"Himiko Chariot"
By Vigilance99 (https://pastebin.com/u/Vigilance99)

URL: https://pastebin.com/9ATrqcKa
Created on: Wednesday 21st of October 2020 06:27:58 PM CDT
Retrieved on: Sunday 25 of October 2020 10:10:06 AM UTC


Game Master (GM):In her mind, the scene around her persists, the bridge of heaven passing off into the distance. Along its either side, men and women appear in two long lines of every age, sex, and station, all the lives of Himiko. On her left, those of her Avatar, on her right, those of her spirit, dozens of them passing off into the horizon starting with those most recent, Queen Himiko out of sight and mind in the distance.
The lives of Himiko stand still as statues in their rows, two lines fading off towards Takama.

Himiko Kamiya:Himiko looks to either side as she gazes upon her past lives, following both lines of her avatar and her spirit with her lines as they head off into the distance. She remains seated, looking between them all as she tries to focus. "Honorable past lives... what should I do?" She asks herself (in more ways than one), frowning as she tries to focus. "I need answers but, I don't know how to go about finding them..."

Game Master (GM):There is no response, all assembled standing at attention motionlessly.

Himiko Kamiya:Himiko looks between them all again, sighing when no response is given, and stands up (in her mind, still seated on the bridge) as she walks down the alley of her numerous incarnations. "Of course... I suppose the secrets of immortality is a bit much to ask." She approaches one of them, one of the closest one's on the side listing her Avatar's previous owners, reaching up to touch them. "What was it Queen Himiko expects me to see here... am I meant to speak with every single one of my past lives one at a time?"

Game Master (GM):They do not move, even when touched. As you examine the features of your most recent life, you see someone walking down the bridge, a young japanese man in green robes, with a sword at his waist and a longer one being held over his shoulder.
"That won't work you know." he says as he approaches.
"They're old people. They can smell fear." he jokes.

Himiko Kamiya:Himiko looks in surprise at the green-robed man as he approaches, quickly withdrawing her hand to her side as she backs away from the past-life she was touching. "I-I don't suppose if I told you I weren't afraid, you'd believe me?" She asks, before turning to face him. "Hi there... which one of my past lives would you happen to be? I'm sorry, I lose track of so many..."

Game Master (GM):"I'm Kamiya Himiko. I live in Los Santander with my father, my grandfather, and my brother. A few minutes ago I was killed by some big sea monster." he says with a cocky grin, rebalancing the long nodachi over his shoulder.

Himiko Kamiya:Himiko puffs out her cheeks, gripping her knuckles slightly. "Please, honorable past life, I only ask that 'someone' take this matter seriously! You know full well what I meant."

Game Master (GM):"And so? Are you calling me a liar? I'm Kamiya Himiko, the shrine maiden at the Kamiya Shrine." he says very confidently.
"If somebody tells you I'm someone else they're lying."

Himiko Kamiya:Himiko points a finger, "Y-yes, of course, you may be myself in another life, but that doesn't mean we aren't individuals too! What did they call you when you were alive? This particular version of us?"

Game Master (GM):"What did you call yourself when you were six? Does it matter? I tell ya you're getting way in over your head over nothing."

Himiko Kamiya:Himiko throws up her hands in the air, "Grrrrrm..." she groans, before bringing her hands together in a hand-sign. "I'm sorry, but if you won't answer my question, I'll just have to find out for myself, sir..." she says, closing her eyes as she analyzes this particular part of her mind for a name given to it in life
rolling 4d10>6
(
7
+
8
+
8
+
7
)
=4 Successes
(To Himiko Kamiya): Sasaki Kojiro

Game Master (GM):He reaches forward with his free hand and grabs your fingers the moment after you complete your rddhi to read his mind.
"You know that's pretty rude, just barging around in somebody's head like that. If I hadn't turned into such a beautiful girl I'd have to teach you some manners."

Himiko Kamiya:Himiko's eyes open up as the answer comes to her, "You're Sasaki Kojiro-EEP!"
She eeps in surprise as he grabs her fingers, looking up at her past life with a slight blush as he comments on her beauty. She leers, "T-then I'd have to report you for self-harm. I suppose we should count ourselves lucky." She turns her head. "I truly am sorry but, it's also rude to ignore someone's question like that."

Game Master (GM):"My NAME'S Kamiya Himiko, and unless you want to put that sword of yours against mine you'd better damn remember it." he says letting go.
"Now listen close, cuz I hate repeating myself. The fact that these guys can talk is giving you completely the wrong impression, so I'm just gonna have to show you what's what." He says walking a few steps away. A chariot appears in front of the two of them.
"What's this?" he asks.

Himiko Kamiya:Himiko can't help but take a gulp, but steels her expression, closing her eyes. "Well... what if I wanted to call myself Sasaki Kojiro? I am as much you as you are me, no? How would you feel about 'that'?"
As he offers to show her, she looks on at the chariot, rising her eyebrow. "It is a chariot...?"

Game Master (GM):"Shut up airhead." he says angrily.
"Right-o." he says, before swinging his sword fast as light, one of the wheels falling off and rolling away.
"How bout now? Still a chariot?"

Himiko Kamiya:Himiko glares at him. "I am NOT an airhead."
She looks at the chariot after he cuts off one of the wheels, watching it roll away. "Y-yes? A broken one but, it is still a chariot."

Game Master (GM):"Great news-" he cuts off the other wheel and kicks it down the bridge.
"How bout now?"

Himiko Kamiya:"Well, one might say it's closer to a sled now without any wheels but, I suppose I would still call it a chariot." She crosses her arms. "I'm sorry, is there a point to this??"

Game Master (GM):"How about now?" he says cutting about 20% of the top of the chariot completely off, leaving a mostly in-tact cab. He then reaches down and pulls out the axle and casts it over near the wheels

Himiko Kamiya:"Yes!" Himiko states a bit too loudly, starting to lose a bit of patience. "You're quickly reducing it to junk, but it is still a chariot. Do you wish me to confirm it still is what it is after you've reduced it to splinters?"

Game Master (GM):"THAT'S A CHARIOT?!" he says pointing to the wheeless, cut-up cab.
"Okay. Okay I can work with this." he says. New wheels appear on the chariot, as well as a new axil, and the cab is repaired. The broken off pieces from before still surround you.
"Question two. Is this the same chariot I just cut up just now?"

Himiko Kamiya:"W-well isn't it?! It's heavily damaged but, it's still the chariot..."
As he repairs the chariot with new parts, she pauses, looking at it. "I'm... I'm not sure. It has the same body but, half of the rest of it is new..."

Game Master (GM):"Not really no." you hear a voice with an Indian accent say. When you look back from the chariot, Kojiro has been replaced by an elderly bearded Indian man in bright orange robes.

Himiko Kamiya:Himiko looks around in surprise, looking left and right for the green-robed man up the bridge before focusing on the Indian man. "O-oh... Sasaki-san left?" She turns towards the older man, and bows her head. "Greetings... might I ask who you are?" She grimaces. "And please do not tell me it is Himiko Kamiya, I am well aware you are me from another life."

Game Master (GM):"But I am Himiko. And that's the whole point of this stupid little metaphor. The fact that I'm talking to you like this 
is giving you completely the wrong idea about who and what I am. Let me show you another way. Look over there."
As you look where he points, you see your ten year old, unAwakened self running up to you.
"That little girl over there. Is 'she' Kamiya Himiko?"

Himiko Kamiya:Himiko turns her head as he points out her past self, a little smile gracing Himiko's face as she looks at herself from the past. "What? Of course she is. She's me when I was ten, same body, spirit, mind, everything."

Game Master (GM):"Is she though? Why? She doesn't have the same body. After ten years almost every single cell in your body would have replaced itself. Skin, bones, blood, even some brain tissue would have died and been replaced by then."
"She doesn't have your mind. How much from when you were ten can you really remember, without using magick? You lose memories as quickly as you gain them. Even your personality isn't the same. She cares about things, that you would view as silly and ridiculous. And she'd think you're boring." he says with a small smile.

Himiko Kamiya:Himiko listens to the indian man as he explains the ways ten year old Himiko differs from her, her gaze softens, looking for a retort. "But, she still has my spirit, the same soul. I remember what she knows, I am her in ten years..."
Her eyes widen, "A-and she would not find me boring! I'm very exciting, look at what I've been doing lately."

Game Master (GM):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ftScS4fLbQ
"I have your spirit. If its your spirit that makes you who you are, then everyone here is Kamiya Himiko. But its not that simple. Just as a chariot isn't one thing, but is made up of smaller things, so too is Kamiya Himiko not a single element or piece, but what happens when all the pieces fit together just right. And even if some of the parts go away, that doesn't mean they never happened. You have this idea that there are people living your head, and those people can harm you and make you stop being who are you. But it doesn't work like that."
He waves his hand, and your reincarnations span out from the dozens long line into lines of tens of thousands spreading out in spirals into the heavens. Each of those persons at every point in their lives.

Game Master (GM):"We grow, and change. Your body changes, your memories change, your thoughts and views change as you grow older and get new experiences. The past experiences you had aren't people separate from you, no matter how different or how much you've changed over time. They're just THINGS that happened, things in your past. And just as you can imagine what your self at ten would think of you, you can imagine yourself hundreds of years ago, and what that tired old monk Kamiya Himiko would think of what you're doing now."
"Death is just another part of life, its permanence merely an illusion. You need to let go of the fear of who you were, and remember it can't change who you ARE." he says, looking to you with an understanding smile.

Himiko Kamiya:Himiko looks up towards the vast, innumerable incarnations of herself across their various life spans, eyes opening in awe at the sheer expanse of their experiences. She takes it in, listening intently to the indian man as her legs almost give out from under her. "I...I was afraid." She pauses, holding her hands up to her chest. "I-I always kept myself at arms length from all my past lives. There... there are times where I meditated, came so close to touching them and... and I always stopped." She lowers her head. "Each time, I was afraid that if I grasped too much of my previous incarnations, I'd lose myself. I-I didn't want to stop being 'me'. I didn't want to become detached from my Mother, Father, Daisuke, Grandfather... my friends Raico, John, Alexander... even when I agreed to allow Queen Himiko to stay in my mind, I didn't think she would take away 'me'."
She reaches up to wipe at a few tears that had formed. "But... what you're saying is that I was fearing for nothing. Because all of these lives 'are' me. You, the jerk with the sword, the Queen... none of you take away who or what I am, because what we all are are parts of the same person."

Game Master (GM):He nods, and waves his hand again. The incarnations vanish, and in their place are your family and friends.
"We're just memories, nothing more. Not spirits haunting your mind. And remembering the people you used to know, doesn't take away from the friends and family you have-"
Thousands of more people you don't know join Hiroshi, Daisuke, your father and mother, your friends, something tugging at the back of your mind on each of them, like a name on the tip of your tongue.
Game Master (GM):"It merely furnishes your mind with old loves. Friends and family you'd thought forgotten. Even death cant' disturb such a thing. Every person you've lost, has merely moved on, and continues to live with new loves. That's the real irony in all this. None of us can really hurt any of the others. We're all stuck in here together. Mages, Sleepers, Technocrats, Spirits. We're all we've got." he says staring up at the stars, your loved ones in celestial waltz overhead.