( open )

[worldexecute]

WHO: angela (worldexecute) & anyone
WHAT: catch-all for september! there'll be open prompts for various things in september, and any other plans
WHERE: all over
WHEN: september
WARNINGS: add as we go


source
( the bookstore | amusement park delinquency | to-do list )

if you'd like a closed starter, let me know by PMing this journal or contacting me on plurk coordination!

Comments

[worldexecute]

( Sorry, they don't have Japan—she'll still be taking notes as he talks though, adding the way he pronounces words as a bonus just in case someone decides to read this aloud.

...she is also keeping his meow tic intact. It's important. )

I don't think it's so out of the question. Monks learn discipline, patience, fortitude... those types of things, correct? I think someone with those traits would make a fine leader. ( well. ) As long as Naosuke was also incredibly confident, at least.

( Even without that he'd probably be fine, but confidence really sells it. )

What happened next?

[nyanxiety]

[Hmmmm.... The way he pronounces things might be a problem with all the meowing, but Angela can find that part out when someone else tries to read this. That sounds fun for the next person, right??]

... You might be right. [For whatever reason, Angela's observation seems to get a warm, genuine smile out of Nansen, like he feels proud for some reason. He's happy that the old man's feelings are coming across in his words.]

Mmmm... So. Around that time, the country was facing all kinds of pressure from the nations from the West to open up to trade and stuff. But the old man-- I mean, Nyaosuke knew that the lords under the Tokugawa domains were all so busy fightin' each other, nyo-one would stand a chance to fight against the foreign powers when they couldn't even make peace with each other!

So............. He decided to make a bunch'a meowves to protect Japan. He decided to give in to the foreigners and sign a trade deal without even asking the emperor's permission.

An' that made a lotta loyalist leaders real angry.

[Nansen's forehead creases.]

[worldexecute]

( That makes sense—it'd be akin to her librarians going behind her back and making a pact to skip work... well, she'd only fussed a little at them and set Roland onto cleaning duty, not completely eviscerated them or anything like that. Still... )

...I can't say I don't see where they're coming from, since it's something that should've been cleared with the emperor first, ( she figures that must be the boss, anyway, like the Head ) but his heart seems to have been in the right place.

( Saving the place you were born in. She has little loyalty to where she was born, the City or that laboratory otherwise, but that isn't to say she can't see why people might want to... if their homes are better than the one she experienced. )

Did they kill him?

[nyanxiety]

[By the way that the man goes quiet with a sorrowful frown in the wake of Angela's question, she can probably take that as an answer. After a lingering moment of worrying over a button on his shirt, Nansen speaks up again,]

Mrw... After he signed the treaties, during the fight over the succession, he'd ordered a purge of a buncha anti-government loyalists. It was that same faction that ended up attackin' him later...

[The events he'd had to go back and watch again play out in front of his eyes as he thinks about it.] ...In the first snows, Naosuke was attacked and beheaded in front of Sakurada Gate, while he was on his way to the castle for a meeting.

[There's a moment of quiet where he bites his lips and grips the edge of the desk he's sitting on. That was the correct history, right? That was the one that was already recorded and passed down to people.]

[... But what about the alternate history? Was it so bad to tell people about what could have happened, the Naosuke that made a brighter future for everyone? Nansen leaps up from his seat,]

--Nya, but, there's another version of this story, too!! Can you write that one down, too!?

[worldexecute]

( Another version...? Angela finishes copying the end of this one and pauses.

Then, she takes another blank page and sets the others aside, smoothing it out. )

Of course. ( It's not like there aren't multiples of the same story in a world anyway. And... he seems eager. Maybe a little desperate, if this one has a happier ending... ) What happened to Mr. Naosuke in that one?

[nyanxiety]

[Hmm, did he come on a little too strong there? Nansen's cheeks flush and he quickly seats himself back down on the counter he was perched on, folding his hands in his lap with a sense of propriety.]

[Play it cool, Nansen. Even if it's an "incorrect history"... It's not like a human would know that, right? It'll be okay to tell it as just a "story", right?]

Yeah, so.... M-maybe in another time, [Smooth] Ii Naosuke met one of the Mito rebels by chance. [It hadn't been chance.] And that guy... Let's call him "Yoshida Shoin". They became friends! They passed letters back and forth while exchanging ideas and thinking about how Japan should be in the future. And eventually, they were able to change each other's minds about some things.

[Nansen worries at his clothes again, continuing.] ...Eventually, Shoin became an advisor for Naosuke.... and together they began a nyew, reformed meowdern Japan. It was called the "Keiou Era". Power was restored to the emperor, education flourished, poor people were able to learn alongside the wealthy...! [He jumps off his perch again, arms spread wide.] It was-- it was a good place to live, nya!!

[His eyes drop to the ground.] ... Well, it was good... But, that's where it ends. [With a sigh, he plops back onto the counter.] Sorry, that's nyot a very exciting end to the story, is it?

[worldexecute]

Not every story needs an exciting end.

( Just a satisfying one. Would it be bad to take some liberties here and there, to flesh it out some...? She'll think it over. For now, she'll copy it as-is and set it aside. )

Most people don't meet exciting ends either—they'll simply die in their beds, or out on the streets, alone and without anyone noticing. ( Wow......... real uplifting talk there, Angela. ) As long you're happy with that ending, that's good enough.