They grow with age, sir, as much as I've read and learned through my encounters. I can't even begin to imagine how strong he was if he'd known your Grandfather and Hikaru.
[ Brigade stands to fetch some glasses but is surprised-not-surprised that An'yu has already made fitting cups of his own. It'd be fun to learn how to do that.
I guess, if you don't give up on someone, and treat them as a someone and not a something, you'd be surprised how different they can be. [ Brigade's thoughts flutter back to the HECATON in WWII. He was never a thing. He was as human as each one of them in their eyes. ]
I believe Hikaru told Gintoki something to that effect. It... it inspired him to change. To find a way to Redeem himself, and be human as though he were one of the Created and not a failure.
[Chuckling a little.]
He was an eccentric man. Secretive. But loyal. Loyal to the end.
[ Brigade feels something warm in him. Like his Azoth dancing happily to that thought. ]
I wish he had, sir. Maybe he could've proven everything we know wrong. That Pandorans aren't [ He says the next words reluctantly and with a bitter taste in his mouth. It wasn't their fault they were made. ] a failure. There really isn't much different with how we... I and they are born. The books say we're unnatural. That we shouldn't even be.
[ Brigade takes some sake and sips on it. ] I've never agreed with that view, sir.
[ He looks back at the shield. ] Is he really dead, sir? They're hard to kill. And there's something in that shield. [ No matter how weak his Azoth is, Brigade's still flickers near the dark shield. ]
Gintoki was killed defending Heimdall during Operation Nyx. There was nothing left of him but a small stone that Hikaru found when no one else was able to. And now...
[He reaches out, and places his hand on the shield.]
I suppose it grew while I wasn't looking. Hikaru agreed to hold on to it for me after the Black Christmas.
It... turned into this? [ Brigade makes a mental note to ask Hikaru what happened between the time it was a stone till it became a shield. He wasn't about to speculate with Sensei An'yu and wrack his brain over something which could be first ironed out. ]
Maybe... he's not dead, sir? Maybe he's still in there fighting to live? [ Brigade feels a sudden sadness for the shield ] Maybe he's... still trying to walk his pilgrimage to redemption?
Sir, I read in the Arcanum about the Bestowment called the Scrutiny. I know it's really for Prometheans and Alchemists, but Gintoki sounds like he was more Promethean, more human, than Pandoran really.
Is there a way [ Brigade thinks hopefully ] that we might be able to reach into the shield? See if he, or anything, is inside? Do we have any Alchemists with that Bestowment?
Thank you too, An'yu-sama. [ Brigade holds out his cup for a toast ] I didn't have the honor of meeting them. But I at least know their story now, and have the honor of drinking to them.
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[ Brigade stands to fetch some glasses but is surprised-not-surprised that An'yu has already made fitting cups of his own. It'd be fun to learn how to do that.
I guess, if you don't give up on someone, and treat them as a someone and not a something, you'd be surprised how different they can be. [ Brigade's thoughts flutter back to the HECATON in WWII. He was never a thing. He was as human as each one of them in their eyes. ]
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[Chuckling a little.]
He was an eccentric man. Secretive. But loyal. Loyal to the end.
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I wish he had, sir. Maybe he could've proven everything we know wrong. That Pandorans aren't [ He says the next words reluctantly and with a bitter taste in his mouth. It wasn't their fault they were made. ] a failure. There really isn't much different with how we... I and they are born. The books say we're unnatural. That we shouldn't even be.
[ Brigade takes some sake and sips on it. ] I've never agreed with that view, sir.
[ He looks back at the shield. ] Is he really dead, sir? They're hard to kill. And there's something in that shield. [ No matter how weak his Azoth is, Brigade's still flickers near the dark shield. ]
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[And drinking himself now, even as he's assessing the shield again.]
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[ Brigade wonders the history of the shield. And the history of Gintoki after he died, cause it seems there was. It wasn't in the files. ]
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Gintoki was killed defending Heimdall during Operation Nyx. There was nothing left of him but a small stone that Hikaru found when no one else was able to. And now...
[He reaches out, and places his hand on the shield.]
I suppose it grew while I wasn't looking. Hikaru agreed to hold on to it for me after the Black Christmas.
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Maybe... he's not dead, sir? Maybe he's still in there fighting to live? [ Brigade feels a sudden sadness for the shield ] Maybe he's... still trying to walk his pilgrimage to redemption?
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[Said with much fondness.]
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Is there a way [ Brigade thinks hopefully ] that we might be able to reach into the shield? See if he, or anything, is inside? Do we have any Alchemists with that Bestowment?
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I will need to borrow the shield. It's going to take a while.
[This was Gintoki, after all. The sheer amount of power that was radiating from the thing was already interfering with An'yu's senses.]
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[And then...]
Thank you, Brig. For asking me about them.
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True enough.