#something something about rulers being killed by those their societies deemed unimportant

[another-corpo-rat]

My head is full of thoughts about Victoria's actual storyline ima plan out, i need to get them out so im making that everyone elses problem will i ever write it? prob not. i have commitment issues when it comes to long term projects so the rambling and occasional drabble with have to do

if you care to read this: hi, ty for even a passing interest in my bitch barbie - im rambling about her hand in Yoriunbo's death in a story that very heavily diverts from canon below the cut because i have the habit of starting at the end

kinda have two ideas for it: the first, is that Victoria's influence is indirect - she isn't the one that takes his life: Evelyn Parker is.

With Victoria's goading trailing through her thoughts maybe - but Victoria can't prove or take credit for that no matter how smug she is at the timing. But what she does know and what both women will keep quiet due to the means of mutual destruction, is that it was a chip of her making that blacked out any means of communication; Trauma Team or anyone who could help isn't alerted. Couldn't be - Smasher could be standing right outside the door, and Yoriunbo wouldn't have been able to so much as call for him (Smasher was, in fact, outside the door and merely gave Evelyn a knowing look and a passing 'you done?' that she answers with a nod and the flippant request to 'give him some time' a casual enough conversation, one that wouldn't draw suspicion that Smasher himself may have been involved should his recordings of the night be accessed)

Yoriunbo is found a mere hour or two after Evelyn leaves his suite, dead in the bath - very much in the style of The Death of Marat. Evelyn is suspected but she can't be found: the joys of conspiring with a skilled netrunner, it's as if she vanished into thin air (like those who've acted against Arasaka in the past, Evelyn is perhaps vibing with a certain Nomad clan, waiting for the dust to settle before moving on entirely)

and really, Arasaka can't afford to allow that story to go public: their CEO killed by a joytoy mere months after the previous died in suspect conditions. There's further mess and chaos within the corporation until Hanako manages to wrangle the factions together in something of resembling peace, and if the heiress seems to be quietly raging then no one knows why besides the pretense of grief.

the second idea - less thought out but entirely self-indulgent Victoria is the one holding the knife when Yoriunbo dies, but its not by her own strength that she slides it between his ribs. She's shaking, both from exhaustion and the wonder of 'can i really do this?' there's a whole lotta consequences that'll come from her killing him, but she can't exactly just let him live now either, can she? not after learning what he intended, how he wanted to crumble the tower she thrives on to ruin - and she has the proof, the witnesses, the recordings. she has Michiko's word that she'll be protected from those consequences, but the word of an Arasaka is a rotted thing, even if promised so sweetly

she's shaking and that makes her hands unsteady, even if her grip would be white-knuckled with how tightly she's holding the hilt. Smasher's hands wrap around hers, his chest pressing into her back as he guides the point of the blade into Yoriunbo's heart. and if the scene were caught in a frame, it might even be poetic: Yoriunbo, dying with something of a smile as he looks up not a portrait of his father, but the brother who took his own life before him - the same brother who created Smasher looking down from his gilded frame to witness that monstrous creation being the hand that spills his family's blood while curled protectively around a woman they'd deign insignificant

Victoria is frozen as she looks down at the body, realising that an Arasaka is as mortal as the rest of them. There's a more active coup in this event; less of a need to hide their involvement. And still, Hanako is fuming that her request that Yoriunbo be spared is ignored. Because she made the mistake of requesting it of Victoria, not ordering it of Smasher - and Michiko, ever the black sheep of their family, keeps her word and enforces that Hanako do the same

[smokinhouse-blog]

The concept of heroes is merely a foolish delusion.

In my last post, I briefly mentioned that we humans are humans and that nobody amongst the 7.3 billion people wandering this earth is a hero. Let’s begin our descent into such a philosophy. 

First, a look upon our history must be taken. The cosmic calendar. The cosmic calendar is a way to compartmentalize the 13.8 billion year age of the cosmos into twelve months. In those twelve months the entire human history occupies the last second of the last minute of the year. In fact, had the calendar been about the size of a football field, all history of humanity would be about the size of the average hand. Marvelous, right? To possess a delusion that we are so great, so important, the centre of all... purely comical. 

In the last seconds of the last minute we have managed to inflict impressive harm upon our earth. In the last seconds, think of the oceans of blood spilled by us whilst we are killing our own neighbor. Think of all of the delusional humans who once roamed this earth and thought that they are the essence of all. Infinite rulers. 

We have committed so much evil in these mere seconds that no amount of good doing by us will ever suffice. Making up for our wrong doings is impossible at this point. Why, you may ask. 

I’ll tell you why. Look around. People blunder about the streets of their hometown or city or whatnot and they live in pure ignorance. Face shoved into a mobile screen, thinking about small, unimportant things that typically revolve around them, one way or another. They are unaware of absolutely everything for they have never put any thought onto the subject. There’s entire worlds out there but they don’t see! 

Also, getting people to stand up and do something good that doesn’t necessarily revolve around them one way or another is very, very difficult. 

If they are so unaware, how would they be able to act? Even if awareness were to be raised, it still wouldn’t be enough. 7.3 billion human beings is a massive number. Thousands of infants are being born every second and thousands (if not millions) are dying every second. It’s equivalent to trying to stop a tsunami with a match. 

Making up for our wrong doings is like trying to fill up the entire volume of our cosmos with pennies while every penny is replaced with a great amount of nothingness. And, only one penny being added into the collection every million years. Incredibly arduous! Basically impossible. (It is.) 

However, I am not saying that every single human walking upon this earth is a violent sadist who murders young children and stirs their blood into their tea. No. However, those people do exist but not everyone is like that. There are human beings out there that are better and more pure than most. However, labeling them as a hero is incredibly detrimental for humanity itself. The same situation applies to people who saves millions of lives. They’re not heroes either, they’re just good people. 

The reason as to why it’s so detrimental to call someone a hero, or a great person or whatever is because that blinds people to their own humanity. When you call someone a hero, automatically, an image pops up depicting someone who’s immune to all flaw and who’s set apart from the mere mortals of society. They are deemed omniscient, strong with a strength that knows no weakness and charisma that warms and loves everyone. That’s not true, for each and every one of us contributes to the copious amounts of evil on this earth. 

People who save others from burning buildings and whatnot are just people who are a tinsey bit better than the rest of us. However, they do possess the same amounts of humanity and evil as the rest of us. These perceived “heroes” are just like the rest of us.