}{The video flutters on to a the mirthful shirtless-wonder waving at the screen.}{

Helloooo Discedo-land! Do you like Noh?

Anji-sama is more of the kabuki sort, but reading this elaborate book Baiken-san gave to me, it caused me to wonder...

Has anyone thought to put this grand playhouse to good use?

I think, that's just what I'll do.

I have a plethora of performances in mind, though mostly Mugen nō and Genzai nō influenced.

Pondering on it for some time, I knew if escape was some time away, I would at least live as I would in the outside world.

And Anji's world is the world of entertainment, you see!

Can you dance? Can you sing? Are you dramatically inclined?

I think even in this cold weather, a intricate dance is just what one needs to warm the hearth of the soul!

}{And ever the eccentric card, he twirls in place with all the grace of a prima ballerina, soon losing himself to the beat of his own melody as he prances across the stage, leaving the commlink to timeout alone and disturbed.}{

Ah Hello?

Hello, officers? This is Anji Mito, I request an audience with any of you quite urgently!

[Text]

If I could speak with one of the police officials? It's very important!

}{The camera flutters on as Anji sets it down on the windowsill of the second story of the hospital. It captures him hoisting a rather annoyed and unsure Baiken up on his back, securing her with her arm-chain around his waist.}{

Nothing to crease unnecessary wrinkles about. I've leapt from 3,000 feet to avoid Johnny-san's poor flight skills, while on the back of Zetsu.

So hold on tight, Onee-san!

}{As he recalled, the pirate was likely trying to run him over on purpose. Tightening the chain, he knocks the commlink and it spirals out the window, to clatter on the ground, face-up towards the open window, to see Anji peering out perplexed.}{

Whoops! ... Ah, well.. That won't be us, so ichi.. ni.. san..!

}{Perching on the ledge, he spreads his fans out like a pair of wings, and bounds from the window! A great escape, his sleeves flag behind them providing a parachute-like drag.}{

( KAMIKAZE! )

Ah! Good evening Blacktech!

[He gives the blinking screen a cordial wave, however his fingertips are covered in blood.]

You caught me in the middle of prepping for tomorrow's little festivities. I know this isn't the most benign of places, but when I had a look at the date Chipp-kun reminded me that we should be having a cele--

[Taking a flint knife he's meticulously stripping meat from the bone of a rather large flank that was once a Mad Cow he and his companions went on a hunting party for. Little did he know he'd be using it for a party.]

Celebration of sorts. I know it looks gruesome now, but I'm scheming to make a very appetizing shabu-shabu we as friends can share with our honorable old comrade who gets a special reminders that:

October 24th is the birthdate of Renegade Johnny-san!

Please do well Blacktech Network to remind him numerous times over because I hear he's absently forgetful of it!

[There's bone-cracking and the inevitable pop of a socket as he pulls the strange bone-structure free of the muscle and places it aside on the counter, all the while completely jovial of his handy-work.]

In other gossipings, which I'm very adept in, I went to have my chip removed only to find that well... It wasn't where it originally was. That's a pretty underhanded trick of these orchestrators. I'd be more than available to let the poking around in me continue to find where-ever it had been misplaced at.

Yet I hear that's quite the danger, na?

Well, nothing I wouldn't mind facing so long as it uncovered a deception.

[He allows the screen to time out while he cleans up the butchered mess he made.]

BBBZZZZAAAPPUUU!!

UuwwaAAAaaAAhh! SORRY, SORRY! Ah I am all crispy now, I smell just like hibachi Kobe steak... With onion.

And minced wasbi.

And avacado.

Fr-fresh..ro..maine.. lettuce...?

!!!

How did you get here, my friend!?

You! Takumi hanbāgā who appears only in my dreams!

... If I'm dreaming I shouldn't have felt that shock though so... This means only one thing!!

MERII KURISUMASUUU~!!

...

[Text Edito!]

Before I forget! My silence, you see, I've been working on something very important! I haven't had access to my scrolls since my chip implantation so I had to do this from memory but... I don't know if this would be considered Blacktech since it does not run on electricity, but I've redesigned a new method of food storage! It is called a Pot-in-pot refrigerator!

It works thusly by evaporative cooling. Simply to place a clay pot inside another pot, fill wet sand between the two pots and place a wet cloth on top! Place the pot-in-pot in a sun-light source and the evaporation of the moister inside will cool the inner pot and whatever contents you have placed inside!

Genius yes?

I'll be happy to make one for whomever asks that needs their food properly stored!

}{After this mishap, Anji had taken Ace back to his apartment to dress his wounds. The communicator is set down on the kotatsu, it's recording not taken notice by the kabuki who adjusted his spectacles as he knelt down in front of the man who he had nearly pummeled to death.}{

Please hold still if you will, it will probably sting, but that will be a good thing.

}{Taking a small cotton ball dowsed in a clear salve he reaches out to gently dab Ace's cheek where his fan had cut him. For a man so stalwartly built it may have seemed a feat that he could be amiable in touch. He had nearly taken the man's head off only minutes beforehand.}{

You're rather fortunate I do not have that chip's spell on me, I could have actually hurt you.

}{It was a compliment and tease all in one. Ace had taken his hits like the violent wind to a mountainside. Anji was indeed impressed with him.}{

You're that guy who wanted to party here with us sometime, na? Ace-san? You'll have to forgive me for being one to party hard.

}{The good nature on his face was a stark contrast to the fury that had caused the snow to dance behind his swifting feet. Yet truth had placated him back to the sensible man he longed to perpetually be.}{

Do not worry.. about the wrath of anyone else who were beguiled.

I'll see to it they know you're in the clear.


((ooc: Commentlog open to Ace of course :3 ))

}{The recording begins sometime in the middle of this charming get-together.

Baiken had been seen leaving for the restroom, only to return to find Johnny desperately trying to hold Anji off from giving him sake, like a geisha serving her client.}{

"I DON'T WANT TO BE SERVED BY YOU."

}{Baiken merely shrugs at this and sits down at the kotatsu, with the gaijin Chipp, like it's nothing.}{

( And so goes the antics of Latimir 406 )

}{The recording ends and remains a testament to the untold epic tale of love brimming in Latimir 406.}{

}{OOC: Pink by Baiken Seishino, Red by Chipp Zanuff, Yellow by Johnny Sfondi, Blue by Anji Mito}{

}{The apartment scene seems rather empty as Anji lays his communicator down on a make-shift kotatsu. Resting his chin on the faded blue fabric on the table he gives the screen a wave and an impish smile.}{

You know, being a frequent visitor of Yomi, one would think that sensation of deep.. endless sleep..

Would become something imperturbable.

One would think that maybe.

After falling asleep twice now, I admit it's not something I hope to become a habit.

So, just a question, if you will humor me.

Nothing morbid or cruel behind, I assure you but..

How many times have you passed on?

Does the number of times make the transition from life to death any easier?

I've been thinking..

Onee-san is of the opinion that is a dangerous thing.

}{The jovial man gives the screen a playful poke, taking the time to type his question out in TEXT, before shutting it off.}{

}{The video flutters on taking a quiet capture of the man half in a waking dream. Sitting up in his bed, unable to control the shaking any longer, he seemed to no longer attempt to fight it. His skin, that was usually lightly tanned by the sun he loved to bask in, was nearly as porcelain as the fairest geisha. Sable eyes looked downcast towards his hands where he held a large brown fan that trembled in his grasp.}{

This..

}{His tremulous voice can barely reach the commlink's receiver.}{

This is not.. very exciting anymore.

}{He looks restless, but without the strength to move, he felt as if there was nothing he could do to relieve it. This strange feeling of such helplessness was a foreign sensation to the man. Something that tickled unsettlingly at his brain. The frustration manafested itself in the form of several violent sneezes, racking pangs through his sore unused muscles.}{

GESHYUU!



}{The final sneeze miraculously seemed to tap into his spirit that still struggled to remain strong, and with it came a small explosion of tiny spirits in the form of iridescent blue butterflies.}{



}{He watched without alarm as the tiny kaleidoscope fluttered about in his hospital bedroom, many escaping through the crack in the window. A simper touched his mouth, looking almost comforted at the sight of them before the video timed out.}{

G-g-g-g-gii... Good morning.. or.. night, little Blacktech.

I've been sleeping hgnnnn.. like some great mighty bear, n-na?

Didn't th-think I would be grateful for such aaa...aaaahhh.. AHHSYUU!

A warm~m bed.

Anji's... Anji's really never cold.

What a haha! What a nice.. new experience.

How.. ah.. how long was the sssss~sssickness ss-s-s-supposed to last again?

I.. I must be.. making up for all the.. the.. the years of good clean health!

Fuwaaaa... Such a intense night! I believe we could have very well melted the snow with the heat of our intoxication--HURK!

Uwah.. I also.. Geh... GEH.... GEEHSHUUU!!

Oh its so.. HORRIBLY WONDERFUL!

I'm sick! I really think I am sic--KYU--GEHSHU-GEHSHU-GEHSHU!

Ah I never thought I'd feel like this, it's so haha, so hahahahaha terrible--HURk..!

Please.. don't worry! I want-GGHN--to ride this wave out like a real man!


}{OOC: Anji's finally gotten his chip out thanks to the MS! And is feeling the effects of his very first illness. Oh yes he's quite quite happy about it. UNFORTUNATELY he was also one of the randomly picked to DIE OF INFECTION FROM CHIP REMOVAL! Oh Anji as soon as we get you back, you're gone again. Can't catch a break man, cant catch a break. 8( }{

}{Fluttering on, the video catches the man's profile. He's awake it seems, staring rather blindly upward, touching his face as if he were making sure it was solid. Were real. A sigh lapses from him, flinching as he feels coldness in a breeze through the windowsill and the touch of a snowflake on his nose.}{

Oh.. I slept right through Summer, even the Fall. Sei, that is.. too long to be trapped in Yomi.. Was it my will that brought me back? ...Or?

}{He had said time and again, to every opponent that he was ready to die, that he would die trying to attain his answers, or allow death to claim him once he had them. The majority took his perseverance and persistence as optimism, but really he just never thought his goals through enough. He was selfish in that way, knowing who he'd leave behind, and he smiled rather sadly knowing he wouldn't change his fatalist ways.}{

He said... this was my escape. Yet death is anything but an escape route. It is more of a resting place for reality, where your chapter ends.

But the story of life continues on without you.

}{The screen is filled with snow, black with hints of gray here and there as a picture struggles to form. A glare of circular spectacles pierces through the thick dust, momentarily disembodied till the frame fills with a tired smiling face attached to those specks. Anji is panting lightly, leaning against a cracked counter where he lies a dead boar of sorts in the sink to soak the blood out of. Despite the exhaustion reigning his muscular frame, he looks rather victorious.}{

Say, say.. Onee-san! Chipp-kun! We'll have.. real hanbāgā tonight! Perhaps.. goad Johnny-san into joining.. if he brings some saki, na? It will taste.. just like home. So we won't forget what we left behind.. What questions still need answering for.. for all of us.

Say.. Onee-san.

}{He's clutching the counter at this point, his sinewy arms shuddering, clear with red ravines that look like scratches from the vicious rain. No longer looking at the screen he seems to be staring through his own hands, auburn and mussed hair falling into his sable gaze.}{

There was.. one more thing.. }{A faint smile dances upon his lips.}{

But I'll... }{There's a tight gasp from him, sweat beading down his brow as his hand grasps at his chest so tight his nails drag rivets against his bare breast.}{

Have to st-stall again... GHNN! }{The pain ruptures through his body like a million tiny needles piercing and ripping through every fiber of his being. The screen goes flying and a loud thud is heard. Before the screen the man lies twitching uncontrollably as he claws at the ground to get up. He seems to be muttering to himself over and over, lifting his head and staring through the splash-screen as if it weren't there. As if he was seeing something in the distance that no other could see.}{

It's OK.. it's OK.. It's OK.. I've waltzed this.. narrow line before... between heaven and earth.. I... just danced too closely.. this time..

}{Blinking deeply a black streak of ink streams from the corner of his eye. Another, and another, and another, and as he touches his face it smears on his hands and he stares upon it with that strange amusement of his. The times where he would laugh in the moments where he should cry. He wants to chuckle but a harsh cough ruptures his seemingly undeterred frame, a ball of liquid onyx splattering on the floor. The stain seems to gain life of it's own, solidifying into the thinness of paper till it's form manifests into the most beautiful black butterfly he had ever seen.}{

A-ahh..Ch..chou-chan.. }{The sight of it has him daunted. For the butterflies that inhabit his spirit as his guardians and friends seem to have rebelled against him. The feeling of dread teases every end of him and it was then he knew he had crossed the thin line between life and Yomi. A misstep in his waltz brought about by his own foolish curiosity.}{

It's.. my blunder.

...

...Sorry...!

}{As his voice grows fainter and he forces the cries of agony to strangle and die in his throat his shivering fingertips reach out to paint ティキ upon the small screen. The last line streaks suddenly as his digits begin to shatter like glass, breaking apart into hundreds of the creeping shrieking insects. The kabuki suddenly raises in a bolt of blood-curdling pain, and an angered cry to accompany it. His back arching, two great butterfly wings burst from his spine, only to crack in millions of insect-shaped pieces that eat and devour away at his body till nothing is left.

The swarm of butterflies fill the rest of the screen till a pair of circular spectacles drop down before the inked words, their glimmer the last light to be seen before the image becomes filled with snow again.}{



((OOC: Goodbye Anji. We barely knew ye! ))

Uwaaahh my graceful dance for hanbāgā!

We are nesting in this flat for our own safety but Anji-sama is a freebird and wants to catch his worm, so to speak!

Onee-san, Zessen should protect me from the biting rain so really no need for worrying about damage to my spectacular stature!

I will bring you back something satisfactory.

Please keep Chipp-kun from letting another building fall on him, OK?

I am reminded of the false quakes the master's of the colony would create, just to make our feigned Japan just a little more authentic.

It is things like this that make me wonder just how authentic this place really is. Do these scientists torment us with these plagues? Or do they suffer right along with us?

So many questions I have for them, and so relieved am I to be living to be able to carry them out.

Onee-san, thank you for putting me in to hospital! Or else Anji-sama would have become an Anji Sandwich! To which I promise would likely not taste very good to anyone!

Saa.. I suppose not even the rooftops shall be my domain any longer. Eto.. but, has anyone seen a white-haired, red-eyed, disgruntled young man up and about?

Oh yo! Onee-san? Chipp-kun?

I brought home two strays.

May I keep them?

I will teach them how to use the utilities and all that with great promise!

[His voice echos not only through the communicator, but through the hospital lobby as well]

Please! Anyone! Assistance please! She is bleeding profusely!

[He's sounding frantic if not completely frustrated.]

S-stupid.. they all can't understand you..

[A grunt of chagrin leaves him and he tries to the best, or the worst, of his ability to shout in Engrish.]

HAPU! DAKUTA!