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Setsuko Kaminagi     It's not especially uncommon for cloudy skies to roll in this time of year, in Boston or just about anywhere else north of the equator. And rare, light snow being accompanied by distant, soft rumbles of thunder is by no means completely unheard of, on New Year's Day or anywhere else. What may be more attention-grabbing about it, at least for those capable of sensing such things, is that it's not natural. There is no malice or threat in the storm - no looming promise of downpour or furious lightning. But nevertheless, it hovers over the city by the influence of something supernatural... or, more specifically, divine.

    Setsuko Kaminagi has not been seen since the upheaval that tore apart the Union and Confederacy. And the presence that now coalesces atop Heaven or Hell Tower is very different. Less the bright, uncontrolled bonfire that could be felt for a hundred miles in any direction, far more controlled... and yet, also more 'solid'. More pure. But the actual divinity itself, its aspect, its 'color'... that's very familiar indeed. Someone's up there waiting at the top of the tower, watching the sun's light slowly creep over the city through the clouds.
Guest Psyber     "No one ever meets on a rooftop for something that's easy to talk about," Comes a voice from behind the woman. The half-angel is there, wearing a thick coat and a scarf as he steps out from the roof access door and onto the lightly snow-dusted roof of the tower. He crosses his arms and half-lids his eyes to watch her before reaching into his jacket and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He smacks it against his hand a couple times and then puts one in his mouth and lights it.

    "So. You don't usually like to come to cities because you draw too much attention. What brings you here?" He inquires, exhaling a plume of smoke into the cold air.
Setsuko Kaminagi     Psyber's not the only one wearing a coat, for once. Setsuko's is blue - trimmed with gold, and adorned with small, black spikes at the shoulders. A smart military uniform, a far cry from her old sleeveless top and cargo pants. And beside her stands, quite impossibly, a huge, ebon warhorse, adorned with a saddle fit for a general, and shining with the same calm, clear divinity as Setsuko. Moreover, perhaps the most striking part - her long hair is gone. The formerly-long side now matches the short her silver hair in even, swept spikes all the way around.

    The horse turns first, regarding Psyber with a wary, irritable snort, soon to be followed by Setsuko herself. Her expression is rather less hostile than the beast's, even with the new scar descending across her right eye. "Well. That won't be so much a problem anymore, but you're right that this isn't the most happy of topics. I'm visiting family for New Year's, one last time."
Guest Psyber     "Mm." Psyber says, looking her over a bit. The half-angel takes a slow drag from the cigarette in silence. He regards the horse briefly, but doesn't say too much about it. Instead, he just taps the cigarette a couple times and snuffs some ash under the toe of his shoe before looking back at the woman standing before him. He narrows his eyes a bit more.

    "Hm. One last time, you say? So I take it you're either planning to die or know you're going to, then?" He doesn't seem to object, or be all that shocked. Then again, it's usually hard to tell with him. Either way, he watches her with a flat-eyed stare and waits for a response.
Setsuko Kaminagi     "None of the above," Setsuko replies. "I already died once, and it didn't take. This time, I decided I wouldn't even consider it an option." She takes a moment to properly turn and face Psyber, and meet the angel's gaze - with clear blue eyes, in which dance storms and blades alike. The change becomes a little more obvious, as the storm above rumbles more closely.

    "No, I'm probably going to live a very long time," the goddess explains. "But I have a great deal more responsibility now."
Guest Psyber     "Mm. I see." Psyber muses, tapping the cigarette to get ash off the front of it again and then taking another slow drag from it as she gives him an answer to his query. He lets out a slow sigh and then adds, "I hadn't heard of you joining any of the three new power bases arising up in the aftermath of the Union."

    "So tell me. Why do you have a great deal more responsibility? You certainly are wearing a fancy new uniform and looking quite different from a few weeks ago."
Setsuko Kaminagi     Setsuko allows herself a soft, small smile, closing her eyes. "Going to make me come out and say it, are you..." She turns again, looking out over the city... or peraps, up at the storm. "I went home. I felt the great war end, so I went home to see to my own responsibilities. Things were bad. Our attack on General Yemir those few years ago, it inspired a rebellion. Things got... difficult, for a little while. But I was able to get in touch with an old friend, and with her help, to finally come within arm's reach of King Bian de Zol, and Ura the God of Treacherous War. I... didn't know until a couple of days ago, that to best a God in their domain is to earn the right to their mantle, in my world. I was set up for this from the start, it turns out. The only person who didn't realize was me."
Guest Psyber     "And so now you've ascended from demi-god to god," Psyber confirms as he thinks on it and ponders. He exhales slowly, another plume of smoke escaping from between his teeth as he considers the full ramifications, "I can't say I'm surprised at this revelation or all that particularly amazed. You always clearly had a greater destiny in store for you than what you generally seemed to aspire to," He admits to her.

    He drops the cigarette under his shoe and snuffs out the butt of it, "So will you be the God of Treacherous War, then? Or a God of War of your own design and making? I believe that is the most important question I could ask of you in this situation."
Setsuko Kaminagi     "The mantle of Treachery didn't pass on to me," Setsuko confirms. "I slew Ura in fair combat, with no backstabbing to speak of. That mantle will... perhaps drift for a time, until someone embodies duplicity enough that it is attracted to them." Absently, the woman rests a hand on the blade at her side; Zanjintou, at least, appears not to have changed. "The God Ura slew was a God of Honorable War. His honor was what got him killed. Honor is important to me, but there is a value I hold higher. More than honorable, I would have those who adhere to my ways be Just."
Guest Psyber     "Hm. I see." Psyber says as he considers it all. He doesn't seem all that particularly emotional in either direction, but that's just the guarded nature of the way he is, "So this will be goodbye, then, since I imagine your world has a great deal of War on it, and seeing that it is waged Justly is going to be very difficult after the last God of War's time with the mantle." He seems to confirm once more, considering it.

    "Hm. I suppose it's a fitting fate for you," He decides, nodding his head, "And one that I can at least understand the call of. If this is our last meeting, I'll be glad to see you off to do something right. If we meet again, I'll be curious to see how much you will have upheld that."
Setsuko Kaminagi     There's some moments before Setsuko answers. During that time, the warhorse nickers impatiently, his hoof stamping once or twice at the roof - with little crackles of electricity where it makes contact. "Be nice, Kuro-no-Tatsumaki," the goddess chides the horse. "He's a good man. We can spare a little time." She lets out a soft breath. "...I'm not normally one to discuss my sentiments openly," she finally says. "But it has been... good, standing at each others' side, these past years. You taught me more than I cared to admit."
Guest Psyber     Psyber smiles, "Yes, I seem to have a knack for guiding people to making positive life choices that I can't make, myself." Psyber says with a bit of jest to his voice before adjusting his stance a bit and smiling. The horse is mostly given another glance and then just accepted as Setsuko tells it to calm down.

    "I won't force you to stay here for a long, drawn out event. I don't believe much in sentimentality or emotional moments, and honestly I've never been too good at feelings anyway," He shrugs a bit and then holds his hand out to her for a handshake, "Goodbye, Setsuko."
Setsuko Kaminagi     Setsuko reaches to take Psyber's hand - and there's something in her grip as she does so, something she passes to the angel. "A keepsake. It holds no particular powers. It has simply been touched by Storm and War." Withdrawing her hand reveals it to be a simple golden pendant, with a blue gemstone the same shade as Setsuko's eyes. "If you ever have need of me, there will be shrines to Kiri-no-Musume throughout my homeland. And the Duchy of Bran should welcome you as a friend. The Archduchess is the old acquaintance I mentioned. If I can't help you, I'll send someone who can."

    She turns, and steps up into Tatsumaki's saddle, pausing for a moment. "...it's strange. Though I'm more bound than ever by responsibility, I feel... free."
Guest Psyber     Psyber slips his hand into his pocket and puts the pendant there, nodding his head to her, "Well. That's the thing about responsibility. Sometimes it teaches us to appreciate our freedom by giving us a way to notice its existence." The half-angel shrugs a bit and then watches her up on her horse, taking his hand out of his pocket a moment later once he's sure that the pendant is secure.

    "Responsibility may bind us, but sometimes being bound is the best way to find out who we really are."
Setsuko Kaminagi     "True enough," Setsuko replies with a nod. "...Take care of yourself, Psyber. The Multiverse needs men like you now, far more than it needs soldiers." With that little pronouncement, she turns and whips the warhorse's reins. It practically erupts off the top of the tower, lightning crackling at its hooves and thunder rumbling in its wake. As it retreats, so too does the looming storm overhead; the cloud cover thins, the thunder fades until there's none left, and the proper weather of the morning reasserts itself.