#idk if all of those are necessary but better safe than sorryyyy

[stvrslight-a]

HELP THE WEAK ; FIGHT THE STRONG !!

TL;DR: Ephemer is an independent private eye who helps Sora’s gang by providing them with information that he gets a hold of. Current goals are to expose the secrets of the corrupt government and solve the mystery behind a disappearing girl !

Disclaimer: Foundation of this verse belongs to @lightmimic who owns my entire goddamn soul.

      We all seek a purpose in life. For some that purpose is being a mother, and for others its removing waste off the streets — sometimes with a shovel, sometimes with guns, and sometimes, in Ephemer’s case, with information. At first, he finds this life through being a cop, starry-eyed and full of idealism on how he’s going to help the world. He makes friends with a fellow officer with dark hair and similar ideas to him named Skuld. They make a good team — the best team — as they gradually move up the ranks as partners. Life is good; life is great. They become detectives, and he thinks it’s all he ever wanted, but in reality that was when it all fell apart.

      He wanted to save the world. He wanted to solve the unsolvable and bring justice to those that deserve it, but the real world doesn’t leave room for such goals, such naivete. The real world is grim, corrupt, and he finally learns this from the seat of a detective. The higher ups don’t care about justice; they don’t care about seeing murderers and con artists thrown behind bars. No. They only care about the money lining their pockets. His work leads to nothing more than criminals going free and the rich getting richer with little regard to the little folk. He can’t stand it, but at that point he was in too deep. He couldn’t see a way out.

      But then he gets a case. He’s to sniff out names and addresses of all the members of the leading branch of the local Yakuza. The city is practically run by the Yakuza, and it didn’t take a genius to know that this request probably came from the opposing gang, The Organization. Ephemer had never been want for getting in the middle of gang wars, but he knew it would do him no favors to decline the case ( can’t save the world with your head on a pike and your body in the river, can you ? ), so he sets out with all the enthusiasm of a man at the end of his rope.

     It isn’t long before he meets Xion, a young woman also wound taut at the end of her rope as she tries desperately to set herself free from the Organization’s grasp. Their meeting is small, fleeting, but it is just enough to allow Ephemer a front row seat to her escape. It is this very sequence of events that causes him pause in his mission. The Yakuza family she flees to is the very same that he is meant to be targeting. Should he continue, Xion would surely wind up back with the Organization, or mayhaps even find a fate far worse. He couldn’t be the cause of that. He refused to be.

     So he offered himself to Sora, the son of the onna-oyabun and heir to the Yakuza leadership, hoping that he would show him the same compassion he had shown Xion ( if not compassion, maybe the information he offered up on the force and rival gang was enough incentive ). Thankfully it worked well, and Ephemer finally had the protection he needed to turn in his badge and go solo. Unfortunately, this also meant he had to leave Skuld. She was a lawful creature and he’d now found himself in a lawless world, even if it was in the name of truth and justice. She wouldn’t leave with him, and he couldn’t even bring himself to try and convince her. He wishes he could say that they parted on amicable terms, but there’s an inevitable tenseness when you bail on a trusted partner and they don’t agree with your decisions. Still, maybe it’s better this way. It has to be better this way.

     Now a free agent, Ephemer was free to do things his own way. As thanks for their protection and assistance in his private cases, Ephemer continued to provide information to Sora’s gang whenever something of relevance came up ( largely things regarding Xion and her safety ). He refuses to fully pledge himself to any sort of organization again, but Sora’s gang is the first thing he’s had to a true family in a very long time, and both sides know where the other’s loyalties lie at the end of the day.

     One day, a mysterious letter comes to Ephemer. It’s a case, the details written in flowery penmanship and the file smelling faintly of cherry blossoms ( it reminds him of an old friend; mayhaps that’s why he cared about it at all ). Apparently a girl named Strelitzia has gone missing and nobody is giving her the time of day. It seems simple enough, but what the detective expects to be a short case with a body waiting at the end of it turns out to be a much grander pyramid scheme. At first, every lead winds up a dead end. More people go missing, including another of his oldest friends ( a quiet individual, but one who means the world to him regardless ). Now it’s personal. He drowns himself in the case. Obsessing. Agonizing. He starts sounding like a madman conspiracy theorist to his friends, but he knows — he knows there’s something to all of this. Something has to give.

     And something does.

     There’s whispers on the streets. Something called The Dandelions that can take you away from this world and all its problems. This piques Ephemer’s attention. How could it not ? He digs deeper, eventually finding that The Dandelions are a group of people obsessed with discovering how to move from one ‘universe’ to another. They use some sort of drug or chemical called Lux to attempt this, but instead of their desired effect of travel, all it winds up doing is erase the user’s memories. The leaders of The Dandelions, known only as the Foretellers, repeat the process on all those that they manage to conscript over and over and over again, desperate to achieve their goal. It’s absolutely crazy, Ephemer thinks, a full blown cult taking hold of the city !! And sure enough, his very own friend is within the hundreds of victims of this scheme. He has a gut feeling that his missing girl is probably connected as well.

     Unfortunately he was unable to do much upon this discovery. There was only one of him and too many of them, and, sure enough, they were backed by the corrupt government of the city. If he wanted to do anything about this, he’d need friends, and he’d need to dig up the problem from the roots. He needs to discover the identity of the Foretellers and find if there is anyone leading them. His sights are set high, his idealism driving him into uncertain, dangerous territory, but he’s too far in to back out now. Skuld, Xion, Sora — everyone ! They could scold him for endangering himself as much as they’d like, but if no one else was going to do something about this, then it was up to him.

     This would be his atonement. This would be how he could save the world.

#*✶｡ — help the weak; fight the strong :: verse ( yakuza ) #*✶｡ — perhaps he loved mysteries so much he became one :: headcanons #gang TW #drugs TW #cult TW #violence TW #idk if all of those are necessary but better safe than sorryyyy #1.2k words b y e #games: dandelions are a good / me: dandelions are a c u l t