthfully and succinctly.

It made sense that Schon wanted to know about his family, considering he and his brother had this strange power.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Where is your father, now?"

[sumarusfinest]

There's a long pause. Katsuya looks down into his teacup.

"My father passed away three years ago. Don't bother asking about my mother. She's been deceased since I was still in primary school."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"My sympathies," he offers, along with a moment's silence. "Any other family? Aunts, uncles, grandparents?"

[sumarusfinest]

Katsuya shakes his head.

"We don't have much in the way of extended family." He doesn't think his power comes form his genetics. In a way, it all came back to Tatsuya and Maya. Everyone with powers was somehow involved with one of the two of them, or both.

"Tatsuya is my only blood family. Though Jun has become like a brother to me as well. Or at least. He was" A small shrug.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

Schön nods thoughtfully, sipping at his tea. It was worth checking, at least. "The form your persona takes--what does it mean to you?"

[sumarusfinest]

"Helios?" A creature in fine Victorian inspired garb, catlike in appearance, with the power of the sun at his command. And a very large gun.

"I've been told it is also me. A part of my soul. Since I'm allergic to cats, I always found it rather like I was being teased, having him take such a form." But he likes cats.

Liking things he cannot have. Striving for justice while being used and abused. Giving up everything for someone else, time and again.

"Helios is a necessary tool for the work I do. I suppose one could argue his appearance is a reflection of myself. I never gave it too much thought before."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"We all have another side to our soul," the thin man muses quietly. "Have you any hobbies?"

[sumarusfinest]

"I enjoy baking." Katsuya offers right away. "Culinary arts in general are quite relaxing."

What else does he do? Wow he's really boring when he thinks about it.

"I have functional English capabilities, obviously. I am passable with an acoustic guitar. Uhm. Believe it or not, I've gotten quite good at placing wiretaps." Despite it being a crime. You hang around Baofu long enough and you start to learn things, okay? He's also gotten really good at interrogations. In a not so by-the-books way.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

Schön nods thoughtfully. "Did you feel pressure, to follow your father into police work?"

[sumarusfinest]

"I did." Katsuya admits quietly. "I wanted to pursue a degree in culinary arts, to become a pastry chef, when I was young. We would argue about it, and in the end I enrolled in the police academy."

The officer doesn't sound terribly broken up about this. It was a long time ago. He's already come to terms with giving up his dreams. Besides...

"I was good at it, and because of those skills I was better able to assist Maya and my companions when they needed me. My skills have helped many old friends I once had in the Nexus. They still help me, to this day. I do not regret the way my life has played out."

Not entirely true. But who doesn't have regrets?

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

He nods, before abruptly changing direction. Perhaps he's trying to shake different ideas loose by shifting to such a different topic. "The argument between the two Elder Beings, do you know any of what it was about?"

[sumarusfinest]

"Somewhat." Katsuya nods, shifting in his seat. Schon isn't the only one uncomfortable speaking of them.

"They were arguing over the value of human life. Nyarlathotep cited all the selfishness in mankind. The anger, betrayal, jealousy. Could get into anyone's heart and bring out the worst in them for everyone to see. Manipulated those with much darkness in their hearts to creating a cult that would strive to end the world. The New World Order."

Facing the Shadows of themselves was possibly the most difficult thing any of them had to do during their struggle. Including killing Hitler in a robot. Rumors man. Rumors becoming reality make weird things happen.

"Philemon believed that people could overcome their barbaric desires to work together for a common good. Our Personae were manifest of the beliefs and strengths each of us held. He didn't want to see humanity snuffed out before it had a chance to show its true potential."

There's a long pause after this, as though Katsuya is reflecting on everything that they've talked about until now.

"Considering one world was destroyed and the other saved...I'm not sure which one is right."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"A tie," the thin man observes, with all that implies. After all, what contest ever ends in a tie? (Shut up, soccer, nobody asked you.)

"What can you tell me of Philemon?"

[sumarusfinest]

"He liked to wear my brother's face. Both of them did, as a matter of fact, though Nyarlathotep was equally likely to wear Jun-kun's father's face. It was how he controlled the other so perfectly."

Katsuya isn't the main character even in the story he's privy to. The real focal points of the fight were Maya Amano and especially Tatsuya Suou.

Still...

"Philemon helped us develop our Personae. Nyarlathoep meanwhile created facsimiles of each of us, manifest of the worst of our thoughts and feelings. I do not appreciate being a pawn in anyone's game, but if given a choice I'd continue to fight for Philemon. A manifest of what we can achieve is better than the alternative."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

A thought sends Schön off on a brief digression, his gaze growing distant. "A story comes to mind, of two great forces--one, for light and order, the other for shadow and chaos--who used whole cultures as proxies in their argument about which path was correct. In the end, the younger races grew tired of being pawns, and grew strong enough to cast both great forces out." He takes a sip of tea and sighs. "Your pardon, I'm woolgathering. Philemon did not, then, show you anything that might be called its true face?"

[sumarusfinest]

"I don't believe we ever got to see either's True Face." Considering one is a Lovecraftian elder god, and Katsuya isn't screaming for all eternity and clawing his own throat out in insanity, this is probably true.

"I think....it would have been preferable to watching Nyarlathotep wear my brother's face. ....Or my own." He shudders slightly. "To be honest we didn't interact with Philemon much. He was greatly weakened. Tatsuya seemed to know more about him than we did, but...then again, he'd also done this--something like it at least--already."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Do you know what weakened him?"

[sumarusfinest]

"Belief, I'm fairly certain. One of them, or both, I suppose it doesn't matter, changed the reality of Sumaru. Rumors became reality. That was what opened the door for demons to invade the city, for every conspiracy theory wildly postulated to become true. The stronger Nyarlathotep's case became, the harder Philemon had to struggle to maintain balance."

The fact that he could still buy weapons from innocuous shops if he asked correctly, that he still had to fight off demons in the streets, proved that the world, while saved, would never truly be the same again.

"I don't think it is within his powers at the moment to completely revert this world to how it was before. I'm no longer certain this particular world was ever any other way, considering it's origins."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

That catches Schön's interest, and he sits forward. "Rumors became reality, you say?" That certainly explains why the demon he contracted wanted to be a rumor-monger. He's going to have to keep a close eye on her, but no need to worry Officer Suou just yet. "Any sort of rumor? Was there some critical tipping point that would make a fiction real?"

[sumarusfinest]

"We outfitted ourselves by passing rumors that local establishment proprietors were involved in the black market and spy rings, giving them access to illegal weapons and tactical gear." Katsuya looks dead serious here. "I still buy my ammunition from a nearby ramen shop, and my reinforced clothing at a local department store in the Aoba shopping district."

That was how so many problems began developing. It wasn't just the demons and Nayrlathotep they had to stop, but every other crazy thing becoming reality by the terrified citizens.

"I fought Hitler in a mech suit, Schon. Yes, Anything."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Consensual reality run amok," the thin man murmurs, half to himself. "Still, it offers you a way to strike at the enemy with his own weapon, should wit and nerve suffice."

Back to the idea at hand, though. "I ask again, was there some sort of tipping point? Did a rumor need to circulate for a certain span of time, or have been heard and believed by a certain number of people before it manifested?"

[sumarusfinest]

That part was always pretty hazy.

"Well...hm. We had a contact. A private investigator who would circulate rumors on our behalf. Then again, they were Devil Summoners. So they could have used their demons to facilitate the rumor spreading." Katsuya looks thoughtful.

"We passed the rumor that the Parabellum bar sold weapons the same night we were able to purchase them, so I would assume it was quantity of spread rather than duration."