damedana | [UMINEKO SPOILERS] Heart (Scored)

So you agree you wouldn't be saying them otherwise. Got it.

Battler-kun, can I have something to make him feel a bit more comfortable? I'll feel bad if we sit here debating while this Battler is doing so badly. I can see that I'll need to do some hard work to get it to release his heart, but...

He's been through worse. He's still alive, right? I thought that's what mattered most to you.

[No now she's embarrassed?? Shut up??]

-- Ah, I knew it was a bad idea to tell you that. It's still not any good if you're just in pain.

Let's take a different approach, then.

Spot the lie.

I am Ushiromiya Battler.
I am born from the theories of what happened on Rokkenjima in the future after 1986.
I am also born from the mind of someone who knows Ushiromiya Battler.

Edited 2023-02-13 07:39 (UTC)

...Are you sure you want me to answer that?

If you can't disprove my purple truths, they will become just as real as my red truths.

The implication is that there's exactly one lie among those three, no more, no less - is that true?

Feeling so unconfident you need clarification?

Come on, if I missed some wordplay, you would gloat for days. For that matter, do you consider yourself "someone who knows Ushiromiya Battler"?

I'm not going to just hand you answers. I never had an easy time in those games, why should you?

Is it handing me answers if I happen to think of a good question?

[She shrugs.]

Then I think you still count as Battler, and you came into existence while thinking about the events of Rokkenjima. So the first two are true. I don't think your own mind, even if you have a different name or whatever else, would count as someone who knows Battler - after all, if that person knows Battler, he wouldn't have to think so hard about it.

On the other hand, you could definitely say that if the last two are true, then the first can't be. But that's not the way I see it, anyway.

[the injured Battler goes paler, flinches and looks to the uninjured one who doesn't react for a moment.

and then he laughs.]

Are they good questions? You didn't even ask what people would be saying after Rokkenjima.

Well, I guess they're not theories anymore if they're treated as truth.

I know what kind of things are being theorised. That doesn't make them the truth, and that doesn't mean you have to accept all of them as part of you either.

[But she hates the way the injured Battler reacted, so she crouches down to look at him, and to get a better look at his chest.]

Battler-kun... Do you want me to try to help? I think trying is better than leaving you like this, but if you think I'll only make things worse, if it's just hurting you more... Ange and Rika-chan should be coming soon.

Ange's not going to come here.

...I see. Then it does seem as if I have little choice. I'm sorry, I hope you don't mind it too much. ...And that Ange is still safe.

Ange will be safe.

But even with as little as you know, she can't know it.

Final answer, then. Since you kept going back and forth.

Which is the lie?

...Fine, you're trying to tell me to stop thinking so hard, to just be emotional instead, right? Then I hate the second, so that's the lie. I think it makes the most logical sense to be the third, or after that the first, but the second is the only one that's making me want to scream! I hate that anything uninvolved people have to say about it could affect how you think of yourself, they don't have any say in who you are - even though I'm playing this game, I don't either.

[injured Battler makes a terrible noise almost immediately after she finishes, but closer inspection shows that it's because a terrible thorn just pulled itself out of his heart.

meanwhile, the uninjured Battler... seems to actually settle a little, a tight coil unwinding just slightly.]

[She's terrified of what that noise means for a moment, searching him to see what damage she's done - but, oh. Oh she's so glad.]

Ahh, I think I get it, Battler-kun. I'm sorry, hang in there a little longer.

[She's still crouched beside the injured one, but looks between them when she says that.]

[uninjured Battler looks away.]

The corruption is starting to affect memories of what occurred on Rokkenjima in 1986.
There is no true way for someone like Ange to know how Ushiromiya Battler was actually like without something like this occurring.
My only regret is that I couldn't help more with making Rokkenjima the reality it was.
I took full advantage of my own weakened state because I was bored and needed people to engage with the truths distorted by the corruption.

Which is a lie?

I don't think it's your only regret, but I have much more of a problem with the second one again. Are you calling my cute daughter stubborn?

You're just frustrated by her stubbornness. But Ange loves you, so she would understand sooner or later. Rather, aren't you not giving her enough credit? If you're giving up on her, then you don't have any room to talk, and purposefully showing her lies isn't going to help. Understanding each other can be tough, but that doesn't mean it's not worth it.

[injured Battler makes another pained noise, this time gripping onto Kyrie white-knuckled because it's a few thorns pulling out from his heart this time. but when that's over, he just kind of wheezes a laugh and says a quiet ow... coping things, y'know. he HAS been through worse.

uninjured Battler is less relaxed but more openly showing the truth to the "anger" that's been everything--a confusion, a fear, a hurt. but he shakes his head and closes his eyes tightly, not disagreeing with what's said but it's painful, it hurts.]

... this is the last one, as it's the most relevant.

I will not love anyone else the way I love Beatrice.
Love is despair.
I will continue to love in spite of despair.
I've tried to hate you but can't.

[She takes the injured one's hand and squeezes it between both of hers, but looks up at the other.]

Come on, you put them in the wrong order, they just got easier. I know at least the last two for fact. But "love is despair"? Even I know that's not true, love isn't despair, loving someone hurts more than anything, but it's not because there's anything bad about love. It's being vulnerable that's painful. Loving someone means giving them the ability to hurt you because you've offered that trust. It's awful if they make a mistake, or even purposefully trample it. But that's not what love is. It's just love, it's a good thing, it will always be much more happy than sad, that's why the next point is true - you'll keep feeling it anyway, no matter what.

[probably a little alarming, but the Battler with the heart problems just kind of reaches into his chest to pull at the thorns--no longer that purple color, going black and withering. but thankfully it's fine. they snap, brittle, under his fingers and he gives the biggest sigh of relief.

similarly, the vines and thorns among the flowers seem to be steadily going the same way, dark and withering.]

I really wish... they'd stop targetting that...

It's a favourite theme, huh? Maybe you should do a better job of remembering it.

[She laughs a little, teasing.]

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