What is evil? [Open]

[Omoi Tetsu]

Was evil just selfishness mixed with a total disregard for others? When you consider evil, as an idea, you have to recognize that it exists along a gradient, and that we at least consider certain acts to be more deplorable than others. The boy was walking through the Seki District in broad daylight, the dust from the sweeping crowds and gusts of wind giving the marketplace an oddly chaotic feel to it, with yelling voices seeming to be projected from nowhere and directed at dispersing and colluding brown clouds, with no apparent ultimate purpose emerging from within those words as a result. Worse than being selfish, the boy thought, was selfishly pursuing something that would hurt others, something that fell outside of the norm of human desires. Tetsu wasn't exactly a stranger to death, the village hidden in the clouds was one that was steeped in blood, and always would be, but he didn't, at least at the moment, desire any person's death for it's own sake. He didn't want to see anything like that through, when it came right down to it.

So, is evil human? Is it wanting something normal and doing anything at all to get it? Was it having inhuman desires and following them with a conscience you are betraying? Or is evil, in it's purest form, the presence of an alien or animal desire pursued without conscience?

Tetsu was covering his mouth with his shirt to try to obstruct some of the sand and dust from flying in, but it made speaking beyond a mumble a little more difficult. The owner of the little outdoor kiosk would begin, sizing up Tetsu briefly and trying to arrange her impression of him with what she had on hand. "What do you do? You're looking for some weapons, pouches? We have new smoke bombs, they just came in, try some." The weapons were, of course, second rate trash that the blacksmiths in the village wouldn't dream of stamping their names on, but somehow people like this managed to stay in business for years peddling it. "No. You have boats here, right?" The girl shot him a very suspicious look, her body language immediately shifting in a way that seemed to express that the boy was now a nuisance to her. "Does it look like I'm hiding boats here? Should I turn out my pockets?" He knew that she knew what he was talking about though, this was just a little game at this point, and each player had a different win condition; for the shopkeeper, that would now be getting Tetsu off her tiny property without doing any damage in the process.

The woman, you see, was Hachibana Kirami, and she had a little alliance formed with one of the fisherman from Anatol. He would give her the weapons and armour he would occasionally loot from doomed vessels washing up on Lightning Country's shores, and, in exchange, she was to not only direct people looking for fishing tools to his shop, but offer the products in his inventory to them for a discounted rate, where she would pay the difference in cost. A complicated arrangement to be sure, but here is how the game would be played: the fisherman devotes his resources to advertising, while the shopkeeper does whatever she can to disrupt those efforts. "Come on. You know what happens when someone no longer trusts their partner, right?" The woman turned her head, a hand on her hip as she tapped the floor with an annoyed contemplation. She knew that she was in the process of being inevitably undermined, but she wasn't ready to give up her position just yet. "What happens? Look at me." He snapped his fingers in front of the woman's diverted gaze. "What happens? You get a divorce. At least eventually, right?" The woman would now stare at Tetsu with flat anger, but she knew there was nothing she could do. "Fine." She finally conceded, wondering just how much the boy was going to raid her coffers for.

 

[Mishiku]

Obligations



Home. It had been quite some time since Mishiku visited his parents house, although he was very close with his mother and little sister, his relationship with his father was subpar at best. Mishiku’s father had always favored his two older sons then Mishiku even though he failed to admit it but Mishiku could tell from the lack of compassion and care that he gave to him compared to the compliments he gave to his older brothers. There was one point in time that Mishiku hated his father for the lack of love he got from him but as Mishiku matured and spent more time with his father from their training sessions, he began to come to terms with their relationship. Mishiku had tried to vent his feelings towards his father but his father was a proud man and he always changed the subject. Mishiku walked inside his home and saw his mother in the kitchen cooking, he had almost forgot how good of a cook she was as the aroma of whatever she was cooking made Mishiku’s mouth water, she turned around when she heard the door close and wore a big smile at the sight of her youngest child.

“Mishi, It’s so good to see you!” she said as she walked over and hugged her son in a loving embrace. It was good to see his mom it had been far too long.

“Hi Mom, It’s good to see you too. I missed you.” Mishiku responded as he hugged his mother tightly. It was good to see her. He released his embrace and began looking around in a attempt to see if anyone was home.

“Where’s Aina and Dad at?”


“Your sister is at the hospital finishing up her shift and your father is in a meeting with one of the clan leaders. They’ll be home for dinner, they are excited to see you.” Mikoto responded. She snapped her fingers and remembered an errand she had to do. “Oh, I almost forgot can you take this to the city and give it to Hisao Hachibana’s wife? It’s his payment of the food that he provided for the clan’s festival last month and a meal I cooked up to show appreciation. The catch that he gave us was some of the best fish that I had, almost as good as mine. She has a small kiosk in the Seki District that sells weapons shinobi gear.” Mikoto said jokingly as she grabbed the packed up meal and handed it to Mishiku. He remembered Hisao, he was a nice man just trying to make a living for himself although it had been some time since he seen Hisao’s wife, Kirami. Mishiku took the bag and was surprised by the weight of it, he looked inside the bag and took out the bundle of yen that was inside.

“Five thousand yen? That’s pretty excessive for catering a festival don’t you think?” Mishiku asked.

“Well Yes, but I wanted to give him more money. I heard his family was having some financial troubles and I wanted to help them.” Mikoto responded. Mishiku smiled as he put the money back in the bag and wrapped it up, his mother was always kind and willing to help others out, she had always been a kind and thoughtful woman. “Ok, I’ll be back soon.” Mishiku said as he made his way out and headed towards the Seki District.

He finally arrived at the Kiosk and looked at the wares that the woman had. The weapons and gear looked second rate at best, this definitely wasn’t made by any of the blacksmiths here in the city but Mishiku kept his thoughts to himself, she was just trying to run a business regardless of whether her wares were shitty or not. He saw someone else speaking to her and looked as if they were having an in depth conversation, Mishiku waited patiently and looked at more of her wares but after some time he became impatient, he was only dropping something off to her, it wouldn’t take long at all would it? “Excuse me, sorry to interrupt your conversation Kirami but my mother just wanted to drop this off to thank your husband for catering the clan’s festival last month.” Mishiku said as he stepped to the side of Tetsu and handed the bag for her to take. She looked irritated towards the man that was next to him but it wasn’t Mishiku’s issue, probably an angry customer complaining for the shitty condition the weapons were in. Hell, he would be pissed too if he didn’t know any better and bought some of this gear thinking it was quality.

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

It wasn't that Tetsu hated people walking in on him when he was trying to shake someone down, but they always served as a kind of wild card. You never knew how they'd take it, whether they'd stand up and play the part of the protectorate of the people. It wasn't as if Tetsu couldn't slap most of them for something like that either, but then the whole game was different - there would be a scene, more people would get involved, probably some nosy shinobi doing the same thing he was would get themselves involved, hypocrites that they were. Then, you can tell, the whole point of the trip would be lost, and on top of that he might get a bit of a reputation that preceded him. Shopping with your picture up facing a bunch of cashiers was never a fun experience.

This one seemed to be quiet enough. It was nice to be in the presence of someone he could agree with, if only silently, and if only this agreement was nothing more than 'This is none of my business.'

"So you want a boat?" The woman asked Tetsu dryly. "And a harpoon gun." Kirami was standing with her arms perched on the counter of her stand, looking at the boy in disbelief for a moment before sighing in perplexity and shaking her head. The boy who was waiting in the background eased his way in to pass Kirami a bag full of... Money? Food? It was tough to tell by just looking at the boy passing it, so Tetsu simply let it slide. As he was receding from their little interaction and presumably slated to leave, a thought invaded Tetsu's head. He grabbed the other boy by his arm, only afterwards realizing that it might have come off as a little aggressive, but he wasn't exactly the type to let an opportunity slip by for a fear of being impolite.

"You there. He started, trying to put forward his best showman voice and presentation, "How would you like to go on the adventure of a lifetime?"

 

[Mishiku]

Pyramid Scheme


“What?” Mishiku said in confusion. He was minding his own business and made his way out, his mouth salivating at the thought of his mother’s cooking before the random customer grabbed Mishiku’s arm to stop him from leaving. In any other situation he would have instinctively responded with a judo throw against the stranger’s actions but given the circumstances and with his mind back home, Mishiku wasn’t prepared in the slightest. Mishiku’s eyebrow raised in confusion with the sudden salesman outburst and the stranger’s audacity of grabbing his arm like a madman. “What you need to do first is let go of my damn arm.” Mishiku responded calmly, maybe this guy was a life insurance agent and wanted to sell him a package? The stranger didn’t look the part of a salesman but he was certainly on the right track with the canny voice acting.

“Adventure? No, I’m not interested in buying anything or doing something with random people I don’t know.” Mishiku said, his other arm slowly went behind his back to grab ahold of one of his kunai in case the stranger turned into a threat but soon realized that he didn’t have any of his weapons equipped. “Of course.” Mishiku thought to himself as his hand slowly moved back to his side, “The one weekend I have to myself to relax before my mission I get some green ass salesman trying to scam me on some bullshit errand or deal that I can’t miss out. Watch, I bet he will.”

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

“What you need to do first is let go of my damn arm.” Tetsu smiled and rolled his eyes as he dropped the other boy's arm. One of these types, huh? Here was a boy who not only felt confident he could back up his threats with an appropriate measure of violence; no, not just confidence. This sentiment was the mark of someone eager to test their skill, begging for disobedience in this threat. Tetsu knew the type all too well. A person who simply didn't want their arm grabbed would have just told the boy not to grab it, or to let go, as that is a perfectly reasonable thing to demand. To tell someone that they "need" to let go is obviously a statement implying consequences, and let's just be frank here, those implied consequences involve force and punishment. Now, if someone was prepared to back up their demands with violence, the smartest way to go about it would simply be to pull their arm away, considering that a wrist grab is about the easiest thing to get out of, and Tetsu wasn't holding tight anyway. The last thing you'd want to do on a tactical level is make the other person aware ahead of time that you were willing to fight them while still being tied up with the other person by that grab. Now, you could say that this would be the case if the recipient of that grab was not at all afraid of the person they were speaking to, but if you were truly unafraid of someone, you wouldn't threaten them to begin with. For example, you would never tell this to a rude toddler that had grabbed onto you. So, what did all of this add up to? Untested martial training, or insufficiently tested training. Which in a hidden village meant that he had passed through the Academy. So the boy in front of him was part of the same military collective that he was, probably in the Anbu branch, because they were all dickheads like that (although it leaked out often enough into the main branch that that conclusion wasn't guaranteed). Definitely below Jounin level, but it seemed unlikely that this person wouldn't have graduated from being an academy student, and was pretty likely above Genin or Anbu in Training, although not by much, so those things were not guaranteed either. If he was Chuunin level though, it would mean he would probably have a passport, especially if he was Anbu. Tetsu didn't actually know why he thought Anbu were more likely to have passports than Main Branch Chuunins, he simply had this unjustified intuitive impression that they liked traveling more, or maybe it was that they needed to leave the village and country more often to hunt down Missing Nin.

Boy, this left him with a tough decision though. It's not like he wanted to spend weeks floating around with a complete meathead, but no one could deny the value of having someone on board who both had a little bit of skill and physical prowess, but who might be, let's say more receptive to manipulation than your average person. "So you're an Anbu, right?" He paused, both for dramatic effect, but also to watch the other young man's eyes to both see if they betrayed any concern that he had been discovered, but also to give the boy the impression, if he was right, that he had mystical psychic powers, and was therefore worthy of the intrigue that would keep him involved in the monologue. "Do you really think the only threat to this water-bound country is other people? Other shinobi? Surely you're aware of the monsters that surround this place. Don't you think creatures that attack ships en route to the capture of Missing Nin ought to be treated with the same respectful worry that the Missing Nin themselves are?" He wanted that thought to simmer for a little bit, but he knew that it wouldn't, ultimately, be enough to sell the idea, because, well, everyone knew that a soldier here could do away with moralistic concerns that required effort pretty easily under the guise of them having an exclusive duty to follow orders. He would seal the boy's interest with a call to selfishness, and the best call he knew how to deliver; one that was true. "Did I mention the barrels of cash we'll get as a result? All I need from you is your passport and aide. Think of it as a semi-relaxing fishing trip."

 

[Mishiku]

The revelation that the stranger discovered about Mishiku should have been alarming to him. How did he figure out that he was part of the ANBU corps is what should have gone through his mind but Mishiku was so uninterested at this point that he would make no effort into trying to hide it. He only wanted to get home and have some of his mother’s delicious cooking and put up with his father’s excessive talk of what it means to be an ANBU and ask Mishiku dozens of questions on what he has learned from his missions and his instructors. it really got annoying to a certain point, couldn’t for once they just not talk about the bullshit ANBU corps and just ask how he was doing and what’s new in his life besides the corps? No, he knew better to not to ask questions that he already had the answer too. It was imperative for ANBU to keep their identities hidden but reminiscing of the times his father and brothers had aggravated him to no end of “upholding the family tradition” by becoming an ANBU operative had reached the boiling point for him. “Yeah, I am,” Mishiku responded with a shrug of his shoulders, displaying his disregard for the rules ANBU had placed for all operatives and trainees. “Keep your identity secret above all means during your career as an ANBU.” His ANBU instructor preached during the early months of his training. Could this guy be a part of the corps? If so, Mishiku had just broken one of the corps commandments and it could result in his expulsion from the corps and possibly even jail time but even so, he felt like he took his first step into fulfilling his own destiny and not following the destiny that his father had paved out for him.


"Do you really think the only threat to this water-bound country is other people? Other shinobi? Surely you're aware of the monsters that surround this place. Don't you think creatures that attack ships en route to the capture of Missing Nin ought to be treated with the same respectful worry that the Missing Nin themselves are?” The stranger paused before adding in an incentive to draw Mishiku in “Did I mention the barrels of cash we'll get as a result? All I need from you is your passport and aide. Think of it as a semi-relaxing fishing trip."

“Now this really sounds like a low budget scam. My passport........really?” Mishiku thought as he chuckled to himself, already showing that the stranger’s request was laughable at best and something Mishiku didn't take seriously. He realized only a week ago that there were things out in this world that he thought were only in legend and myths but after actually coming face to face with actual monsters and actually killing one with the help of other ANBU operatives, one can only wonder what other mysterious beings lie in this world. “Naw, I’m good. I have enough money at the moment and plus I have a dinner party I need to attend but thanks anyway.” Mishiku said. He could always use more money but he didn’t even know the guy and plus he recognized that he was an ANBU, whether it was a guess or not, Mishiku knew not to believe that this stranger was just some random citizen that took a wild guess, no, this person wasn’t someone to underestimate at all. “I’ve seen creatures that you would think were only in stories." He remembered back to twenty-five-foot tree like monster and even after killing it he still could hardly believe it existed. "But I’m sure you don’t need me and you can easily find someone else to accompany you on this journey other than myself, I’m not special. All I want to do is eat a home cooked meal and relax.” He resumed.

[MFT]

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

“Naw, I’m good. I have enough money at the moment and plus I have a dinner party I need to attend but thanks anyway.”

Stoicism, the true enemy of Tetsu, had reared it's ugly head. The boy, like the monster of some parable, was a bit like a finger trap; the more you struggled against him, the more likely he was to catch you in a bind and press you to resist even more, deepening your frustration and, hopefully, peril. Simply not caring, however, not wanting anything, not worrying, were the true remedies to the particular brand of malice that Tetsu threw around like a vice. There simply wasn't anything he could do with it, and he was on the verge of simply turning his back and finishing up his inquisition of the shopkeeper, leaving the Anbu as a fleeting memory.

Then, the door seemed to crack open just a little.

Mishiku mentioned the monster he had fought. That made him seem borderline useful, and Tetsu couldn't quite pick up on anything like the moxie with which he was threatened only moments earlier. It wasn't really that he cared enough to analyze the statement deeply, just the fact that nothing stood out about the information being presented was itself noteworthy. That was just the very beginning of a fracture in the other boy's apathy though; not really enough to cling to, just a taste of something that had a little more substance to it. In other words, if the Anbu really didn't care, there would be no need to add anything else, he would have simply left. Then, the real gold came. 'You don't need me.' The words shone through like they were the only things Mishiku had said, and 'I'm not special.' And why did Tetsu care so much about trying to pry some good will out of this shinobi? Why bother to try and drag him, kicking and screaming? Well, simply put, he was still banking on his little parlour trick of the guess at the boy's profession had made any kind of impression. It's not like he'd get away with simply asking some other Anbu to come with him without, well... Actually Tetsu couldn't think of anything that would convince those humorless husks of people to do anything they weren't told to do by their superiors.

So maybe there was something to the way they thought too, their blank masks all apparent mirrors to the inner workings of their minds. "That's right," He began, "You're not special." Ugh, he almost hated himself for resorting to the most tired sales technique in the book; tell your target what they think you'd never tell them if you wanted to sell them something, thus gaining their trust so you can better sell them things. "You're not special, I'm not special, no one is special and we're all going to die alone, but listen. There's a big, fat cash cow just floating belly up on the shores just outside of this village. Maybe you don't need the money," And here Tetsu slid up beside Mishiku to sneak his serpentine hand over the boy's shoulder as he tried his little game one last time, "But you strike me as the type of man whose sat in a room for hours trying to figure out the answer to why his life ended up the way it has." Which was a very fancy way of telling the Anbu that Tetsu heard when he said he was insecure about himself, but worded to make the boy sound more clever and insightful than he actually was, "Well let me read you your future." And he moved over to stand in front of Mishiku, looking in his eyes now for dramatic effect. "You're going to realize that you can't think your way out of living inside your head too much, then you're going to wish you had gone on a dumb adventure to hunt sharks so you could blow the resulting money on booze and drugs and hookers while you were still young enough that most judges will let you get caught doing those sorts of things without giving you so much as a slap on the wrist. It's the limited time offer of a lifetime" He had thought of all possible persuasive arguments he could have made, and this was, he concluded, the one that literally couldn't fail to hit it's mark. He awaited the other boy's final and reluctant acceptance.

 

[Mishiku]

"You're not special, I'm not special, no one is special and we're all going to die alone, but listen. There's a big, fat cash cow just floating belly up on the shores just outside of this village. Maybe you don't need the money, but you strike me as the type of man who's sat in a room for hours trying to figure out the answer to why his life ended up the way it has." The boy answered to Mishiku's rejection of the offer of an adventure of a lifetime. Didn't this guy know how to take a hint? It was annoying enough that he had to continue to hear the blabbering of the boy's amateur sales attempt in getting Mishiku to do his bidding but it was even more so annoying for the boy to continue to try yet again to lure Mishiku into some botched adventure.

"Well let me read you your future. You're going to realize that you can't think your way out of living inside your head too much, then you're going to wish you had gone on a dumb adventure to hunt sharks so you could blow the resulting money on booze and drugs and hookers while you were still young enough that most judges will let you get caught doing those sorts of things without giving you so much as a slap on the wrist. It's the limited time offer of a lifetime." The stranger said looking directly into Mishiku's eyes as if he was trying to either hypnotize him or give off the illusion of him being some type of prophet.

"Do you always talk this much? Cause I can't imagine even the high-end brothel women in the village can put up with it." Mishiku replied with an attitude similar to "are you done yet?". Although going to the top tier brothels in the village did sound like a good idea, it had been a while since he been there but he remembered one of the fundamental reasons on why he rarely goes anymore, "Definitely tempting but why spend money on women to fuck me, when I can easily get a woman to do it for free?" Mishiku looked directly back into the boy's eyes to return the favor for dramatic, "Sorry bud, but as I said before. I'm not interested. I'm sure you'll find someone else to help you in your little "grand adventure" in epic shark hunting and finding hidden treasure." Mishiku said with a slight chuckle as he turned his back to the green salesman and began to walk away but then as if it occurred right before Mishiku left the shop, the thought of the good fisherman and his wife struggling to make ends meet and selling second-rate weapons just to get by made Mishiku think twice on leaving and made him feel compassion for their situation.

"I swear this always wanting to help others in need is going to screw me over one day." Mishiku thought to himself as he exhaled loudly to showcase that the angel on his shoulder had finally convinced him to at least try to do the right thing and if there was any money involved to give it all to the fisherman so that the family wouldn't have to struggle financially anymore. He turned back to face the stranger, "On second thought, I will join you." He walked back over the stranger and looked into his eyes again to make his next words very clear, "But I will be leaving when the sun is setting. Regardless of what we are doing once the sun sets I am going back home period." Mishiku stated before seeing a unique kunai that caught his eye, then began to inspect the craftsmanship of the weapon.

"By the way, what's your name?"

[MFT]

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

"Do you always talk this much? Cause I can't imagine even the high-end brothel women in the village can put up with it." Really, how rude. You spend all this time buttering a person up, making them feel special, and, at the very least, demonstrating to them that they are worth the considerable time and energy spent trying to figure out how to reel them in. All this when he could have been carrying on swindling his way into a new boat, too. After that, the boy went on to brag that he could get with any woman for free. Where was a drink when a guy needed one? Well, the boy thought angrily, that's probably pretty easy to do when you have access to warm baths and new clothes, plus I hear a lot of girls really dig guys with punchable faces. As much as the boy wanted to lash out at the other young man, he knew all too painfully, from experience, that it was impossible to truly annoy someone who didn't want anything at all from you. Now, that may not immediately sound true, but when assessing the validity of this claim, one ought to consider that to want someone to stop embarrassing them, or to leave an establishment instead of harassing their customers, are both also things you can want from a person.

Well, in any event, after that, the other boy's refusal was all but guaranteed. You really only can lay out so many sales pitches, regardless of what they are, before the other person is just going to instinctively clench up and refuse to even acknowledge the next bit of persuasive efforts. It was only a passport though. Useful, tough to come by, but not exactly a rare object. The face attached to it didn't really matter either, and considering that this particular face was beginning to rival his own in terms of belligerence, the boy was beginning to consider that the convenience of happening across him might not have offset the effort to recruit him, in the end. Sie la vie, not all your time can be spent wisely.

It was there, on the cusp of giving up, finally, that the tide completely and suddenly changed. "On second thought, I will join you." In all honesty, the change was nothing short of exhausting. All of the boy's efforts had been in vain, and yet, for no reason at all, apparently, they worked in the end. At first, Tetsu didn't really understand where his own annoyance was coming from, but soon realized it was rather simple. He didn't like getting a victory he didn't understand, or, rather, he wasn't too keen on the prospect of setting sail with someone who seemed, so far, to be annoyingly immune to his manipulation efforts. Well, a little challenge to polish his skills seemed to be in order. After that, the other boy insisted that they must return by dusk. "Yeah, won't be a problem." He offered in casual response. Dusk? Unlikely, unless this kid new some new magical way to get to water country and back in that sort of time. By the time he realized that Tetsu had no particular plan for returning in time, it wouldn't exactly be like swimming would be an option, which meant that a fight over control of the ship might be inevitable. Not exactly a prospect Tetsu was all too confident about, necessarily, but he'd be sure to make his one-sided foresight into this his new best friend to tip the scales a bit. "I'm Tetsu. Let's head on down to the docks then, I also want to get back early."

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