Tokyo Memorial [open]

[majesticarchfiend]

“It’s more a pity that people like you enjoy using it to enhance some political gain.” The silver-haired Britannian interjected, replying to the Chinese kid's comment about the benefits of a weapon of mass destruction. However, there was one mistake made, which Kazuki was quick to pick up on.

"How interesting that you neglected to ascribe the 40 million dead in Pendragon to the FLEIJA, given that it was the weapon used to destroy the Britannian capital. Moreover as it and the Third Pacific War occurred after the destruction of the Tokyo Settlement, it would be a lie to attribute the War's end to Kururugi - he was a catalyst, no more. The peace began when Lelouch vi Britannia was publicly murdered, and his sister Nunally took the throne."

Kazuki looked back at the screen.
"And regardless of that, 75 million civilians, to say nothing of the countless casualties caused by the FLEIJA warheads in that last battle, were killed by that weapon. And no amount of justification will ever change that."
Kazuki smiled inwardly at what some might consider the hypocrisy of his statement - given that he himself was a Black Knight and that he had orchestrated the death of several Britannian soldiers in that bombing - not that anyone present would have known. However there was one difference: Kazuki had carefully planned his attack and had used disaffected buildings due for demolishment - no civilian casualties from the attack.
He smiled.
"You'll have to excuse me. Having never been a soldier, I still cannot justify causing civilian deaths deliberately in combat."

[lloyd]

“It’s more a pity that people like you enjoy using it to enhance some political gain.”
Ouch. This man was definitely the bitter type. Kayeri struggled to put on a cheerful face in the face of that particularly stinging barb. “Well, my dear fellow, it’s a pity that you, as a Britannian, walk into a memorial of a Britannian-committed atrocity, complain about it and then do absolutely nothing. From how it looks, you are the type of person who will walk around, complain a bit, and then go back to your lives—like most of the Britannian majority. You roost comfortably in the joys and rights of being a Britannian and then pay lip service to the deaths of both Britannian soldiers and the people they are fighting. You do nothing and yet feel that Britannian sense of entitlement. If you were like this guy,” Kayeri said as he pointed at Gauron, “who doesn’t have much of a side and just randomly does whatever the hell he wants, I would at least grudgingly see someone who tries. If you were like those Black Knights who are trying to fight the might of Britannia, I would respect you. If you were a Britannian politician or journalist commenting about these things and facing assassination like some of the Senators I know in the Imperial Senate, I would at least see you had a sense of morality. If you had reported the existence of a Chinese Agent on Britannian Soil conspiring to wedding crash an imperial wedding for possibly shady ends, I would know you are at the very least patriotic. Yet you have done none of those things.” Kayeri paused for a moment. He had been carried a bit away by his anger, but honestly, when you’re a politician, every opportunity to vent is satisfying. “All you are is someone who sees injustice and knows it, but is too scared or simply unwilling do anything about it.” Kayeri paused for a moment and force himself to regain his cheerful outset. “Well, my dear fellow,” he said with a slightly sardonic emphasis on “my dear fellow,” “I suggest that you, at the very least, call whatever number that this guy gives you. At least then you can get yourself some self-respect that you are doing something about the world out there, something to end those wars that create so many refugees in their wake. Being an armchair moralist neither helps those you hope to protect or hurts those who you believe are being unjust.”

The next interjection was to the Japanese comment. (OOC: actually, I did mention the bombing of Pendragon: “40 Million died from Prince Schneizel's bombing of Pendragon”, and I didn’t know a third pacific war occurred, I was talking about the pacific war that led to the invasion of Japan.) “You are right—nothing can forgive the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction on Civilians—but sometimes evil intentions produce good results, just as good intentions may end in insanity (such as with the first attempt at the Administrative Region of Japan). FLEIJA shocked the world. 75 million people dead does have that effect—but Lelouch vi Britannia and Schneizel’s own little crown duel was a fluke borne of the nobility’s struggles, and all dead at that time were soldiers, who knew they would be killed. Even before Lelouch claimed the throne, Prime Minister Schneizel had secured a ceasefire with the UFN—it was only the abrupt death of the Emperor that this peace fragmented. The world was sick of death and war after FLEIJA, and war would have come to an end had not these two princes get involved in their own power struggle. As you have said, and I repeat, there is nothing to justify the deaths of civilians—but it was the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre that brought the Edict of Nantes, bringing religious toleration to France. It was the spectacle of the Great War that brought democracy to Japan and the reunification of the EU. Though we do not doubt that Germany’s Adolf Hitler was an evil man, we know that his death brought a new peace to the EU and the Second Declaration of the Rights of Man.. That doesn’t mitigate his crime, it only says that good came out of it. As with Emperor Lelouch—his war was nothing more than a petty struggle for power, but the barbaric way in which he conducted it reinforced the hate of war that Kururugi caused. I do not try to defend Kururugi or his betrayal—I only say that his deed, no matter how evil, paved the way for good.”

Kayeri turned his attention to Gauron and his threat. “Well, soldier, if you wish to resign, you can do it here as you wish—but remember that you have no friends, only employers. Look around you. You are wanted by the EU for your actions in Romania. Britannia hunts you for your defection to us and what you have done to the Britannian occupational authorities here. You are, very bluntly, running out of nations that don’t hate you. Your money is running dry, you are getting old, and most of the world is hunting you, whether they be Area 18’s insurgents taking revenge for their leaders and imams, Britannia’s SIA or whatever. Maybe you live for simply the moment and you don’t care about retiring—but when nobody will pay you, nobody will employ you and everybody hunts you—as is right now—you will be doing less killing than you will be running. Even if you were hired, who could you trust to pay you? They would gain far more money by handing you or your body in, and they would be far safer too knowing that you won’t suddenly end up blowing the brains out of them. Is this the future you want? A lifetime running, running, running? Then I suggest you simply go down to the ghettos or Area 6 and buy yourself some Refrain, before you run out of money to buy even that.” This whole time, Kayeri had slowly tensed up within his cheerful exterior, ready to move at a moment’s notice. He now realized the error he had made in failing to bring his usual Sikh bodyguards, but there was little to be done about that.”

[majesticarchfiend]

[OOC: 1. I'm aware you did. However you then mentioned only the 35 million civilian deaths caused by FLEIJA in Tokyo without including the additional 40 million civilians from Pendragon - totaling 75 million. Hence Kazuki's comment. 2. The Third Pacific War Kazuki mentions refers to the final round of hostilities that occured after the attack on Pendragon. The 3rd Pacific War is held to have ended with the assassination of Lelouch vi Britannia and the ascent of Nunally to the throne]

"Fair enough." Kazuki replied gamely. "Of course, it is true that some good came out of it - though credit for that goes in large part not to Lelouch or his servants, but rather to his successor - at least in my opinion.
Kazuki lit another cigarette, and took a few steps away from the group to smoke while the shorter man turned to the scarred and launched into a sardonic discourse that revealed a great deal about the man - evidently a criminal.

[Aoi Akuma]

Narrow eyes glanced as more people seemed to be joining the odd group. They took notice to the Japanese who had joined, one that Aoi recognized but couldn’t place, before glancing around and observing the rest of the newcomers. One of them, she noticed, had turned their head towards her. The silver haired one had noticed her presence? How interesting. As he studied her she studied him, took in every little detail no matter how insignificant, just as she had been taught to do. She saw him speak words and could read a bit of it, the overwhelming sound of people prevented her from actually being able to hear them, but she had definitely seen the word ‘political’ somewhere in there. The bluenette tapped her fingers against her leg, so one of them was a politician? It was unwise to be out in the open like this if they were, maybe with the cover of so many people they thought that no one would hurt them, but they were wrong. Cover is a double edged sword; a trained assassin could easily kill them and then hide in the sea of people.

“Hey watch it!”

A foul voice shattered the mourning voices. Aoi felt herself get sideswiped by a small body. Her quick cerulean eyes caught the perpetrator, a young Japanese girl who was probably no older than 8. As she heard the voices come closer she instinctively brought the young girl behind her. As she glanced at the crowd she felt the shivers coming from the girl, whether she was crying or just scared it didn’t matter at the moment as three men strode through the alarmed crowd and towards the girl.

“There she is.”

A rough voice said coming from the man in the middle. He had rough looking features, at least as rough as a rich brittanian brat can look, and strode with overconfidence.

“See I told you this is where she went boys.” The leader said as his two minions nodded eagerly. Aoi felt the girl shiver and cling tighter to her as they started approaching her.

“Move out of the way.” The leader said in a somewhat charming voice. Aoi scoffed internally. Had he really just tried to charm her out of protecting the girl? She kept her blank face on and answered as bluntly as she was known for.

“Sorry but I don’t think I’ll let her go with young sexually confused pedophiles."

“Why you stupid eleven bitch!” The leader screamed as he ran
towards her. Her reaction was quick and calculated. She moved swiftly, her leg extending as she kicked him hard in the shin. A loud crack resounded as the knee cap shattered. He let out a high pitched shriek as his two cronies ran towards her. Sidestepping one she deflected the others punch and pressed hard on the pressure point located in the hand. His eyes opened wide.

“I suggest you help your boss since I doubt he’ll be able to walk to the hospital on his own.”

And with that she released him, sending both of the two cronies scurrying to their boss and running off.

She looked at the small girl, smiled as she thanked her, and then watched her as she scurried off through the crowd. By now everyone had gone back to their mourning and everything had quieted down, except of course for the group that she had been observing.

Sighing she twirled a strand of her hair and tucked it behind her ear, exposing her tattoo to the air once again, and went back to watching them, not caring whether they saw or not as they had probably already been alerted to her presence anyway.

[Touya Sakamoto]

-Thread Finished-

Josef Totschläger: (1976 Words, Normal RP) - 208 EXP, 208 Credits [+10]
Cadian Armana Virria: (1853 Words, Normal RP) - 196 EXP, 196 Credits [+10]
Kayeri Brant: (2425 Words, Normal RP) - 253 EXP, 253 Credits [+10]
Aoi Akuma: (976 Words, Normal RP) - 108 EXP, 108 Credits [+10]
Kazuki Murakumo: (513 Words, Normal RP) - 52 EXP, 52 Credits [0]
Grigori Vladimir Krovko: (217 Words, Normal RP) - 22 EXP, 22 Credits [0]

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