melodiesofkupo | [Video; Heroes of Light Linkshell]

[It's taken Uendo and the others a long time to come to a decision, and just as long to finally put that decision into action.

A part of him is still hesitant. He's considered the option of only picking out a small handful of people to let in on the secret. But the thought of having the same conversation over and over for every individual, trying to gauge who he should trust and who he shouldn't... It's too stressful, too exhausting. A video post is the simplest way to just get it over and done with.

Even so, he's scared to go through with it. It's probably just paranoia talking, but still, what if...?

'It's going to be okay!' Patches assures him. 'We have Okuyasu and Sasami-chan on our side! If they're cool with us, why not everyone else, right?'

Kisegawa has nothing to add. She's made her feelings known many times in the past. Uendo takes a deep breath, puts on his calm and collected face, and turns on the iMog slate.]

Good evening! How's everybody doing? It's nice to have some peace and quiet every once in a while, isn't it?

Um, that aside... I had an actual reason for making this post. There's a... personal matter I'd like to get off my chest, and I thought it'd be easier to do it like this instead of contacting people one at a time.

[Despite all his mental preparation, it still takes some effort to get the words out.]

...As you might know, I'm a rakugo performer -- basically, my job requires me to be able to switch "characters" at a moment's notice. I've told some of you I do it off-stage as a matter of dedication, to keep my skills sharp. While that's... not a lie as such, it's not exactly the truth, either. I'm not putting on an act when I do that.

Those of you who came from my world, or a similar one... You might have heard of a condition known as Dissociative Identity Disorder. If you're not familiar with the term, well... [He raises a hand and taps his temple] To put it simply, it means there's more than one person in here.

[There. He said it, without being forced to, in front of multiple people. It's almost exhilarating, if not slightly terrifying.]

And now that the cat's out of the bag, I think we should introduce ourselves properly! As you know, I'm Uendo Toneido, a rakugo performer.

[And switch! Even though it's the same face, the shift in body language is easy enough to catch if you're looking for it. The inflection and pitch of their speaking voice change slightly, too.]

Hello~! Patches the jester, at your service! Nice to meetcha!

...Kisegawa. Courtesan. There's a fourth person as well, but none of you have met him. We can't bring him out right now, anyway.

So... That's how it is. The three of us -- Patches, Kisegawa, and I -- share the same memories, so if you've met one of us, we all remember it.

Sorry to spring this on everyone out of nowhere. There's a reason we've kept our condition a secret until now, but after everything we've been through with all of you, we didn't want to keep hiding anymore. I... I hope you understand.

[He goes quiet for a moment. Now that he's come this far, he's not sure how to end it without turning this into a giant emotion dump.

After several seconds of searching for words, he thinks better of it and merely smiles at the camera.]

Well... That was all I had to say. Thank you for coming to my DID Talk.

[The video stops there. As soon as the feed is off, Uendo huddles up on the living room couch and stares at his iMog slate without a word, his heart pounding.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Look, just because they're taking a huge, emotionally taxing leap of faith, it doesn't mean they're going to pass up the chance to make a dumb joke.

...Though admittedly, that one made Kisegawa sigh internally too.]

Yes, that was me. I think you've met the three of us by now.

[Good to know they share the feeling.]

I believe so, yes. I did wonder why it would be 'Shirogane-san' some time, but then 'Detective Shirogane' other times. However, I didn't find it pertinent in those moments, and if it was a personal matter, not something to inquire about should you not be up to sharing.

[...]

Now that you mention it, we haven't been at all consistent in how we address you, have we? I guess I should have realized a detective of your caliber would spot something like that.

That said, I do appreciate the consideration for our privacy. Not everyone would extend us that kind of courtesy.

Sometimes, the smallest inconsistencies have the biggest effects on a case.

You're welcome. I'm sure you've had a fair share of those encounters.

Certainly it's the little things that seem to get us in trouble more often than not.

That is actually part of the reason we decided to make this post now, despite our misgivings. Telling the truth on our terms is better than being publicly outed in the middle of court.

Odd how that can be, isn't it?

That's fair. Though, forgive my asking, you were outed in the middle of court?

On the witness stand, yes. Having the lawyer declare it for all the world to hear was an unpleasant surprise, to say the least. Doubly so when she went on to try and implicate one of us in a murder.

Admittedly, her actions led to the true culprit being caught in the end, so maybe I have no right to complain, but it didn't exactly encourage me to be more open about my condition either.

Implicate one of you for murder. Okay.

And no, I imagine it wouldn't. Mental conditions are already viewed negatively so even being implied towards murder wouldn't be encouraging.

Precisely. And it doesn't help that mine mostly gets relegated to horror movies, if it's taken seriously at all. I don't know if the same prejudices exist in Vaikuntha, but erring on the side of caution felt like the safest option for us.

Now that you've mentioned it, Vaikuntha seems fairly lax in terms of certain prejudices. There are issues around race though, particularly when it comes to architecture and profiling for minor crimes. Not helped when a Lalafell obviously attempts to rip people off in Sparks Golsaucia.

That's true, come to think of it. I've seen Vaikunthans get hung up on race and class differences at times, but not so much on things like medical problems or gender roles.

I suppose between everyday use of magic and the existence of outworlders being common knowledge, perhaps people here have higher tolerance for things that would be considered strange in our world.

[Video; Heroes of Light Linkshell]

Text

Text

Text

Text

Text

Text

Text

Text

Text

Text

Text