http://nothawkingbird.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] nothawkingbird.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] shatterverse2008-04-17 11:32 am
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Morning, and Kate was practicing on the farm. Focusing on her katas, and then she was going to do some archery practice a little later. At least there was training assistance and a possible opportunity elsewhere in Metropolis. And possibly even help with that trip to England.

[identity profile] armour-bound.livejournal.com 2008-04-17 03:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Were Death's Hand anybody else, he'd comment on her forms.

As it is, he's just going to watch. Ominously, because Death's Hand has trouble doing things that aren't ominous in some fashion.

[identity profile] armour-bound.livejournal.com 2008-04-17 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Death's Hand doesn't move or say anything for a moment.
"I was observing your katas. They have a passing similarity to the styles of my land."

[identity profile] armour-bound.livejournal.com 2008-04-17 04:37 pm (UTC)(link)
"Unlikely. But these styles are always changing, and it has been ... some time ... since I kept track of them all." Death's Hand concedes. "You are from the Mysterious East."

It's not a question, or rather it is, but it's not the obvious question.

[identity profile] armour-bound.livejournal.com 2008-04-17 05:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Death's Hand shakes his head.
"It is the same. Go far enough West and you will eventually end up at the Mysterious East, or further, the Prosperous East, or back around to the Empire."

[identity profile] armour-bound.livejournal.com 2008-04-17 05:28 pm (UTC)(link)
"The twentieth year of the era of God-Emperor Sun Hai, now passed away."

[identity profile] armour-bound.livejournal.com 2008-04-17 05:37 pm (UTC)(link)
"Airplanes." Death's Hand tests the word out. "Vehicles of flight? Flyers are a common sight in the empire, great metal insects that work by combination of machinery and magic."

[identity profile] armour-bound.livejournal.com 2008-04-17 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"I do not understand how something would stay aloft without magic, but then, I am no engineer." Mildly.

[identity profile] armour-bound.livejournal.com 2008-04-17 06:46 pm (UTC)(link)
"What is your name, child?"

[identity profile] armour-bound.livejournal.com 2008-04-17 06:59 pm (UTC)(link)
"When I entered his service, the Emperor named me Death's Hand."

[identity profile] armour-bound.livejournal.com 2008-04-17 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Death's Hand pauses, thoughtfully, considering how to phrase this.
"It was a reflection of my purpose, but more than that a reflection of his arrogance."

[identity profile] armour-bound.livejournal.com 2008-04-17 07:46 pm (UTC)(link)
"Usually. He bound my spirit to this armour, and to him, to make a servant that could not betray him."

[identity profile] armour-bound.livejournal.com 2008-04-17 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
"He is gone, and the hold on me passed to another. I linger in this world as penance for my involvement in crimes against the natural order." Death's Hand replies. "It is a temporary imprisonment."

[identity profile] armour-bound.livejournal.com 2008-04-17 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
This is Death's Hand being quietly bewildered.

[identity profile] armour-bound.livejournal.com 2008-04-18 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
Death's Hand nods, gravely, and wanders off.