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2026-01-27: No Promise of Safety

2026-01-29T21:35:26Z

Eliza: *'''Log: No Promise of Safety''' *'''Cast:''' Rin Sasaki, Ayame Watanabe *'''Where:''' Aoba REI Hotel, Aoba Ward, Sumaru City *'''OOC Date:''' January 29, 2026 *'''IC Date:''' Wednesday, September 16, 2012 (Afternoon) *'''Summary:''' ''Ayame presents Rin with a choice she didn't know she had -- but there's no avoiding the risk involved.''

*'''Log: No Promise of Safety'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Rin Sasaki]], [[Ayame Watanabe]]
*'''Where:''' Aoba REI Hotel, Aoba Ward, Sumaru City
*'''OOC Date:''' January 29, 2026
*'''IC Date:''' Wednesday, September 16, 2012 (Afternoon)
*'''Summary:''' ''Ayame presents Rin with a choice she didn't know she had -- but there's no avoiding the risk involved.''

----

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
>can we talk?

This is the text Ayame abruptly received earlier today, from a number that has otherwise been inactive since she put it in her phone -- when she traded contact information with a Rin Sasaki, who was bolting from a thing that was most assuredly not human, but wore the face of Rin's husband all the same. The address and room number that was provided in the following texts has brought Ayame to a room on the second-highest floor of the Aoba REI Hotel.

It takes several moments after Ayame first knocks on the room door before Rin opens the door, and she is...not looking her best. Bare-faced, her eyes are bleary and somewhat bloodshot, her breath smells strongly of alcohol and nicotine, and she is wearing a simple pair of sweatpants and a man's t-shirt that is far too large for her, with the words 'KEIO UNIVERSITY' printed on the front.

"Oh, um. Watanabe-san," she starts, blinking a few times. Embarrassment is written plainly written in her face, to be seen in this state. "It's -- already four?" It is. "Sorry, I, um..." She's looking for an excuse. There isn't one. "Sorry," she repeats again with a wan smile.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
<poem>
Ayame answered the text in short order--not immediately, but soon. She can make time for someone in Rin's situation. ...And she would be surprised if that situation magically fixed itself while she wasn't looking, in fact. But she made her way over at the time they agreed on when Ayame responded, and...

Knock knock. Ayame is more dressed, wearing a blue top and jeans, with flats. She notices the smell of alcohol immediately but doesn't comment on it for the moment.

"Hello!" Ayame reports warmly, and then nods. "It is."

She shakes her head. "It's all right," she says.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Rin does not feel that it is all right, and desperately wishes she could find an excuse to ask Ayame to come back in another hour. There isn't one, of course, or at least not one that wouldn't be terribly, transparently rude after the other woman took time out of her day (again) for a complete stranger. So Rin simply steps aside to allow Ayame inside in the small hotel room, then locks and chains the door behind her.

The inside of the room is small, although still more spacious than what Rin could have had for the same price in Tokyo proper; enough space for a working desk and a small table in additional to the other essentials. The desk is taken up by a laptop and multiple stacks of questionably-organized paper. The table is completely covered with takeout cartons and empty and half-empty bottles of sundry alcohol. A lit cigarette is still burning in a mostly-full ashtray, which Rin puts out as she passes by.

"Please -- ignore the mess," she asks, still embarrassed. There's a chair at desk and another at the table that Ayame can take. Rin herself takes a seat on the floor, leaning heavily against the wall with a slow exhale. She is perhaps not ''drunk'', but it's likely she's been nursing a steady state of modest inebriation most of the day. "Last time -- you talked about the supernatural," she says simply, bluntly opening that part of the conversation.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
<poem>
Ayame is good at being polite, but she wears her emotions on her sleeves sometimes; she ''notices'' the state of Rin's dress, and she ''notices'' the state of the room. She can't really deny either; they show on her face. She walks in, and looks for a place to sit down when Rin lets her in. Eventually, she'll find the chair at the table, and sit down in that once Rin's taken her spot on the floor.

She does her best not to wrinkle her nose at the smoke, but she has something else to focus on in short order anyway. "Yes," Ayame confirms once she's taken a seat. "The supernatural."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
"OK," Rin responds quietly after a moment to collect her thoughts. She intended to have her notebook she's been keeping track of all this to hand, but she ''also'' intended to have the room cleaned up and not look like a miserable slob. How ''is'' it four already?!

The one silver lining to her current state is that she's just a little bit too tipsy to second-guess herself as much when talking about these matters. Or maybe it's the effect of having now seen a 'Persona' summoned and active for long enough that her mind can't trick her into thinking that it was a simple illusion or trick of the light or magician's act. The sense of ''energy'' that was in the room...

"Thus far I've -- aside from the Homunculus," which she spoke of herself a little last time, when Ayame insisted on knowing what was wrong with the man that Rin was fleeing from. "I've heard of Personas, Shadows, rumors that become reality, and..." She blinks blearily. The downside to her current state, and without her notes to hand, is that some of it has blurred together a little. "Oh. The Dark Hour," she adds after a moment of thought. With the dramatic description she was given of it, it seems strange to blank on that one.

Rin cycles a slow breath, because she is entirely ready to hear that there is actually even so much more of the supernatural that there isn't any overlap. "Does that sound -- at all like the things you know about?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
<poem>
There's a lot of things that don't quite match up when plans meet reality. Ayame at least hasn't ''commented'' on any of the mess... But maybe that's worse, since she's too polite to say anything. But...

"Personas, Shadows, rumors, and the Dark Hour," Ayame confirms. "Yes."

"Yes, all of those are things I'm familiar with. I have a 'Persona' myself," she confirms. "That's why I can sense things like the Homunculus so well, and experience the Dark Hour when it happens." Pause. "You haven't felt the Dark Hour, have you? ...Most people don't; they just go from midnight to twelve-o'-one like normal."

"Depending on where you go there's also demons, which are--creatures of myth and legend that sort of... mill about in certain supernatural spaces, I've found. They're quite dangerous, but unlike most Shadows, you can talk to them."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Rin breathes a little sigh of relief when Ayame confirms that she's familiar. Even if there's enough out there for people with multiple years of experience to not know all of it, it's at least some small comfort to her inebriated mind that it's beginning to sound like maybe some of the basics are consistent...

"The gods aren't around, too, are they?" Rin asks abruptly, without entirely meaning to. No one's mentioned them yet, but if the supernatural exists, that suddenly seems like something ''very'' important to know -- even if she lacks the qualities to experience much of what else has been presented to her. "I, um. I'm probably in ''more'' trouble if they are..." she continues with a wan smile. Religion has never meant much to her, but that calculus changes if divine beings literally exist along with the monsters.

"No," is her response to Ayame's question about encountering the Dark Hour directly. "Just -- been asking a lot of questions." But there's something rattling around. A warning if she ever ''did'' experience the Dark Hour that she's trying to remember. "Oh, ah," she begins. "Uchida-san at the KDA mentioned that during the Dark Hour, the Homunuculus can exit their coffin and attack? That she had to run from it..." Now Rin is a little uncertain, in part because she doesn't know if she's simply repeating something Ayame already knows, but Tamaki spoke of it as if it was a surprise.

But there's another question that's been weighing on her mind, even if she's already been told once that there's no known safe method of Awakening. "You said before you were able to help your husband when he was targeted by the...Joker Killer," she remembers that name after a moment, her face a little downcast. "Was that also because you have a Persona?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
<poem>
"I mean, I haven't seen any show their faces," Ayame says of the gods. "But some Personas and demons look like them." A pause, and a smile. "Well, I've seen no angels insisting on punishing the guilty, so I think you'll be OK."

But Ayame hears--no. Just questions. Hmmm. "Oh, that's..." Exit their coffin and attack? "Ah. Then I'll definitely want to avoid that," she says, "Particularly alone."

"...Yes," Ayame confirms. "That's correct."

"Without my Persona, there was really nothing I could do but leave it to everyone else..."

"But with it, I could fight the Joker Killer directly. I still didn't exactly win," she admits. "Certainly I wouldn't have alone. But I could do ''something'', at least."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
'Without my Persona, there was really nothing I could do but leave it to everyone else...'

"That is also what I have been told for--" Rin begins quietly, pauses, clasping her hands tightly in her lap to try and prevent the nascent trembling from starting. Because, for her, all the bits and pieces of the supernatural come back down to the one thing. "Regarding the...''creature''," she spits the word like a curse, a flash of hot anger bubbling up to join the tears that are suddenly threatening to collect at the corner of her eyes, "that is possessing my husband."

She cycles a slow breath, trying to keep herself together this time. "That there's nothing more I can do, beyond identifying the memento that serves as a -- key, I suppose, and taking it to a 'lonely place' that was important to my husband to activate it. But beyond that, I am...we are both at the mercy of strangers," she finishes, speaking both of herself and her husband that is the one afflicted.

"And I ''hate'' it," she adds, the feeling of helpless frustration creeping into her voice. There's a long pause. "How -- how did you come to possess a 'Persona', Watanabe-san?" she asks, as if hopeful that there's some answer for her that she hasn't heard yet.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
<poem>
Ayame listens; she understands that frustration very well, actually. "...I see."

She looks sympathetic, at least; Ayame folds her hands on her knee, sees that anger, and...

"It's terrible," she agrees. "But I just... well, when I was in danger, my Persona arose. I'm not sure how else to describe it."

She considers. "It's a risk," she says. "I can't guarantee we could protect you. But would you like to come along, when we go for... well, when we do what it is that we need to do?"

"It's not the same as being able to act for yourself... But I'd feel better that than just sitting at home waiting."

"It's up to you. I'll argue it to the others, if you do."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
A risk. The words weigh heavily on Rin's mind, bringing back also the words of the Rumormonger -- that knew of no 'safe' way to Awaken.

"I don't --" she starts, when Ayame asks if she would like to come along, but that they can't guarantee her protection. Her eyes widen, her face goes pale (more pale), and she shrinks into herself a little. "I-I don't know." It's as if the anger and frustration of a few moments ago have suddenly been sucked completely out of her, replaced by a sudden wave of visceral fear. It isn't just the descriptions of danger that she has been given, but the crawling, sickening sensation she experienced that first night she fled her home, as if Ayame's offer has somehow brought it to the forefront of her senses again.

That terrifying feeling of being ''hunted.''

"J-just..." Trembling. It's so easy to make bold declarations when the prospect isn't actually real, isn't it? Like a small dog barking from behind a closed fence, suddenly retreating when the gate is opened. "Just come along to some sort of -- mindscape filled with monsters and hope for the best?" Rin finally looks up and into Ayame's eyes, as if trying to read her intentions.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
<poem>
Ayame sees it; Rin knows enough to know that it very much isn't safe. That feeling...

Ayame nods. "...In short, yes," she annswers. Ayame is entirely sincere, to look at her; her eyes are steady, her expression calm. "To be honest, I don't think it's a /good/ idea," she admits. "It would be dangerous for you, and we'd have to protect you, which means more danger for us, too."

"But..."

"You have the right to be involved," she says simply. "That's all there is to it in my mind. I'd prefer to keep you safe, but if you ''want'' to be directly involved, I'll support you."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
A small, shaky, nervous laugh at the back of Rin's throat. "To be -- entirely honest," she begins. She can't stop shaking now. "I, um. I'd maybe hoped ''you'' might know of a -- I don't know..." Because, of course, she doesn't know. Everything she has learned thus far has only revealed the breadth of her ignorance of the world. "The secret initiation ritual or...something," she finishes, a little lamely.

She's ''felt'' the pressure and energy when a Persona was summoned into the room, ''watched'' as its tendrils reached meters away to physically procure an object and return it to the summoner. And of course been told more than once, including just now, about how necessary that power is to fight and be protected against supernatural dangers.

"Who is 'we'?" Rin asks, abruptly, still looking Ayame in the eyes. The idea that it would make it more dangerous for the other people involved also weighs on her mind -- it's weighed on her to have to ask for aid ''at all,'' ever since she was told that even those ''with'' power encountered mortal peril, fighting the other Homunculus -- but in this very moment, how much of that is her own fear speaking?

"Maybe. Maybe. Just..." There is ''something'' about the idea that keeps her fixated on it, rather than dismissing it out of hand. As Ayame put it, the idea of doing ''something'' rather than sitting around. "I would have hoped to do something ''useful,'' and not a detriment..." She smiles weakly and finally looks away again.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
<poem>
"Unfortunately..." Ayame can't think of one. She's never connected the silly games she played as a child with having a Persona now. But, well...

"I have some... friends, who deal with these matters together. I don't know how may of them you'd have met by now. We have a private detective, a police detective, a reporter, and a couple of ordinary people like me, among others."

But...

"Unfortunately," Ayame says, "I don't know enough about Homunculi to know what would be useful. Maybe someone who knows your husband--the ''real'' him--would be very helpful to have with us. But... I'm not sure."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Despite everything, Rin can't help but to notice how Ayame has implicitly offered her own aid, and potentially the aid of her allies, without even so much as a direct request for it -- despite the danger that is inherently involved.

She pauses and lets out a long breath. "That's not...the first time a similar idea has been raised to me," she says in regards to the potential usefulness of someone that knows her husband.

She curls a hand tightly. "But we..." Ayame can see as Rin tries to form the words once, twice, three times. And each time it's as if they're stolen from her before she can form them aloud. There's a tension in her eyes that goes beyond the fear that she's been grappling with. "Maybe even then I would be -- more of a harm than a help," she finally admits, without detailing why she might think that.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
<poem>
Ayame wants to help. That was true when they met before, and it's true now. ...But it's not just because she's 'nice', or because it's 'good'. She's been helped before, in such things, when she couldn't do anything herself. To pay that forward is... important to her.

But, "Hmm." Not the first time...

But Ayame looks sympathetically at Rin as she says what she does. "It's hard to really know someone else," she says. "Even someone you're very close to... isn't it?"

"I couldn't say if you do," she says. "I don't know you or your situation. ...But..."

"I'm certain you know him better than ''I'' do," Ayame settles on. "Or any of the rest of us."

"And maybe better than you think, too. Maybe."

She sighs. "...I thought my husband was having an affair, not too long ago," she offers. "For all that I know him so well, I still worried there was something going on I couldn't understand. But it turned out to be something completely different."

"...So you never really know, until you know."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
"That is...also an idea that has been raised to me," Rin says quietly on the subject of an affair. "By a close friend, not by someone engaged in the supernatural," she clarifies after. "And it would fit, and I -- I was worried, before, when I had only been told that there hadn't been a successful intervention for someone possessed by a Homunculus," she continues, the words suddenly coming out in a tumble. "That I might need to know for...legal ammunition." Pause. "In the event I was left legally tied to a monster wearing my husband's face."

Because, of course, divorce in Japan ''without'' a mutual agreement is not an easy matter -- and she already knew the creature would not give her one.

"But I don't ''care.'' I don't care if he was. Maybe he ''should'' have, maybe he ''should'' have found someone that isn't br--" Her eyes go wide and she stops herself short before she finishes that sentence. There's a pause before she finishes. "I just want him to be ''alive'' and that -- that ''thing'' to be dead," she finishes, once again speaking the word like a curse, a quiet hatred bleeding through.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
<poem>
Ayame nods. "That... makes sense," she says, but there's a but'. The 'but' is that it's awful!! "Right."

Ayame listens, and says, "Then we'll do our best for you," Ayame says. "Whatever it is you decide on the other matter... I want to help. I can't stand by and let you suffer. And let your husband suffer, for that matter. ...No, I won't," she settles on instead. "...Assuming you're all right with that."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
"Yes; yes, of course," Rin responds quickly when Ayame mentions if she's all right with it. She cycles several slow breaths, tries to dial back into the practical and focus on the details that were already relayed to her. Not nearly enough time has passed for her to be entirely sober. "As it was told to me, the...Homunculus inside the mindscape -- the 'Atelier' -- is even more dangerous than outside it, during the Dark Hour. That the last Homunculus required a ''number'' of -- Awakened, to combat successfully."

"I intend to take the key -- the 'Thread' -- to Uchida-san at the Kuzunoha Detective Agency soon." And of course, this is all entirely strange and bizarre to her, but it's an entirely welcome distraction from the previous thread of conversation. "As I understand it, it is required to enter the Atelier, which is done from an...internet cafe? They said something about 'being alone together,' but..." But she is still inebriated and doesn't have her notes in front of her.

"Thank you, Watanabe-san," Rin finally says. "For your help. And I will...let you know, on the other matter." Because she can't think about it more right now. It's simply too much.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
<poem>
Ayame's not going to press farther into Rin's business than she has to, certainly not unwanted--but she can tell this is a complex matter, even before the interloping Homuculus comes into play. "Hmmm, all right," Ayame says--then she brightens. "Oh, good. Then... I'll stay in contact." It's strange, bizarre, but Ayame seems to take these parts in stride. "Very well."

Ayame smiles, though it's not a happy kind of smile. "You're welcome," she says. "...Yes. I'll be waiting for your message." She stands up--making to go.
</poem>

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 1]]

2026-01-27: No Promise of Safety

2026-01-29T21:28:41Z

2025-11-17: Show Me

2026-01-26T02:35:56Z

Eliza: *'''Log: Show Me''' *'''Cast:''' Rin Sasaki, Myunghon Yeo *'''Where:''' Cardboard Dragon, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru City *'''OOC Date:''' November 17, 2025 *'''IC Date:''' Sunday, August 12, 2012 (Late Night) *'''Summary:''' ''Rin delivers the activated Thread to the Rumormonger who first spoke to her of the supernatural, Myunghon Yeo. They discuss some shared concerns over young people putting themselves in mortal peril, before Rin finally asks for definitive proof of the strange, dangerous

*'''Log: Show Me'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Rin Sasaki]], [[Myunghon Yeo]]
*'''Where:''' Cardboard Dragon, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru City
*'''OOC Date:''' November 17, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' Sunday, August 12, 2012 (Late Night)
*'''Summary:''' ''Rin delivers the activated Thread to the Rumormonger who first spoke to her of the supernatural, Myunghon Yeo. They discuss some shared concerns over young people putting themselves in mortal peril, before Rin finally asks for definitive proof of the strange, dangerous world that has invaded /her/ world. She is deeply affected by what she is shown.

----

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Myunghon is at the Cardboard Dragon long after store hours, but they've been experiencing a series of unsettling events culminating in a customer
that, while polite on the surface, exuded a terrible sense that they were in peril just being around them. It's left them terribly shaken, and while they're trying to go about their business as normally as they can, when Rin enters through the fire escape, she'll find them terribly jumpy like they're not certain who's about to enter. You never know when it's a serial killer in play!

"O-oh..." Myunghon remembers to breathe after several seconds, looking at the clipboard that they're holding like they're expecting it to be a warding shield or -- or something. "Sasaki-san, good evening," they stammer out, setting the clipboard at the counter. They're dressed in a white ruffle-blouse with a ribbon tie today, with a brown A-line skirt with inverted pleats, leggings, and their white coat is draped over their shoulders.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
The door swings open with altogether far too much force, as if Rin did not know if it would actually open or if she would have to bang on it to be given access, and closes again with some degree of irritation and also slightly too much force. She is wearing a flowing black skirt, a silky, deep burgundy top, black heels, and an assortment of jewelry.

"This ''cannot'' be the intended entrance," she mutters sharply. Rin is facing the door as she closes it, and only after turns to look for Myunghon, words already on her lips. "Yeo-san, I need your he-" There's a deep tension in her voice, her face, her body language, but the words die abruptly as she takes stock on Myunghon. This is a far cry from the completely in-control, almost bombastic rumormonger she met here originally.

"Is something wrong?" she asks, frowning.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Myunghon doesn't even realise how tense they are until Rin asks if something is wrong. They blink a few times, shrinking into their shoulders lightly, fingers curling as if they wish they still had that clipboard to cling onto. "N-no, it is merely..." they first blurt out, gesturing towards the couches. "There was a customer earlier that I felt... very unsafe around," is perhaps the incredible understatement of meeting Tatsuya Sudou, Joker Killer, in your very own store-home. "Nothing happened to me, I just... am merely on eggshells."

They force themself to take a breath, and then plasters a soft, gentle smile on, to try to look reassuring. "Please, how may I help you, Sasaki-san? You yourself look quite distressed..."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Rin hesitates for a moment at the entrance now. She seems less confident in making requests upon seeing the state that Myunghon is in, but her options also remain extremely limited. The rumormonger's words and attempt and reassurance are least enough for her to stop lingering at the threshhold, but she glances back at the door first. "Should this still be unlocked, then?" she asks with a note of concern in her voice, as if now worried herself this individual will return while she is here.

Her heels click softly on the floor as she steps over to a counterspace nearest to Myunghon so that she can set her handbag on it. "Is this something that happens often?" she asks further, quietly, as she reaches into the bag and pulls out a printed ultrasound image, probably taken around 9 weeks. She turns around and hands it to Myunghon. Her voice remains quiet and muted. "I went to the -- Eye today," she begins, as if using the term laid out by Hazuki was a little easier in the moment. "I ''think'' -- something changed. But I am not one of you, and it was a very faint sensation."

Rin cycles a slow, deep breath. It has been a long day. "Is that something you can confirm? That it -- worked?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
"Ah-- yes, that would be prudent, wouldn't it," Myunghon murmurs, perhaps feeling foolish about not locking the door -- they twist the bolt and has it shut, before turning towards Rin as she procures the ultrasound as she asks if this happens often.

"More... often than I'd like it to," Myunghon does admit honestly, feeling rather vulnerable at that. "But my situation is also... perilous, you might say. There are at least a few police officers that are rather... violent with me just because of who I-- am."

They don't exactly elucidate further on what the 'am' is, but the fact that they're using a Korean name is one that comes to mind, for starters. Besides, the image is procured, and Myunghon does pause as they take hold of the image with some grace.

"You are... you are correct, Sasaki-san. I can feel it," Myunghon does admit, as they tune into their senses -- it registers upon the tip of their tongue, a sensation that it's been met where it should have been brought and will now serve as a Thread. "Thank you. ... I apologise again for what happened last time. But now, we should be able to enter the 'Atelier' and rescue your husband from the Homunculus."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Aside from the knowledge of the supernatural that Rin has had to contend with, Myunghon's words are a reminder of one of her original impression of the Carboard Dragon and how far it is from the world she knows and understands. In her world, the police have never been anything other than a trusted bulwark against danger and crime, a critical component in the safety and security enjoyed by (most) in Japan, even in the largest cities.

And so it's written openly in her face that Myunghon's admission startles and perhaps slightly confuses her, before settling into understanding a moment later -- she is not so sheltered as to not make at least some of the connection when it is presented. "Then, again, I am -- very grateful for your aid while you have so many of your own troubles."

Rin almost seems a little surprised when Myunghon confirms her faint impression of what occurred with the image, as if she expected to be told that, no, it was simply a product of her imagination. And yet...

"Yeo-san," she begins, trembling slightly when Myunghon confirms they can now enter the Atelier and rescue her husband. That they are closer now to the end of this nightmare. But she can't shake the image of Hazuki speaking about people almost dying. It almost seems too much to ask of anyone, but especially... "Is it -- truly necessary for someone so young to put themselves in mortal peril?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
There's a soft nod, perhaps an implicit moment of gratitude at Rin's understanding, since Myunghon seems loathe to spell it out themself at times. "It is what the Cardboard Dragon is here for," they do assure. "While this may be at times a rougher neighbourhood than we'd like, we do try our best to look out for each other here.

Rin has a concern that, frankly, Myunghon does share. Is it necessary that someone so young have to put themselves in peril?

"Sasaki-san... to be quite honest, if I were to be in a position to influence it, I do feel the same way," Myunghon does express. "But... unfortunately, this -- 'awakening' -- is not something any of us chose. That so many young people have been placed in a situation where they are aware is -- a byproduct of the violence and danger that we do face. A lot of us awaken under extreme duress. Abuse, physical trauma, life-or-death situations... it isn't exactly something anyone chooses."

They pick away at a bit of their white hair in contemplation, placing the image of the ultrasound down on the coffee table gently. "... I've resolved to try to support them as best as I can, since that is what I can do." A soft sigh, and a weak, almost sorrowful sigh. "If it makes you feel any better, I've requested that Uchida-san and Hazuki reach out for our other allies. The last venture into an Atelier took many hands -- and I'm not about to allow anyone to bear the burden alone."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Rin listens silently. She is no happier to hear that there are ''more'' young people involved in such perils. But she also can't truly forget how fervantly Hazuki first declared that she would help, that she couldn't stand aside and not do something with the power that she held. The intervening time may have faded the exact words in her memory, but the ''impression'' certainly remains. And she has received significantly more context since then -- even if very little of that context has sounded terribly positive to her ears.

And as much as it troubles her now to sit on the sidelines and implicitly ask others to risk themselves for herself and her husband -- would she really make a different choice if she was sitting on the other side of the situation? At that age, with the power to affect the world in ways others could not even perceive, it's hard not to think that she would have been just as persistent.

"I understand," she says finally, quietly, not quite looking at Myunghon. The situations they describe as instruments of awakening are also almost (but not entirely, especially now) removed from her experience of the world. "It's good, at least, that you are able to support them. I am -- sorry, that I have to ask this of any of you." But of course, she has no choice. And she has no capacity to assist beyond the minor steps already done.

"But..." And now she looks up, suddenly, that familiar spark of intensity as she makes direct eye-contact. "Uchida-san said there is an hour of time every night that is unperceived by the...Unawakened. Is that correct?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
"Of what small consolation it may be, Sasaki-san..." Myunghon does speak up. "I do know a number of them do find strength in this. To be awakened to such a burden is heavy in certain lights... but I have heard them say that it made them feel that they can make a difference in a world that didn't much care for them."

And they're one of them. 23 isn't that far off from being a teen, once, in the grand scheme of things. Myunghon may carry an older, almost wise counsel to their demeanor, but they're terrifyingly young in a lot of instances.

"And to respect that desire... is, I think, healthier for their mindset, as they grow. Because you and I both know that is a perilous time to be, in your teens."

Myunghon does nod as Rin says it's at least good they can support them -- but apologises again. "It's of no concern -- to be quite honest, that you've brought the Thread to the Eye is of great importance already. I must thank you for that, Sasaki-san. I can only hope we can resolve this as swiftly as we're able to."

But Rin asks about the Dark Hour, making eye contact -- and Myunghon has to ready themself to not flinch away, intense as Rin's gazes can be. "... yes. We call it the 'Dark Hour' -- it's a mortifying time, when the moon becomes unbearably bright, when everything is cast with a sickly green pallor... and everyone unawakened hides, unaware, behind a coffin."

A longer pause, and they share: "When I first awakened, I was nigh-mortally wounded." Is that why they're covered in bandages all the time? "I was brought to a hospital and... I experienced that hour on my own, without guidance. I laid there in my emergency ward bed and... saw rows upon rows of coffins of my fellow wardmates, and thought I'd gone quite mad."

The Rumourmonger leans back on the couch to say: "That I can at least explain these most troubling elements to someone freshly exposed to the supernatural is... only paying it forward, I imagine."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
"Yes," is Rin's quiet response to the idea that it is likely healthier to respect that desire, especially in light of what a perilous time that age is. "...I would be hard-pressed to disagree." She is not so far removed from that time that she cannot remember, even only grappling with entirely mundane matters, how much of a fight it could be to have her voice heard and her decisions respected. Including decisions that she could look back upon even now and determine to have been entirely correct, despite the pressure to choose otherwise.

Not that any of that changed overnight upon becoming an adult, either.

Rin does not break the eye-contact as Myunghon first describes the nature of the Dark Hour, almost as if keen to determine as if they will say anything to contradict what she has already been told. She does glance away as they go on to describe their first experience with the Dark Hour, and how they were nigh-mortally wounded right before. It is yet another reminder of the violence and danger that seems intextricably connected to this supernatural aspect of reality that has been presented to her, and their description of this hidden hour is ''far'' more evocative than than the description she previously received.

'I thought I'd gone quite mad.'

"Then...perhaps you will understand my request," Rin says, cycling a slow breath. "All of this," a vague wave of her manicured hand for emphasis. "So far all of this to me has been...a single direct encounter with something that I am ''certain'' was not my husband, wearing his face." She grasps her hands together tightly in her lap to prevent them from trembling, but it does nothing to stop the moments of trembling that overtake her entire body. Recalling that night will perhaps never be anything but painful and extremely distressing. "And a secondary brush, later."

"The rest has been -- feelings and impressions and...a great deal of words taken entirely on faith, of a world that is imperceptible to me." She pauses for a time here before she can find the capacity to continue. "After Hiroki died, after I very nearly died myself, I was not the most...stable," she admits. Her voice takes on a deeply pleading tone here. "''Please'', Yeo-san. I ''need'' something more tangible so that ''I'' know that I am not simply losing touch with reality."

"Show me," she insists, her voice regaining strength and making eye-contact again. "I understand that you cannot directly, but if there is an entire ''hour'' that exists with which most of the world does not interact but ''you'' do -- it should be trivial to demonstrate, yes? Objects moved a visible distance, you standing on the other side of the building. As you and Uchida-san have both told it to me, from my perspective, it would happen instantaneously -- a clear demonstration. Is that not so?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Myunghon does feel a little more at comfort, when Rin agrees -- it's something that weighs rather heavily on their mind, having been exposed to so many teens who're literally fighting life-or-death battles -- dying ones too. They're not an omnipotent creator -- they can't change how their reality's been pulled under all their rugs... they can only start a community that can care for them.

But they regard Rin's request with gravity. Because they do recognise what it is that she feels -- that nagging doubt like nothing is quite real, like everything's just them slipping away from the physical realm. How she has to take everything on faith, after encountering a /thing/ that she was certain isn't her husband. The way Rin trembles and recalls that night, her body language, does make them quietly tuck in themself, because they recognise those signs as some of their own.

"... very well, Sasaki-san," Myunghon answers, after a moment of rumination. "We are actually lucky. I can give you a simpler demonstration. The reason I chose this building is because, in part, this shop exists on a patch of supernatural ground that allows me to manifest my Persona. However..."

The Rumourmonger taps their chin gently. "From experiences in demonstrating this to other unawakened people in the past, a common reaction they have is that their mind will actively try to defend itself from what it perceives to be 'illogical' -- you may find it quite mentally burdensome. You will want to steel yourself."

With that disclaimer -- warning -- in mind, Myunghon does close their one remaining eye, lowers their head, and then...

"/Kudlak./"

A tremendous surge of power rises from within the Rumourmonger, welling up in columns of Blue energy. Already, the sensation is intense and unnatural -- but then something more tremendous happens; Myunghon's white coat seems to shift and flow around their person as if it were an agitated body of water, something living, something more... and some kind of /shadow/ rises from within the white fabric, matte-black in contrast, something humanoid and yet not. It has silver hair and the hints of as if it were an aristocrat from the 17th century, with the jabot on its collar...

But it has no face. Kudlak has a matte-black face, with only two gleaming crimson eyes.

And then-- with a gesture of their hand, the shadow blends, black-and-white, like the yin and yang, into their coat, and it stretches out as if it were some kind of ribbon-like tendril -- and fetches one of the cups of tea at the kitchenette, some ten metres away. It pulls the cup and saucer back... and then, still only using that ribbon, their hands still placed at their lap, Myunghon takes a sip of tea, then sets it down on the coffee table.

Then the Persona disappears, and that overwhelming sensation suddenly pops, as if one's ear has been freed from building pressure from elevation difference.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Myunghon provides further information not directly stated, at least partially answering one of Rin's unasked questions in passing. If 'supernatural ground' is required to manifest their Persona, then it follows that there are mundane locations that do not allow such a manifestation. Of course it also raises more silent questions in turn. If this location is a place where Myunghon can manifest a power that can fight monsters, why were they so unnerved by a -- she assumes -- potentially-violent customer?

Does it ''only'' work against monsters?

Rin banishes this question for another time when Myunghon presents the warning. It is difficult to know entirely how to prepare herself when she can only guess at what form the demonstration will take or what the mental reaction might entail. But as best as she can, she tries to steady herself, to sweep away the distractions and worries and focus her attention entirely down to whatever is about to happen.

Her pulse quickens with anticipation and only the slightest amount of dread. She gasps as the surge of power begins suddenly, coupled with columns of blue energy. Eyes wide, desperately sucking down her next several breaths as if she might otherwise not be able to breathe at all. An unpreventable deep-body shaking that rattles the bones. A terrible weight on her chest and the unavoidable feeling that this isn't something she should be observing at all. Her expression contorts with discomfort. She digs the manicured nails of each hand into and down the other arm, as if the sharp pain provides a measure of focus.

Because beneath the obvious tension and discomfort and mental strain, there is something else unmistakable glittering in her eyes. In her face. In the way she leans forward. In the way she does not once look away from the awesome display, nor even so much as blink, staring as if it is the most wondrous thing she has ever seen.

She is ''enraptured.''

"Thank you, Yeo-san," she breathes quietly, a full minute after the display has ended.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
There certainly are inferences to be made. Perhaps whoever this customer is is even more powerful, enough to be able to deter Myunghon. Perhaps fighting back, even in self-defence, carries with it attention that would be deeply unpleasant and they have to wait until the last moment when their hand has been forced. And clearly, in other situations, like with the police officer, they didn't have that choice...

It's muddy ground, all of this. Becoming empowered is not a license for invulnerability, very clearly.

Myunghon does themself let out a sigh, because it is somewhat taxing to manifest their Persona for an extended amount of time -- combat tends to have them be in quick bursts -- but they wanted to do so, because a brief glimpse is most easily explained away as a trick of the light, a misunderstanding, an illusion.

But Rin's reaction to all this is not something they'll soon forget. The awe and vigor that's within her, like she's on the cusp of pushing through all the defences her mind's conjuring to try to protect herself and emerge into another world... they wonder if they had a similar reaction, the first time Demons were beset on them.

"Unfortunately..." Myunghon does point out, as if they know a certain question can't be far behind, "I do not know of a way to safely awaken someone to this power. The enemies we have do sometimes force people to awaken -- at great cost to their psyche and well-being. It damages them forever..." A pause. "But I hope... that demonstration can comfort you in some small way, Sasaki-san."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
In the comparative 'quiet' that follows, Myunghon anticipates and answers Rin's questions before she can ask them, or even entirely piece her thoughts back together sufficiently to even formulate them. "I see," she says softly. The direct, blunt statement that they have enemies with access to the same power, and that they are willing to inflict great damage upon people to force an awakening, is certainly a little unnerving.

Rin lets out a slow breath and glances down at her arms, skin turning red from her own long, angry scratches. "It would be nice, one day, I think, to hear about something -- positive and pleasant from all this," she says with a slightly ironic, rueful tone that suggests she at this point does not believe such a thing exists. "Say, a supernatural cure for cancer." Beat. "Or that the Prime Minister and his entire cabinet have been eaten by some terrible creature, never to be seen again." Her voice is airy enough here that one might assume it's still ironic.

But then again, perhaps not.

Rin sobers again and slowly exhales before rising to her feet. "It did, Yeo-san. Very much. It has been growing -- difficult, of late, to keep faith in what I first experienced." She has, after all, effectively abandoned her home and her husband to sleep in a series of small boxes that Tokyo calls a hotel room. She frowns. "To not think that I had simply lost my mind and needed to return home. Be medicated; possibly committed. Thank you, again."

She shakes off the thought and starts to head for the door. A bit of that shining rapture glitters again in her eyes as she stops and turns back to Myunghon. "And, more than that. If this is a world not open to me, I am still -- deeply grateful for the chance to witness such a thing with my own eyes."
</poem>

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 1]]

2025-11-09: Retrieved

2026-01-26T01:50:38Z

Eliza: *'''Log: Retrieved''' *'''Cast:''' Rin Sasaki, Tamaki Uchida *'''Where:''' Kuzunoha Detective Agency *'''OOC Date:''' November 09, 2025 *'''IC Date:''' Wednesday, August 08, 2012 (Morning) *'''Summary:''' ''Tamaki has recovered Kenzo Sasaki's Thread after a surprising amount of trouble during the Dark Hour. Rin arrives for pickup, and of course brings along more questions -- and not all of the answers are easy to hear.''

*'''Log: Retrieved'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Rin Sasaki]], [[Tamaki Uchida]]
*'''Where:''' Kuzunoha Detective Agency
*'''OOC Date:''' November 09, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' Wednesday, August 08, 2012 (Morning)
*'''Summary:''' ''Tamaki has recovered Kenzo Sasaki's Thread after a surprising amount of trouble during the Dark Hour. Rin arrives for pickup, and of course brings along more questions -- and not all of the answers are easy to hear.''

----

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
It's a relatively normal day in the Agency, with both Chief Todoroki and Tamaki at their desks, poring through binders of case files and browsing through computer databases.

The giant golden lucky cat statue near the front of the agency sits as it always does, ever beckoning customers with its paw ...

Of particular note here is that for the last few days, the briefcase of one Kenzo Sasaki which contains one photograph of an ultrasound has been locked in a safe hidden in one of the large cabinets behind Todoroki's desk. After having procured it, Tamaki had texted Rin that it's available for pickup at her convenience.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Rin enters the agency early in the morning, with significantly less hesitation than the last time she was here. There is still a weariness in her eyes and body language for anyone perceptive, but not quite the overwhelming exhaustion from before -- she is either settling into something approaching a routine, or has become better at hiding it (or both). A breezy blue-and-white sundress that reaches almost to her ankles; open, low-healed sandals; natural-looking makeup; an assortment of rings and bracelets; and a custom-made black leather handbag over one arm, large enough for a laptop and some other items.

She pauses in front of the lucky cat statue as it asks for donations in its tinny voice, pursing her lips. "You said previously that it 'started talking as the result of a rumor,'" she directs to Tamaki while continuing to look at the statue with a critical eye. "Does anyone ever actually donate? What happens to the funds if they do?" Pause. "And what was the rumor -- 'the statue at the KDA will start begging for yen starting tomorrow?'" This is said lightly and perhaps with just the slightest veneer of skepticism, but genuine curiosity right under the surface.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
Like clockwork. "Nya~! Nya~! Nya~! Please donate 1000 yen!"

Tamaki's had several days of rest after the hectic flurry of activity she was involved in, /and/ her university's on summer break so she at least doesn't have to juggle both school and work. (She might have slept overnight at the agency in order to keep watch on the safe during the Dark Hour, though it seems her caution had thankfully been unwarranted.) She is at least back to normal, dressed in her usual brown-and-beige-striped business suit.

At Rin's question, Tamaki and Todoroki's eyes meet. Their exchange is wordless, but there are untold depths to what they say to each other with their mutual glances. Tamaki nods and pipes up hesitantly, "The rumor in question ... was that if you donate enough to the statue, then it'll tell you of yet more rumors within the city. I've seen that happen firsthand."

She pauses, then continues her answer with a nod. "I've seen some high school kids donate. I've even paid out of pocket myself out of ..." Her expression turns to annoyance. "-- Desperation. The information I paid for ended up saving someone's life. The agency is not the beneficiary of the donated funds; a very well-informed associate is."

Having finished her explanation (for now), Tamaki cracks a smile. "And it's good to see you again, Sasaki-san."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
With her eyes on the statue, Rin does not see the look between the pair. Hands folded together, she taps her left hand several times as she listens to Tamaki's explanation. "Mm." After what she's heard already -- and experienced a little bit herself -- Rin is certainly not ready to contest the explanation, no matter how much it sounds like a rather outlandish scam on the surface.

Especially not when she's here to pick up a simple image she paid a private detective to steal back from a thing that is not her husband for the express reason that it is apparently of critical value in expelling the parasite in her husband's psyche (so really, it's one of the ''less'' outlandish things she's been prepared to hear out and even accept as true).

"But if the statue is what gives the information, then why does this associate get paid?" Rin asks as she turns away from the statue to approach Tamaki, the edges of her lips turned up in a faint smile. The question is again asked lightly and with a veneer of skepticism, but one might get the impression that it's really asked to try and fish for more answers.

"You as well, Uchida-san," she returns as she takes an open chair in front of Tamaki's desk. With the distraction set aside, her expression and tone become more sober, a little more subdued. "Your text said you were able to retrieve the image?" There's only a moment's silence before she can't resist asking, "How?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
Tamaki clasps her hands together and smiles brightly. "Perhaps if you donate enough, then you can personally see what the relationship between the statue and the associate is. Barring that, I'm sure your imagination can fill the gaps."

At Rin's other questions, Tamaki nods seriously and goes behind ''Todoroki's'' desk instead to retrieve it from the cabinet safe. ''Click-click-cliiiiick'', and out comes the briefcase. Tamaki returns to her own desk, places the briefcase on the surface, then gestures for Rin: "Feel free to open it and check."

At the ''other'' one ('How?'), Tamaki goes stock still. After a moment, she curls a finger over her chin. "This is one of those things that'll sound outright insane if I explain it directly. I promise I'm not just yanking your chain, though."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Rin does not persist past the clear deflection on her final question regarding the statue. It was a reach, and she knew it was a reach when she posed it.

She does open the briefcase, flipping quickly through a number of work files that not-Kenzo had taken home with him, perhaps to review on the train home --if Tamaki glanced through them, she would have seen that Kenzo works at The Institute for Advanced Biosciences at Keio University, and that his team recently received a fantastic amount of research funding -- until she reaches the ultrasound image buried haphazardly at the bottom. Her expression darkens visibly as she pulls the image out and closes the briefcase again.

"Uchida-san, if that is the case," Rin begins evenly before letting out a long, slow exhale. She carefully places the image in her bag and then also pulls out a pen and a notebook. She flips through to an empty page but holds it in such a way that Tamaki can't see what has previously been written as she does; then, she looks up and makes direct, unwavering eye-contact with Tamaki. Her expression is set firmly and there is an intense look in her hazel eyes. "Then I wish to hear every detail. Please."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
Tamaki nods seriously at Rin. "I just felt like I should be clear. I've got my reasons for playing coy about the statue," she shakes her head with a pained expression, "but my reasons for being reticent about ... this ... are different."

Every fiber of Tamaki's conscience is yelling at her to try and figure out how to actually seem sincere instead of doing her usual social engineering saleswoman schtick. The one time where she wants to both be forthright ''and'' seem like it, she can't muster it. It always feels to her like it's one or the other.

She curls a finger over her chin again as she considers where exactly to start. "There's a lot of background information on this whole sphere of things, but the most relevant one is the existence of a twenty-fifth hour of the day. Time otherwise freezes. Most technology stops working. Ordinary people remain dormant -- they remain frozen in place, kept in floating coffins until the hour elapses."

While she doesn't look over at Todoroki, she doesn't manage her volume -- this is stuff he's in on, too. "Then you've got people such as myself and a few others. I assume whoever told you about Homunculi is one of us. The term people settled on seems to be the 'Dark Hour.' Time doesn't stop for us. Monsters called Shadows are sometimes out and about during this hour. We're ..."

Tamaki pauses and bites her lip for a moment. "We don't have the luxury of looking away anymore. We get power, but we also get responsibility. I recently had a client die on me because I failed to protect them, and the only thing they did wrong was stumble across information that someone powerful didn't want them to find. Information that they didn't want them to pass onto us."

While it's on her mind, Tamaki fishes out Rin's house key from the safe, too. "So -- my initial thought was that I'd wait until the Dark Hour, open the door to your home, then waltz in and take the photo while your husband's resting in his coffin. In and out, no detection, no electronic alarm systems to worry about, no peeping eyes, just your permission and time being frozen."

Tamaki exhales a rattling sigh. "There was a slight complication, but I can explain that later. I ''will'' explain it, but first, I'd just like to check: Are you with me so far?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
There is a visible lessening of the intensity in Rin's eyes and the tension in her body when Tamaki begins her explanation in earnest, but no sooner. It is perhaps clear that if Tamaki wanted to deflect Rin cleanly from ''this'' matter, that door was closed as soon as she first suggested less-than-natural elements to her retrieval of the image.

Rin listens silently, resting the notebook on her side of Tamaki's desk. It is difficult to tell if she entirely ''believes'' the private investigator, but she takes it all seriously enough to begin jotting down notes in quick, neat handwriting. Multiple questions fill up the page in between these notes, but she does not interrupt until Tamaki mentions 'people such as myself.'

"People who are -- Awakened?" Rin asks by way of a quiet, clarifying interjection, as if trying to tie this together with another conversation she's had recently. There's also a slight but visible pause in her writing when the word 'Shadow' is mentioned, as if it is not the first time she has heard the word, but wasn't entirely expecting to hear it again in another context.

She exhales slowly, tapping the desk slowly with a manicured nail as Tamaki comes to a pause in her explanation. Her expression is more of a person trying to form a complete picture of the information she's been given, rather than skepticism or disbelief. "It is -- a lot to take in," the world has given her cause to feel that way a lot recently, "but I believe I am following."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
Tamaki nods in reply to the interjection. "'Awakened' is the term for it, though I want to be clear that it's not a marker of someone being 'greater' in some sense. In my opinion, all that being Awakened means is that you can face these supernatural elements -- like Shadows -- head-on. I would very much like to return to being un-Awakened, myself, but I'd only be comfortable in doing so when this stuff stops affecting the lives of ordinary people."

She lowers her gaze as she recalls things in more detail, then returns her focus to Rin. "The Dark Hour alone is a lot to take in. There are a lot of different phenomena out there. My own experience is primarily with a different kind of adversary, Demons, and I have woefully little experience with Shadows. Whichever one of us Awakened you speak with, we're going to have our own gaps in our knowledge, as well as our respective areas of expertise."

"A Homunculus is, from what I understand, a variety of Shadow. At least from my limited perspective, Homunculi are a relatively new phenomenon; I'd only heard of them within the last month or two, but I've been Awakened for about five years now. They could have been a thing before that, so don't take my word on that, but I'm learning about them as I go."

Tamaki narrows her eyes. "Occasionally, un-Awakened people remain fully aware within the Dark Hour and lack the means to defend themselves against Shadows, or you may become Awakened yourself. If my experience with your husband's Homunculus is any indication of a larger pattern, then I feel that it's highly important to mention that you should be careful around Homunculi in the Dark Hour -- they initially appear as the same coffin that everyone else does, but they're capable of jumping out of it to attack you by surprise."

Her expression is tense, and her words carry urgency. "Even with all of my experience, I had to flee for my life. I've fought things with inhuman speed and strength, but this was on another level."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.'
<poem>
Rin smiles wanly when Tamaki mentions the breadth of phenomena in the world. "Yes, I've been...getting that impression thus far," she murmurs tiredly by way of interjection. She pauses in her writing and closes her eyes, taking several long, deep breaths as Tamaki continues speaking. The idea that what she has learned thus far regarding her ignorance of the true nature of the world is perhaps still only scratching the surface -- it's easy to get overwhelmed by the thought of it. But more than that --

"The thought that there is so much of -- all of this," she continues quietly after looking up again, giving a vague gesture with a right hand as if to reference however many supernatural elements might exist in the world. "That even those with years of experience retain gaps. It's... unnerving," she admits, then lapses into silence again as the private investigator drills down into a much more specific concept. And warning.

There is a lengthy silence after Tamaki finishes, during which Rin jots downmore notes before setting the pen down again. "If I had not experienced what I did that night," she finally speaks, folding her hands in her lap and avoiding eye contact, her expression dark, as she makes the admission she could not in front of a teenager. The investigator has also expanded on the list of potential dangers. "If I had not ''felt'' what I did that night, and then a second time more recently, more clearly. If I had not found a monster wearing my husband's face in our bed." Pause. "I would not believe you. More specifically, I think, I would very much ''like'' not to believe you."

"The thought that these dangers lurk in the world and I have no capacity to defend myself against them is -- terrifying. In a manner that words cannot adaquately convey." Her voice remains steady and does not break as she says this, but it is more than clear in her voice and her body language the very deep impact these updates to her understanding of the world are having.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
Tamaki folds her arms and looks up at the ceiling as she leans back on her desk. "I'll admit that it's unnerving, but ... the situations we Awaken in and the journeys we go on are often deeply personal." She shakes her head and shrugs at Rin. "Think of it more like this: most of my story's already been told. Because of that, I've got the uncommon-if-not-unique luxury to observe from the sidelines and provide my assistance where I can." She knocks on one of the binders on her desk for emphasis. "Most everyone else, on the other hand, are neck-deep in tackling the issues that affect them more directly.Even among Awakened, I don't think there's any need to understand everything right from the get-go. You just do what you can, one step at a time."

'I would not believe you.' ''You and like half of the Dark Side of Sumaru forums,'' she thinks to herself. What she says out loud is different: a laugh, coupled with a tired, wry grin. "Hahaha, I'd very much like to not believe me either. But I wouldn't still be alive if I didn't." She briefly averts her gaze with a pause. "And in my defense, I DID preface my explanation by saying that it would sound insane. I think I'm lucky in that you've apparently heard similar things from other people now."

After Rin's comment about the dangers lurking in the world, Tamaki goes quiet for a few moments. "I don't think that there's ... no defense. These Shadows and Demons seem to originate from very real emotional vulnerabilities. Your husband -- the real guy, the original -- must have suffered from some very real sorrow and grief. That sorrow's what gave the Homunculus a foothold. Even aside from Homunculi, it's never some random act of cruel nature in an alien, uncaring world -- it's always spun from someone's deep-seated desire for revenge, or their unchecked nihilism, or their envy, or so on. Supernatural or not, the danger's there either way -- the only real difference is in how it manifests. Someone's state of mind -- even that of an un-Awakened person -- has a very real effect on the supernatural side of things here."

"I was present for an effort to excise a Homunculus from another person's Atelier. I now know that it's possible, and I have a better idea of the steps to take. I pray you don't ever need such defenses yourself, but there are a good number of us who are willing to help free anyone who's experiencing the same malady as your husband, him included."

Having recalled another detail from that night, Tamaki sheepishly glances away from Rin, turns her eyes towards the ceiling, and quietly admits, "... I might have broken your bedroom dresser while I was trying to make my getaway. My apologies for that."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Rin only nods silently when Tamaki mentions that her husband must have suffered from some very real sorrow and grief, as if ''that'' is a subject deeply familiar to her. But if Tamaki is perceptive, she may notice something like...guilt flicker briefly across Rin's features at the same time. But if so, it is not a subject that she seems inclined to elaborate on at this time. She also picks her notebook up from the desk and folds it over slightly so that she can make some final notes without the possibility of the investigator seeing what she has written, then finally returns it to her bag.

"And I am deeply grateful, Uchida-san," she says quietly. "I would --" eyes damp, unable to hide some of the grief and pain in her own expression now, a few silent tears suddenly escaping. "I would like my husband back. And my home and my life back."

But the following apology elicits a short pause and a small, quiet laugh. Rin shakes her head and almost seems grateful for the distraction and interruption away from darker matters. "Honestly, I always hated that dresser, but I never would have heard the end of it if I'd simply trashed it like I wanted." Beat. "It was a gift from his mother," she adds by way of explanation.

"But thank you, Uchida-san," Rin continues more soberly. "It sounds as if you put yourself in a great deal of danger on our behalf." And rather than ask more questions -- because she's not entirely certain that her mind can wrap itself around any more of the answers -- she moves back to more familiar matters. "How much do I owe you for the retrieval, given the trouble you went through?"

A glance back to the statue, then to Tamaki again, as Rin seems to consider something. "And...does the statue accept parameters?"
</poem>

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 1]]

2025-11-03: Proven Treatment

2026-01-26T01:05:40Z

Eliza:

*'''Log: Proven Treatment'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Rin Sasaki]], [[Hazuki Nakao]]
*'''Where:''' Benny's Chain Diner, Shibuya Ward, Tokyo
*'''OOC Date:''' November 03, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' Sunday, August 05, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Hazuki brings Rin news of a confirmed successful intervention for a person possessed by a Homunculus. Rin, in turn, has questions.''

----

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>
Hazuki Nakao has saved Taro Nakata. As part of this, after sleeping for a whole day inbetween, she has things to take care of.

One of them is reassuring Rin Sasaki it can be done. She fires off a text.

'''>it's done'''
'''>>my friend has been saved'''
'''>let's meet somewhere. i'll tell you everything'''

Once Rin confirms and asks where and offers to pay, Hazuki has only one choice she wouldn't feel guilty about...

'''SMASH CUT TO: BENNY'S CHAIN DINER'''

Hazuki has reached a booth first, an isolated one in the corner, not with many people around. She's clad in her usual black jacket and hat combo, fiddling with the choker around her neck absently. She's looking at the menu, but is a bit nervous to immediately order...

Last time was tense. Maybe she can encourage Rin it's possible now...? But what if she doesn't believe her story?! She'll have to be careful what she leaves out, maybe.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Rin is a full ten minutes late. This is ''probably'' not typical.

Rin looks a little harried -- but more 'I am running behind on everything today' harried, rather than the deep distress that Hazuki saw previously -- as she enters the diner, peers around, and then heads to the corner booth that Hazuki is currently occupying. Breezy blue-and-white sundress that reaches almost to her ankles; open, low-healed sandals; natural-looking makeup; an assortment of rings and bracelets; and a custom-made black leather handbag over one arm, large enough for a laptop and some other items.

She slides into the booth across from Hazuki with an apology already on her lips. "Very sorry to keep you waiting, Nakao-san," she begins. Upon closer inspection, Rin has either made a little peace with her current situation, or has become better at hiding it (or both). The deep exhaustion and tension from their last meeting ''appears'' to be absent.

Rin settles the bag next to her as she continues. Her voice is light and Hazuki will notice immediately that she speaks with her hands a lot, making this or that gesture for emphasis. "I promised a client I would step in right before this, and they managed to turn what should have been a brisk twenty minutes into ''easily'' four times that."

Rin waves a hand as if to dismiss the subject as quickly as she broached it, and then her attention focuses a little more closely on Hazuki. She taps the table a few times as she considers something. "How did you fare on your exams?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>
Hazuki is patient. Rin might be busy! Though she does order a drink, a soda.

Rin looks harried, and Hazuki, in all her gloominess, frowns, though she shakes away the apology. "It's fine... being an adult must be hard," she partially jokes and partially shows kindness.

She's asked about her exams, though, instead of jumping straight to business! "Oh, uh..." That is a bad question, apparently, as she rubs the back of her head. "I... passed...?" Oh, so badly. "Language barrier's made it harder than it was back home." Rin may have detected her English accent at one point, marking her as a foreigner despite her distinctly Japanese appearance.

She's quick to push that away, looking over her order. "Benny's reminds me a lot of back then... if still very different. I think I'll get something simple." She looks up.

"I can confirm once more that it's possible. We've saved my friend."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
"Mm," Rin begins in response to the idea that begin an adult is hard. "Sometimes, yes -- especially when other people ''insist'' upon the absolutely most stupid and wasteful way of doing things." Beat. "But under ''no'' circumstances would I ever trade it for another repeat of highschool, I promise you." She shudders a little for effect.

Rin frowns a little at Hazuki's admission, and looks for all the world like she has something very particular to say on the subject before Hazuki continues to speak on the language barrier. Her frown deepens a little further. "Did your parents not keep you immersed in the language at home?" she asks. <"We can speak in whichever language is your preference,"> she continues right after, switching to English. There is an accent, and she speaks more stiffly and less expressively. Certain words are clearly more of a challenge to pronounce correctly than others. But she can be clearly understood.

She cants her head slightly and purses her lips as Hazuki confirms the saving of her friend. A little of the previous skepticism and concern creeps back into her eyes. <"I would presume that to be very positive news, but -- forgive me for saying so -- you do not quite carry the look of someone delivering positive news. Is something still amiss?">

Which is probably to say that Rin is waiting for the catch.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>
Hazuki blinks about adulthood, and high school... "Oh..." so she's in her worst years! Yay?!

But, as Rin frowns, Hazuki's scratching her cheek. "Ah... they were always busy. Dad works for the Motojima Corporation's sales management in London, and mom..." Mom was usually doing her own thing, she think. "Mom didn't have the time. "I picked up some, but... I mostly spoke English. I only got transferred here this school year."

But then, Rin offers English! "Oh, no, no, it's okay! I need to learn, anyways..." She laughs nervously.

And it's this nervousness that worries Rin that there's something amiss. There actually isn't! But Hazuki is just gloomy, and...

"Oh, no, there's nothing. It went well! We had a lot of help, and he's safe and sound. Don't worry about it." She weakly smiles, and Rin might gather the game.

This girl is *depressed* and anxious, even if she also is being utmost genuine.

"I guess I can start at the beginning. Are you familiar with Carl Jung?" She nails the pronunciation. "I don't exactly know what he has to do with it, but it might help."

Either way, she'll begin with... "I have a power... called Persona. I use it to fight monsters called Shadows. A Homunculus is a type of Shadow, but we don't know much about them... or any of this in general. But it seems if you head into the Atelier, free the victim from their prison, and slay the Homunculus, the victim will be saved... it was very scary. We almost died."

It might seem too hard to believe. But Hazuki has a surety towards it, and if Rin looks closely, she's still definitely tinged with exhaustion and the telltale sign that she might be covering some injuries.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Rin is an expressive person, and as Hazuki explains her reasons for not being immersed in Japanese back home, it's not terribly hard to guess that Rin carries some markedly negative opinions on the subject -- especially when Hazuki notes that her mother 'didn't have the time.' But she does not pry or press the point any further.

There is a little bit of tension in her body language that existed when she switched briefly to English that evaporates as Hazuki continues in Japanese. She doesn't hate English (although she found it terribly difficult to learn), but she ''did'' learn it and employ it almost entirely in formal settings. It's hard to shake those learned connotations when speaking it.

"Only ''very'' passingly," Rin admits to the question about Carl Jung. "Will it be helpful going forward if I knew more?"

Otherwise, Rin listens without interruption as Hazuki gives her the extremely truncated version. After, she remains silent, tapping the table again. Her expression is more thoughtful than openly skeptical, and she doesn't look directly at Hazuki. "Describe that," she says finally. "'Fighting monsters' -- what does that look like? Is this a -- literal, physical confrontation?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>
"Maybe? I only know it passingly myself," Hazuki says about Carl Jung.

But then Rin listens, and asks questions. Is it a literal, physical confrontation...?

"Yes," she says, firmly and with a hitched breath. "We... fight monsters no one else knows about. They threaten us, threaten others. We've gained this power in different ways... I gained mine when I was pulled into a friend's Atelier. I basically... summon a magical, uh.... <phantasm> for combat? That's the Persona. And it uses what's basically magic to fight them, as well as regular physical violence. I know, it sounds so silly... I didn't want to believe it at first."

A sigh. "But it's real. A bunch of us have one. And there's bad people out there, too, or those who are more neutral. Those people I mentioned last time, the more experienced neutral ones? They work at a store called Peacock Silk, though they only take us 'Awakened' as clientele. They helped us out the other night. Without them, we may have lost, because they had information we didn't."

She scratches her cheek again. "They kicked me out the first time I went, actually. Before I gained my Persona. Now we're cool, though."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
By now, Rin is willing to -- if not believe, then at least ''hear out,'' quite a lot. As Hazuki begins a new explanation, Rin reaches into her bag, pulls out a pen and notebook, flips to an empty page, and begins taking notes in quick, neat handwriting.

"And one of these monsters, the 'Homunculus,' can infect the psyche and supplant the host," she murmurs, as if verifying that she's tying together a couple of things that she's been told now correctly. "And this 'Atelier' is some sort of -- mindscape?" she questions further. "Yeo-san only spoke little on the matter and did not provide any names, but did mention 'entering other peoples' minds.'"

Rin pauses. The thoughtful look intensifies, creasing her features. She already feels like every answer is going to lead to five more questions. She makes an attempt to focus her inquiry, even if her head is spinning with all the other things she might want to ask. "The 'Homunculus,' the parasite -- is it possessed of its own intelligence? Is it an entirely separate entity from the host? Or is it more -- how brain damage or certain illnesses can cause severe personality changes? That night," and here her expression darkens. "It really ''felt'' like there was Something Else there." Beat. "And what does it mean to 'free the victim from their prison?"

Peacock Silk is a bit of a distraction from the weight of her questions and worries. "Oh, interesting," she murmurs. "I've never been, but I remember their marketing campaign -- last year, I think it was? Brilliant work."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>
"Yes, and yes," Hazuki starts about the Homunculus and the Atelier being a mindscape.

Watching the notes taken, Hazuki considers what to say next. "It's... complicated. We're not entirely sure, but we believe that the Homunculus isn't a person until it's close to taking over the body. It's intelligent and can communicate, surely. And it's definitely a different entity... something inhuman, something unnatural. We don't know where it comes from, though."

The prison, though? "It's a cocoon they're trapped in. My friend, he was being guarded by the Homunculus. Once we freed him, the Homunculus went berserk and... I guess took a different form? This one, it took the form of..." She pauses. "This is going to sound insane, but, an arcade machine palanquin. My friend's a gamer, so... I guess it took a form based off what it took from him, like a mimic."

Hazuki takes a sip of her drink. "Should I flag someone to get you something?" she asks, before...

"Peacock Silk is cool. I don't know what their motives are... but they've helped me several times now. I don't know if they'd help you, though. They seem really in tune with the Awakened community most of all."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
More quick, neat notes. It's hard to see exactly what Rin is writing, but the ''volume'' suggests that the page is quickly being populated not just with the direct information she's being given, but also her list of questions that's growing faster than they can be answered. There is a distinctly noticeable, perhaps unavoidable pause when the 'arcade machine palanquin' is mentioned, and she glances up at Hazuki with a quizzical expression as if to verify that she's serious. She is, and so Rin writes that down, too.

"I ''did'' expect someone would be by sooner than this," Rin replies off-hand with a slight frown at the lack of service. "And please, don't limit yourself because I'm paying," she adds right after, just in case that's a concern.

"'Awakened'," she says slowly, as if considering the word. She references her notes and apparently decides she'd rather ask outright. "What does that mean?" Pause. "Perhaps I will visit, regardless. I assume the worst that will happen is they turn me away at the door...?" There's a very slight questioning tone in her voice at the end, as if giving Hazuki the opportunity to note that actually, no, she will be vaporized by a magical phantasm for daring to cross the threshhold while uninitiated.

And then another, more sober question. "This...cocoon. How is the person freed from it?" And although Rin phrases the question impersonally, there's a slight tremble in her voice and in her hands if Hazuki is paying attention. "And does -- destroying the Homunculus and freeing the person restore them as they were?" A hitch in her voice. "Is there any -- permanent damage?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>
"Oh, I asked them to wait, I guess they didn't realize they could come now..." Hazuki sheepishly rubs the back of her head, and then flags down the nearest waiter, who will take orders. She gets some of their 'Western' breakfast.

Awakened is what's asked about next. "It's... what we call those who have a Persona. We're Awakened to what everyone else... can't see." She fidgets a little, like she worries Rin will take being called a 'sleeper' poorly.

But about Peacock Silk, she shakes her head. "No, I think it's fine to try. Worst case, their peacock runs you off. He did that to me..."

But, about the cocoon. "We had to cut two cables, holding it up, and then he reached out, and I pulled him out of it," Hazuki explains, before noticing her tremble. Sympathetically, she winces, and then...

"I don't believe there's permanent damage. It's too soon to *really* say, but... it felt like we made him better, not worse? Some things happen I don't entirely understand, but I know they were for the better, instinctively..."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Rin closes her notebook before the waiter arrives at the table, then orders a large salad with water. And also a black coffee, because caffeine is something of a lifeblood in these last few weeks (if not the rest of the time).

"Is there an opposing term, then, for people who fall outside of that group? Simply 'unawakened' or -- something else?" She at least does not ''appear'' to be offended at the implications of the word. She originally sought out 'Merry' ''because'' she was violently made aware one day that there was Something(s) in the world of which she was deeply ignorant. And that ignorance was not a protection against being harmed by it.

"I'm -- very glad to hear that," she responds to the explanation of better rather than worse, and breathes a little easier. But there's a glimpse, perhaps, that the mask she's wearing now is a little more brittle than she'd like the world to believe. "The way you describe all of this...I assume there's little more I can do beyond the memento and the location that you and Yeo-san referred to?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>
"Unawakened, I believe," Hazuki nods. She's trying to sound so mature even though she's been... doing this... for less than a month.

There's a sympathetic smile, before she moves to answer the question thoughtfully, swirling her straw as a fidget. "For now... but if there's ever meant to be more... I think you'll find out. Strange things can happen. Anyways, we'll unlock the Atelier as soon as we have the Thread and you're ready for us to go, Sasaki-san." She assumes Rin is *beyond* ready, but... still.

For now... she's going to wait for her food! She's hungry.
</poem>

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 1]]

2025-11-03: Proven Treatment

2026-01-26T01:01:24Z

Eliza: Created page with "*'''Log: Proven Treatment''' *'''Cast:''' Rin Sasaki, Hazuki Nakao *'''Where:''' Benny's Chain Diner, Shibuya Ward, Tokyo *'''OOC Date:''' November 03, 2025 *'''IC Date:''' Sunday, August 05, 2012 *'''Summary''': ''Hazuki brings Rin news of a confirmed successful intervention for a person possessed by a Homunculus. Rin, in turn, has questions.'' ---- <Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed. <poem> Hazuki Nakao has saved Taro Nakata. As part of this, after sleepi..."

2025-10-14: Retrieval Request

2026-01-22T04:47:56Z

Eliza: *'''Log: Retrieval Request''' *'''Cast:''' Rin Sasaki, Tamaki Uchida *'''Where:''' Kuzunoha Detective Agency *'''OOC Date:''' October 14, 2025 *'''IC Date:''' July 26, 2012 *'''Summary''': ''Having previously been informed of the critical importance of a certain memento, Rin seeks out the services of a detective agency with a reputation for odd cases after finding it missing.''

*'''Log: Retrieval Request'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Rin Sasaki]], [[Tamaki Uchida]]
*'''Where:''' Kuzunoha Detective Agency
*'''OOC Date:''' October 14, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' July 26, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Having previously been informed of the critical importance of a certain memento, Rin seeks out the services of a detective agency with a reputation for odd cases after finding it missing.''

----
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
Between Chief Todoroki and Apprentice Detective Uchida, the pair take on a wide variety of odd cases -- things the police would otherwise ignore or dismiss. The main service they currently offer -- which is mainly the Chief's domain -- is that they'll spread rumors within Sumaru City so they may take root and become reality. Otherwise, as Tamaki's sales pitch goes, "We take on cases of all kinds, from secret love affairs to ghosts!"

It's a quiet morning at the Kuzunoha Detective Agency, and the office's decor adds to the tranquility with its navy-blue carpeting and eggshell-white wallpaper. The detectives have their respective desks, books line the shelves and cabinets behind those, and two couches in the center of the office sit on either side of a small coffee table. Todoroki is busy on the phone, and Tamaki, still a university student, is studying for her upcoming Criminology exam.

And if anyone enters, the giant golden lucky cat statue beckons them with what sounds like a tinny recording, "Nya~! Nya~! Nya~! 1000 yen, please!" In all likelihood, this sound at least causes Tamaki to look up from her studying to greet the visitor.
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Once more, Rin finds herself back in Sumaru City, and once more, for a reason she would have considered outlandish and absurd not terribly long ago. The request, this time, is at least much smaller -- although perhaps made all the more absurd for it. Is this even the kind of request they'll take on? She's never exactly needed the services of a private detective agency before.

Rin looks uncertain as she steps into the building. She is a thin woman in her late twenties, standing just a little above average height, with a soft, narrow face and pale skin. She is wearing a long, flowing, emerald chiffon skirt, a loose white blouse and open low-healed sandals. Styled, wavy black hair frames her face and spills down her back; manicured nails and glittering earrings and a wedding ring. She is carrying a small, decorative purse over one shoulder. There is a weariness in her eyes that refuses to be concealed by makeup, even though the day has just begun.

She lingers hesitantly in the entrance, looking very much as if she might turn around and walk right back out.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
In a flash, Tamaki stands up from her desk in a motion which leaves her desk chair spinning and she clasps her hands together apologetically as she gives Rin her best Winning Smile. "Welcome, welcome! Apologies for the statue, it started talking one day as the result of a rumor. That's ... the power of rumors in Sumaru City, I suppose! But what brings ''you'' in here today?"

Tamaki is a young college student who stands at 5'5", sporting a light-yellow dress shirt and brown business suit -- blazer and slacks -patterned with beige vertical stripes. Her complexion makes it apparent that she's been getting some sun. One accessory of note is the choker around her neck, which loops through the holes of six coins.

After asking her question, Tamaki smiles warmly, studying Rin to the best of her ability. Seeing Rin's eyes, Tamaki considers bringing her own enthusiasm down a notch, down from 'used car salesman' to 'regular person showing concern.' More gently, she adds, "... Tamaki Uchida, apprentice detective. How may I assist you?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
A expression of deep puzzlement overtakes Rin's features as Tamaki explains the statue. In the past, she would have simply dismissed and moved past such an outlandish idea -- she very rarely had cause to come out this way, but she had heard in passing that the people of Sumaru City clung to some odd superstitions and urban legends -- but that was then, and this is now. Now, curiosity gets the better of her.

"Power of -- rumors?" Rin asks as she steps further into the building, instead of lingering right by the door, and perhaps immediately revealing that she is not a local. It's at least a brief distraction from her current problems.

But only a brief one. "Rin Sasaki," she replies in kind after Tamaki introduces herself and asks how she can assist her. There's a brief pause as Rin glances away from Tamaki and towards the rest of the office, then back again. "I need an item returned to me. It is not high-value and not, strictly speaking, stolen, but it is --" A moment of hesitation. What the item is connected to remain very surreal to her. "It is ''very'' important."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
With more seriousness to her demeanor, Tamaki nods. "You're not from around here, I take it. Rumors here take root and become reality as the public grows to commonly hold a particular belief." She glances back at the Chief, then returns her attention to Rin. Cracking a grin, she adds, "The Chief's got his connections to spread news around so you can make your dreams a reality. We're always happy to demonstrate, should you have something you wish to make true. The back rooms of a club suddenly turning into a complex labyrinth overnight, magazine sweepstakes with outlandish rewards, bars and boutiques openly dealing in weapons and armor, urban legends actually coming to life ... it's apparently all mind-over-matter in these parts."

Tamaki snaps her fingers and points at Rin. "But! I take it you're not here for that particular service, and you're here for something more typical." The detective reaches back to her desk to retrieve a notepad and pencil to write down Rin's request. "Go on, though, I'm all ears. Tell me about what you want back, and then we can discuss if that's something we can do in the first place, and if so, our fee schedule."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Rin gets, perhaps, a significantly more detailed response to her question than she originally bargained for. She is certainly far, far less incredulous than she would have been even as recently as this time last month, but the other two people she's spoken to about matters that strain belief were a little more -- restrained, in how much they divulged. And it was about a single matter concerning a single person, related directly to something she experienced firsthand. Tamaki's abundance of information, provided so freely, so casually -- as if it were the most natural thing in the world -- is quite a lot to take in.

And after the last two weeks, Rin can't quite muster the shield of out-of-hand disbelief she would have previously had.

"I...see," she finally responds, a little weakly, maybe a little shakily. Is it just the lighting, or does she look a little more pale? If there is an available seat across from Tamaki's desk, she will take it, purse in her lap, leaning forward slightly. (It's definitely not just the lighting).

"I understand if it is a service you cannot provide," Rin begins, trying to get her voice back under control. "But if it is, the price is not an object." But there's that hesitation again. In the light of day, away from the two people with which she spoke of the item's deeper significance, it's hard not to feel foolish making such a fuss over such a thing -- and doesn't no monetary value and not technically stolen remove a lot of the avenues for retrieval? Yet this place, with its reputation for odd cases, still seems the best place to start. Rin takes a long, slow breath to steady herself.

"It is --" Oh, just get on with it. "It is a printed ultrasound image; my first. It is dated June 7th, 2005. It ''should'' be in a small box in my home. It is not. I believe my husband has it, perhaps keeping it in his briefcase, but..." Here's where it gets difficult again, isn't it? "I can't retrieve it myself. Kenzo hasn't been...himself lately. It's like he's a -- different person, almost. Aggressive; possessive. I haven't been home in over a week. Except yesterday with my lawyer, in the morning while he was at work, to retrieve some files, and --"

"I'm sorry," she interrupts herself. "I know this is probably far beneath your normal work, but I'm willing to pay whatever you need. It's very important," she stresses again. Perhaps notably, not 'important to me.' Just important.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
Hopefully Tamaki's little explanation demonstrates that this particular agency deals with some ''really'' off-beat stuff. It's a far cry from what other agencies may consider 'standard.' They do take on standard work, too! But this place apparently isn't so discerning, luckily for Rin.

Tamaki nods along as she jots down notes. Nothing about Rin's story strikes Tamaki as odd, or at least she doesn't immediately balk at any of it. Her tone is gentle and understanding. "You're worried about what'd happen to the image in your husband's hands. That's not a problem at all. That isn't beneath us in the slightest."

She doesn't state any of her suspicions aloud, but the possibility that something supernatural is affecting Kenzo's mental state crosses her mind. Not like she has any clue as to what that might be -- doesn't fit the bill for a case of Apathy Syndrome or a Psychotic Breakdown. She only has the thought that if such ''is'' the case, it's a good thing they came to this particular agency. "If you'd like, we can look more into Kenzo's activities elsewhere; it's not uncommon for people to hire private eyes to ensure their spouse isn't having an affair or hiding wealth so that it's not discovered in divorce proceedings. Buuut you didn't open up with that, you're primarily interested in the ultrasound photo and only expressed concern over some unusual behavior of his, so I'm going to take you at your word for that. Last chance to swerve and be more open about things if this is really about something else."

Tamaki glances at her notepad, then steadily focuses her gaze towards Rin. "Is the ultrasound photo of ''sentimental'' value to you, or is it important for some other reason? No matter how outlandish it may seem, ma'am, I assure you, I have seen my share of strange things." She lightly grasps the coins on her choker as she says this, as if to illustrate.

"As for price, most detective work like this is by the hour, and I'd peg this on the lower end at about 7000 yen per hour we spend on the case. I can't imagine this take more than a few hours, too, though it'd include research and preparation time, too. Withholding information that could help us means we're more liable to spin our wheels and take longer, though I'd prefer to maintain my pride in our ability to get our cases done both thoroughly ''and'' quickly."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Rin allows Tamaki to speak without interruption -- It gives her something of an opportunity to arrange her thoughts. She originally only came for the specific item because of its importance. Finding it unexpectedly missing when she originally believed that the only barrier would simply be accessing it produced no small amount of shock and panic. And yet...

Tamaki may be able to see that Rin is second-guessing herself further as Tamaki goes down the list of items. 'Last chance...'

But it's the focused gaze and the ''very'' pointed question that finally elicit more of a response. "There is something -- extremely wrong with my husband," she begins, perhaps reiterating slightly but far more directly than before. "What I have been told is that he is infected by something called a 'Homunculus,' a parasite that infects the psyche."

Rin keeps her hands clasped tightly together to try and hide the trembling, but can't quite keep it out of her voice. She doesn't look at Tamaki as she speaks. "The parasite eventually supplants or subsumes the host, which is a point we have already reached. Or at least, most probably already reached."

She pauses, trying very hard to remain calm and simply relay the information asit was relayed to her. "I have also been told that the infection can be cured, but one of the first requirements is a 'memento of great attachment' to the infected person. That is -- the actual purpose for which I need it returned, Uchida-san."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
And there it is.

Well. Kind of.

Rin's answer confirms at least some of Tamaki's suspicions: primarily, something infecting the psyche indicates that this has to do with something supernatural -- something ''at least'' in the same general ballpark of what she's had to deal with before.

The exact shape of it, however, eludes her perception. 'Homunculus' isn't a term which she immediately associates in connection with the likes of Personas, Demons, and Shadows, though her first instinct is to go digging around on Dark Side of Sumaru's message boards sometime later, or ask local Rumormongers if this rings a bell for them. ... But maybe that's getting ahead of herself, her task is to just retrieve this memento -- the ultrasound photograph -- in the first place.

Tamaki gives Rin a serious nod. To most other people, Rin's claim may have seemed bizarre or outlandish. The admission took courage on Rin's part, and she intends to acknowledge and respect that. "Checks out to me. Thank you very much for your honesty and candor. It isn't the first time I've seen someone warped by... not the exact same thing, perhaps, but something similar."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
No one has actually used any of those words thus far in Rin's presence. In fact, her first point of contact was actually rather content to leave her entirely in the dark if she hadn't asked specific questions of them.

Although she does appreciate being able to relay the details without being accused of losing her mind -- something that she wasn't originally certain of herself -- it's almost a little difficult for Rin how easily Tamaki accepts her story. Maybe it ''shouldn't'' be at this juncture, especially considering Tamaki opened this conversation by talking about 'rumors becoming reality,' but it almost feels like something that shouldn't be discussed in the same way something as mundane as 'I think my husband is cheating on me' would be.

''And'' the detective speaks of having seen someone else 'warped' in a similar but somewhat different manner in the past. How much of the strange and unnatural is really out there, for it to be spoken of so naturally? And why did it have to come knocking on ''her'' door?

"For the rest," Rin does continue after what may be another mini-existential crisis. Her expression is downcast. "It is -- not the first time the idea has been raised to me." Although that time came with an open accusation of being in denial. "Even before recently, and the change in behavior. I've always managed our finances too closely for hidden income or assets, but --"

She interrupts herself, frowning thoughtfully. ''Is'' she certain about that? "No. He can't be lying about inflow. I would have noticed the discrepancies." she thinks out loud. "But I never did verify or question when he said he needed cash for travel for work. Or if the travel actually occurred at all..." Now that the seed has been planted again, it's clear that she's asking questions maybe she should have asked previously.

"Uchida-san," she says, looking up. "The memento is most important and time-sensitive. But I believe I may also require the other services you mentioned, after all." Funds. Infidelity. "Before -- all of this, he was home very, very little, for the last year-and-a-half or so. Always working late; regularly claiming travel for this conference or that meeting."

"We've both been going through a...difficult time, since -- a neonatal death, you see." She doesn't really want to talk about this, trying to use detached terms. "I thought it was nothing more than that. But maybe I should be more certain than that."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
In the apprentice detective's experience, the mundane does not diverge from matters like these, but intersects with it. The desires we deny ourselves, the parts of our souls which we starve, they surge outward and find ''some'' way to leak out.

For all that Tamaki's seen in her time, she still rightly has no idea 'how much of the strange and unnatural is really out there?' Each engagement seems to have its own ruleset, each dream functions according to logic simultaneously both familiar and strange to her. It is outright dizzying to try and fully comprehend, even for someone as seasoned as herself.

When she begins to feel that vertigo come on, she knows what anchors her, at least. Creature comforts, physical pleasures, mundane things like good food and drink, or a nice jog in the park, or a relaxing spa day. Recognizing this, she offers to Rin: "Before we continue, would you like some tea? I should have offered from the start, my apologies."

Should Rin accept the offer of tea, it'll serve as a good opportunity for Tamaki to hide her expression after hearing about the fate of their would-be child as she prepares it in the kitchenette. Otherwise, she'll wear it plainly and remain silent for a few moments as she considers.

"As you said, the memento comes first. That's the task we'll commit to for now. Once that's resolved, we can discuss our other ... fact-finding services, let's say. Does that sound good?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
"Yes, please; tea would be lovely," Rin responds. The simple question and answer provide a bit of a distraction from the spiral of her own internal questions, and she is also fond of small physical comforts.

Tamaki's back being turned to her also, perhaps, makes it a little easier to reflect and speak on certain matters she's been flatly ignoring the possibility of until quite possibly today, when it was raised again. "Yes, of course," she replies to the next question. She starts but immediately stops herself before raising her deeper concern, which is that she has also been told that there hasn't yet been a successfully completed intervention yet, and she's worried that she may actually need ammunition if she has to initiate a divorce against the creature wearing her husband's face.

Best to focus on the immediately-actionable steps first.

"What -- information will you need from me, Uchida-San? Our address, his place of employment, his typical routine...?" Is that even the same anymore? "And forgive my curiosity, but how do you think you might retrieve it if he is keeping it with him?" She presumes they won't just snatch his briefcase away in the bustle of a busy train station, yet somehow can't quite shake the image of it, either.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
Boil, brew, whisk, swish. Tamaki prepares the tea in the back-room kitchenette, then brings Rin's mug back to the table to let it steep.

Tamaki rests her chin on her hands, letting her fingers form a bridge under her nose. "Those are all good starting points. You're both listed as married to each other on the family registry, I assume?"

She rattles off several more items in rapid-fire, counting them on her fingers as she goes. "Then there's phone number, birth date, any other aliases he might be using, rent or utility bills in his name, credit card or loan applications, mortgage agreements, social media profiles ..."

Tamaki pauses her Skiptracing 101 lecture to look at Rin, then lowers her hands again. "For starters. You don't need everything, it just helps to narrow the search down and find his usual whereabouts these days."

"As for the exact means of retrieval, that's on a case-by-case basis. It's difficult to form a plan of attack when we don't yet know the shape of the battleground." There's that, and then there's the plausible deniability involved. If Tamaki ends up having to engage in something illegal to retrieve the memento, best to keep quiet about the exact method, even to Rin.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
"Yes," Rin responds to the registry question, trying (and mostly succeeding) not to let a tinge of offense creep into her voice. She understands the necessity of the question, but still...

Rin pulls pad and paper from her purse and takes notes as Tamaki gives her list, then flips to a second page and continues writing. This page is torn off and handed to Tamaki. The handwriting is neat and precise, almost fastidious. The sheet contains a number of basic details about Kenzo Sasaki. "Here's what I have right now. The rest I will pull together today. Is there an email I can send it to, or do you require fax?" she asks, managing to almost make the last word sound like a curse.

It will later turn out that, despite his current condition, Kenzo Sasaki is not terribly difficult to find. ''He'' is not the one that is hiding, moving from hotel to hotel in fear of being found by his spouse.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
"E-mail will do just fine! And my apologies for any ... brusqueness. It just simplifies things."

Tamaki retrieves several forms -- paperwork for the job, the fee schedule, the contract and hands them over for Rin to sign. "I'll get right on that. I'm hoping to soon have news that'll let you rest easier."
</poem>

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 1]]

2025-10-09: Unproven Treatment

2025-10-23T03:22:11Z

Eliza:

*'''Log: Unproven Treatment'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Rin Sasaki]], [[Hazuki Nakao]]
*'''Where:''' Iyf Shibuya Hotel, Shibuya, Tokyo
*'''OOC Date:''' October 9, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' July 23, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Hazuki stops by to share her own experience with, and some of her knowledge of, Homunculus. Rin fixates on one specific detail.''

----
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>The Iyf Shibuya Hotel stands at nine-stories high, sits at the corner of two smaller streets away from the Central Street traffic, but is still conveniently only a few minutes' walk from Shibuya Station. The lobby and shared amenities on the bottom floor are warmly-lit and trendy, clearly intended to create a welcome and inviting image to travelers. But the upper-floors are more utilitarian, with narrow hallways and small rooms from the distance between the doors.

After a few brief texts earlier in the day, Hazuki was given Rin's room number, eighth floor all the way at the end on the left side. Hazuki will need to check in at the front desk and give her name before being allowed up, and Rin also requested that Hazuki text again before knocking. It seems that Rin is concerned about the appearance of ''unwanted'' visitors. Or more likely, a singular visitor.

This done, Rin will open the door to her small room. She is wearing a long, flowing burgundy skirt and a simple form-fitting black shirt; no jewelry except her wedding ring. "Nakao-san?" she asks a little uncertainly, a frown creasing her features, as if Hazuki isn't quite who she was expecting from the brief text exchange previously.
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>The girl who appears outside Rin's door can't be older than 18, and perhaps younger. She's clad in a black cap, with black jacket and white shirt, compression gloves on her hands like a gamer would have and a pair of jeans and boots - all of it appears very European Trendy. Indeed, when she speaks up, her accent is clearly English, despite speaking Japanese. She tips her head, a little nervous.

"HI, I'm Hazuki Nakao..." she greets. "Are you the one Myunghon-san asked me to meet?" she says politely.

A pause. Why is- oh, she's nervous because of Hazuki's ''age'', isn't she? "Ah, uh... we can talk more inside if you'd like, but I'm... I'm familiar with the kind of event you're facing, so Myunghon-san asked me to talk to you." She smiles softly, trying to be encouraging! She got confidence in what she's *saying* but perhaps not as much herself, it would seem.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Hazuki's appearance does not instill as much confidence in Rin as Myunghon's did, certainly. And her first (and most recent) conversation about these matters noted 'no small amount of personal danger' as part of the ultimate solution -- and so seeing someone of highschool age outside her door in connection to this matter does not thrill her. Still, if Yeo-San sent her over...

Rin's frown deepens, but she steps back to allow Hazuki inside. "Come in." It's a modest room -- room for a small bed, a desk next to it (currently occupied with Rin's laptop, displaying a lockscreen, and some papers facing down), a single chair, a door leading to a tiny bathroom, and a small amount of empty floor in the center of the room. As always, space is at a premium in Tokyo, and Rin doesn't know how long she is going to be exiled from her own home.

Rin closes the door behind Hazuki, then locks it and sets the chain again. She gestures for Hazuki to take the only chair, and sits down herself on the edge of the bed, facing her, hands folded in her lap. "Nakao-San. I appreciate your time -- I understand finals are currently in session, so you must be very busy. But..." Pause, slight trailing off. She doesn't like this at all.

"I will admit, I was not expecting anyone still young enough to ''be'' taking highschool exams," she finishes finally.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki follows, taking a seat in the chair. She can tell she's not instilling confidence... but she's got to help. As Rin sits across her, Hazuki considers. "Oh, it's no problem. I mean, exams are busy, but..."

Oh, that kinda stings, but... it makes sense Rin wasn't expecting her. She nods softly. "I understand. It's a weird situation for me too. I know... what you're going through quite personally," she settles on saying. "My friend... he... well, I can get into that in a minute. You can tell me about it, if you'd like." A pause, as if she considers. She should give a bone, make her feel more confident...

"It's scary, right? One day, they're normal, the next, it's like... you can feel the hairs sticking up on the end of your neck around them. That weird sense of uncanny valley. Their inability to communicate the same way, be the same way. Their mood changes drastically. It's like they're an entirely different person, no, not even that. They're just something else. Right?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Rin listens silently as Hazuki speaks, and seems to become at least slightly less guarded as she does so. So a personal connection to the 'one other case' that Yeo-San referenced; Hazuki's presence here makes a little more sense, then. And hearing some pieces of her own experience out of someone else's mouth -- that isn't a strangely-dressed shady backalley shop owner -- is also a measure of relief on its own.

Rin lets out a slow sigh and speaks quietly, not really making eye-contact with Hazuki. "My husband. I didn't notice the changes as anything amiss, at first. We've -- he's been going through a...difficult time, and the changes were generally positive, but not flagrantly out-of-place. There ''was'' something, almost a little off. But he hadn't been home much, you see, and I thought it was simply -- trying to reacclimate to his presence at home, because I'd become more-or-less accustomed to his long hours and work trips."

She continues again only after a long pause, and there's small hitch in her voice when she does. She understands more now than a couple of nights ago, but if talking about this with Yeo-San was difficult, talking about it with a ''highschooler''... "It was a few nights ago. I've never felt anything like it, and I sincerely hope I never do again." A small, involuntary shudder as she brings the memory back up. "As if there was -- Something Else there, in our bed; not my husband. And this, this overwhelming feeling of -- of being ''hunted''."

There's a haunted look in Rin's eyes, but she doesn't lose her composure completely as she did in front of Myunghon. "I have never felt so much ''fear'', so much ''dread'', in my life. I left in the middle of the night. I haven't -- I haven't been able to bring myself to go back. It didn't seem like it would be...safe to do so." She intentionally does not elaborate further on that point.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki listens thoughtfully from the chair, considering. Rin's husband... how horrible. She won't pry, though she's old enough to piece some gaps. "I see... I'm very sorry."

A considerate look. "How much has Myunghon-san told you about what we do? We're the kind of people who fix this sort of problem," she says with much more confidence than she had before, something about being a Persona User giving her more confidence than being an ordinary girl. She takes a moment to consider her words.

"There's some things I'll need to help him. Our team can only fix his psyche and expel the parasite with an important object, and a lonely place that he would consider his, as Myunghon-san might have explained." A soft, courageous smile.

"Let me tell you my story. My friend... he changed. He, too, was Homunculized. Other people, those like Merry, noticed he changed. I gained the same skills by not giving up on him. I don't know if the same is true for everyone, but... we're fighting to save him, and we will fight to save your husband, too. So don't give up hope that things won't return to normal, okay?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Rin appreciates that Hazuki does not pry further. She already does not love how many personal details this has involved so far.

"The highlights, I think, and only when I asked directly. A parasite that 'infects the psyche' and then 'entering minds' to remove it," Rin replies to the first question. "Very light on specifics." Not that she was really in the correct headspace to ask for them that night. The basic concepts were, by themselves, removed more than enough from what she previously understood of the world.

More personal details. At least the order of these conversations wasn't reversed, and this time, she can touch on it without open tears in front of a highschool student. But her voice is muted and a little terse. "Yes; that, also." The answer to riddle of the object and the location seem like they were known to her immediately. She might not want to talk about it, but there's no real uncertainty. "Our first ultrasound image, and a -- there's a small temple cemetery not too far from our home." The implications are impossible to avoid, although it's clear she'd prefer not to dwell on it right now.

What comes next elicits a small but clear measure of alarm from her. Myunghon mentioned one other case. Hazuki speaks as if 'saving him' is still ongoing. "Wait, you've -- ''has'' there been a successful intervention yet?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki nods to the highlights. "That's right. It's... not something we can show people, and it only makes less sense the more we explain it," she admits. Though, the personal details... "Do you have this ultrasound image, or do we need to recover it? Once we have it, I need to take it to the graveyard to be able to enter his 'mind'." She doesn't ask about the implications. It must be traumatic enough.

Instead, as the alarm comes, Hazuki winces, a hand moving to grab her choker. "Ah... not that I know of, but not due to attempts. This is a new experience for many of us! There are those with more experience, but they're not... generous helpers... in the same way we are, I don't believe." That's probably not reassuring, so...

"I've been in my friend's mind. It's not a normal, safe place. It's very dangerous, actually. But we've made headway, and have found the parasite's inner sanctum. I know... you probably can't trust me. This sounds like too much of a risk, too much of a danger. But I need to really tell you..."

A breath hitches. This is hard to say, but it's important. "I know for a fact that if we don't do this, your husband will die. I don't want anything from you in exchange. I just want to help you, and make sure these nightmares end."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Does she have the image on hand. Even if she'd known how important it would be that night, she couldn't have accessed it without risking waking the...creature in her bed that she had just painstakingly lulled to sleep. "I don't," Rin admits, with a small shake of her head. "I know where it is, but as I told Yeo-san already, I'm not...if at all possible, I would prefer not to step foot in the house again alone." She can't hide it; the thought alone puts her on edge.

Rin leans forward as Hazuki explains the lack of known successful interventions, a deep frown creasing her features. Perhaps this may be a lesson in not overburdening the layman with unnecessary details. "If there are others are more experienced in these matters," she begins, putting weight onto each word. "Then why am I not speaking to them, instead? Nakao-san, there is --"

She's becoming more animated now, more intense, reaching a more feverish pitch with each sentence. She comes to her feet and begins pacing the bounds of the small room. "There is a ''monster'' wearing my ''husband's skin''. I have been ''exiled from my own home''. You are now telling me that ''death'' is an inevitable outcome of a failed intervention. ''Cost'' is ''not relevant''. I do not -- I do not require ''generosity'' at the expense of ''expertise''."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki takes a breath as Rin starts getting upset. How does she parse this? She must have screwed up... but the animation of Rin gets her on edge. The fever pitch increases her own anxiety, and...

"I don't mean... generous as in 'we work for free'. They're... I think they're wild cards. I don't know how long they've done it. What they do. Why they do it. I can't say trust someone I can't even fully trust myself. You don't have to trust ''me'', but I want to help. There's people out there like us who can be bad people." She remembers what Akari told her.

A breath. "I'm going to help either way. If there's a monster killing someone, I can't not do something. I have this ''power'' inside me that can do something better than what we might take as fated. Let me help you and your husband."

Hazuki's standing up. "At the very least, let Myunghon-san help. If you don't want to trust me at all, trust them. They've done a lot for me, and a lot for many people in Sumaru, from what I understand."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>It takes a couple of attempts for Hazuki to make herself heard, but when she finally does, Rin finally pauses in her increasingly-frantic pacing, leans against one of the walls with one hand, her back turned to Hazuki. She listens. Perhaps she realizes how close she was getting to outright screaming at a teenager. "I...see. Greater expertise but untrustworthy," she responds finally to the clarification, her voice soft and muted. She can read between the lines well enough, even if Hazuki still is not as precise in her language or as confident in her delivery as she would prefer. It is very hard to deny her earnestness, at least. And perhaps Myunghon-san can provide more precise details on these 'others' later.

"I am -- familiar with the type of person, at least, even if not any of the fine details." If nothing else, both people that have expressed willingness to assist have stressed the importance of a single physical item. What happens if she losses access to it by handing it over to the wrong person?

She lets out a long, slow breath, and then returns to sitting on the edge of the bed even after Hazuki rises. It is hard to perceive if Rin is always this mercurial, or if it's the pressure getting to her. "I owe you an apology, Nakao-san," she says, finally, after a lapse of silence. Her words are more measured. She gaze is fixated on the floor. "This has been a very difficult time. I am not accustomed to understanding so little, and what I have learned so far is -- not easy to come to terms with." Pause. Another slow breath to steady herself. "But you were willing to come out to speak with me, to help, for no personal gain, and I have been deeply unfair to you."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>As Rin calms herself, Hazuki takes a breath, nodding about the expertise. She doesn't know if she thinks Peacock Silk is UNTRUSTWORTHY, she likes them a fair bit, but... she can't suggest them, much like she can't suggest SEES, because she doesn't know their true goals. Myunghon came to her, so she trusts them, at least.

"No... I scared you, and I'm sorry for that. This is a horrifying thing, and it's not... easy to swallow." Hazuki tries to smile, though. "But I believe we can do it. We have a lot of allies, a lot of people trying to save my friend, without even knowing him. For all those who could be bad, there's still good."

Hazuki pauses, eying the door instead of sitting back down just yet. "Why don't I leave you for now? We can arrange the rest over phone. Just keep hope, okay?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Rin nods. "Yes, it is -- getting late." Hopefully she didn't chase off Hazuki completely with her outburst. It seems that there are an extraordinarily small amount of people that can functionally help. If a teenager is one of those, then letting her hair-trigger nerves get the better of her in the moment was not the wisest choice.

"Nakao-san," she adds abruptly right after, before the door is opened. "I know you said that some of it was difficult to explain and impossible to demonstrate -- but this is my husband, and my whole life, in the balance. When there is time, ''please''. I want to know more. In full detail," she stresses.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki turns as she moves to leave. "...okay. I promise I'll tell you everything," she says, genuinely, before leaving. And if Rin doesn't believe her or is scared off afterwards... that's her choice. For now, she has to get home and go to bed. It's exams week!
</poem>

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 1]]

2025-10-09: Unproven Treatment

2025-10-23T03:15:57Z

Eliza:

*'''Log: Unproven Treatment'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Rin Sasaki]], [[Hazuki Nakao]]
*'''Where:''' Iyf Shibuya Hotel, Shibuya, Tokyo
*'''OOC Date:''' October 9, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' July 23, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Hazuki stops by to share her own experience with, and some of her knowledge of, Homunculus. Rin fixates on one specific detail.''

----
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>The Iyf Shibuya Hotel stands at nine-stories high, sits at the corner of two smaller streets away from the Central Street traffic, but is still conveniently only a few minutes' walk from Shibuya Station. The lobby and shared amenities on the bottom floor are warmly-lit and trendy, clearly intended to create a welcome and inviting image to travelers. But the upper-floors are more utilitarian, with narrow hallways and small rooms from the distance between the doors.

After a few brief texts earlier in the day, Hazuki was given Rin's room number, eighth floor all the way at the end on the left side. Hazuki will need to check in at the front desk and give her name before being allowed up, and Rin also requested that Hazuki text again before knocking. It seems that Rin is concerned about the appearance of /unwanted/ visitors. Or more likely, a singular visitor.

This done, Rin will open the door to her small room. She is wearing a long, flowing burgundy skirt and a simple form-fitting black shirt; no jewelry except her wedding ring. "Nakao-san?" she asks a little uncertainly, a frown creasing her features, as if Hazuki isn't quite who she was expecting from the brief text exchange previously.
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>The girl who appears outside Rin's door can't be older than 18, and perhaps younger. She's clad in a black cap, with black jacket and white shirt, compression gloves on her hands like a gamer would have and a pair of jeans and boots - all of it appears very European Trendy. Indeed, when she speaks up, her accent is clearly English, despite speaking Japanese. She tips her head, a little nervous.

"HI, I'm Hazuki Nakao..." she greets. "Are you the one Myunghon-san asked me to meet?" she says politely.

A pause. Why is- oh, she's nervous because of Hazuki's ''age'', isn't she? "Ah, uh... we can talk more inside if you'd like, but I'm... I'm familiar with the kind of event you're facing, so Myunghon-san asked me to talk to you." She smiles softly, trying to be encouraging! She got confidence in what she's *saying* but perhaps not as much herself, it would seem.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Hazuki's appearance does not instill as much confidence in Rin as Myunghon's did, certainly. And her first (and most recent) conversation about these matters noted 'no small amount of personal danger' as part of the ultimate solution -- and so seeing someone of highschool age outside her door in connection to this matter does not thrill her. Still, if Yeo-San sent her over...

Rin's frown deepens, but she steps back to allow Hazuki inside. "Come in." It's a modest room -- room for a small bed, a desk next to it (currently occupied with Rin's laptop, displaying a lockscreen, and some papers facing down), a single chair, a door leading to a tiny bathroom, and a small amount of empty

floor in the center of the room. As always, space is at a premium in Tokyo, and Rin doesn't know how long she is going to be exiled from her own home.

Rin closes the door behind Hazuki, then locks it and sets the chain again. She gestures for Hazuki to take the only chair, and sits down herself on the edge of the bed, facing her, hands folded in her lap. "Nakao-San. I appreciate your time -- I understand finals are currently in session, so you must be very
busy. But..." Pause, slight trailing off. She doesn't like this at all.

"I will admit, I was not expecting anyone still young enough to ''be'' taking highschool exams," she finishes finally.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki follows, taking a seat in the chair. She can tell she's not instilling confidence... but she's got to help. As Rin sits across her, Hazuki considers. "Oh, it's no problem. I mean, exams are busy, but..."

Oh, that kinda stings, but... it makes sense Rin wasn't expecting her. She nods softly. "I understand. It's a weird situation for me too. I know... what you're going through quite personally," she settles on saying. "My friend... he... well, I can get into that in a minute. You can tell me about it, if you'd like." A pause, as if she considers. She should give a bone, make her feel more confident...

"It's scary, right? One day, they're normal, the next, it's like... you can feel the hairs sticking up on the end of your neck around them. That weird sense of uncanny valley. Their inability to communicate the same way, be the same way. Their mood changes drastically. It's like they're an entirely different person, no, not even that. They're just something else. Right?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Rin listens silently as Hazuki speaks, and seems to become at least slightly less guarded as she does so. So a personal connection to the 'one other case' that Yeo-San referenced; Hazuki's presence here makes a little more sense, then. And hearing some pieces of her own experience out of someone else's mouth -- that isn't a strangely-dressed shady backalley shop owner -- is also a measure of relief on its own.

Rin lets out a slow sigh and speaks quietly, not really making eye-contact with Hazuki. "My husband. I didn't notice the changes as anything amiss, at first. We've -- he's been going through a...difficult time, and the changes were generally positive, but not flagrantly out-of-place. There ''was'' something, almost a little off. But he hadn't been home much, you see, and I thought it was simply -- trying to reacclimate to his presence at home, because I'd become more-or-less accustomed to his long hours and work trips."

She continues again only after a long pause, and there's small hitch in her voice when she does. She understands more now than a couple of nights ago, but if talking about this with Yeo-San was difficult, talking about it with a ''highschooler''... "It was a few nights ago. I've never felt anything like it, and I sincerely hope I never do again." A small, involuntary shudder as she brings the memory back up. "As if there was -- Something Else there, in our bed; not my husband. And this, this overwhelming feeling of -- of being ''hunted''."

There's a haunted look in Rin's eyes, but she doesn't lose her composure completely as she did in front of Myunghon. "I have never felt so much ''fear'', so much ''dread'', in my life. I left in the middle of the night. I haven't -- I haven't been able to bring myself to go back. It didn't seem like it would be...safe to do so." She intentionally does not elaborate further on that point.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki listens thoughtfully from the chair, considering. Rin's husband... how horrible. She won't pry, though she's old enough to piece some gaps. "I see... I'm very sorry."

A considerate look. "How much has Myunghon-san told you about what we do? We're the kind of people who fix this sort of problem," she says with much more confidence than she had before, something about being a Persona User giving her more confidence than being an ordinary girl. She takes a moment to consider her words.

"There's some things I'll need to help him. Our team can only fix his psyche and expel the parasite with an important object, and a lonely place that he would consider his, as Myunghon-san might have explained." A soft, courageous smile.

"Let me tell you my story. My friend... he changed. He, too, was Homunculized. Other people, those like Merry, noticed he changed. I gained the same skills by not giving up on him. I don't know if the same is true for everyone, but... we're fighting to save him, and we will fight to save your husband, too. So don't give up hope that things won't return to normal, okay?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Rin appreciates that Hazuki does not pry further. She already does not love how many personal details this has involved so far.

"The highlights, I think, and only when I asked directly. A parasite that 'infects the psyche' and then 'entering minds' to remove it," Rin replies to the first question. "Very light on specifics." Not that she was really in the correct headspace to ask for them that night. The basic concepts were, by themselves, removed more than enough from what she previously understood of the world.

More personal details. At least the order of these conversations wasn't reversed, and this time, she can touch on it without open tears in front of a highschool student. But her voice is muted and a little terse. "Yes; that, also." The answer to riddle of the object and the location seem like they were known to her immediately. She might not want to talk about it, but there's no real uncertainty. "Our first ultrasound image, and a -- there's a small temple cemetery not too far from our home." The implications are impossible to avoid, although it's clear she'd prefer not to dwell on it right now.

What comes next elicits a small but clear measure of alarm from her. Myunghon mentioned one other case. Hazuki speaks as if 'saving him' is still ongoing. "Wait, you've -- ''has'' there been a successful intervention yet?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki nods to the highlights. "That's right. It's... not something we can show people, and it only makes less sense the more we explain it," she admits. Though, the personal details... "Do you have this ultrasound image, or do we need to recover it? Once we have it, I need to take it to the graveyard to be able to enter his 'mind'." She doesn't ask about the implications. It must be traumatic enough.

Instead, as the alarm comes, Hazuki winces, a hand moving to grab her choker. "Ah... not that I know of, but not due to attempts. This is a new experience for many of us! There are those with more experience, but they're not... generous helpers... in the same way we are, I don't believe." That's probably not reassuring, so...

"I've been in my friend's mind. It's not a normal, safe place. It's very dangerous, actually. But we've made headway, and have found the parasite's inner sanctum. I know... you probably can't trust me. This sounds like too much of a risk, too much of a danger. But I need to really tell you..."

A breath hitches. This is hard to say, but it's important. "I know for a fact that if we don't do this, your husband will die. I don't want anything from you in exchange. I just want to help you, and make sure these nightmares end."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Does she have the image on hand. Even if she'd known how important it would be that night, she couldn't have accessed it without risking waking the...creature in her bed that she had just painstakingly lulled to sleep. "I don't," Rin admits, with a small shake of her head. "I know where it is, but as I told Yeo-san already, I'm not...if at all possible, I would prefer not to step foot in the house again alone." She can't hide it; the thought alone puts her on edge.

Rin leans forward as Hazuki explains the lack of known successful interventions, a deep frown creasing her features. Perhaps this may be a lesson in not overburdening the layman with unnecessary details. "If there are others are more experienced in these matters," she begins, putting weight onto each word. "Then why am I not speaking to them, instead? Nakao-san, there is --"

She's becoming more animated now, more intense, reaching a more feverish pitch with each sentence. She comes to her feet and begins pacing the bounds of the small room. "There is a ''monster'' wearing my ''husband's skin''. I have been ''exiled from my own home''. You are now telling me that ''death'' is an inevitable outcome of a failed intervention. ''Cost'' is ''not relevant''. I do not -- I do not require ''generosity'' at the expense of ''expertise''."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki takes a breath as Rin starts getting upset. How does she parse this? She must have screwed up... but the animation of Rin gets her on edge. The fever pitch increases her own anxiety, and...

"I don't mean... generous as in 'we work for free'. They're... I think they're wild cards. I don't know how long they've done it. What they do. Why they do it. I can't say trust someone I can't even fully trust myself. You don't have to trust ''me'', but I want to help. There's people out there like us who can be bad people." She remembers what Akari told her.

A breath. "I'm going to help either way. If there's a monster killing someone, I can't not do something. I have this ''power'' inside me that can do something better than what we might take as fated. Let me help you and your husband."

Hazuki's standing up. "At the very least, let Myunghon-san help. If you don't want to trust me at all, trust them. They've done a lot for me, and a lot for many people in Sumaru, from what I understand."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>It takes a couple of attempts for Hazuki to make herself heard, but when she finally does, Rin finally pauses in her increasingly-frantic pacing, leans against one of the walls with one hand, her back turned to Hazuki. She listens. Perhaps she realizes how close she was getting to outright screaming at a teenager. "I...see. Greater expertise but untrustworthy," she responds finally to the clarification, her voice soft and muted. She can read between the lines well enough, even if Hazuki still is not as precise in her language or as confident in her delivery as she would prefer. It is very hard to deny her earnestness, at least. And perhaps Myunghon-san can provide more precise details on these 'others' later.

"I am -- familiar with the type of person, at least, even if not any of the fine details." If nothing else, both people that have expressed willingness to assist have stressed the importance of a single physical item. What happens if she losses access to it by handing it over to the wrong person?

She lets out a long, slow breath, and then returns to sitting on the edge of the bed even after Hazuki rises. It is hard to perceive if Rin is always this mercurial, or if it's the pressure getting to her. "I owe you an apology, Nakao-san," she says, finally, after a lapse of silence. Her words are more measured. She gaze is fixated on the floor. "This has been a very difficult time. I am not accustomed to understanding so little, and what I have learned so far is -- not easy to come to terms with." Pause. Another slow breath to steady herself. "But you were willing to come out to speak with me, to help, for no personal gain, and I have been deeply unfair to you."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>As Rin calms herself, Hazuki takes a breath, nodding about the expertise. She doesn't know if she thinks Peacock Silk is UNTRUSTWORTHY, she likes them a fair bit, but... she can't suggest them, much like she can't suggest SEES, because she doesn't know their true goals. Myunghon came to her, so she trusts them, at least.

"No... I scared you, and I'm sorry for that. This is a horrifying thing, and it's not... easy to swallow." Hazuki tries to smile, though. "But I believe we can do it. We have a lot of allies, a lot of people trying to save my friend, without even knowing him. For all those who could be bad, there's still good."

Hazuki pauses, eying the door instead of sitting back down just yet. "Why don't I leave you for now? We can arrange the rest over phone. Just keep hope, okay?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Rin nods. "Yes, it is -- getting late." Hopefully she didn't chase off Hazuki completely with her outburst. It seems that there are an extraordinarily small amount of people that can functionally help. If a teenager is one of those, then letting her hair-trigger nerves get the better of her in the moment was not the wisest choice.

"Nakao-san," she adds abruptly right after, before the door is opened. "I know you said that some of it was difficult to explain and impossible to demonstrate -- but this is my husband, and my whole life, in the balance. When there is time, ''please''. I want to know more. In full detail," she stresses.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki turns as she moves to leave. "...okay. I promise I'll tell you everything," she says, genuinely, before leaving. And if Rin doesn't believe her or is scared off afterwards... that's her choice. For now, she has to get home and go to bed. It's exams week!
</poem>

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 1]]

2025-10-09: Unproven Treatment

2025-10-23T03:14:57Z

Eliza: Created page with "*'''Log: Unproven Treatment''' *'''Cast:''' [Rin Sasaki], [Hazuki Nakao] *'''Where:''' Iyf Shibuya Hotel, Shibuya, Tokyo *'''OOC Date:''' October 9, 2025 *'''IC Date:''' July 23, 2012 *'''Summary''': ''Hazuki stops by to share her own experience with, and some of her knowledge of, Homunculus. Rin fixates on one specific detail.'' ---- <Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed. <poem>The Iyf Shibuya Hotel stands at nine-stories high, sits at the corner of two smaller streets..."

*'''Log: Unproven Treatment'''
*'''Cast:''' [Rin Sasaki], [Hazuki Nakao]
*'''Where:''' Iyf Shibuya Hotel, Shibuya, Tokyo
*'''OOC Date:''' October 9, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' July 23, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Hazuki stops by to share her own experience with, and some of her knowledge of, Homunculus. Rin fixates on one specific detail.''

----
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>The Iyf Shibuya Hotel stands at nine-stories high, sits at the corner of two smaller streets away from the Central Street traffic, but is still conveniently only a few minutes' walk from Shibuya Station. The lobby and shared amenities on the bottom floor are warmly-lit and trendy, clearly intended to create a welcome and inviting image to travelers. But the upper-floors are more utilitarian, with narrow hallways and small rooms from the distance between the doors.

After a few brief texts earlier in the day, Hazuki was given Rin's room number, eighth floor all the way at the end on the left side. Hazuki will need to check in at the front desk and give her name before being allowed up, and Rin also requested that Hazuki text again before knocking. It seems that Rin is concerned about the appearance of /unwanted/ visitors. Or more likely, a singular visitor.

This done, Rin will open the door to her small room. She is wearing a long, flowing burgundy skirt and a simple form-fitting black shirt; no jewelry except her wedding ring. "Nakao-san?" she asks a little uncertainly, a frown creasing her features, as if Hazuki isn't quite who she was expecting from the brief text exchange previously.
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>The girl who appears outside Rin's door can't be older than 18, and perhaps younger. She's clad in a black cap, with black jacket and white shirt, compression gloves on her hands like a gamer would have and a pair of jeans and boots - all of it appears very European Trendy. Indeed, when she speaks up, her accent is clearly English, despite speaking Japanese. She tips her head, a little nervous.

"HI, I'm Hazuki Nakao..." she greets. "Are you the one Myunghon-san asked me to meet?" she says politely.

A pause. Why is- oh, she's nervous because of Hazuki's ''age'', isn't she? "Ah, uh... we can talk more inside if you'd like, but I'm... I'm familiar with the kind of event you're facing, so Myunghon-san asked me to talk to you." She smiles softly, trying to be encouraging! She got confidence in what she's *saying* but perhaps not as much herself, it would seem.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Hazuki's appearance does not instill as much confidence in Rin as Myunghon's did, certainly. And her first (and most recent) conversation about these matters noted 'no small amount of personal danger' as part of the ultimate solution -- and so seeing someone of highschool age outside her door in connection to this matter does not thrill her. Still, if Yeo-San sent her over...

Rin's frown deepens, but she steps back to allow Hazuki inside. "Come in." It's a modest room -- room for a small bed, a desk next to it (currently occupied with Rin's laptop, displaying a lockscreen, and some papers facing down), a single chair, a door leading to a tiny bathroom, and a small amount of empty

floor in the center of the room. As always, space is at a premium in Tokyo, and Rin doesn't know how long she is going to be exiled from her own home.

Rin closes the door behind Hazuki, then locks it and sets the chain again. She gestures for Hazuki to take the only chair, and sits down herself on the edge of the bed, facing her, hands folded in her lap. "Nakao-San. I appreciate your time -- I understand finals are currently in session, so you must be very
busy. But..." Pause, slight trailing off. She doesn't like this at all.

"I will admit, I was not expecting anyone still young enough to ''be'' taking highschool exams," she finishes finally.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki follows, taking a seat in the chair. She can tell she's not instilling confidence... but she's got to help. As Rin sits across her, Hazuki considers. "Oh, it's no problem. I mean, exams are busy, but..."

Oh, that kinda stings, but... it makes sense Rin wasn't expecting her. She nods softly. "I understand. It's a weird situation for me too. I know... what you're going through quite personally," she settles on saying. "My friend... he... well, I can get into that in a minute. You can tell me about it, if you'd like." A pause, as if she considers. She should give a bone, make her feel more confident...

"It's scary, right? One day, they're normal, the next, it's like... you can feel the hairs sticking up on the end of your neck around them. That weird sense of uncanny valley. Their inability to communicate the same way, be the same way. Their mood changes drastically. It's like they're an entirely different person, no, not even that. They're just something else. Right?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Rin listens silently as Hazuki speaks, and seems to become at least slightly less guarded as she does so. So a personal connection to the 'one other case' that Yeo-San referenced; Hazuki's presence here makes a little more sense, then. And hearing some pieces of her own experience out of someone else's mouth -- that isn't a strangely-dressed shady backalley shop owner -- is also a measure of relief on its own.

Rin lets out a slow sigh and speaks quietly, not really making eye-contact with Hazuki. "My husband. I didn't notice the changes as anything amiss, at first. We've -- he's been going through a...difficult time, and the changes were generally positive, but not flagrantly out-of-place. There ''was'' something, almost a little off. But he hadn't been home much, you see, and I thought it was simply -- trying to reacclimate to his presence at home, because I'd become more-or-less accustomed to his long hours and work trips."

She continues again only after a long pause, and there's small hitch in her voice when she does. She understands more now than a couple of nights ago, but if talking about this with Yeo-San was difficult, talking about it with a ''highschooler''... "It was a few nights ago. I've never felt anything like it, and I sincerely hope I never do again." A small, involuntary shudder as she brings the memory back up. "As if there was -- Something Else there, in our bed; not my husband. And this, this overwhelming feeling of -- of being ''hunted''."

There's a haunted look in Rin's eyes, but she doesn't lose her composure completely as she did in front of Myunghon. "I have never felt so much ''fear'', so much ''dread'', in my life. I left in the middle of the night. I haven't -- I haven't been able to bring myself to go back. It didn't seem like it would be...safe to do so." She intentionally does not elaborate further on that point.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki listens thoughtfully from the chair, considering. Rin's husband... how horrible. She won't pry, though she's old enough to piece some gaps. "I see... I'm very sorry."

A considerate look. "How much has Myunghon-san told you about what we do? We're the kind of people who fix this sort of problem," she says with much more confidence than she had before, something about being a Persona User giving her more confidence than being an ordinary girl. She takes a moment to consider her words.

"There's some things I'll need to help him. Our team can only fix his psyche and expel the parasite with an important object, and a lonely place that he would consider his, as Myunghon-san might have explained." A soft, courageous smile.

"Let me tell you my story. My friend... he changed. He, too, was Homunculized. Other people, those like Merry, noticed he changed. I gained the same skills by not giving up on him. I don't know if the same is true for everyone, but... we're fighting to save him, and we will fight to save your husband, too. So don't give up hope that things won't return to normal, okay?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Rin appreciates that Hazuki does not pry further. She already does not love how many personal details this has involved so far.

"The highlights, I think, and only when I asked directly. A parasite that 'infects the psyche' and then 'entering minds' to remove it," Rin replies to the first question. "Very light on specifics." Not that she was really in the correct headspace to ask for them that night. The basic concepts were, by themselves, removed more than enough from what she previously understood of the world.

More personal details. At least the order of these conversations wasn't reversed, and this time, she can touch on it without open tears in front of a highschool student. But her voice is muted and a little terse. "Yes; that, also." The answer to riddle of the object and the location seem like they were known to her immediately. She might not want to talk about it, but there's no real uncertainty. "Our first ultrasound image, and a -- there's a small temple cemetery not too far from our home." The implications are impossible to avoid, although it's clear she'd prefer not to dwell on it right now.

What comes next elicits a small but clear measure of alarm from her. Myunghon mentioned one other case. Hazuki speaks as if 'saving him' is still ongoing. "Wait, you've -- ''has'' there been a successful intervention yet?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki nods to the highlights. "That's right. It's... not something we can show people, and it only makes less sense the more we explain it," she admits. Though, the personal details... "Do you have this ultrasound image, or do we need to recover it? Once we have it, I need to take it to the graveyard to be able to enter his 'mind'." She doesn't ask about the implications. It must be traumatic enough.

Instead, as the alarm comes, Hazuki winces, a hand moving to grab her choker. "Ah... not that I know of, but not due to attempts. This is a new experience for many of us! There are those with more experience, but they're not... generous helpers... in the same way we are, I don't believe." That's probably not reassuring, so...

"I've been in my friend's mind. It's not a normal, safe place. It's very dangerous, actually. But we've made headway, and have found the parasite's inner sanctum. I know... you probably can't trust me. This sounds like too much of a risk, too much of a danger. But I need to really tell you..."

A breath hitches. This is hard to say, but it's important. "I know for a fact that if we don't do this, your husband will die. I don't want anything from you in exchange. I just want to help you, and make sure these nightmares end."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Does she have the image on hand. Even if she'd known how important it would be that night, she couldn't have accessed it without risking waking the...creature in her bed that she had just painstakingly lulled to sleep. "I don't," Rin admits, with a small shake of her head. "I know where it is, but as I told Yeo-san already, I'm not...if at all possible, I would prefer not to step foot in the house again alone." She can't hide it; the thought alone puts her on edge.

Rin leans forward as Hazuki explains the lack of known successful interventions, a deep frown creasing her features. Perhaps this may be a lesson in not overburdening the layman with unnecessary details. "If there are others are more experienced in these matters," she begins, putting weight onto each word. "Then why am I not speaking to them, instead? Nakao-san, there is --"

She's becoming more animated now, more intense, reaching a more feverish pitch with each sentence. She comes to her feet and begins pacing the bounds of the small room. "There is a ''monster'' wearing my ''husband's skin''. I have been ''exiled from my own home''. You are now telling me that ''death'' is an inevitable outcome of a failed intervention. ''Cost'' is ''not relevant''. I do not -- I do not require ''generosity'' at the expense of ''expertise''."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki takes a breath as Rin starts getting upset. How does she parse this? She must have screwed up... but the animation of Rin gets her on edge. The fever pitch increases her own anxiety, and...

"I don't mean... generous as in 'we work for free'. They're... I think they're wild cards. I don't know how long they've done it. What they do. Why they do it. I can't say trust someone I can't even fully trust myself. You don't have to trust ''me'', but I want to help. There's people out there like us who can be bad people." She remembers what Akari told her.

A breath. "I'm going to help either way. If there's a monster killing someone, I can't not do something. I have this ''power'' inside me that can do something better than what we might take as fated. Let me help you and your husband."

Hazuki's standing up. "At the very least, let Myunghon-san help. If you don't want to trust me at all, trust them. They've done a lot for me, and a lot for many people in Sumaru, from what I understand."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>It takes a couple of attempts for Hazuki to make herself heard, but when she finally does, Rin finally pauses in her increasingly-frantic pacing, leans against one of the walls with one hand, her back turned to Hazuki. She listens. Perhaps she realizes how close she was getting to outright screaming at a teenager. "I...see. Greater expertise but untrustworthy," she responds finally to the clarification, her voice soft and muted. She can read between the lines well enough, even if Hazuki still is not as precise in her language or as confident in her delivery as she would prefer. It is very hard to deny her earnestness, at least. And perhaps Myunghon-san can provide more precise details on these 'others' later.

"I am -- familiar with the type of person, at least, even if not any of the fine details." If nothing else, both people that have expressed willingness to assist have stressed the importance of a single physical item. What happens if she losses access to it by handing it over to the wrong person?

She lets out a long, slow breath, and then returns to sitting on the edge of the bed even after Hazuki rises. It is hard to perceive if Rin is always this mercurial, or if it's the pressure getting to her. "I owe you an apology, Nakao-san," she says, finally, after a lapse of silence. Her words are more measured. She gaze is fixated on the floor. "This has been a very difficult time. I am not accustomed to understanding so little, and what I have learned so far is -- not easy to come to terms with." Pause. Another slow breath to steady herself. "But you were willing to come out to speak with me, to help, for no personal gain, and I have been deeply unfair to you."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>As Rin calms herself, Hazuki takes a breath, nodding about the expertise. She doesn't know if she thinks Peacock Silk is UNTRUSTWORTHY, she likes them a fair bit, but... she can't suggest them, much like she can't suggest SEES, because she doesn't know their true goals. Myunghon came to her, so she trusts them, at least.

"No... I scared you, and I'm sorry for that. This is a horrifying thing, and it's not... easy to swallow." Hazuki tries to smile, though. "But I believe we can do it. We have a lot of allies, a lot of people trying to save my friend, without even knowing him. For all those who could be bad, there's still good."

Hazuki pauses, eying the door instead of sitting back down just yet. "Why don't I leave you for now? We can arrange the rest over phone. Just keep hope, okay?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>Rin nods. "Yes, it is -- getting late." Hopefully she didn't chase off Hazuki completely with her outburst. It seems that there are an extraordinarily small amount of people that can functionally help. If a teenager is one of those, then letting her hair-trigger nerves get the better of her in the moment was not the wisest choice.

"Nakao-san," she adds abruptly right after, before the door is opened. "I know you said that some of it was difficult to explain and impossible to demonstrate -- but this is my husband, and my whole life, in the balance. When there is time, ''please''. I want to know more. In full detail," she stresses.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Hazuki turns as she moves to leave. "...okay. I promise I'll tell you everything," she says, genuinely, before leaving. And if Rin doesn't believe her or is scared off afterwards... that's her choice. For now, she has to get home and go to bed. It's exams week!
</poem>

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 1]]

Rin Sasaki

2025-10-19T06:31:01Z

Eliza:

{{Character1
|MUSHName=Rin Sasaki
|BGColor=#4876ff|BorderColor=#000000|TextColor=#000000
|Img=|Name=Rin Sasaki|Arcana=Devil|Gender=Female|Age=29|Birthdate=June 21, 1983|Residence=Shibuya, Tokyo|HairColor=Black|EyeColor=Hazel|Height=5’4” (163 cm)|Workplace=Sasaki Business Services|Job=Self-Employed|Role=Chorus
|Source=Persona Syzgy (OC)
|Group=None
|Player=Eliza
|Quote="You only get one life; why waste time?"
|Profile=Rin Sasaki, wife of Kenzo Sasaki, childless, operates as an independent CPA that provides highly-tailored options for small businesses. Far from the stodgy, dusty stereotype of her profession, Rin is a vivacious woman in her late twenties with a quick, easy smile who appears genuinely enthused to help people grow their business and remove obstacles to their success (why don't we discuss it further over drinks? I know the most wonderful spot only two streets over; you'll love it, I promise). A lover of fine things and fine experiences, eager to strike up a conversation with nearly anyone at anytime, she approaches life with a natural poise and an infectious energy -- but some whisper that she is merely running from some great loss. And lately, she has been seen with a hunted look in her eyes, unusually withdrawn, going to odd places and speaking to odd people.
}}
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Chorus]]
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Chorus]]
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Chorus]]
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Chorus]]

Rin Sasaki

2025-10-19T06:30:41Z

Eliza:

Glimmer of Hope

2025-10-19T06:23:36Z

Eliza: Undo revision 3225 by Eliza (talk)

#REDIRECT [[2025-10-05: Glimmer of Hope]]

Glimmer of Hope

2025-10-19T06:22:50Z

Eliza: Blanked the page

Glimmer of Hope

2025-10-19T06:19:30Z

Eliza: Eliza moved page Glimmer of Hope to 2025-10-05: Glimmer of Hope

#REDIRECT [[2025-10-05: Glimmer of Hope]]

2025-10-05: Glimmer of Hope

2025-10-19T06:19:30Z

Eliza: Eliza moved page Glimmer of Hope to 2025-10-05: Glimmer of Hope

*'''Log: Glimmer of Hope'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Rin Sasaki]], [[Myunghon Yeo]]
*'''Where:''' Cardboard Dragon, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru City
*'''OOC Date:''' October 5, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' July 21, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Far from the world she knows, Rin finds a friendly Rumormonger that can shed light on what is wrong with her husband.''

----

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
The Cardboard Dragon is something of a... strange store to try to find -- about two blocks down from Kasugayama High, the actual building that it's a part of is easy enough to find, with the Sunny Day family diner at the ground floor... but actually finding the Cardboard Dragon requires going down the unmarked alley, which kind of looks like you might find yakuza fighting there sometimes, up a set of fire escape stairs, and into the fire escape door and...!

The actual storefront is divided into several sections -- a section of bookshelves with rare, foreign books from around the turn of the 20th century by authors such as Dostoesvsky and Hauptmann, not to mention classic Japanese authors like Osamu Dazai or Yukito Ayatsuji... and the actual card game store front has an advertisement for the NEW! Sourdough Princess Vampire Bakers card game set, and several tables to actually play card games at.

There's no one there at present.

Myunghon themself is seated at the third section, which resembles most like a detective's lounge, with a couch and coffee tables, and is currently hard at work at their laptop with only one hand, given their other is in a sling at present. They have white hair and their face is partially covered in bandages, including their right eye and neck, and they're dressed in a white dress shirt and black tie, along with black dress pants and a clinging black coat that's slung over their shoulders.

A tiny stack of animal crackers is rising beside them, and their fingers reach for another Koala March cracker... to place ontop. It's growing.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
This is very far from Rin's normal world. The location itself perhaps not so much -- she's always enjoyed frequenting small businesses tucked away in odd spots from the street traffic and noise of the city, and even counts a few of them as clients; although, this is certainly the most...threatening location she's probably ever visited -- but certainly what she seeks there. It took casting a wide net among friends and professional contacts for Rin to even be set upon the right path to reach this point, dropping vague questions and meandering prompts in other conversations that eventually led her to two other people that finally pointed her here.

Suggesting anything outright, of course, would have branded her mentally ill, at best, and a lunatic, at worst. She remains uncertain that she ''isn't''.

Rin steps into the empty store and glances around with a degree of uncertainty. She is a thin woman in her late twentys, standing just a little above average height, with a soft, narrow face and pale skin. She is wearing a long, flowing emerald chiffon skirt, a loose white blouse and open low-healed sandals (which did her no favors on her ascent up on the fire escape stairs). Styled, wavy black hair frames her face and spills down her back; manicured nails and glittering earrings and a wedding ring. She is carrying a small, decorative purse over one shoulder. There is a deep exhaustion in her eyes that refuses to be concealed by makeup.

The books on display would normally have her rapt attention, but she instead makes a line to the only person she's able to find in the store. "Hello? I'm looking for a --" Pause. A moment of uncertainy. "A Merry-San?"
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Myunghon first hears the call for a 'Merry-san' and immediately rises to their feet -- they're pretty tall at 175 centimetres, and quite thin (one could say frail), that coat spilling out behind them and giving the illusion that they're grander than they really would be without it, not unlike a vampire's cape. If the location is hostile, Myunghon isn't carrying themself with a threatening aura, at least, a gentle smile on their face. They note the exhaustion in Rin's face, and then gestures welcomingly towards the couch. "Welcome to the Cardboard Dragon. You've come to the right place; I'm Rumourmonger Merry, also known as Myunghon Yeo." A Korean name.

How interesting! Whoever Rin was referred by went with 'Merry', which isn't the most common way they get to know people; is it from an investigative angle, or perhaps a more supernatural one? The way Rin carries herself isn't particularly typical for one of their customers too, but then, the last time someone dressed like Rin came in, it was So-young, and she turned out to be a half-sister they never knew they had.

"Please, feel free to take a seat, and can I bring you some tea or another kind of drink?"
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Myunghon's unusual, perhaps even outlandish, appearance is actually somewhat reassuring to Rin. The bookstore/gameshop had her wondering if she had actually made it to the right place, or simply been made the target of someone's idea of a joke. To her, the person that greets her ''looks'' like someone that really might make a business of knowing odd things -- while looking far more put together than some crackpot bum raving about lizard people and mind-control chemicals in the water.

Which was the other fear about how this little rabbit hole was going to terminate.

For this reason and Myunghon's welcome demeanor, a visible amount of tension leaves Rin. But certainly not all of it. "Thank you, Yeo-San," she responds, switching to their actual name now that has it been offered (is it actually their real name still? All of this still feels a little surreal). Rin takes a seat on the couch and smooths her skirt out after. "Tea would be lovely." It will also give her a few moments to arrange her thoughts now that the pending questions are more than hypothetical.
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Myunghon does nod, and heads off to prepare tea at the small kitchenette -- and returning a few times to first set the teacups and saucers, since they've only one functioning hand at present, and they're not about to risk carrying a whole tea tray on their own, since they'd probably fumble and drop it and that would be a mess. While the kettle boils, they do ask: The rest of the detective's lounge part of the store does lend an air of legitimacy, perhaps -- there's various bookshelves and cabinets full of case files, marked in some kind of ordering, filing system that perhaps makes sense to its owner. One might even get the impression the book and cardgame store is partially a front, something to help conceal the business underneath that they conduct as 'Rumourmonger'.

Eventually, they return with the teapot. They're generous with Rin's tea, but they seem to only want a little bit of tea leaves in theirs, preferring their tea very light. There's sugar, at the very least. "My apologies for the wait." Their language is very humble, as if they're serving her at a high-class restaurant. "So what brings you here today, ah..."
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Rin does glance around at the rest of the lounge during this time. It certainly goes some of the way to explaining the difficulty for (and current complete lack of) foot-traffic for the other parts of the shop.

Rin does not add any sugar to her tea. "Rin," she offers, then follows after a brief pause. "Rin Sasaki." There's a much longer pause, then, filling the room with silence as she seems to consider how to answer the main part of the question. The interim to collect her thoughts barely helped. Vague questions and inferences were much easier, but in theory, this is finally the moment to speak more plainly.

The idea of it fills her with a heavy dread she can't quite shake. Maybe because speaking it aloud makes it more real. Maybe because she herself is still not entirely convinced that she ''shouldn't'' be locked away in an asylum. "I'm told you might know about..." Still fishing for the right word, not quite looking at Myunghon. Here and now, she doesn't do a good job hiding her nerves. "''Abnormal'' occurances," is what she finally settles on, stressing the first word. The rest comes out in a tumble, as if she's worried she might not get the words out at all otherwise, and here she does snap her gaze back to Myunghon. There's a worry and a fear in her eyes. This is obviously a deeply personal issue. "People -- people suddenly not being themselves? Not acting themselves?" Beat. "I can pay; I can pay -- whatever you need." There's more than a hint of desperation in her voice now.
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Myunghon nods gently as Rin shares her name. They wait patiently, taking a sip of their own tea and also placing another Koala cracker onto the top of that stack... just how high is that stack going to go? How has it not fallen off into pieces yet? It must be some measure of dexterity on their part. But they are paying attention, since they can sense the tension and concern evident in Rin's countenance, and how difficult this must be.

Rin settles on 'abnormal occurrences'. There's a pause, and then their expression softens again -- even as they have to put effort to maintaining eye contact, since it doesn't come easy. There's no judgement in that singular gray eye of theirs, at least. "I see. Yes, you've come to the right place, Sasaki-san, actually," they reassure.

Rin speaks of someone not being themselves -- not acting like themselves. "... mm." Myunghon places their fingers to their lips, as they seem to spiderweb out in thought for a moment. "I see. I am familiar with such a case, actually, yes. We can help. I'd need to know more of who this person is that isn't themself lately. But-- first, Sasaki-san, are you in any personal danger? I can arrange for protection for you as well, should you require it."
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
"You -- you are?" Rin asks when Myunghon says they are familiar with such a case in particular, voice wrought but almost daring to be a little more hopeful. She takes a deep, shuddery breath, and there's dampness at the edge of her eyes. "I thought -- I thought I might be going crazy." Of course, that might still be true. This 'Rumormonger' in a shady backalley shop with no customers could just be taking her for a ride, telling her whatever she wanted to hear. It wouldn't even be the most outlandish scam.

Yet they sound so ''confident'' about it (of course, they would, wouldn't they?). But it's still the first real lifeline she's had since that night. It's difficult not to latch onto it.

"Protection?" she repeats with a reflexive incredulousness, for the sole reason that such an idea moves even further from life as she has experienced it thus far. But then she has to consider it more closely. "I...hadn't thought about it." And the more she thinks about it, the more disturbed the idea seems to make her. 'Is'' she in danger? She might be.

"It's my -- it's my husband," she stumbles over the words. Another shuddery breath. Rin is more confident speaking about these matters in general now that Myunghon has reassured her she's in the right place, but the ''details''. Dredging back up the details is hard. Thinking about it again, speaking it aloud. It makes it more real. "But it ''wasn't'' him, that night; a few nights ago. I can't explain it, but it ''wasn't''. Like there was -- like there was ''Something Else'' in our bed, by not him." She's trembling as the words tumble out, yet certain, near to tears, eyes pleading for continued belief of her outlandish declarations. "And it was ''so'' --" She's afraid. "Possessive." Beat. "I haven't been able to bring myself to go home again since."
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
"I know. I know exactly what that's like, Sasaki-san -- you've seen something that you just can't quite explain, and no one will believe you, and you're made to believe as if your grasp on reality is slipping as you try to convince more people," Myunghon reassures, remembering back to their first experiences seeing the Dark Hour, hospitalised as they were, seeing a whole row of coffins on the beds beside them...

It all could be a scam. And yet, indeed, Rumourmonger Merry seems very confident about it -- perhaps they're a very skilled con artist indeed! But they keep that gentle, reassuring tone, their language polite and warm. Protection, though? Is she in danger? That's something Myunghon can't assess for themself, but Rin explains that it's her husband.

That wedding ring, Myunghon thinks back to when they first glanced upon her person. That explains why she's so distraught -- it's not just an acquaintance or even a friend, the person affected is the very partner she lives with. And she describes how he hasn't been himself -- that it ''wasn't'' him, she's certain, like there's something else, not her husband. Myunghon does frown very gently, and nods quietly.

But Rin speaking of how he's become -- posessive -- does draw a faint shudder from their own body. And she hasn't been able to go home since.

"Is there someone else you trust you're staying with at the moment, Sasaki-san?" Myunghon asks. "I will be able to help, as will my colleagues, but we'll need some time to investigate this matter, and I'd like to ensure that, since it is your husband inflicted, that you won't be in the path of any harm. That would be my first priority."

Myunghon does reach for their laptop. "I'll need some details, such as his basic profile and history -- but I assure you that what you're seeing isn't just in your head, Sasaki-san. There is actually one other such incident happening that I'm a part of as well, and..."

A brief bit of consideration. "It'll be very helpful for the investigation if you can share as much detail about his history as possible. Even small, seemingly irrelevant details -- his hobbies, his dislikes and interests, little things he may be hung up on... of course, you don't need to answer right away. Here's my number -- please feel free to contact me at any time," they hand their card over across the table.
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
As Myunghon begins to describe the information they need, Rin draws a deep, shaky breath and tries to compose herself a little. The former's consistently reassuring manner helps. The idea that there are actionable steps to be taken helps a little more. And she really doesn't want to break down completely in front of a stranger, if a very helpful stranger. She takes few slow sips of the tea now that it has had time to steep and cool just a bit.

"I've been staying at hotels the last few nights." she responds. She accepts the card, glances at it, then puts it away in her purse. She's trying to keep her voice steady. She is partially successful. "I didn't -- I ''don't'' know what's happening, and I -- ''can't'' drag his name through the mud if this is some; some temporary malady. There's no one I can stay with that wouldn't raise questions."

Rin doesn't answer the request for information right away, instead leaning forward and looking Myunghon in the eye. "Yeo-san," she starts, clasping her hands tightly together to try and keep herself from trembling again. "...''Is'' it temporary? You say this is not unknown to you, and speak as if you have some course of investigation." There's an intensity in her eyes, and her voice breaks with her next question. "''What happened to my husband'', Yeo-san?"
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Rin's been staying at hotels. It must get pretty expensive... but they seem satisfied enough at that, and trusts that they can stay safe, at the very least -- they don't look like their personal safety's most at stake, the way others with less means in their life might be at risk. There's an understanding nod from Myunghon that Rin feels that she can't stay with others, that it'll... drag his name through the mud. It brings into their mind an image that it was a successful marriage, one that wasn't plagued with issues before this.

But there's a way in which she looks at them in the eye that catches them a bit off-guard, even. That desire to know.

The way Rin described being able to feel as if there's 'someone else' there speaks to the potential inside of her, Myunghon thinks. But it doesn't seem like she's awakened, a Persona-User. They were happy to leave it vague if Rin didn't want to pry, but she does, and thus...

"... Sasaki-san. What I say may sound like absolute nonsense to you, but you are here because you've already been disbelieved by many, so I will say it plain to you as well," Myunghon explains in turn. "Your husband is being infected by a kind of -- parasite, we'll call it, a Homunculus, which is taking over his psyche. That is the reason behind the behavioural changes you've been observing."

They let that sit, because they know that's a lot to take in -- to sip some more tea.

"I am in the business behind some of the strangenesses that you may or may not have observed in Sumaru City, as are my colleagues. What we'll do is rid this parasite from your husband's psyche, which will return him to health gain. There is a time component to this, I will not lie, and in our line of business, it is important to know as much about who we're rescuing as much as possible. In particular, for this case, it has been made known to me that it is important to identify a belonging and a location of importance to him -someplace lonesome, and a memento of great attachment... do you know of such places, in your time with him -- or even prior, Sasaki-san?"
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
It ''is'' a lot to take in. It is also the final straw for Rin's shaky attempts to maintain her composure. It doesn't come right away, but a shocked, incredulous exhalation becomes a second, then a third, then a fourth -- and then it hits, transitioning fully into broken, hysterical laughter joined right after by deep, wracking sobs. She believes them. Oh, she believes them. The explanation fits far too well with the deep and unshakeable sense of ''terror'' and the ''alien'' she experienced that night.

But of course something this improbably terrible would happen to her. To them. ''Of course.''

Myunghon will have to wait for the hysterical, manic energy to burn itself out before they can really continue. It takes several minutes. After, the exhaustion in her eyes is so much more complete than when she walked in. "I'm sorry; I'm very sorry," she says as she brushes the tears from her eyes, which are red and now smudged lightly with running makeup. The put-together image she was trying to display to the world is pretty well ruined for the night. "It's just --" Another, this time single, sharp exhalation. "It seems I must have been a very terrible person in a past life," she continues with a small, shaky laugh (with only the slightest tinge of hysteria this time) and a twitch of a smile.

She listens raptly as Myunghon continues, taking a few slow sips of tea. "How?" is the only question she interjects, after the mention of ridding him of the parasite. The weariness in her voice does not bury the insistence of the question. But then a mention of a memento and a location of importance...

She sighs heavily and leans back into the couch. No sobs this time -- that's all been burned out -- but a quiet sadness. Unbidden tears in her eyes. She knows immediately. "Our first ultrasound image. The graveyard." She can't look at Myunghon anymore. "I don't think he ever wanted anything more in life than
to be a father. It..." A long pause. But there's no reason to hide it now, not if it's tied up in all of this. "It never took."
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
In a way, Myunghon perhaps wasn't quite expecting the response, but... it does, in the end, make quite a lot of sense when they consider all she's been through. They do wait patiently, respectfully. Their thoughts are still fixated on how much Rin's able to sense that something is 'wrong' -- that's not something just anyone can do. She'd be able to protect herself better if she awakened, but that would also plunge her into a particularly difficult life in turn... not that hers isn't already difficult, right now.

"Take all the time you need, Sasaki-san," Myunghon offers very gently, offering her a handkerchief, if she needs it.

"Mmm," they muse, on the topic of whether Rin's been a terrible person in a past life. "Perhaps we are all bound in karmic cycles in some way, but it does not mean we have to quietly accept our fate."

Myunghon does watch as Rin settles, having worked through all those tears and laughter, as if some kind of heavy, personal catharsis. But Rin already immediately has an idea of what might be lonesome and important to him... and it's very easy to draw the conclusions of an unborn child between them. "... I see," Myunghon quietly nods. "I'm very sorry for your loss... both of yours." A longer pause, as they say, "A copy of that image needs to be brought to that location -- if you could lend the picture to me, that would come in very useful."

The ''how'' is directly asked.

Myunghon lets out a soft breath they didn't even know they were holding in.

"Unfortunate people such as I are privy to the means of entering other people's minds to aid them," Myunghon explains. "This does involve no small amount of personal danger, since as you might well imagine, our minds have many defence mechanisms to protect us, even under healthy circumstances. But this is our business, Sasaki-san, and we won't let your husband be a victim to this parasite."
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
She accepts the handkerchief gratefully to dab at her eyes. Her voice is evening out, but she continues to avoid Myunghon's eyes, opting instead to mostly look down to the floor. "Thank you," she says quietly in response to their condolences. "It happened too many times. Started to get dangerous, physically. I ''had'' to move on, move past it, but...I don't think he ever did." Pause. A faint, thoughtful frown creases her lilps and her brows furrow a little. She clasps the cooling teacup in her hands; having something tactile helps.

"Looking back, that's when the changes started, I think. He completely buried himself in work since...the last time, about a -- about a year-and-a-half ago now? Like he couldn't stand to be home. Couldn't -- stand to be in the same room as me." Her voice hitches here, but otherwise remains steady. "I ''thought'' maybe he was slowly starting to -- just a few weeks ago. He wasn't avoiding being home, less moody; more open, and happier -- a little more like how he used to be. But...was that just also this 'parasite?' It felt like something was off a little? But I thought it was just because I'd gotten so accustomed to him barely being home. It wasn't anything like what I -- ''felt'' the other night."

Rin shakes her head. "I guess it doesn't matter. If you and your people can purge it --" there's a harshness here on the last two words; despite the redness of her eyes, she's becoming more focused -- "that's what really matters. For the print..." Pause; consideration. "I think I will need to take you up on your offer of protection for that. I know where it is, and he ''shouldn't'' be home during the day. But he's..." Pause, deep breath, recovery. "He's very strong." And she is not. "I can't risk going there alone."

Rin looks up, finally. Even as Myunghon explains entering minds, she has very clearly moved past possible skepticism over the course of this conversation. "How much do I owe you upfront? And beyond the picture and more details, what else can I do to help?" It's not as if this seems to be some sort of standard, workaday procedure.
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Myunghon's expression is downcast, as Rin explains how the pregnancy endangered her life. Her thoughts turn to Yua, and perhaps reflect on themself and how disinterested they've been in it, and how much that's put pressure on them in various parts of their life too. Gilded cages... there was no way this was the best of all possible worlds.

It is a painful story to share, but Myunghon seems ready to share the burden; perhaps that conversation with Shinjiro has allowed them to contextualise this in a way that they can cope with better. There is a solution here, one they can act on. "The key is that... 'offness', Sasaki-san -- I was informed of the time limit, since it is a process where this parasite, the Homunculus, moves on its prey, there exists a time in which it will complete subsuming its host. To be perfectly honest... not everyone has the ability to sense that 'offness'. That's why everyone can interact with them without reacting the way you have."

But Rin will need to take them up on the offer of protection. She knows where it is, but he's very strong, and she can't risk going there alone. "... very well. Would it be all right if I also referred your case to my other colleagues too? I will be discreet, but as you can see, I too am not... well, let's just say my strengths do not lie in a physical confrontation, so I would need assistance if we were discovered."

The topic of payment is brought up, but Myunghon waves their hand. "...let's not worry about the price at present, Sasaki-san. No doubt you've already been cutting into your savings having to stay at hotels already, and I don't wish to financially burden you any further until this is resolved. I confess I don't have a standard rate anyway, given how unique each of these cases tend to be."

Remi's gonna be so mad they're taking another case on pro bono, more or less. What else can she do to help? They consider this for a moment...

"Mm. I'd say, largely, to keep in touch regarding your safety and if you remember anything else that may be pertinent -- I think we have a strong case already, but matters of the heart and mind are touchy... and, some of my colleagues may be in touch with you as well, with any further questions they have. I'll ensure I ask them to give my name out so that you aren't approached by complete strangers."

Myunghon quietly rises from their seat, taking the cups. "And thank you for confiding in us, Sasaki-san. I know this cannot be an easy matter to share. We will be in touch with any developments."
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
<poem>
Rin does not directly respond to Myunghon's reference to their own lack of strength in a physical confrontation, but had already generally assumed that the original offer of protection might include other colleagues. "Yes, of course, Yeo-San. Whatever you think is best; I am dependent on your expertise here."

"Very well," she says in the matter of upfront payment as they both rise to their feet. "Then we will settle accounts at the end." 'The end' has a nice ring to it, really. That there are actionable steps to be taken to reach the end of this nightmare -- something that was very much in doubt when she first entered the building. "Please do not concern herself with the state of my finances." Perhaps, just perhaps the slightest stress on 'my.' "That is the least of my troubles in all this."

Rin bows formally as the conversation comes to a close. "Thank you, again, Yeo-San, truly; for your answers and your patience. You have been most kind." She will pass on her contact information, then excuse herself to find anotherhotel for the night.
</poem>

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 1]]

2025-10-05: Glimmer of Hope

2025-10-19T06:15:07Z

Eliza: Created page with "*'''Log: Glimmer of Hope''' *'''Cast:''' Rin Sasaki, Myunghon Yeo *'''Where:''' Cardboard Dragon, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru City *'''OOC Date:''' October 5, 2025 *'''IC Date:''' July 21, 2012 *'''Summary''': ''Far from the world she knows, Rin finds a friendly Rumormonger that can shed light on what is wrong with her husband.'' ---- <Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed. <poem> The Cardboard Dragon is something of a... strange store to try to find -- about two bl..."

Rin Sasaki

2025-10-19T05:10:10Z

Eliza: /* Logs and Cutscenes */

{{Character1
|MUSHName=Rin Sasaki
|BGColor=#4876ff|BorderColor=#000000|TextColor=#000000
|Img=|Name=Rin Sasaki|Arcana=Devil|Gender=Female|Age=29|Birthdate=June 21, 1983|Residence=Shibuya, Tokyo|HairColor=Black|EyeColor=Hazel|Height=5’4” (163 cm)|Workplace=Sasaki Business Services|Job=Self-Employed|Role=Chorus
|Source=Persona Syzgy (OC)
|Group=None
|Player=Eliza
|Quote="You only get one life; why waste time?"
|Profile=Rin Sasaki, wife of Kenzo Sasaki, childless, operates as an independent CPA that provides highly-tailored options for small businesses. Far from the stodgy, dusty stereotype of her profession, Rin is a vivacious woman in her late twenties with a quick, easy smile who appears genuinely enthused to help people grow their business and remove obstacles to their success (why don't we discuss it further over drinks? I know the most wonderful spot only two streets over; you'll love it, I promise). A lover of fine things and fine experiences, eager to strike up a conversation with nearly anyone at anytime, she approaches life with a natural poise and an infectious energy -- but some whisper that she is merely running from some great loss. And lately, she has been seen with a hunted look in her eyes, unusually withdrawn, going to odd places and speaking to odd people.
}}
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Chorus]]
[[Category:Sasaki Business Services]]

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Chorus]]
[[Category:Sasaki Business Services]]

Rin Sasaki

2025-10-19T05:09:56Z

Eliza:

{{Character1
|MUSHName=Rin Sasaki
|BGColor=#4876ff|BorderColor=#000000|TextColor=#000000
|Img=|Name=Rin Sasaki|Arcana=Devil|Gender=Female|Age=29|Birthdate=June 21, 1983|Residence=Shibuya, Tokyo|HairColor=Black|EyeColor=Hazel|Height=5’4” (163 cm)|Workplace=Sasaki Business Services|Job=Self-Employed|Role=Chorus
|Source=Persona Syzgy (OC)
|Group=None
|Player=Eliza
|Quote="You only get one life; why waste time?"
|Profile=Rin Sasaki, wife of Kenzo Sasaki, childless, operates as an independent CPA that provides highly-tailored options for small businesses. Far from the stodgy, dusty stereotype of her profession, Rin is a vivacious woman in her late twenties with a quick, easy smile who appears genuinely enthused to help people grow their business and remove obstacles to their success (why don't we discuss it further over drinks? I know the most wonderful spot only two streets over; you'll love it, I promise). A lover of fine things and fine experiences, eager to strike up a conversation with nearly anyone at anytime, she approaches life with a natural poise and an infectious energy -- but some whisper that she is merely running from some great loss. And lately, she has been seen with a hunted look in her eyes, unusually withdrawn, going to odd places and speaking to odd people.
}}

=Logs and Cutscenes=

==Season 1==



*[[2025-10-04: Order Up]]
*[[2025-10-16: Wrong]]


There are no cutscenes on this wiki that Rin Sasaki participated in.

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Chorus]]
[[Category:Sasaki Business Services]]

Rin Sasaki

2025-10-19T05:09:25Z

Eliza: Created page with "{{Character1 |MUSHName=Rin Sasaki |BGColor=#4876ff|BorderColor=#000000|TextColor=#000000 |Img=<!-- example: File:RoseDefault.pn..."

{{Character1
|MUSHName=Rin Sasaki
|BGColor=#4876ff|BorderColor=#000000|TextColor=#000000
|Img=|Name=Rin Sasaki|Arcana=Devil|Gender=Female|Age=29|Birthdate=June 21, 1983|Residence=Shibuya, Tokyo|HairColor=Black|EyeColor=Hazel|Height=5’4” (163 cm)|Workplace=Sasaki Business Services|Job=Self-Employed|Role=Chorus
|Source=Persona Syzgy (OC)
|Group=None
|Player=Eliza
|Quote="You only get one life; why waste time?"
|Profile=Rin Sasaki, wife of Kenzo Sasaki, childless, operates as an independent CPA that provides highly-tailored options for small businesses. Far from the stodgy, dusty stereotype of her profession, Rin is a vivacious woman in her late twenties with a quick, easy smile who appears genuinely enthused to help people grow their business and remove obstacles to their success (why don't we discuss it further over drinks? I know the most wonderful spot only two streets over; you'll love it, I promise). A lover of fine things and fine experiences, eager to strike up a conversation with nearly anyone at anytime, she approaches life with a natural poise and an infectious energy -- but some whisper that she is merely running from some great loss. And lately, she has been seen with a hunted look in her eyes, unusually withdrawn, going to odd places and speaking to odd people.
}}

= Background =
 
 

== Season 1, Episode 1 ==
 
 

= Persona =
 
 
 
 

= Logs and Cutscenes =
 

== Season 1 ==
 
 

* [[2025-10-04: Order Up]]
* [[2025-10-16: Wrong]]

 
There are no cutscenes on this wiki that Rin Sasaki participated in.