Topic: To Cross That Line (Namari x Missylooni)

[MissyLooni]

Takana huffs, "it's his job to ensure his men are safe and the humans are safe and that rules are being followed. Kind of like you in the sense that if he shows weakness where he shouldn't then he'll be in trouble and deal with his men challenging him."

[Namari]

Arakans eyes narrow and he steps closer, " i'll tell you the difference between him and i. I kill those who are trying to hurt those i protect, who abuse their strength to harm others. HE orders people killed who are not resisting, and are begging for their lives as they've done nothing wrong. THAT is the difference between him and i. i would never tear a father from his family as they beg for mercy, their only sin being that they protected the child first instead of the husband."

[MissyLooni]

Takana flinches a little and he huffs, "he wasn't even in charge on that inspection. But fine. Demons are holier-than-thou." He turns around and starts walking away

[Namari]

Arakan growls softly and follows after him. Did Takana really view him in the same light as he did that guard? someone who'd take an innocent person and slaughter them on a whim? it was disturbing to him to think of. Is that how humans viewed demons despite that even before they lived in districts they rarely ever killed humans? He frowns, watching Takana from a bit of a distance.

[MissyLooni]

Takana sets his basket down before stepping out of the store, heading towards the main gate

[Namari]

Arakan frowns, glancing at the basket before following still at a distance.

[MissyLooni]

When takana gets to the gate he snarls, "OIIII! CURTIS!"

All of the guards jump a little, startled by takana's sudden shouting.

Curtis steps to the side and huffs, "Takana what the hell are you doing? You can't just shout like that. You'd be causing issues if I wasn't working today. "

Takana huffs, "shut it. I need to talk to you. Now! "

Curtis already looks exhausted knowing that he'll be getting yelled at for something,  "okay? Then talk."

"Can we talk without this gate between us? It's kind of a sensitive topic. "

Curtis shakes his head,  "I'm not crossing the gate. Arakan would kill me if I stepped into his territory without approval first."

Takana huffs,  "then let me over. "

"Why don't you just go home? You know Corrin has been worried sick right? The whole company has been turned upside down since he's discovered your disappearance."

Takana blinks, "what? Really? "

Curtis crosses his arms,  "Yeah. Everything's been crazy lately."

Takana frowns before shaking his head,  "I'll process that later, at any point I need to know about your job. You told me you were the head guard and your job was to protect your men. "

"Um yeah? That's the basic of it. But I already told you that so why are-"

"If I wasn't at the last inspection and had jumped in the way would izanagi have died? "

Curtis pales a little,  "why are you asking me that? You know I  had no say in the matter. I know jack shit about the collars so I couldn't tell it was a dud until you said something. "

"The other inspections that you've been a part of. Have demons died in those that you oversaw?"

"Only if their collars were faulty..."

"And you still sleep at night?! How many? How many have died under your watch? "

Curtis flinches,  "i- I don't know. I don't even keep track. I usually drink after an inspection so I don't have to think about it. Why are you even asking me these things? You've never cared before so why now? "

"Because I didn't know that we were killing demons! Schools taught us something completely different and humans don't get the opportunity to be exposed to what's going on here! We're all just being ignorant to the actual horrors and I'm tired of being lied to!"

[Namari]

Arakan was going to hurry ahead to stop him when he heard Takana yelling for the bastard. Good, let him hear the truth hopefully. He moves off to the side, out of immediate sight and edges close enough to listen. He had missed the first part, but nodded when the other was questioned on the killings. He growls when the other claims to drink afterwards, how dare the bastard use alcohol to escape the things he does. At least when he had to kill demons that were an active threat to his people he took responsibility and accepted his role in their deaths. He steps out and towards the gate at the end, " i can tell you how many have died to human hands in inspections. we keep track, there's a whole book on who it was, what the reason was, and when it happened. And those who had families, i see to the care of them. I'd offer to come let you see the widows and their children, but im not sure you'd make it back out. they in particular seem to have a intense dislike for those who guard the gates and the inspection teams."

[MissyLooni]

Takana was about to say something else but he stopped himself when arakan spoke up.  He huffs seeing the demon and looks away, upset that he was followed but at the same time he knew that arakan would have chased after him.

Curtis looks at arakan and his eyes narrow, "bringing someone like me to those broken families would be the stupidest thing you could do. It's clear you two have had an argument that I am in the middle of somehow and honestly I would rather not." He looks at takana, "and you have GOT to stop just coming to the gate shouting like that. If someone worse than me is in charge then you're going to regret it. I can only do so much to keep you safe especially when you're pissing off my supervisor."

[Namari]

Arakan snorts, " hence why i am not going to do it. He compared me to you, i dislike being compared to a murderer. it went from there. I was here to step in if things went south, though i agree he needs to be more careful.

[MissyLooni]

Curtis huffs at arakan, "it's not like I go out of my way to ensure as many demons die as possible. Yes it happens and I'm sorry that it does but there's a reason why during inspection they send out two leading guards. To ensure that if one guard is going soft for no reason then the other can snitch on him. If I try to give every dead collar wearer a break then I'll be fired and replaced. Hell you guys could have James as your new chief. That guy I wouldn't want near ANYONE. Human or demon. He's literal shit and I know I'm not great either but trust me, if a guard named James is ever your lead inspector then I'd probably actually pray for this district."

Takana's ears twitch, "just because you feel pressured by work doesn't excuse the lives that were taken under your watch... and to be honest with you these are the things you should be telling us. And if this James is shit then in comparison I'd say you're piss and while one could argue that dealing with piss is better than shit you'll still have plenty of people asking themselves why they are even dealing with piss and shit to begin with."

[Namari]

Arakan rolls his eyes, " yeah, tell yourself you're the better of two evils as a kid gets shot. even if he is worse, that doesn't make you innocent. And i would hope the humans know better than to send someone in who would be even worse, because i assure you that nothing i can do would keep my people from restarting the war if that happened. tensions are already high as it is, you people have no idea just how pissed off everyone is, and how ready my father is to just give up trying to hold them back." he sighs, " unlike you, i can't just drink away my problems. At least have the balls to face the results of your actions face on."

[MissyLooni]

Curtis throws his hands in the air, "there's literally nothing I can do about that! About any of this! At least having this pink doofus fighting for you means you have connections but I'm just another replaceable pawn. But sure, stay pissed off at me. You're right. I DO get to drink my problems away. Like right now. Takana, you should just seriously think of going home. Half of the mansion has been worried sick about you." He turns and heads back to his station so he can clock out.

Takana huffs and moves away from arakan, his ears flat. Now look at what arakan did. Maybe he SHOULD go home

[Namari]

Arakan growls as the man heads in, " must be nice to be able to just leave!" he runs his hand through his hair, pacing back and forth a bit as he growls, " damned coward."

[MissyLooni]

Takana stands there, his anger quickly rising and it takes everything in him not to scream, instead choosing to speak more monotone and defeated, "he wasn't a great guy. He admitted that. He never defended himself with the fact that demon blood was on his hands, nor would he ever deserve a defense. But he was the only one, the ONLY guard, that you had that would listen to you. He even gave us a heads up with the surprise inspection as soon as he found out so that you had enough time to help your people, something that would have landed him in prison for life. Does that make his past actions forgiven? Of course not. We all know it never will. But he was still the only guard we had."
Takana turns around and heads back to the store, planning on still getting his shopping done for izanagi's sake, hoping arakan will stay away from him