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Re: For Homura

[crimsongirl]

I'm assuming you guys at least have good prisons or something to contain them.

[There never seemed to be any famous ones in her world, beyond what regular people used. Renegades were usually hunted down or rarely left alone anyway. It's one of the things that makes Homura not scoff at the idea of not killing people. She could only make guesses as to why heroes refused to kill people. Thankfully, there were two teams who seemed to kinda fit the bill for "heroes," even if there were some doubts thanks to recent events.]

Maybe it's also because they don't want killing to be normal. Moving into that area, I did so out of anger at first before it became my duty. Just became common to me until my friends helped me open up. Hell, I thought it would be easy here too. Then I got reminded I have a conscience now and...I dunno.

[She leaned back against the wall with her hands behind her head now, sighing.]

I guess if it became too easy, a hero would be no different from us shinobi, or any soldier really. Killing was easy, almost too easy when I slipped into it with others. Some were insane bastards almost like Dogen. Others were just part of a job. Like, before Dogen, the scroll he wanted could turn people insane through magic. Many of our subordinates on the mission, our classmates, became crazy killers, forcing us to off them. Making the call was easy then, and I didn't even think much of it. Just thought they were too weak.

Would you be surprised when that shit happened again, we tried really hard to just knock them out at least?

[It was hard. Left themselves more vulnerable, using more energy just to make sure they stayed down. Far from easy, they didn't always succeed, yet when that decision was made, the old Homura started to vanish.]

[floatsaway]

We have prisons to hold powerful villains, yeah.

[Whether or not they are 'good' is really in the eye of the beholder. The villains detained in Tartarus - the maximum security prison that holds the deadliest villains in Japan - most definitely isn't seen as good or favorable by those who would call themselves villains. Hell, even the smaller prisons and jails throughout the country aren't exactly a haven for the criminal underbelly. Ochako isn't so dense, and brainwashed by her society, to not understand this basic fact of life. What is 'good and bad' isn't as simple as one may think.]

I don't know what it means to be shinobi, just what it means to be a hero...and I think those two are very different, yeah. If heroes killed so easily...I don't think people would consider them heroes. It's like I said - murder is still a crime where I'm from, and it doesn't matter how you try to justify it. I was taught it shouldn't even be considered as an option, and to always try to do nonlethal damage to a villain, but...villains don't think like that. They strike to kill. And the worst of the worst will never change how they think or act. They don't want a hero to save them, after all. To them...we are the villains.

[Ochako sighs. Rubs her face. The more Homura talked about how she killed, the more Ochako's head throbbed. She's right, it sounded like the more she did it, the easier it became, and that's...scary. It's scary, and it's very uncomfortable for Ochako, especially talking about killing her comrades. Ochako's stomach lurches, and she had to swallow hard, squeezing her eyes shut. Killing so easily like that, even for friends and allies...what value did a human life have, at that point?]

...I'm glad you did. This sort of thing I don't really like to talk about. I couldn't do what you do, ever, I...I-I know I wouldn't be strong enough. Maybe it's naïve of me, but that's just the sort of person I am.

[crimsongirl]

True. Some shinobi in my world would look down at you for it. I sure as hell won't though.

[She pushed off the wall a bit, leaning forward, eyes filled with more energy. It's true that shinobi from her world would probably reject heroes for the most part.

However, she and her friends weren't normal. Then again, nothing of what she explained was normal.]

You're taking a path that's more difficult, and you're clearly set on it. You will be challenged and tested constantly. Probably already have been too with how you talk. [And with how much Homura blabbed on about killing so casually.]

I don't think it's naive, not when you are aware of all of this, and with how adamant you are with no killing. If we all took the easy way out, I imagine we wouldn't be doing these trials at all.

[She smiled, for the first time since coming up here. All this reminded her of the first time she and Asuka met, both still finding their true path of being a shinobi.]

That level of strength and resolve is worthy more of respect than anything. Especially when you aren't yelling like a certain blonde I met.

[floatsaway]

I'm sure people look down on me for it.

[Not just shinobi. People from all over that come here from other worlds. The first few weeks Ochao came to Avalon, there was a raid on a campsite and...so many people were just killing the raiders left and right. Ochako was among the very few who never struck to kill, just to disarm and knock unconscious. Hell, she tried very hard to keep other people from killing, if she could! It just...didn't sit right with her at all. They were just looters, thieves, pillagers and raiders. No one really died unless they engaged or fought back, or were seen as a 'threat'. It didn't...f-feel right to kill them. Whatever. It's not like Ochako's not used to being looked down on for who she is.]

You're right. I'm only in my first year at my Hero Academy and already...so much has happened that my class has been involved with. I-I... [No. She's not exactly ready to admit she held a dying man in her arms. Or the many other things like the USJ, the training camp fiasco, Kamino...] It's been a lot, and I know that's just how it is being a Hero. Maybe I wasn't really prepared for it then, sort of, I...I-I don't really know. But I can't hesitate. I can't let difficult things stop me, and I won't. I'm not the only one who could suffer for it, after all.

[Heroes save people. If for whatever reason, she flinches, someone could die. Someone who can't protect themselves like she or Homura could. An innocent person, who just wants to live their lives happily. If Ochako can't face that what she does is hard, and that she will have to risk her life and limb, literally, then she has no business pursuing this sort of future.]

...I know sometimes there won't be an option. I'm learning that, and deep in my heart I know I may have to, someday, but...I just can't right now. If I can avoid it, I will. It's how I was taught, and I just don't think I can change how I think. Maybe at some point, when I'm older, but--...eh?

[Ochako pauses, looking at the trapdoor by their feet that people can use to come up and ring the bell of the belfry tower. It's glowing, softly at first, but then brighter, slowly until the trapdoor isn't so much a trapdoor anymore, but a sort of opening of bright light. Ochako blinks, then her eyes sort of widen a little, as she looks around and the, well...everything around her and Homura starts to get hazy, blurred...like it were starting to fade.

Seems it's time to go now. The trial was completed, after all...though whether or not they passed will be left to time.]

[crimsongirl]

[She may not have been ready to admit it, but Homura could feel something similar to death. Narrowing it down was impossible of course; no mind reading magic with her in either world. Though given as Ochako kept on talking about potentially taking that next step and the struggles with it, it wasn't hard to guess a few things.

Not that there was much time to dwell anyway, with the exit coming right for them. As the light made itself known, Homura rose back up, doing a quick stretch before walking to the super heroine. Homura didn't have every answer available. Time was indeed an expected answer. Though given the situation and her own upbringing, it was one Homura couldn't quite abide by.]

Time can help, though given this world and the state of everything, we might not have much of it. Which is why I want to offer my help.

[She extends her hand with a confident smirk.]

Not to teach you how to kill of course. If you are adamant on staying on this path, then I want to aid in your training to do so. After all, the stronger you become, in both mind and body, the easier it should be to avoid killing, right?

[Her solutions were simple, but they did still get results.]

You chose and are committed to this path. Even as things grow harder, you will be challenged. I can't stop such a day from coming. There will always be death in one form or another, and no one person can solve every problem in the world. But I can help you prepare for such a day, and to make them as few as possible.

[floatsaway]

[That's...an extremely generous offer.

Ochako is a bit taken back by it, given that she doesn't quite know this girl very much at all. Still, they did just have a long talk, discussed things about themselves and their pasts that revealed quite a bit about their individual characters, so maybe time is irrelevant in certain aspects. Bonds can be formed in a matter of just a few minutes, after all, and the outstretched hand is a sign of that.

Blinking, Ochako stands up herself and grins, nodding her head as she clasps Homura's hand in her own, grip firm and tight. A promise.]

I would like that, thank you. Even if I can't go forward with it in the end, I'll have at least tried and set myself straight on what I choose to do. What sort of Hero--...mmh, what sort of person I want to be.

[And with that, Ochako nods, and jumps through the trapdoor that'll take her and Homura back to Camelot.]