Velvet Room MUSH Wiki - User contributions [en]

Ann Takamaki

2026-05-23T23:33:46Z

Jean:

{| class="toccolours" style="width: 15%; float: right; margin-left:2em; margin-right:0em; margin-bottom:2em; text-align: left; font-size: %110" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#FF0000; border: 2px #FF87AF solid; font size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Ann Takamaki'''
|-
! colspan="2" align="center" | [[File:P5RAnnTakamaki.png|300px]]
|-
! style="background:#FF0000; border: 2px #FF87AF solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''IC Information'''
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Full Name:
| Ann Takamaki
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Arcana:
| [[Tarot#Lovers|The Lovers]] (VI)
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Gender:
| Female
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Age (Birthdate):
| 17 (November 12, 1995)
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Hair Colour:
| Platinum Blonde
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Eye Colour:
| Sky Blue
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Height:
| 5'5" (165 cm)
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Residence:
| Azabu-Juuban, Tokyo
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Workplace:
| Shujin Academy
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Job:
| Second Year
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Role:
| Focus
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Persona:
| Carmen
|-
! style="background:#FF87AF; border: 2px #FF0000 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''OOC Information'''
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Source:
| Persona 5 (FC)
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Voice Actor:
| Nana Mizuki / Erika Harlacher
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Groups:
| The Phantoms
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Player:
| [[User:Jean]]
|-
|}

'''"OMG! We are so awesome!"'''

A single glance at Ann Takamaki would convince you she must be a model, and you'd be right. A quarter-American Finnish-Japanese girl, Ann is a striking, exotic beauty with blonde hair and blue eyes. Her cosmopolitan parents got her into modeling at a young age, and it's fine, but while Ann has plenty of charm and energy, a love of sweets and shopping, kindness towards the weak and vengeance towards the wicked, she doesn't actually have a clear vision of her future. Part of that is her secret double life as a Phantom Thief, codename Panther. After her best friend Shiho Suzui suffered horrible abuse at the hands of a scumbag, she'd rather change evil hearts and give courage to the downtrodden.

= Background =
Coming soon!

==Season 1, Episode 1==
Coming soon!?

= Persona =

[[File:Carmen.png|left|thumb|300x300px|Dance, Carmen!]]

<center>''Carmen, oh Carmen! You, who left a trail of jilted lovers in your wake! You, who lived your life unbound! You, who embraced the end to escape the shackle! Dance, oh Carmen! Free you were born, and free you will die!''</center>

'''Carmen:''' A tall woman with fuschia skin, Carmen wears a daring black-and-red corset ballgown wreathed in roses and vines that leash two love-struck, heart-headed men to her eternally. A black-gold panther mask covers her face, but leaves her mouth uncovered, where she can always be found smoking a cigar.

= Special Skills =
C O M I N G S O O N . . .

= Relationships =

== Phantom Thieves ==

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 75%; text-align: center;"
|-
! scope="col" style="background:#FF0000; border: 2px #FF87AF solid; font size: 110%;" | Name
! scope="col" style="background:#FF0000; border: 2px #FF87AF solid; font size: 110%;" | Arcana
! scope="col" style="background:#FF0000; border: 2px #FF87AF solid; font size: 110%;" | Social Link
! scope="col" style="background:#FF0000; border: 2px #FF87AF solid; font size: 110%;"class="unsortable" | Info
|-
|[[Ren Amamiya]]
|0. Fool
|★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
|''The first person besides Shiho to ever listen to me. To ever see me for me, and not just some idea of me. ... He's kinda a weirdo. But that's okay. He's the weirdo leader of our weirdo island of misfit toys!''
|-
|[[Morgana]]
|I. Magician
|★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
|''Taught us everything we know about the basics of being a Phantom Thief! I feel a bit bad about how I freaked out when we first met. But like. It's a perfectly normal reaction! And I know he doesn't like being called a cat but it's '''so''' hard not to when he looks '''so''' fluffy and scritchable--!''
|-
|[[Makoto Niijima]]
|II. High Priestess
|★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
|''God. I was seriously wrong about her. She's so amazing and dependable! And '''way''' smarter than me. I feel so bad about the things I said. Honestly? Maybe part of me was just projecting my own failings. ... Even if she did, like, '''totally''' blackmail us.''
|-
|[[Haru Okumura]]
|III. Empress
|★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
|''She's so sweet! Uh. And a little scary, aheh. Still, there's no way I'm letting her get married off to some creepy jerk! She's '''exactly''' the kind of person we made the Phantom Thieves to help.''
|-
|[[Yusuke Kitagawa]]
|IV. Emperor
|★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
|''Mm. Everything he's been through, it's so hard to imagine. And yet he still manages to to put so much of himself in his art and turn it all into something... something beautiful. ... I am kinda worried he's got like. No survival instinct?? ... Also he totally blackmailed me too!! This better not become a thing, I swear--''
|-
|[[Ryuji Sakamoto]]
|VII. Chariot
|★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
|''Ugh. Ryuji! I've known him since middle school, and he's always been so... Ryuji!! ... But that also means he's far and away the most dependable and loyal guy I know. ... Hey, you know, Ryuji? We're finally free of Kamoshida. Sometimes it's hard to believe we really did it.''
|}

== Others ==

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 75%; text-align: center;"
|-
! scope="col" style="background:#FF87AF; border: 2px #FF0000 solid; font size: 110%;" | Name
! scope="col" style="background:#FF87AF; border: 2px #FF0000 solid; font size: 110%;" | Arcana
! scope="col" style="background:#FF87AF; border: 2px #FF0000 solid; font size: 110%;" | Social Link
! scope="col" style="background:#FF87AF; border: 2px #FF0000 solid; font size: 110%;"class="unsortable" | Info
|-
|[[Sojiro Sakura]]
|V. Hierophant
|★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
|''Boss! He's so cool and worldly. Plus, like. Pulling off a white suit? '''So''' tough. Oh! Oh!! And his curry is amazing, ohmigosh!''
|-
|[[Umie Akabane]]
|VII. Chariot
|☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
|''A woman who works with Ren. We protected her from that creepy Joker Killer which was like, maybe the scariest moment of my life?? '''And''' she's a Persona User, too?! ... Jeez, I hope she's okay...''
|-
|[[Katsuya Suou]]
|VIII. Justice
|☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
|''WHY'S THERE A COP IN THE METAVERSE THOUGH''
|-
|[[Kasumi Yoshizawa]]
|XVII. Star
|☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
|''Met her at the festival! She's '''totally''' putting Ren through his paces, hee. She seems really nice. But there's '''so''' much attention on her at school. I can't imagine the kind of pressure she's dealing with...''
|}

= Logs and Cutscenes =

==Season 1==

===Logs===
{{#dpl:
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| format = ,,\n* [[%PAGE%]],
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki that {{PAGENAME}} participated in.
}}

===Cutscenes===
{{#dpl:
|category = cutscenes&season 1
|linksto = {{PAGENAME}}
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 1
|rowcolformat=width=50%
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[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Shujin Academy]]
[[Category:The Phantoms]]
[[Category:Focus]]

2026-03-13: I Emailed a Professor and Screwed Up!? The Time I Wrote Some Ill-Advised Emails

2026-03-14T04:45:13Z

Jean:

* '''Log: I Emailed a Professor and Screwed Up!? The Time I Wrote Some Ill-Advised Emails'''
* '''Cast:''' [[Laurent Fontaine]], [[Futaba Sakura]]
* '''Where:''' The Internet - Tokyo Zone
* '''OOC Date:''' March 12, 2026
* '''IC Date:''' October 9, 2012... approximately
* '''Summary''': ''Futaba sees a professor on TV and asks questions during a good moment. It does not appear to help. Unless...?''

----

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

<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.

One day, an email comes.

TO: Professor Laurent FROM: meretseger4649@freemail.co.jp RE: archeology

> hi

Not the most auspicious part of the email, but it's also not the entire thing.

> i saw the show about your dig in ichigoro castle and it was really impressive stuff because you really brought it to life and I wanted to say I liked it! > the history of afterlife and occult beliefs is really interesting but it can be kind of hard to study because unless its like tombs or funerary bronzes or whatever people don't really put it outthere > more and more goes online but it's hard to get all the way through you know? > do you edit wakapedia articles on your subjects? > you also really got the story across and i thought of wakapedia because a lot of novels and anime on wakapedia are like > summarized > and its usually really basic stuff but it's also sort of like you can see the entire sweep insomething you DID know and i thought it was a lot like that > like you could really see what was going on and the heroism was just completely obliterated > that really spoke to me > what other countries have you done digs at? were they all this cool? > how do you not get sunburned?

There is no signature.

Futaba actually wrote that email at like 5:10 AM before going to bed for the 'night,' and she was probably READY to go to bed at 3 AM but had some very urgent anime to watch. That show with the sad magical girls with the big woobie hamster cheeks. It's only twelve episodes.

<Pose Tracker> Laurent Fontaine has posed.

Laurent, mysteriously, is quick to respond to emails. (He wants to keep students' ratings of him hi.)

TO: meretseger4649@freemail.co.jp FROM: fontaine.laurent@l.u-tokyo.ac.jp

> Bonjour!

It's written out in Western text. The rest is in kanji (and hiragana and katakana as necessary).

> Thank you very much. I've also found it very rewarding to study, but you're right that people often do not put it out there. I've found a reluctance to speak of (and write about) death. I do try to put my research out there, but most of it is in books and academic journals. However, I do have a blog here: it-belongs-in-le-museum.u-tokyo.ac.jp > I haven't edited wakapedia but I do think it's a valuable resource. Wakapedia has rules against adding original research though which is most of what I do. > I'm glad I could communicate it effectively! > I've done studies across the globe. France, Germany, Russia, Egypt, Mexico, China, and Indonesia are some of the ones that stand out. > I get sunburned frequently but I think all of them are very cool and rewarding. Tres magnifique, you might say! They're cool in different ways. > Which country is your favorite?

> Dr. Laurent Fontaine >Associate Professor of History > University of Tokyo

<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.

The emails from 'Meretseger' have an enthusiastic prolixity and a bunch of slightly-wrong but readable kanji picks. Often obscure ones. Still.

The reply comes 30 hours later. Around 11 AM the day after! What a reasonable hour to be writing.

TO: fontaine.laurent@l.u-tokyo.ac.jp FROM: meretseger4649@freemail.co.jp

> Bonjour professeur! (She used English letters for that.)

> people really don't like to deal with death I guess because it's one of those things its easy to kind of ignore or just think of it like you're removing someone like in a video game but the thing is that video games are not real? so even a shooting game, you know, its just characters > I heard they have target shooting things with people's faces on them in America 'o' > thank you for your blog by the way I was catching up on it!! > I hope everyone remembered to bring their files lol > so you've been basically everywhere except i guess antarctica or australia? I mean that basically covers it given the earth's balance of continental landmass > you can get really good sunscreen here though i've heard > so you should stock up!! are you staying at todai? did you get tenure there? > my favorite is absolutely egypt wwwwwwww (That's LOL, right there. But Laurent may have to ask someone.)

> where'd you dig in egypt??

The message remains unsigned.

<Pose Tracker> Laurent Fontaine has posed.

Laurent is a little surprised when his phone chimes, later. He looks at it -- and it's about 45 minutes later that he responds. Then, he sits down on the subway.

TO: meretseger4649@freemail.co.jp FROM: fontaine.laurent@l.u-tokyo.ac.jp

> You're correct. There is a heavy psychological weight to death and loss. I think someone has to experience that to truly understand it... and many people hope to avoid thinking of such terrible things. I hope you've not had to face such hardships, though, meretseger. The world should be kinder. > I'm glad that you've enjoyed the blog. And yes, I have been most places. Australia... well, I've gone for conferences, but never done field work there. > I don't have tenure yet. But I hope to get it.

Laurent does lean over to ask a young man what it means. Mishima looks at him, stares for a moment, and then explains: "Uh, laughing."

"I see, I see..."

Then, Laurent finishes his message.

> I shall have to buy that sunscreen, then! I dug in the Valley of Kings, a few spots deeper in the Sahara, and catacombs in Alexandria and Cairo. I did once find a mummy's tomb. I also found an early version of the Book of the Dead, which was truly fascinating.

His usual signature is attached.

<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.

This one comes around dinnertime.

TO: fontaine.laurent@l.u-tokyo.ac.jp FROM: meretseger4649@freemail.co.jp

> yeah it makes sense because what I read is like there's petroglyphs but the aborigines didn't have like metal or stuff so a lot of what you'd fine is either really delicate or is like living memory. it's so sad to think about how many people there were who just died and we have no idea about them at all because that was like > the jomon people > i hope you get tenure though! you're really good at communicating unless there were like thirty retakes of that tv thing and they just picked the good one wwwwww i would def be like that > also oh man the rest of what you're saying that sounds amazingggggg i guess it was probably not like > blogged > but blogs are still pretty new so idk I can't blame you > so the valley of the kings is pretty obvious or should I say *THE GREAT AND MAJESTIC NECROPOLIS OF THE MILLIONS OF YEARS OF THE PHARAOH LIFE STRENGTH HEALTH IN THE WEST OF THEBES* ! ! ! > if anything i kind of wonder what your angle was because that seems like it was really well documented already? did you ever dig up deir el-medina, the place where the workers lived? i hear thats like one of our best looks at how people actually lived in egypt because they were so involved they DID leave a record > but they were also doing something really important? > what was different about the book of the dead version you found? just like different details or were there SECRET NEW PAGES > I really wanted to go out there sometime... it was actually how i learned about how to take care of your skin lol since I got told it is so harsh on you and that's even if you're like already really tan and I am definitely NOT > anyway > sorry to make you do all of this, are you even back at the school lol > it's just really neat and i never got to talk to an ACTUAL EGYPTOLOGIST BEFORE > did you have to bribe people for everything or is that like a myth

After dark, Futaba goes downstairs. Not just to raid the fridge. She's alone at home, so she just ends out looking at the back window for a moment, towards a fence, but the light is kind of nice. After about a quarter-hour, she goes back upstairs with a bowl of reheated curry and rice.

<Pose Tracker> Laurent Fontaine has posed.

Laurent doesn't answer until a couple of hours /after/ dinner. Dinnertime is time to spend with his daughter, Isabeau, and that cannot be interrupted by work.

TO: meretseger4649@freemail.co.jp FROM: fontaine.laurent@l.u-tokyo.ac.jp

> It is a tragedy. There are ways to document living memory and stories but it is more difficult. The story changes with each telling and that makes their memory change too. > Thank you! It did not take thirty takes. Fortunately! I doubt they have the budget for it, either, ha ha! > It wasn't blogged unfortunately. And you're correct! The Valley of Kings involved revisiting several rooms to reinterpret the hieroglyphics. What I hoped to do was understand how the Book of the Dead and Egyptian funerary practices evolved. I also wanted to see how the common people held those beliefs -- the workers and the like. > The early version had similar ideas but you could see the way their beliefs evolved. There were not new pages, no, but this version viewed the barrier between life and death as more permeable. They believed in spirits of the departed being able to return more easily and that the living could more easily enter the land of the dead. > It is well worth a visit! I hope that you one day get a chance. There is nothing like travel. > I'm happy to share knowledge. I've returned to my home but it's a pleasure to talk. > And yes, I have had to bribe officials. It's often more annoying than glamorous, ha!

<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.

The next one comes at 2:03 AM.

That's a little worrisome coming from someone who is showing every sign of being, at best, a college student.

> yeah i guess now with recording and everything we can catch everything but is this the best time to catch it? > oh... that is actually super interesting though about the funerals. > we know how the kings and queens were buried but what about the other people? so much of what we know is from them too, but like if someone only knew about Japan because you found like... the country after literally everything burned down in a massive fire and nobody came back for a thousand years > you'd probably find the rotting remains of the buildings and like > stone buildings > probably some parts of the big cities > probably the nuclear plants and stuff. those big bronze buddhas. actually bronze would probably survive a lot. > i say probably a lot lol > do you think they were right about the barrier being permeable?

The follow up comes at 2:51 AM.

> hahaha I hit enter too soon > i kind of got into egypt stuff because my mother loved it. we were talking about going on a trip actually out there > so how did common people get buried? was there any hope for > ordinary people?

<Pose Tracker> Laurent Fontaine has posed.

Laurent burns the midnight oil, but rarely that late. It isn't until the next morning -- 8:18 AM, after he arrived in his office and got settled -- that his response comes.

And after his brow furrows at the second message. These are more worrying.

> No... unfortunately, with recording, we're getting something imperfect at best. It is one of the great regrets of history. We only have a fragment of the story, and so much is lost. And so many people, too. > I hope that they are right. I think everyone would hope to see those they lost. But... I can't say for certain that it is the case. > You were? I hope that you can both go.

But, she wrote of her mother in the past tense. He knows what that may mean. Laurent hesitates, before he writes the last part.

> I wish the world were kinder. They viewed the afterlife, and the place one had in it, as a reflection of their status in life. I don't believe in that, myself. But the common people weren't afforded the same recognition when they passed on.

<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.

The response doesn't come that day.

Or that night.

Or the NEXT day! Until 3:19 AM.

> oh sorry I forgot to reply. > sometimes I think about how I have a good memory but that it kind of doesn't matter because at a certain point everything is perishable. even with our electronic media, CDs and LDs can go bad, magnetic tape can get erased if there's an EMP or something... > And of course whatever's in your brain is just gone > through your nose wwwwwwwww > anyway i dunno if I'd be taking any trips > just cause i'm curious > what kind of bribe budget do you need?

<Pose Tracker> Laurent Fontaine has posed.

The response takes time, and that worries Laurent. It worries him the day that there is no response. When one comes, his email comes early: 6:43 a.m., a whole 13 minutes after his alarm.

And in a sense, he becomes the Hunter, then, rather than the professor. That protective instinct -- of someone that he suspects is a child -- kicks in.

> There is no need to apologize. > Preserving that information is important. It is a challenge... but we need to remember. It is the duty of the living. For those who came before us, to keep them alive.

He hesitates, then. Does he answer the bribe question? No -- no, he knows what he must do. He has to cut to the quick.

> Are you okay?

<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.

The response comes at 6:51 am.

> yeah I completely agree and I just wonder about it... you know about the golden record right? > that's like the ultimate memorial

Then Futaba at her desk reads the next words.

There is a hint of thin dawn light around the edges of her blackout curtain, the faintest and marginally visible space because she's never taken the trouble to go all of the way, to just put up flat opaque panels over her window, to really and permanently shut herself in.

She was stupid to do this. So stupid.

But if I stop now, reasons Futaba, breathing once every 1.5 seconds, he's going to panic. He's smart, he's a professor, and this is freemail, even with the proxy someone could trace. He's *at* a university, and he's from abroad, he might think this is some kind of terrorist thing and I was - no, they can't do that, they - could they? Could -

Futaba smells a familiar scent, now laden over myrrh and fine resins - at least, as Futaba imagines them, largely sandalwood.

She types more:

> no i'm fine i just stay up late > like since i keep odd hours and everything > you must be at the office already and stuff I bet you have classes wwwwwww

Futaba clicks send.

She immediately regrets it. Her legs come up; she hugs her knees.

<Pose Tracker> Laurent Fontaine has posed.

Laurent is more than a professor, but Futaba doesn't know that.

By 7:04 a.m., when he replies, he has done a few things. The first is an email to work, apologizing that he will arrive late. The second is to start saving the messages to an external hard drive -- he has contacts who could trace them, if need be. The way she spoke to him... he fears the worst, and he approaches that with the same drive that he pursues a Quarry. > I see, I see! Well, a good night's sleep is important -- but it is always night somewhere on this earth. > I'll be going in later. > If you need help, you only have to ask.

<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.

The reply is at 7:07 AM.

> right? > i have to remember that one > yeah though I just don't think I'm going to Egypt. > Thank you for answering all of my questions! It's really cool that you're being able to do all of this and teach classes about it > (i know the classes are probably the hard one I saw that movie with the cup and stuff) > (they put like every movie ever on with subtitles)

Futaba's breathing slows down.

But not entirely.

She opens up a terminal window and starts tapping out some shell commands. Nothing is executed.

If he doesn't answer by 7:30 I'll just never write back, Futaba thinks.

Even though I want to.

She hugs her knees again.

<Pose Tracker> Laurent Fontaine has posed.

Laurent reads the reply as soon as it comes in. He starts typing a moment later.

> I'm happy to answer questions! I'm lucky to do something I love. > You should go to Egypt. Holding onto those we lost is |

His phone rings. "Merde," he mutters, before he answers. "Hello? Yes--I'm sorry, something--the meeting with the donors is moved up?"

He hits save on the draft.

It is after that meeting, and a breakfast with donors to the department's funding, that Laurent responds from his office computer. It comes at 10:46 a.m.

> You should go to Egypt. Holding onto those we lost is best done with our actions, as well as our hearts.

<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.

When Laurent sends the message, it takes only a few seconds for the result to emerge.

Of course...

It isn't a message that was written by any anonymous person, hiding behind the name of a funeral goddess of ancient Egypt, the sort of information you'd have to be *immensely* well acquainted to know...

... or to know to go on a Wakapedia page for 'List of Egyptian gods and goddesses.'

> Address not found > Your message wasn't delivered to meretseger4649@freemail.co.jp because the address does not exist. > Please check your spelling of the email address. > _Click here to learn more_

At that time, Futaba is asleep, though she's only been asleep for half an hour.

It was only an automatic system. Of course, sometimes machines speak more than they were made to.

<Pose Tracker> Laurent Fontaine has posed.

Laurent stares at the automated message. Dread fills him, then. He saves the message, promptly. He glances out the door of his office; no one is coming by. He stands up and closes the door. When he sits back down at his desk, he is calm.

His eyes are hard, though. He channels his fear in a familiar way.

The hunt is on.

[OOC] Futaba Sakura says, "localization note: 4649 is used for pager code of yore, and further referents down the noisome streams of history, for 'yo ro shi ku' -> 'nice to meet you' This has been... Futaba Power Hour. Peace."

2026-03-13: I Emailed a Professor and Screwed Up!? The Time I Wrote Some Ill-Advised Emails

2026-03-14T04:44:29Z

Jean:

2025-11-20: An Island

2025-11-21T05:01:10Z

Jean:

*'''Log: An Island'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Mitsuru Kirijo]], [[Takeharu Kirijo]]
*'''OOC Date:''' November 20, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' August 14, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''A conversation on the truth and on trust, between a father and his daughter.''
----

<poem>
"Ah, father."

Mitsuru Kirijo had initially been reticent to go to Yakushima, especially when she learned her father would be there. It wasn't reluctance to see him, however; it was respect. She didn't want to intrude on him -- not on his precious vacation time. She felt she would be a bother.

That didn't mean, however, she did not want to see him.

She frames it as coincidence, running into him as passes through the estate's central great room. Seated in one of the snug chesterfields dotting the living space, book in hand (Osamu Dazai's ''The Setting Sun'') -- as if she had just settled in for some late night reading when he happens to pass buy, still dressed in an impeccably three-piece affair in the middle of summer. She isn't sure why she does; maybe, she reasons with herself, it will be less of an imposition if she just happens into him, rather than actively seeking to infringe upon his time.

Either way, it achieves the result she wants: Takeharu Kirijo, on his way out of the estate, comes to a slow stop just four and a half feet off from where Mitsuru sits. She offers him a small smile; the situation may be engineered, but her happiness to see him is not.

"It's been a while," she offers, in that polite, ineffably formal way of hers. Even - perhaps especially - with her father, it just feels more natural. Less... presumptive. "I'm happy to see that you're doing well."

Her father watches her with that lone, dark eye. She hesitates for a moment, though not visibly, before she adds, "I hope our presence hasn't been too overbearing. Speaking of, I saw a rather unusual girl at the beaches near the estate..."

Pulling aside his jacket hem enough to tuck his hand into the pocket of his slacks, Takeharu's brows furrow. He's still silent for a moment; it leaves Mitsuru internally uncertain, wondering if she overstepped--

"Our guests," he says abruptly, voice level yet somehow commanding in a way Mitsuru always admired. "They're residents of the dorm, correct?"

"Ah. Yes," exhales Mitsuru, shutting her book, the very picture of cool composure. "I apologize for bringing such a crowd. I was hesitant, but the Chairman was quite insistent... I promise, we won't overstay our welcome."

"Ikutsuki was right," is Takeharu's firm counter -- and it inspires a blink on the part of his daughter. "They've worked hard. You've all worked hard. Far harder than anyone should ask students to work. You all deserve this time."

"... Ah, I..." she hesitates again, this time more visibly; as much as she wished she had what she perceives as the absolute composure of her father, she still always feels she falls so utterly short of the mark in moments like these.

"... I see. ... Yes, I suppose you're right."

"And yet I hear you told them the truth behind the incident. But not all of them."

Mitsuru's eyes widen fractionally. She grips just that more tightly to ''The Setting Sun''.

"I... am sorry, sir," is all she can think to say. "I was caught off-guard, and..."

"That isn't the issue. Why did you only tell some of them? Why have you been hiding it at all?"

Try as she might, Mitsuru can't meet her father's stern gaze; there's nothing damning within that stare, and yet she feels the bitter sting of reproach all the same. Her shoulders hunch inward.

"I... wasn't hiding it..." she tries to insist. "I -- I had no intention of keeping them in the dark. There were just... ... extenuating circumstances..."

"There are no 'extenuating circumstances' in situations like these," he corrects. "We shouldn't even have to ask these children to risk their lives for us. Any of you. The least we can do for them is not let them fight, blindfolded in the dark." His tone is simple. Level. Mitsuru flinches all the same, feeling the weight of her own failure.

"... I..."

"There's a girl in your group named Takeba, isn't there? Are those your 'extenuating circumstances'?"

Mitsuru sucks in a breath, but does not answer. The silence alone is confirmation enough, and she knows it.

"... I've told you time and again: none of the blame is yours. You must stop putting all this squarely on your shoulders."

"But--"

"Mitsuru."

The invocation of her name stops her protests in her tracks. The hard cover of her book resists the inward press of her tensing thumbs.

"That brings me to my next question: you accessed our database, didn't you?"

"!"

Surprise overtakes her, but she doesn't protest. It's not entirely a surprise that they were found out, and her gambit seemed to work, at least: using her credentials meant it wouldn't be traced back to Yamagishi. But still -- she feels blindsided, in the wake of everything else, forced to simply keep quiet so as to not inadvertently compromise the protection she offered the SEES Navigator.

"So why didn't you ask me directly?"

"..."

It's an echo of the subtle accusation she directed towards Fuuka, Yukari and Shinjiro when they confronted her, Reiya and the Chairman. The irony is not lost on her. But what can she say?

That she's trying to root out a traitor, and she doesn't know who to trust?

That she isn't even sure she can tell her own father?

That she's afraid of what he might say?

... That she's afraid of what might happen to him if he got dragged into this ever-deepening web of supernatural intrigue?

Takeharu watches the familiar sight of his quiet daughter, churning through a countless list of possibilities and approaches he could scarcely imagine, before the only words that come from her are a simple,

"I... I'm sorry, father."

He shuts his lone eye, and sighs.

"Bring them here. All of them. I've already made preparations."

"--Preparations--?"

"They deserve to hear the truth. All of it. And I, for one, have no intention of hiding it from them. /Any/ of them."

"But father, I..."

As if he knows what she means to protest, he observes, off-handed yet somehow still pointed: "For Takeba's daughter to awaken to the Potential... it must be fate."

And with that, he starts to leave once more. He pauses near the door, however, to look over his shoulder at Mitsuru. At the inheritor of the Kirijo legacy.

... At his daughter.

"... 'Two in harmony surpass one in perfection.' Our family's guiding principle. You haven't forgotten, have you?"

"... No, of course not, I just..."

"You must learn to trust in others, Mitsuru. There are things in this world that cannot be accomplished alone, no matter how many sacrifices you make."

And then, he turns away and opens the door.

"Bring them to my office."

The door shuts. And Mitsuru, still seated on that chair, draws ''The Setting Sun'' against her chest, head hanging as she hugs that aging classic close, a familiar voice echoing unprompted and unwanted in her thoughts.

''That's not fair to any of us, but especially not yourself.''
''You're not an island.''

"... yes, sir."
</poem>

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

2025-11-20: An Island

2025-11-21T05:00:26Z

Jean: Created page with "*'''Log: An Island''' *'''Cast:''' Mitsuru Kirijo, Takeharu Kirijo *'''OOC Date:''' November 20, 2025 *'''IC Date:''' August 14, 2012 *'''Summary''': ''A conversation on the truth and on trust, between a father and his daughter.'' ---- <poem> "Ah, father." Mitsuru Kirijo had initially been reticent to go to Yakushima, especially when she learned her father would be there. It wasn't reluctance to see him, however; it was respect. She didn't want to intrude on hi..."

2025-11-09: What is This, a Crossover Episode?! A Phantom Dragon Story

2025-11-16T08:46:17Z

Jean:

*'''Log: What is This, a Crossover Episode?! A Phantom Dragon Story'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Myunghon Yeo]], [[Umie Akabane]], [[Shinjiro Aragaki]], [[So-young Park]], [[Mio Kazama]], [[Shinobu Shimizu]], [[Ren Amamiya]], [[Ryuji Sakamoto]], [[Ann Takamaki]], [[Makoto Niijima]]
*'''Where:''' Cardboard Dragon, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru
*'''OOC Date:''' November 09, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' August 07, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''As arranged by everyone's favorite cognitive cutie patootie Jose, Cardboard Dragon and the Phantom Thieves finally meet. Feeling out each others' intentions, the two groups try to come to a mutual understanding to take that first step towards collaboration. It mostly goes well! Until the end, when it doesn't. ALSO FEATURING: Things in this waking nightmare we call life that cannot be unseen and cannot be forgotten. ''

----

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
The Cardboard Dragon crew left a message with Jose a while back, delivered the next time they spelunk into the depths of Mementos.

'As a gesture of gratitude for saving Hirasaka,
We are hosting a sale of precious Skill Cards to the Phantom Thieves!
The time will be at the end of Tuesday, August 7th during the Dark Hour.
The place shall be the Cardboard Dragon, in Hirasaka Ward...'

An address is just plainly supplied there.

Well, it isn't as if the Cardboard Dragon is ever a secret -- Rumourmonger Merry, unlike the Phantom Thieves, is a public figure -- insomuch as they're very plainly part of the Sumaru City Rumourmonger network, and no seeming cognitive barrier to pierce their identity exists: you can very much confirm this is very much the same person that you can walk in on during the daytime, perhaps idiosyncratically stacking koalas or doing a random spot of baking or napping on their couch or other miscellaneous irresponsible activities.

And that is the way it is today -- as the sickly moon hangs low over the verdant-cast air, the Cardboard Dragon has signs of life in it.

The Phantom Thieves will find the typical fire escape door on the second floor accessible, and...

and...

well.... if they choose other means of infiltration, there is also the option of going through the balcony on the third floor into the Nightmare Hell Depression Bedroom, full of black mould and dilapidated, rotten ceilings, unpacked belongings in (fittingly) cardboard boxes, a cold, lumpy hard futon, a lack of even shitty furniture, and the quizzically unique nature of someone living with a men's bathroom and thus able to stake a special claim to having their own urinal.

... more details to be elucidated if the Thieves do enter from that direction.

The Cardboard Dragon itself is a homey old three-storey brick building made sometime in the 70s some two blocks south of Hirasaka, the second floor of which certainly looks the part... but kept as clean as possible -- it's about one third card-playing space, one third bookshelves full of difficult and crusty-looking old books from authors around the turn of the 20th century amongst other things, and also one third a living room of sorts, with a couch and coffee table and entertainment unit.

Rumourmonger Merry is in their seat of power in the actual storefloor, seated not on the couch but rather on their Cognitive Coat!! The Coat's stretched out to create a pitch-black throne with thrumming ebbs of crimson throughout, creating the striking effect that they are, in fact, just sitting on thin air and nothing else. They're dressed in their typical white dress shirt and black tie, along with black dress pants, fastidious as always.

Next to them is... their yukata and haori from earlier tonight when they ventured to Shibuya and got rained on. It's hanging on a clothes-drying line. It looks somewhat sad, despite the lavish and fanciful nature of the traditional clothing. It might reveal where they were earlier today. A bout of carelessness, or simply that they don't have laundry space?

"Today's special is a particularly fascinating card," Merry declares, already in the midst of their typical explanations. They raise a Skill Card with a blade of pure ice depicted upon it. "Courtesy of my peers in the Frost community... there are many foes in particular that wield flame and, consequently, are vulnerable to the cold. Why, this came in quite timely against a bonafide Homunculus!"

And then, the inevitable arrival...!"Ara," pauses Merry, as they spread both of their arms out in a Y-pose -- before pausing as their smile goes rictus for a moment, cause wow, their shoulders and arms hurt a lot more than they thought. Still, it doesn't eliminate their aplomb one bit.

"Welcome one, welcome all! Welcome... to the Cardboard Dragon! I am the purveyor of this humble place, Rumourmonger Merry. And these are my most trusted comrades..."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> ----EARLIER----
There's a noise. Several, in fact, as if someone was scoping out the building. Quiet footsteps as if someone was being courteous, but otherwise not sparing any consideration of remaining undetected.

Myunghon will get a text a few minutes in, coming from Umie.

>> if you hear sounds, it's me
>> checking for suspucuisou thiungs

Some more minutes pass.

>> did you block off that window
>> is there a sign
>> nm not enough time

----NOW(?)----
The fire escape door creaks open dramatically, revealing a short shadow standing in the rain outside, draped in a pale grey rain jacket. As the figure steps in, they issue a very non dramatic tiny sneeze, a second before the lights go out. "*tszch!*"

(.... why is So-young turning around like that)

"It's just me, guys," comes Umie's voice, after she rubs her nose with the cuff of her sleeve (if her clothing and height didn't give it away at the beginning). Down comes her hood, revealing her hair, once nicely coffed into an elegant, wispy chignon, accented with a red silk peony and sprays of baby's breath, now matted down from being under the hood, and still damp. "Had to stop by my apartment so my yukata rental could dry out, and the last train was late arriving, so.... Can you believe it started pouring rain during the festival?"

There's other signs of her rainy adventures, such as the remainders of makeup still slightly smudged from a quick rinse in the sink at her apartment. The delicate yukata and geta have likewise been since exchanged for the much less glamourous option of 'whatever Umie could find on top of the basket of clean clothes. ... Which means: a shirt that proudly says 'A APPLE ADAY' in English lettering, with a happy green cartoon worm coming out of a red apple, denim shorts, and those oddly nice sneakers, with the toes of shoe liners peeking up by her ankles. Her black thumbsleeves peek out from the loose sleeves of the rain jacket, which cover the quirky t-shirt. (She *wanted* to dress nicely, but reality, like always, had other plans.)
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>After the honestly pretty excellent fireworks show and followup dinner, Shinjiro came back to the Cardboard Dragon to get changed into his regular clothes, folding his haori and yukata and placing them to the side to take home. He didn't want to take advantage of the CLOTHES LINE, that's Merry's dirty laundry!

Now that Dark Hour has begun, Shinjiro's in his red faux-wolf-furred coat from Peacock Silk, beanie firmly back on his head. He looks... overly warm, but he was also one of the ones wearing a haori earlier, so.

His thoughts on the Phantom Thieves, if asked ahead of time, are full of suspicion. People who can change another's heart, their mind... taking away the choice of responsibility, how awful is that? It is a person's choice to either take responsibility or not. Without the freedom to choose, it's hollow, just a forced confession.

Can they really trust these people have the right intentions for their power? And if they do... do they really know what they're doing?

Myunghon especially could tell why Shinjiro has big thoughts on that. He's very much about personal responsibility, after everything he's done. But even so, he's promised not to ruin it. He needs to observe himself what they're about.

He's on the couch, tapping his fingers against his left thigh rhythmically. He's got a canned coffee in his other hand. He's basically the physical security here, and is prepared to spring up if something goes horribly wrong, even outside a Persona battle.

Hopefully, it doesn't.

As Umie enters, Shinjiro gives her a wave. "It was pretty cool, wasn't it? I'll have to show you the photos I got later," he tells her, trying to defuse his own tension about this meeting.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> Part of the Cardboard Dragon is set aside as a living area, with a couch pointed towards an entertainment unit and an aging CRT. There are some office chairs strewn around the couch for extra seating, and seated on one of them is... someone who is either trying much too hard, or enjoying herself far too much, or perhaps both at once.

So-young Park would not miss this meeting for the world, not least because her thoughts about a Change of Heart kind of start and end at 'oh, you made the untouchable asshole confess? damn, good job!'. If she ever paused to think and properly evaluate the situation, there is a little part of her deep down that would love to figure out how they do it and ascertain whether it's a matter of convincing or coercion or mind control... ... but from her point of view, the two 'victims' she knows of have been a serial art thief and someone directly threatening her sibling. She's entirely happy with the outcomes thus far.

Besides, So-young will always carry the DNA of a theatre kid. There's every chance she's simply here to recruit the Thieves into a revue act.

With that moral quandary out of the way, and the conductor's energy at high just from the happy adrenaline of a festival and fireworks followed by a torrential downpour, So-young has room to be as So-young Park as she wants to be.

The figure that is seated in the office chair is pointed away from both the fire escape and the stairs to the third floor at first, but there is a clear elegance in the way the monochrome figure carries themselves, sitting upright with their gaze levelled slightly high as they seemingly gaze out of the window. As the Thieves enter, the figure's chin lowers, their head turning a miniscule amount - and then as Myunghon calls out, a light kick sets the chair spinning as So-young leans forward to place her elbows on her knees and steeple her fingers together at her chin.

(Yes, she absolutely practiced this. Not to mention she's never sure if it's the Thieves entering or someone else, so she's already done it a couple of times before having to hurriedly reset herself.)

She realizes too late that she's misjudged her push and is coming to a stop pointed several degrees away from where the Thieves have entered, but the only reaction she gives is a quiver of her mouth as she successfully manages to avoid immediately grinning like an idiot. The show must go on. Damn it, she would never have expected Myunghon to be so, so much better at this than her.

So-young has also found herself a mask... of sorts. It's cheap and plastic and the cord has already nearly snapped because it's meant for kids, but she has a half-face kitsune mask she picked up from a stall on the way. Maybe it's for the best that Fox is not present. Not that the mask helps in any way - it is completely mundane, So-young has no cognitive barrier to protect her identity, and most importantly there is really no mistaking her hair, long and hime cut, pure white but for the repeated black stripes to evoke a piano's keys, exactly the same as it has been when certain Thieves have seen her in the real world.

"Greetings," she intones, setting her voice about an octave lower than normal and adding a bit of gravel for good measure.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem>SOME TIME PRIOR

Krump! Boom! Thoom! Kracklekracklekracklekracklekrackle~

The Family Mart perched at the edge of Hirasaka Ward is a 24-hour convenience store ('conbini' to those in the know) and, blessedly on this humid and dreary night, is an oasis of cool, crisp air. Despite being sealed and warded against the oppressive summer heat outside, the rumble and peal of fireworks still creeps through the glazed windows a few seconds behind telltale flashes of coloured light. On this festival evening, Mio Kazama is...

... ringing up the order for a foreign tourist buying a late-night onigiri, drinks, and assortment of snacks. She is clad in the noble silks and finery of the FamiMart uniform, which is a cheap synthetic polo patterned in blue and white with a thick green stripe around the midsection. The item scanner on the counter beeps with every barcode waved before it. "Are you visiting for the fireworks?" asks Mio, directly disobeying Rule #113(1)(a)(vii) of the employee handbook, which discourages small talk with the customers. The foreign man nervously looks down at his hand of 1000-yen bills. Hideyo Noguchi stares back at him, unwilling to translate what the girl in bubblegum pink hair has just asked him. "Y...es." he answers, obliviously, hoping this is the right move that will let him pay and depart without further embarrassment.

"Nice. Okay, that's 2,053 yen please."
"Yes."
"Would you like a bag?"
"..."

A new phrase. The tourist is caught in the gaze of their natural predator: the unassuming and harmless local, unsure how to respond. "Er..." he stammers, pretending not to have heard. Several people behind him in line silently shift their weight and pretend to focus on their phones. The background music begins a new loop once more, and a humid wave rolls in from outside as the store door slides open from someone walking too close on the sidewalk.

Mio turns to look at the clock, bags under her eyes as if all her makeup suddenly stopped working, blue lines and sweat rolling down her face. Too... awkward...

NOWSIES

(Un)fashionably late, the door to the Cardboard Dragon creaks open and a mess of wet pink hair, jeans, and Converse Chuck Taylors trudges through, all wrapped up in a 300-yen poncho whose seams have not survived the rigours of being folded. "Oisuuu~" Mio calls out while not being fully able to see, pulling herself free of her plastic packaging not long after. She's still wearing her FamiMart polo and her hair is hurriedly jammed into a knotted ponytail held in place with a handkerchief.

She has a bag of much nicer clothes slung over one shoulder but has mistimed her arrival, or perhaps was unavoidably detained, and thus, is here to make connections looking like she's either about to inform someone that the bentos are half-price until 6 PM, or ask whether they prefer leaded or unleaded gasoline.

"... oh . . ."

Well, maybe the rollout of the Dark Hour will solve her fashion woes. Unless it's too late, in which case, people have worn stranger shit to Tartarus, man. Head empty, no thoughts of import, she'll figure this meeting out on the fly.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Shinobu isn't entirely sure whether or not the Phantom Thieves will show. She wouldn't blame them for being suspicious, receiving a sudden, direct invitation... But, hopefully, their choice of messenger will at least help them give them the benefit of the doubt.

The only thing they can do now is wait, and hope they accept.

...And wait Shinobu does - leaning against a wall nearby Merry's makeshift throne, her arms folded in front of her as she scans the shop floor for signs of activity. She doesn't know which direction they'll be coming from, but she wants to be ready.

She's dressed casually, in her signature jeans, t-shirt, and jacket. Conversely to Shinjiro, she ''has'' taken advantage of the clothesline, her yukata hanging up to dry next to Myunghon's.

She looks up at Umie enters, cracking a smirk.

"...No kidding." She replies. "Least we got ''some'' fireworks in before they tried to drown us."

And then, the arrival. Merry introduces them all as their most trusted comrades, and Shinobu offers a nod of greeting.

"Shinobu Shimizu." Shinobu greets. By this point, it feels like too late to try to hide herself. She might as well be open.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
It happened not too long ago that Jose, that curious little robot boy who clown-cars around Mementos, passed on a message from the Persona Users of Cardboard Dragon that they want to meet and speak with the Phantom Thieves. (Well. It's basically a privately scheduled "sale"? Maybe even without the scare quotes. Either way.) The team had discussed this and, given their positive interactions while dealing with Shadow Kaneshiro, they agreed to accept... and now here they are.

Not all of the Phantom Thieves are here. They agreed that, just in case, it might be a wise idea that people outside their group don't get to know all of them all at once. It helps, or doesn't help depending on your perspective, that some of the others just weren't able to make it tonight.

That's fine. They can pass on the discussion to the others. For now, after the rained-out fireworks festival, The Phantoms dispersed and then reassembled in Sumaru after taking the trains during normal hours. Once the Dark Hour hits and the meeting is done, they can return to Tokyo via Mementos and Monabus.

For right now...

The sickly green light of the Dark Hour permeates the air in Hirasaka Ward. Only a few minutes after it's begun, something stirs in the shadows just outside Cardboard Dragon. Ren--or rather, Joker--has been here before a couple times, so they know the way in. This is an arranged, agreed-upon meeting, so why sneak? They simply walk up to the building and climb the fire escape exit, gloved hands tucked in the pockets of their long coat, as if they belong there.

Of course, that's only the bold and potentially distracting approach of the leader. Why sneak? Because they're thieves, of course. Some among their others might open for alternate entrances, or to hang back and keep a weather eye out before approaching...

As they stride in to Cardboard Dragon proper, they're greeted by Rumormonger Merry in their throne-esque Cognitive Coat. Joker takes them and their self-introduction in stride, glancing from person to person as their companions introduce themselves in turn--or just hang around, as the case may be. They of course recognize Merry as Myunghon; Umie is here too in a quirky T-shirt, and So-young spinning in her chair in practiced motion with a cheap plastic mask and Shinobu nodding to them all in greeting; they don't know Shinjiro in his unseasonable coat or Mio in her plastic poncho looking well out of sorts, but that's fine.

It does look like a decent number of them got rained out from the fireworks festival too, though.

"Greetings, Rumormonger Merry," Joker replies, projecting their voice. "As you know, we are the Phantom Thieves." They smirk as they raise their hands to tighten their red gloves--a personal tic as much as it is to show that they come unarmed. (Not that they couldn't be armed in an instant, but it's the thought that counts.) "Some of us will be arriving in alternate fashion... I do hope you don't mind." They slip their hands into their pockets, smirk fading. "Amongst ourselves, I'm known as Joker." They glance briefly at Umie, smirk for a second, and add, "No relation to the 'Old Maid.'"

They'll let the others enter and introduce themselves in their turn.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>Skull isn't sure what to make of a sale during the Dark Hour. It is a bold tactic but there was a part of him that found this all...sketchy? This feeling is made worse when Ryuji decides to take the Third Floor entrance for a moment. It made sense to keep these guys on their toes. How crazy would it be if the Phantoms just suddenly appeared from everywhere?! That's mind games and super cool to the mystique of the Phantom Thieves. Skull is going to Mind Freak these people!

That was the plan. Instead, Skull is the one getting Mind Freaked.

He is shell shocked by the bedroom, staring into it's disaster area with wide eyes. "Who...who lives like this?!" He is sure he might've seen a bug. Wait is that mold?! The blonde retches, feeling sweat underneath his mask as he tries to will himself to go on.

It takes some time but finally Skull appears from the bed room and comes down stairs. He looks like he's seen somethings, giving everyone he doesn't know a look of just concern and pity. "Ok. Next time I'm using the Fire Escape. That wasn't what I was expectin to see during the Dark Hour, man... Sup? So what did I miss?"

The deliquent stands ready in the corner he's nearest to, slouching with his hands in his pockets. For the moment, he is letting Joker handle the big gestures of this meeting, keeping most of his mistrust to himself. Skull just scans the room, stopping on Shinjiro for a moment. So these guys got a muscle too it seems. Cool. Skull shoots Shinjiro a grin before turning his attention to Rumourmonger Merry, nodding as respectfully as he can manage.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
What is a Jose? A miserable pile of clown cars?

We're just not sure.

Or at least, Ann Takamaki isn't sure. She has pondered the Jose for a solid five minutes straight one time, and having found no logical answers and only just a deep well of creeping uncertainty demanding she not stare into the Abyss lest the Jose stare back, she decided to drop it there.

He's a little lost Mementos child with a buggy bumper and he likes to eat brain flowers! It's cute, not creepy!

So Ann, of course, was totally okay with the totally cute and totally normal Jose putting in a totally normal request that the Phantoms meet these totally trustworthy Cardboard Dragon people for a totally legit sale off in totally Sumaru. And she was initially, actually! After all -- they were going to celebrate their victory over Kaneshiro that day, and their morale would be skyrocketing, high off the backs of FIREWORKS.

What could go wrong?!

A SERIES OF THINGS THAT WENT WRONG LATER,

"Whyyyyyy does the Dark Hour look so much creepier in Hirasaka??"

This is the grumble of Ann Takamaki - AKA THE PERILOUS PANTHER - that she starts out the green-soaked liminal hour with when she meets up with her fellow Thieves, leather-clad arms wrapping around herself in an assuring hug as she looks over the bleak landscape. It's probably because she's just used to the Dark Hour from the safety of her own home. There's usually barely anyone there, which means there's no coffins! And if you think that's depressing, well--

--

-- shut up!

''The point is'', Panther starts this meeting in dour spirits, having her great summer celebration ruined by a few measly drops of rain and one of her favorite yukata still air-drying off in the hotel room she rented for the night (oh god -- do things still dry during the dark hour--?!), and she is in ''desperate'' need of a pick-me-up. So, when she sees the angle that Skull is deciding to go with their grand entrance? Panther immediately perks up again!

"Oo! Oo, I wanna join! It'll be ''so'' cool and mysANOTHER SERIES OF THINGS THAT WENT WRONG LATER

It's a haunted figure in red leather, not a mysterious and dashing one, that emerges from the third floor of the Cardboard Dragon after Skull. Wrapped in red leather, Panther would have all the dangerous presence of a bona fide femme fatale!

If she wasn't so busy locking a thousand-yard stare off into the distance.

She was similarly, horrifyingly quiet when she and Skull wandered through the third floor. And now here she is, even paler than normal somehow, her blue eyes dead inside as she stares at that fixed point where surely there is a black hole a trillion light years off devouring all light and creation into its imperishably black maw.

"Um. Hey," she says, distracted. Does she notice everyone here??

"Are you--"

'okay?,' she wants to say 'okay,' she desperately needs to say 'okay'--

"--b-big into-- trading card games--?"

bwomp.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
A message to a clandestine meeting with strange people conveyed by an even stranger boy, for a sale no less? It's hard to think a meeting like this *isn't* suspicious. On the other hand, the Phantom Thieves only discovered recently that other Persona Users exists, let alone a whole community of them. This was a good if risky opportunity to learn more. So after weighing up the options, Queen put her vote toward the meeting- if with precautions.

She'd went over the rules: 'Treat this like a Palace. Codenames only, don't give away any unnecessary details, keep our real identities out of it. We were allies of convenience with Kaneshiro, we don't actually know anything about them yet, as Persona Users.'

Queen is... definitely more on edge during the Dark Hour, and her Phantom Thief outfit activates as soon as the Dark Hour starts, with no effort or intent from Makoto. In Palaces, that happens when the ruler perceives a threat, obviously. Does it work the same way in the Dark Hour? It seems unlikely that a time of night or local shadows would recognize just Makoto as a threat. "We only have to endure it for now." Queen murmurs to Panther's complaints, but the edge to her voice is harder.

Of course, Joker is the one who decides to walk straight in to make sure it's not a trap, and Makoto is hanging back before the initial all clear. She's the one who has to provide the escape plan in that case, after all.

Fortunately, for the moment, the need for such plans is not necessary, given that Joker's initial entrance has not resulted in, say, an explosion or a giant shadow emerging or anything else.

So after a few more moments, she turns to their fifth who is definitely not a bakemono. "Mona, I'm heading in. Keep an eye on things, and if things kick off or I send you the signal, you're our backup. I'm counting on you." With that Queen follows, also taking the fire escape for swiftness of entry. Which means she enters the room, sizing up the gathered Persona users. She encountered some of them in Kaneshiro's palace, but didn't really have time to talk. She falls in next to Joker, her scarf moving without the wind- her outfit is about as scandalous as Panther's, but spikier and with less skin showing, it's just rare she's standing still enough or not wrapped in an incredible veil of fury for it to be noticed.

"I'm Queen." She offers simply, as Skull and Panther appear and are...

She blinks. Skull seems to be doing okay, but Panther looks like she's seen hell. And neither of them introduced themselves so Queen decides to take care of that too (especially since she's not sure Panther *can* right now).

"This is Skull and Panther." She clarifies, indicating them each with a wave of her hand before crossing her arms. She's in full business mode, but she looks to Joker first before deciding to set her own tone.

She does, however, make mental notes of every name given. Rumormonger Merry and Umie Akabane she recognizes. Shinjiro, Mio and So-young don't give any details, so Shinobu Shimizu is the only new information she gains- with a full name. Far more than the Phantoms are volunteering.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Unfortunately, Myunghon has their phone on Manner mode, so Umie's texts don't quite get responded to in time. No, Umie, they did not in fact block off their window to the nightmare hellscape bedroom! And when the door opens, it looks as if the Raincoat Killer is here to slaughter them all!! Aieee!! ... no, it's just Umie. Coming in from the third floor.

"Unfortunately for you, Akabane-san, I've tidied up there. You can't deter me tonight," boasts Merry. ... tidying doesn't particularly do much against its nightmarish state, Myunghon.

Myunghon does know that Shinjiro has big thoughts about the Phantom Thieves' methods, but they're not particularly interested in making this meeting automatically devolve into a meeting about ethics. Well, if it becomes an argument like that, it'd still be quite interesting information gathering, but they're aiming for a bigger prize at the moment...

And they're not lying when they say that this is about a gift for saving Hirasaka, because in their mind, that is unequivocably true, even if they had other objectives in mind.

In the end, too, one is reminded that So-young was all 'sucks to be you' at everyone else having to go home in the wet, crowded trains of Shibuya... and yet she also had to be here for the midnight meeting!! Doom, terror, crackow, avash. Still, Myunghon seems content enough to let her practice her little routine out, even if they also advised that perhaps she should get a mask from Umie.

Mio's late entrance is given a nod by Merry, as they gesture with that characteristically vivid, almost V-shaped smile on their face. As if to give her an out from any awkwardness, "Myo, please, come in, and thank you for your efforts. You are not too late."

And Shinobu's got the COOL POSE going on leaning against a wall beside their throne! (Some part of Myunghon is flailing and excited about how cool that looks, surrounded by their most trustworthy enforcers...)

But here come the Phantom Thieves! Myunghon did consider that not all of them would be here -- that's just wise, in their books. They could be walking into a devious and dastardly trap!! Myunghon had a headcount from the battle with Kaneshiro and not much else, and they do identify that the Fox-masked one and the Beauty Thief are not here... and they're not about to read too much into it.

Much like them, the Phantom Thieves are also, almost inevitably, people, with schedules.

But Joker deigns to just simply enter right from the front as if he'd always belonged here. How bold! And intriguing. They offer a greeting in turn, tightening their gloves. They point out that some of the other thieves will be here in their own personal fashion.

"Well met, Joker," nods Merry, amiably enough, and the connection they draw is already dispelled. What a fascinating... coincidence? Is it a coincidence, or something more? The supernatural has many ill designs beyond the means in which they know.

Still, Joker's tactic (perhaps?) of having people enter through various means does seem to have an effect, because Skull and Panther emerging in from the third floor much like Umie did does prompt a particular mannerism, in which Merry taps their finger to their lips as they Shaft-tilt their head over their shoulder.

"Ara ara, I see what you mean now, Joker-san. I hope my living quarters did not alarm you too much... Iron-san, Crimson-san, perhaps?" They have to guess at a codename for Skull and Panther. But it isn't long before Queen sets the record straight -- Skull, and Panther.

But indeed, who the hell lives like that?! Is this also a tactic?! Did they somehow mess up their living arrangements beforehand just for intimidation... no, that ceiling is basically one bad torrent of rain (like tonight) away from just caving in on them. How are they still alive. How did they survive the last winter.

It might be easy to connect Merry's bandaged appearance to that bedroom.

"I do enjoy trading card games!" Merry cheerfully answers, papering right over the terror of having their bedroom stampeded upon. "We're celebrating the new release of the Sourdough Princess Sourdough Starter Pack! For just a bit of dough, I'll even throw a special eggwash-themed card sleeve set!"

Is this the fabled 'disaster adult' they're warned to not become, one day???

"My my! Queen-san! I hope you've been well," Merry does cheerfully say, having a bit more warmth with Queen despite her countenance because once you ride shotgun behind someone's Persona-Motorcycle to manifest a road made out of cloth so she can dunk the personification of one's gluttony with nuclear power, you can't not help but feel some camaraderie. "Thank you again for the other day. That was a magnificent performance. No, truly, it's all of you that I do have to thank."

They gesture delicately with their bandaged hands. "It would not only have been this building. Kasugayama High School, and several other schools, not to mention homes that belong to the Zainichi... it is with sincerity," they gesture with a sweeping little bow, "that I thank you for your aid in stopping Junya Kaneshiro."

Then Merry is spinning on their own throne, their seating posture becoming positively terrible as they poke their legs out one way and cross their legs. "Now! I do mean it when I say that I am offering a sale for precious and rare Skill Cards. I am a collector and spend much of my time in odd situations to earn these. And as a Rumourmonger, I am also privy to interesting morsels of information that may very well be of use to you in future endeavours. Now, as they say..."

They lean their head down against one arm, elbow on their cognitive armrest -- and then wince again as they find that pose uncomfortable as well, but just suck it up and endures the pain. The facade is all, right now.

"Are you interested in striking a deal, Phantom Thieves?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>As the group filters in, some from the third floor (what the hell is up there? He's going to have to Find Out if they're that horrified), Shinjiro sits up straight. "Shinjiro Aragaki," he introduces himself brusquely.

Don't worry, Merry, he's not going into ethics! That's for the SEES meeting.

Instead, he's gesturing to Mio to join him on the couch as she filters in from work. "Over here," he says, before turning to Joker, observant eyes appraising him.

"Good," he says to the quip about the Old Maid, though it's slightly less brusque. Ryuji then gets a nod as Shinjiro sees that grin.

"Are you all familiar enough with Skill Cards?" he asks, genuinely curious. "I only learned about them from Merry, myself."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Arriving here about the same time as Mio, it doesn't take long before they're joined by someone else-- Joker, specifically, who briefly startles Umie by doing the one thing she didn't expect: come in through the front door. She recovers quickly enough, quickly moving to the side so that Joker and the rest of the cast of Cardboard Dragon can properly interact.

...but not before catching a glance with Joker and betraying a slight sideways grin back, for several reasons.

... One of which is her glance back towards the back room, where the stairs to the Third Floor are.

Maybe they'll find another way in. Or possibly--

Ah. Umie gestures with her hands, giving Myunghon a 'SEE?!' look. "..... Merry-san," Umie flatly murmurs, "I thought you said you had cl--"

She lets out a lonnng sigh. "... I should probably head back up--" But then, she hears the two Thieves thump down the stairs, wearing expressions similar to what Umie had worn, not too long ago. "... I told you to put a sign up."

Still. A part of her feels an odd flush of pride to have discovered that 'entrance'... even if it was for the same reason she was scouting the Cardboard Dragon building as a whole earlier.

.... They all have enemies that would likely love a chance to attack either group, about now.

Which is why, when Queen arrives, Umie's hands instinctually go to her jacket's pockets... for a weapon that isn't there.

(Right. This is her *nice* jacket.)

Still, she relaxes, realizing who it is: Motorcycle-san. And Red-san, and that must be.... a Skull-san.

'Skull and Panther.' AHA. She got one on the first try!

Umie's outward expression doesn't change, however, just making way for Skull and Panther to make their way in, while looking at Myunghon.

(..... what was the deal, again?) Umie's face betrays a look of curiosity, seeing Myunghon's facade.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> Part of So-young had honestly been expecting Myunghon's offer to be rebuffed. Whichever way you cut it, that would have been the sensible thing to do when it came to meeting anyone, even a shadowy Rumormonger they've fought beside. So the conductor's practiced routine is still done with a degree of surprise evident on her face, the way her eyebrows raise to take in the sight of Joker properly, without the threat of a piggytank falling on her any moment.

So-young's attempt at being foreboding and above all tactirun only lasts so long, not least because she's just not the sort of person to be able to keep up something like that for long. Her eyebrows go up at Umie's rather bedragged state, glancing over with genuine concern. "Oh, I certainly can believe it. You should have let me know! You couldn't have been far from my place. I'd have let you in to dry off."

Mio's rather blitzed entrance gets an understanding frown as well, and So-young reaches behind her seat to where she's stashed a small Triple 7 bag with some snacks in there. She's starting to understand what really matters during the Dark Hour, and the troubles of trying to manage an extra hour of the day when that extra hour happens to be in the dead-ass of night, and as such - she has canned coffee on hand, waggling it in a silent offer.

"I would be let down if they didn't, honestly," she chimes merrily towards Joker's statement as she straightens up in her chair and relaxes afterwards into a bright smile. "Though, maybe give us all a heads up if someone intends to crash through the window, just for safety's sake."

Somehow, the third floor has remained safe from So-young's meddling. The conductor recognizes this as likely to be a hard stopping point - that if she willingly and openly invaded that part of Myunghon's space, there would probably be no mending whatever came next. Besides, just as she's fond of her own private space, so she will at least respect that in others. Maybe someday she'll see the state of it all, and woe betide anyone in her path afterwards. But for now, she has two new datapoints in the form of shellshocked Phantom Thieves to add to the burgeoning curiosity in her mind.

She settles for an incline of her head, the convenience store bag still held in her hands, honestly uncertain how to mend first impressions given she's missing any context for what might have happened up there.

So-young holds her introduction back for a while, letting Myunghon say their peace about Kaneshiro. Partially it's because the conductor enjoys being 'audience' for speeches like that - but the way her face also tightens with anger at the mafioso's name speaks volumes about what she still thinks of that man, repentance or no.

"So-young Park," she finally adds to Queen's introductions once Myunghon has switched to sales mode, brightening again. "It's a pleasure - and, might I add, thank you from myself as well. It may not have been terribly obvious, but that time was only my second foray into the Metaverse, and I was still very much learning from example. I like to think I'm pretty good at flying around on my Persona now, but I do have to give you the credit for the idea." There's an artful pause. "That and the place collapsing, I suppose."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem> Perhaps there's something to be said for one's perception of oneself during the Dark Hour and the reflection of that. By which I mean, Mio was clearly so preoccupied with getting safely across town that her cognitive self is a convenience-store worker and not a cool warrior of the night clad in the raiment of shadows. Merry is giving her an out, but still, making it late to your own meetup is tipping the slider from Cool to Lame. The only saving grace is that she has taken off her nametag from work, because the cringe singularity of standing there before the uniformly-themed Phantom Thieves with a little FamiMart themed tag clipped to her shirt might actually crumple her up and kill her instantly.

"Ahum--hey there. Myo here. Thanks for coming to meet us!" the young lady with the bright pink hair flashes a V with her fingers and turns her head to one side. Her free hand glides across her face, which looks kind of chuunibyou and faux-dramatic, but the shadows her fingers cast soon solidify into a pointed mask of white iron. Not dissimilar to Queen's, in fact, which I didn't realize until a few weeks into play. Anyway, her voice is very cheerful and her posture suggests a frustrating amount of energy in lieu of life's many vagarities.

Also: perceptive. "Um. Hey," Myo points at Panther not long after. "Is she okay? I know the dark hour's kinda tiring..." she has not yet realized the source of that expression, for she has not seen the depths of depravity that lurk one floor above. It's better this way.

Not being in the lead seat for negotiations for this whole thing, the now-masked young lady tiptoes across the floor towards the sofa, as beckoned. "Phew! Thanks, thanks." She snatches a can of coffee as offered, to boot, her thanks clearly directed to both Shinjiro and So-Young. She cracks the can open with expert timing when nobody else is talking. Unlike Myunghon, her offerings are much less business-focused and, let's be honest, less strictly useful, but she still pipes up after So-Young's introduction all the same.

"Also, we've got refreshments. Help yourself, nothing's off the table! I've been itching to tell you guys how badass you looked when you were socking it to Kaneshiro!" there are little stars in Myo's eyes as she admits this, visible through her visor. Equal parts nervous energy and boundless enthusiasm, then...?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Joker arrives, and greets them all - introducing their group as the Phantom Thieves. No relation to the 'Old Maid', they say - she nods.

"...Rotten luck, to have a guy like that with the same name running around." Shinobu observes.

Her attention turns toward the entrance from the third-floor and - oh, oh no. They ''didn't''.

...They ''did''. Shinobu's expression turns sympathetic as the horrified Skull and Panther emerge.

No one should have to see that.

Her attention turns to Queen instead, as she handles the introductions for the rest of them. She nods to her in turn.

"Nice meeting you all. Thanks for showing up." She replies. The fact that all they're getting is codenames doesn't bother her. She didn't expect anything more than that - just having something to call them by is good enough for now.

Merry confirms that they ''do'' in fact enjoy card games, and even gets a spot of advertising in. How clever of them...

They take point on the conversation, though, and so Shinobu goes quiet as they speak. And when they thank them all...

"...Yeah. Thanks. Hirasaka is a rough enough neighborhood without someone like that calling the shots." She agrees with a nod. "You all fight well. It was good to fight alongside you."

Merry confirms that they ''are'' in fact still having a sale, and Shinjiro asks if they're familiar with Skill Cards - so she goes quiet and lets them handle that part.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
Mona nods firmly to Queen, his white-tipped paws folded over his chest. "Leave it to me. I've got your backs," he murmurs. Given that he's the one who can transform into a car, they all agreed that it's wisest if he's outside so they can make the quickest possible getaway if needed. (Truthfully, he's not a fan of being left out, but he's the senpai here; he's got to show off how reliable and gallant he is to his proteges... Once Queen makes her move, Mona likewise starts circling the building from rooftop to rooftop, keeping careful eye on any suspicious movements. The Phantom Thieves won't be taken off guard!)

On the inside, Skull and especially Panther seem... rattled, Skull with the look of pity he sends around to the people of Cardboard Dragon and Panther with her shellshocked thousand-yard stare into the inescapable core of Sagittarius A*. Joker gives them both a steady look, its inscrutable lack of emotion somehow meant to convey both 'keep it together' and 'are YOU okay?'

Yes, they picked up on that word Panther so desperately wanted to say. It's not what you say, but how you say it. Fortunately, Queen makes her entrance then, and Joker shares a nod with her, silently urging her on, as she takes point on introducing the others. So those are Merry's living quarters upstairs... ...What the hell did Skull and Panther see?!

Joker keeps that question off their masked face, though, only offering a faint chuckle at Merry's gay response and Umie's heavy sigh. Once greetings are done, Merry moves into the reason for this get-together: The Phantoms' actions having led to saving Hirasaka Ward from Kaneshiro's money-grubbing paws. Joker's already aware of this, and so they reply smoothly, "You're quite welcome." (They do wonder what a Homunculus is supposed to be in context, but they keep that question unvoiced for now.)

So-young smilingly asks for a heads-up if anyone's panning to crash through the window. Joker smiles back, winks, and holds a finger up to their lips. "And ruin the surprise? What fun would that be?" (No one is. This is everyone who's showing up tonight. But Joker isn't going to just tell her that, either.) When So-young adds that she'd been a brand-new Persona User at the time, they add, "Oh? Interesting."

Mio introduces herself next--and calls up her own cognitive costume with mask. Is it by design that she's still clearly herself? This ''is'' theoretically a friendly meeting--but if she's trying to encourage The Phantoms to mask ''down'' in return, Joker isn't on board. ...They don't get that vibe from her, though, given her concern for Panther. They wave a hand when she offers refreshments. "That's kind of you, but I'll pass." They chuckle and add, "But your admiration is appreciated."

Shinobu comments on the rotten luck of sharing a codename with a serial killer. "My thoughts exactly," they say dryly. "But likewise. You seem like reliable fighters in your own right." They would have to be to hold their own against a Palace Ruler. All of them experienced firsthand just how tough a battle that was.

They listen to Merry's pitch and hum a low, thoughtful noise. "That depends on the deal--but it sounds like you've got plenty to offer." They look from Queen to Skull to Panther and nod to the three before looking back at Merry... who seems to be in pain, judging by how they keep wincing. They respect the need for a facade, though, and pretend not to have noticed. Likewise, they pretend not to notice the surprised look Umie shoots at them. "We're listening."

Shinjiro introduces himself properly now. Seems like he's anti-Old Maid; points in his favor. When he asks if they know about Skill Cards already, Joker nods once. "From Igor, yes," they lie deftly. The Phantoms actually know of it from Yusuke, but they're certainly not going to ''tell'' them that.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>Skull gives Umie a quick nod as he passes, keeping mostly quiet as he keeps watch over the proceedings.

He watches Merry, trying to get a read on them. He blinks as his eyes pop open on the name guesses, prompting a wide grin. "Woah. I coulda been IRON?! That's kinda badass." Surely someone gives his dumbassery a look, prompting him to cough and try to look 'serious' again. "I mean--Yeah, Skull is fine."

Right now, Skull is sure his main duty here is to keep an eye out for trouble and deal with it. Queen and Joker are going to handle this deal or whatever. However, the offer gets a raised brow from the blonde, prompting to dart his eyes over to Joker for their take.

However everyone is thanking them and being all nice. The delinquent rubs the back of his neck nervously, beginning to feel weird about this whole thing. Were they trying to butter them up? Was he too paranoid? Maaan, this was a tense dark hour and he wasn't even outside with all the horror movie stuff.

"Yeah I hear uh, it's pretty rough here." Skull comments back to Shinobu, wanting to say more but thinking better of it. He hasn't even told the others about why he was acting to weird and now sure as hell isn't the time. Maybe on the Mona-bus ride back?

For now, Skull just crosses his arms, looking back to Shinjiro when he mentions skill cards. "Yeah...Heard of those." He is only kind of sure he knows what is being talked about.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
"People live in that?!"

She doesn't mean to blurt it out. She means to be more diplomatic. To use a gentle touch.

But then she just blurts it out anyway because come on HUMAN BEINGS SHOULD NOT BE FUNCTIONALLY CAPABLE OF LIVING IN EXTREME BIOMES SUCH AS THAT

"I-I mean -- no way! Why even ask that!"

Ann thinks she covered for herself well enough there. Look -- her ACTUAL kneejerk reaction was to immediately derail this Very Important Meeting to run an impromptu intervention for this person she's never met who looks like they might be a mummy from those old-timey horror movies to IMPROVE THEIR LIFE or at LEAST give them an extreme (EXTREME) home makeover!!

Ann Takamaki, consummate latchkey kid, knows that ANY amount of mold in a house can quickly become a bad thing, let alone -- a house that is like, half mold now?!

So -- for her, this is good, not diverting things to have a frank discussion on Rumormonger Merry's personal well-being. (IS that good though--) For now, Panther - stirred from her bleak, blight-blotted reverie by way of bluster, blinks as Merry does some promotional plugging. "Wait, those are out--?!" she blurts, before Queen introduces her. "O-oh err -- right, Panther! That's me!"

Ugh. She's ruining this. She had a whole daydream about coming in, suave and sexy and rife with mystique, to finally be the Panther she knew she could be with complete strangers and now it's all dashed on the rocks. First impressions are ''everything''!

She's stewing over her magnificent failures when Mio asks after her. Behind that feline mask, blue eyes blink once. "Huh? H-haha, I'm fine! I just -- got spooked by a Shadow earlier! The Dark Hour is ''so'' creepy, y'know?"

She thinks that covers her well, if she does say so herself, and given some breathing room as Joker starts to field - negotiations? weren't they just getting a big congratulatory surprise gift or something (they were not)? - Ann takes a moment to assess the others here. Most of them are passingly familiar from their unexpected arrival at Kaneshiro's Palace -- but it's Umie that stands out to her. She's here, too?? ... Well, maybe they ''can'' be trusted...?

Ann's personal thoughts on the matter are tabled for a moment, though, when Shinobu speaks up -- and as she and Merry both thank them for helping Hirasaka from what Kaneshiro was trying to do there. Despite how distraught she seemed earlier, Panther's response is immediate and firm: lips drawn into a tight, thin line, she crosses arms under her chest, and shakes her head exactly once.

"You don't have to thank us," she insists. "I mean... it's nice, but... keeping more people from being preyed on by pathetic bastards like that Kaneshiro is all the reward we need, really." Well, all the reward ''Ann'' needs, anyway.

As to the matter of the Old Maid - his creepiness aside - Panther proclaims quite firmly: "Our Joker is the only one who really deserves that name, as far as I'm concerned." Does she know the meaning of Joker in cards? Or symbolically? Of course not. But Ren's made it his own, and that's what matters!

And so - after Ann insists she's pretty good with just beating up exploitative jerks like Kaneshiro - things pivot to -- the REWARD. Or the DEAL. Myunghon talks about Skill Cards. Shinjiro asks if they're familiar. Panther nods once as she makes her way to join up with the others.

"Uh huh," she says -- and does NOT try to follow up on Joker's clever lie because even SHE knows she'll just draw undue suspicion trying to add onto it. Igor! Yeah! Totally!

So for now, she remains quiet, blue eyes wordlessly watching as Myunghon winces, saying nothing for now -- even if the mask can only do so much to hide any concern she might be wearing on her sleeve.

Is Merry really okay? ... and what do Homonyms have to do with Skill Cards?

Ann keeps her private worries about academics being tied into cognitive crimes strictly to herself for now, and everyone is all the better for it.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
Makoto mentally adds an extra rule to the list: 'Back up Joker's story, let him do the lying cause we all suck at it'.

Merry gets a nod of acknowledgement from Queen. "You helped us put Kaneshiro in his place. You don't need to thank us for that- we had our own reasons for going after Kaneshiro, his plans for Hirasaka were an additional reason to make him face consequences." She doesn't explain 'their own reasons', but so many were there when Queen lost her shit at the man in the piggytron. Still, the mention of the Zanichi gives Queen a momentary think.

She, after all, had only overheard the term from phonecalls her father had sometimes. That required some research of her own, when she had realized they were having a meeting with this group. The good news is she didn't have the full picture!

She still doesn't have the full picture, though, and wouldn't mind some more details.

She sees Umie reach for a weapon, and Queen's hand shifts to her hip- where she could summon her revolver in a second just in case, but Umie relaxes for a moment.

So-young gets a nod from Queen, who also offers thanks for- providing the idea of riding a persona...? "My persona is rather unique in that respect. I haven't seen another take a form like hers."

Myo, however, seems to sacrifice her protection of anonymity as she musters her mask, and Queen takes note of that. It doesn't give her any other information- but she *is* surprised at the amount of praise being given out. That she's not really prepared to handle, so hopefully maybe the other three can handle that?? ...Skull and Panther can definitely handle that, they're great at it.

Shinobu gets a nod back too, while Joker asserts that they're familiar with skill cards. "It also depends on who the deal is with. Are you bargaining on behalf of just yourself, your group as a whole or a broader interest?" Queen is here to be all business, the front of the metaphorical mullet that is the Phantom Thieves, while Panther and Skull represent the party at the back I guess? This got away from me.

And then Panther blurts that out and Queen turns to her, briefly horrified- but thankfully Ann gets distracted by a new card game for a moment so Makoto does not have to introduce her to the patented Queen 'Shut Up And Stop Sharing' kick. Yet. Even Skull is keeping control better than Panther right now.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Hmmm hmmm. It looks like everyone's hitting it off themselves, the way Shinjiro and Ryuji are comparing themselves to being the bruisers of the group. They just sweetly smile to Umie in turn, perhaps the topic of how the balcony door was breached a mystery for another time, waving her concerns away. "A phantom shall enter where they may!" they declare with all too much confidence. "There is no sense in dwelling of it."

Even if Ann continues to express her extreme shock at the, as she puts it in narrative, Extreme Biomes that Myunghon Yeo persists in. Perhaps the mold grows into giant monster spores in the Dark Hour, like some kind of hazard tile? Perhaps it is an explorable Stratum all on its own.

Merry won't dwell on it. Merry considers the offputting nature of the third floor a win. Myunghon's going to roll around on their depressing lumpy futon in mortal embarrassment later. That's Myunghon's job. That's Myunghon Yeo's only job.

What was the deal? Well, information and Skill Cards is simple enough, but Myunghon is leaving what they want from the Thieves vague enough to see if they'll pony up any suggestions on their own first. So-young introduces herself in short order enough, and adds her own thanks in turn. And indeed, it's perhaps a stroke of mercy that So-young hasn't paraded herself up there to make a statement of it -- one of Myunghon's initial reactions might just be to buy a violin to hold it hostage up there to deter their sister, after all.

Myo gets pulled in with Shinjiro and So-young on the couch, and manifests her Will of Rebellion outfit... though they do wonder if the disguise will still work now that she's been out in the open with the rest of them. Not that that will be a particular problem -- the Cardboard Dragon is very open to their real-life identities. That's part of their thing.

Even Rumourmonger Merry being Myunghon Yeo is a very open fact, so Mio isn't alone in that, as she offers refreshments if any of them reach for it, as she admires the Thieves when they were enacting their style upon Kaneshiro's minions and Piggytron.

It was pretty stylish, after all...

Shinobu calls it rotten luck that Joker picked the same handle. It does intrigue them -- some people might choose to have a different name. It isn't as if 'Joker' is common knowledge amidst the Phantom Thieves' public popularity -- they might be some of the only ones to know the codename. So why keep it? Is there a personal reason? As always, Shinobu's straightforwardness is something they find terribly charming, having a quiet smile towards them.

But ah, it seems that Joker's playing their cards particularly close to their chest. This is someone who's quite inflappable -- they convey a lot through those eyes, without betraying too much expression, the way they clearly have to manage Skull and Panther's reactions in a subtle manner. It's harder than it looks, Myunghon knows, to keep a group's messaging consistent across all its members...

... which is why Merry doesn't bother! It adds to the laid-back and truthful nature of the Cardboard Dragon group. Besides, can you imagine trying to corral So-young in line? Impossible. Merry certainly seems very jovial and grandiose, the way they have a delicate smile and wide eye as Skull considers Iron a cool codename.

"Hmhm... well, I shall keep that in mind, Skull-san. Who knows? You sometimes need to discard or change codenames," is what they simply say, perhaps genuinely charmed by how hard he's trying to keep the 'serious' vibe going. Someone else might think 'exploitable!', but Merry does genuinely enjoy forthright personalities. Panther, too, kind of reminds them of some of the members of the Cardboard Dragon -- there's only so much she can mask before what they sense as genuine concern for their living condition takes over, and that speaks a lot to the quality of her character, as she insists that they don't really need rewards -- the reward of keeping predators like Kaneshiro away from people is reward enough.

"I do admire your sense of justice, Panther," Merry affirms, head half-bobbed like they're just enjoying themself.

Much like Panther, Queen says they don't need the thanks in particular -- but Queen's all business in contrast to Skull and Panther wearing their hearts on their sleeves. What a fascinating foursome this is -- Joker and Queen, the ones named after playing cards, are the ones to keep their cards close to their chest, while the ones with evocative codenames are the ones that do otherwise.

They do remember Queen's rage, having stood right next to her when they made him pay -- Merry's approach was that of velvet draping the steel, on that day. Queen stands opposite to them, and yet, the way she carries herself is all too familiar -- they once wore such a mask in their corporate days.

"I shall bargain for the Cardboard Dragon group gathered here, but please, any of you -- if you have your own concerns, do feel free to highlight any. But allow me to lay out the situation as I see it:"

"We have common enemies and questions. The masked sniper that very nearly eliminated Kaneshiro's Shadow is no small concern to us. We have intelligence on the hostile group that intercepted both of us -- Strega, and the Joker Killer, or Old Maid. No doubt you have other enemies that we are not privy to," Myunghon first explains.

"It is very clear to me that there are other factions that exploit the use of Palaces and supernatural spaces, and I for one have no particular desire for an alliance with Strega nor the Old Maid. No, in fact, as citizens of Sumaru, I consider the Old Maid killings a particular priority to cease."

That vivid, sharp smile is back as they cross their legs the other way, leaning backward dramatically on their throne as they offer a hand forward.

"I would like to propose a deal of cooperation between our groups in our explorations of these supernatural spaces. I shall permit the Phantoms to set the terms, to keep your identities safe, and you shall not need to divulge any facts that inconvenience you on that matter. A 'No,' shall suffice, with no additional explanation required. We will also arrange our own rendezvous points as required."

Merry raises their hand in front of their face and twists their wrist -- and suddenly three Skill Cards have appeared, which they partially obscure their smile behind.

"In turn, we will trade in information pertinent to defeating our common adversaries and keeping ourselves safe from them, and I shall offer you priority and deals on Skill Cards in turn to keep both our teams well-supplied with tactical options, since you are already familiar with these."

So Igor told them... that stands to reason. They have no particular reason to doubt that, and Skill Cards aren't the greatest secret amongst Persona Users anyway.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>As they talk, as Panther... reveals more horrors of the upstairs (CONCERN LEVELS RISING), Shinjiro thinks. These don't seem like bad people...

But he still can't approve of their method, but perhaps they can work with them, help them find a better way to pull it off... not repeat the mistakes of the past.

"Igor, huh. Makes sense," Shinjiro says amicably. "He has his own guy who works on them, right?"

But then, as Myunghon lays out the deal, and offers the others to speak... he's gonna take a refreshment if there's SNACKS from the bag, and then.

"We're pretty well-connected. I've been doing this for a few years now." He can't be older than eighteen, as he clears his throat. "And, basically, there's a lot that can't be done on your own. Things that only certain groups really know about. Tatsumi Port Island in the Dark Hour, Ateliers..." He's not making things up, if his face is read.

"But... not everyone's going to approve of what you do, either, even in this community. And the Old Maid... we've got business." That one's even *more* personal. He seems like he's going to voice a concern for a moment, then shakes his head.

"If Merry's for it, I'm for it."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Umie gives Queen a quiet nod, having noticed her earlier reaction to Umie's own reach, quietly showing her palms as a silent gesture.

The two of them are reacting the way they should; while Shinjiro represents the brawn, Umie represents paranoia.

But also, bias.

"...." Umie's flat expression says it all, as Myunghon falsely suggests that an alliance with Strega or Old Maid was even in the cards (ha ha ha). "... If that *was* even a possibility in your mind, I doubt I'd be the only one that'd throw a fit over it, Merry-san," she notes. (She knows Myunghon wouldn't. However, the Phantom Thieves do not know what she knows; they could easily take a suggestion as a reality.)

Better to say it out loud, that to even look like, for a second, it was ever a passing possibility.

She looks to Skull and Panther, then judges the layout of the room. ....

Hm, no, she can't really display her own abilities without looking like a complete dunce; walking across the room on the bare assumption her cloaking abilities will do the heavy lifting.

(Even if she really, really, *really* wants to suddenly be on the other side of the room.)

"I'll freely admit to my bias here; you guys saved my life from the Old Maid, despite the danger he presented to you all." Skull may not have been there for that, but she'll nonetheless include him in on that.

She considers, folding her arms, then sighs, raising a red coral nail'ed finger. "Bear with me on this, but I may be able to help, on the topic of the sniper. Not in terms of information," she's quick to say, "but in training. You help me improve my own abilities, and you guys just might be able to tell when they pop up. Besides... while I have no intentions of throwing myself in harm's way of someone like that, seeing any smug agent get their tricks thrown in their face will make my day. And, even if I can't tell if our abilities are the same, you guys just might be able to tell when they pop up."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> So-young seems completely unruffled at the way she passes Mio a can of coffee and scoots her chair across to one side to leave space to reach the couch. "It had to be miserable at work today, surely?" she offers, as if this wasn't a meetup of two clandestine organizations. Joker's entrance was certainly dramatic, and Queen seems to be very strict, but the mysterious Third Floor has done something unexpected - it's broken the ice at least a little, leaving a couple of the Thieves on the back foot.

The conductor can appreciate Ren's showboating, and she theatrically frowns as she folds her arms. "I'm very allergic to glass shards, just to inform you, and they're usually considered a little rude as a welcome gift," she notes, before brightening into another of those incredibly common smiles. "I got sucked straight in, if you can believe that. I was arguing with the doorman, demanding to be let in, when Merry found me." Which rather leaves open the question of what would have happened if Merry _didn't_, but fortunately that never came to pass so So-young has never devoted a single braincell towards it.

Her eyebrows rocket upwards as Panther finally blurts out the question on her mind, and once again So-young absolutely itches to go up there and experience it for herself, bound by her own moral code not to. What doesn't bind her is her expression, though, and her wide and curious eyes try to catch the attention of the young woman in red as she waggles her eyebrows. The message is intended to be a silent 'tell me afterwards, tell me afterwards'. Not that that'll work, but, you know, she can live in hope.

Rather than the praise itself, it's most interesting for So-young to watch each Phantom Thief's reactions to it. Joker cooly accepts everything coming their way, whereas Skull looks completely confused by the prospect of someone being nice to them. That reaction makes more sense when you factor in Phantom and Queen's very independently-minded stances, and So-young nods to herself in satisfaction as she accepts that - mostly. "Even so, you could probably say we were out of our depth on our own, given what it all came to. Besides, some of us had a rather personal grievance against him."

So-young grins brightly towards Queen. "Oh, it's not really meant for it at all. It is an absolute pain to try to find handholds amongst its shape, but I wouldn't stop myself for the world. Flying around on Icarus during the Dark Hour is absolutely addicting." She's volunteering a lot of information about her capabilities and Persona here, even if she probably yelled her Persona's name back during the fight with Kaneshiro. This seems to be her default position when interacting with most people - you could probably ask her about her job and immediately start an entire lecture on the nuances of conducting.

And certainly, her forwardness has left Myunghon mortified at times and plenty of people stunned in her wake, but So-young can't imagine herself acting any other way. Besides, this is a collection of young adults who have seen enough of _something_ that they're willing to dive into the heads of untouchable people and try to correct something, not even wishing for thanks. She'd much rather aim to be more open to someone in that position, rather than more closed-off.

... and that's how it suddenly clicks for So-young that maybe they're not all that different in terms of groups. There's no regimented loyalty here, just two loose groups of connected people with all the bumps and knocks and weird shapes that can include. ... that said, she's smart enough to know that she might be projecting a little. Or to put it another way: she'd feel better about the Thieves being so young if that were the case. It's more pleasant to think they've got each other's backs, that behind the secrecy they have their own Cardboard Dragon to laze about goofily in.

She does suddenly frown, though, because Rumormonger Merry is laying out the terms of a potential deal and this is serious stuff to pay attention to, fill of important concerns and gravitas. Ha ha ha no of course not it's about the codenames. "No, no, no, Skull is much better if you ask me," she insists quickly with a confident nod, as if she were the Judger Of Art. "It goes with the leathers. All you need is an electric guitar as a weapon to smash over people's heads and some death metal at maximum volume and you're set for life."

"--Personally, I'd be delighted with an allegiance," she suddenly adds, quickly joining the main topic. Her voice is still light, but there's a distinct fire in her eyes. It hasn't been that long since she watched someone die in front of her, and that's still coming back to hit her at unexpected moments. "There are clearly plenty of groups out there with a lot more power than either of us."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem> Making the most of a bad situation, the remainder of Myo's cognitive costume unfurls over her. For a moment, it's like trying to read a book in a dream, where the details keep shifting and refusing to be pinned down by one's gaze. When the shifting and shadows are complete, the young lady once dressed up for selling instant ramen and ramune is now swathed in what amounts to an armoured nun's habit. The ramifications of this, well, she'll just have to deal with that. Anyway, more importantly, she's pointing at Skull with now-trademark vigour and amusement, since he's disappointed at not being Iron. "You could upgrade into Iron Skull!" she says without a trace of sarcasm.

She also has nothing of a functioning lie-dar, or chooses to play on Hard Mode + Ironman by taking everything at face value. So when Panther's flustered defense is that the Dark Hour sucks and is scary, the Armour Nun(tm) nods in that 'SO true, bestie' way. "Oh! Okay! I getcha. I dunno if we _should_ ever get used to it, either..." her gaze falls down for a moment, the better to ruminate with!

But, let's not get too sidetracked just because Myo is a violent scatterbrain. There's a very real reason to gather here today! She first pipes up after her boss, since Merry has called for questions, if anyone has them. It is more of a general address, in the end. Unlike Joker, her heart is worn plainly on her sleeve. Her reasons and rationale are those of someone who hasn't even heard of subterfuge, let alone practices it. "Oh, uh, yeah. What Merry said, I want to second. You guys are punishing the untouchable, and it's, like..." there's a squint behind the mask as she gauges how honest to be (the slider only goes between 95 and 100). "... what I wanna do more of. There's a lot of people out there at the top of the food chain who need to get what's coming to them for their crimes."

By this point, she's sat up with both hands on her legs. That's somewhat formal, at least. "If someone threatens you, I'll knock 'em down. If you find another guy like Kaneshiro who needs reminding they're not all that, I'll be there."

Her piece said, Myo returns to fiddling with an errant pink lock snooping out of her mask. She glances aside to Shinjiro and then across to So-Young and Umie. "You can tell why I'm not the negotiator, here..."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Joker's dry response gets a smirk out of Shinobu - and then a nod, as they return her compliment.

"Thanks. We've got some experience." She replies. She looks toward Skull, then, as he comments on how Hirasaka is pretty rough.

"It can be." She confirms with a nod. She's not going to ''lie''. "But it's ours. So what we do what we have to to keep it safe."

Panther, meanwhile... insists that they don't have to thank them. Shinobu considers that for a moment... and then, a smirk crosses her face.

"Fair enough. I can respect that." She replies with a nod. That's what's important, anyway.

She meets Merry's glance briefly, as they offer that quiet smile, then turns her attention back to the Phantom Thieves.

'Igor'. That's a reasonable enough answer, and she doesn't see any reason to dispute it. Back to the deal, though - Queen has questions on the specifics, and Merry does the bargaining. Shinobu listens.

"...I do have one question. We didn't really get a whole lot of time to talk shop given, well..." She unfolds one arm, miming a gunshot before folding it back in.

"Kaneshiro. What happened there? He wasn't the kind of guy to repent so easily. We did things your way, but I still don't really know what that meant for ''him''." She asks. "...Not that I'm complaining. I wouldn't have lost sleep over him, but him dying on us would've meant a lot of trouble."

She shrugs.

"...But, it's not a dealbreaker, either way. I stand by what the boss says." She concludes.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
'A phantom shall enter where they may!' "True," Joker remarks. They smirk again at So-young. "Oh, well, if you're ''allergic'', we can't have that." They ''can'' believe that she was just sucked in, though. It happens more often than you'd think.

Panther blurts out her shock unthinkingly, as you do when you are Ann Takamaki, and Joker raises their eyebrows at her. Why ask that, indeed? (Maybe if they'd seen that room, they'd understand her shock better...) Fortunately, she gets distracted before Queen needs to silence her.

Skull gets a wry smile when he gushes over the name Iron, but he settles soon enough. He seems to have some nerves still--whether that's anything to do with his odd behavior earlier today, Joker doesn't know, but Skull doesn't need to worry about doing any talking anyway. It'll be fine. They give him a reassuring nod.

Panther handwaves the thanks Cardboard Dragon gives The Phantoms, asserting that justice is its own reward. Joker smiles, eyes shutting briefly behind their mask; it's well said. Queen makes the standard point that it wasn't really for Cardboard Dragon, that it helping them out was just a coincidence. However...

"Panther's right, of course--as is Queen." They open their eyes to regard Merry and their band of mischiefs and sweep a slow hand in a gesture to encompass them before dipping into a theatrical bow. "However, when someone offers me their gratitude so earnestly, how could I do anything less than accept it?"

In other words, they said 'thank you' with grace and they're moving on. They're not going to get buttered up, but out of respect, they're not going to reject those feelings either. Not when they do get the sense they're all being genuine about it.

Panther's assertion that Joker is the only ''true'' Joker gets a grin. However, that point's already been made, and it's time for business. Queen makes some pointed questions. All of them skillfully back up Joker's lie by keeping their mouths shut. Merry says what they, Cardboard Dragon, want from a deal with the Phantom Thieves...

Their sickle smile fades into a neutral line. They make a very good point--about the one in the Black Mask, about Strega, about the Old Maid... about the NWO, though Merry doesn't name that one specifically even though Umie's right there. They nod once, slowly, as they cite the Joker Killer someone who needs stopping in particular. The Phantoms had already come to that conclusion too--but without a name, their hands are tied. They don't say that, obviously. The terms Merry sets are generous regardless.

But they don't respond at first. Rather, when they're done, they look at Umie and the others in turn to listen to what ''they'' say and gauge their reactions. Umie jumps in to make it clear an alliance with Strega was never in the cards, but they never thought that it was. Umie surely wouldn't be here otherwise.

Igor has his own guy who does Skill Cards...? That's news to Joker, but then, maybe Caroline and Justine ''can'' do that and they're too busy executing Personas for fusion to let on. Their poker face remains intact. It does seem like Shinjiro isn't lying, though... Which means that The Phantoms sorely lack information about supernatural matters outside their own purview (purrview), because they know they have no idea what an Atelier is in context. That's a good reason all on its own to take this deal. However...

"We're not doing this for approval. We do it because we can't look the other way when out-of-control tyrants trample the innocent underfoot." (They're... mostly not doing this for approval. Approval is a secondary concern for most of their members?) Noting the way Shinjiro hesitates before shaking his head, Joker adds, "Are you ''sure'' you're for it? You seem like you have misgivings."

So-young, Mio, and Shinobu, by comparison, seem far more genuinely into an alliance. So-young and Mio specifically seem like extremely open people, and Joker chuckles at Mio commenting on why she's not the negotiator. "Maybe not, but I enjoy your straightforward honesty," they say. Obviously, since they're running with people like Skull and Panther.

Umie offers to help with the one in the black mask by... having them help her train her ability to sense Resonance? That ''seems'' to be her part of the deal. Having more help dealing with ''that'' one is tempting, but it doesn't seem like something she can guarantee...

Shinobu's the one who actually asks it: how ''do'' they change hearts? (Well, she asks what happened to Kaneshiro, but six of one...) Joker gives her a long look before sharing that look with their companions. "How we do it is a trade secret," they decide on--if that's Cardboard Dragon's true goal, that might dissuade them. They suspect that's not it, though. "But in a nutshell, we've stolen his distorted desires, and he now sees the world clearly. That includes his actions and their ramifications. This is something we only do after researching our target to make sure they're carrying out those distortions in the real world in a harmful way that normal people can't stop, then discussing it with all of our members and agreeing on it unanimously."

All their debates with Akechi have served them well; this is an answer they've thought through for a long time. That 'unanimous' part, though, means they must add, "Your offer is intriguing. However, we'll need to discuss it amongst ourselves. If we don't all agree, we won't do it--same as changing hearts. If you can agree to wait for our decision, we'll send you a message back later letting you know what it is." They pause. "If we have more questions before we can agree, who will be your contact point?" They focus on Merry. "You?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>"So a team up..." Skull bluntly says when Merry lays out their cards on the table. Really the bruiser is of the mind to walk away since more bodies outside of the group might complicate things. Then again, he wasn't one of the brains here. This was entirely up to Joker.

Skull does however nod to Merry's comment about codenames, offering a grin.

"Atelawhasit?" He repeats one of the things Shinjiro mentions and looks to the others to see if its something he should know and forgot or if they are equally confused. Finally, he returns to looking "tough".

But then the topic of codenames comes back and he can't help himself, responding to So-young. "Woah... I can't afford a guitar to just smash it! That's like 40,000 yen right? Yeah, no way...Errr..Forget I said that." Skull tries to cover his very obvious blunder here, leaning back on a wall or something. Actually, a thought about the upstairs comes to his mind and Ryuji steps back from the wall, as if the mold from upstairs could travel to him.

Skull perks up at Mio's talk of taking down people on the top of the food chain. "Heh. Yeah exactly. You get the idea then."

Shinobu seems to be asking how the sauce is made and that isn't really something the group can spill. Was this the secret meaning of it all? Skull frowns and slouches in his spot, hearing Joker handle the answer before adding, "Yeah...Not something we can share."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
Oh good! Panther's Performance roll wins again with Mio, against all logic or sense!

And so Ann continues on, believing she's a great actress.

So-young waggles brows Pantherwards. And Panther, being a master of body language - especially when it comes to gossip - but for sad reasons - instantly picks up what the older woman is putting down. She blinks. Suppresses a grimace.

And then, keeping her hands at below-the-waist level, she discreetly waves gloved fingers around in a very on the downlow sign of 'no no no no no no'.

There are some things mortal minds were not meant to know.

And besides... Ann can kinda tell Merry has an image to maintain, and she can feel sympathy for trying (and failing) to project a certain idea of yourself, despite your best efforts. Out of solidarity, she can't in good conscience contribute to that undermining!

... you know. anymore than she already has.

(plus also she doesn't want to get a shut up kick, she likes her legs, they do much better thriving a kickless life)

But the further this conversation goes, the more adrift at sea Ann feels, and the more she's realizing that there is really a ''lot'' they don't know about this world of Persona -- unless Morgana's been holding out on them, like a secretive cat! ... Are cats secretive? She can't very well ask HIM that because it's going to make him mad, but now she's curious--

Regardless. It's something she latches onto, how in over their own heads they really are, when Myunghon starts talking about Ateliers, and Tatsumi Island relative to the Dark Hour like that should be meaningful, and Strega - those weirdos fighting with the Old Maid. What else is happening that they're unaware of?

Maybe it's okay, that they only know about Palaces, because that's where they can actually affect things. ... But do they really know everything about Palaces and Mementos, too...?

Maybe they ''do'' need help. Morgana can only do so much, without his memories. And... with people like Akechi, and the Black Mask out there...

Panther is lost in her own little world of thought as Joker and Queen field the negotiations with the Cardboard Dragon, right hand gripping at her left elbow and gaze cast groundwards as she chews the inside of her cheek. It's Umie's offer that causes her to blink. She looks the other blonde's way, the lift of her brows hidden behind her mask.

"For real? You could do something like that? I mean, I've been trying to train a bit, too!"

<FLASHBACKS TO ANN TRYING TO COMPEL REN TO ROAST HER MERCILESSLY GO HERE>

"But, um. Nothing like that."

It's only when Shinobu asks that question though that Panther's expression hardens, just a little. Joker offers a - pared down - answer to that question. It's smart. How they do things - Ann knows what it could do in the wrong hands. There's already the Black Mask out there, messing around in Palaces. It's why they have to be so careful about who they tell. But...

''... and now he sees the world more clearly.''

''I wouldn't have lost sleep over him, but him dying on us would've meant a lot of trouble.''

Sky blue eyes narrow.

"We don't kill people," she insists, simply. But she has to add, because if she can't speak her mind, what is the point?

"... People like Kaneshiro don't deserve an easy way out like that, anyway. They should have to live with what they did."

Kaneshiro. Madarame.

... Kamoshida.

She's not going to just let them ''escape'' the consequences.

After that, though, she quiets as Myunghon lays out their terms. As Joker explains the need for a unanimous decision, even on this. In this much, she mostly just contemplates the people here, quietly considering them all.

Save for a moment when she leeeeeans over to aside to Skull,

"... do you even know how to play guitar??"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
Queen frowns when Merry says the Phantoms can set the terms. That's generous- perhaps too much so, for Queen's own paranoia. The Cardboard Dragon offer priority on skill cards- which will take some of the load off mission logistics, and information which would be useful and that the Phantoms don't have, but it doesn't sit quite right with her as yet. She waits to hear what everyone else puts on the table from the Cardboard Dragon too- Merry is right, Queen plays her cards close to her chest.

Don't get her into a Tycoon match, it gets competitive.

Shinjiro brings up bthe topics of the Dark Hour and the Atelier as well as years of experience. *That* is a new one on her- there have been Persona users who have been active for years now? But they don't seem to know about the palaces, or the 'Psychotic Breakdowns'. That's useful information in and of itself.

''But... not everyone's going to approve of what you do, either, even in this community.''

"...I'm aware of that. But if it's a choice between someone else's approval or saving someone- I'll take disapproval any day. That's what my Justice demands."

Looks like she took some of Ryuji's words to heart, after all. As she makes eye contact with Shinjiro, there's a fire to her red brown eyes- this isn't something that will shake her anymore.

Umie shows her empty hands, and Queen too relaxes. The fact that they can't really be disarmed is another advantage the thieves have over normal persona users. Still, Umie expresses her own bias there, and Queen notes it.

Icarus, huh? "...I just hope your Persona doesn't match it's namesake there." Makoto murmurs, quietly. "Even if it feels amazing, you can't afford to get lost in it."

And Queen has come so close to getting lost in that euphoria that Johanna grants her sometimes.

Myo, however, seems to be closer in interest to the Phantoms than some of the rest of CD. That's not even an offer of alliance, that's just an offer to become spare muscle. There's... really not a unified front, is there?

Queen shoots Skull a look, when he reveals an element of the group's ignorance, thus confirming Shinjiro's suspicions. "Skull," she says, and the words come out cold enough to leave ice burns.

Maybe there's a dash of something familiar to Shinjiro there, who can say?

"...Panther's right. The Phantoms don't kill." Otherwise, Kaneshiro would be dead by now. Almost everyone here saw how tempted Queen was.

Still, as Joker states that they'll have to confer with everyone else, Queen has her own questions. First and foremost...

"...I'm curious," Queen comments, as Joker keeps to the theatrics part of the deal. "How did you enter Kaneshiro's Palace in the first place?" It's both a question to test the legitimacy of the deal and to see how much Cardboard Dragon are prepared to offer before anything has been struck. Merry isn't the only one testing the waters. Even though it was Makoto's first Palace, she has it on good authority that this is the first time one has drawn a crowd. They didn't encounter anyone else in Kobayakawa's palace, either. "Kaneshiro's identity was a well kept secret. I can understand a Rumormonger finding his name- but it doesn't explain so many people finding his palace." Hell, Merry and hers were 'customers', but not everyone was, were they? Or had the Thieves just left a way in for everyone?

"You're putting a very generous- and vague- offer on the table. As it stands, we stand to benefit from it a lot more than you do. You can understand we might be suspicious of a deal too good to be true." Because it is, in Queen's mind. Even the Phan-site is something they don't handle directly. She nods to Umie. "You getting training opportunities is a tangible benefit for you that I can see- but it also gains you information on us without necessarily giving any." After all, if Umie is tagging along to train, that means she can see how the PTs work, and SOMEONE will slip up eventually. "So, while you offer for us to set the terms, I'd like to know what it is the Cardboard Dragon wants of such an alliance- and how we'd define 'mutual' enemies."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Merry quizzically tilts a wide-eyed smile at Umie's comment. Their first instinct is to quibble since they think 'I have no particular desire' and 'common enemies' was quite clear enough, but that would weaken their position in the same way Joker and Queen would like to present a unified front in this meeting of theirs.

"It is as Akabane-san says," they 'yes, and' Umie vivaciously, perhaps unable to pick up on sarcasm in the moment, "And if that were to ever change, why, you'd be in your right to strike me down first!"

So-young's openness has always been particularly intriguing, the way she openly shares that she's a new Persona user, and even what experiences that they shared in the Palaces... but it's not new, and they're not all that different. After all, they willingly let go of any sense of security behind their cognitive mask to be known as Rumourmonger Merry. It seems that Joker quite likes the honesty nonetheless.

As much as Myunghon can only think themself as such when they are Merry, and can only think of So-young's confidence as the reason their mother prefers her over them. Because mask enough and you start to believe 'Merry' is the only mask that can accomplish positive things.

"I myself do not plan to become used to the Dark Hour, Myo, Panther! It can and shall be stopped," Merry boldly proclaims, on Ann and Myo's topic of the Dark Hour sucking (it does) and is scary (it is). Myo herself reflects on how she wants to punish the untouchable, and her desires to knock down the people at the top of the food chain. It's bold! It's ambitious! They particularly admire Myo's strong approach -- and Joker says much the same, given how much like how the Thieves have people like Skull and Panther, they have people like So-young and Mio.

Shinobu, though, is asking the question that's been left unasked the entire time, the proverbial elephant in the room (and not the extra boss fight against Ganesha just waiting around the corner) -- how did Kaneshiro's demeanor change? What's behind a Change of Heart, in other words. There's something of a very pleased smile at that, wondering where the conversation will turn next.

Joker underlines that they don't do this for approval. They do it because they can't look the other way when out-of-control tyrants trample the innocent underfoot. They question Shinjiro's dedication, and Myunghon won't step in the way -- they'd like to hear Shinjiro's own words, on his own terms.

But what Joker explains after is of great interest indeed. Joker speaks of stealing 'distorted desires', and Myunghon's eye is glanced towards Umie once more. Joker's phrasing does bring some concern to Myunghon, though Merry's smiling face conceals it well...

'...and now he sees the world clearly'.

It's... ... ... prescriptive.

And yet Myunghon has sensed the distortion echoing within Junya Kaneshiro when they visited the Cardboard Dragon in turn. 'Distorted desires' does echo in their mind. They also clarify that that's only something they do after a careful amount of research -- the Phantom Thieves only change the hearts of those who inflict harm in a way that normal people cannot stop, and that they only act when the deed is unanimously agreed upon.

... it's Ann that, again, provides the heart in contrast. ''We don't kill people,'' she insists. Quite simply, at that. She seems to hide behind how Kaneshiro doesn't deserve to ''die'', they deserve to live with what they did. It's nice to hear, keeps the conversation a little less heightened.

But Queen has a question. How did they enter Kaneshiro's Palace in the first place?

Merry fields this one: "I have the Meta-Nav application," is the first thing they say, "And with it, the capability to bring others with me into a Palace. Even... unexpected people caught in its field. Palaces have also a circulating topic within the Dark Side of Sumaru forum, which is in part how others were able to discover their way inside." Like Katsuya.

"As for his identity? He threatened us in this very shopfloor..." Merry's smile widens. "And I was able to sense his distorted desires."

There it is, they've tipped their hand for now. They won't tip that Umie was able to sense it either -- she can do that on her own prerogative. "From there, we were able to work out that he had a Palace. The rest is pure, classic investigative work -- from unearthing his criminal elements and motives, his usual haunts in Shibuya, and the need to guess the form in which his Palace takes..."

A quiet hum.

"That was a half-hour of guesswork, the price of which I had to eat half a hamburg steak. It was nasty."

Queen is suspicious of how generous the offer is. As it stands, the Phantoms stand to benefit more from it than the Cardboard Dragon does. It sounds too good to be true, and one should always be suspicious of deals of that nature.

"We can define 'mutual enemies' as an ongoing list and agree -- or disagree. Strega. The Old Maid. The Black Mask." Myunghon gestures. "You've stated clear that you will not act upon one with distorted desires unless they are causing harm in the physical realm that the unawakened cannot stop. I believe it would be prudent for us to be able to disagree on whether each of us would like to act upon a Palace or not."

As to what the Cardboard Dragon wants of such an alliance... the smile is a bit more delicate as they rise from their throne, which shrinks back into the coat that drapes over them and gives them a sense of grandeur.

"As to what I want... you have spoken of motivations, and I shall share mine too, Phantoms. Where your aim is to strike fear at tyrants within the dark, I, Rumourmonger Merry -- nay, Myunghon Yeo, am amongst the people, for it is in common cause that the everyday people find strength and solidarity. A tyrant seeks to oppress the people with Despair, to isolate them, to make them whisper -- 'things can't be better', and it is in turn the destiny of the Revolutionary to counter that with Hope."

Merry's smile is ear to ear once more. A Hope that shall seethe throughout a garden, strangling in its spread.

"This is why our identities are plain, whatever consequence that may come. Why the Cardboard Dragon is an address plain enough to see. This is a rough town full of perils, as Skull has pointed out. There is much inequality here. We are in touch with the streets, for change must come in solidarity with one's neighbours first and foremost."

They place the tip of their finger to their lips as they half-turn.

"When the revolution comes, I should like to play the entire deck." Their head tilts as they turn towards them. "And that includes the wild card -- the Phantoms, in other words."

But Joker does express the expected -- they're going to have to discuss it and come to a unanimous decision, just like changing hearts. It's so intriguing, they think. This Joker is the seeming leader of the group, the one to speak for most of them along with Queen, who provides more of an analytical bent... but they can sense that it's people like Skull and Panther that temper them, make them a cohesive whole. The fact that a unanimous vote exists between them is a positive, to Myunghon.

They're not all that different, are they? Here they are, sitting on their vampire-aesthetic throne until now, making the biggest speeches and speaking most on people's behalf -- but they're nothing without people like Mio and So-young who most wear their hearts on their sleeve. Without the skepticism that Umie brings, the straightforward attitudes that Shinjiro an Shinobu have...

"We will undoubtedly also need to come to a decision ourselves," Myunghon nods to the couch and the others. "As for our contact point... I am certainly happy to facilitate. I believe you are also better acquainted with Akabane-san, having saved her life. So if she agrees, I'd say either of us, lest the other be out of commission for any reason."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> One day, Umie once said, she'll call Joker Joker. But only when she can put to rest the memories of that night for good-- something, she hinted, that may be helped along by Joker (this one) impressing her.

(... As if that was somehow going to be a hard feat, she reluctantly admits.)

And one day, she'll reveal her own attempt to circumvent a potential disaster with those names -- perhaps, even later tonight if she can catch Joker before they slip away. However, if there's one thing she's managed to notice... things, especially in Sumaru City, have a way of blowing up in Umie's face, when she tries to address them. To manipulate rumors is one thing, but to get ahead of one... wouldn't speaking it aloud make it more likely that it'd become real.

Almost like, sometimes, that's the way it was always supposed to happen.
Like Sumaru City's web of rumors, somehow, reacts to the secrets branded onto her, retreating away like mercury on a slightly tipped table.

".... I think we should exchange information about Ateliers at the very least," Umie speaks up, realizing Skull's confusion. "They're going in the same circles as we are; whether this is a one-off thing we came across or something that'll happen more..."

KAPPAS. ".... Let's... make sure we do that soon," Umie says, with an oddly nervous laugh, "kero--"

Please stand by, as Umie has stapled her hands to her face, in a posture similar to how she looked when she discovered Myunghon's living arrangements. (My, that's a rich shade of red there, peeking out on Umie's cheeks.)

..... ...

Minutes later, and she's still got her hands on her face, but arranged so that, at least, her lips aren't muffled against firmly pressed palmflesh. ".... Uh. I think we need to align ourselves for one thing: the cat's out of the bag concerning Palaces and Mementos. While the Phantom Thieves have found a way to use a part of this space, I imagine, even if the Phantom Thieves keep their secret safe, and--" She clears her throat, letting her hands slowly drop away from her cheeks, "--I'd *really* like to keep a hand pressing down on that particular Pandora's Box, so to speak.

"But yeah. I don't think," she says, carefully, not wanting to reveal Myunghon's own 'cards' here, "that's the only way anyone could 'use' these areas. If some organization, like the NWO..."

The letters bring that edge to her tone. ".... all of us here would likely be up there on their list." She closes her eyes. "... But let's save 'shitty what ifs' for another day," she attempts to say, lackadaisically, with a shrug.

"Anyway..." Umie considers Joker's words, looking towards Shinjiro. "Honestly, that's not a bad idea. Shouldn't we do the same? We've put our offers on the table, but not everyone's here. If we got any conflicts, we really should talk it over and come back." She pats her head, feeling how damp it still is.

*patpat* Augh, really? Her hair is still this wet? *patpatpat*

Panther's shock distracts Umie, who looks up at her with a blink. "... Yeah. It's... contextual, but..." She shrugs, eyelids lowering as she shoots Panther a cheeky grin. "I was still alive for a reason, when you found me. If the bastard didn't teleport around I would've escaped. That sniper likely has more experience, but cloaking myself like that is something I'm also able to do. Maybe, if you can figure out how to catch *me* you may be better at catching *them*."

But is that really something Umie could promise?

And is it actually wise, as Queen points out something Umie failed to consider.

She considers, a knuckle touching her chin.

"... Hmm... yeah. And the same goes the other way, Queen-san," Umie replies, with an impressed grin. "While it's not my intent, you have no way of knowing that. And us knowing each other's secrets puts a bullseye on each others' backs as welll--"

Myunghon volunteers Umie.

Umie... squeaks.

"O-of course!" says the utterly flummoxed blonde, revealing her cheeks have resumed being red.

(Ren did say red was a good color for Umie, but that's definitely not what he meant.)
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>Shinjiro's attitude is noticed by the others, even as Skull reveals they do not know what an Atelier is. That's what he expected, but is still interesting to hear.

And then, Joker asks Shinjiro if he has misgivings. Myunghon seems to be willing for him to speak. Shinjiro takes a moment to listen to the answer to Shinobu's question...

He grimaces at the same words Myunghon is concerned by. 'And now he sees the world clearly.

"...I don't think you're bad people. I think we can help each other, because it's better not to be running on anyone's own. People die in this line of work."

"But I'd be lying if I said I liked your methods, and what you just said didn't quite impress me." A sigh. "Who decides what clarity is? Who decides what a distortion is? Even if it's all supernatural bullshit giving us the sense... who tells us what feelings to trust? None of us know what the fuck is going on with all of this."

He thinks back to what Mitsuru told them about Kirijo's past. He can't trust this group, too, hasn't been manipulated or something.

Then, he glances to Panther. "To truly live with something you did... you have to first accept responsibility. But Kaneshiro never did that. His hand was forced. People were saved, sure. His victims got justice. But it all rings hollow."

Rubbing the back of his head and letting the passion die down, he sighs. "I mean it when I say I'll support Merry. But yeah, I do have misgivings. At least let us talk about it some more. Maybe they'll change my mind."

He doesn't think so, but. He can at least try not to kill the deal entirely.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> "Each to their own," So-young replies to Mio with a sympathetic grin. "I'm not very good at playing the mysterious figure or keeping my mouth shut either. But, for what it's worth, I think you put it very well." So-young is a card carrying Audience Member, after all, so she's speaking with at least some level of authority here. That is, if you ask her. So, of course she'd say that.

Joker's quip aside, So-young is quietly surprised at the way that the Phantom Thief suddenly divulges some information of their own. It's not exactly revelatory, but even So-young realizes they've just confirmed some things beyond a bare-bones description of what a change of heart does to someone - for instance, that they only go after targets they've unanimously agreed upon. Part of So-young's brain files that away for later as if it were mega-smart of her, never mind it being at least within the realms of expectation.

The rest of her is mulling over that description of a change of heart. The fact that the desires are 'distorted' and how that might be defined isn't lost on her, though it's not that difficult for her to connect that to the wild and rabid way Kaneshiro treated the acquisition and power of money even outside of the cognitive world. So if they're talking in terms of cognition, maybe the idea is they just strip away the mental cotton wool and the rationalizations? So-young's frowning thoughtfully, but not at all because she disapproves - just because she's imagining what that would do to _her_.

Some questions are better left alone, and in the end... So-young does have something of a habit of looking at the ends more than the means. Whatever the rest of her team may think about the moral implications, to her they slide off like water off a duck's back, to be dealt with later if necessary.

Fortunately, Skull is there to provide a change of topic to leap at. "Not a real one, of course! Can't you just cognitive up a mental guitar of your own or something?" So-young it's not-- it's not a verb that you can just use in any situation like that!! But the temptation has been laid, and the conductor chases it with a joyous smile. "Come on, can't you imagine it? A drive-by guitar smack on the back of Queen's motorcycle," she mimics both hands coming around in a baseball bat swing.

It's strategizing, okay.

Panther gently rebuffs her in the sotto-voce language of a waggled hand, and So-young tilts her head in return in what can be accurately construed as 'fiiiiiiine...' until the young woman's voice firms. It's comforting to know that every group has someone in it who is entirely ready to get real mad at a moment's notice, and while Queen seems to be the one to embody fury it's that vengeful sort of fire that really resonates with the conductor.

So-young tilts her head towards Queen's warning as well. Her Persona's name isn't lost on her. Maybe someday she'll experience a dreadful fall, but-- her smile is bright and alive. "I am rapidly learning to heed that warning. But, on the other hand, I can only ever be myself. And So-young Park will inevitably do what So-young Park's heart thinks is best, even if that ends up 'being a complete idiot'," she says placidly, and perhaps a little wistfully.

"Personally," So-young chips in immediately afterwards to Queen's comments about the creeping scope of any potential terms, "I am not very good at maintaining and defining all the boundaries of an alliance ahead of time. Somehow, I doubt the Metaverse or Mementos are such cut-and-dry sorts of places as to make that sort of thing particularly easy either. I trust Merry fully to set the terms of any deal - but from where I stand, it is at least a start to have just sat here and talked to each other," she adds pleasantly. "Even if nothing official comes of it, we have at least shared a cordial 'hello', and I like to think that counts for something."

She lapses into silence - and sure enough, as she lets Myunghon expound on their Hope, their grand speech is enough to bring a quiet and proud smile to So-young's face. There's a faint little chuckle under her breath, and for a moment So-young maybe understands why their mother might have tried to kill them. She knows little about the Baengnyong, but she'd love to see what the hell would happen if Myunghon really took its reins and pointed it in a direction with that sort of conviction behind it. She's convinced her mother wouldn't know what the fuck hit her.

If she saves a wry smile for herself, it's to Shinjiro's argument: what exactly constitutes 'accepting responsibility', and what is left if someone refuses to? That's how they got to this point with Kaneshiro, after all, because it's not like they could just ask him to kindly stop his extortion and takeover attempt. So-young has dealt with her share of people being convinced that a young female conductor who likes 'modern' music wouldn't amount to much regardless of what she said, and that's already infuriating enough despite being the most tame first-world problem, let alone a rampaging mafioso. Is it fair to expect anyone to wait years of harm for someone's principles to sink in?

She leaves that thought aside for the next time 3am rolls around and she wakes up with a corpse in her mind's eye. Always save the real philosophy for then.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem> Every squad got that one member who can't see further than two to three steps in front of them, bless their hearts. It's true that Myo's offerings are as empty-headed and vague as they come: what could someone stand to gain from offering to start cratering people's enemies? Because when you zap away the punk-headed morality of thumping the bad guys, what you're left with is a dedication to kicking the shit out of people for reasons undefined. And if you start to pick that apart, where's the line drawn? What makes Kaneshiro so wrong, and Mio Kazama so right? That he's bullying and beating up the wrong crowd? That she's bullying and beating up the right crowd? What's the _end goal_ here?

Anyway, not a single one of these thoughts occurs to Myo, the masked, robed figure sitting on a sofa in the Cardboard Dragon, but the Narrator can't help but start to string up patterns on the corkboard for funsies. As a bad liar and negotiator, it's also obvious with Phantom Thieves line up more with her personality. She couldn't hide that if she wanted to. That's a good thing (for them)!

"Distorted... desires, huh." whatever Myo was considering saying, the wind's whisked from her lungs and the phrase seems to have her spooked. That'll be one to ask about next time, she supposes. She feels self-conscious and less confident as Shinjiro throws a stone right through the window of this argument regarding distorted desires and how one fixes them. Luckily, behind that mask, she can just chill out. She stands up and smooths her long skirts out, as Myunghon's conversation and careful consideration of terms comes to a close.

"Not gonna pretend I understand, but--let's do our best anyway!" the battle-nun exclaims with both hands clenched, clearly ganbarimasu'ing through whatever tension underlies the situation.

Yeah, she's definitely gonna cause more problems than she solves.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Shinobu asks her question. She sees the way Joker gives her that long look, Skull frowns and slouches, and Panther's expression hardens. Queen, she can't read as well.

Shinobu doesn't flinch. She's always been the straightforward type. Though it's because of that that she can respect it when Panther decides to speak ''her'' mind, too.

They don't kill people, she says and Queen confirms - and people like Kaneshiro don't deserve an easy way out. Shinobu considers that for a moment.

"Harsh. But I get it." She replies with a shrug.

Shinobu asks her question - and Joker says that the 'how' is a trade secret. That's fair, she thinks - but she does get ''an'' answer.

His distorted desires were stolen, and now he sees the world clearly - his actions and their ramifications...

She considers that thoughtfully. She hears Shinjiro's objections to it.

She can't say she objects to the ''idea'' on its face. Sometimes, you need a direct answer to a problem, and she's a very direct person.

"...That's a lot to take in." Is her ultimate conclusion. "I dunno that I really get what counts as a distorted desire, but I see that it works. Thanks for answering."

She can respect how thorough they are about picking their targets. She'll need time to work out how she actually ''feels'' about it - which is why she's ultimately glad that the Phantom Thieves need time to deliberate, and Myunghon says the same of their group. It's no surprise - they probably would anyway, after learning that much.

Queen has questions, but Myunghon addresses those well enough that she doesn't have anything to add.

"I don't think any of us are in any rush. Probably better to take time to think it over, anyway. Don't wanna jump right into anything any of us will regret." Shinobu decides, ultimately.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
The Phantom Thieves don't kill. Joker nods once, sharp and decisive, in agreement with Panther and Queen. Once again, they're completely right--and this time, they don't add a caveat. Skull's blunder... they simply don't outwardly acknowledge. Better not to call attention to it.

Myunghon answers Queen's questions and then some, waxing on about despair and hope, that they want to represent the people who are being trod upon. They've said as much before--but while Joker was Ren, in the real world--so they simply nod once. Umie as their groups' go-between... "Acceptable."

Umie comments on the Pandora's Box nature of Palaces, and it occurs to Joker that she--and maybe the rest of the greater Persona User community--doesn't fully grasp the nature of a Palace. That's not her fault or anyone's in Cardboard Dragon, considering The Phantoms are the ones not explaining it all, but it does stand out to them. This is underscored when Shinjiro asks, among other things, who gets to determine what a distortion is. Joker stares at him for a moment before tucking their hands in their pockets.

"You sound like that Detective Prince," they comment. Shinjiro's points are worth engaging with, but they simply don't have the time for it now. "Very well. But if you truly disagree with our methods, then I urge you not to passively let yourself be convinced."

It does feel to them like at least some of this is a misunderstanding of what they're doing, born inevitably of The Phantoms only sharing partial information... but that's only part of the answer. Cardboard Dragon saw Kaneshiro's Palace. If what counts as a distortion is still ambiguous after that, Joker genuinely doesn't know how to explain it.

Yet on some level, is that only wishful thinking--the idea that, if they'd just explained it more, explained it better, that Shinjiro would understand and agree? Sometimes, people simply don't see eye-to-eye. Isn't it arrogant to think otherwise?

They wonder if that's how things will ultimately end with Akechi.

Shinobu thanks them for the answer; So-young says at least they've all shared a courteous chat; Mio stays Mio, bless her. Joker gives them all a courteous nod. "Agreed. And if either of our groups can't agree to work with the other, no hard feelings. We all can only abide by our own Justice... and look after our own."

They turn and gesture forwards to Skull, Panther, and Queen to the fire escape exit. Then, tucking their hands back in their pockets, they stride out and into the night.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>Skull looks over at Ann as she leans over. He quietly mutters back to her, "Hmm? Hell no. I ain't got the talent or money for that." He never really saw music as something for him to do. Especially with his life the way it was, it wouldn't have worked out.

Skull back straightens when he hears Makoto's tone. He cringes and just stands at attention to avoid getting on Queen's bad side.

He is going to be a good boy. He swears.

He does snort when he hears Shinjiro though, giving the other punk a look. Who does this guy think he is? The anime's protagonist?

"'Live with what we do'? Who says that, man?" Ryuji wants to defend his friend's honor but he is sure it would make this tense situation worse. So the blonde just stuffs his hands into his pockets and begins to move to make an exit.

Skull takes one last look around the room before just exiting the Cardboard Dragon. It was going to be an interesting ride back. That was for sure.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
Ann Takamaki - Panther - is, indeed, a light-hearted contrast to Joker and - perhaps especially - Queen. She's all wide-eyed wonder as Umie details the possibilities of her training, even despite what Queen points out -- clearly already letting her imagination run wide. She's sighing in open relief as So-young drops the point of the Ominous Third Floor despite that kind of undercutting the whole point of her discretion to begin with.

She even widens her eyes in surprise as Myunghon insists-- "Stopping the Dark Hour? Can... you really do that??" as if the idea had never occurred to her, and yet, she instantly hooks onto it. "That'd be great! Not having to live through this creepy hour again..." despite all the various conveniences it can provide people like them, because she only thinks of the ways in which it's disturbing--

The ways it's dangerous to people ''not'' like them.

She is, in every way, the heart of the Phantom Thieves.

''To truly live with something you did... you have to first accept responsibility. But Kaneshiro never did that.''

''... it all rings hollow.''

"... What?"

But a heart can also know anger.

"'Hollow'?" And it's immediately and ''painfully'' apparent in the way those blue eyes narrow behind that mask, in the way Panther just immediately draws up with squaring jaws and tensing posture. In the fire sparked behind her voice. "Kaneshiro, Madarame--" Kamoshida-- "they were never going to accept responsibility! No one was going to make them, or hold them to account, or anything! They would have just kept hurting people, because this shitty system didn't care about the people they hurt, or-- or--"

Hands clenched into fists, Panther cuts herself off as Joker answers Shinjiro's misgivings in a much more level-headed way. She knows she should just let them deal with it - or Queen, even, anyone who could be more diplomatic in this moment. And in the end, she forces herself to tear away from the conversation when they reach the end of the meeting. But there's a frown on her lips still as she nods to Joker. A fire in her heart still as she turns to follow him out the door.

Because after everything that they've been through-- everyone they've managed to protect-- after what Shiho had to go through--

"The ''hell'' it's hollow."

She just can't let herself accept that word silently.

A moment later, she's gone.

Don't worry: she'll kick herself later having been so angry she forgot she was going to offer to give Merry a lead on some great heavy-duty home renovators on the downlow.

</poem>

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

2025-11-09: What is This, a Crossover Episode?! A Phantom Dragon Story

2025-11-16T07:48:57Z

Jean:

*'''Log: What is This, a Crossover Episode?! A Phantom Dragon Story'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Myunghon Yeo]], [[Umie Akabane]], [[Shinjiro Aragaki]], [[So-young Park]], [[Mio Kazama]], [[Shinobu Shimizu]], [[Ren Amamiya]], [[Ryuji Sakamoto]], [[Ann Takamaki]], [[Makoto Niijima]]
*'''Where:''' Cardboard Dragon, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru
*'''OOC Date:''' November 09, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' August 08, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''As arranged by everyone's favorite cognitive cutie patootie Jose, Cardboard Dragon and the Phantom Thieves finally meet. Feeling out each others' intentions, the two groups try to come to a mutual understanding to take that first step towards collaboration. It mostly goes well! Until the end, when it doesn't. ALSO FEATURING: Things in this waking nightmare we call life that cannot be unseen and cannot be forgotten. ''

----

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
The Cardboard Dragon crew left a message with Jose a while back, delivered the next time they spelunk into the depths of Mementos.

'As a gesture of gratitude for saving Hirasaka,
We are hosting a sale of precious Skill Cards to the Phantom Thieves!
The time will be at the end of Tuesday, August 7th during the Dark Hour.
The place shall be the Cardboard Dragon, in Hirasaka Ward...'

An address is just plainly supplied there.

Well, it isn't as if the Cardboard Dragon is ever a secret -- Rumourmonger Merry, unlike the Phantom Thieves, is a public figure -- insomuch as they're very plainly part of the Sumaru City Rumourmonger network, and no seeming cognitive barrier to pierce their identity exists: you can very much confirm this is very much the same person that you can walk in on during the daytime, perhaps idiosyncratically stacking koalas or doing a random spot of baking or napping on their couch or other miscellaneous irresponsible activities.

And that is the way it is today -- as the sickly moon hangs low over the verdant-cast air, the Cardboard Dragon has signs of life in it.

The Phantom Thieves will find the typical fire escape door on the second floor accessible, and...

and...

well.... if they choose other means of infiltration, there is also the option of going through the balcony on the third floor into the Nightmare Hell Depression Bedroom, full of black mould and dilapidated, rotten ceilings, unpacked belongings in (fittingly) cardboard boxes, a cold, lumpy hard futon, a lack of even shitty furniture, and the quizzically unique nature of someone living with a men's bathroom and thus able to stake a special claim to having their own urinal.

... more details to be elucidated if the Thieves do enter from that direction.

The Cardboard Dragon itself is a homey old three-storey brick building made sometime in the 70s some two blocks south of Hirasaka, the second floor of which certainly looks the part... but kept as clean as possible -- it's about one third card-playing space, one third bookshelves full of difficult and crusty-looking old books from authors around the turn of the 20th century amongst other things, and also one third a living room of sorts, with a couch and coffee table and entertainment unit.

Rumourmonger Merry is in their seat of power in the actual storefloor, seated not on the couch but rather on their Cognitive Coat!! The Coat's stretched out to create a pitch-black throne with thrumming ebbs of crimson throughout, creating the striking effect that they are, in fact, just sitting on thin air and nothing else. They're dressed in their typical white dress shirt and black tie, along with black dress pants, fastidious as always.

Next to them is... their yukata and haori from earlier tonight when they ventured to Shibuya and got rained on. It's hanging on a clothes-drying line. It looks somewhat sad, despite the lavish and fanciful nature of the traditional clothing. It might reveal where they were earlier today. A bout of carelessness, or simply that they don't have laundry space?

"Today's special is a particularly fascinating card," Merry declares, already in the midst of their typical explanations. They raise a Skill Card with a blade of pure ice depicted upon it. "Courtesy of my peers in the Frost community... there are many foes in particular that wield flame and, consequently, are vulnerable to the cold. Why, this came in quite timely against a bonafide Homunculus!"

And then, the inevitable arrival...!"Ara," pauses Merry, as they spread both of their arms out in a Y-pose -- before pausing as their smile goes rictus for a moment, cause wow, their shoulders and arms hurt a lot more than they thought. Still, it doesn't eliminate their aplomb one bit.

"Welcome one, welcome all! Welcome... to the Cardboard Dragon! I am the purveyor of this humble place, Rumourmonger Merry. And these are my most trusted comrades..."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> ----EARLIER----
There's a noise. Several, in fact, as if someone was scoping out the building. Quiet footsteps as if someone was being courteous, but otherwise not sparing any consideration of remaining undetected.

Myunghon will get a text a few minutes in, coming from Umie.

>> if you hear sounds, it's me
>> checking for suspucuisou thiungs

Some more minutes pass.

>> did you block off that window
>> is there a sign
>> nm not enough time

----NOW(?)----
The fire escape door creaks open dramatically, revealing a short shadow standing in the rain outside, draped in a pale grey rain jacket. As the figure steps in, they issue a very non dramatic tiny sneeze, a second before the lights go out. "*tszch!*"

(.... why is So-young turning around like that)

"It's just me, guys," comes Umie's voice, after she rubs her nose with the cuff of her sleeve (if her clothing and height didn't give it away at the beginning). Down comes her hood, revealing her hair, once nicely coffed into an elegant, wispy chignon, accented with a red silk peony and sprays of baby's breath, now matted down from being under the hood, and still damp. "Had to stop by my apartment so my yukata rental could dry out, and the last train was late arriving, so.... Can you believe it started pouring rain during the festival?"

There's other signs of her rainy adventures, such as the remainders of makeup still slightly smudged from a quick rinse in the sink at her apartment. The delicate yukata and geta have likewise been since exchanged for the much less glamourous option of 'whatever Umie could find on top of the basket of clean clothes. ... Which means: a shirt that proudly says 'A APPLE ADAY' in English lettering, with a happy green cartoon worm coming out of a red apple, denim shorts, and those oddly nice sneakers, with the toes of shoe liners peeking up by her ankles. Her black thumbsleeves peek out from the loose sleeves of the rain jacket, which cover the quirky t-shirt. (She *wanted* to dress nicely, but reality, like always, had other plans.)
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>After the honestly pretty excellent fireworks show and followup dinner, Shinjiro came back to the Cardboard Dragon to get changed into his regular clothes, folding his haori and yukata and placing them to the side to take home. He didn't want to take advantage of the CLOTHES LINE, that's Merry's dirty laundry!

Now that Dark Hour has begun, Shinjiro's in his red faux-wolf-furred coat from Peacock Silk, beanie firmly back on his head. He looks... overly warm, but he was also one of the ones wearing a haori earlier, so.

His thoughts on the Phantom Thieves, if asked ahead of time, are full of suspicion. People who can change another's heart, their mind... taking away the choice of responsibility, how awful is that? It is a person's choice to either take responsibility or not. Without the freedom to choose, it's hollow, just a forced confession.

Can they really trust these people have the right intentions for their power? And if they do... do they really know what they're doing?

Myunghon especially could tell why Shinjiro has big thoughts on that. He's very much about personal responsibility, after everything he's done. But even so, he's promised not to ruin it. He needs to observe himself what they're about.

He's on the couch, tapping his fingers against his left thigh rhythmically. He's got a canned coffee in his other hand. He's basically the physical security here, and is prepared to spring up if something goes horribly wrong, even outside a Persona battle.

Hopefully, it doesn't.

As Umie enters, Shinjiro gives her a wave. "It was pretty cool, wasn't it? I'll have to show you the photos I got later," he tells her, trying to defuse his own tension about this meeting.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> Part of the Cardboard Dragon is set aside as a living area, with a couch pointed towards an entertainment unit and an aging CRT. There are some office chairs strewn around the couch for extra seating, and seated on one of them is... someone who is either trying much too hard, or enjoying herself far too much, or perhaps both at once.

So-young Park would not miss this meeting for the world, not least because her thoughts about a Change of Heart kind of start and end at 'oh, you made the untouchable asshole confess? damn, good job!'. If she ever paused to think and properly evaluate the situation, there is a little part of her deep down that would love to figure out how they do it and ascertain whether it's a matter of convincing or coercion or mind control... ... but from her point of view, the two 'victims' she knows of have been a serial art thief and someone directly threatening her sibling. She's entirely happy with the outcomes thus far.

Besides, So-young will always carry the DNA of a theatre kid. There's every chance she's simply here to recruit the Thieves into a revue act.

With that moral quandary out of the way, and the conductor's energy at high just from the happy adrenaline of a festival and fireworks followed by a torrential downpour, So-young has room to be as So-young Park as she wants to be.

The figure that is seated in the office chair is pointed away from both the fire escape and the stairs to the third floor at first, but there is a clear elegance in the way the monochrome figure carries themselves, sitting upright with their gaze levelled slightly high as they seemingly gaze out of the window. As the Thieves enter, the figure's chin lowers, their head turning a miniscule amount - and then as Myunghon calls out, a light kick sets the chair spinning as So-young leans forward to place her elbows on her knees and steeple her fingers together at her chin.

(Yes, she absolutely practiced this. Not to mention she's never sure if it's the Thieves entering or someone else, so she's already done it a couple of times before having to hurriedly reset herself.)

She realizes too late that she's misjudged her push and is coming to a stop pointed several degrees away from where the Thieves have entered, but the only reaction she gives is a quiver of her mouth as she successfully manages to avoid immediately grinning like an idiot. The show must go on. Damn it, she would never have expected Myunghon to be so, so much better at this than her.

So-young has also found herself a mask... of sorts. It's cheap and plastic and the cord has already nearly snapped because it's meant for kids, but she has a half-face kitsune mask she picked up from a stall on the way. Maybe it's for the best that Fox is not present. Not that the mask helps in any way - it is completely mundane, So-young has no cognitive barrier to protect her identity, and most importantly there is really no mistaking her hair, long and hime cut, pure white but for the repeated black stripes to evoke a piano's keys, exactly the same as it has been when certain Thieves have seen her in the real world.

"Greetings," she intones, setting her voice about an octave lower than normal and adding a bit of gravel for good measure.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem>SOME TIME PRIOR

Krump! Boom! Thoom! Kracklekracklekracklekracklekrackle~

The Family Mart perched at the edge of Hirasaka Ward is a 24-hour convenience store ('conbini' to those in the know) and, blessedly on this humid and dreary night, is an oasis of cool, crisp air. Despite being sealed and warded against the oppressive summer heat outside, the rumble and peal of fireworks still creeps through the glazed windows a few seconds behind telltale flashes of coloured light. On this festival evening, Mio Kazama is...

... ringing up the order for a foreign tourist buying a late-night onigiri, drinks, and assortment of snacks. She is clad in the noble silks and finery of the FamiMart uniform, which is a cheap synthetic polo patterned in blue and white with a thick green stripe around the midsection. The item scanner on the counter beeps with every barcode waved before it. "Are you visiting for the fireworks?" asks Mio, directly disobeying Rule #113(1)(a)(vii) of the employee handbook, which discourages small talk with the customers. The foreign man nervously looks down at his hand of 1000-yen bills. Hideyo Noguchi stares back at him, unwilling to translate what the girl in bubblegum pink hair has just asked him. "Y...es." he answers, obliviously, hoping this is the right move that will let him pay and depart without further embarrassment.

"Nice. Okay, that's 2,053 yen please."
"Yes."
"Would you like a bag?"
"..."

A new phrase. The tourist is caught in the gaze of their natural predator: the unassuming and harmless local, unsure how to respond. "Er..." he stammers, pretending not to have heard. Several people behind him in line silently shift their weight and pretend to focus on their phones. The background music begins a new loop once more, and a humid wave rolls in from outside as the store door slides open from someone walking too close on the sidewalk.

Mio turns to look at the clock, bags under her eyes as if all her makeup suddenly stopped working, blue lines and sweat rolling down her face. Too... awkward...

NOWSIES

(Un)fashionably late, the door to the Cardboard Dragon creaks open and a mess of wet pink hair, jeans, and Converse Chuck Taylors trudges through, all wrapped up in a 300-yen poncho whose seams have not survived the rigours of being folded. "Oisuuu~" Mio calls out while not being fully able to see, pulling herself free of her plastic packaging not long after. She's still wearing her FamiMart polo and her hair is hurriedly jammed into a knotted ponytail held in place with a handkerchief.

She has a bag of much nicer clothes slung over one shoulder but has mistimed her arrival, or perhaps was unavoidably detained, and thus, is here to make connections looking like she's either about to inform someone that the bentos are half-price until 6 PM, or ask whether they prefer leaded or unleaded gasoline.

"... oh . . ."

Well, maybe the rollout of the Dark Hour will solve her fashion woes. Unless it's too late, in which case, people have worn stranger shit to Tartarus, man. Head empty, no thoughts of import, she'll figure this meeting out on the fly.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Shinobu isn't entirely sure whether or not the Phantom Thieves will show. She wouldn't blame them for being suspicious, receiving a sudden, direct invitation... But, hopefully, their choice of messenger will at least help them give them the benefit of the doubt.

The only thing they can do now is wait, and hope they accept.

...And wait Shinobu does - leaning against a wall nearby Merry's makeshift throne, her arms folded in front of her as she scans the shop floor for signs of activity. She doesn't know which direction they'll be coming from, but she wants to be ready.

She's dressed casually, in her signature jeans, t-shirt, and jacket. Conversely to Shinjiro, she ''has'' taken advantage of the clothesline, her yukata hanging up to dry next to Myunghon's.

She looks up at Umie enters, cracking a smirk.

"...No kidding." She replies. "Least we got ''some'' fireworks in before they tried to drown us."

And then, the arrival. Merry introduces them all as their most trusted comrades, and Shinobu offers a nod of greeting.

"Shinobu Shimizu." Shinobu greets. By this point, it feels like too late to try to hide herself. She might as well be open.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
It happened not too long ago that Jose, that curious little robot boy who clown-cars around Mementos, passed on a message from the Persona Users of Cardboard Dragon that they want to meet and speak with the Phantom Thieves. (Well. It's basically a privately scheduled "sale"? Maybe even without the scare quotes. Either way.) The team had discussed this and, given their positive interactions while dealing with Shadow Kaneshiro, they agreed to accept... and now here they are.

Not all of the Phantom Thieves are here. They agreed that, just in case, it might be a wise idea that people outside their group don't get to know all of them all at once. It helps, or doesn't help depending on your perspective, that some of the others just weren't able to make it tonight.

That's fine. They can pass on the discussion to the others. For now, after the rained-out fireworks festival, The Phantoms dispersed and then reassembled in Sumaru after taking the trains during normal hours. Once the Dark Hour hits and the meeting is done, they can return to Tokyo via Mementos and Monabus.

For right now...

The sickly green light of the Dark Hour permeates the air in Hirasaka Ward. Only a few minutes after it's begun, something stirs in the shadows just outside Cardboard Dragon. Ren--or rather, Joker--has been here before a couple times, so they know the way in. This is an arranged, agreed-upon meeting, so why sneak? They simply walk up to the building and climb the fire escape exit, gloved hands tucked in the pockets of their long coat, as if they belong there.

Of course, that's only the bold and potentially distracting approach of the leader. Why sneak? Because they're thieves, of course. Some among their others might open for alternate entrances, or to hang back and keep a weather eye out before approaching...

As they stride in to Cardboard Dragon proper, they're greeted by Rumormonger Merry in their throne-esque Cognitive Coat. Joker takes them and their self-introduction in stride, glancing from person to person as their companions introduce themselves in turn--or just hang around, as the case may be. They of course recognize Merry as Myunghon; Umie is here too in a quirky T-shirt, and So-young spinning in her chair in practiced motion with a cheap plastic mask and Shinobu nodding to them all in greeting; they don't know Shinjiro in his unseasonable coat or Mio in her plastic poncho looking well out of sorts, but that's fine.

It does look like a decent number of them got rained out from the fireworks festival too, though.

"Greetings, Rumormonger Merry," Joker replies, projecting their voice. "As you know, we are the Phantom Thieves." They smirk as they raise their hands to tighten their red gloves--a personal tic as much as it is to show that they come unarmed. (Not that they couldn't be armed in an instant, but it's the thought that counts.) "Some of us will be arriving in alternate fashion... I do hope you don't mind." They slip their hands into their pockets, smirk fading. "Amongst ourselves, I'm known as Joker." They glance briefly at Umie, smirk for a second, and add, "No relation to the 'Old Maid.'"

They'll let the others enter and introduce themselves in their turn.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>Skull isn't sure what to make of a sale during the Dark Hour. It is a bold tactic but there was a part of him that found this all...sketchy? This feeling is made worse when Ryuji decides to take the Third Floor entrance for a moment. It made sense to keep these guys on their toes. How crazy would it be if the Phantoms just suddenly appeared from everywhere?! That's mind games and super cool to the mystique of the Phantom Thieves. Skull is going to Mind Freak these people!

That was the plan. Instead, Skull is the one getting Mind Freaked.

He is shell shocked by the bedroom, staring into it's disaster area with wide eyes. "Who...who lives like this?!" He is sure he might've seen a bug. Wait is that mold?! The blonde retches, feeling sweat underneath his mask as he tries to will himself to go on.

It takes some time but finally Skull appears from the bed room and comes down stairs. He looks like he's seen somethings, giving everyone he doesn't know a look of just concern and pity. "Ok. Next time I'm using the Fire Escape. That wasn't what I was expectin to see during the Dark Hour, man... Sup? So what did I miss?"

The deliquent stands ready in the corner he's nearest to, slouching with his hands in his pockets. For the moment, he is letting Joker handle the big gestures of this meeting, keeping most of his mistrust to himself. Skull just scans the room, stopping on Shinjiro for a moment. So these guys got a muscle too it seems. Cool. Skull shoots Shinjiro a grin before turning his attention to Rumourmonger Merry, nodding as respectfully as he can manage.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
What is a Jose? A miserable pile of clown cars?

We're just not sure.

Or at least, Ann Takamaki isn't sure. She has pondered the Jose for a solid five minutes straight one time, and having found no logical answers and only just a deep well of creeping uncertainty demanding she not stare into the Abyss lest the Jose stare back, she decided to drop it there.

He's a little lost Mementos child with a buggy bumper and he likes to eat brain flowers! It's cute, not creepy!

So Ann, of course, was totally okay with the totally cute and totally normal Jose putting in a totally normal request that the Phantoms meet these totally trustworthy Cardboard Dragon people for a totally legit sale off in totally Sumaru. And she was initially, actually! After all -- they were going to celebrate their victory over Kaneshiro that day, and their morale would be skyrocketing, high off the backs of FIREWORKS.

What could go wrong?!

A SERIES OF THINGS THAT WENT WRONG LATER,

"Whyyyyyy does the Dark Hour look so much creepier in Hirasaka??"

This is the grumble of Ann Takamaki - AKA THE PERILOUS PANTHER - that she starts out the green-soaked liminal hour with when she meets up with her fellow Thieves, leather-clad arms wrapping around herself in an assuring hug as she looks over the bleak landscape. It's probably because she's just used to the Dark Hour from the safety of her own home. There's usually barely anyone there, which means there's no coffins! And if you think that's depressing, well--

--

-- shut up!

''The point is'', Panther starts this meeting in dour spirits, having her great summer celebration ruined by a few measly drops of rain and one of her favorite yukata still air-drying off in the hotel room she rented for the night (oh god -- do things still dry during the dark hour--?!), and she is in ''desperate'' need of a pick-me-up. So, when she sees the angle that Skull is deciding to go with their grand entrance? Panther immediately perks up again!

"Oo! Oo, I wanna join! It'll be ''so'' cool and mysANOTHER SERIES OF THINGS THAT WENT WRONG LATER

It's a haunted figure in red leather, not a mysterious and dashing one, that emerges from the third floor of the Cardboard Dragon after Skull. Wrapped in red leather, Panther would have all the dangerous presence of a bona fide femme fatale!

If she wasn't so busy locking a thousand-yard stare off into the distance.

She was similarly, horrifyingly quiet when she and Skull wandered through the third floor. And now here she is, even paler than normal somehow, her blue eyes dead inside as she stares at that fixed point where surely there is a black hole a trillion light years off devouring all light and creation into its imperishably black maw.

"Um. Hey," she says, distracted. Does she notice everyone here??

"Are you--"

'okay?,' she wants to say 'okay,' she desperately needs to say 'okay'--

"--b-big into-- trading card games--?"

bwomp.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
A message to a clandestine meeting with strange people conveyed by an even stranger boy, for a sale no less? It's hard to think a meeting like this *isn't* suspicious. On the other hand, the Phantom Thieves only discovered recently that other Persona Users exists, let alone a whole community of them. This was a good if risky opportunity to learn more. So after weighing up the options, Queen put her vote toward the meeting- if with precautions.

She'd went over the rules: 'Treat this like a Palace. Codenames only, don't give away any unnecessary details, keep our real identities out of it. We were allies of convenience with Kaneshiro, we don't actually know anything about them yet, as Persona Users.'

Queen is... definitely more on edge during the Dark Hour, and her Phantom Thief outfit activates as soon as the Dark Hour starts, with no effort or intent from Makoto. In Palaces, that happens when the ruler perceives a threat, obviously. Does it work the same way in the Dark Hour? It seems unlikely that a time of night or local shadows would recognize just Makoto as a threat. "We only have to endure it for now." Queen murmurs to Panther's complaints, but the edge to her voice is harder.

Of course, Joker is the one who decides to walk straight in to make sure it's not a trap, and Makoto is hanging back before the initial all clear. She's the one who has to provide the escape plan in that case, after all.

Fortunately, for the moment, the need for such plans is not necessary, given that Joker's initial entrance has not resulted in, say, an explosion or a giant shadow emerging or anything else.

So after a few more moments, she turns to their fifth who is definitely not a bakemono. "Mona, I'm heading in. Keep an eye on things, and if things kick off or I send you the signal, you're our backup. I'm counting on you." With that Queen follows, also taking the fire escape for swiftness of entry. Which means she enters the room, sizing up the gathered Persona users. She encountered some of them in Kaneshiro's palace, but didn't really have time to talk. She falls in next to Joker, her scarf moving without the wind- her outfit is about as scandalous as Panther's, but spikier and with less skin showing, it's just rare she's standing still enough or not wrapped in an incredible veil of fury for it to be noticed.

"I'm Queen." She offers simply, as Skull and Panther appear and are...

She blinks. Skull seems to be doing okay, but Panther looks like she's seen hell. And neither of them introduced themselves so Queen decides to take care of that too (especially since she's not sure Panther *can* right now).

"This is Skull and Panther." She clarifies, indicating them each with a wave of her hand before crossing her arms. She's in full business mode, but she looks to Joker first before deciding to set her own tone.

She does, however, make mental notes of every name given. Rumormonger Merry and Umie Akabane she recognizes. Shinjiro, Mio and So-young don't give any details, so Shinobu Shimizu is the only new information she gains- with a full name. Far more than the Phantoms are volunteering.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Unfortunately, Myunghon has their phone on Manner mode, so Umie's texts don't quite get responded to in time. No, Umie, they did not in fact block off their window to the nightmare hellscape bedroom! And when the door opens, it looks as if the Raincoat Killer is here to slaughter them all!! Aieee!! ... no, it's just Umie. Coming in from the third floor.

"Unfortunately for you, Akabane-san, I've tidied up there. You can't deter me tonight," boasts Merry. ... tidying doesn't particularly do much against its nightmarish state, Myunghon.

Myunghon does know that Shinjiro has big thoughts about the Phantom Thieves' methods, but they're not particularly interested in making this meeting automatically devolve into a meeting about ethics. Well, if it becomes an argument like that, it'd still be quite interesting information gathering, but they're aiming for a bigger prize at the moment...

And they're not lying when they say that this is about a gift for saving Hirasaka, because in their mind, that is unequivocably true, even if they had other objectives in mind.

In the end, too, one is reminded that So-young was all 'sucks to be you' at everyone else having to go home in the wet, crowded trains of Shibuya... and yet she also had to be here for the midnight meeting!! Doom, terror, crackow, avash. Still, Myunghon seems content enough to let her practice her little routine out, even if they also advised that perhaps she should get a mask from Umie.

Mio's late entrance is given a nod by Merry, as they gesture with that characteristically vivid, almost V-shaped smile on their face. As if to give her an out from any awkwardness, "Myo, please, come in, and thank you for your efforts. You are not too late."

And Shinobu's got the COOL POSE going on leaning against a wall beside their throne! (Some part of Myunghon is flailing and excited about how cool that looks, surrounded by their most trustworthy enforcers...)

But here come the Phantom Thieves! Myunghon did consider that not all of them would be here -- that's just wise, in their books. They could be walking into a devious and dastardly trap!! Myunghon had a headcount from the battle with Kaneshiro and not much else, and they do identify that the Fox-masked one and the Beauty Thief are not here... and they're not about to read too much into it.

Much like them, the Phantom Thieves are also, almost inevitably, people, with schedules.

But Joker deigns to just simply enter right from the front as if he'd always belonged here. How bold! And intriguing. They offer a greeting in turn, tightening their gloves. They point out that some of the other thieves will be here in their own personal fashion.

"Well met, Joker," nods Merry, amiably enough, and the connection they draw is already dispelled. What a fascinating... coincidence? Is it a coincidence, or something more? The supernatural has many ill designs beyond the means in which they know.

Still, Joker's tactic (perhaps?) of having people enter through various means does seem to have an effect, because Skull and Panther emerging in from the third floor much like Umie did does prompt a particular mannerism, in which Merry taps their finger to their lips as they Shaft-tilt their head over their shoulder.

"Ara ara, I see what you mean now, Joker-san. I hope my living quarters did not alarm you too much... Iron-san, Crimson-san, perhaps?" They have to guess at a codename for Skull and Panther. But it isn't long before Queen sets the record straight -- Skull, and Panther.

But indeed, who the hell lives like that?! Is this also a tactic?! Did they somehow mess up their living arrangements beforehand just for intimidation... no, that ceiling is basically one bad torrent of rain (like tonight) away from just caving in on them. How are they still alive. How did they survive the last winter.

It might be easy to connect Merry's bandaged appearance to that bedroom.

"I do enjoy trading card games!" Merry cheerfully answers, papering right over the terror of having their bedroom stampeded upon. "We're celebrating the new release of the Sourdough Princess Sourdough Starter Pack! For just a bit of dough, I'll even throw a special eggwash-themed card sleeve set!"

Is this the fabled 'disaster adult' they're warned to not become, one day???

"My my! Queen-san! I hope you've been well," Merry does cheerfully say, having a bit more warmth with Queen despite her countenance because once you ride shotgun behind someone's Persona-Motorcycle to manifest a road made out of cloth so she can dunk the personification of one's gluttony with nuclear power, you can't not help but feel some camaraderie. "Thank you again for the other day. That was a magnificent performance. No, truly, it's all of you that I do have to thank."

They gesture delicately with their bandaged hands. "It would not only have been this building. Kasugayama High School, and several other schools, not to mention homes that belong to the Zainichi... it is with sincerity," they gesture with a sweeping little bow, "that I thank you for your aid in stopping Junya Kaneshiro."

Then Merry is spinning on their own throne, their seating posture becoming positively terrible as they poke their legs out one way and cross their legs. "Now! I do mean it when I say that I am offering a sale for precious and rare Skill Cards. I am a collector and spend much of my time in odd situations to earn these. And as a Rumourmonger, I am also privy to interesting morsels of information that may very well be of use to you in future endeavours. Now, as they say..."

They lean their head down against one arm, elbow on their cognitive armrest -- and then wince again as they find that pose uncomfortable as well, but just suck it up and endures the pain. The facade is all, right now.

"Are you interested in striking a deal, Phantom Thieves?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>As the group filters in, some from the third floor (what the hell is up there? He's going to have to Find Out if they're that horrified), Shinjiro sits up straight. "Shinjiro Aragaki," he introduces himself brusquely.

Don't worry, Merry, he's not going into ethics! That's for the SEES meeting.

Instead, he's gesturing to Mio to join him on the couch as she filters in from work. "Over here," he says, before turning to Joker, observant eyes appraising him.

"Good," he says to the quip about the Old Maid, though it's slightly less brusque. Ryuji then gets a nod as Shinjiro sees that grin.

"Are you all familiar enough with Skill Cards?" he asks, genuinely curious. "I only learned about them from Merry, myself."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Arriving here about the same time as Mio, it doesn't take long before they're joined by someone else-- Joker, specifically, who briefly startles Umie by doing the one thing she didn't expect: come in through the front door. She recovers quickly enough, quickly moving to the side so that Joker and the rest of the cast of Cardboard Dragon can properly interact.

...but not before catching a glance with Joker and betraying a slight sideways grin back, for several reasons.

... One of which is her glance back towards the back room, where the stairs to the Third Floor are.

Maybe they'll find another way in. Or possibly--

Ah. Umie gestures with her hands, giving Myunghon a 'SEE?!' look. "..... Merry-san," Umie flatly murmurs, "I thought you said you had cl--"

She lets out a lonnng sigh. "... I should probably head back up--" But then, she hears the two Thieves thump down the stairs, wearing expressions similar to what Umie had worn, not too long ago. "... I told you to put a sign up."

Still. A part of her feels an odd flush of pride to have discovered that 'entrance'... even if it was for the same reason she was scouting the Cardboard Dragon building as a whole earlier.

.... They all have enemies that would likely love a chance to attack either group, about now.

Which is why, when Queen arrives, Umie's hands instinctually go to her jacket's pockets... for a weapon that isn't there.

(Right. This is her *nice* jacket.)

Still, she relaxes, realizing who it is: Motorcycle-san. And Red-san, and that must be.... a Skull-san.

'Skull and Panther.' AHA. She got one on the first try!

Umie's outward expression doesn't change, however, just making way for Skull and Panther to make their way in, while looking at Myunghon.

(..... what was the deal, again?) Umie's face betrays a look of curiosity, seeing Myunghon's facade.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> Part of So-young had honestly been expecting Myunghon's offer to be rebuffed. Whichever way you cut it, that would have been the sensible thing to do when it came to meeting anyone, even a shadowy Rumormonger they've fought beside. So the conductor's practiced routine is still done with a degree of surprise evident on her face, the way her eyebrows raise to take in the sight of Joker properly, without the threat of a piggytank falling on her any moment.

So-young's attempt at being foreboding and above all tactirun only lasts so long, not least because she's just not the sort of person to be able to keep up something like that for long. Her eyebrows go up at Umie's rather bedragged state, glancing over with genuine concern. "Oh, I certainly can believe it. You should have let me know! You couldn't have been far from my place. I'd have let you in to dry off."

Mio's rather blitzed entrance gets an understanding frown as well, and So-young reaches behind her seat to where she's stashed a small Triple 7 bag with some snacks in there. She's starting to understand what really matters during the Dark Hour, and the troubles of trying to manage an extra hour of the day when that extra hour happens to be in the dead-ass of night, and as such - she has canned coffee on hand, waggling it in a silent offer.

"I would be let down if they didn't, honestly," she chimes merrily towards Joker's statement as she straightens up in her chair and relaxes afterwards into a bright smile. "Though, maybe give us all a heads up if someone intends to crash through the window, just for safety's sake."

Somehow, the third floor has remained safe from So-young's meddling. The conductor recognizes this as likely to be a hard stopping point - that if she willingly and openly invaded that part of Myunghon's space, there would probably be no mending whatever came next. Besides, just as she's fond of her own private space, so she will at least respect that in others. Maybe someday she'll see the state of it all, and woe betide anyone in her path afterwards. But for now, she has two new datapoints in the form of shellshocked Phantom Thieves to add to the burgeoning curiosity in her mind.

She settles for an incline of her head, the convenience store bag still held in her hands, honestly uncertain how to mend first impressions given she's missing any context for what might have happened up there.

So-young holds her introduction back for a while, letting Myunghon say their peace about Kaneshiro. Partially it's because the conductor enjoys being 'audience' for speeches like that - but the way her face also tightens with anger at the mafioso's name speaks volumes about what she still thinks of that man, repentance or no.

"So-young Park," she finally adds to Queen's introductions once Myunghon has switched to sales mode, brightening again. "It's a pleasure - and, might I add, thank you from myself as well. It may not have been terribly obvious, but that time was only my second foray into the Metaverse, and I was still very much learning from example. I like to think I'm pretty good at flying around on my Persona now, but I do have to give you the credit for the idea." There's an artful pause. "That and the place collapsing, I suppose."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem> Perhaps there's something to be said for one's perception of oneself during the Dark Hour and the reflection of that. By which I mean, Mio was clearly so preoccupied with getting safely across town that her cognitive self is a convenience-store worker and not a cool warrior of the night clad in the raiment of shadows. Merry is giving her an out, but still, making it late to your own meetup is tipping the slider from Cool to Lame. The only saving grace is that she has taken off her nametag from work, because the cringe singularity of standing there before the uniformly-themed Phantom Thieves with a little FamiMart themed tag clipped to her shirt might actually crumple her up and kill her instantly.

"Ahum--hey there. Myo here. Thanks for coming to meet us!" the young lady with the bright pink hair flashes a V with her fingers and turns her head to one side. Her free hand glides across her face, which looks kind of chuunibyou and faux-dramatic, but the shadows her fingers cast soon solidify into a pointed mask of white iron. Not dissimilar to Queen's, in fact, which I didn't realize until a few weeks into play. Anyway, her voice is very cheerful and her posture suggests a frustrating amount of energy in lieu of life's many vagarities.

Also: perceptive. "Um. Hey," Myo points at Panther not long after. "Is she okay? I know the dark hour's kinda tiring..." she has not yet realized the source of that expression, for she has not seen the depths of depravity that lurk one floor above. It's better this way.

Not being in the lead seat for negotiations for this whole thing, the now-masked young lady tiptoes across the floor towards the sofa, as beckoned. "Phew! Thanks, thanks." She snatches a can of coffee as offered, to boot, her thanks clearly directed to both Shinjiro and So-Young. She cracks the can open with expert timing when nobody else is talking. Unlike Myunghon, her offerings are much less business-focused and, let's be honest, less strictly useful, but she still pipes up after So-Young's introduction all the same.

"Also, we've got refreshments. Help yourself, nothing's off the table! I've been itching to tell you guys how badass you looked when you were socking it to Kaneshiro!" there are little stars in Myo's eyes as she admits this, visible through her visor. Equal parts nervous energy and boundless enthusiasm, then...?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Joker arrives, and greets them all - introducing their group as the Phantom Thieves. No relation to the 'Old Maid', they say - she nods.

"...Rotten luck, to have a guy like that with the same name running around." Shinobu observes.

Her attention turns toward the entrance from the third-floor and - oh, oh no. They ''didn't''.

...They ''did''. Shinobu's expression turns sympathetic as the horrified Skull and Panther emerge.

No one should have to see that.

Her attention turns to Queen instead, as she handles the introductions for the rest of them. She nods to her in turn.

"Nice meeting you all. Thanks for showing up." She replies. The fact that all they're getting is codenames doesn't bother her. She didn't expect anything more than that - just having something to call them by is good enough for now.

Merry confirms that they ''do'' in fact enjoy card games, and even gets a spot of advertising in. How clever of them...

They take point on the conversation, though, and so Shinobu goes quiet as they speak. And when they thank them all...

"...Yeah. Thanks. Hirasaka is a rough enough neighborhood without someone like that calling the shots." She agrees with a nod. "You all fight well. It was good to fight alongside you."

Merry confirms that they ''are'' in fact still having a sale, and Shinjiro asks if they're familiar with Skill Cards - so she goes quiet and lets them handle that part.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
Mona nods firmly to Queen, his white-tipped paws folded over his chest. "Leave it to me. I've got your backs," he murmurs. Given that he's the one who can transform into a car, they all agreed that it's wisest if he's outside so they can make the quickest possible getaway if needed. (Truthfully, he's not a fan of being left out, but he's the senpai here; he's got to show off how reliable and gallant he is to his proteges... Once Queen makes her move, Mona likewise starts circling the building from rooftop to rooftop, keeping careful eye on any suspicious movements. The Phantom Thieves won't be taken off guard!)

On the inside, Skull and especially Panther seem... rattled, Skull with the look of pity he sends around to the people of Cardboard Dragon and Panther with her shellshocked thousand-yard stare into the inescapable core of Sagittarius A*. Joker gives them both a steady look, its inscrutable lack of emotion somehow meant to convey both 'keep it together' and 'are YOU okay?'

Yes, they picked up on that word Panther so desperately wanted to say. It's not what you say, but how you say it. Fortunately, Queen makes her entrance then, and Joker shares a nod with her, silently urging her on, as she takes point on introducing the others. So those are Merry's living quarters upstairs... ...What the hell did Skull and Panther see?!

Joker keeps that question off their masked face, though, only offering a faint chuckle at Merry's gay response and Umie's heavy sigh. Once greetings are done, Merry moves into the reason for this get-together: The Phantoms' actions having led to saving Hirasaka Ward from Kaneshiro's money-grubbing paws. Joker's already aware of this, and so they reply smoothly, "You're quite welcome." (They do wonder what a Homunculus is supposed to be in context, but they keep that question unvoiced for now.)

So-young smilingly asks for a heads-up if anyone's panning to crash through the window. Joker smiles back, winks, and holds a finger up to their lips. "And ruin the surprise? What fun would that be?" (No one is. This is everyone who's showing up tonight. But Joker isn't going to just tell her that, either.) When So-young adds that she'd been a brand-new Persona User at the time, they add, "Oh? Interesting."

Mio introduces herself next--and calls up her own cognitive costume with mask. Is it by design that she's still clearly herself? This ''is'' theoretically a friendly meeting--but if she's trying to encourage The Phantoms to mask ''down'' in return, Joker isn't on board. ...They don't get that vibe from her, though, given her concern for Panther. They wave a hand when she offers refreshments. "That's kind of you, but I'll pass." They chuckle and add, "But your admiration is appreciated."

Shinobu comments on the rotten luck of sharing a codename with a serial killer. "My thoughts exactly," they say dryly. "But likewise. You seem like reliable fighters in your own right." They would have to be to hold their own against a Palace Ruler. All of them experienced firsthand just how tough a battle that was.

They listen to Merry's pitch and hum a low, thoughtful noise. "That depends on the deal--but it sounds like you've got plenty to offer." They look from Queen to Skull to Panther and nod to the three before looking back at Merry... who seems to be in pain, judging by how they keep wincing. They respect the need for a facade, though, and pretend not to have noticed. Likewise, they pretend not to notice the surprised look Umie shoots at them. "We're listening."

Shinjiro introduces himself properly now. Seems like he's anti-Old Maid; points in his favor. When he asks if they know about Skill Cards already, Joker nods once. "From Igor, yes," they lie deftly. The Phantoms actually know of it from Yusuke, but they're certainly not going to ''tell'' them that.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>Skull gives Umie a quick nod as he passes, keeping mostly quiet as he keeps watch over the proceedings.

He watches Merry, trying to get a read on them. He blinks as his eyes pop open on the name guesses, prompting a wide grin. "Woah. I coulda been IRON?! That's kinda badass." Surely someone gives his dumbassery a look, prompting him to cough and try to look 'serious' again. "I mean--Yeah, Skull is fine."

Right now, Skull is sure his main duty here is to keep an eye out for trouble and deal with it. Queen and Joker are going to handle this deal or whatever. However, the offer gets a raised brow from the blonde, prompting to dart his eyes over to Joker for their take.

However everyone is thanking them and being all nice. The delinquent rubs the back of his neck nervously, beginning to feel weird about this whole thing. Were they trying to butter them up? Was he too paranoid? Maaan, this was a tense dark hour and he wasn't even outside with all the horror movie stuff.

"Yeah I hear uh, it's pretty rough here." Skull comments back to Shinobu, wanting to say more but thinking better of it. He hasn't even told the others about why he was acting to weird and now sure as hell isn't the time. Maybe on the Mona-bus ride back?

For now, Skull just crosses his arms, looking back to Shinjiro when he mentions skill cards. "Yeah...Heard of those." He is only kind of sure he knows what is being talked about.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
"People live in that?!"

She doesn't mean to blurt it out. She means to be more diplomatic. To use a gentle touch.

But then she just blurts it out anyway because come on HUMAN BEINGS SHOULD NOT BE FUNCTIONALLY CAPABLE OF LIVING IN EXTREME BIOMES SUCH AS THAT

"I-I mean -- no way! Why even ask that!"

Ann thinks she covered for herself well enough there. Look -- her ACTUAL kneejerk reaction was to immediately derail this Very Important Meeting to run an impromptu intervention for this person she's never met who looks like they might be a mummy from those old-timey horror movies to IMPROVE THEIR LIFE or at LEAST give them an extreme (EXTREME) home makeover!!

Ann Takamaki, consummate latchkey kid, knows that ANY amount of mold in a house can quickly become a bad thing, let alone -- a house that is like, half mold now?!

So -- for her, this is good, not diverting things to have a frank discussion on Rumormonger Merry's personal well-being. (IS that good though--) For now, Panther - stirred from her bleak, blight-blotted reverie by way of bluster, blinks as Merry does some promotional plugging. "Wait, those are out--?!" she blurts, before Queen introduces her. "O-oh err -- right, Panther! That's me!"

Ugh. She's ruining this. She had a whole daydream about coming in, suave and sexy and rife with mystique, to finally be the Panther she knew she could be with complete strangers and now it's all dashed on the rocks. First impressions are ''everything''!

She's stewing over her magnificent failures when Mio asks after her. Behind that feline mask, blue eyes blink once. "Huh? H-haha, I'm fine! I just -- got spooked by a Shadow earlier! The Dark Hour is ''so'' creepy, y'know?"

She thinks that covers her well, if she does say so herself, and given some breathing room as Joker starts to field - negotiations? weren't they just getting a big congratulatory surprise gift or something (they were not)? - Ann takes a moment to assess the others here. Most of them are passingly familiar from their unexpected arrival at Kaneshiro's Palace -- but it's Umie that stands out to her. She's here, too?? ... Well, maybe they ''can'' be trusted...?

Ann's personal thoughts on the matter are tabled for a moment, though, when Shinobu speaks up -- and as she and Merry both thank them for helping Hirasaka from what Kaneshiro was trying to do there. Despite how distraught she seemed earlier, Panther's response is immediate and firm: lips drawn into a tight, thin line, she crosses arms under her chest, and shakes her head exactly once.

"You don't have to thank us," she insists. "I mean... it's nice, but... keeping more people from being preyed on by pathetic bastards like that Kaneshiro is all the reward we need, really." Well, all the reward ''Ann'' needs, anyway.

As to the matter of the Old Maid - his creepiness aside - Panther proclaims quite firmly: "Our Joker is the only one who really deserves that name, as far as I'm concerned." Does she know the meaning of Joker in cards? Or symbolically? Of course not. But Ren's made it his own, and that's what matters!

And so - after Ann insists she's pretty good with just beating up exploitative jerks like Kaneshiro - things pivot to -- the REWARD. Or the DEAL. Myunghon talks about Skill Cards. Shinjiro asks if they're familiar. Panther nods once as she makes her way to join up with the others.

"Uh huh," she says -- and does NOT try to follow up on Joker's clever lie because even SHE knows she'll just draw undue suspicion trying to add onto it. Igor! Yeah! Totally!

So for now, she remains quiet, blue eyes wordlessly watching as Myunghon winces, saying nothing for now -- even if the mask can only do so much to hide any concern she might be wearing on her sleeve.

Is Merry really okay? ... and what do Homonyms have to do with Skill Cards?

Ann keeps her private worries about academics being tied into cognitive crimes strictly to herself for now, and everyone is all the better for it.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
Makoto mentally adds an extra rule to the list: 'Back up Joker's story, let him do the lying cause we all suck at it'.

Merry gets a nod of acknowledgement from Queen. "You helped us put Kaneshiro in his place. You don't need to thank us for that- we had our own reasons for going after Kaneshiro, his plans for Hirasaka were an additional reason to make him face consequences." She doesn't explain 'their own reasons', but so many were there when Queen lost her shit at the man in the piggytron. Still, the mention of the Zanichi gives Queen a momentary think.

She, after all, had only overheard the term from phonecalls her father had sometimes. That required some research of her own, when she had realized they were having a meeting with this group. The good news is she didn't have the full picture!

She still doesn't have the full picture, though, and wouldn't mind some more details.

She sees Umie reach for a weapon, and Queen's hand shifts to her hip- where she could summon her revolver in a second just in case, but Umie relaxes for a moment.

So-young gets a nod from Queen, who also offers thanks for- providing the idea of riding a persona...? "My persona is rather unique in that respect. I haven't seen another take a form like hers."

Myo, however, seems to sacrifice her protection of anonymity as she musters her mask, and Queen takes note of that. It doesn't give her any other information- but she *is* surprised at the amount of praise being given out. That she's not really prepared to handle, so hopefully maybe the other three can handle that?? ...Skull and Panther can definitely handle that, they're great at it.

Shinobu gets a nod back too, while Joker asserts that they're familiar with skill cards. "It also depends on who the deal is with. Are you bargaining on behalf of just yourself, your group as a whole or a broader interest?" Queen is here to be all business, the front of the metaphorical mullet that is the Phantom Thieves, while Panther and Skull represent the party at the back I guess? This got away from me.

And then Panther blurts that out and Queen turns to her, briefly horrified- but thankfully Ann gets distracted by a new card game for a moment so Makoto does not have to introduce her to the patented Queen 'Shut Up And Stop Sharing' kick. Yet. Even Skull is keeping control better than Panther right now.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Hmmm hmmm. It looks like everyone's hitting it off themselves, the way Shinjiro and Ryuji are comparing themselves to being the bruisers of the group. They just sweetly smile to Umie in turn, perhaps the topic of how the balcony door was breached a mystery for another time, waving her concerns away. "A phantom shall enter where they may!" they declare with all too much confidence. "There is no sense in dwelling of it."

Even if Ann continues to express her extreme shock at the, as she puts it in narrative, Extreme Biomes that Myunghon Yeo persists in. Perhaps the mold grows into giant monster spores in the Dark Hour, like some kind of hazard tile? Perhaps it is an explorable Stratum all on its own.

Merry won't dwell on it. Merry considers the offputting nature of the third floor a win. Myunghon's going to roll around on their depressing lumpy futon in mortal embarrassment later. That's Myunghon's job. That's Myunghon Yeo's only job.

What was the deal? Well, information and Skill Cards is simple enough, but Myunghon is leaving what they want from the Thieves vague enough to see if they'll pony up any suggestions on their own first. So-young introduces herself in short order enough, and adds her own thanks in turn. And indeed, it's perhaps a stroke of mercy that So-young hasn't paraded herself up there to make a statement of it -- one of Myunghon's initial reactions might just be to buy a violin to hold it hostage up there to deter their sister, after all.

Myo gets pulled in with Shinjiro and So-young on the couch, and manifests her Will of Rebellion outfit... though they do wonder if the disguise will still work now that she's been out in the open with the rest of them. Not that that will be a particular problem -- the Cardboard Dragon is very open to their real-life identities. That's part of their thing.

Even Rumourmonger Merry being Myunghon Yeo is a very open fact, so Mio isn't alone in that, as she offers refreshments if any of them reach for it, as she admires the Thieves when they were enacting their style upon Kaneshiro's minions and Piggytron.

It was pretty stylish, after all...

Shinobu calls it rotten luck that Joker picked the same handle. It does intrigue them -- some people might choose to have a different name. It isn't as if 'Joker' is common knowledge amidst the Phantom Thieves' public popularity -- they might be some of the only ones to know the codename. So why keep it? Is there a personal reason? As always, Shinobu's straightforwardness is something they find terribly charming, having a quiet smile towards them.

But ah, it seems that Joker's playing their cards particularly close to their chest. This is someone who's quite inflappable -- they convey a lot through those eyes, without betraying too much expression, the way they clearly have to manage Skull and Panther's reactions in a subtle manner. It's harder than it looks, Myunghon knows, to keep a group's messaging consistent across all its members...

... which is why Merry doesn't bother! It adds to the laid-back and truthful nature of the Cardboard Dragon group. Besides, can you imagine trying to corral So-young in line? Impossible. Merry certainly seems very jovial and grandiose, the way they have a delicate smile and wide eye as Skull considers Iron a cool codename.

"Hmhm... well, I shall keep that in mind, Skull-san. Who knows? You sometimes need to discard or change codenames," is what they simply say, perhaps genuinely charmed by how hard he's trying to keep the 'serious' vibe going. Someone else might think 'exploitable!', but Merry does genuinely enjoy forthright personalities. Panther, too, kind of reminds them of some of the members of the Cardboard Dragon -- there's only so much she can mask before what they sense as genuine concern for their living condition takes over, and that speaks a lot to the quality of her character, as she insists that they don't really need rewards -- the reward of keeping predators like Kaneshiro away from people is reward enough.

"I do admire your sense of justice, Panther," Merry affirms, head half-bobbed like they're just enjoying themself.

Much like Panther, Queen says they don't need the thanks in particular -- but Queen's all business in contrast to Skull and Panther wearing their hearts on their sleeves. What a fascinating foursome this is -- Joker and Queen, the ones named after playing cards, are the ones to keep their cards close to their chest, while the ones with evocative codenames are the ones that do otherwise.

They do remember Queen's rage, having stood right next to her when they made him pay -- Merry's approach was that of velvet draping the steel, on that day. Queen stands opposite to them, and yet, the way she carries herself is all too familiar -- they once wore such a mask in their corporate days.

"I shall bargain for the Cardboard Dragon group gathered here, but please, any of you -- if you have your own concerns, do feel free to highlight any. But allow me to lay out the situation as I see it:"

"We have common enemies and questions. The masked sniper that very nearly eliminated Kaneshiro's Shadow is no small concern to us. We have intelligence on the hostile group that intercepted both of us -- Strega, and the Joker Killer, or Old Maid. No doubt you have other enemies that we are not privy to," Myunghon first explains.

"It is very clear to me that there are other factions that exploit the use of Palaces and supernatural spaces, and I for one have no particular desire for an alliance with Strega nor the Old Maid. No, in fact, as citizens of Sumaru, I consider the Old Maid killings a particular priority to cease."

That vivid, sharp smile is back as they cross their legs the other way, leaning backward dramatically on their throne as they offer a hand forward.

"I would like to propose a deal of cooperation between our groups in our explorations of these supernatural spaces. I shall permit the Phantoms to set the terms, to keep your identities safe, and you shall not need to divulge any facts that inconvenience you on that matter. A 'No,' shall suffice, with no additional explanation required. We will also arrange our own rendezvous points as required."

Merry raises their hand in front of their face and twists their wrist -- and suddenly three Skill Cards have appeared, which they partially obscure their smile behind.

"In turn, we will trade in information pertinent to defeating our common adversaries and keeping ourselves safe from them, and I shall offer you priority and deals on Skill Cards in turn to keep both our teams well-supplied with tactical options, since you are already familiar with these."

So Igor told them... that stands to reason. They have no particular reason to doubt that, and Skill Cards aren't the greatest secret amongst Persona Users anyway.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>As they talk, as Panther... reveals more horrors of the upstairs (CONCERN LEVELS RISING), Shinjiro thinks. These don't seem like bad people...

But he still can't approve of their method, but perhaps they can work with them, help them find a better way to pull it off... not repeat the mistakes of the past.

"Igor, huh. Makes sense," Shinjiro says amicably. "He has his own guy who works on them, right?"

But then, as Myunghon lays out the deal, and offers the others to speak... he's gonna take a refreshment if there's SNACKS from the bag, and then.

"We're pretty well-connected. I've been doing this for a few years now." He can't be older than eighteen, as he clears his throat. "And, basically, there's a lot that can't be done on your own. Things that only certain groups really know about. Tatsumi Port Island in the Dark Hour, Ateliers..." He's not making things up, if his face is read.

"But... not everyone's going to approve of what you do, either, even in this community. And the Old Maid... we've got business." That one's even *more* personal. He seems like he's going to voice a concern for a moment, then shakes his head.

"If Merry's for it, I'm for it."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Umie gives Queen a quiet nod, having noticed her earlier reaction to Umie's own reach, quietly showing her palms as a silent gesture.

The two of them are reacting the way they should; while Shinjiro represents the brawn, Umie represents paranoia.

But also, bias.

"...." Umie's flat expression says it all, as Myunghon falsely suggests that an alliance with Strega or Old Maid was even in the cards (ha ha ha). "... If that *was* even a possibility in your mind, I doubt I'd be the only one that'd throw a fit over it, Merry-san," she notes. (She knows Myunghon wouldn't. However, the Phantom Thieves do not know what she knows; they could easily take a suggestion as a reality.)

Better to say it out loud, that to even look like, for a second, it was ever a passing possibility.

She looks to Skull and Panther, then judges the layout of the room. ....

Hm, no, she can't really display her own abilities without looking like a complete dunce; walking across the room on the bare assumption her cloaking abilities will do the heavy lifting.

(Even if she really, really, *really* wants to suddenly be on the other side of the room.)

"I'll freely admit to my bias here; you guys saved my life from the Old Maid, despite the danger he presented to you all." Skull may not have been there for that, but she'll nonetheless include him in on that.

She considers, folding her arms, then sighs, raising a red coral nail'ed finger. "Bear with me on this, but I may be able to help, on the topic of the sniper. Not in terms of information," she's quick to say, "but in training. You help me improve my own abilities, and you guys just might be able to tell when they pop up. Besides... while I have no intentions of throwing myself in harm's way of someone like that, seeing any smug agent get their tricks thrown in their face will make my day. And, even if I can't tell if our abilities are the same, you guys just might be able to tell when they pop up."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> So-young seems completely unruffled at the way she passes Mio a can of coffee and scoots her chair across to one side to leave space to reach the couch. "It had to be miserable at work today, surely?" she offers, as if this wasn't a meetup of two clandestine organizations. Joker's entrance was certainly dramatic, and Queen seems to be very strict, but the mysterious Third Floor has done something unexpected - it's broken the ice at least a little, leaving a couple of the Thieves on the back foot.

The conductor can appreciate Ren's showboating, and she theatrically frowns as she folds her arms. "I'm very allergic to glass shards, just to inform you, and they're usually considered a little rude as a welcome gift," she notes, before brightening into another of those incredibly common smiles. "I got sucked straight in, if you can believe that. I was arguing with the doorman, demanding to be let in, when Merry found me." Which rather leaves open the question of what would have happened if Merry _didn't_, but fortunately that never came to pass so So-young has never devoted a single braincell towards it.

Her eyebrows rocket upwards as Panther finally blurts out the question on her mind, and once again So-young absolutely itches to go up there and experience it for herself, bound by her own moral code not to. What doesn't bind her is her expression, though, and her wide and curious eyes try to catch the attention of the young woman in red as she waggles her eyebrows. The message is intended to be a silent 'tell me afterwards, tell me afterwards'. Not that that'll work, but, you know, she can live in hope.

Rather than the praise itself, it's most interesting for So-young to watch each Phantom Thief's reactions to it. Joker cooly accepts everything coming their way, whereas Skull looks completely confused by the prospect of someone being nice to them. That reaction makes more sense when you factor in Phantom and Queen's very independently-minded stances, and So-young nods to herself in satisfaction as she accepts that - mostly. "Even so, you could probably say we were out of our depth on our own, given what it all came to. Besides, some of us had a rather personal grievance against him."

So-young grins brightly towards Queen. "Oh, it's not really meant for it at all. It is an absolute pain to try to find handholds amongst its shape, but I wouldn't stop myself for the world. Flying around on Icarus during the Dark Hour is absolutely addicting." She's volunteering a lot of information about her capabilities and Persona here, even if she probably yelled her Persona's name back during the fight with Kaneshiro. This seems to be her default position when interacting with most people - you could probably ask her about her job and immediately start an entire lecture on the nuances of conducting.

And certainly, her forwardness has left Myunghon mortified at times and plenty of people stunned in her wake, but So-young can't imagine herself acting any other way. Besides, this is a collection of young adults who have seen enough of _something_ that they're willing to dive into the heads of untouchable people and try to correct something, not even wishing for thanks. She'd much rather aim to be more open to someone in that position, rather than more closed-off.

... and that's how it suddenly clicks for So-young that maybe they're not all that different in terms of groups. There's no regimented loyalty here, just two loose groups of connected people with all the bumps and knocks and weird shapes that can include. ... that said, she's smart enough to know that she might be projecting a little. Or to put it another way: she'd feel better about the Thieves being so young if that were the case. It's more pleasant to think they've got each other's backs, that behind the secrecy they have their own Cardboard Dragon to laze about goofily in.

She does suddenly frown, though, because Rumormonger Merry is laying out the terms of a potential deal and this is serious stuff to pay attention to, fill of important concerns and gravitas. Ha ha ha no of course not it's about the codenames. "No, no, no, Skull is much better if you ask me," she insists quickly with a confident nod, as if she were the Judger Of Art. "It goes with the leathers. All you need is an electric guitar as a weapon to smash over people's heads and some death metal at maximum volume and you're set for life."

"--Personally, I'd be delighted with an allegiance," she suddenly adds, quickly joining the main topic. Her voice is still light, but there's a distinct fire in her eyes. It hasn't been that long since she watched someone die in front of her, and that's still coming back to hit her at unexpected moments. "There are clearly plenty of groups out there with a lot more power than either of us."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem> Making the most of a bad situation, the remainder of Myo's cognitive costume unfurls over her. For a moment, it's like trying to read a book in a dream, where the details keep shifting and refusing to be pinned down by one's gaze. When the shifting and shadows are complete, the young lady once dressed up for selling instant ramen and ramune is now swathed in what amounts to an armoured nun's habit. The ramifications of this, well, she'll just have to deal with that. Anyway, more importantly, she's pointing at Skull with now-trademark vigour and amusement, since he's disappointed at not being Iron. "You could upgrade into Iron Skull!" she says without a trace of sarcasm.

She also has nothing of a functioning lie-dar, or chooses to play on Hard Mode + Ironman by taking everything at face value. So when Panther's flustered defense is that the Dark Hour sucks and is scary, the Armour Nun(tm) nods in that 'SO true, bestie' way. "Oh! Okay! I getcha. I dunno if we _should_ ever get used to it, either..." her gaze falls down for a moment, the better to ruminate with!

But, let's not get too sidetracked just because Myo is a violent scatterbrain. There's a very real reason to gather here today! She first pipes up after her boss, since Merry has called for questions, if anyone has them. It is more of a general address, in the end. Unlike Joker, her heart is worn plainly on her sleeve. Her reasons and rationale are those of someone who hasn't even heard of subterfuge, let alone practices it. "Oh, uh, yeah. What Merry said, I want to second. You guys are punishing the untouchable, and it's, like..." there's a squint behind the mask as she gauges how honest to be (the slider only goes between 95 and 100). "... what I wanna do more of. There's a lot of people out there at the top of the food chain who need to get what's coming to them for their crimes."

By this point, she's sat up with both hands on her legs. That's somewhat formal, at least. "If someone threatens you, I'll knock 'em down. If you find another guy like Kaneshiro who needs reminding they're not all that, I'll be there."

Her piece said, Myo returns to fiddling with an errant pink lock snooping out of her mask. She glances aside to Shinjiro and then across to So-Young and Umie. "You can tell why I'm not the negotiator, here..."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Joker's dry response gets a smirk out of Shinobu - and then a nod, as they return her compliment.

"Thanks. We've got some experience." She replies. She looks toward Skull, then, as he comments on how Hirasaka is pretty rough.

"It can be." She confirms with a nod. She's not going to ''lie''. "But it's ours. So what we do what we have to to keep it safe."

Panther, meanwhile... insists that they don't have to thank them. Shinobu considers that for a moment... and then, a smirk crosses her face.

"Fair enough. I can respect that." She replies with a nod. That's what's important, anyway.

She meets Merry's glance briefly, as they offer that quiet smile, then turns her attention back to the Phantom Thieves.

'Igor'. That's a reasonable enough answer, and she doesn't see any reason to dispute it. Back to the deal, though - Queen has questions on the specifics, and Merry does the bargaining. Shinobu listens.

"...I do have one question. We didn't really get a whole lot of time to talk shop given, well..." She unfolds one arm, miming a gunshot before folding it back in.

"Kaneshiro. What happened there? He wasn't the kind of guy to repent so easily. We did things your way, but I still don't really know what that meant for ''him''." She asks. "...Not that I'm complaining. I wouldn't have lost sleep over him, but him dying on us would've meant a lot of trouble."

She shrugs.

"...But, it's not a dealbreaker, either way. I stand by what the boss says." She concludes.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
'A phantom shall enter where they may!' "True," Joker remarks. They smirk again at So-young. "Oh, well, if you're ''allergic'', we can't have that." They ''can'' believe that she was just sucked in, though. It happens more often than you'd think.

Panther blurts out her shock unthinkingly, as you do when you are Ann Takamaki, and Joker raises their eyebrows at her. Why ask that, indeed? (Maybe if they'd seen that room, they'd understand her shock better...) Fortunately, she gets distracted before Queen needs to silence her.

Skull gets a wry smile when he gushes over the name Iron, but he settles soon enough. He seems to have some nerves still--whether that's anything to do with his odd behavior earlier today, Joker doesn't know, but Skull doesn't need to worry about doing any talking anyway. It'll be fine. They give him a reassuring nod.

Panther handwaves the thanks Cardboard Dragon gives The Phantoms, asserting that justice is its own reward. Joker smiles, eyes shutting briefly behind their mask; it's well said. Queen makes the standard point that it wasn't really for Cardboard Dragon, that it helping them out was just a coincidence. However...

"Panther's right, of course--as is Queen." They open their eyes to regard Merry and their band of mischiefs and sweep a slow hand in a gesture to encompass them before dipping into a theatrical bow. "However, when someone offers me their gratitude so earnestly, how could I do anything less than accept it?"

In other words, they said 'thank you' with grace and they're moving on. They're not going to get buttered up, but out of respect, they're not going to reject those feelings either. Not when they do get the sense they're all being genuine about it.

Panther's assertion that Joker is the only ''true'' Joker gets a grin. However, that point's already been made, and it's time for business. Queen makes some pointed questions. All of them skillfully back up Joker's lie by keeping their mouths shut. Merry says what they, Cardboard Dragon, want from a deal with the Phantom Thieves...

Their sickle smile fades into a neutral line. They make a very good point--about the one in the Black Mask, about Strega, about the Old Maid... about the NWO, though Merry doesn't name that one specifically even though Umie's right there. They nod once, slowly, as they cite the Joker Killer someone who needs stopping in particular. The Phantoms had already come to that conclusion too--but without a name, their hands are tied. They don't say that, obviously. The terms Merry sets are generous regardless.

But they don't respond at first. Rather, when they're done, they look at Umie and the others in turn to listen to what ''they'' say and gauge their reactions. Umie jumps in to make it clear an alliance with Strega was never in the cards, but they never thought that it was. Umie surely wouldn't be here otherwise.

Igor has his own guy who does Skill Cards...? That's news to Joker, but then, maybe Caroline and Justine ''can'' do that and they're too busy executing Personas for fusion to let on. Their poker face remains intact. It does seem like Shinjiro isn't lying, though... Which means that The Phantoms sorely lack information about supernatural matters outside their own purview (purrview), because they know they have no idea what an Atelier is in context. That's a good reason all on its own to take this deal. However...

"We're not doing this for approval. We do it because we can't look the other way when out-of-control tyrants trample the innocent underfoot." (They're... mostly not doing this for approval. Approval is a secondary concern for most of their members?) Noting the way Shinjiro hesitates before shaking his head, Joker adds, "Are you ''sure'' you're for it? You seem like you have misgivings."

So-young, Mio, and Shinobu, by comparison, seem far more genuinely into an alliance. So-young and Mio specifically seem like extremely open people, and Joker chuckles at Mio commenting on why she's not the negotiator. "Maybe not, but I enjoy your straightforward honesty," they say. Obviously, since they're running with people like Skull and Panther.

Umie offers to help with the one in the black mask by... having them help her train her ability to sense Resonance? That ''seems'' to be her part of the deal. Having more help dealing with ''that'' one is tempting, but it doesn't seem like something she can guarantee...

Shinobu's the one who actually asks it: how ''do'' they change hearts? (Well, she asks what happened to Kaneshiro, but six of one...) Joker gives her a long look before sharing that look with their companions. "How we do it is a trade secret," they decide on--if that's Cardboard Dragon's true goal, that might dissuade them. They suspect that's not it, though. "But in a nutshell, we've stolen his distorted desires, and he now sees the world clearly. That includes his actions and their ramifications. This is something we only do after researching our target to make sure they're carrying out those distortions in the real world in a harmful way that normal people can't stop, then discussing it with all of our members and agreeing on it unanimously."

All their debates with Akechi have served them well; this is an answer they've thought through for a long time. That 'unanimous' part, though, means they must add, "Your offer is intriguing. However, we'll need to discuss it amongst ourselves. If we don't all agree, we won't do it--same as changing hearts. If you can agree to wait for our decision, we'll send you a message back later letting you know what it is." They pause. "If we have more questions before we can agree, who will be your contact point?" They focus on Merry. "You?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>"So a team up..." Skull bluntly says when Merry lays out their cards on the table. Really the bruiser is of the mind to walk away since more bodies outside of the group might complicate things. Then again, he wasn't one of the brains here. This was entirely up to Joker.

Skull does however nod to Merry's comment about codenames, offering a grin.

"Atelawhasit?" He repeats one of the things Shinjiro mentions and looks to the others to see if its something he should know and forgot or if they are equally confused. Finally, he returns to looking "tough".

But then the topic of codenames comes back and he can't help himself, responding to So-young. "Woah... I can't afford a guitar to just smash it! That's like 40,000 yen right? Yeah, no way...Errr..Forget I said that." Skull tries to cover his very obvious blunder here, leaning back on a wall or something. Actually, a thought about the upstairs comes to his mind and Ryuji steps back from the wall, as if the mold from upstairs could travel to him.

Skull perks up at Mio's talk of taking down people on the top of the food chain. "Heh. Yeah exactly. You get the idea then."

Shinobu seems to be asking how the sauce is made and that isn't really something the group can spill. Was this the secret meaning of it all? Skull frowns and slouches in his spot, hearing Joker handle the answer before adding, "Yeah...Not something we can share."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
Oh good! Panther's Performance roll wins again with Mio, against all logic or sense!

And so Ann continues on, believing she's a great actress.

So-young waggles brows Pantherwards. And Panther, being a master of body language - especially when it comes to gossip - but for sad reasons - instantly picks up what the older woman is putting down. She blinks. Suppresses a grimace.

And then, keeping her hands at below-the-waist level, she discreetly waves gloved fingers around in a very on the downlow sign of 'no no no no no no'.

There are some things mortal minds were not meant to know.

And besides... Ann can kinda tell Merry has an image to maintain, and she can feel sympathy for trying (and failing) to project a certain idea of yourself, despite your best efforts. Out of solidarity, she can't in good conscience contribute to that undermining!

... you know. anymore than she already has.

(plus also she doesn't want to get a shut up kick, she likes her legs, they do much better thriving a kickless life)

But the further this conversation goes, the more adrift at sea Ann feels, and the more she's realizing that there is really a ''lot'' they don't know about this world of Persona -- unless Morgana's been holding out on them, like a secretive cat! ... Are cats secretive? She can't very well ask HIM that because it's going to make him mad, but now she's curious--

Regardless. It's something she latches onto, how in over their own heads they really are, when Myunghon starts talking about Ateliers, and Tatsumi Island relative to the Dark Hour like that should be meaningful, and Strega - those weirdos fighting with the Old Maid. What else is happening that they're unaware of?

Maybe it's okay, that they only know about Palaces, because that's where they can actually affect things. ... But do they really know everything about Palaces and Mementos, too...?

Maybe they ''do'' need help. Morgana can only do so much, without his memories. And... with people like Akechi, and the Black Mask out there...

Panther is lost in her own little world of thought as Joker and Queen field the negotiations with the Cardboard Dragon, right hand gripping at her left elbow and gaze cast groundwards as she chews the inside of her cheek. It's Umie's offer that causes her to blink. She looks the other blonde's way, the lift of her brows hidden behind her mask.

"For real? You could do something like that? I mean, I've been trying to train a bit, too!"

<FLASHBACKS TO ANN TRYING TO COMPEL REN TO ROAST HER MERCILESSLY GO HERE>

"But, um. Nothing like that."

It's only when Shinobu asks that question though that Panther's expression hardens, just a little. Joker offers a - pared down - answer to that question. It's smart. How they do things - Ann knows what it could do in the wrong hands. There's already the Black Mask out there, messing around in Palaces. It's why they have to be so careful about who they tell. But...

''... and now he sees the world more clearly.''

''I wouldn't have lost sleep over him, but him dying on us would've meant a lot of trouble.''

Sky blue eyes narrow.

"We don't kill people," she insists, simply. But she has to add, because if she can't speak her mind, what is the point?

"... People like Kaneshiro don't deserve an easy way out like that, anyway. They should have to live with what they did."

Kaneshiro. Madarame.

... Kamoshida.

She's not going to just let them ''escape'' the consequences.

After that, though, she quiets as Myunghon lays out their terms. As Joker explains the need for a unanimous decision, even on this. In this much, she mostly just contemplates the people here, quietly considering them all.

Save for a moment when she leeeeeans over to aside to Skull,

"... do you even know how to play guitar??"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
Queen frowns when Merry says the Phantoms can set the terms. That's generous- perhaps too much so, for Queen's own paranoia. The Cardboard Dragon offer priority on skill cards- which will take some of the load off mission logistics, and information which would be useful and that the Phantoms don't have, but it doesn't sit quite right with her as yet. She waits to hear what everyone else puts on the table from the Cardboard Dragon too- Merry is right, Queen plays her cards close to her chest.

Don't get her into a Tycoon match, it gets competitive.

Shinjiro brings up bthe topics of the Dark Hour and the Atelier as well as years of experience. *That* is a new one on her- there have been Persona users who have been active for years now? But they don't seem to know about the palaces, or the 'Psychotic Breakdowns'. That's useful information in and of itself.

''But... not everyone's going to approve of what you do, either, even in this community.''

"...I'm aware of that. But if it's a choice between someone else's approval or saving someone- I'll take disapproval any day. That's what my Justice demands."

Looks like she took some of Ryuji's words to heart, after all. As she makes eye contact with Shinjiro, there's a fire to her red brown eyes- this isn't something that will shake her anymore.

Umie shows her empty hands, and Queen too relaxes. The fact that they can't really be disarmed is another advantage the thieves have over normal persona users. Still, Umie expresses her own bias there, and Queen notes it.

Icarus, huh? "...I just hope your Persona doesn't match it's namesake there." Makoto murmurs, quietly. "Even if it feels amazing, you can't afford to get lost in it."

And Queen has come so close to getting lost in that euphoria that Johanna grants her sometimes.

Myo, however, seems to be closer in interest to the Phantoms than some of the rest of CD. That's not even an offer of alliance, that's just an offer to become spare muscle. There's... really not a unified front, is there?

Queen shoots Skull a look, when he reveals an element of the group's ignorance, thus confirming Shinjiro's suspicions. "Skull," she says, and the words come out cold enough to leave ice burns.

Maybe there's a dash of something familiar to Shinjiro there, who can say?

"...Panther's right. The Phantoms don't kill." Otherwise, Kaneshiro would be dead by now. Almost everyone here saw how tempted Queen was.

Still, as Joker states that they'll have to confer with everyone else, Queen has her own questions. First and foremost...

"...I'm curious," Queen comments, as Joker keeps to the theatrics part of the deal. "How did you enter Kaneshiro's Palace in the first place?" It's both a question to test the legitimacy of the deal and to see how much Cardboard Dragon are prepared to offer before anything has been struck. Merry isn't the only one testing the waters. Even though it was Makoto's first Palace, she has it on good authority that this is the first time one has drawn a crowd. They didn't encounter anyone else in Kobayakawa's palace, either. "Kaneshiro's identity was a well kept secret. I can understand a Rumormonger finding his name- but it doesn't explain so many people finding his palace." Hell, Merry and hers were 'customers', but not everyone was, were they? Or had the Thieves just left a way in for everyone?

"You're putting a very generous- and vague- offer on the table. As it stands, we stand to benefit from it a lot more than you do. You can understand we might be suspicious of a deal too good to be true." Because it is, in Queen's mind. Even the Phan-site is something they don't handle directly. She nods to Umie. "You getting training opportunities is a tangible benefit for you that I can see- but it also gains you information on us without necessarily giving any." After all, if Umie is tagging along to train, that means she can see how the PTs work, and SOMEONE will slip up eventually. "So, while you offer for us to set the terms, I'd like to know what it is the Cardboard Dragon wants of such an alliance- and how we'd define 'mutual' enemies."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Merry quizzically tilts a wide-eyed smile at Umie's comment. Their first instinct is to quibble since they think 'I have no particular desire' and 'common enemies' was quite clear enough, but that would weaken their position in the same way Joker and Queen would like to present a unified front in this meeting of theirs.

"It is as Akabane-san says," they 'yes, and' Umie vivaciously, perhaps unable to pick up on sarcasm in the moment, "And if that were to ever change, why, you'd be in your right to strike me down first!"

So-young's openness has always been particularly intriguing, the way she openly shares that she's a new Persona user, and even what experiences that they shared in the Palaces... but it's not new, and they're not all that different. After all, they willingly let go of any sense of security behind their cognitive mask to be known as Rumourmonger Merry. It seems that Joker quite likes the honesty nonetheless.

As much as Myunghon can only think themself as such when they are Merry, and can only think of So-young's confidence as the reason their mother prefers her over them. Because mask enough and you start to believe 'Merry' is the only mask that can accomplish positive things.

"I myself do not plan to become used to the Dark Hour, Myo, Panther! It can and shall be stopped," Merry boldly proclaims, on Ann and Myo's topic of the Dark Hour sucking (it does) and is scary (it is). Myo herself reflects on how she wants to punish the untouchable, and her desires to knock down the people at the top of the food chain. It's bold! It's ambitious! They particularly admire Myo's strong approach -- and Joker says much the same, given how much like how the Thieves have people like Skull and Panther, they have people like So-young and Mio.

Shinobu, though, is asking the question that's been left unasked the entire time, the proverbial elephant in the room (and not the extra boss fight against Ganesha just waiting around the corner) -- how did Kaneshiro's demeanor change? What's behind a Change of Heart, in other words. There's something of a very pleased smile at that, wondering where the conversation will turn next.

Joker underlines that they don't do this for approval. They do it because they can't look the other way when out-of-control tyrants trample the innocent underfoot. They question Shinjiro's dedication, and Myunghon won't step in the way -- they'd like to hear Shinjiro's own words, on his own terms.

But what Joker explains after is of great interest indeed. Joker speaks of stealing 'distorted desires', and Myunghon's eye is glanced towards Umie once more. Joker's phrasing does bring some concern to Myunghon, though Merry's smiling face conceals it well...

'...and now he sees the world clearly'.

It's... ... ... prescriptive.

And yet Myunghon has sensed the distortion echoing within Junya Kaneshiro when they visited the Cardboard Dragon in turn. 'Distorted desires' does echo in their mind. They also clarify that that's only something they do after a careful amount of research -- the Phantom Thieves only change the hearts of those who inflict harm in a way that normal people cannot stop, and that they only act when the deed is unanimously agreed upon.

... it's Ann that, again, provides the heart in contrast. ''We don't kill people,'' she insists. Quite simply, at that. She seems to hide behind how Kaneshiro doesn't deserve to ''die'', they deserve to live with what they did. It's nice to hear, keeps the conversation a little less heightened.

But Queen has a question. How did they enter Kaneshiro's Palace in the first place?

Merry fields this one: "I have the Meta-Nav application," is the first thing they say, "And with it, the capability to bring others with me into a Palace. Even... unexpected people caught in its field. Palaces have also a circulating topic within the Dark Side of Sumaru forum, which is in part how others were able to discover their way inside." Like Katsuya.

"As for his identity? He threatened us in this very shopfloor..." Merry's smile widens. "And I was able to sense his distorted desires."

There it is, they've tipped their hand for now. They won't tip that Umie was able to sense it either -- she can do that on her own prerogative. "From there, we were able to work out that he had a Palace. The rest is pure, classic investigative work -- from unearthing his criminal elements and motives, his usual haunts in Shibuya, and the need to guess the form in which his Palace takes..."

A quiet hum.

"That was a half-hour of guesswork, the price of which I had to eat half a hamburg steak. It was nasty."

Queen is suspicious of how generous the offer is. As it stands, the Phantoms stand to benefit more from it than the Cardboard Dragon does. It sounds too good to be true, and one should always be suspicious of deals of that nature.

"We can define 'mutual enemies' as an ongoing list and agree -- or disagree. Strega. The Old Maid. The Black Mask." Myunghon gestures. "You've stated clear that you will not act upon one with distorted desires unless they are causing harm in the physical realm that the unawakened cannot stop. I believe it would be prudent for us to be able to disagree on whether each of us would like to act upon a Palace or not."

As to what the Cardboard Dragon wants of such an alliance... the smile is a bit more delicate as they rise from their throne, which shrinks back into the coat that drapes over them and gives them a sense of grandeur.

"As to what I want... you have spoken of motivations, and I shall share mine too, Phantoms. Where your aim is to strike fear at tyrants within the dark, I, Rumourmonger Merry -- nay, Myunghon Yeo, am amongst the people, for it is in common cause that the everyday people find strength and solidarity. A tyrant seeks to oppress the people with Despair, to isolate them, to make them whisper -- 'things can't be better', and it is in turn the destiny of the Revolutionary to counter that with Hope."

Merry's smile is ear to ear once more. A Hope that shall seethe throughout a garden, strangling in its spread.

"This is why our identities are plain, whatever consequence that may come. Why the Cardboard Dragon is an address plain enough to see. This is a rough town full of perils, as Skull has pointed out. There is much inequality here. We are in touch with the streets, for change must come in solidarity with one's neighbours first and foremost."

They place the tip of their finger to their lips as they half-turn.

"When the revolution comes, I should like to play the entire deck." Their head tilts as they turn towards them. "And that includes the wild card -- the Phantoms, in other words."

But Joker does express the expected -- they're going to have to discuss it and come to a unanimous decision, just like changing hearts. It's so intriguing, they think. This Joker is the seeming leader of the group, the one to speak for most of them along with Queen, who provides more of an analytical bent... but they can sense that it's people like Skull and Panther that temper them, make them a cohesive whole. The fact that a unanimous vote exists between them is a positive, to Myunghon.

They're not all that different, are they? Here they are, sitting on their vampire-aesthetic throne until now, making the biggest speeches and speaking most on people's behalf -- but they're nothing without people like Mio and So-young who most wear their hearts on their sleeve. Without the skepticism that Umie brings, the straightforward attitudes that Shinjiro an Shinobu have...

"We will undoubtedly also need to come to a decision ourselves," Myunghon nods to the couch and the others. "As for our contact point... I am certainly happy to facilitate. I believe you are also better acquainted with Akabane-san, having saved her life. So if she agrees, I'd say either of us, lest the other be out of commission for any reason."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> One day, Umie once said, she'll call Joker Joker. But only when she can put to rest the memories of that night for good-- something, she hinted, that may be helped along by Joker (this one) impressing her.

(... As if that was somehow going to be a hard feat, she reluctantly admits.)

And one day, she'll reveal her own attempt to circumvent a potential disaster with those names -- perhaps, even later tonight if she can catch Joker before they slip away. However, if there's one thing she's managed to notice... things, especially in Sumaru City, have a way of blowing up in Umie's face, when she tries to address them. To manipulate rumors is one thing, but to get ahead of one... wouldn't speaking it aloud make it more likely that it'd become real.

Almost like, sometimes, that's the way it was always supposed to happen.
Like Sumaru City's web of rumors, somehow, reacts to the secrets branded onto her, retreating away like mercury on a slightly tipped table.

".... I think we should exchange information about Ateliers at the very least," Umie speaks up, realizing Skull's confusion. "They're going in the same circles as we are; whether this is a one-off thing we came across or something that'll happen more..."

KAPPAS. ".... Let's... make sure we do that soon," Umie says, with an oddly nervous laugh, "kero--"

Please stand by, as Umie has stapled her hands to her face, in a posture similar to how she looked when she discovered Myunghon's living arrangements. (My, that's a rich shade of red there, peeking out on Umie's cheeks.)

..... ...

Minutes later, and she's still got her hands on her face, but arranged so that, at least, her lips aren't muffled against firmly pressed palmflesh. ".... Uh. I think we need to align ourselves for one thing: the cat's out of the bag concerning Palaces and Mementos. While the Phantom Thieves have found a way to use a part of this space, I imagine, even if the Phantom Thieves keep their secret safe, and--" She clears her throat, letting her hands slowly drop away from her cheeks, "--I'd *really* like to keep a hand pressing down on that particular Pandora's Box, so to speak.

"But yeah. I don't think," she says, carefully, not wanting to reveal Myunghon's own 'cards' here, "that's the only way anyone could 'use' these areas. If some organization, like the NWO..."

The letters bring that edge to her tone. ".... all of us here would likely be up there on their list." She closes her eyes. "... But let's save 'shitty what ifs' for another day," she attempts to say, lackadaisically, with a shrug.

"Anyway..." Umie considers Joker's words, looking towards Shinjiro. "Honestly, that's not a bad idea. Shouldn't we do the same? We've put our offers on the table, but not everyone's here. If we got any conflicts, we really should talk it over and come back." She pats her head, feeling how damp it still is.

*patpat* Augh, really? Her hair is still this wet? *patpatpat*

Panther's shock distracts Umie, who looks up at her with a blink. "... Yeah. It's... contextual, but..." She shrugs, eyelids lowering as she shoots Panther a cheeky grin. "I was still alive for a reason, when you found me. If the bastard didn't teleport around I would've escaped. That sniper likely has more experience, but cloaking myself like that is something I'm also able to do. Maybe, if you can figure out how to catch *me* you may be better at catching *them*."

But is that really something Umie could promise?

And is it actually wise, as Queen points out something Umie failed to consider.

She considers, a knuckle touching her chin.

"... Hmm... yeah. And the same goes the other way, Queen-san," Umie replies, with an impressed grin. "While it's not my intent, you have no way of knowing that. And us knowing each other's secrets puts a bullseye on each others' backs as welll--"

Myunghon volunteers Umie.

Umie... squeaks.

"O-of course!" says the utterly flummoxed blonde, revealing her cheeks have resumed being red.

(Ren did say red was a good color for Umie, but that's definitely not what he meant.)
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>Shinjiro's attitude is noticed by the others, even as Skull reveals they do not know what an Atelier is. That's what he expected, but is still interesting to hear.

And then, Joker asks Shinjiro if he has misgivings. Myunghon seems to be willing for him to speak. Shinjiro takes a moment to listen to the answer to Shinobu's question...

He grimaces at the same words Myunghon is concerned by. 'And now he sees the world clearly.

"...I don't think you're bad people. I think we can help each other, because it's better not to be running on anyone's own. People die in this line of work."

"But I'd be lying if I said I liked your methods, and what you just said didn't quite impress me." A sigh. "Who decides what clarity is? Who decides what a distortion is? Even if it's all supernatural bullshit giving us the sense... who tells us what feelings to trust? None of us know what the fuck is going on with all of this."

He thinks back to what Mitsuru told them about Kirijo's past. He can't trust this group, too, hasn't been manipulated or something.

Then, he glances to Panther. "To truly live with something you did... you have to first accept responsibility. But Kaneshiro never did that. His hand was forced. People were saved, sure. His victims got justice. But it all rings hollow."

Rubbing the back of his head and letting the passion die down, he sighs. "I mean it when I say I'll support Merry. But yeah, I do have misgivings. At least let us talk about it some more. Maybe they'll change my mind."

He doesn't think so, but. He can at least try not to kill the deal entirely.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> "Each to their own," So-young replies to Mio with a sympathetic grin. "I'm not very good at playing the mysterious figure or keeping my mouth shut either. But, for what it's worth, I think you put it very well." So-young is a card carrying Audience Member, after all, so she's speaking with at least some level of authority here. That is, if you ask her. So, of course she'd say that.

Joker's quip aside, So-young is quietly surprised at the way that the Phantom Thief suddenly divulges some information of their own. It's not exactly revelatory, but even So-young realizes they've just confirmed some things beyond a bare-bones description of what a change of heart does to someone - for instance, that they only go after targets they've unanimously agreed upon. Part of So-young's brain files that away for later as if it were mega-smart of her, never mind it being at least within the realms of expectation.

The rest of her is mulling over that description of a change of heart. The fact that the desires are 'distorted' and how that might be defined isn't lost on her, though it's not that difficult for her to connect that to the wild and rabid way Kaneshiro treated the acquisition and power of money even outside of the cognitive world. So if they're talking in terms of cognition, maybe the idea is they just strip away the mental cotton wool and the rationalizations? So-young's frowning thoughtfully, but not at all because she disapproves - just because she's imagining what that would do to _her_.

Some questions are better left alone, and in the end... So-young does have something of a habit of looking at the ends more than the means. Whatever the rest of her team may think about the moral implications, to her they slide off like water off a duck's back, to be dealt with later if necessary.

Fortunately, Skull is there to provide a change of topic to leap at. "Not a real one, of course! Can't you just cognitive up a mental guitar of your own or something?" So-young it's not-- it's not a verb that you can just use in any situation like that!! But the temptation has been laid, and the conductor chases it with a joyous smile. "Come on, can't you imagine it? A drive-by guitar smack on the back of Queen's motorcycle," she mimics both hands coming around in a baseball bat swing.

It's strategizing, okay.

Panther gently rebuffs her in the sotto-voce language of a waggled hand, and So-young tilts her head in return in what can be accurately construed as 'fiiiiiiine...' until the young woman's voice firms. It's comforting to know that every group has someone in it who is entirely ready to get real mad at a moment's notice, and while Queen seems to be the one to embody fury it's that vengeful sort of fire that really resonates with the conductor.

So-young tilts her head towards Queen's warning as well. Her Persona's name isn't lost on her. Maybe someday she'll experience a dreadful fall, but-- her smile is bright and alive. "I am rapidly learning to heed that warning. But, on the other hand, I can only ever be myself. And So-young Park will inevitably do what So-young Park's heart thinks is best, even if that ends up 'being a complete idiot'," she says placidly, and perhaps a little wistfully.

"Personally," So-young chips in immediately afterwards to Queen's comments about the creeping scope of any potential terms, "I am not very good at maintaining and defining all the boundaries of an alliance ahead of time. Somehow, I doubt the Metaverse or Mementos are such cut-and-dry sorts of places as to make that sort of thing particularly easy either. I trust Merry fully to set the terms of any deal - but from where I stand, it is at least a start to have just sat here and talked to each other," she adds pleasantly. "Even if nothing official comes of it, we have at least shared a cordial 'hello', and I like to think that counts for something."

She lapses into silence - and sure enough, as she lets Myunghon expound on their Hope, their grand speech is enough to bring a quiet and proud smile to So-young's face. There's a faint little chuckle under her breath, and for a moment So-young maybe understands why their mother might have tried to kill them. She knows little about the Baengnyong, but she'd love to see what the hell would happen if Myunghon really took its reins and pointed it in a direction with that sort of conviction behind it. She's convinced her mother wouldn't know what the fuck hit her.

If she saves a wry smile for herself, it's to Shinjiro's argument: what exactly constitutes 'accepting responsibility', and what is left if someone refuses to? That's how they got to this point with Kaneshiro, after all, because it's not like they could just ask him to kindly stop his extortion and takeover attempt. So-young has dealt with her share of people being convinced that a young female conductor who likes 'modern' music wouldn't amount to much regardless of what she said, and that's already infuriating enough despite being the most tame first-world problem, let alone a rampaging mafioso. Is it fair to expect anyone to wait years of harm for someone's principles to sink in?

She leaves that thought aside for the next time 3am rolls around and she wakes up with a corpse in her mind's eye. Always save the real philosophy for then.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem> Every squad got that one member who can't see further than two to three steps in front of them, bless their hearts. It's true that Myo's offerings are as empty-headed and vague as they come: what could someone stand to gain from offering to start cratering people's enemies? Because when you zap away the punk-headed morality of thumping the bad guys, what you're left with is a dedication to kicking the shit out of people for reasons undefined. And if you start to pick that apart, where's the line drawn? What makes Kaneshiro so wrong, and Mio Kazama so right? That he's bullying and beating up the wrong crowd? That she's bullying and beating up the right crowd? What's the _end goal_ here?

Anyway, not a single one of these thoughts occurs to Myo, the masked, robed figure sitting on a sofa in the Cardboard Dragon, but the Narrator can't help but start to string up patterns on the corkboard for funsies. As a bad liar and negotiator, it's also obvious with Phantom Thieves line up more with her personality. She couldn't hide that if she wanted to. That's a good thing (for them)!

"Distorted... desires, huh." whatever Myo was considering saying, the wind's whisked from her lungs and the phrase seems to have her spooked. That'll be one to ask about next time, she supposes. She feels self-conscious and less confident as Shinjiro throws a stone right through the window of this argument regarding distorted desires and how one fixes them. Luckily, behind that mask, she can just chill out. She stands up and smooths her long skirts out, as Myunghon's conversation and careful consideration of terms comes to a close.

"Not gonna pretend I understand, but--let's do our best anyway!" the battle-nun exclaims with both hands clenched, clearly ganbarimasu'ing through whatever tension underlies the situation.

Yeah, she's definitely gonna cause more problems than she solves.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Shinobu asks her question. She sees the way Joker gives her that long look, Skull frowns and slouches, and Panther's expression hardens. Queen, she can't read as well.

Shinobu doesn't flinch. She's always been the straightforward type. Though it's because of that that she can respect it when Panther decides to speak ''her'' mind, too.

They don't kill people, she says and Queen confirms - and people like Kaneshiro don't deserve an easy way out. Shinobu considers that for a moment.

"Harsh. But I get it." She replies with a shrug.

Shinobu asks her question - and Joker says that the 'how' is a trade secret. That's fair, she thinks - but she does get ''an'' answer.

His distorted desires were stolen, and now he sees the world clearly - his actions and their ramifications...

She considers that thoughtfully. She hears Shinjiro's objections to it.

She can't say she objects to the ''idea'' on its face. Sometimes, you need a direct answer to a problem, and she's a very direct person.

"...That's a lot to take in." Is her ultimate conclusion. "I dunno that I really get what counts as a distorted desire, but I see that it works. Thanks for answering."

She can respect how thorough they are about picking their targets. She'll need time to work out how she actually ''feels'' about it - which is why she's ultimately glad that the Phantom Thieves need time to deliberate, and Myunghon says the same of their group. It's no surprise - they probably would anyway, after learning that much.

Queen has questions, but Myunghon addresses those well enough that she doesn't have anything to add.

"I don't think any of us are in any rush. Probably better to take time to think it over, anyway. Don't wanna jump right into anything any of us will regret." Shinobu decides, ultimately.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
The Phantom Thieves don't kill. Joker nods once, sharp and decisive, in agreement with Panther and Queen. Once again, they're completely right--and this time, they don't add a caveat. Skull's blunder... they simply don't outwardly acknowledge. Better not to call attention to it.

Myunghon answers Queen's questions and then some, waxing on about despair and hope, that they want to represent the people who are being trod upon. They've said as much before--but while Joker was Ren, in the real world--so they simply nod once. Umie as their groups' go-between... "Acceptable."

Umie comments on the Pandora's Box nature of Palaces, and it occurs to Joker that she--and maybe the rest of the greater Persona User community--doesn't fully grasp the nature of a Palace. That's not her fault or anyone's in Cardboard Dragon, considering The Phantoms are the ones not explaining it all, but it does stand out to them. This is underscored when Shinjiro asks, among other things, who gets to determine what a distortion is. Joker stares at him for a moment before tucking their hands in their pockets.

"You sound like that Detective Prince," they comment. Shinjiro's points are worth engaging with, but they simply don't have the time for it now. "Very well. But if you truly disagree with our methods, then I urge you not to passively let yourself be convinced."

It does feel to them like at least some of this is a misunderstanding of what they're doing, born inevitably of The Phantoms only sharing partial information... but that's only part of the answer. Cardboard Dragon saw Kaneshiro's Palace. If what counts as a distortion is still ambiguous after that, Joker genuinely doesn't know how to explain it.

Yet on some level, is that only wishful thinking--the idea that, if they'd just explained it more, explained it better, that Shinjiro would understand and agree? Sometimes, people simply don't see eye-to-eye. Isn't it arrogant to think otherwise?

They wonder if that's how things will ultimately end with Akechi.

Shinobu thanks them for the answer; So-young says at least they've all shared a courteous chat; Mio stays Mio, bless her. Joker gives them all a courteous nod. "Agreed. And if either of our groups can't agree to work with the other, no hard feelings. We all can only abide by our own Justice... and look after our own."

They turn and gesture forwards to Skull, Panther, and Queen to the fire escape exit. Then, tucking their hands back in their pockets, they stride out and into the night.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>Skull looks over at Ann as she leans over. He quietly mutters back to her, "Hmm? Hell no. I ain't got the talent or money for that." He never really saw music as something for him to do. Especially with his life the way it was, it wouldn't have worked out.

Skull back straightens when he hears Makoto's tone. He cringes and just stands at attention to avoid getting on Queen's bad side.

He is going to be a good boy. He swears.

He does snort when he hears Shinjiro though, giving the other punk a look. Who does this guy think he is? The anime's protagonist?

"'Live with what we do'? Who says that, man?" Ryuji wants to defend his friend's honor but he is sure it would make this tense situation worse. So the blonde just stuffs his hands into his pockets and begins to move to make an exit.

Skull takes one last look around the room before just exiting the Cardboard Dragon. It was going to be an interesting ride back. That was for sure.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
Ann Takamaki - Panther - is, indeed, a light-hearted contrast to Joker and - perhaps especially - Queen. She's all wide-eyed wonder as Umie details the possibilities of her training, even despite what Queen points out -- clearly already letting her imagination run wide. She's sighing in open relief as So-young drops the point of the Ominous Third Floor despite that kind of undercutting the whole point of her discretion to begin with.

She even widens her eyes in surprise as Myunghon insists-- "Stopping the Dark Hour? Can... you really do that??" as if the idea had never occurred to her, and yet, she instantly hooks onto it. "That'd be great! Not having to live through this creepy hour again..." despite all the various conveniences it can provide people like them, because she only thinks of the ways in which it's disturbing--

The ways it's dangerous to people ''not'' like them.

She is, in every way, the heart of the Phantom Thieves.

''To truly live with something you did... you have to first accept responsibility. But Kaneshiro never did that.''

''... it all rings hollow.''

"... What?"

But a heart can also know anger.

"'Hollow'?" And it's immediately and ''painfully'' apparent in the way those blue eyes narrow behind that mask, in the way Panther just immediately draws up with squaring jaws and tensing posture. In the fire sparked behind her voice. "Kaneshiro, Madarame--" Kamoshida-- "they were never going to accept responsibility! No one was going to make them, or hold them to account, or anything! They would have just kept hurting people, because this shitty system didn't care about the people they hurt, or-- or--"

Hands clenched into fists, Panther cuts herself off as Joker answers Shinjiro's misgivings in a much more level-headed way. She knows she should just let them deal with it - or Queen, even, anyone who could be more diplomatic in this moment. And in the end, she forces herself to tear away from the conversation when they reach the end of the meeting. But there's a frown on her lips still as she nods to Joker. A fire in her heart still as she turns to follow him out the door.

Because after everything that they've been through-- everyone they've managed to protect-- after what Shiho had to go through--

"The ''hell'' it's hollow."

She just can't let herself accept that word silently.

A moment later, she's gone.

Don't worry: she'll kick herself later having been so angry she forgot she was going to offer to give Merry a lead on some great heavy-duty home renovators on the downlow.

</poem>

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

2025-11-09: What is This, a Crossover Episode?! A Phantom Dragon Story

2025-11-16T07:47:50Z

Jean:

*'''Log: What is This, a Crossover Episode?! A Phantom Dragon Story'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Myunghon Yeo]], [[Umie Akabane]], [[Shinjiro Aragaki]], [[So-young Park]], [[Mio Kazama]], [[Shinobu Shimizu]], [[Ren Amamiya]], [[Ryuji Sakamoto]], [[Ann Takamaki]], [[Makoto Niijima]]
*'''Where:''' Cardboard Dragon, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru
*'''OOC Date:''' November 09, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' August 08, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''As arranged by everyone's favorite cognitive cutie patootie Jose, Cardboard Dragon and the Phantom Thieves finally meet. Feeling out each others' intentions, the two groups try to come to a mutual understanding to take that first step towards collaboration. It mostly goes well! Until the end, when it doesn't. ALSO FEATURING: Things in this waking nightmare we call life that cannot be unseen and cannot be forgotten. ''

----

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
The Cardboard Dragon crew left a message with Jose a while back, delivered the next time they spelunk into the depths of Mementos.

'As a gesture of gratitude for saving Hirasaka,
We are hosting a sale of precious Skill Cards to the Phantom Thieves!
The time will be at the end of Tuesday, August 7th during the Dark Hour.
The place shall be the Cardboard Dragon, in Hirasaka Ward...'

An address is just plainly supplied there.

Well, it isn't as if the Cardboard Dragon is ever a secret -- Rumourmonger Merry, unlike the Phantom Thieves, is a public figure -- insomuch as they're very plainly part of the Sumaru City Rumourmonger network, and no seeming cognitive barrier to pierce their identity exists: you can very much confirm this is very much the same person that you can walk in on during the daytime, perhaps idiosyncratically stacking koalas or doing a random spot of baking or napping on their couch or other miscellaneous irresponsible activities.

And that is the way it is today -- as the sickly moon hangs low over the verdant-cast air, the Cardboard Dragon has signs of life in it.

The Phantom Thieves will find the typical fire escape door on the second floor accessible, and...

and...

well.... if they choose other means of infiltration, there is also the option of going through the balcony on the third floor into the Nightmare Hell Depression Bedroom, full of black mould and dilapidated, rotten ceilings, unpacked belongings in (fittingly) cardboard boxes, a cold, lumpy hard futon, a lack of even shitty furniture, and the quizzically unique nature of someone living with a men's bathroom and thus able to stake a special claim to having their own urinal.

... more details to be elucidated if the Thieves do enter from that direction.

The Cardboard Dragon itself is a homey old three-storey brick building made sometime in the 70s some two blocks south of Hirasaka, the second floor of which certainly looks the part... but kept as clean as possible -- it's about one third card-playing space, one third bookshelves full of difficult and crusty-looking old books from authors around the turn of the 20th century amongst other things, and also one third a living room of sorts, with a couch and coffee table and entertainment unit.

Rumourmonger Merry is in their seat of power in the actual storefloor, seated not on the couch but rather on their Cognitive Coat!! The Coat's stretched out to create a pitch-black throne with thrumming ebbs of crimson throughout, creating the striking effect that they are, in fact, just sitting on thin air and nothing else. They're dressed in their typical white dress shirt and black tie, along with black dress pants, fastidious as always.

Next to them is... their yukata and haori from earlier tonight when they ventured to Shibuya and got rained on. It's hanging on a clothes-drying line. It looks somewhat sad, despite the lavish and fanciful nature of the traditional clothing. It might reveal where they were earlier today. A bout of carelessness, or simply that they don't have laundry space?

"Today's special is a particularly fascinating card," Merry declares, already in the midst of their typical explanations. They raise a Skill Card with a blade of pure ice depicted upon it. "Courtesy of my peers in the Frost community... there are many foes in particular that wield flame and, consequently, are vulnerable to the cold. Why, this came in quite timely against a bonafide Homunculus!"

And then, the inevitable arrival...!"Ara," pauses Merry, as they spread both of their arms out in a Y-pose -- before pausing as their smile goes rictus for a moment, cause wow, their shoulders and arms hurt a lot more than they thought. Still, it doesn't eliminate their aplomb one bit.

"Welcome one, welcome all! Welcome... to the Cardboard Dragon! I am the purveyor of this humble place, Rumourmonger Merry. And these are my most trusted comrades..."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> ----EARLIER----
There's a noise. Several, in fact, as if someone was scoping out the building. Quiet footsteps as if someone was being courteous, but otherwise not sparing any consideration of remaining undetected.

Myunghon will get a text a few minutes in, coming from Umie.

>> if you hear sounds, it's me
>> checking for suspucuisou thiungs

Some more minutes pass.

>> did you block off that window
>> is there a sign
>> nm not enough time

----NOW(?)----
The fire escape door creaks open dramatically, revealing a short shadow standing in the rain outside, draped in a pale grey rain jacket. As the figure steps in, they issue a very non dramatic tiny sneeze, a second before the lights go out. "*tszch!*"

(.... why is So-young turning around like that)

"It's just me, guys," comes Umie's voice, after she rubs her nose with the cuff of her sleeve (if her clothing and height didn't give it away at the beginning). Down comes her hood, revealing her hair, once nicely coffed into an elegant, wispy chignon, accented with a red silk peony and sprays of baby's breath, now matted down from being under the hood, and still damp. "Had to stop by my apartment so my yukata rental could dry out, and the last train was late arriving, so.... Can you believe it started pouring rain during the festival?"

There's other signs of her rainy adventures, such as the remainders of makeup still slightly smudged from a quick rinse in the sink at her apartment. The delicate yukata and geta have likewise been since exchanged for the much less glamourous option of 'whatever Umie could find on top of the basket of clean clothes. ... Which means: a shirt that proudly says 'A APPLE ADAY' in English lettering, with a happy green cartoon worm coming out of a red apple, denim shorts, and those oddly nice sneakers, with the toes of shoe liners peeking up by her ankles. Her black thumbsleeves peek out from the loose sleeves of the rain jacket, which cover the quirky t-shirt. (She *wanted* to dress nicely, but reality, like always, had other plans.)
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>After the honestly pretty excellent fireworks show and followup dinner, Shinjiro came back to the Cardboard Dragon to get changed into his regular clothes, folding his haori and yukata and placing them to the side to take home. He didn't want to take advantage of the CLOTHES LINE, that's Merry's dirty laundry!

Now that Dark Hour has begun, Shinjiro's in his red faux-wolf-furred coat from Peacock Silk, beanie firmly back on his head. He looks... overly warm, but he was also one of the ones wearing a haori earlier, so.

His thoughts on the Phantom Thieves, if asked ahead of time, are full of suspicion. People who can change another's heart, their mind... taking away the choice of responsibility, how awful is that? It is a person's choice to either take responsibility or not. Without the freedom to choose, it's hollow, just a forced confession.

Can they really trust these people have the right intentions for their power? And if they do... do they really know what they're doing?

Myunghon especially could tell why Shinjiro has big thoughts on that. He's very much about personal responsibility, after everything he's done. But even so, he's promised not to ruin it. He needs to observe himself what they're about.

He's on the couch, tapping his fingers against his left thigh rhythmically. He's got a canned coffee in his other hand. He's basically the physical security here, and is prepared to spring up if something goes horribly wrong, even outside a Persona battle.

Hopefully, it doesn't.

As Umie enters, Shinjiro gives her a wave. "It was pretty cool, wasn't it? I'll have to show you the photos I got later," he tells her, trying to defuse his own tension about this meeting.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> Part of the Cardboard Dragon is set aside as a living area, with a couch pointed towards an entertainment unit and an aging CRT. There are some office chairs strewn around the couch for extra seating, and seated on one of them is... someone who is either trying much too hard, or enjoying herself far too much, or perhaps both at once.

So-young Park would not miss this meeting for the world, not least because her thoughts about a Change of Heart kind of start and end at 'oh, you made the untouchable asshole confess? damn, good job!'. If she ever paused to think and properly evaluate the situation, there is a little part of her deep down that would love to figure out how they do it and ascertain whether it's a matter of convincing or coercion or mind control... ... but from her point of view, the two 'victims' she knows of have been a serial art thief and someone directly threatening her sibling. She's entirely happy with the outcomes thus far.

Besides, So-young will always carry the DNA of a theatre kid. There's every chance she's simply here to recruit the Thieves into a revue act.

With that moral quandary out of the way, and the conductor's energy at high just from the happy adrenaline of a festival and fireworks followed by a torrential downpour, So-young has room to be as So-young Park as she wants to be.

The figure that is seated in the office chair is pointed away from both the fire escape and the stairs to the third floor at first, but there is a clear elegance in the way the monochrome figure carries themselves, sitting upright with their gaze levelled slightly high as they seemingly gaze out of the window. As the Thieves enter, the figure's chin lowers, their head turning a miniscule amount - and then as Myunghon calls out, a light kick sets the chair spinning as So-young leans forward to place her elbows on her knees and steeple her fingers together at her chin.

(Yes, she absolutely practiced this. Not to mention she's never sure if it's the Thieves entering or someone else, so she's already done it a couple of times before having to hurriedly reset herself.)

She realizes too late that she's misjudged her push and is coming to a stop pointed several degrees away from where the Thieves have entered, but the only reaction she gives is a quiver of her mouth as she successfully manages to avoid immediately grinning like an idiot. The show must go on. Damn it, she would never have expected Myunghon to be so, so much better at this than her.

So-young has also found herself a mask... of sorts. It's cheap and plastic and the cord has already nearly snapped because it's meant for kids, but she has a half-face kitsune mask she picked up from a stall on the way. Maybe it's for the best that Fox is not present. Not that the mask helps in any way - it is completely mundane, So-young has no cognitive barrier to protect her identity, and most importantly there is really no mistaking her hair, long and hime cut, pure white but for the repeated black stripes to evoke a piano's keys, exactly the same as it has been when certain Thieves have seen her in the real world.

"Greetings," she intones, setting her voice about an octave lower than normal and adding a bit of gravel for good measure.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem>SOME TIME PRIOR

Krump! Boom! Thoom! Kracklekracklekracklekracklekrackle~

The Family Mart perched at the edge of Hirasaka Ward is a 24-hour convenience store ('conbini' to those in the know) and, blessedly on this humid and dreary night, is an oasis of cool, crisp air. Despite being sealed and warded against the oppressive summer heat outside, the rumble and peal of fireworks still creeps through the glazed windows a few seconds behind telltale flashes of coloured light. On this festival evening, Mio Kazama is...

... ringing up the order for a foreign tourist buying a late-night onigiri, drinks, and assortment of snacks. She is clad in the noble silks and finery of the FamiMart uniform, which is a cheap synthetic polo patterned in blue and white with a thick green stripe around the midsection. The item scanner on the counter beeps with every barcode waved before it. "Are you visiting for the fireworks?" asks Mio, directly disobeying Rule #113(1)(a)(vii) of the employee handbook, which discourages small talk with the customers. The foreign man nervously looks down at his hand of 1000-yen bills. Hideyo Noguchi stares back at him, unwilling to translate what the girl in bubblegum pink hair has just asked him. "Y...es." he answers, obliviously, hoping this is the right move that will let him pay and depart without further embarrassment.

"Nice. Okay, that's 2,053 yen please."
"Yes."
"Would you like a bag?"
"..."

A new phrase. The tourist is caught in the gaze of their natural predator: the unassuming and harmless local, unsure how to respond. "Er..." he stammers, pretending not to have heard. Several people behind him in line silently shift their weight and pretend to focus on their phones. The background music begins a new loop once more, and a humid wave rolls in from outside as the store door slides open from someone walking too close on the sidewalk.

Mio turns to look at the clock, bags under her eyes as if all her makeup suddenly stopped working, blue lines and sweat rolling down her face. Too... awkward...

NOWSIES

(Un)fashionably late, the door to the Cardboard Dragon creaks open and a mess of wet pink hair, jeans, and Converse Chuck Taylors trudges through, all wrapped up in a 300-yen poncho whose seams have not survived the rigours of being folded. "Oisuuu~" Mio calls out while not being fully able to see, pulling herself free of her plastic packaging not long after. She's still wearing her FamiMart polo and her hair is hurriedly jammed into a knotted ponytail held in place with a handkerchief.

She has a bag of much nicer clothes slung over one shoulder but has mistimed her arrival, or perhaps was unavoidably detained, and thus, is here to make connections looking like she's either about to inform someone that the bentos are half-price until 6 PM, or ask whether they prefer leaded or unleaded gasoline.

"... oh . . ."

Well, maybe the rollout of the Dark Hour will solve her fashion woes. Unless it's too late, in which case, people have worn stranger shit to Tartarus, man. Head empty, no thoughts of import, she'll figure this meeting out on the fly.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Shinobu isn't entirely sure whether or not the Phantom Thieves will show. She wouldn't blame them for being suspicious, receiving a sudden, direct invitation... But, hopefully, their choice of messenger will at least help them give them the benefit of the doubt.

The only thing they can do now is wait, and hope they accept.

...And wait Shinobu does - leaning against a wall nearby Merry's makeshift throne, her arms folded in front of her as she scans the shop floor for signs of activity. She doesn't know which direction they'll be coming from, but she wants to be ready.

She's dressed casually, in her signature jeans, t-shirt, and jacket. Conversely to Shinjiro, she ''has'' taken advantage of the clothesline, her yukata hanging up to dry next to Myunghon's.

She looks up at Umie enters, cracking a smirk.

"...No kidding." She replies. "Least we got ''some'' fireworks in before they tried to drown us."

And then, the arrival. Merry introduces them all as their most trusted comrades, and Shinobu offers a nod of greeting.

"Shinobu Shimizu." Shinobu greets. By this point, it feels like too late to try to hide herself. She might as well be open.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
It happened not too long ago that Jose, that curious little robot boy who clown-cars around Mementos, passed on a message from the Persona Users of Cardboard Dragon that they want to meet and speak with the Phantom Thieves. (Well. It's basically a privately scheduled "sale"? Maybe even without the scare quotes. Either way.) The team had discussed this and, given their positive interactions while dealing with Shadow Kaneshiro, they agreed to accept... and now here they are.

Not all of the Phantom Thieves are here. They agreed that, just in case, it might be a wise idea that people outside their group don't get to know all of them all at once. It helps, or doesn't help depending on your perspective, that some of the others just weren't able to make it tonight.

That's fine. They can pass on the discussion to the others. For now, after the rained-out fireworks festival, The Phantoms dispersed and then reassembled in Sumaru after taking the trains during normal hours. Once the Dark Hour hits and the meeting is done, they can return to Tokyo via Mementos and Monabus.

For right now...

The sickly green light of the Dark Hour permeates the air in Hirasaka Ward. Only a few minutes after it's begun, something stirs in the shadows just outside Cardboard Dragon. Ren--or rather, Joker--has been here before a couple times, so they know the way in. This is an arranged, agreed-upon meeting, so why sneak? They simply walk up to the building and climb the fire escape exit, gloved hands tucked in the pockets of their long coat, as if they belong there.

Of course, that's only the bold and potentially distracting approach of the leader. Why sneak? Because they're thieves, of course. Some among their others might open for alternate entrances, or to hang back and keep a weather eye out before approaching...

As they stride in to Cardboard Dragon proper, they're greeted by Rumormonger Merry in their throne-esque Cognitive Coat. Joker takes them and their self-introduction in stride, glancing from person to person as their companions introduce themselves in turn--or just hang around, as the case may be. They of course recognize Merry as Myunghon; Umie is here too in a quirky T-shirt, and So-young spinning in her chair in practiced motion with a cheap plastic mask and Shinobu nodding to them all in greeting; they don't know Shinjiro in his unseasonable coat or Mio in her plastic poncho looking well out of sorts, but that's fine.

It does look like a decent number of them got rained out from the fireworks festival too, though.

"Greetings, Rumormonger Merry," Joker replies, projecting their voice. "As you know, we are the Phantom Thieves." They smirk as they raise their hands to tighten their red gloves--a personal tic as much as it is to show that they come unarmed. (Not that they couldn't be armed in an instant, but it's the thought that counts.) "Some of us will be arriving in alternate fashion... I do hope you don't mind." They slip their hands into their pockets, smirk fading. "Amongst ourselves, I'm known as Joker." They glance briefly at Umie, smirk for a second, and add, "No relation to the 'Old Maid.'"

They'll let the others enter and introduce themselves in their turn.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>Skull isn't sure what to make of a sale during the Dark Hour. It is a bold tactic but there was a part of him that found this all...sketchy? This feeling is made worse when Ryuji decides to take the Third Floor entrance for a moment. It made sense to keep these guys on their toes. How crazy would it be if the Phantoms just suddenly appeared from everywhere?! That's mind games and super cool to the mystique of the Phantom Thieves. Skull is going to Mind Freak these people!

That was the plan. Instead, Skull is the one getting Mind Freaked.

He is shell shocked by the bedroom, staring into it's disaster area with wide eyes. "Who...who lives like this?!" He is sure he might've seen a bug. Wait is that mold?! The blonde retches, feeling sweat underneath his mask as he tries to will himself to go on.

It takes some time but finally Skull appears from the bed room and comes down stairs. He looks like he's seen somethings, giving everyone he doesn't know a look of just concern and pity. "Ok. Next time I'm using the Fire Escape. That wasn't what I was expectin to see during the Dark Hour, man... Sup? So what did I miss?"

The deliquent stands ready in the corner he's nearest to, slouching with his hands in his pockets. For the moment, he is letting Joker handle the big gestures of this meeting, keeping most of his mistrust to himself. Skull just scans the room, stopping on Shinjiro for a moment. So these guys got a muscle too it seems. Cool. Skull shoots Shinjiro a grin before turning his attention to Rumourmonger Merry, nodding as respectfully as he can manage.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
What is a Jose? A miserable pile of clown cars?

We're just not sure.

Or at least, Ann Takamaki isn't sure. She has pondered th eJose for a solid five minutes straight one time, and having found now logical answers and only just a deep well of creeping uncertainty demanding she not stare into the Abyss lest the Jose stare back, she decided to drop it there.

He's a little lost Mementos child with a buggy bumper and he likes to eat brain flowers! It's cute, not creepy!

So Ann, of course, was totally okay with the totally cute and totally normal Jose putting in a totally normal request that the Phantoms meet these totally trustworthy Cardboard Dragon people for a totally legit sale off in totally Sumaru. And she was initially, actually! After all -- they were going to celebrate their victory over Kaneshiro that day, and their morale would be skyrocketing, high off the backs of FIREWORKS.

What could go wrong?!

A SERIES OF THINGS THAT WENT WRONG LATER,

"Whyyyyyy does the Dark Hour look so much creepier in Hirasaka??"

This is the grumble of Ann Takamaki - AKA THE PERILOUS PANTHER - that she starts out the green-soaked liminal hour with when she meets up with her fellow Thieves, leather-clad arms wrapping around herself in an assuring hug as she looks over the bleak landscape. It's probably because she's just used to the Dark Hour from the safety of her own home. There's usually barely anyone there, which means there's no coffins! And if you think that's depressing, well--

--

-- shut up!

''The point is'', Panther starts this meeting in dour spirits, having her great summer celebration ruined by a few measily drops of rain and one of her favorite yukata still air-drying off in the hotel room she rented for the night (oh god -- do things still dry during the dark hour--?!), and she is in ''desperate'' need of a pick-me-up. So, when she sees the angle that Skull is deciding to go with their grand entrance? Panther immediately perks up again!

"Oo! Oo, I wanna join! It'll be ''so'' cool and mysANOTHER SERIES OF THINGS THAT WENT WRONG LATER

It's a haunted figure in red leather, not a mysterious and dashing one, that emerges from the third floor of the Cardboard Dragon after Skull. Wrapped in red leather, Panther would have all the dangerous presence of a bona fide femme fatale!

If she wasn't so busy locking a thousand-yard stare off into the distance.

She was similarly, horrifyingly quiet when she and Skull wandered through the third floor. And now here she is, even paler than normal somehow, her blue eyes dead inside as she stares at that fixed point where surely there is a black hole a trillion light years off devouring all light and creation into its imperishably black maw.

"Um. Hey," she says, distracted. Does she notice everyone here??

"Are you--"

'okay?,' she wants to say 'okay,' she desperately needs to say 'okay'--

"--b-big into-- trading card games--?"

bwomp.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
A message to a clandestine meeting with strange people conveyed by an even stranger boy, for a sale no less? It's hard to think a meeting like this *isn't* suspicious. On the other hand, the Phantom Thieves only discovered recently that other Persona Users exists, let alone a whole community of them. This was a good if risky opportunity to learn more. So after weighing up the options, Queen put her vote toward the meeting- if with precautions.

She'd went over the rules: 'Treat this like a Palace. Codenames only, don't give away any unnecessary details, keep our real identities out of it. We were allies of convenience with Kaneshiro, we don't actually know anything about them yet, as Persona Users.'

Queen is... definitely more on edge during the Dark Hour, and her Phantom Thief outfit activates as soon as the Dark Hour starts, with no effort or intent from Makoto. In Palaces, that happens when the ruler perceives a threat, obviously. Does it work the same way in the Dark Hour? It seems unlikely that a time of night or local shadows would recognize just Makoto as a threat. "We only have to endure it for now." Queen murmurs to Panther's complaints, but the edge to her voice is harder.

Of course, Joker is the one who decides to walk straight in to make sure it's not a trap, and Makoto is hanging back before the initial all clear. She's the one who has to provide the escape plan in that case, after all.

Fortunately, for the moment, the need for such plans is not necessary, given that Joker's initial entrance has not resulted in, say, an explosion or a giant shadow emerging or anything else.

So after a few more moments, she turns to their fifth who is definitely not a bakemono. "Mona, I'm heading in. Keep an eye on things, and if things kick off or I send you the signal, you're our backup. I'm counting on you." With that Queen follows, also taking the fire escape for swiftness of entry. Which means she enters the room, sizing up the gathered Persona users. She encountered some of them in Kaneshiro's palace, but didn't really have time to talk. She falls in next to Joker, her scarf moving without the wind- her outfit is about as scandalous as Panther's, but spikier and with less skin showing, it's just rare she's standing still enough or not wrapped in an incredible veil of fury for it to be noticed.

"I'm Queen." She offers simply, as Skull and Panther appear and are...

She blinks. Skull seems to be doing okay, but Panther looks like she's seen hell. And neither of them introduced themselves so Queen decides to take care of that too (especially since she's not sure Panther *can* right now).

"This is Skull and Panther." She clarifies, indicating them each with a wave of her hand before crossing her arms. She's in full business mode, but she looks to Joker first before deciding to set her own tone.

She does, however, make mental notes of every name given. Rumormonger Merry and Umie Akabane she recognizes. Shinjiro, Mio and So-young don't give any details, so Shinobu Shimizu is the only new information she gains- with a full name. Far more than the Phantoms are volunteering.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Unfortunately, Myunghon has their phone on Manner mode, so Umie's texts don't quite get responded to in time. No, Umie, they did not in fact block off their window to the nightmare hellscape bedroom! And when the door opens, it looks as if the Raincoat Killer is here to slaughter them all!! Aieee!! ... no, it's just Umie. Coming in from the third floor.

"Unfortunately for you, Akabane-san, I've tidied up there. You can't deter me tonight," boasts Merry. ... tidying doesn't particularly do much against its nightmarish state, Myunghon.

Myunghon does know that Shinjiro has big thoughts about the Phantom Thieves' methods, but they're not particularly interested in making this meeting automatically devolve into a meeting about ethics. Well, if it becomes an argument like that, it'd still be quite interesting information gathering, but they're aiming for a bigger prize at the moment...

And they're not lying when they say that this is about a gift for saving Hirasaka, because in their mind, that is unequivocably true, even if they had other objectives in mind.

In the end, too, one is reminded that So-young was all 'sucks to be you' at everyone else having to go home in the wet, crowded trains of Shibuya... and yet she also had to be here for the midnight meeting!! Doom, terror, crackow, avash. Still, Myunghon seems content enough to let her practice her little routine out, even if they also advised that perhaps she should get a mask from Umie.

Mio's late entrance is given a nod by Merry, as they gesture with that characteristically vivid, almost V-shaped smile on their face. As if to give her an out from any awkwardness, "Myo, please, come in, and thank you for your efforts. You are not too late."

And Shinobu's got the COOL POSE going on leaning against a wall beside their throne! (Some part of Myunghon is flailing and excited about how cool that looks, surrounded by their most trustworthy enforcers...)

But here come the Phantom Thieves! Myunghon did consider that not all of them would be here -- that's just wise, in their books. They could be walking into a devious and dastardly trap!! Myunghon had a headcount from the battle with Kaneshiro and not much else, and they do identify that the Fox-masked one and the Beauty Thief are not here... and they're not about to read too much into it.

Much like them, the Phantom Thieves are also, almost inevitably, people, with schedules.

But Joker deigns to just simply enter right from the front as if he'd always belonged here. How bold! And intriguing. They offer a greeting in turn, tightening their gloves. They point out that some of the other thieves will be here in their own personal fashion.

"Well met, Joker," nods Merry, amiably enough, and the connection they draw is already dispelled. What a fascinating... coincidence? Is it a coincidence, or something more? The supernatural has many ill designs beyond the means in which they know.

Still, Joker's tactic (perhaps?) of having people enter through various means does seem to have an effect, because Skull and Panther emerging in from the third floor much like Umie did does prompt a particular mannerism, in which Merry taps their finger to their lips as they Shaft-tilt their head over their shoulder.

"Ara ara, I see what you mean now, Joker-san. I hope my living quarters did not alarm you too much... Iron-san, Crimson-san, perhaps?" They have to guess at a codename for Skull and Panther. But it isn't long before Queen sets the record straight -- Skull, and Panther.

But indeed, who the hell lives like that?! Is this also a tactic?! Did they somehow mess up their living arrangements beforehand just for intimidation... no, that ceiling is basically one bad torrent of rain (like tonight) away from just caving in on them. How are they still alive. How did they survive the last winter.

It might be easy to connect Merry's bandaged appearance to that bedroom.

"I do enjoy trading card games!" Merry cheerfully answers, papering right over the terror of having their bedroom stampeded upon. "We're celebrating the new release of the Sourdough Princess Sourdough Starter Pack! For just a bit of dough, I'll even throw a special eggwash-themed card sleeve set!"

Is this the fabled 'disaster adult' they're warned to not become, one day???

"My my! Queen-san! I hope you've been well," Merry does cheerfully say, having a bit more warmth with Queen despite her countenance because once you ride shotgun behind someone's Persona-Motorcycle to manifest a road made out of cloth so she can dunk the personification of one's gluttony with nuclear power, you can't not help but feel some camaraderie. "Thank you again for the other day. That was a magnificent performance. No, truly, it's all of you that I do have to thank."

They gesture delicately with their bandaged hands. "It would not only have been this building. Kasugayama High School, and several other schools, not to mention homes that belong to the Zainichi... it is with sincerity," they gesture with a sweeping little bow, "that I thank you for your aid in stopping Junya Kaneshiro."

Then Merry is spinning on their own throne, their seating posture becoming positively terrible as they poke their legs out one way and cross their legs. "Now! I do mean it when I say that I am offering a sale for precious and rare Skill Cards. I am a collector and spend much of my time in odd situations to earn these. And as a Rumourmonger, I am also privy to interesting morsels of information that may very well be of use to you in future endeavours. Now, as they say..."

They lean their head down against one arm, elbow on their cognitive armrest -- and then wince again as they find that pose uncomfortable as well, but just suck it up and endures the pain. The facade is all, right now.

"Are you interested in striking a deal, Phantom Thieves?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>As the group filters in, some from the third floor (what the hell is up there? He's going to have to Find Out if they're that horrified), Shinjiro sits up straight. "Shinjiro Aragaki," he introduces himself brusquely.

Don't worry, Merry, he's not going into ethics! That's for the SEES meeting.

Instead, he's gesturing to Mio to join him on the couch as she filters in from work. "Over here," he says, before turning to Joker, observant eyes appraising him.

"Good," he says to the quip about the Old Maid, though it's slightly less brusque. Ryuji then gets a nod as Shinjiro sees that grin.

"Are you all familiar enough with Skill Cards?" he asks, genuinely curious. "I only learned about them from Merry, myself."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Arriving here about the same time as Mio, it doesn't take long before they're joined by someone else-- Joker, specifically, who briefly startles Umie by doing the one thing she didn't expect: come in through the front door. She recovers quickly enough, quickly moving to the side so that Joker and the rest of the cast of Cardboard Dragon can properly interact.

...but not before catching a glance with Joker and betraying a slight sideways grin back, for several reasons.

... One of which is her glance back towards the back room, where the stairs to the Third Floor are.

Maybe they'll find another way in. Or possibly--

Ah. Umie gestures with her hands, giving Myunghon a 'SEE?!' look. "..... Merry-san," Umie flatly murmurs, "I thought you said you had cl--"

She lets out a lonnng sigh. "... I should probably head back up--" But then, she hears the two Thieves thump down the stairs, wearing expressions similar to what Umie had worn, not too long ago. "... I told you to put a sign up."

Still. A part of her feels an odd flush of pride to have discovered that 'entrance'... even if it was for the same reason she was scouting the Cardboard Dragon building as a whole earlier.

.... They all have enemies that would likely love a chance to attack either group, about now.

Which is why, when Queen arrives, Umie's hands instinctually go to her jacket's pockets... for a weapon that isn't there.

(Right. This is her *nice* jacket.)

Still, she relaxes, realizing who it is: Motorcycle-san. And Red-san, and that must be.... a Skull-san.

'Skull and Panther.' AHA. She got one on the first try!

Umie's outward expression doesn't change, however, just making way for Skull and Panther to make their way in, while looking at Myunghon.

(..... what was the deal, again?) Umie's face betrays a look of curiosity, seeing Myunghon's facade.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> Part of So-young had honestly been expecting Myunghon's offer to be rebuffed. Whichever way you cut it, that would have been the sensible thing to do when it came to meeting anyone, even a shadowy Rumormonger they've fought beside. So the conductor's practiced routine is still done with a degree of surprise evident on her face, the way her eyebrows raise to take in the sight of Joker properly, without the threat of a piggytank falling on her any moment.

So-young's attempt at being foreboding and above all tactirun only lasts so long, not least because she's just not the sort of person to be able to keep up something like that for long. Her eyebrows go up at Umie's rather bedragged state, glancing over with genuine concern. "Oh, I certainly can believe it. You should have let me know! You couldn't have been far from my place. I'd have let you in to dry off."

Mio's rather blitzed entrance gets an understanding frown as well, and So-young reaches behind her seat to where she's stashed a small Triple 7 bag with some snacks in there. She's starting to understand what really matters during the Dark Hour, and the troubles of trying to manage an extra hour of the day when that extra hour happens to be in the dead-ass of night, and as such - she has canned coffee on hand, waggling it in a silent offer.

"I would be let down if they didn't, honestly," she chimes merrily towards Joker's statement as she straightens up in her chair and relaxes afterwards into a bright smile. "Though, maybe give us all a heads up if someone intends to crash through the window, just for safety's sake."

Somehow, the third floor has remained safe from So-young's meddling. The conductor recognizes this as likely to be a hard stopping point - that if she willingly and openly invaded that part of Myunghon's space, there would probably be no mending whatever came next. Besides, just as she's fond of her own private space, so she will at least respect that in others. Maybe someday she'll see the state of it all, and woe betide anyone in her path afterwards. But for now, she has two new datapoints in the form of shellshocked Phantom Thieves to add to the burgeoning curiosity in her mind.

She settles for an incline of her head, the convenience store bag still held in her hands, honestly uncertain how to mend first impressions given she's missing any context for what might have happened up there.

So-young holds her introduction back for a while, letting Myunghon say their peace about Kaneshiro. Partially it's because the conductor enjoys being 'audience' for speeches like that - but the way her face also tightens with anger at the mafioso's name speaks volumes about what she still thinks of that man, repentance or no.

"So-young Park," she finally adds to Queen's introductions once Myunghon has switched to sales mode, brightening again. "It's a pleasure - and, might I add, thank you from myself as well. It may not have been terribly obvious, but that time was only my second foray into the Metaverse, and I was still very much learning from example. I like to think I'm pretty good at flying around on my Persona now, but I do have to give you the credit for the idea." There's an artful pause. "That and the place collapsing, I suppose."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem> Perhaps there's something to be said for one's perception of oneself during the Dark Hour and the reflection of that. By which I mean, Mio was clearly so preoccupied with getting safely across town that her cognitive self is a convenience-store worker and not a cool warrior of the night clad in the raiment of shadows. Merry is giving her an out, but still, making it late to your own meetup is tipping the slider from Cool to Lame. The only saving grace is that she has taken off her nametag from work, because the cringe singularity of standing there before the uniformly-themed Phantom Thieves with a little FamiMart themed tag clipped to her shirt might actually crumple her up and kill her instantly.

"Ahum--hey there. Myo here. Thanks for coming to meet us!" the young lady with the bright pink hair flashes a V with her fingers and turns her head to one side. Her free hand glides across her face, which looks kind of chuunibyou and faux-dramatic, but the shadows her fingers cast soon solidify into a pointed mask of white iron. Not dissimilar to Queen's, in fact, which I didn't realize until a few weeks into play. Anyway, her voice is very cheerful and her posture suggests a frustrating amount of energy in lieu of life's many vagarities.

Also: perceptive. "Um. Hey," Myo points at Panther not long after. "Is she okay? I know the dark hour's kinda tiring..." she has not yet realized the source of that expression, for she has not seen the depths of depravity that lurk one floor above. It's better this way.

Not being in the lead seat for negotiations for this whole thing, the now-masked young lady tiptoes across the floor towards the sofa, as beckoned. "Phew! Thanks, thanks." She snatches a can of coffee as offered, to boot, her thanks clearly directed to both Shinjiro and So-Young. She cracks the can open with expert timing when nobody else is talking. Unlike Myunghon, her offerings are much less business-focused and, let's be honest, less strictly useful, but she still pipes up after So-Young's introduction all the same.

"Also, we've got refreshments. Help yourself, nothing's off the table! I've been itching to tell you guys how badass you looked when you were socking it to Kaneshiro!" there are little stars in Myo's eyes as she admits this, visible through her visor. Equal parts nervous energy and boundless enthusiasm, then...?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Joker arrives, and greets them all - introducing their group as the Phantom Thieves. No relation to the 'Old Maid', they say - she nods.

"...Rotten luck, to have a guy like that with the same name running around." Shinobu observes.

Her attention turns toward the entrance from the third-floor and - oh, oh no. They ''didn't''.

...They ''did''. Shinobu's expression turns sympathetic as the horrified Skull and Panther emerge.

No one should have to see that.

Her attention turns to Queen instead, as she handles the introductions for the rest of them. She nods to her in turn.

"Nice meeting you all. Thanks for showing up." She replies. The fact that all they're getting is codenames doesn't bother her. She didn't expect anything more than that - just having something to call them by is good enough for now.

Merry confirms that they ''do'' in fact enjoy card games, and even gets a spot of advertising in. How clever of them...

They take point on the conversation, though, and so Shinobu goes quiet as they speak. And when they thank them all...

"...Yeah. Thanks. Hirasaka is a rough enough neighborhood without someone like that calling the shots." She agrees with a nod. "You all fight well. It was good to fight alongside you."

Merry confirms that they ''are'' in fact still having a sale, and Shinjiro asks if they're familiar with Skill Cards - so she goes quiet and lets them handle that part.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
Mona nods firmly to Queen, his white-tipped paws folded over his chest. "Leave it to me. I've got your backs," he murmurs. Given that he's the one who can transform into a car, they all agreed that it's wisest if he's outside so they can make the quickest possible getaway if needed. (Truthfully, he's not a fan of being left out, but he's the senpai here; he's got to show off how reliable and gallant he is to his proteges... Once Queen makes her move, Mona likewise starts circling the building from rooftop to rooftop, keeping careful eye on any suspicious movements. The Phantom Thieves won't be taken off guard!)

On the inside, Skull and especially Panther seem... rattled, Skull with the look of pity he sends around to the people of Cardboard Dragon and Panther with her shellshocked thousand-yard stare into the inescapable core of Sagittarius A*. Joker gives them both a steady look, its inscrutable lack of emotion somehow meant to convey both 'keep it together' and 'are YOU okay?'

Yes, they picked up on that word Panther so desperately wanted to say. It's not what you say, but how you say it. Fortunately, Queen makes her entrance then, and Joker shares a nod with her, silently urging her on, as she takes point on introducing the others. So those are Merry's living quarters upstairs... ...What the hell did Skull and Panther see?!

Joker keeps that question off their masked face, though, only offering a faint chuckle at Merry's gay response and Umie's heavy sigh. Once greetings are done, Merry moves into the reason for this get-together: The Phantoms' actions having led to saving Hirasaka Ward from Kaneshiro's money-grubbing paws. Joker's already aware of this, and so they reply smoothly, "You're quite welcome." (They do wonder what a Homunculus is supposed to be in context, but they keep that question unvoiced for now.)

So-young smilingly asks for a heads-up if anyone's panning to crash through the window. Joker smiles back, winks, and holds a finger up to their lips. "And ruin the surprise? What fun would that be?" (No one is. This is everyone who's showing up tonight. But Joker isn't going to just tell her that, either.) When So-young adds that she'd been a brand-new Persona User at the time, they add, "Oh? Interesting."

Mio introduces herself next--and calls up her own cognitive costume with mask. Is it by design that she's still clearly herself? This ''is'' theoretically a friendly meeting--but if she's trying to encourage The Phantoms to mask ''down'' in return, Joker isn't on board. ...They don't get that vibe from her, though, given her concern for Panther. They wave a hand when she offers refreshments. "That's kind of you, but I'll pass." They chuckle and add, "But your admiration is appreciated."

Shinobu comments on the rotten luck of sharing a codename with a serial killer. "My thoughts exactly," they say dryly. "But likewise. You seem like reliable fighters in your own right." They would have to be to hold their own against a Palace Ruler. All of them experienced firsthand just how tough a battle that was.

They listen to Merry's pitch and hum a low, thoughtful noise. "That depends on the deal--but it sounds like you've got plenty to offer." They look from Queen to Skull to Panther and nod to the three before looking back at Merry... who seems to be in pain, judging by how they keep wincing. They respect the need for a facade, though, and pretend not to have noticed. Likewise, they pretend not to notice the surprised look Umie shoots at them. "We're listening."

Shinjiro introduces himself properly now. Seems like he's anti-Old Maid; points in his favor. When he asks if they know about Skill Cards already, Joker nods once. "From Igor, yes," they lie deftly. The Phantoms actually know of it from Yusuke, but they're certainly not going to ''tell'' them that.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>Skull gives Umie a quick nod as he passes, keeping mostly quiet as he keeps watch over the proceedings.

He watches Merry, trying to get a read on them. He blinks as his eyes pop open on the name guesses, prompting a wide grin. "Woah. I coulda been IRON?! That's kinda badass." Surely someone gives his dumbassery a look, prompting him to cough and try to look 'serious' again. "I mean--Yeah, Skull is fine."

Right now, Skull is sure his main duty here is to keep an eye out for trouble and deal with it. Queen and Joker are going to handle this deal or whatever. However, the offer gets a raised brow from the blonde, prompting to dart his eyes over to Joker for their take.

However everyone is thanking them and being all nice. The delinquent rubs the back of his neck nervously, beginning to feel weird about this whole thing. Were they trying to butter them up? Was he too paranoid? Maaan, this was a tense dark hour and he wasn't even outside with all the horror movie stuff.

"Yeah I hear uh, it's pretty rough here." Skull comments back to Shinobu, wanting to say more but thinking better of it. He hasn't even told the others about why he was acting to weird and now sure as hell isn't the time. Maybe on the Mona-bus ride back?

For now, Skull just crosses his arms, looking back to Shinjiro when he mentions skill cards. "Yeah...Heard of those." He is only kind of sure he knows what is being talked about.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
"People live in that?!"

She doesn't mean to blurt it out. She means to be more diplomatic. To use a gentle touch.

But then she just blurts it out anyway because come on HUMAN BEINGS SHOULD NOT BE FUNCTIONALLY CAPABLE OF LIVING IN EXTREME BIOMES SUCH AS THAT

"I-I mean -- no way! Why even ask that!"

Ann thinks she covered for herself well enough there. Look -- her ACTUAL kneejerk reaction was to immediately derail this Very Important Meeting to run an impromptu intervention for this person she's never met who looks like they might be a mummy from those old-timey horror movies to IMPROVE THEIR LIFE or at LEAST give them an extreme (EXTREME) home makeover!!

Ann Takamaki, consummate latchkey kid, knows that ANY amount of mold in a house can quickly become a bad thing, let alone -- a house that is like, half mold now?!

So -- for her, this is good, not diverting things to have a frank discussion on Rumormonger Merry's personal well-being. (IS that good though--) For now, Panther - stirred from her bleak, blight-blotted reverie by way of bluster, blinks as Merry does some promotional plugging. "Wait, those are out--?!" she blurts, before Queen introduces her. "O-oh err -- right, Panther! That's me!"

Ugh. She's ruining this. She had a whole daydream about coming in, suave and sexy and rife with mystique, to finally be the Panther she knew she could be with complete strangers and now it's all dashed on the rocks. First impressions are ''everything''!

She's stewing over her magnificent failures when Mio asks after her. Behind that feline mask, blue eyes blink once. "Huh? H-haha, I'm fine! I just -- got spooked by a Shadow earlier! The Dark Hour is ''so'' creepy, y'know?"

She thinks that covers her well, if she does say so herself, and given some breathing room as Joker starts to field - negotiations? weren't they just getting a big congratulatory surprise gift or something (they were not)? - Ann takes a moment to assess the others here. Most of them are passingly familiar from their unexpected arrival at Kaneshiro's Palace -- but it's Umie that stands out to her. She's here, too?? ... Well, maybe they ''can'' be trusted...?

Ann's personal thoughts on the matter are tabled for a moment, though, when Shinobu speaks up -- and as she and Merry both thank them for helping Hirasaka from what Kaneshiro was trying to do there. Despite how distraught she seemed earlier, Panther's response is immediate and firm: lips drawn into a tight, thin line, she crosses arms under her chest, and shakes her head exactly once.

"You don't have to thank us," she insists. "I mean... it's nice, but... keeping more people from being preyed on by pathetic bastards like that Kaneshiro is all the reward we need, really." Well, all the reward ''Ann'' needs, anyway.

As to the matter of the Old Maid - his creepiness aside - Panther proclaims quite firmly: "Our Joker is the only one who really deserves that name, as far as I'm concerned." Does she know the meaning of Joker in cards? Or symbolically? Of course not. But Ren's made it his own, and that's what matters!

And so - after Ann insists she's pretty good with just beating up exploitative jerks like Kaneshiro - things pivot to -- the REWARD. Or the DEAL. Myunghon talks about Skill Cards. Shinjiro asks if they're familiar. Panther nods once as she makes her way to join up with the others.

"Uh huh," she says -- and does NOT try to follow up on Joker's clever lie because even SHE knows she'll just draw undue suspicion trying to add onto it. Igor! Yeah! Totally!

So for now, she remains quiet, blue eyes wordlessly watching as Myunghon winces, saying nothing for now -- even if the mask can only do so much to hide any concern she might be wearing on her sleeve.

Is Merry really okay? ... and what do Homonyms have to do with Skill Cards?

Ann keeps her private worries about academics being tied into cognitive crimes strictly to herself for now, and everyone is all the better for it.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
Makoto mentally adds an extra rule to the list: 'Back up Joker's story, let him do the lying cause we all suck at it'.

Merry gets a nod of acknowledgement from Queen. "You helped us put Kaneshiro in his place. You don't need to thank us for that- we had our own reasons for going after Kaneshiro, his plans for Hirasaka were an additional reason to make him face consequences." She doesn't explain 'their own reasons', but so many were there when Queen lost her shit at the man in the piggytron. Still, the mention of the Zanichi gives Queen a momentary think.

She, after all, had only overheard the term from phonecalls her father had sometimes. That required some research of her own, when she had realized they were having a meeting with this group. The good news is she didn't have the full picture!

She still doesn't have the full picture, though, and wouldn't mind some more details.

She sees Umie reach for a weapon, and Queen's hand shifts to her hip- where she could summon her revolver in a second just in case, but Umie relaxes for a moment.

So-young gets a nod from Queen, who also offers thanks for- providing the idea of riding a persona...? "My persona is rather unique in that respect. I haven't seen another take a form like hers."

Myo, however, seems to sacrifice her protection of anonymity as she musters her mask, and Queen takes note of that. It doesn't give her any other information- but she *is* surprised at the amount of praise being given out. That she's not really prepared to handle, so hopefully maybe the other three can handle that?? ...Skull and Panther can definitely handle that, they're great at it.

Shinobu gets a nod back too, while Joker asserts that they're familiar with skill cards. "It also depends on who the deal is with. Are you bargaining on behalf of just yourself, your group as a whole or a broader interest?" Queen is here to be all business, the front of the metaphorical mullet that is the Phantom Thieves, while Panther and Skull represent the party at the back I guess? This got away from me.

And then Panther blurts that out and Queen turns to her, briefly horrified- but thankfully Ann gets distracted by a new card game for a moment so Makoto does not have to introduce her to the patented Queen 'Shut Up And Stop Sharing' kick. Yet. Even Skull is keeping control better than Panther right now.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Hmmm hmmm. It looks like everyone's hitting it off themselves, the way Shinjiro and Ryuji are comparing themselves to being the bruisers of the group. They just sweetly smile to Umie in turn, perhaps the topic of how the balcony door was breached a mystery for another time, waving her concerns away. "A phantom shall enter where they may!" they declare with all too much confidence. "There is no sense in dwelling of it."

Even if Ann continues to express her extreme shock at the, as she puts it in narrative, Extreme Biomes that Myunghon Yeo persists in. Perhaps the mold grows into giant monster spores in the Dark Hour, like some kind of hazard tile? Perhaps it is an explorable Stratum all on its own.

Merry won't dwell on it. Merry considers the offputting nature of the third floor a win. Myunghon's going to roll around on their depressing lumpy futon in mortal embarrassment later. That's Myunghon's job. That's Myunghon Yeo's only job.

What was the deal? Well, information and Skill Cards is simple enough, but Myunghon is leaving what they want from the Thieves vague enough to see if they'll pony up any suggestions on their own first. So-young introduces herself in short order enough, and adds her own thanks in turn. And indeed, it's perhaps a stroke of mercy that So-young hasn't paraded herself up there to make a statement of it -- one of Myunghon's initial reactions might just be to buy a violin to hold it hostage up there to deter their sister, after all.

Myo gets pulled in with Shinjiro and So-young on the couch, and manifests her Will of Rebellion outfit... though they do wonder if the disguise will still work now that she's been out in the open with the rest of them. Not that that will be a particular problem -- the Cardboard Dragon is very open to their real-life identities. That's part of their thing.

Even Rumourmonger Merry being Myunghon Yeo is a very open fact, so Mio isn't alone in that, as she offers refreshments if any of them reach for it, as she admires the Thieves when they were enacting their style upon Kaneshiro's minions and Piggytron.

It was pretty stylish, after all...

Shinobu calls it rotten luck that Joker picked the same handle. It does intrigue them -- some people might choose to have a different name. It isn't as if 'Joker' is common knowledge amidst the Phantom Thieves' public popularity -- they might be some of the only ones to know the codename. So why keep it? Is there a personal reason? As always, Shinobu's straightforwardness is something they find terribly charming, having a quiet smile towards them.

But ah, it seems that Joker's playing their cards particularly close to their chest. This is someone who's quite inflappable -- they convey a lot through those eyes, without betraying too much expression, the way they clearly have to manage Skull and Panther's reactions in a subtle manner. It's harder than it looks, Myunghon knows, to keep a group's messaging consistent across all its members...

... which is why Merry doesn't bother! It adds to the laid-back and truthful nature of the Cardboard Dragon group. Besides, can you imagine trying to corral So-young in line? Impossible. Merry certainly seems very jovial and grandiose, the way they have a delicate smile and wide eye as Skull considers Iron a cool codename.

"Hmhm... well, I shall keep that in mind, Skull-san. Who knows? You sometimes need to discard or change codenames," is what they simply say, perhaps genuinely charmed by how hard he's trying to keep the 'serious' vibe going. Someone else might think 'exploitable!', but Merry does genuinely enjoy forthright personalities. Panther, too, kind of reminds them of some of the members of the Cardboard Dragon -- there's only so much she can mask before what they sense as genuine concern for their living condition takes over, and that speaks a lot to the quality of her character, as she insists that they don't really need rewards -- the reward of keeping predators like Kaneshiro away from people is reward enough.

"I do admire your sense of justice, Panther," Merry affirms, head half-bobbed like they're just enjoying themself.

Much like Panther, Queen says they don't need the thanks in particular -- but Queen's all business in contrast to Skull and Panther wearing their hearts on their sleeves. What a fascinating foursome this is -- Joker and Queen, the ones named after playing cards, are the ones to keep their cards close to their chest, while the ones with evocative codenames are the ones that do otherwise.

They do remember Queen's rage, having stood right next to her when they made him pay -- Merry's approach was that of velvet draping the steel, on that day. Queen stands opposite to them, and yet, the way she carries herself is all too familiar -- they once wore such a mask in their corporate days.

"I shall bargain for the Cardboard Dragon group gathered here, but please, any of you -- if you have your own concerns, do feel free to highlight any. But allow me to lay out the situation as I see it:"

"We have common enemies and questions. The masked sniper that very nearly eliminated Kaneshiro's Shadow is no small concern to us. We have intelligence on the hostile group that intercepted both of us -- Strega, and the Joker Killer, or Old Maid. No doubt you have other enemies that we are not privy to," Myunghon first explains.

"It is very clear to me that there are other factions that exploit the use of Palaces and supernatural spaces, and I for one have no particular desire for an alliance with Strega nor the Old Maid. No, in fact, as citizens of Sumaru, I consider the Old Maid killings a particular priority to cease."

That vivid, sharp smile is back as they cross their legs the other way, leaning backward dramatically on their throne as they offer a hand forward.

"I would like to propose a deal of cooperation between our groups in our explorations of these supernatural spaces. I shall permit the Phantoms to set the terms, to keep your identities safe, and you shall not need to divulge any facts that inconvenience you on that matter. A 'No,' shall suffice, with no additional explanation required. We will also arrange our own rendezvous points as required."

Merry raises their hand in front of their face and twists their wrist -- and suddenly three Skill Cards have appeared, which they partially obscure their smile behind.

"In turn, we will trade in information pertinent to defeating our common adversaries and keeping ourselves safe from them, and I shall offer you priority and deals on Skill Cards in turn to keep both our teams well-supplied with tactical options, since you are already familiar with these."

So Igor told them... that stands to reason. They have no particular reason to doubt that, and Skill Cards aren't the greatest secret amongst Persona Users anyway.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>As they talk, as Panther... reveals more horrors of the upstairs (CONCERN LEVELS RISING), Shinjiro thinks. These don't seem like bad people...

But he still can't approve of their method, but perhaps they can work with them, help them find a better way to pull it off... not repeat the mistakes of the past.

"Igor, huh. Makes sense," Shinjiro says amicably. "He has his own guy who works on them, right?"

But then, as Myunghon lays out the deal, and offers the others to speak... he's gonna take a refreshment if there's SNACKS from the bag, and then.

"We're pretty well-connected. I've been doing this for a few years now." He can't be older than eighteen, as he clears his throat. "And, basically, there's a lot that can't be done on your own. Things that only certain groups really know about. Tatsumi Port Island in the Dark Hour, Ateliers..." He's not making things up, if his face is read.

"But... not everyone's going to approve of what you do, either, even in this community. And the Old Maid... we've got business." That one's even *more* personal. He seems like he's going to voice a concern for a moment, then shakes his head.

"If Merry's for it, I'm for it."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Umie gives Queen a quiet nod, having noticed her earlier reaction to Umie's own reach, quietly showing her palms as a silent gesture.

The two of them are reacting the way they should; while Shinjiro represents the brawn, Umie represents paranoia.

But also, bias.

"...." Umie's flat expression says it all, as Myunghon falsely suggests that an alliance with Strega or Old Maid was even in the cards (ha ha ha). "... If that *was* even a possibility in your mind, I doubt I'd be the only one that'd throw a fit over it, Merry-san," she notes. (She knows Myunghon wouldn't. However, the Phantom Thieves do not know what she knows; they could easily take a suggestion as a reality.)

Better to say it out loud, that to even look like, for a second, it was ever a passing possibility.

She looks to Skull and Panther, then judges the layout of the room. ....

Hm, no, she can't really display her own abilities without looking like a complete dunce; walking across the room on the bare assumption her cloaking abilities will do the heavy lifting.

(Even if she really, really, *really* wants to suddenly be on the other side of the room.)

"I'll freely admit to my bias here; you guys saved my life from the Old Maid, despite the danger he presented to you all." Skull may not have been there for that, but she'll nonetheless include him in on that.

She considers, folding her arms, then sighs, raising a red coral nail'ed finger. "Bear with me on this, but I may be able to help, on the topic of the sniper. Not in terms of information," she's quick to say, "but in training. You help me improve my own abilities, and you guys just might be able to tell when they pop up. Besides... while I have no intentions of throwing myself in harm's way of someone like that, seeing any smug agent get their tricks thrown in their face will make my day. And, even if I can't tell if our abilities are the same, you guys just might be able to tell when they pop up."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> So-young seems completely unruffled at the way she passes Mio a can of coffee and scoots her chair across to one side to leave space to reach the couch. "It had to be miserable at work today, surely?" she offers, as if this wasn't a meetup of two clandestine organizations. Joker's entrance was certainly dramatic, and Queen seems to be very strict, but the mysterious Third Floor has done something unexpected - it's broken the ice at least a little, leaving a couple of the Thieves on the back foot.

The conductor can appreciate Ren's showboating, and she theatrically frowns as she folds her arms. "I'm very allergic to glass shards, just to inform you, and they're usually considered a little rude as a welcome gift," she notes, before brightening into another of those incredibly common smiles. "I got sucked straight in, if you can believe that. I was arguing with the doorman, demanding to be let in, when Merry found me." Which rather leaves open the question of what would have happened if Merry _didn't_, but fortunately that never came to pass so So-young has never devoted a single braincell towards it.

Her eyebrows rocket upwards as Panther finally blurts out the question on her mind, and once again So-young absolutely itches to go up there and experience it for herself, bound by her own moral code not to. What doesn't bind her is her expression, though, and her wide and curious eyes try to catch the attention of the young woman in red as she waggles her eyebrows. The message is intended to be a silent 'tell me afterwards, tell me afterwards'. Not that that'll work, but, you know, she can live in hope.

Rather than the praise itself, it's most interesting for So-young to watch each Phantom Thief's reactions to it. Joker cooly accepts everything coming their way, whereas Skull looks completely confused by the prospect of someone being nice to them. That reaction makes more sense when you factor in Phantom and Queen's very independently-minded stances, and So-young nods to herself in satisfaction as she accepts that - mostly. "Even so, you could probably say we were out of our depth on our own, given what it all came to. Besides, some of us had a rather personal grievance against him."

So-young grins brightly towards Queen. "Oh, it's not really meant for it at all. It is an absolute pain to try to find handholds amongst its shape, but I wouldn't stop myself for the world. Flying around on Icarus during the Dark Hour is absolutely addicting." She's volunteering a lot of information about her capabilities and Persona here, even if she probably yelled her Persona's name back during the fight with Kaneshiro. This seems to be her default position when interacting with most people - you could probably ask her about her job and immediately start an entire lecture on the nuances of conducting.

And certainly, her forwardness has left Myunghon mortified at times and plenty of people stunned in her wake, but So-young can't imagine herself acting any other way. Besides, this is a collection of young adults who have seen enough of _something_ that they're willing to dive into the heads of untouchable people and try to correct something, not even wishing for thanks. She'd much rather aim to be more open to someone in that position, rather than more closed-off.

... and that's how it suddenly clicks for So-young that maybe they're not all that different in terms of groups. There's no regimented loyalty here, just two loose groups of connected people with all the bumps and knocks and weird shapes that can include. ... that said, she's smart enough to know that she might be projecting a little. Or to put it another way: she'd feel better about the Thieves being so young if that were the case. It's more pleasant to think they've got each other's backs, that behind the secrecy they have their own Cardboard Dragon to laze about goofily in.

She does suddenly frown, though, because Rumormonger Merry is laying out the terms of a potential deal and this is serious stuff to pay attention to, fill of important concerns and gravitas. Ha ha ha no of course not it's about the codenames. "No, no, no, Skull is much better if you ask me," she insists quickly with a confident nod, as if she were the Judger Of Art. "It goes with the leathers. All you need is an electric guitar as a weapon to smash over people's heads and some death metal at maximum volume and you're set for life."

"--Personally, I'd be delighted with an allegiance," she suddenly adds, quickly joining the main topic. Her voice is still light, but there's a distinct fire in her eyes. It hasn't been that long since she watched someone die in front of her, and that's still coming back to hit her at unexpected moments. "There are clearly plenty of groups out there with a lot more power than either of us."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem> Making the most of a bad situation, the remainder of Myo's cognitive costume unfurls over her. For a moment, it's like trying to read a book in a dream, where the details keep shifting and refusing to be pinned down by one's gaze. When the shifting and shadows are complete, the young lady once dressed up for selling instant ramen and ramune is now swathed in what amounts to an armoured nun's habit. The ramifications of this, well, she'll just have to deal with that. Anyway, more importantly, she's pointing at Skull with now-trademark vigour and amusement, since he's disappointed at not being Iron. "You could upgrade into Iron Skull!" she says without a trace of sarcasm.

She also has nothing of a functioning lie-dar, or chooses to play on Hard Mode + Ironman by taking everything at face value. So when Panther's flustered defense is that the Dark Hour sucks and is scary, the Armour Nun(tm) nods in that 'SO true, bestie' way. "Oh! Okay! I getcha. I dunno if we _should_ ever get used to it, either..." her gaze falls down for a moment, the better to ruminate with!

But, let's not get too sidetracked just because Myo is a violent scatterbrain. There's a very real reason to gather here today! She first pipes up after her boss, since Merry has called for questions, if anyone has them. It is more of a general address, in the end. Unlike Joker, her heart is worn plainly on her sleeve. Her reasons and rationale are those of someone who hasn't even heard of subterfuge, let alone practices it. "Oh, uh, yeah. What Merry said, I want to second. You guys are punishing the untouchable, and it's, like..." there's a squint behind the mask as she gauges how honest to be (the slider only goes between 95 and 100). "... what I wanna do more of. There's a lot of people out there at the top of the food chain who need to get what's coming to them for their crimes."

By this point, she's sat up with both hands on her legs. That's somewhat formal, at least. "If someone threatens you, I'll knock 'em down. If you find another guy like Kaneshiro who needs reminding they're not all that, I'll be there."

Her piece said, Myo returns to fiddling with an errant pink lock snooping out of her mask. She glances aside to Shinjiro and then across to So-Young and Umie. "You can tell why I'm not the negotiator, here..."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Joker's dry response gets a smirk out of Shinobu - and then a nod, as they return her compliment.

"Thanks. We've got some experience." She replies. She looks toward Skull, then, as he comments on how Hirasaka is pretty rough.

"It can be." She confirms with a nod. She's not going to ''lie''. "But it's ours. So what we do what we have to to keep it safe."

Panther, meanwhile... insists that they don't have to thank them. Shinobu considers that for a moment... and then, a smirk crosses her face.

"Fair enough. I can respect that." She replies with a nod. That's what's important, anyway.

She meets Merry's glance briefly, as they offer that quiet smile, then turns her attention back to the Phantom Thieves.

'Igor'. That's a reasonable enough answer, and she doesn't see any reason to dispute it. Back to the deal, though - Queen has questions on the specifics, and Merry does the bargaining. Shinobu listens.

"...I do have one question. We didn't really get a whole lot of time to talk shop given, well..." She unfolds one arm, miming a gunshot before folding it back in.

"Kaneshiro. What happened there? He wasn't the kind of guy to repent so easily. We did things your way, but I still don't really know what that meant for ''him''." She asks. "...Not that I'm complaining. I wouldn't have lost sleep over him, but him dying on us would've meant a lot of trouble."

She shrugs.

"...But, it's not a dealbreaker, either way. I stand by what the boss says." She concludes.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
'A phantom shall enter where they may!' "True," Joker remarks. They smirk again at So-young. "Oh, well, if you're ''allergic'', we can't have that." They ''can'' believe that she was just sucked in, though. It happens more often than you'd think.

Panther blurts out her shock unthinkingly, as you do when you are Ann Takamaki, and Joker raises their eyebrows at her. Why ask that, indeed? (Maybe if they'd seen that room, they'd understand her shock better...) Fortunately, she gets distracted before Queen needs to silence her.

Skull gets a wry smile when he gushes over the name Iron, but he settles soon enough. He seems to have some nerves still--whether that's anything to do with his odd behavior earlier today, Joker doesn't know, but Skull doesn't need to worry about doing any talking anyway. It'll be fine. They give him a reassuring nod.

Panther handwaves the thanks Cardboard Dragon gives The Phantoms, asserting that justice is its own reward. Joker smiles, eyes shutting briefly behind their mask; it's well said. Queen makes the standard point that it wasn't really for Cardboard Dragon, that it helping them out was just a coincidence. However...

"Panther's right, of course--as is Queen." They open their eyes to regard Merry and their band of mischiefs and sweep a slow hand in a gesture to encompass them before dipping into a theatrical bow. "However, when someone offers me their gratitude so earnestly, how could I do anything less than accept it?"

In other words, they said 'thank you' with grace and they're moving on. They're not going to get buttered up, but out of respect, they're not going to reject those feelings either. Not when they do get the sense they're all being genuine about it.

Panther's assertion that Joker is the only ''true'' Joker gets a grin. However, that point's already been made, and it's time for business. Queen makes some pointed questions. All of them skillfully back up Joker's lie by keeping their mouths shut. Merry says what they, Cardboard Dragon, want from a deal with the Phantom Thieves...

Their sickle smile fades into a neutral line. They make a very good point--about the one in the Black Mask, about Strega, about the Old Maid... about the NWO, though Merry doesn't name that one specifically even though Umie's right there. They nod once, slowly, as they cite the Joker Killer someone who needs stopping in particular. The Phantoms had already come to that conclusion too--but without a name, their hands are tied. They don't say that, obviously. The terms Merry sets are generous regardless.

But they don't respond at first. Rather, when they're done, they look at Umie and the others in turn to listen to what ''they'' say and gauge their reactions. Umie jumps in to make it clear an alliance with Strega was never in the cards, but they never thought that it was. Umie surely wouldn't be here otherwise.

Igor has his own guy who does Skill Cards...? That's news to Joker, but then, maybe Caroline and Justine ''can'' do that and they're too busy executing Personas for fusion to let on. Their poker face remains intact. It does seem like Shinjiro isn't lying, though... Which means that The Phantoms sorely lack information about supernatural matters outside their own purview (purrview), because they know they have no idea what an Atelier is in context. That's a good reason all on its own to take this deal. However...

"We're not doing this for approval. We do it because we can't look the other way when out-of-control tyrants trample the innocent underfoot." (They're... mostly not doing this for approval. Approval is a secondary concern for most of their members?) Noting the way Shinjiro hesitates before shaking his head, Joker adds, "Are you ''sure'' you're for it? You seem like you have misgivings."

So-young, Mio, and Shinobu, by comparison, seem far more genuinely into an alliance. So-young and Mio specifically seem like extremely open people, and Joker chuckles at Mio commenting on why she's not the negotiator. "Maybe not, but I enjoy your straightforward honesty," they say. Obviously, since they're running with people like Skull and Panther.

Umie offers to help with the one in the black mask by... having them help her train her ability to sense Resonance? That ''seems'' to be her part of the deal. Having more help dealing with ''that'' one is tempting, but it doesn't seem like something she can guarantee...

Shinobu's the one who actually asks it: how ''do'' they change hearts? (Well, she asks what happened to Kaneshiro, but six of one...) Joker gives her a long look before sharing that look with their companions. "How we do it is a trade secret," they decide on--if that's Cardboard Dragon's true goal, that might dissuade them. They suspect that's not it, though. "But in a nutshell, we've stolen his distorted desires, and he now sees the world clearly. That includes his actions and their ramifications. This is something we only do after researching our target to make sure they're carrying out those distortions in the real world in a harmful way that normal people can't stop, then discussing it with all of our members and agreeing on it unanimously."

All their debates with Akechi have served them well; this is an answer they've thought through for a long time. That 'unanimous' part, though, means they must add, "Your offer is intriguing. However, we'll need to discuss it amongst ourselves. If we don't all agree, we won't do it--same as changing hearts. If you can agree to wait for our decision, we'll send you a message back later letting you know what it is." They pause. "If we have more questions before we can agree, who will be your contact point?" They focus on Merry. "You?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>"So a team up..." Skull bluntly says when Merry lays out their cards on the table. Really the bruiser is of the mind to walk away since more bodies outside of the group might complicate things. Then again, he wasn't one of the brains here. This was entirely up to Joker.

Skull does however nod to Merry's comment about codenames, offering a grin.

"Atelawhasit?" He repeats one of the things Shinjiro mentions and looks to the others to see if its something he should know and forgot or if they are equally confused. Finally, he returns to looking "tough".

But then the topic of codenames comes back and he can't help himself, responding to So-young. "Woah... I can't afford a guitar to just smash it! That's like 40,000 yen right? Yeah, no way...Errr..Forget I said that." Skull tries to cover his very obvious blunder here, leaning back on a wall or something. Actually, a thought about the upstairs comes to his mind and Ryuji steps back from the wall, as if the mold from upstairs could travel to him.

Skull perks up at Mio's talk of taking down people on the top of the food chain. "Heh. Yeah exactly. You get the idea then."

Shinobu seems to be asking how the sauce is made and that isn't really something the group can spill. Was this the secret meaning of it all? Skull frowns and slouches in his spot, hearing Joker handle the answer before adding, "Yeah...Not something we can share."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
Oh good! Panther's Performance roll wins again with Mio, against all logic or sense!

And so Ann continues on, believing she's a great actress.

So-young waggles brows Pantherwards. And Panther, being a master of body language - especially when it comes to gossip - but for sad reasons - instantly picks up what the older woman is putting down. She blinks. Suppresses a grimace.

And then, keeping her hands at below-the-waist level, she discreetly waves gloved fingers around in a very on the downlow sign of 'no no no no no no'.

There are some things mortal minds were not meant to know.

And besides... Ann can kinda tell Merry has an image to maintain, and she can feel sympathy for trying (and failing) to project a certain idea of yourself, despite your best efforts. Out of solidarity, she can't in good conscience contribute to that undermining!

... you know. anymore than she already has.

(plus also she doesn't want to get a shut up kick, she likes her legs, they do much better thriving a kickless life)

But the further this conversation goes, the more adrift at sea Ann feels, and the more she's realizing that there is really a ''lot'' they don't know about this world of Persona -- unless Morgana's been holding out on them, like a secretive cat! ... Are cats secretive? She can't very well ask HIM that because it's going to make him mad, but now she's curious--

Regardless. It's something she latches onto, how in over their own heads they really are, when Myunghon starts talking about Ateliers, and Tatsumi Island relative to the Dark Hour like that should be meaningful, and Strega - those weirdos fighting with the Old Maid. What else is happening that they're unaware of?

Maybe it's okay, that they only know about Palaces, because that's where they can actually affect things. ... But do they really know everything about Palaces and Mementos, too...?

Maybe they ''do'' need help. Morgana can only do so much, without his memories. And... with people like Akechi, and the Black Mask out there...

Panther is lost in her own little world of thought as Joker and Queen field the negotiations with the Cardboard Dragon, right hand gripping at her left elbow and gaze cast groundwards as she chews the inside of her cheek. It's Umie's offer that causes her to blink. She looks the other blonde's way, the lift of her brows hidden behind her mask.

"For real? You could do something like that? I mean, I've been trying to train a bit, too!"

<FLASHBACKS TO ANN TRYING TO COMPEL REN TO ROAST HER MERCILESSLY GO HERE>

"But, um. Nothing like that."

It's only when Shinobu asks that question though that Panther's expression hardens, just a little. Joker offers a - pared down - answer to that question. It's smart. How they do things - Ann knows what it could do in the wrong hands. There's already the Black Mask out there, messing around in Palaces. It's why they have to be so careful about who they tell. But...

''... and now he sees the world more clearly.''

''I wouldn't have lost sleep over him, but him dying on us would've meant a lot of trouble.''

Sky blue eyes narrow.

"We don't kill people," she insists, simply. But she has to add, because if she can't speak her mind, what is the point?

"... People like Kaneshiro don't deserve an easy way out like that, anyway. They should have to live with what they did."

Kaneshiro. Madarame.

... Kamoshida.

She's not going to just let them ''escape'' the consequences.

After that, though, she quiets as Myunghon lays out their terms. As Joker explains the need for a unanimous decision, even on this. In this much, she mostly just contemplates the people here, quietly considering them all.

Save for a moment when she leeeeeans over to aside to Skull,

"... do you even know how to play guitar??"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
Queen frowns when Merry says the Phantoms can set the terms. That's generous- perhaps too much so, for Queen's own paranoia. The Cardboard Dragon offer priority on skill cards- which will take some of the load off mission logistics, and information which would be useful and that the Phantoms don't have, but it doesn't sit quite right with her as yet. She waits to hear what everyone else puts on the table from the Cardboard Dragon too- Merry is right, Queen plays her cards close to her chest.

Don't get her into a Tycoon match, it gets competitive.

Shinjiro brings up bthe topics of the Dark Hour and the Atelier as well as years of experience. *That* is a new one on her- there have been Persona users who have been active for years now? But they don't seem to know about the palaces, or the 'Psychotic Breakdowns'. That's useful information in and of itself.

''But... not everyone's going to approve of what you do, either, even in this community.''

"...I'm aware of that. But if it's a choice between someone else's approval or saving someone- I'll take disapproval any day. That's what my Justice demands."

Looks like she took some of Ryuji's words to heart, after all. As she makes eye contact with Shinjiro, there's a fire to her red brown eyes- this isn't something that will shake her anymore.

Umie shows her empty hands, and Queen too relaxes. The fact that they can't really be disarmed is another advantage the thieves have over normal persona users. Still, Umie expresses her own bias there, and Queen notes it.

Icarus, huh? "...I just hope your Persona doesn't match it's namesake there." Makoto murmurs, quietly. "Even if it feels amazing, you can't afford to get lost in it."

And Queen has come so close to getting lost in that euphoria that Johanna grants her sometimes.

Myo, however, seems to be closer in interest to the Phantoms than some of the rest of CD. That's not even an offer of alliance, that's just an offer to become spare muscle. There's... really not a unified front, is there?

Queen shoots Skull a look, when he reveals an element of the group's ignorance, thus confirming Shinjiro's suspicions. "Skull," she says, and the words come out cold enough to leave ice burns.

Maybe there's a dash of something familiar to Shinjiro there, who can say?

"...Panther's right. The Phantoms don't kill." Otherwise, Kaneshiro would be dead by now. Almost everyone here saw how tempted Queen was.

Still, as Joker states that they'll have to confer with everyone else, Queen has her own questions. First and foremost...

"...I'm curious," Queen comments, as Joker keeps to the theatrics part of the deal. "How did you enter Kaneshiro's Palace in the first place?" It's both a question to test the legitimacy of the deal and to see how much Cardboard Dragon are prepared to offer before anything has been struck. Merry isn't the only one testing the waters. Even though it was Makoto's first Palace, she has it on good authority that this is the first time one has drawn a crowd. They didn't encounter anyone else in Kobayakawa's palace, either. "Kaneshiro's identity was a well kept secret. I can understand a Rumormonger finding his name- but it doesn't explain so many people finding his palace." Hell, Merry and hers were 'customers', but not everyone was, were they? Or had the Thieves just left a way in for everyone?

"You're putting a very generous- and vague- offer on the table. As it stands, we stand to benefit from it a lot more than you do. You can understand we might be suspicious of a deal too good to be true." Because it is, in Queen's mind. Even the Phan-site is something they don't handle directly. She nods to Umie. "You getting training opportunities is a tangible benefit for you that I can see- but it also gains you information on us without necessarily giving any." After all, if Umie is tagging along to train, that means she can see how the PTs work, and SOMEONE will slip up eventually. "So, while you offer for us to set the terms, I'd like to know what it is the Cardboard Dragon wants of such an alliance- and how we'd define 'mutual' enemies."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Merry quizzically tilts a wide-eyed smile at Umie's comment. Their first instinct is to quibble since they think 'I have no particular desire' and 'common enemies' was quite clear enough, but that would weaken their position in the same way Joker and Queen would like to present a unified front in this meeting of theirs.

"It is as Akabane-san says," they 'yes, and' Umie vivaciously, perhaps unable to pick up on sarcasm in the moment, "And if that were to ever change, why, you'd be in your right to strike me down first!"

So-young's openness has always been particularly intriguing, the way she openly shares that she's a new Persona user, and even what experiences that they shared in the Palaces... but it's not new, and they're not all that different. After all, they willingly let go of any sense of security behind their cognitive mask to be known as Rumourmonger Merry. It seems that Joker quite likes the honesty nonetheless.

As much as Myunghon can only think themself as such when they are Merry, and can only think of So-young's confidence as the reason their mother prefers her over them. Because mask enough and you start to believe 'Merry' is the only mask that can accomplish positive things.

"I myself do not plan to become used to the Dark Hour, Myo, Panther! It can and shall be stopped," Merry boldly proclaims, on Ann and Myo's topic of the Dark Hour sucking (it does) and is scary (it is). Myo herself reflects on how she wants to punish the untouchable, and her desires to knock down the people at the top of the food chain. It's bold! It's ambitious! They particularly admire Myo's strong approach -- and Joker says much the same, given how much like how the Thieves have people like Skull and Panther, they have people like So-young and Mio.

Shinobu, though, is asking the question that's been left unasked the entire time, the proverbial elephant in the room (and not the extra boss fight against Ganesha just waiting around the corner) -- how did Kaneshiro's demeanor change? What's behind a Change of Heart, in other words. There's something of a very pleased smile at that, wondering where the conversation will turn next.

Joker underlines that they don't do this for approval. They do it because they can't look the other way when out-of-control tyrants trample the innocent underfoot. They question Shinjiro's dedication, and Myunghon won't step in the way -- they'd like to hear Shinjiro's own words, on his own terms.

But what Joker explains after is of great interest indeed. Joker speaks of stealing 'distorted desires', and Myunghon's eye is glanced towards Umie once more. Joker's phrasing does bring some concern to Myunghon, though Merry's smiling face conceals it well...

'...and now he sees the world clearly'.

It's... ... ... prescriptive.

And yet Myunghon has sensed the distortion echoing within Junya Kaneshiro when they visited the Cardboard Dragon in turn. 'Distorted desires' does echo in their mind. They also clarify that that's only something they do after a careful amount of research -- the Phantom Thieves only change the hearts of those who inflict harm in a way that normal people cannot stop, and that they only act when the deed is unanimously agreed upon.

... it's Ann that, again, provides the heart in contrast. ''We don't kill people,'' she insists. Quite simply, at that. She seems to hide behind how Kaneshiro doesn't deserve to ''die'', they deserve to live with what they did. It's nice to hear, keeps the conversation a little less heightened.

But Queen has a question. How did they enter Kaneshiro's Palace in the first place?

Merry fields this one: "I have the Meta-Nav application," is the first thing they say, "And with it, the capability to bring others with me into a Palace. Even... unexpected people caught in its field. Palaces have also a circulating topic within the Dark Side of Sumaru forum, which is in part how others were able to discover their way inside." Like Katsuya.

"As for his identity? He threatened us in this very shopfloor..." Merry's smile widens. "And I was able to sense his distorted desires."

There it is, they've tipped their hand for now. They won't tip that Umie was able to sense it either -- she can do that on her own prerogative. "From there, we were able to work out that he had a Palace. The rest is pure, classic investigative work -- from unearthing his criminal elements and motives, his usual haunts in Shibuya, and the need to guess the form in which his Palace takes..."

A quiet hum.

"That was a half-hour of guesswork, the price of which I had to eat half a hamburg steak. It was nasty."

Queen is suspicious of how generous the offer is. As it stands, the Phantoms stand to benefit more from it than the Cardboard Dragon does. It sounds too good to be true, and one should always be suspicious of deals of that nature.

"We can define 'mutual enemies' as an ongoing list and agree -- or disagree. Strega. The Old Maid. The Black Mask." Myunghon gestures. "You've stated clear that you will not act upon one with distorted desires unless they are causing harm in the physical realm that the unawakened cannot stop. I believe it would be prudent for us to be able to disagree on whether each of us would like to act upon a Palace or not."

As to what the Cardboard Dragon wants of such an alliance... the smile is a bit more delicate as they rise from their throne, which shrinks back into the coat that drapes over them and gives them a sense of grandeur.

"As to what I want... you have spoken of motivations, and I shall share mine too, Phantoms. Where your aim is to strike fear at tyrants within the dark, I, Rumourmonger Merry -- nay, Myunghon Yeo, am amongst the people, for it is in common cause that the everyday people find strength and solidarity. A tyrant seeks to oppress the people with Despair, to isolate them, to make them whisper -- 'things can't be better', and it is in turn the destiny of the Revolutionary to counter that with Hope."

Merry's smile is ear to ear once more. A Hope that shall seethe throughout a garden, strangling in its spread.

"This is why our identities are plain, whatever consequence that may come. Why the Cardboard Dragon is an address plain enough to see. This is a rough town full of perils, as Skull has pointed out. There is much inequality here. We are in touch with the streets, for change must come in solidarity with one's neighbours first and foremost."

They place the tip of their finger to their lips as they half-turn.

"When the revolution comes, I should like to play the entire deck." Their head tilts as they turn towards them. "And that includes the wild card -- the Phantoms, in other words."

But Joker does express the expected -- they're going to have to discuss it and come to a unanimous decision, just like changing hearts. It's so intriguing, they think. This Joker is the seeming leader of the group, the one to speak for most of them along with Queen, who provides more of an analytical bent... but they can sense that it's people like Skull and Panther that temper them, make them a cohesive whole. The fact that a unanimous vote exists between them is a positive, to Myunghon.

They're not all that different, are they? Here they are, sitting on their vampire-aesthetic throne until now, making the biggest speeches and speaking most on people's behalf -- but they're nothing without people like Mio and So-young who most wear their hearts on their sleeve. Without the skepticism that Umie brings, the straightforward attitudes that Shinjiro an Shinobu have...

"We will undoubtedly also need to come to a decision ourselves," Myunghon nods to the couch and the others. "As for our contact point... I am certainly happy to facilitate. I believe you are also better acquainted with Akabane-san, having saved her life. So if she agrees, I'd say either of us, lest the other be out of commission for any reason."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> One day, Umie once said, she'll call Joker Joker. But only when she can put to rest the memories of that night for good-- something, she hinted, that may be helped along by Joker (this one) impressing her.

(... As if that was somehow going to be a hard feat, she reluctantly admits.)

And one day, she'll reveal her own attempt to circumvent a potential disaster with those names -- perhaps, even later tonight if she can catch Joker before they slip away. However, if there's one thing she's managed to notice... things, especially in Sumaru City, have a way of blowing up in Umie's face, when she tries to address them. To manipulate rumors is one thing, but to get ahead of one... wouldn't speaking it aloud make it more likely that it'd become real.

Almost like, sometimes, that's the way it was always supposed to happen.
Like Sumaru City's web of rumors, somehow, reacts to the secrets branded onto her, retreating away like mercury on a slightly tipped table.

".... I think we should exchange information about Ateliers at the very least," Umie speaks up, realizing Skull's confusion. "They're going in the same circles as we are; whether this is a one-off thing we came across or something that'll happen more..."

KAPPAS. ".... Let's... make sure we do that soon," Umie says, with an oddly nervous laugh, "kero--"

Please stand by, as Umie has stapled her hands to her face, in a posture similar to how she looked when she discovered Myunghon's living arrangements. (My, that's a rich shade of red there, peeking out on Umie's cheeks.)

..... ...

Minutes later, and she's still got her hands on her face, but arranged so that, at least, her lips aren't muffled against firmly pressed palmflesh. ".... Uh. I think we need to align ourselves for one thing: the cat's out of the bag concerning Palaces and Mementos. While the Phantom Thieves have found a way to use a part of this space, I imagine, even if the Phantom Thieves keep their secret safe, and--" She clears her throat, letting her hands slowly drop away from her cheeks, "--I'd *really* like to keep a hand pressing down on that particular Pandora's Box, so to speak.

"But yeah. I don't think," she says, carefully, not wanting to reveal Myunghon's own 'cards' here, "that's the only way anyone could 'use' these areas. If some organization, like the NWO..."

The letters bring that edge to her tone. ".... all of us here would likely be up there on their list." She closes her eyes. "... But let's save 'shitty what ifs' for another day," she attempts to say, lackadaisically, with a shrug.

"Anyway..." Umie considers Joker's words, looking towards Shinjiro. "Honestly, that's not a bad idea. Shouldn't we do the same? We've put our offers on the table, but not everyone's here. If we got any conflicts, we really should talk it over and come back." She pats her head, feeling how damp it still is.

*patpat* Augh, really? Her hair is still this wet? *patpatpat*

Panther's shock distracts Umie, who looks up at her with a blink. "... Yeah. It's... contextual, but..." She shrugs, eyelids lowering as she shoots Panther a cheeky grin. "I was still alive for a reason, when you found me. If the bastard didn't teleport around I would've escaped. That sniper likely has more experience, but cloaking myself like that is something I'm also able to do. Maybe, if you can figure out how to catch *me* you may be better at catching *them*."

But is that really something Umie could promise?

And is it actually wise, as Queen points out something Umie failed to consider.

She considers, a knuckle touching her chin.

"... Hmm... yeah. And the same goes the other way, Queen-san," Umie replies, with an impressed grin. "While it's not my intent, you have no way of knowing that. And us knowing each other's secrets puts a bullseye on each others' backs as welll--"

Myunghon volunteers Umie.

Umie... squeaks.

"O-of course!" says the utterly flummoxed blonde, revealing her cheeks have resumed being red.

(Ren did say red was a good color for Umie, but that's definitely not what he meant.)
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>Shinjiro's attitude is noticed by the others, even as Skull reveals they do not know what an Atelier is. That's what he expected, but is still interesting to hear.

And then, Joker asks Shinjiro if he has misgivings. Myunghon seems to be willing for him to speak. Shinjiro takes a moment to listen to the answer to Shinobu's question...

He grimaces at the same words Myunghon is concerned by. 'And now he sees the world clearly.

"...I don't think you're bad people. I think we can help each other, because it's better not to be running on anyone's own. People die in this line of work."

"But I'd be lying if I said I liked your methods, and what you just said didn't quite impress me." A sigh. "Who decides what clarity is? Who decides what a distortion is? Even if it's all supernatural bullshit giving us the sense... who tells us what feelings to trust? None of us know what the fuck is going on with all of this."

He thinks back to what Mitsuru told them about Kirijo's past. He can't trust this group, too, hasn't been manipulated or something.

Then, he glances to Panther. "To truly live with something you did... you have to first accept responsibility. But Kaneshiro never did that. His hand was forced. People were saved, sure. His victims got justice. But it all rings hollow."

Rubbing the back of his head and letting the passion die down, he sighs. "I mean it when I say I'll support Merry. But yeah, I do have misgivings. At least let us talk about it some more. Maybe they'll change my mind."

He doesn't think so, but. He can at least try not to kill the deal entirely.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> "Each to their own," So-young replies to Mio with a sympathetic grin. "I'm not very good at playing the mysterious figure or keeping my mouth shut either. But, for what it's worth, I think you put it very well." So-young is a card carrying Audience Member, after all, so she's speaking with at least some level of authority here. That is, if you ask her. So, of course she'd say that.

Joker's quip aside, So-young is quietly surprised at the way that the Phantom Thief suddenly divulges some information of their own. It's not exactly revelatory, but even So-young realizes they've just confirmed some things beyond a bare-bones description of what a change of heart does to someone - for instance, that they only go after targets they've unanimously agreed upon. Part of So-young's brain files that away for later as if it were mega-smart of her, never mind it being at least within the realms of expectation.

The rest of her is mulling over that description of a change of heart. The fact that the desires are 'distorted' and how that might be defined isn't lost on her, though it's not that difficult for her to connect that to the wild and rabid way Kaneshiro treated the acquisition and power of money even outside of the cognitive world. So if they're talking in terms of cognition, maybe the idea is they just strip away the mental cotton wool and the rationalizations? So-young's frowning thoughtfully, but not at all because she disapproves - just because she's imagining what that would do to _her_.

Some questions are better left alone, and in the end... So-young does have something of a habit of looking at the ends more than the means. Whatever the rest of her team may think about the moral implications, to her they slide off like water off a duck's back, to be dealt with later if necessary.

Fortunately, Skull is there to provide a change of topic to leap at. "Not a real one, of course! Can't you just cognitive up a mental guitar of your own or something?" So-young it's not-- it's not a verb that you can just use in any situation like that!! But the temptation has been laid, and the conductor chases it with a joyous smile. "Come on, can't you imagine it? A drive-by guitar smack on the back of Queen's motorcycle," she mimics both hands coming around in a baseball bat swing.

It's strategizing, okay.

Panther gently rebuffs her in the sotto-voce language of a waggled hand, and So-young tilts her head in return in what can be accurately construed as 'fiiiiiiine...' until the young woman's voice firms. It's comforting to know that every group has someone in it who is entirely ready to get real mad at a moment's notice, and while Queen seems to be the one to embody fury it's that vengeful sort of fire that really resonates with the conductor.

So-young tilts her head towards Queen's warning as well. Her Persona's name isn't lost on her. Maybe someday she'll experience a dreadful fall, but-- her smile is bright and alive. "I am rapidly learning to heed that warning. But, on the other hand, I can only ever be myself. And So-young Park will inevitably do what So-young Park's heart thinks is best, even if that ends up 'being a complete idiot'," she says placidly, and perhaps a little wistfully.

"Personally," So-young chips in immediately afterwards to Queen's comments about the creeping scope of any potential terms, "I am not very good at maintaining and defining all the boundaries of an alliance ahead of time. Somehow, I doubt the Metaverse or Mementos are such cut-and-dry sorts of places as to make that sort of thing particularly easy either. I trust Merry fully to set the terms of any deal - but from where I stand, it is at least a start to have just sat here and talked to each other," she adds pleasantly. "Even if nothing official comes of it, we have at least shared a cordial 'hello', and I like to think that counts for something."

She lapses into silence - and sure enough, as she lets Myunghon expound on their Hope, their grand speech is enough to bring a quiet and proud smile to So-young's face. There's a faint little chuckle under her breath, and for a moment So-young maybe understands why their mother might have tried to kill them. She knows little about the Baengnyong, but she'd love to see what the hell would happen if Myunghon really took its reins and pointed it in a direction with that sort of conviction behind it. She's convinced her mother wouldn't know what the fuck hit her.

If she saves a wry smile for herself, it's to Shinjiro's argument: what exactly constitutes 'accepting responsibility', and what is left if someone refuses to? That's how they got to this point with Kaneshiro, after all, because it's not like they could just ask him to kindly stop his extortion and takeover attempt. So-young has dealt with her share of people being convinced that a young female conductor who likes 'modern' music wouldn't amount to much regardless of what she said, and that's already infuriating enough despite being the most tame first-world problem, let alone a rampaging mafioso. Is it fair to expect anyone to wait years of harm for someone's principles to sink in?

She leaves that thought aside for the next time 3am rolls around and she wakes up with a corpse in her mind's eye. Always save the real philosophy for then.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem> Every squad got that one member who can't see further than two to three steps in front of them, bless their hearts. It's true that Myo's offerings are as empty-headed and vague as they come: what could someone stand to gain from offering to start cratering people's enemies? Because when you zap away the punk-headed morality of thumping the bad guys, what you're left with is a dedication to kicking the shit out of people for reasons undefined. And if you start to pick that apart, where's the line drawn? What makes Kaneshiro so wrong, and Mio Kazama so right? That he's bullying and beating up the wrong crowd? That she's bullying and beating up the right crowd? What's the _end goal_ here?

Anyway, not a single one of these thoughts occurs to Myo, the masked, robed figure sitting on a sofa in the Cardboard Dragon, but the Narrator can't help but start to string up patterns on the corkboard for funsies. As a bad liar and negotiator, it's also obvious with Phantom Thieves line up more with her personality. She couldn't hide that if she wanted to. That's a good thing (for them)!

"Distorted... desires, huh." whatever Myo was considering saying, the wind's whisked from her lungs and the phrase seems to have her spooked. That'll be one to ask about next time, she supposes. She feels self-conscious and less confident as Shinjiro throws a stone right through the window of this argument regarding distorted desires and how one fixes them. Luckily, behind that mask, she can just chill out. She stands up and smooths her long skirts out, as Myunghon's conversation and careful consideration of terms comes to a close.

"Not gonna pretend I understand, but--let's do our best anyway!" the battle-nun exclaims with both hands clenched, clearly ganbarimasu'ing through whatever tension underlies the situation.

Yeah, she's definitely gonna cause more problems than she solves.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Shinobu asks her question. She sees the way Joker gives her that long look, Skull frowns and slouches, and Panther's expression hardens. Queen, she can't read as well.

Shinobu doesn't flinch. She's always been the straightforward type. Though it's because of that that she can respect it when Panther decides to speak ''her'' mind, too.

They don't kill people, she says and Queen confirms - and people like Kaneshiro don't deserve an easy way out. Shinobu considers that for a moment.

"Harsh. But I get it." She replies with a shrug.

Shinobu asks her question - and Joker says that the 'how' is a trade secret. That's fair, she thinks - but she does get ''an'' answer.

His distorted desires were stolen, and now he sees the world clearly - his actions and their ramifications...

She considers that thoughtfully. She hears Shinjiro's objections to it.

She can't say she objects to the ''idea'' on its face. Sometimes, you need a direct answer to a problem, and she's a very direct person.

"...That's a lot to take in." Is her ultimate conclusion. "I dunno that I really get what counts as a distorted desire, but I see that it works. Thanks for answering."

She can respect how thorough they are about picking their targets. She'll need time to work out how she actually ''feels'' about it - which is why she's ultimately glad that the Phantom Thieves need time to deliberate, and Myunghon says the same of their group. It's no surprise - they probably would anyway, after learning that much.

Queen has questions, but Myunghon addresses those well enough that she doesn't have anything to add.

"I don't think any of us are in any rush. Probably better to take time to think it over, anyway. Don't wanna jump right into anything any of us will regret." Shinobu decides, ultimately.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
The Phantom Thieves don't kill. Joker nods once, sharp and decisive, in agreement with Panther and Queen. Once again, they're completely right--and this time, they don't add a caveat. Skull's blunder... they simply don't outwardly acknowledge. Better not to call attention to it.

Myunghon answers Queen's questions and then some, waxing on about despair and hope, that they want to represent the people who are being trod upon. They've said as much before--but while Joker was Ren, in the real world--so they simply nod once. Umie as their groups' go-between... "Acceptable."

Umie comments on the Pandora's Box nature of Palaces, and it occurs to Joker that she--and maybe the rest of the greater Persona User community--doesn't fully grasp the nature of a Palace. That's not her fault or anyone's in Cardboard Dragon, considering The Phantoms are the ones not explaining it all, but it does stand out to them. This is underscored when Shinjiro asks, among other things, who gets to determine what a distortion is. Joker stares at him for a moment before tucking their hands in their pockets.

"You sound like that Detective Prince," they comment. Shinjiro's points are worth engaging with, but they simply don't have the time for it now. "Very well. But if you truly disagree with our methods, then I urge you not to passively let yourself be convinced."

It does feel to them like at least some of this is a misunderstanding of what they're doing, born inevitably of The Phantoms only sharing partial information... but that's only part of the answer. Cardboard Dragon saw Kaneshiro's Palace. If what counts as a distortion is still ambiguous after that, Joker genuinely doesn't know how to explain it.

Yet on some level, is that only wishful thinking--the idea that, if they'd just explained it more, explained it better, that Shinjiro would understand and agree? Sometimes, people simply don't see eye-to-eye. Isn't it arrogant to think otherwise?

They wonder if that's how things will ultimately end with Akechi.

Shinobu thanks them for the answer; So-young says at least they've all shared a courteous chat; Mio stays Mio, bless her. Joker gives them all a courteous nod. "Agreed. And if either of our groups can't agree to work with the other, no hard feelings. We all can only abide by our own Justice... and look after our own."

They turn and gesture forwards to Skull, Panther, and Queen to the fire escape exit. Then, tucking their hands back in their pockets, they stride out and into the night.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>Skull looks over at Ann as she leans over. He quietly mutters back to her, "Hmm? Hell no. I ain't got the talent or money for that." He never really saw music as something for him to do. Especially with his life the way it was, it wouldn't have worked out.

Skull back straightens when he hears Makoto's tone. He cringes and just stands at attention to avoid getting on Queen's bad side.

He is going to be a good boy. He swears.

He does snort when he hears Shinjiro though, giving the other punk a look. Who does this guy think he is? The anime's protagonist?

"'Live with what we do'? Who says that, man?" Ryuji wants to defend his friend's honor but he is sure it would make this tense situation worse. So the blonde just stuffs his hands into his pockets and begins to move to make an exit.

Skull takes one last look around the room before just exiting the Cardboard Dragon. It was going to be an interesting ride back. That was for sure.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
Ann Takamaki - Panther - is, indeed, a light-hearted contrast to Joker and - perhaps especially - Queen. She's all wide-eyed wonder as Umie details the possibilities of her training, even despite what Queen points out -- clearly already letting her imagination run wide. She's sighing in open relief as So-young drops the point of the Ominous Third Floor despite that kind of undercutting the whole point of her discretion to begin with.

She even widens her eyes in surprise as Myunghon insists-- "Stopping the Dark Hour? Can... you really do that??" as if the idea had never occurred to her, and yet, she instantly hooks onto it. "That'd be great! Not having to live through this creepy hour again..." despite all the various conveniences it can provide people like them, because she only thinks of the ways in which it's disturbing--

The ways it's dangerous to people ''not'' like them.

She is, in every way, the heart of the Phantom Thieves.

''To truly live with something you did... you have to first accept responsibility. But Kaneshiro never did that.''

''... it all rings hollow.''

"... What?"

But a heart can also know anger.

"'Hollow'?" And it's immediately and ''painfully'' apparent in the way those blue eyes narrow behind that mask, in the way Panther just immediately draws up with squaring jaws and tensing posture. In the fire sparked behind her voice. "Kaneshiro, Madarame--" Kamoshida-- "they were never going to accept responsibility! No one was going to make them, or hold them to account, or anything! They would have just kept hurting people, because this shitty system didn't care about the people they hurt, or-- or--"

Hands clenched into fists, Panther cuts herself off as Joker answers Shinjiro's misgivings in a much more level-headed way. She knows she should just let them deal with it - or Queen, even, anyone who could be more diplomatic in this moment. And in the end, she forces herself to tear away from the conversation when they reach the end of the meeting. But there's a frown on her lips still as she nods to Joker. A fire in her heart still as she turns to follow him out the door.

Because after everything that they've been through-- everyone they've managed to protect-- after what Shiho had to go through--

"The ''hell'' it's hollow."

She just can't let herself accept that word silently.

A moment later, she's gone.

Don't worry: she'll kick herself later having been so angry she forgot she was going to offer to give Merry a lead on some great heavy-duty home renovators on the downlow.

</poem>

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

2025-11-09: What is This, a Crossover Episode?! A Phantom Dragon Story

2025-11-16T07:44:54Z

Jean: Created page with " *'''Log: What is This, a Crossover Episode?! A Phantom Dragon Story''' *'''Cast:''' Myunghon Yeo, Umie Akabane, Shinjiro Aragaki, So-young Park, Mio Kazama, Shinobu Shimizu, Ren Amamiya, Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, Makoto Niijima *'''Where:''' Cardboard Dragon, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru *'''OOC Date:''' November 09, 2025 *'''IC Date:''' August 08, 2012 *'''Summary''': ''As arranged by everyone's favorite cognitive cutie patootie Jos..."

*'''Log: What is This, a Crossover Episode?! A Phantom Dragon Story'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Myunghon Yeo]], [[Umie Akabane]], [[Shinjiro Aragaki]], [[So-young Park]], [[Mio Kazama]], [[Shinobu Shimizu]], [[Ren Amamiya]], [[Ryuji Sakamoto]], [[Ann Takamaki]], [[Makoto Niijima]]
*'''Where:''' Cardboard Dragon, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru
*'''OOC Date:''' November 09, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' August 08, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''As arranged by everyone's favorite cognitive cutie patootie Jose, Cardboard Dragon and the Phantom Thieves finally meet. Feeling out each others' intentions, the two groups try to come to a mutual understanding to take that first step towards collaboration. It mostly goes well! Until the end, when it doesn't. ALSO FEATURING: Things in this waking nightmare of this thing we called life that cannot be unseen and cannot be forgotten. ''

----

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
The Cardboard Dragon crew left a message with Jose a while back, delivered the next time they spelunk into the depths of Mementos.

'As a gesture of gratitude for saving Hirasaka,
We are hosting a sale of precious Skill Cards to the Phantom Thieves!
The time will be at the end of Tuesday, August 7th during the Dark Hour.
The place shall be the Cardboard Dragon, in Hirasaka Ward...'

An address is just plainly supplied there.

Well, it isn't as if the Cardboard Dragon is ever a secret -- Rumourmonger Merry, unlike the Phantom Thieves, is a public figure -- insomuch as they're very plainly part of the Sumaru City Rumourmonger network, and no seeming cognitive barrier to pierce their identity exists: you can very much confirm this is very much the same person that you can walk in on during the daytime, perhaps idiosyncratically stacking koalas or doing a random spot of baking or napping on their couch or other miscellaneous irresponsible activities.

And that is the way it is today -- as the sickly moon hangs low over the verdant-cast air, the Cardboard Dragon has signs of life in it.

The Phantom Thieves will find the typical fire escape door on the second floor accessible, and...

and...

well.... if they choose other means of infiltration, there is also the option of going through the balcony on the third floor into the Nightmare Hell Depression Bedroom, full of black mould and dilapidated, rotten ceilings, unpacked belongings in (fittingly) cardboard boxes, a cold, lumpy hard futon, a lack of even shitty furniture, and the quizzically unique nature of someone living with a men's bathroom and thus able to stake a special claim to having their own urinal.

... more details to be elucidated if the Thieves do enter from that direction.

The Cardboard Dragon itself is a homey old three-storey brick building made sometime in the 70s some two blocks south of Hirasaka, the second floor of which certainly looks the part... but kept as clean as possible -- it's about one third card-playing space, one third bookshelves full of difficult and crusty-looking old books from authors around the turn of the 20th century amongst other things, and also one third a living room of sorts, with a couch and coffee table and entertainment unit.

Rumourmonger Merry is in their seat of power in the actual storefloor, seated not on the couch but rather on their Cognitive Coat!! The Coat's stretched out to create a pitch-black throne with thrumming ebbs of crimson throughout, creating the striking effect that they are, in fact, just sitting on thin air and nothing else. They're dressed in their typical white dress shirt and black tie, along with black dress pants, fastidious as always.

Next to them is... their yukata and haori from earlier tonight when they ventured to Shibuya and got rained on. It's hanging on a clothes-drying line. It looks somewhat sad, despite the lavish and fanciful nature of the traditional clothing. It might reveal where they were earlier today. A bout of carelessness, or simply that they don't have laundry space?

"Today's special is a particularly fascinating card," Merry declares, already in the midst of their typical explanations. They raise a Skill Card with a blade of pure ice depicted upon it. "Courtesy of my peers in the Frost community... there are many foes in particular that wield flame and, consequently, are vulnerable to the cold. Why, this came in quite timely against a bonafide Homunculus!"

And then, the inevitable arrival...!"Ara," pauses Merry, as they spread both of their arms out in a Y-pose -- before pausing as their smile goes rictus for a moment, cause wow, their shoulders and arms hurt a lot more than they thought. Still, it doesn't eliminate their aplomb one bit.

"Welcome one, welcome all! Welcome... to the Cardboard Dragon! I am the purveyor of this humble place, Rumourmonger Merry. And these are my most trusted comrades..."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> ----EARLIER----
There's a noise. Several, in fact, as if someone was scoping out the building. Quiet footsteps as if someone was being courteous, but otherwise not sparing any consideration of remaining undetected.

Myunghon will get a text a few minutes in, coming from Umie.

>> if you hear sounds, it's me
>> checking for suspucuisou thiungs

Some more minutes pass.

>> did you block off that window
>> is there a sign
>> nm not enough time

----NOW(?)----
The fire escape door creaks open dramatically, revealing a short shadow standing in the rain outside, draped in a pale grey rain jacket. As the figure steps in, they issue a very non dramatic tiny sneeze, a second before the lights go out. "*tszch!*"

(.... why is So-young turning around like that)

"It's just me, guys," comes Umie's voice, after she rubs her nose with the cuff of her sleeve (if her clothing and height didn't give it away at the beginning). Down comes her hood, revealing her hair, once nicely coffed into an elegant, wispy chignon, accented with a red silk peony and sprays of baby's breath, now matted down from being under the hood, and still damp. "Had to stop by my apartment so my yukata rental could dry out, and the last train was late arriving, so.... Can you believe it started pouring rain during the festival?"

There's other signs of her rainy adventures, such as the remainders of makeup still slightly smudged from a quick rinse in the sink at her apartment. The delicate yukata and geta have likewise been since exchanged for the much less glamourous option of 'whatever Umie could find on top of the basket of clean clothes. ... Which means: a shirt that proudly says 'A APPLE ADAY' in English lettering, with a happy green cartoon worm coming out of a red apple, denim shorts, and those oddly nice sneakers, with the toes of shoe liners peeking up by her ankles. Her black thumbsleeves peek out from the loose sleeves of the rain jacket, which cover the quirky t-shirt. (She *wanted* to dress nicely, but reality, like always, had other plans.)
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>After the honestly pretty excellent fireworks show and followup dinner, Shinjiro came back to the Cardboard Dragon to get changed into his regular clothes, folding his haori and yukata and placing them to the side to take home. He didn't want to take advantage of the CLOTHES LINE, that's Merry's dirty laundry!

Now that Dark Hour has begun, Shinjiro's in his red faux-wolf-furred coat from Peacock Silk, beanie firmly back on his head. He looks... overly warm, but he was also one of the ones wearing a haori earlier, so.

His thoughts on the Phantom Thieves, if asked ahead of time, are full of suspicion. People who can change another's heart, their mind... taking away the choice of responsibility, how awful is that? It is a person's choice to either take responsibility or not. Without the freedom to choose, it's hollow, just a forced confession.

Can they really trust these people have the right intentions for their power? And if they do... do they really know what they're doing?

Myunghon especially could tell why Shinjiro has big thoughts on that. He's very much about personal responsibility, after everything he's done. But even so, he's promised not to ruin it. He needs to observe himself what they're about.

He's on the couch, tapping his fingers against his left thigh rhythmically. He's got a canned coffee in his other hand. He's basically the physical security here, and is prepared to spring up if something goes horribly wrong, even outside a Persona battle.

Hopefully, it doesn't.

As Umie enters, Shinjiro gives her a wave. "It was pretty cool, wasn't it? I'll have to show you the photos I got later," he tells her, trying to defuse his own tension about this meeting.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> Part of the Cardboard Dragon is set aside as a living area, with a couch pointed towards an entertainment unit and an aging CRT. There are some office chairs strewn around the couch for extra seating, and seated on one of them is... someone who is either trying much too hard, or enjoying herself far too much, or perhaps both at once.

So-young Park would not miss this meeting for the world, not least because her thoughts about a Change of Heart kind of start and end at 'oh, you made the untouchable asshole confess? damn, good job!'. If she ever paused to think and properly evaluate the situation, there is a little part of her deep down that would love to figure out how they do it and ascertain whether it's a matter of convincing or coercion or mind control... ... but from her point of view, the two 'victims' she knows of have been a serial art thief and someone directly threatening her sibling. She's entirely happy with the outcomes thus far.

Besides, So-young will always carry the DNA of a theatre kid. There's every chance she's simply here to recruit the Thieves into a revue act.

With that moral quandary out of the way, and the conductor's energy at high just from the happy adrenaline of a festival and fireworks followed by a torrential downpour, So-young has room to be as So-young Park as she wants to be.

The figure that is seated in the office chair is pointed away from both the fire escape and the stairs to the third floor at first, but there is a clear elegance in the way the monochrome figure carries themselves, sitting upright with their gaze levelled slightly high as they seemingly gaze out of the window. As the Thieves enter, the figure's chin lowers, their head turning a miniscule amount - and then as Myunghon calls out, a light kick sets the chair spinning as So-young leans forward to place her elbows on her knees and steeple her fingers together at her chin.

(Yes, she absolutely practiced this. Not to mention she's never sure if it's the Thieves entering or someone else, so she's already done it a couple of times before having to hurriedly reset herself.)

She realizes too late that she's misjudged her push and is coming to a stop pointed several degrees away from where the Thieves have entered, but the only reaction she gives is a quiver of her mouth as she successfully manages to avoid immediately grinning like an idiot. The show must go on. Damn it, she would never have expected Myunghon to be so, so much better at this than her.

So-young has also found herself a mask... of sorts. It's cheap and plastic and the cord has already nearly snapped because it's meant for kids, but she has a half-face kitsune mask she picked up from a stall on the way. Maybe it's for the best that Fox is not present. Not that the mask helps in any way - it is completely mundane, So-young has no cognitive barrier to protect her identity, and most importantly there is really no mistaking her hair, long and hime cut, pure white but for the repeated black stripes to evoke a piano's keys, exactly the same as it has been when certain Thieves have seen her in the real world.

"Greetings," she intones, setting her voice about an octave lower than normal and adding a bit of gravel for good measure.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem>SOME TIME PRIOR

Krump! Boom! Thoom! Kracklekracklekracklekracklekrackle~

The Family Mart perched at the edge of Hirasaka Ward is a 24-hour convenience store ('conbini' to those in the know) and, blessedly on this humid and dreary night, is an oasis of cool, crisp air. Despite being sealed and warded against the oppressive summer heat outside, the rumble and peal of fireworks still creeps through the glazed windows a few seconds behind telltale flashes of coloured light. On this festival evening, Mio Kazama is...

... ringing up the order for a foreign tourist buying a late-night onigiri, drinks, and assortment of snacks. She is clad in the noble silks and finery of the FamiMart uniform, which is a cheap synthetic polo patterned in blue and white with a thick green stripe around the midsection. The item scanner on the counter beeps with every barcode waved before it. "Are you visiting for the fireworks?" asks Mio, directly disobeying Rule #113(1)(a)(vii) of the employee handbook, which discourages small talk with the customers. The foreign man nervously looks down at his hand of 1000-yen bills. Hideyo Noguchi stares back at him, unwilling to translate what the girl in bubblegum pink hair has just asked him. "Y...es." he answers, obliviously, hoping this is the right move that will let him pay and depart without further embarrassment.

"Nice. Okay, that's 2,053 yen please."
"Yes."
"Would you like a bag?"
"..."

A new phrase. The tourist is caught in the gaze of their natural predator: the unassuming and harmless local, unsure how to respond. "Er..." he stammers, pretending not to have heard. Several people behind him in line silently shift their weight and pretend to focus on their phones. The background music begins a new loop once more, and a humid wave rolls in from outside as the store door slides open from someone walking too close on the sidewalk.

Mio turns to look at the clock, bags under her eyes as if all her makeup suddenly stopped working, blue lines and sweat rolling down her face. Too... awkward...

NOWSIES

(Un)fashionably late, the door to the Cardboard Dragon creaks open and a mess of wet pink hair, jeans, and Converse Chuck Taylors trudges through, all wrapped up in a 300-yen poncho whose seams have not survived the rigours of being folded. "Oisuuu~" Mio calls out while not being fully able to see, pulling herself free of her plastic packaging not long after. She's still wearing her FamiMart polo and her hair is hurriedly jammed into a knotted ponytail held in place with a handkerchief.

She has a bag of much nicer clothes slung over one shoulder but has mistimed her arrival, or perhaps was unavoidably detained, and thus, is here to make connections looking like she's either about to inform someone that the bentos are half-price until 6 PM, or ask whether they prefer leaded or unleaded gasoline.

"... oh . . ."

Well, maybe the rollout of the Dark Hour will solve her fashion woes. Unless it's too late, in which case, people have worn stranger shit to Tartarus, man. Head empty, no thoughts of import, she'll figure this meeting out on the fly.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Shinobu isn't entirely sure whether or not the Phantom Thieves will show. She wouldn't blame them for being suspicious, receiving a sudden, direct invitation... But, hopefully, their choice of messenger will at least help them give them the benefit of the doubt.

The only thing they can do now is wait, and hope they accept.

...And wait Shinobu does - leaning against a wall nearby Merry's makeshift throne, her arms folded in front of her as she scans the shop floor for signs of activity. She doesn't know which direction they'll be coming from, but she wants to be ready.

She's dressed casually, in her signature jeans, t-shirt, and jacket. Conversely to Shinjiro, she ''has'' taken advantage of the clothesline, her yukata hanging up to dry next to Myunghon's.

She looks up at Umie enters, cracking a smirk.

"...No kidding." She replies. "Least we got ''some'' fireworks in before they tried to drown us."

And then, the arrival. Merry introduces them all as their most trusted comrades, and Shinobu offers a nod of greeting.

"Shinobu Shimizu." Shinobu greets. By this point, it feels like too late to try to hide herself. She might as well be open.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
It happened not too long ago that Jose, that curious little robot boy who clown-cars around Mementos, passed on a message from the Persona Users of Cardboard Dragon that they want to meet and speak with the Phantom Thieves. (Well. It's basically a privately scheduled "sale"? Maybe even without the scare quotes. Either way.) The team had discussed this and, given their positive interactions while dealing with Shadow Kaneshiro, they agreed to accept... and now here they are.

Not all of the Phantom Thieves are here. They agreed that, just in case, it might be a wise idea that people outside their group don't get to know all of them all at once. It helps, or doesn't help depending on your perspective, that some of the others just weren't able to make it tonight.

That's fine. They can pass on the discussion to the others. For now, after the rained-out fireworks festival, The Phantoms dispersed and then reassembled in Sumaru after taking the trains during normal hours. Once the Dark Hour hits and the meeting is done, they can return to Tokyo via Mementos and Monabus.

For right now...

The sickly green light of the Dark Hour permeates the air in Hirasaka Ward. Only a few minutes after it's begun, something stirs in the shadows just outside Cardboard Dragon. Ren--or rather, Joker--has been here before a couple times, so they know the way in. This is an arranged, agreed-upon meeting, so why sneak? They simply walk up to the building and climb the fire escape exit, gloved hands tucked in the pockets of their long coat, as if they belong there.

Of course, that's only the bold and potentially distracting approach of the leader. Why sneak? Because they're thieves, of course. Some among their others might open for alternate entrances, or to hang back and keep a weather eye out before approaching...

As they stride in to Cardboard Dragon proper, they're greeted by Rumormonger Merry in their throne-esque Cognitive Coat. Joker takes them and their self-introduction in stride, glancing from person to person as their companions introduce themselves in turn--or just hang around, as the case may be. They of course recognize Merry as Myunghon; Umie is here too in a quirky T-shirt, and So-young spinning in her chair in practiced motion with a cheap plastic mask and Shinobu nodding to them all in greeting; they don't know Shinjiro in his unseasonable coat or Mio in her plastic poncho looking well out of sorts, but that's fine.

It does look like a decent number of them got rained out from the fireworks festival too, though.

"Greetings, Rumormonger Merry," Joker replies, projecting their voice. "As you know, we are the Phantom Thieves." They smirk as they raise their hands to tighten their red gloves--a personal tic as much as it is to show that they come unarmed. (Not that they couldn't be armed in an instant, but it's the thought that counts.) "Some of us will be arriving in alternate fashion... I do hope you don't mind." They slip their hands into their pockets, smirk fading. "Amongst ourselves, I'm known as Joker." They glance briefly at Umie, smirk for a second, and add, "No relation to the 'Old Maid.'"

They'll let the others enter and introduce themselves in their turn.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>Skull isn't sure what to make of a sale during the Dark Hour. It is a bold tactic but there was a part of him that found this all...sketchy? This feeling is made worse when Ryuji decides to take the Third Floor entrance for a moment. It made sense to keep these guys on their toes. How crazy would it be if the Phantoms just suddenly appeared from everywhere?! That's mind games and super cool to the mystique of the Phantom Thieves. Skull is going to Mind Freak these people!

That was the plan. Instead, Skull is the one getting Mind Freaked.

He is shell shocked by the bedroom, staring into it's disaster area with wide eyes. "Who...who lives like this?!" He is sure he might've seen a bug. Wait is that mold?! The blonde retches, feeling sweat underneath his mask as he tries to will himself to go on.

It takes some time but finally Skull appears from the bed room and comes down stairs. He looks like he's seen somethings, giving everyone he doesn't know a look of just concern and pity. "Ok. Next time I'm using the Fire Escape. That wasn't what I was expectin to see during the Dark Hour, man... Sup? So what did I miss?"

The deliquent stands ready in the corner he's nearest to, slouching with his hands in his pockets. For the moment, he is letting Joker handle the big gestures of this meeting, keeping most of his mistrust to himself. Skull just scans the room, stopping on Shinjiro for a moment. So these guys got a muscle too it seems. Cool. Skull shoots Shinjiro a grin before turning his attention to Rumourmonger Merry, nodding as respectfully as he can manage.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
What is a Jose? A miserable pile of clown cars?

We're just not sure.

Or at least, Ann Takamaki isn't sure. She has pondered th eJose for a solid five minutes straight one time, and having found now logical answers and only just a deep well of creeping uncertainty demanding she not stare into the Abyss lest the Jose stare back, she decided to drop it there.

He's a little lost Mementos child with a buggy bumper and he likes to eat brain flowers! It's cute, not creepy!

So Ann, of course, was totally okay with the totally cute and totally normal Jose putting in a totally normal request that the Phantoms meet these totally trustworthy Cardboard Dragon people for a totally legit sale off in totally Sumaru. And she was initially, actually! After all -- they were going to celebrate their victory over Kaneshiro that day, and their morale would be skyrocketing, high off the backs of FIREWORKS.

What could go wrong?!

A SERIES OF THINGS THAT WENT WRONG LATER,

"Whyyyyyy does the Dark Hour look so much creepier in Hirasaka??"

This is the grumble of Ann Takamaki - AKA THE PERILOUS PANTHER - that she starts out the green-soaked liminal hour with when she meets up with her fellow Thieves, leather-clad arms wrapping around herself in an assuring hug as she looks over the bleak landscape. It's probably because she's just used to the Dark Hour from the safety of her own home. There's usually barely anyone there, which means there's no coffins! And if you think that's depressing, well--

--

-- shut up!

''The point is'', Panther starts this meeting in dour spirits, having her great summer celebration ruined by a few measily drops of rain and one of her favorite yukata still air-drying off in the hotel room she rented for the night (oh god -- do things still dry during the dark hour--?!), and she is in ''desperate'' need of a pick-me-up. So, when she sees the angle that Skull is deciding to go with their grand entrance? Panther immediately perks up again!

"Oo! Oo, I wanna join! It'll be ''so'' cool and mysANOTHER SERIES OF THINGS THAT WENT WRONG LATER

It's a haunted figure in red leather, not a mysterious and dashing one, that emerges from the third floor of the Cardboard Dragon after Skull. Wrapped in red leather, Panther would have all the dangerous presence of a bona fide femme fatale!

If she wasn't so busy locking a thousand-yard stare off into the distance.

She was similarly, horrifyingly quiet when she and Skull wandered through the third floor. And now here she is, even paler than normal somehow, her blue eyes dead inside as she stares at that fixed point where surely there is a black hole a trillion light years off devouring all light and creation into its imperishably black maw.

"Um. Hey," she says, distracted. Does she notice everyone here??

"Are you--"

'okay?,' she wants to say 'okay,' she desperately needs to say 'okay'--

"--b-big into-- trading card games--?"

bwomp.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
A message to a clandestine meeting with strange people conveyed by an even stranger boy, for a sale no less? It's hard to think a meeting like this *isn't* suspicious. On the other hand, the Phantom Thieves only discovered recently that other Persona Users exists, let alone a whole community of them. This was a good if risky opportunity to learn more. So after weighing up the options, Queen put her vote toward the meeting- if with precautions.

She'd went over the rules: 'Treat this like a Palace. Codenames only, don't give away any unnecessary details, keep our real identities out of it. We were allies of convenience with Kaneshiro, we don't actually know anything about them yet, as Persona Users.'

Queen is... definitely more on edge during the Dark Hour, and her Phantom Thief outfit activates as soon as the Dark Hour starts, with no effort or intent from Makoto. In Palaces, that happens when the ruler perceives a threat, obviously. Does it work the same way in the Dark Hour? It seems unlikely that a time of night or local shadows would recognize just Makoto as a threat. "We only have to endure it for now." Queen murmurs to Panther's complaints, but the edge to her voice is harder.

Of course, Joker is the one who decides to walk straight in to make sure it's not a trap, and Makoto is hanging back before the initial all clear. She's the one who has to provide the escape plan in that case, after all.

Fortunately, for the moment, the need for such plans is not necessary, given that Joker's initial entrance has not resulted in, say, an explosion or a giant shadow emerging or anything else.

So after a few more moments, she turns to their fifth who is definitely not a bakemono. "Mona, I'm heading in. Keep an eye on things, and if things kick off or I send you the signal, you're our backup. I'm counting on you." With that Queen follows, also taking the fire escape for swiftness of entry. Which means she enters the room, sizing up the gathered Persona users. She encountered some of them in Kaneshiro's palace, but didn't really have time to talk. She falls in next to Joker, her scarf moving without the wind- her outfit is about as scandalous as Panther's, but spikier and with less skin showing, it's just rare she's standing still enough or not wrapped in an incredible veil of fury for it to be noticed.

"I'm Queen." She offers simply, as Skull and Panther appear and are...

She blinks. Skull seems to be doing okay, but Panther looks like she's seen hell. And neither of them introduced themselves so Queen decides to take care of that too (especially since she's not sure Panther *can* right now).

"This is Skull and Panther." She clarifies, indicating them each with a wave of her hand before crossing her arms. She's in full business mode, but she looks to Joker first before deciding to set her own tone.

She does, however, make mental notes of every name given. Rumormonger Merry and Umie Akabane she recognizes. Shinjiro, Mio and So-young don't give any details, so Shinobu Shimizu is the only new information she gains- with a full name. Far more than the Phantoms are volunteering.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Unfortunately, Myunghon has their phone on Manner mode, so Umie's texts don't quite get responded to in time. No, Umie, they did not in fact block off their window to the nightmare hellscape bedroom! And when the door opens, it looks as if the Raincoat Killer is here to slaughter them all!! Aieee!! ... no, it's just Umie. Coming in from the third floor.

"Unfortunately for you, Akabane-san, I've tidied up there. You can't deter me tonight," boasts Merry. ... tidying doesn't particularly do much against its nightmarish state, Myunghon.

Myunghon does know that Shinjiro has big thoughts about the Phantom Thieves' methods, but they're not particularly interested in making this meeting automatically devolve into a meeting about ethics. Well, if it becomes an argument like that, it'd still be quite interesting information gathering, but they're aiming for a bigger prize at the moment...

And they're not lying when they say that this is about a gift for saving Hirasaka, because in their mind, that is unequivocably true, even if they had other objectives in mind.

In the end, too, one is reminded that So-young was all 'sucks to be you' at everyone else having to go home in the wet, crowded trains of Shibuya... and yet she also had to be here for the midnight meeting!! Doom, terror, crackow, avash. Still, Myunghon seems content enough to let her practice her little routine out, even if they also advised that perhaps she should get a mask from Umie.

Mio's late entrance is given a nod by Merry, as they gesture with that characteristically vivid, almost V-shaped smile on their face. As if to give her an out from any awkwardness, "Myo, please, come in, and thank you for your efforts. You are not too late."

And Shinobu's got the COOL POSE going on leaning against a wall beside their throne! (Some part of Myunghon is flailing and excited about how cool that looks, surrounded by their most trustworthy enforcers...)

But here come the Phantom Thieves! Myunghon did consider that not all of them would be here -- that's just wise, in their books. They could be walking into a devious and dastardly trap!! Myunghon had a headcount from the battle with Kaneshiro and not much else, and they do identify that the Fox-masked one and the Beauty Thief are not here... and they're not about to read too much into it.

Much like them, the Phantom Thieves are also, almost inevitably, people, with schedules.

But Joker deigns to just simply enter right from the front as if he'd always belonged here. How bold! And intriguing. They offer a greeting in turn, tightening their gloves. They point out that some of the other thieves will be here in their own personal fashion.

"Well met, Joker," nods Merry, amiably enough, and the connection they draw is already dispelled. What a fascinating... coincidence? Is it a coincidence, or something more? The supernatural has many ill designs beyond the means in which they know.

Still, Joker's tactic (perhaps?) of having people enter through various means does seem to have an effect, because Skull and Panther emerging in from the third floor much like Umie did does prompt a particular mannerism, in which Merry taps their finger to their lips as they Shaft-tilt their head over their shoulder.

"Ara ara, I see what you mean now, Joker-san. I hope my living quarters did not alarm you too much... Iron-san, Crimson-san, perhaps?" They have to guess at a codename for Skull and Panther. But it isn't long before Queen sets the record straight -- Skull, and Panther.

But indeed, who the hell lives like that?! Is this also a tactic?! Did they somehow mess up their living arrangements beforehand just for intimidation... no, that ceiling is basically one bad torrent of rain (like tonight) away from just caving in on them. How are they still alive. How did they survive the last winter.

It might be easy to connect Merry's bandaged appearance to that bedroom.

"I do enjoy trading card games!" Merry cheerfully answers, papering right over the terror of having their bedroom stampeded upon. "We're celebrating the new release of the Sourdough Princess Sourdough Starter Pack! For just a bit of dough, I'll even throw a special eggwash-themed card sleeve set!"

Is this the fabled 'disaster adult' they're warned to not become, one day???

"My my! Queen-san! I hope you've been well," Merry does cheerfully say, having a bit more warmth with Queen despite her countenance because once you ride shotgun behind someone's Persona-Motorcycle to manifest a road made out of cloth so she can dunk the personification of one's gluttony with nuclear power, you can't not help but feel some camaraderie. "Thank you again for the other day. That was a magnificent performance. No, truly, it's all of you that I do have to thank."

They gesture delicately with their bandaged hands. "It would not only have been this building. Kasugayama High School, and several other schools, not to mention homes that belong to the Zainichi... it is with sincerity," they gesture with a sweeping little bow, "that I thank you for your aid in stopping Junya Kaneshiro."

Then Merry is spinning on their own throne, their seating posture becoming positively terrible as they poke their legs out one way and cross their legs. "Now! I do mean it when I say that I am offering a sale for precious and rare Skill Cards. I am a collector and spend much of my time in odd situations to earn these. And as a Rumourmonger, I am also privy to interesting morsels of information that may very well be of use to you in future endeavours. Now, as they say..."

They lean their head down against one arm, elbow on their cognitive armrest -- and then wince again as they find that pose uncomfortable as well, but just suck it up and endures the pain. The facade is all, right now.

"Are you interested in striking a deal, Phantom Thieves?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>As the group filters in, some from the third floor (what the hell is up there? He's going to have to Find Out if they're that horrified), Shinjiro sits up straight. "Shinjiro Aragaki," he introduces himself brusquely.

Don't worry, Merry, he's not going into ethics! That's for the SEES meeting.

Instead, he's gesturing to Mio to join him on the couch as she filters in from work. "Over here," he says, before turning to Joker, observant eyes appraising him.

"Good," he says to the quip about the Old Maid, though it's slightly less brusque. Ryuji then gets a nod as Shinjiro sees that grin.

"Are you all familiar enough with Skill Cards?" he asks, genuinely curious. "I only learned about them from Merry, myself."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Arriving here about the same time as Mio, it doesn't take long before they're joined by someone else-- Joker, specifically, who briefly startles Umie by doing the one thing she didn't expect: come in through the front door. She recovers quickly enough, quickly moving to the side so that Joker and the rest of the cast of Cardboard Dragon can properly interact.

...but not before catching a glance with Joker and betraying a slight sideways grin back, for several reasons.

... One of which is her glance back towards the back room, where the stairs to the Third Floor are.

Maybe they'll find another way in. Or possibly--

Ah. Umie gestures with her hands, giving Myunghon a 'SEE?!' look. "..... Merry-san," Umie flatly murmurs, "I thought you said you had cl--"

She lets out a lonnng sigh. "... I should probably head back up--" But then, she hears the two Thieves thump down the stairs, wearing expressions similar to what Umie had worn, not too long ago. "... I told you to put a sign up."

Still. A part of her feels an odd flush of pride to have discovered that 'entrance'... even if it was for the same reason she was scouting the Cardboard Dragon building as a whole earlier.

.... They all have enemies that would likely love a chance to attack either group, about now.

Which is why, when Queen arrives, Umie's hands instinctually go to her jacket's pockets... for a weapon that isn't there.

(Right. This is her *nice* jacket.)

Still, she relaxes, realizing who it is: Motorcycle-san. And Red-san, and that must be.... a Skull-san.

'Skull and Panther.' AHA. She got one on the first try!

Umie's outward expression doesn't change, however, just making way for Skull and Panther to make their way in, while looking at Myunghon.

(..... what was the deal, again?) Umie's face betrays a look of curiosity, seeing Myunghon's facade.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> Part of So-young had honestly been expecting Myunghon's offer to be rebuffed. Whichever way you cut it, that would have been the sensible thing to do when it came to meeting anyone, even a shadowy Rumormonger they've fought beside. So the conductor's practiced routine is still done with a degree of surprise evident on her face, the way her eyebrows raise to take in the sight of Joker properly, without the threat of a piggytank falling on her any moment.

So-young's attempt at being foreboding and above all tactirun only lasts so long, not least because she's just not the sort of person to be able to keep up something like that for long. Her eyebrows go up at Umie's rather bedragged state, glancing over with genuine concern. "Oh, I certainly can believe it. You should have let me know! You couldn't have been far from my place. I'd have let you in to dry off."

Mio's rather blitzed entrance gets an understanding frown as well, and So-young reaches behind her seat to where she's stashed a small Triple 7 bag with some snacks in there. She's starting to understand what really matters during the Dark Hour, and the troubles of trying to manage an extra hour of the day when that extra hour happens to be in the dead-ass of night, and as such - she has canned coffee on hand, waggling it in a silent offer.

"I would be let down if they didn't, honestly," she chimes merrily towards Joker's statement as she straightens up in her chair and relaxes afterwards into a bright smile. "Though, maybe give us all a heads up if someone intends to crash through the window, just for safety's sake."

Somehow, the third floor has remained safe from So-young's meddling. The conductor recognizes this as likely to be a hard stopping point - that if she willingly and openly invaded that part of Myunghon's space, there would probably be no mending whatever came next. Besides, just as she's fond of her own private space, so she will at least respect that in others. Maybe someday she'll see the state of it all, and woe betide anyone in her path afterwards. But for now, she has two new datapoints in the form of shellshocked Phantom Thieves to add to the burgeoning curiosity in her mind.

She settles for an incline of her head, the convenience store bag still held in her hands, honestly uncertain how to mend first impressions given she's missing any context for what might have happened up there.

So-young holds her introduction back for a while, letting Myunghon say their peace about Kaneshiro. Partially it's because the conductor enjoys being 'audience' for speeches like that - but the way her face also tightens with anger at the mafioso's name speaks volumes about what she still thinks of that man, repentance or no.

"So-young Park," she finally adds to Queen's introductions once Myunghon has switched to sales mode, brightening again. "It's a pleasure - and, might I add, thank you from myself as well. It may not have been terribly obvious, but that time was only my second foray into the Metaverse, and I was still very much learning from example. I like to think I'm pretty good at flying around on my Persona now, but I do have to give you the credit for the idea." There's an artful pause. "That and the place collapsing, I suppose."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem> Perhaps there's something to be said for one's perception of oneself during the Dark Hour and the reflection of that. By which I mean, Mio was clearly so preoccupied with getting safely across town that her cognitive self is a convenience-store worker and not a cool warrior of the night clad in the raiment of shadows. Merry is giving her an out, but still, making it late to your own meetup is tipping the slider from Cool to Lame. The only saving grace is that she has taken off her nametag from work, because the cringe singularity of standing there before the uniformly-themed Phantom Thieves with a little FamiMart themed tag clipped to her shirt might actually crumple her up and kill her instantly.

"Ahum--hey there. Myo here. Thanks for coming to meet us!" the young lady with the bright pink hair flashes a V with her fingers and turns her head to one side. Her free hand glides across her face, which looks kind of chuunibyou and faux-dramatic, but the shadows her fingers cast soon solidify into a pointed mask of white iron. Not dissimilar to Queen's, in fact, which I didn't realize until a few weeks into play. Anyway, her voice is very cheerful and her posture suggests a frustrating amount of energy in lieu of life's many vagarities.

Also: perceptive. "Um. Hey," Myo points at Panther not long after. "Is she okay? I know the dark hour's kinda tiring..." she has not yet realized the source of that expression, for she has not seen the depths of depravity that lurk one floor above. It's better this way.

Not being in the lead seat for negotiations for this whole thing, the now-masked young lady tiptoes across the floor towards the sofa, as beckoned. "Phew! Thanks, thanks." She snatches a can of coffee as offered, to boot, her thanks clearly directed to both Shinjiro and So-Young. She cracks the can open with expert timing when nobody else is talking. Unlike Myunghon, her offerings are much less business-focused and, let's be honest, less strictly useful, but she still pipes up after So-Young's introduction all the same.

"Also, we've got refreshments. Help yourself, nothing's off the table! I've been itching to tell you guys how badass you looked when you were socking it to Kaneshiro!" there are little stars in Myo's eyes as she admits this, visible through her visor. Equal parts nervous energy and boundless enthusiasm, then...?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Joker arrives, and greets them all - introducing their group as the Phantom Thieves. No relation to the 'Old Maid', they say - she nods.

"...Rotten luck, to have a guy like that with the same name running around." Shinobu observes.

Her attention turns toward the entrance from the third-floor and - oh, oh no. They ''didn't''.

...They ''did''. Shinobu's expression turns sympathetic as the horrified Skull and Panther emerge.

No one should have to see that.

Her attention turns to Queen instead, as she handles the introductions for the rest of them. She nods to her in turn.

"Nice meeting you all. Thanks for showing up." She replies. The fact that all they're getting is codenames doesn't bother her. She didn't expect anything more than that - just having something to call them by is good enough for now.

Merry confirms that they ''do'' in fact enjoy card games, and even gets a spot of advertising in. How clever of them...

They take point on the conversation, though, and so Shinobu goes quiet as they speak. And when they thank them all...

"...Yeah. Thanks. Hirasaka is a rough enough neighborhood without someone like that calling the shots." She agrees with a nod. "You all fight well. It was good to fight alongside you."

Merry confirms that they ''are'' in fact still having a sale, and Shinjiro asks if they're familiar with Skill Cards - so she goes quiet and lets them handle that part.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
Mona nods firmly to Queen, his white-tipped paws folded over his chest. "Leave it to me. I've got your backs," he murmurs. Given that he's the one who can transform into a car, they all agreed that it's wisest if he's outside so they can make the quickest possible getaway if needed. (Truthfully, he's not a fan of being left out, but he's the senpai here; he's got to show off how reliable and gallant he is to his proteges... Once Queen makes her move, Mona likewise starts circling the building from rooftop to rooftop, keeping careful eye on any suspicious movements. The Phantom Thieves won't be taken off guard!)

On the inside, Skull and especially Panther seem... rattled, Skull with the look of pity he sends around to the people of Cardboard Dragon and Panther with her shellshocked thousand-yard stare into the inescapable core of Sagittarius A*. Joker gives them both a steady look, its inscrutable lack of emotion somehow meant to convey both 'keep it together' and 'are YOU okay?'

Yes, they picked up on that word Panther so desperately wanted to say. It's not what you say, but how you say it. Fortunately, Queen makes her entrance then, and Joker shares a nod with her, silently urging her on, as she takes point on introducing the others. So those are Merry's living quarters upstairs... ...What the hell did Skull and Panther see?!

Joker keeps that question off their masked face, though, only offering a faint chuckle at Merry's gay response and Umie's heavy sigh. Once greetings are done, Merry moves into the reason for this get-together: The Phantoms' actions having led to saving Hirasaka Ward from Kaneshiro's money-grubbing paws. Joker's already aware of this, and so they reply smoothly, "You're quite welcome." (They do wonder what a Homunculus is supposed to be in context, but they keep that question unvoiced for now.)

So-young smilingly asks for a heads-up if anyone's panning to crash through the window. Joker smiles back, winks, and holds a finger up to their lips. "And ruin the surprise? What fun would that be?" (No one is. This is everyone who's showing up tonight. But Joker isn't going to just tell her that, either.) When So-young adds that she'd been a brand-new Persona User at the time, they add, "Oh? Interesting."

Mio introduces herself next--and calls up her own cognitive costume with mask. Is it by design that she's still clearly herself? This ''is'' theoretically a friendly meeting--but if she's trying to encourage The Phantoms to mask ''down'' in return, Joker isn't on board. ...They don't get that vibe from her, though, given her concern for Panther. They wave a hand when she offers refreshments. "That's kind of you, but I'll pass." They chuckle and add, "But your admiration is appreciated."

Shinobu comments on the rotten luck of sharing a codename with a serial killer. "My thoughts exactly," they say dryly. "But likewise. You seem like reliable fighters in your own right." They would have to be to hold their own against a Palace Ruler. All of them experienced firsthand just how tough a battle that was.

They listen to Merry's pitch and hum a low, thoughtful noise. "That depends on the deal--but it sounds like you've got plenty to offer." They look from Queen to Skull to Panther and nod to the three before looking back at Merry... who seems to be in pain, judging by how they keep wincing. They respect the need for a facade, though, and pretend not to have noticed. Likewise, they pretend not to notice the surprised look Umie shoots at them. "We're listening."

Shinjiro introduces himself properly now. Seems like he's anti-Old Maid; points in his favor. When he asks if they know about Skill Cards already, Joker nods once. "From Igor, yes," they lie deftly. The Phantoms actually know of it from Yusuke, but they're certainly not going to ''tell'' them that.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>Skull gives Umie a quick nod as he passes, keeping mostly quiet as he keeps watch over the proceedings.

He watches Merry, trying to get a read on them. He blinks as his eyes pop open on the name guesses, prompting a wide grin. "Woah. I coulda been IRON?! That's kinda badass." Surely someone gives his dumbassery a look, prompting him to cough and try to look 'serious' again. "I mean--Yeah, Skull is fine."

Right now, Skull is sure his main duty here is to keep an eye out for trouble and deal with it. Queen and Joker are going to handle this deal or whatever. However, the offer gets a raised brow from the blonde, prompting to dart his eyes over to Joker for their take.

However everyone is thanking them and being all nice. The delinquent rubs the back of his neck nervously, beginning to feel weird about this whole thing. Were they trying to butter them up? Was he too paranoid? Maaan, this was a tense dark hour and he wasn't even outside with all the horror movie stuff.

"Yeah I hear uh, it's pretty rough here." Skull comments back to Shinobu, wanting to say more but thinking better of it. He hasn't even told the others about why he was acting to weird and now sure as hell isn't the time. Maybe on the Mona-bus ride back?

For now, Skull just crosses his arms, looking back to Shinjiro when he mentions skill cards. "Yeah...Heard of those." He is only kind of sure he knows what is being talked about.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
"People live in that?!"

She doesn't mean to blurt it out. She means to be more diplomatic. To use a gentle touch.

But then she just blurts it out anyway because come on HUMAN BEINGS SHOULD NOT BE FUNCTIONALLY CAPABLE OF LIVING IN EXTREME BIOMES SUCH AS THAT

"I-I mean -- no way! Why even ask that!"

Ann thinks she covered for herself well enough there. Look -- her ACTUAL kneejerk reaction was to immediately derail this Very Important Meeting to run an impromptu intervention for this person she's never met who looks like they might be a mummy from those old-timey horror movies to IMPROVE THEIR LIFE or at LEAST give them an extreme (EXTREME) home makeover!!

Ann Takamaki, consummate latchkey kid, knows that ANY amount of mold in a house can quickly become a bad thing, let alone -- a house that is like, half mold now?!

So -- for her, this is good, not diverting things to have a frank discussion on Rumormonger Merry's personal well-being. (IS that good though--) For now, Panther - stirred from her bleak, blight-blotted reverie by way of bluster, blinks as Merry does some promotional plugging. "Wait, those are out--?!" she blurts, before Queen introduces her. "O-oh err -- right, Panther! That's me!"

Ugh. She's ruining this. She had a whole daydream about coming in, suave and sexy and rife with mystique, to finally be the Panther she knew she could be with complete strangers and now it's all dashed on the rocks. First impressions are ''everything''!

She's stewing over her magnificent failures when Mio asks after her. Behind that feline mask, blue eyes blink once. "Huh? H-haha, I'm fine! I just -- got spooked by a Shadow earlier! The Dark Hour is ''so'' creepy, y'know?"

She thinks that covers her well, if she does say so herself, and given some breathing room as Joker starts to field - negotiations? weren't they just getting a big congratulatory surprise gift or something (they were not)? - Ann takes a moment to assess the others here. Most of them are passingly familiar from their unexpected arrival at Kaneshiro's Palace -- but it's Umie that stands out to her. She's here, too?? ... Well, maybe they ''can'' be trusted...?

Ann's personal thoughts on the matter are tabled for a moment, though, when Shinobu speaks up -- and as she and Merry both thank them for helping Hirasaka from what Kaneshiro was trying to do there. Despite how distraught she seemed earlier, Panther's response is immediate and firm: lips drawn into a tight, thin line, she crosses arms under her chest, and shakes her head exactly once.

"You don't have to thank us," she insists. "I mean... it's nice, but... keeping more people from being preyed on by pathetic bastards like that Kaneshiro is all the reward we need, really." Well, all the reward ''Ann'' needs, anyway.

As to the matter of the Old Maid - his creepiness aside - Panther proclaims quite firmly: "Our Joker is the only one who really deserves that name, as far as I'm concerned." Does she know the meaning of Joker in cards? Or symbolically? Of course not. But Ren's made it his own, and that's what matters!

And so - after Ann insists she's pretty good with just beating up exploitative jerks like Kaneshiro - things pivot to -- the REWARD. Or the DEAL. Myunghon talks about Skill Cards. Shinjiro asks if they're familiar. Panther nods once as she makes her way to join up with the others.

"Uh huh," she says -- and does NOT try to follow up on Joker's clever lie because even SHE knows she'll just draw undue suspicion trying to add onto it. Igor! Yeah! Totally!

So for now, she remains quiet, blue eyes wordlessly watching as Myunghon winces, saying nothing for now -- even if the mask can only do so much to hide any concern she might be wearing on her sleeve.

Is Merry really okay? ... and what do Homonyms have to do with Skill Cards?

Ann keeps her private worries about academics being tied into cognitive crimes strictly to herself for now, and everyone is all the better for it.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
Makoto mentally adds an extra rule to the list: 'Back up Joker's story, let him do the lying cause we all suck at it'.

Merry gets a nod of acknowledgement from Queen. "You helped us put Kaneshiro in his place. You don't need to thank us for that- we had our own reasons for going after Kaneshiro, his plans for Hirasaka were an additional reason to make him face consequences." She doesn't explain 'their own reasons', but so many were there when Queen lost her shit at the man in the piggytron. Still, the mention of the Zanichi gives Queen a momentary think.

She, after all, had only overheard the term from phonecalls her father had sometimes. That required some research of her own, when she had realized they were having a meeting with this group. The good news is she didn't have the full picture!

She still doesn't have the full picture, though, and wouldn't mind some more details.

She sees Umie reach for a weapon, and Queen's hand shifts to her hip- where she could summon her revolver in a second just in case, but Umie relaxes for a moment.

So-young gets a nod from Queen, who also offers thanks for- providing the idea of riding a persona...? "My persona is rather unique in that respect. I haven't seen another take a form like hers."

Myo, however, seems to sacrifice her protection of anonymity as she musters her mask, and Queen takes note of that. It doesn't give her any other information- but she *is* surprised at the amount of praise being given out. That she's not really prepared to handle, so hopefully maybe the other three can handle that?? ...Skull and Panther can definitely handle that, they're great at it.

Shinobu gets a nod back too, while Joker asserts that they're familiar with skill cards. "It also depends on who the deal is with. Are you bargaining on behalf of just yourself, your group as a whole or a broader interest?" Queen is here to be all business, the front of the metaphorical mullet that is the Phantom Thieves, while Panther and Skull represent the party at the back I guess? This got away from me.

And then Panther blurts that out and Queen turns to her, briefly horrified- but thankfully Ann gets distracted by a new card game for a moment so Makoto does not have to introduce her to the patented Queen 'Shut Up And Stop Sharing' kick. Yet. Even Skull is keeping control better than Panther right now.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Hmmm hmmm. It looks like everyone's hitting it off themselves, the way Shinjiro and Ryuji are comparing themselves to being the bruisers of the group. They just sweetly smile to Umie in turn, perhaps the topic of how the balcony door was breached a mystery for another time, waving her concerns away. "A phantom shall enter where they may!" they declare with all too much confidence. "There is no sense in dwelling of it."

Even if Ann continues to express her extreme shock at the, as she puts it in narrative, Extreme Biomes that Myunghon Yeo persists in. Perhaps the mold grows into giant monster spores in the Dark Hour, like some kind of hazard tile? Perhaps it is an explorable Stratum all on its own.

Merry won't dwell on it. Merry considers the offputting nature of the third floor a win. Myunghon's going to roll around on their depressing lumpy futon in mortal embarrassment later. That's Myunghon's job. That's Myunghon Yeo's only job.

What was the deal? Well, information and Skill Cards is simple enough, but Myunghon is leaving what they want from the Thieves vague enough to see if they'll pony up any suggestions on their own first. So-young introduces herself in short order enough, and adds her own thanks in turn. And indeed, it's perhaps a stroke of mercy that So-young hasn't paraded herself up there to make a statement of it -- one of Myunghon's initial reactions might just be to buy a violin to hold it hostage up there to deter their sister, after all.

Myo gets pulled in with Shinjiro and So-young on the couch, and manifests her Will of Rebellion outfit... though they do wonder if the disguise will still work now that she's been out in the open with the rest of them. Not that that will be a particular problem -- the Cardboard Dragon is very open to their real-life identities. That's part of their thing.

Even Rumourmonger Merry being Myunghon Yeo is a very open fact, so Mio isn't alone in that, as she offers refreshments if any of them reach for it, as she admires the Thieves when they were enacting their style upon Kaneshiro's minions and Piggytron.

It was pretty stylish, after all...

Shinobu calls it rotten luck that Joker picked the same handle. It does intrigue them -- some people might choose to have a different name. It isn't as if 'Joker' is common knowledge amidst the Phantom Thieves' public popularity -- they might be some of the only ones to know the codename. So why keep it? Is there a personal reason? As always, Shinobu's straightforwardness is something they find terribly charming, having a quiet smile towards them.

But ah, it seems that Joker's playing their cards particularly close to their chest. This is someone who's quite inflappable -- they convey a lot through those eyes, without betraying too much expression, the way they clearly have to manage Skull and Panther's reactions in a subtle manner. It's harder than it looks, Myunghon knows, to keep a group's messaging consistent across all its members...

... which is why Merry doesn't bother! It adds to the laid-back and truthful nature of the Cardboard Dragon group. Besides, can you imagine trying to corral So-young in line? Impossible. Merry certainly seems very jovial and grandiose, the way they have a delicate smile and wide eye as Skull considers Iron a cool codename.

"Hmhm... well, I shall keep that in mind, Skull-san. Who knows? You sometimes need to discard or change codenames," is what they simply say, perhaps genuinely charmed by how hard he's trying to keep the 'serious' vibe going. Someone else might think 'exploitable!', but Merry does genuinely enjoy forthright personalities. Panther, too, kind of reminds them of some of the members of the Cardboard Dragon -- there's only so much she can mask before what they sense as genuine concern for their living condition takes over, and that speaks a lot to the quality of her character, as she insists that they don't really need rewards -- the reward of keeping predators like Kaneshiro away from people is reward enough.

"I do admire your sense of justice, Panther," Merry affirms, head half-bobbed like they're just enjoying themself.

Much like Panther, Queen says they don't need the thanks in particular -- but Queen's all business in contrast to Skull and Panther wearing their hearts on their sleeves. What a fascinating foursome this is -- Joker and Queen, the ones named after playing cards, are the ones to keep their cards close to their chest, while the ones with evocative codenames are the ones that do otherwise.

They do remember Queen's rage, having stood right next to her when they made him pay -- Merry's approach was that of velvet draping the steel, on that day. Queen stands opposite to them, and yet, the way she carries herself is all too familiar -- they once wore such a mask in their corporate days.

"I shall bargain for the Cardboard Dragon group gathered here, but please, any of you -- if you have your own concerns, do feel free to highlight any. But allow me to lay out the situation as I see it:"

"We have common enemies and questions. The masked sniper that very nearly eliminated Kaneshiro's Shadow is no small concern to us. We have intelligence on the hostile group that intercepted both of us -- Strega, and the Joker Killer, or Old Maid. No doubt you have other enemies that we are not privy to," Myunghon first explains.

"It is very clear to me that there are other factions that exploit the use of Palaces and supernatural spaces, and I for one have no particular desire for an alliance with Strega nor the Old Maid. No, in fact, as citizens of Sumaru, I consider the Old Maid killings a particular priority to cease."

That vivid, sharp smile is back as they cross their legs the other way, leaning backward dramatically on their throne as they offer a hand forward.

"I would like to propose a deal of cooperation between our groups in our explorations of these supernatural spaces. I shall permit the Phantoms to set the terms, to keep your identities safe, and you shall not need to divulge any facts that inconvenience you on that matter. A 'No,' shall suffice, with no additional explanation required. We will also arrange our own rendezvous points as required."

Merry raises their hand in front of their face and twists their wrist -- and suddenly three Skill Cards have appeared, which they partially obscure their smile behind.

"In turn, we will trade in information pertinent to defeating our common adversaries and keeping ourselves safe from them, and I shall offer you priority and deals on Skill Cards in turn to keep both our teams well-supplied with tactical options, since you are already familiar with these."

So Igor told them... that stands to reason. They have no particular reason to doubt that, and Skill Cards aren't the greatest secret amongst Persona Users anyway.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>As they talk, as Panther... reveals more horrors of the upstairs (CONCERN LEVELS RISING), Shinjiro thinks. These don't seem like bad people...

But he still can't approve of their method, but perhaps they can work with them, help them find a better way to pull it off... not repeat the mistakes of the past.

"Igor, huh. Makes sense," Shinjiro says amicably. "He has his own guy who works on them, right?"

But then, as Myunghon lays out the deal, and offers the others to speak... he's gonna take a refreshment if there's SNACKS from the bag, and then.

"We're pretty well-connected. I've been doing this for a few years now." He can't be older than eighteen, as he clears his throat. "And, basically, there's a lot that can't be done on your own. Things that only certain groups really know about. Tatsumi Port Island in the Dark Hour, Ateliers..." He's not making things up, if his face is read.

"But... not everyone's going to approve of what you do, either, even in this community. And the Old Maid... we've got business." That one's even *more* personal. He seems like he's going to voice a concern for a moment, then shakes his head.

"If Merry's for it, I'm for it."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Umie gives Queen a quiet nod, having noticed her earlier reaction to Umie's own reach, quietly showing her palms as a silent gesture.

The two of them are reacting the way they should; while Shinjiro represents the brawn, Umie represents paranoia.

But also, bias.

"...." Umie's flat expression says it all, as Myunghon falsely suggests that an alliance with Strega or Old Maid was even in the cards (ha ha ha). "... If that *was* even a possibility in your mind, I doubt I'd be the only one that'd throw a fit over it, Merry-san," she notes. (She knows Myunghon wouldn't. However, the Phantom Thieves do not know what she knows; they could easily take a suggestion as a reality.)

Better to say it out loud, that to even look like, for a second, it was ever a passing possibility.

She looks to Skull and Panther, then judges the layout of the room. ....

Hm, no, she can't really display her own abilities without looking like a complete dunce; walking across the room on the bare assumption her cloaking abilities will do the heavy lifting.

(Even if she really, really, *really* wants to suddenly be on the other side of the room.)

"I'll freely admit to my bias here; you guys saved my life from the Old Maid, despite the danger he presented to you all." Skull may not have been there for that, but she'll nonetheless include him in on that.

She considers, folding her arms, then sighs, raising a red coral nail'ed finger. "Bear with me on this, but I may be able to help, on the topic of the sniper. Not in terms of information," she's quick to say, "but in training. You help me improve my own abilities, and you guys just might be able to tell when they pop up. Besides... while I have no intentions of throwing myself in harm's way of someone like that, seeing any smug agent get their tricks thrown in their face will make my day. And, even if I can't tell if our abilities are the same, you guys just might be able to tell when they pop up."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> So-young seems completely unruffled at the way she passes Mio a can of coffee and scoots her chair across to one side to leave space to reach the couch. "It had to be miserable at work today, surely?" she offers, as if this wasn't a meetup of two clandestine organizations. Joker's entrance was certainly dramatic, and Queen seems to be very strict, but the mysterious Third Floor has done something unexpected - it's broken the ice at least a little, leaving a couple of the Thieves on the back foot.

The conductor can appreciate Ren's showboating, and she theatrically frowns as she folds her arms. "I'm very allergic to glass shards, just to inform you, and they're usually considered a little rude as a welcome gift," she notes, before brightening into another of those incredibly common smiles. "I got sucked straight in, if you can believe that. I was arguing with the doorman, demanding to be let in, when Merry found me." Which rather leaves open the question of what would have happened if Merry _didn't_, but fortunately that never came to pass so So-young has never devoted a single braincell towards it.

Her eyebrows rocket upwards as Panther finally blurts out the question on her mind, and once again So-young absolutely itches to go up there and experience it for herself, bound by her own moral code not to. What doesn't bind her is her expression, though, and her wide and curious eyes try to catch the attention of the young woman in red as she waggles her eyebrows. The message is intended to be a silent 'tell me afterwards, tell me afterwards'. Not that that'll work, but, you know, she can live in hope.

Rather than the praise itself, it's most interesting for So-young to watch each Phantom Thief's reactions to it. Joker cooly accepts everything coming their way, whereas Skull looks completely confused by the prospect of someone being nice to them. That reaction makes more sense when you factor in Phantom and Queen's very independently-minded stances, and So-young nods to herself in satisfaction as she accepts that - mostly. "Even so, you could probably say we were out of our depth on our own, given what it all came to. Besides, some of us had a rather personal grievance against him."

So-young grins brightly towards Queen. "Oh, it's not really meant for it at all. It is an absolute pain to try to find handholds amongst its shape, but I wouldn't stop myself for the world. Flying around on Icarus during the Dark Hour is absolutely addicting." She's volunteering a lot of information about her capabilities and Persona here, even if she probably yelled her Persona's name back during the fight with Kaneshiro. This seems to be her default position when interacting with most people - you could probably ask her about her job and immediately start an entire lecture on the nuances of conducting.

And certainly, her forwardness has left Myunghon mortified at times and plenty of people stunned in her wake, but So-young can't imagine herself acting any other way. Besides, this is a collection of young adults who have seen enough of _something_ that they're willing to dive into the heads of untouchable people and try to correct something, not even wishing for thanks. She'd much rather aim to be more open to someone in that position, rather than more closed-off.

... and that's how it suddenly clicks for So-young that maybe they're not all that different in terms of groups. There's no regimented loyalty here, just two loose groups of connected people with all the bumps and knocks and weird shapes that can include. ... that said, she's smart enough to know that she might be projecting a little. Or to put it another way: she'd feel better about the Thieves being so young if that were the case. It's more pleasant to think they've got each other's backs, that behind the secrecy they have their own Cardboard Dragon to laze about goofily in.

She does suddenly frown, though, because Rumormonger Merry is laying out the terms of a potential deal and this is serious stuff to pay attention to, fill of important concerns and gravitas. Ha ha ha no of course not it's about the codenames. "No, no, no, Skull is much better if you ask me," she insists quickly with a confident nod, as if she were the Judger Of Art. "It goes with the leathers. All you need is an electric guitar as a weapon to smash over people's heads and some death metal at maximum volume and you're set for life."

"--Personally, I'd be delighted with an allegiance," she suddenly adds, quickly joining the main topic. Her voice is still light, but there's a distinct fire in her eyes. It hasn't been that long since she watched someone die in front of her, and that's still coming back to hit her at unexpected moments. "There are clearly plenty of groups out there with a lot more power than either of us."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem> Making the most of a bad situation, the remainder of Myo's cognitive costume unfurls over her. For a moment, it's like trying to read a book in a dream, where the details keep shifting and refusing to be pinned down by one's gaze. When the shifting and shadows are complete, the young lady once dressed up for selling instant ramen and ramune is now swathed in what amounts to an armoured nun's habit. The ramifications of this, well, she'll just have to deal with that. Anyway, more importantly, she's pointing at Skull with now-trademark vigour and amusement, since he's disappointed at not being Iron. "You could upgrade into Iron Skull!" she says without a trace of sarcasm.

She also has nothing of a functioning lie-dar, or chooses to play on Hard Mode + Ironman by taking everything at face value. So when Panther's flustered defense is that the Dark Hour sucks and is scary, the Armour Nun(tm) nods in that 'SO true, bestie' way. "Oh! Okay! I getcha. I dunno if we _should_ ever get used to it, either..." her gaze falls down for a moment, the better to ruminate with!

But, let's not get too sidetracked just because Myo is a violent scatterbrain. There's a very real reason to gather here today! She first pipes up after her boss, since Merry has called for questions, if anyone has them. It is more of a general address, in the end. Unlike Joker, her heart is worn plainly on her sleeve. Her reasons and rationale are those of someone who hasn't even heard of subterfuge, let alone practices it. "Oh, uh, yeah. What Merry said, I want to second. You guys are punishing the untouchable, and it's, like..." there's a squint behind the mask as she gauges how honest to be (the slider only goes between 95 and 100). "... what I wanna do more of. There's a lot of people out there at the top of the food chain who need to get what's coming to them for their crimes."

By this point, she's sat up with both hands on her legs. That's somewhat formal, at least. "If someone threatens you, I'll knock 'em down. If you find another guy like Kaneshiro who needs reminding they're not all that, I'll be there."

Her piece said, Myo returns to fiddling with an errant pink lock snooping out of her mask. She glances aside to Shinjiro and then across to So-Young and Umie. "You can tell why I'm not the negotiator, here..."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Joker's dry response gets a smirk out of Shinobu - and then a nod, as they return her compliment.

"Thanks. We've got some experience." She replies. She looks toward Skull, then, as he comments on how Hirasaka is pretty rough.

"It can be." She confirms with a nod. She's not going to ''lie''. "But it's ours. So what we do what we have to to keep it safe."

Panther, meanwhile... insists that they don't have to thank them. Shinobu considers that for a moment... and then, a smirk crosses her face.

"Fair enough. I can respect that." She replies with a nod. That's what's important, anyway.

She meets Merry's glance briefly, as they offer that quiet smile, then turns her attention back to the Phantom Thieves.

'Igor'. That's a reasonable enough answer, and she doesn't see any reason to dispute it. Back to the deal, though - Queen has questions on the specifics, and Merry does the bargaining. Shinobu listens.

"...I do have one question. We didn't really get a whole lot of time to talk shop given, well..." She unfolds one arm, miming a gunshot before folding it back in.

"Kaneshiro. What happened there? He wasn't the kind of guy to repent so easily. We did things your way, but I still don't really know what that meant for ''him''." She asks. "...Not that I'm complaining. I wouldn't have lost sleep over him, but him dying on us would've meant a lot of trouble."

She shrugs.

"...But, it's not a dealbreaker, either way. I stand by what the boss says." She concludes.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
'A phantom shall enter where they may!' "True," Joker remarks. They smirk again at So-young. "Oh, well, if you're ''allergic'', we can't have that." They ''can'' believe that she was just sucked in, though. It happens more often than you'd think.

Panther blurts out her shock unthinkingly, as you do when you are Ann Takamaki, and Joker raises their eyebrows at her. Why ask that, indeed? (Maybe if they'd seen that room, they'd understand her shock better...) Fortunately, she gets distracted before Queen needs to silence her.

Skull gets a wry smile when he gushes over the name Iron, but he settles soon enough. He seems to have some nerves still--whether that's anything to do with his odd behavior earlier today, Joker doesn't know, but Skull doesn't need to worry about doing any talking anyway. It'll be fine. They give him a reassuring nod.

Panther handwaves the thanks Cardboard Dragon gives The Phantoms, asserting that justice is its own reward. Joker smiles, eyes shutting briefly behind their mask; it's well said. Queen makes the standard point that it wasn't really for Cardboard Dragon, that it helping them out was just a coincidence. However...

"Panther's right, of course--as is Queen." They open their eyes to regard Merry and their band of mischiefs and sweep a slow hand in a gesture to encompass them before dipping into a theatrical bow. "However, when someone offers me their gratitude so earnestly, how could I do anything less than accept it?"

In other words, they said 'thank you' with grace and they're moving on. They're not going to get buttered up, but out of respect, they're not going to reject those feelings either. Not when they do get the sense they're all being genuine about it.

Panther's assertion that Joker is the only ''true'' Joker gets a grin. However, that point's already been made, and it's time for business. Queen makes some pointed questions. All of them skillfully back up Joker's lie by keeping their mouths shut. Merry says what they, Cardboard Dragon, want from a deal with the Phantom Thieves...

Their sickle smile fades into a neutral line. They make a very good point--about the one in the Black Mask, about Strega, about the Old Maid... about the NWO, though Merry doesn't name that one specifically even though Umie's right there. They nod once, slowly, as they cite the Joker Killer someone who needs stopping in particular. The Phantoms had already come to that conclusion too--but without a name, their hands are tied. They don't say that, obviously. The terms Merry sets are generous regardless.

But they don't respond at first. Rather, when they're done, they look at Umie and the others in turn to listen to what ''they'' say and gauge their reactions. Umie jumps in to make it clear an alliance with Strega was never in the cards, but they never thought that it was. Umie surely wouldn't be here otherwise.

Igor has his own guy who does Skill Cards...? That's news to Joker, but then, maybe Caroline and Justine ''can'' do that and they're too busy executing Personas for fusion to let on. Their poker face remains intact. It does seem like Shinjiro isn't lying, though... Which means that The Phantoms sorely lack information about supernatural matters outside their own purview (purrview), because they know they have no idea what an Atelier is in context. That's a good reason all on its own to take this deal. However...

"We're not doing this for approval. We do it because we can't look the other way when out-of-control tyrants trample the innocent underfoot." (They're... mostly not doing this for approval. Approval is a secondary concern for most of their members?) Noting the way Shinjiro hesitates before shaking his head, Joker adds, "Are you ''sure'' you're for it? You seem like you have misgivings."

So-young, Mio, and Shinobu, by comparison, seem far more genuinely into an alliance. So-young and Mio specifically seem like extremely open people, and Joker chuckles at Mio commenting on why she's not the negotiator. "Maybe not, but I enjoy your straightforward honesty," they say. Obviously, since they're running with people like Skull and Panther.

Umie offers to help with the one in the black mask by... having them help her train her ability to sense Resonance? That ''seems'' to be her part of the deal. Having more help dealing with ''that'' one is tempting, but it doesn't seem like something she can guarantee...

Shinobu's the one who actually asks it: how ''do'' they change hearts? (Well, she asks what happened to Kaneshiro, but six of one...) Joker gives her a long look before sharing that look with their companions. "How we do it is a trade secret," they decide on--if that's Cardboard Dragon's true goal, that might dissuade them. They suspect that's not it, though. "But in a nutshell, we've stolen his distorted desires, and he now sees the world clearly. That includes his actions and their ramifications. This is something we only do after researching our target to make sure they're carrying out those distortions in the real world in a harmful way that normal people can't stop, then discussing it with all of our members and agreeing on it unanimously."

All their debates with Akechi have served them well; this is an answer they've thought through for a long time. That 'unanimous' part, though, means they must add, "Your offer is intriguing. However, we'll need to discuss it amongst ourselves. If we don't all agree, we won't do it--same as changing hearts. If you can agree to wait for our decision, we'll send you a message back later letting you know what it is." They pause. "If we have more questions before we can agree, who will be your contact point?" They focus on Merry. "You?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>"So a team up..." Skull bluntly says when Merry lays out their cards on the table. Really the bruiser is of the mind to walk away since more bodies outside of the group might complicate things. Then again, he wasn't one of the brains here. This was entirely up to Joker.

Skull does however nod to Merry's comment about codenames, offering a grin.

"Atelawhasit?" He repeats one of the things Shinjiro mentions and looks to the others to see if its something he should know and forgot or if they are equally confused. Finally, he returns to looking "tough".

But then the topic of codenames comes back and he can't help himself, responding to So-young. "Woah... I can't afford a guitar to just smash it! That's like 40,000 yen right? Yeah, no way...Errr..Forget I said that." Skull tries to cover his very obvious blunder here, leaning back on a wall or something. Actually, a thought about the upstairs comes to his mind and Ryuji steps back from the wall, as if the mold from upstairs could travel to him.

Skull perks up at Mio's talk of taking down people on the top of the food chain. "Heh. Yeah exactly. You get the idea then."

Shinobu seems to be asking how the sauce is made and that isn't really something the group can spill. Was this the secret meaning of it all? Skull frowns and slouches in his spot, hearing Joker handle the answer before adding, "Yeah...Not something we can share."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
Oh good! Panther's Performance roll wins again with Mio, against all logic or sense!

And so Ann continues on, believing she's a great actress.

So-young waggles brows Pantherwards. And Panther, being a master of body language - especially when it comes to gossip - but for sad reasons - instantly picks up what the older woman is putting down. She blinks. Suppresses a grimace.

And then, keeping her hands at below-the-waist level, she discreetly waves gloved fingers around in a very on the downlow sign of 'no no no no no no'.

There are some things mortal minds were not meant to know.

And besides... Ann can kinda tell Merry has an image to maintain, and she can feel sympathy for trying (and failing) to project a certain idea of yourself, despite your best efforts. Out of solidarity, she can't in good conscience contribute to that undermining!

... you know. anymore than she already has.

(plus also she doesn't want to get a shut up kick, she likes her legs, they do much better thriving a kickless life)

But the further this conversation goes, the more adrift at sea Ann feels, and the more she's realizing that there is really a ''lot'' they don't know about this world of Persona -- unless Morgana's been holding out on them, like a secretive cat! ... Are cats secretive? She can't very well ask HIM that because it's going to make him mad, but now she's curious--

Regardless. It's something she latches onto, how in over their own heads they really are, when Myunghon starts talking about Ateliers, and Tatsumi Island relative to the Dark Hour like that should be meaningful, and Strega - those weirdos fighting with the Old Maid. What else is happening that they're unaware of?

Maybe it's okay, that they only know about Palaces, because that's where they can actually affect things. ... But do they really know everything about Palaces and Mementos, too...?

Maybe they ''do'' need help. Morgana can only do so much, without his memories. And... with people like Akechi, and the Black Mask out there...

Panther is lost in her own little world of thought as Joker and Queen field the negotiations with the Cardboard Dragon, right hand gripping at her left elbow and gaze cast groundwards as she chews the inside of her cheek. It's Umie's offer that causes her to blink. She looks the other blonde's way, the lift of her brows hidden behind her mask.

"For real? You could do something like that? I mean, I've been trying to train a bit, too!"

<FLASHBACKS TO ANN TRYING TO COMPEL REN TO ROAST HER MERCILESSLY GO HERE>

"But, um. Nothing like that."

It's only when Shinobu asks that question though that Panther's expression hardens, just a little. Joker offers a - pared down - answer to that question. It's smart. How they do things - Ann knows what it could do in the wrong hands. There's already the Black Mask out there, messing around in Palaces. It's why they have to be so careful about who they tell. But...

''... and now he sees the world more clearly.''

''I wouldn't have lost sleep over him, but him dying on us would've meant a lot of trouble.''

Sky blue eyes narrow.

"We don't kill people," she insists, simply. But she has to add, because if she can't speak her mind, what is the point?

"... People like Kaneshiro don't deserve an easy way out like that, anyway. They should have to live with what they did."

Kaneshiro. Madarame.

... Kamoshida.

She's not going to just let them ''escape'' the consequences.

After that, though, she quiets as Myunghon lays out their terms. As Joker explains the need for a unanimous decision, even on this. In this much, she mostly just contemplates the people here, quietly considering them all.

Save for a moment when she leeeeeans over to aside to Skull,

"... do you even know how to play guitar??"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
Queen frowns when Merry says the Phantoms can set the terms. That's generous- perhaps too much so, for Queen's own paranoia. The Cardboard Dragon offer priority on skill cards- which will take some of the load off mission logistics, and information which would be useful and that the Phantoms don't have, but it doesn't sit quite right with her as yet. She waits to hear what everyone else puts on the table from the Cardboard Dragon too- Merry is right, Queen plays her cards close to her chest.

Don't get her into a Tycoon match, it gets competitive.

Shinjiro brings up bthe topics of the Dark Hour and the Atelier as well as years of experience. *That* is a new one on her- there have been Persona users who have been active for years now? But they don't seem to know about the palaces, or the 'Psychotic Breakdowns'. That's useful information in and of itself.

''But... not everyone's going to approve of what you do, either, even in this community.''

"...I'm aware of that. But if it's a choice between someone else's approval or saving someone- I'll take disapproval any day. That's what my Justice demands."

Looks like she took some of Ryuji's words to heart, after all. As she makes eye contact with Shinjiro, there's a fire to her red brown eyes- this isn't something that will shake her anymore.

Umie shows her empty hands, and Queen too relaxes. The fact that they can't really be disarmed is another advantage the thieves have over normal persona users. Still, Umie expresses her own bias there, and Queen notes it.

Icarus, huh? "...I just hope your Persona doesn't match it's namesake there." Makoto murmurs, quietly. "Even if it feels amazing, you can't afford to get lost in it."

And Queen has come so close to getting lost in that euphoria that Johanna grants her sometimes.

Myo, however, seems to be closer in interest to the Phantoms than some of the rest of CD. That's not even an offer of alliance, that's just an offer to become spare muscle. There's... really not a unified front, is there?

Queen shoots Skull a look, when he reveals an element of the group's ignorance, thus confirming Shinjiro's suspicions. "Skull," she says, and the words come out cold enough to leave ice burns.

Maybe there's a dash of something familiar to Shinjiro there, who can say?

"...Panther's right. The Phantoms don't kill." Otherwise, Kaneshiro would be dead by now. Almost everyone here saw how tempted Queen was.

Still, as Joker states that they'll have to confer with everyone else, Queen has her own questions. First and foremost...

"...I'm curious," Queen comments, as Joker keeps to the theatrics part of the deal. "How did you enter Kaneshiro's Palace in the first place?" It's both a question to test the legitimacy of the deal and to see how much Cardboard Dragon are prepared to offer before anything has been struck. Merry isn't the only one testing the waters. Even though it was Makoto's first Palace, she has it on good authority that this is the first time one has drawn a crowd. They didn't encounter anyone else in Kobayakawa's palace, either. "Kaneshiro's identity was a well kept secret. I can understand a Rumormonger finding his name- but it doesn't explain so many people finding his palace." Hell, Merry and hers were 'customers', but not everyone was, were they? Or had the Thieves just left a way in for everyone?

"You're putting a very generous- and vague- offer on the table. As it stands, we stand to benefit from it a lot more than you do. You can understand we might be suspicious of a deal too good to be true." Because it is, in Queen's mind. Even the Phan-site is something they don't handle directly. She nods to Umie. "You getting training opportunities is a tangible benefit for you that I can see- but it also gains you information on us without necessarily giving any." After all, if Umie is tagging along to train, that means she can see how the PTs work, and SOMEONE will slip up eventually. "So, while you offer for us to set the terms, I'd like to know what it is the Cardboard Dragon wants of such an alliance- and how we'd define 'mutual' enemies."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Merry quizzically tilts a wide-eyed smile at Umie's comment. Their first instinct is to quibble since they think 'I have no particular desire' and 'common enemies' was quite clear enough, but that would weaken their position in the same way Joker and Queen would like to present a unified front in this meeting of theirs.

"It is as Akabane-san says," they 'yes, and' Umie vivaciously, perhaps unable to pick up on sarcasm in the moment, "And if that were to ever change, why, you'd be in your right to strike me down first!"

So-young's openness has always been particularly intriguing, the way she openly shares that she's a new Persona user, and even what experiences that they shared in the Palaces... but it's not new, and they're not all that different. After all, they willingly let go of any sense of security behind their cognitive mask to be known as Rumourmonger Merry. It seems that Joker quite likes the honesty nonetheless.

As much as Myunghon can only think themself as such when they are Merry, and can only think of So-young's confidence as the reason their mother prefers her over them. Because mask enough and you start to believe 'Merry' is the only mask that can accomplish positive things.

"I myself do not plan to become used to the Dark Hour, Myo, Panther! It can and shall be stopped," Merry boldly proclaims, on Ann and Myo's topic of the Dark Hour sucking (it does) and is scary (it is). Myo herself reflects on how she wants to punish the untouchable, and her desires to knock down the people at the top of the food chain. It's bold! It's ambitious! They particularly admire Myo's strong approach -- and Joker says much the same, given how much like how the Thieves have people like Skull and Panther, they have people like So-young and Mio.

Shinobu, though, is asking the question that's been left unasked the entire time, the proverbial elephant in the room (and not the extra boss fight against Ganesha just waiting around the corner) -- how did Kaneshiro's demeanor change? What's behind a Change of Heart, in other words. There's something of a very pleased smile at that, wondering where the conversation will turn next.

Joker underlines that they don't do this for approval. They do it because they can't look the other way when out-of-control tyrants trample the innocent underfoot. They question Shinjiro's dedication, and Myunghon won't step in the way -- they'd like to hear Shinjiro's own words, on his own terms.

But what Joker explains after is of great interest indeed. Joker speaks of stealing 'distorted desires', and Myunghon's eye is glanced towards Umie once more. Joker's phrasing does bring some concern to Myunghon, though Merry's smiling face conceals it well...

'...and now he sees the world clearly'.

It's... ... ... prescriptive.

And yet Myunghon has sensed the distortion echoing within Junya Kaneshiro when they visited the Cardboard Dragon in turn. 'Distorted desires' does echo in their mind. They also clarify that that's only something they do after a careful amount of research -- the Phantom Thieves only change the hearts of those who inflict harm in a way that normal people cannot stop, and that they only act when the deed is unanimously agreed upon.

... it's Ann that, again, provides the heart in contrast. ''We don't kill people,'' she insists. Quite simply, at that. She seems to hide behind how Kaneshiro doesn't deserve to ''die'', they deserve to live with what they did. It's nice to hear, keeps the conversation a little less heightened.

But Queen has a question. How did they enter Kaneshiro's Palace in the first place?

Merry fields this one: "I have the Meta-Nav application," is the first thing they say, "And with it, the capability to bring others with me into a Palace. Even... unexpected people caught in its field. Palaces have also a circulating topic within the Dark Side of Sumaru forum, which is in part how others were able to discover their way inside." Like Katsuya.

"As for his identity? He threatened us in this very shopfloor..." Merry's smile widens. "And I was able to sense his distorted desires."

There it is, they've tipped their hand for now. They won't tip that Umie was able to sense it either -- she can do that on her own prerogative. "From there, we were able to work out that he had a Palace. The rest is pure, classic investigative work -- from unearthing his criminal elements and motives, his usual haunts in Shibuya, and the need to guess the form in which his Palace takes..."

A quiet hum.

"That was a half-hour of guesswork, the price of which I had to eat half a hamburg steak. It was nasty."

Queen is suspicious of how generous the offer is. As it stands, the Phantoms stand to benefit more from it than the Cardboard Dragon does. It sounds too good to be true, and one should always be suspicious of deals of that nature.

"We can define 'mutual enemies' as an ongoing list and agree -- or disagree. Strega. The Old Maid. The Black Mask." Myunghon gestures. "You've stated clear that you will not act upon one with distorted desires unless they are causing harm in the physical realm that the unawakened cannot stop. I believe it would be prudent for us to be able to disagree on whether each of us would like to act upon a Palace or not."

As to what the Cardboard Dragon wants of such an alliance... the smile is a bit more delicate as they rise from their throne, which shrinks back into the coat that drapes over them and gives them a sense of grandeur.

"As to what I want... you have spoken of motivations, and I shall share mine too, Phantoms. Where your aim is to strike fear at tyrants within the dark, I, Rumourmonger Merry -- nay, Myunghon Yeo, am amongst the people, for it is in common cause that the everyday people find strength and solidarity. A tyrant seeks to oppress the people with Despair, to isolate them, to make them whisper -- 'things can't be better', and it is in turn the destiny of the Revolutionary to counter that with Hope."

Merry's smile is ear to ear once more. A Hope that shall seethe throughout a garden, strangling in its spread.

"This is why our identities are plain, whatever consequence that may come. Why the Cardboard Dragon is an address plain enough to see. This is a rough town full of perils, as Skull has pointed out. There is much inequality here. We are in touch with the streets, for change must come in solidarity with one's neighbours first and foremost."

They place the tip of their finger to their lips as they half-turn.

"When the revolution comes, I should like to play the entire deck." Their head tilts as they turn towards them. "And that includes the wild card -- the Phantoms, in other words."

But Joker does express the expected -- they're going to have to discuss it and come to a unanimous decision, just like changing hearts. It's so intriguing, they think. This Joker is the seeming leader of the group, the one to speak for most of them along with Queen, who provides more of an analytical bent... but they can sense that it's people like Skull and Panther that temper them, make them a cohesive whole. The fact that a unanimous vote exists between them is a positive, to Myunghon.

They're not all that different, are they? Here they are, sitting on their vampire-aesthetic throne until now, making the biggest speeches and speaking most on people's behalf -- but they're nothing without people like Mio and So-young who most wear their hearts on their sleeve. Without the skepticism that Umie brings, the straightforward attitudes that Shinjiro an Shinobu have...

"We will undoubtedly also need to come to a decision ourselves," Myunghon nods to the couch and the others. "As for our contact point... I am certainly happy to facilitate. I believe you are also better acquainted with Akabane-san, having saved her life. So if she agrees, I'd say either of us, lest the other be out of commission for any reason."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> One day, Umie once said, she'll call Joker Joker. But only when she can put to rest the memories of that night for good-- something, she hinted, that may be helped along by Joker (this one) impressing her.

(... As if that was somehow going to be a hard feat, she reluctantly admits.)

And one day, she'll reveal her own attempt to circumvent a potential disaster with those names -- perhaps, even later tonight if she can catch Joker before they slip away. However, if there's one thing she's managed to notice... things, especially in Sumaru City, have a way of blowing up in Umie's face, when she tries to address them. To manipulate rumors is one thing, but to get ahead of one... wouldn't speaking it aloud make it more likely that it'd become real.

Almost like, sometimes, that's the way it was always supposed to happen.
Like Sumaru City's web of rumors, somehow, reacts to the secrets branded onto her, retreating away like mercury on a slightly tipped table.

".... I think we should exchange information about Ateliers at the very least," Umie speaks up, realizing Skull's confusion. "They're going in the same circles as we are; whether this is a one-off thing we came across or something that'll happen more..."

KAPPAS. ".... Let's... make sure we do that soon," Umie says, with an oddly nervous laugh, "kero--"

Please stand by, as Umie has stapled her hands to her face, in a posture similar to how she looked when she discovered Myunghon's living arrangements. (My, that's a rich shade of red there, peeking out on Umie's cheeks.)

..... ...

Minutes later, and she's still got her hands on her face, but arranged so that, at least, her lips aren't muffled against firmly pressed palmflesh. ".... Uh. I think we need to align ourselves for one thing: the cat's out of the bag concerning Palaces and Mementos. While the Phantom Thieves have found a way to use a part of this space, I imagine, even if the Phantom Thieves keep their secret safe, and--" She clears her throat, letting her hands slowly drop away from her cheeks, "--I'd *really* like to keep a hand pressing down on that particular Pandora's Box, so to speak.

"But yeah. I don't think," she says, carefully, not wanting to reveal Myunghon's own 'cards' here, "that's the only way anyone could 'use' these areas. If some organization, like the NWO..."

The letters bring that edge to her tone. ".... all of us here would likely be up there on their list." She closes her eyes. "... But let's save 'shitty what ifs' for another day," she attempts to say, lackadaisically, with a shrug.

"Anyway..." Umie considers Joker's words, looking towards Shinjiro. "Honestly, that's not a bad idea. Shouldn't we do the same? We've put our offers on the table, but not everyone's here. If we got any conflicts, we really should talk it over and come back." She pats her head, feeling how damp it still is.

*patpat* Augh, really? Her hair is still this wet? *patpatpat*

Panther's shock distracts Umie, who looks up at her with a blink. "... Yeah. It's... contextual, but..." She shrugs, eyelids lowering as she shoots Panther a cheeky grin. "I was still alive for a reason, when you found me. If the bastard didn't teleport around I would've escaped. That sniper likely has more experience, but cloaking myself like that is something I'm also able to do. Maybe, if you can figure out how to catch *me* you may be better at catching *them*."

But is that really something Umie could promise?

And is it actually wise, as Queen points out something Umie failed to consider.

She considers, a knuckle touching her chin.

"... Hmm... yeah. And the same goes the other way, Queen-san," Umie replies, with an impressed grin. "While it's not my intent, you have no way of knowing that. And us knowing each other's secrets puts a bullseye on each others' backs as welll--"

Myunghon volunteers Umie.

Umie... squeaks.

"O-of course!" says the utterly flummoxed blonde, revealing her cheeks have resumed being red.

(Ren did say red was a good color for Umie, but that's definitely not what he meant.)
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
<poem>Shinjiro's attitude is noticed by the others, even as Skull reveals they do not know what an Atelier is. That's what he expected, but is still interesting to hear.

And then, Joker asks Shinjiro if he has misgivings. Myunghon seems to be willing for him to speak. Shinjiro takes a moment to listen to the answer to Shinobu's question...

He grimaces at the same words Myunghon is concerned by. 'And now he sees the world clearly.

"...I don't think you're bad people. I think we can help each other, because it's better not to be running on anyone's own. People die in this line of work."

"But I'd be lying if I said I liked your methods, and what you just said didn't quite impress me." A sigh. "Who decides what clarity is? Who decides what a distortion is? Even if it's all supernatural bullshit giving us the sense... who tells us what feelings to trust? None of us know what the fuck is going on with all of this."

He thinks back to what Mitsuru told them about Kirijo's past. He can't trust this group, too, hasn't been manipulated or something.

Then, he glances to Panther. "To truly live with something you did... you have to first accept responsibility. But Kaneshiro never did that. His hand was forced. People were saved, sure. His victims got justice. But it all rings hollow."

Rubbing the back of his head and letting the passion die down, he sighs. "I mean it when I say I'll support Merry. But yeah, I do have misgivings. At least let us talk about it some more. Maybe they'll change my mind."

He doesn't think so, but. He can at least try not to kill the deal entirely.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> "Each to their own," So-young replies to Mio with a sympathetic grin. "I'm not very good at playing the mysterious figure or keeping my mouth shut either. But, for what it's worth, I think you put it very well." So-young is a card carrying Audience Member, after all, so she's speaking with at least some level of authority here. That is, if you ask her. So, of course she'd say that.

Joker's quip aside, So-young is quietly surprised at the way that the Phantom Thief suddenly divulges some information of their own. It's not exactly revelatory, but even So-young realizes they've just confirmed some things beyond a bare-bones description of what a change of heart does to someone - for instance, that they only go after targets they've unanimously agreed upon. Part of So-young's brain files that away for later as if it were mega-smart of her, never mind it being at least within the realms of expectation.

The rest of her is mulling over that description of a change of heart. The fact that the desires are 'distorted' and how that might be defined isn't lost on her, though it's not that difficult for her to connect that to the wild and rabid way Kaneshiro treated the acquisition and power of money even outside of the cognitive world. So if they're talking in terms of cognition, maybe the idea is they just strip away the mental cotton wool and the rationalizations? So-young's frowning thoughtfully, but not at all because she disapproves - just because she's imagining what that would do to _her_.

Some questions are better left alone, and in the end... So-young does have something of a habit of looking at the ends more than the means. Whatever the rest of her team may think about the moral implications, to her they slide off like water off a duck's back, to be dealt with later if necessary.

Fortunately, Skull is there to provide a change of topic to leap at. "Not a real one, of course! Can't you just cognitive up a mental guitar of your own or something?" So-young it's not-- it's not a verb that you can just use in any situation like that!! But the temptation has been laid, and the conductor chases it with a joyous smile. "Come on, can't you imagine it? A drive-by guitar smack on the back of Queen's motorcycle," she mimics both hands coming around in a baseball bat swing.

It's strategizing, okay.

Panther gently rebuffs her in the sotto-voce language of a waggled hand, and So-young tilts her head in return in what can be accurately construed as 'fiiiiiiine...' until the young woman's voice firms. It's comforting to know that every group has someone in it who is entirely ready to get real mad at a moment's notice, and while Queen seems to be the one to embody fury it's that vengeful sort of fire that really resonates with the conductor.

So-young tilts her head towards Queen's warning as well. Her Persona's name isn't lost on her. Maybe someday she'll experience a dreadful fall, but-- her smile is bright and alive. "I am rapidly learning to heed that warning. But, on the other hand, I can only ever be myself. And So-young Park will inevitably do what So-young Park's heart thinks is best, even if that ends up 'being a complete idiot'," she says placidly, and perhaps a little wistfully.

"Personally," So-young chips in immediately afterwards to Queen's comments about the creeping scope of any potential terms, "I am not very good at maintaining and defining all the boundaries of an alliance ahead of time. Somehow, I doubt the Metaverse or Mementos are such cut-and-dry sorts of places as to make that sort of thing particularly easy either. I trust Merry fully to set the terms of any deal - but from where I stand, it is at least a start to have just sat here and talked to each other," she adds pleasantly. "Even if nothing official comes of it, we have at least shared a cordial 'hello', and I like to think that counts for something."

She lapses into silence - and sure enough, as she lets Myunghon expound on their Hope, their grand speech is enough to bring a quiet and proud smile to So-young's face. There's a faint little chuckle under her breath, and for a moment So-young maybe understands why their mother might have tried to kill them. She knows little about the Baengnyong, but she'd love to see what the hell would happen if Myunghon really took its reins and pointed it in a direction with that sort of conviction behind it. She's convinced her mother wouldn't know what the fuck hit her.

If she saves a wry smile for herself, it's to Shinjiro's argument: what exactly constitutes 'accepting responsibility', and what is left if someone refuses to? That's how they got to this point with Kaneshiro, after all, because it's not like they could just ask him to kindly stop his extortion and takeover attempt. So-young has dealt with her share of people being convinced that a young female conductor who likes 'modern' music wouldn't amount to much regardless of what she said, and that's already infuriating enough despite being the most tame first-world problem, let alone a rampaging mafioso. Is it fair to expect anyone to wait years of harm for someone's principles to sink in?

She leaves that thought aside for the next time 3am rolls around and she wakes up with a corpse in her mind's eye. Always save the real philosophy for then.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
<poem> Every squad got that one member who can't see further than two to three steps in front of them, bless their hearts. It's true that Myo's offerings are as empty-headed and vague as they come: what could someone stand to gain from offering to start cratering people's enemies? Because when you zap away the punk-headed morality of thumping the bad guys, what you're left with is a dedication to kicking the shit out of people for reasons undefined. And if you start to pick that apart, where's the line drawn? What makes Kaneshiro so wrong, and Mio Kazama so right? That he's bullying and beating up the wrong crowd? That she's bullying and beating up the right crowd? What's the _end goal_ here?

Anyway, not a single one of these thoughts occurs to Myo, the masked, robed figure sitting on a sofa in the Cardboard Dragon, but the Narrator can't help but start to string up patterns on the corkboard for funsies. As a bad liar and negotiator, it's also obvious with Phantom Thieves line up more with her personality. She couldn't hide that if she wanted to. That's a good thing (for them)!

"Distorted... desires, huh." whatever Myo was considering saying, the wind's whisked from her lungs and the phrase seems to have her spooked. That'll be one to ask about next time, she supposes. She feels self-conscious and less confident as Shinjiro throws a stone right through the window of this argument regarding distorted desires and how one fixes them. Luckily, behind that mask, she can just chill out. She stands up and smooths her long skirts out, as Myunghon's conversation and careful consideration of terms comes to a close.

"Not gonna pretend I understand, but--let's do our best anyway!" the battle-nun exclaims with both hands clenched, clearly ganbarimasu'ing through whatever tension underlies the situation.

Yeah, she's definitely gonna cause more problems than she solves.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Shinobu asks her question. She sees the way Joker gives her that long look, Skull frowns and slouches, and Panther's expression hardens. Queen, she can't read as well.

Shinobu doesn't flinch. She's always been the straightforward type. Though it's because of that that she can respect it when Panther decides to speak ''her'' mind, too.

They don't kill people, she says and Queen confirms - and people like Kaneshiro don't deserve an easy way out. Shinobu considers that for a moment.

"Harsh. But I get it." She replies with a shrug.

Shinobu asks her question - and Joker says that the 'how' is a trade secret. That's fair, she thinks - but she does get ''an'' answer.

His distorted desires were stolen, and now he sees the world clearly - his actions and their ramifications...

She considers that thoughtfully. She hears Shinjiro's objections to it.

She can't say she objects to the ''idea'' on its face. Sometimes, you need a direct answer to a problem, and she's a very direct person.

"...That's a lot to take in." Is her ultimate conclusion. "I dunno that I really get what counts as a distorted desire, but I see that it works. Thanks for answering."

She can respect how thorough they are about picking their targets. She'll need time to work out how she actually ''feels'' about it - which is why she's ultimately glad that the Phantom Thieves need time to deliberate, and Myunghon says the same of their group. It's no surprise - they probably would anyway, after learning that much.

Queen has questions, but Myunghon addresses those well enough that she doesn't have anything to add.

"I don't think any of us are in any rush. Probably better to take time to think it over, anyway. Don't wanna jump right into anything any of us will regret." Shinobu decides, ultimately.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
The Phantom Thieves don't kill. Joker nods once, sharp and decisive, in agreement with Panther and Queen. Once again, they're completely right--and this time, they don't add a caveat. Skull's blunder... they simply don't outwardly acknowledge. Better not to call attention to it.

Myunghon answers Queen's questions and then some, waxing on about despair and hope, that they want to represent the people who are being trod upon. They've said as much before--but while Joker was Ren, in the real world--so they simply nod once. Umie as their groups' go-between... "Acceptable."

Umie comments on the Pandora's Box nature of Palaces, and it occurs to Joker that she--and maybe the rest of the greater Persona User community--doesn't fully grasp the nature of a Palace. That's not her fault or anyone's in Cardboard Dragon, considering The Phantoms are the ones not explaining it all, but it does stand out to them. This is underscored when Shinjiro asks, among other things, who gets to determine what a distortion is. Joker stares at him for a moment before tucking their hands in their pockets.

"You sound like that Detective Prince," they comment. Shinjiro's points are worth engaging with, but they simply don't have the time for it now. "Very well. But if you truly disagree with our methods, then I urge you not to passively let yourself be convinced."

It does feel to them like at least some of this is a misunderstanding of what they're doing, born inevitably of The Phantoms only sharing partial information... but that's only part of the answer. Cardboard Dragon saw Kaneshiro's Palace. If what counts as a distortion is still ambiguous after that, Joker genuinely doesn't know how to explain it.

Yet on some level, is that only wishful thinking--the idea that, if they'd just explained it more, explained it better, that Shinjiro would understand and agree? Sometimes, people simply don't see eye-to-eye. Isn't it arrogant to think otherwise?

They wonder if that's how things will ultimately end with Akechi.

Shinobu thanks them for the answer; So-young says at least they've all shared a courteous chat; Mio stays Mio, bless her. Joker gives them all a courteous nod. "Agreed. And if either of our groups can't agree to work with the other, no hard feelings. We all can only abide by our own Justice... and look after our own."

They turn and gesture forwards to Skull, Panther, and Queen to the fire escape exit. Then, tucking their hands back in their pockets, they stride out and into the night.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
<poem>Skull looks over at Ann as she leans over. He quietly mutters back to her, "Hmm? Hell no. I ain't got the talent or money for that." He never really saw music as something for him to do. Especially with his life the way it was, it wouldn't have worked out.

Skull back straightens when he hears Makoto's tone. He cringes and just stands at attention to avoid getting on Queen's bad side.

He is going to be a good boy. He swears.

He does snort when he hears Shinjiro though, giving the other punk a look. Who does this guy think he is? The anime's protagonist?

"'Live with what we do'? Who says that, man?" Ryuji wants to defend his friend's honor but he is sure it would make this tense situation worse. So the blonde just stuffs his hands into his pockets and begins to move to make an exit.

Skull takes one last look around the room before just exiting the Cardboard Dragon. It was going to be an interesting ride back. That was for sure.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
<poem>
Ann Takamaki - Panther - is, indeed, a light-hearted contrast to Joker and - perhaps especially - Queen. She's all wide-eyed wonder as Umie details the possibilities of her training, even despite what Queen points out -- clearly already letting her imagination run wide. She's sighing in open relief as So-young drops the point of the Ominous Third Floor despite that kind of undercutting the whole point of her discretion to begin with.

She even widens her eyes in surprise as Myunghon insists-- "Stopping the Dark Hour? Can... you really do that??" as if the idea had never occurred to her, and yet, she instantly hooks onto it. "That'd be great! Not having to live through this creepy hour again..." despite all the various conveniences it can provide people like them, because she only thinks of the ways in which it's disturbing--

The ways it's dangerous to people ''not'' like them.

She is, in every way, the heart of the Phantom Thieves.

''To truly live with something you did... you have to first accept responsibility. But Kaneshiro never did that.''

''... it all rings hollow.''

"... What?"

But a heart can also know anger.

"'Hollow'?" And it's immediately and ''painfully'' apparent in the way those blue eyes narrow behind that mask, in the way Panther just immediately draws up with squaring jaws and tensing posture. In the fire sparked behind her voice. "Kaneshiro, Madarame--" Kamoshida-- "they were never going to accept responsibility! No one was going to make them, or hold them to account, or anything! They would have just kept hurting people, because this shitty system didn't care about the people they hurt, or-- or--"

Hands clenched into fists, Panther cuts herself off as Joker answers Shinjiro's misgivings in a much more level-headed way. She knows she should just let them deal with it - or Queen, even, anyone who could be more diplomatic in this moment. And in the end, she forces herself to tear away from the conversation when they reach the end of the meeting. But there's a frown on her lips still as she nods to Joker. A fire in her heart still as she turns to follow him out the door.

Because after everything that they've been through-- everyone they've managed to protect-- after what Shiho had to go through--

"The ''hell'' it's hollow."

She just can't let herself accept that word silently.

A moment later, she's gone.

Don't worry: she'll kick herself later having been so angry she forgot she was going to offer to give Merry a lead on some great heavy-duty home renovators on the downlow.

</poem>

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

2025-11-01: Let Your Self Be Free II

2025-11-07T08:38:41Z

Jean:

*'''Log: Let Your Self Be Free II'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Nanghaithya]] (NPC'd by Tsumugi Kujaku), [[Hazuki Nakao]], [[Yukari Takeba]], [[Myunghon Yeo]], [[Saika Kikuchi]], [[Umie Akabane]], [[Akari Hoshi]], [[Roger]], [[Yanagi Nagisa]], [[Fuuka Yamagishi]], [[Ririka Kawase]], [[Katsuya Suou]], [[Pernelle]], [[Moriko Kumamoto]], [[Tamaki Uchida]], [[So-young Park]]
*'''Where:''' Taro Nakata's Atelier, The Big Top
*'''OOC Date:''' November 01, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' August 03, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Taro Nakata has been freed; his Homunculus has been rendered vulnerable. But vulnerable is not the same as weak. It's time for our brave Persona-users to show they have a Kappa's fighting spirit! READY? FIGHT!''

----

AS: Yukari Takeba has readied for combat as Io! She is now fully healed!
AS: Hazuki Nakao has readied for combat as Janus! She is now fully healed!
AS: Akari Hoshi has readied for combat as Legendary Magical Warrior Ixquic! She is now fully healed!
AS: Tamaki Uchida has readied for combat as Arianrhod! She is now fully healed!
AS: Akari Hoshi has readied for combat as Legendary Magical Warrior Ixquic! She is now fully healed!
AS: Saika Kikuchi has readied for combat as Frankenstein's Monster! She is now fully healed!
AS: Roger has readied for combat as Kamapua'a! He is now fully healed!
AS: Pernelle has readied for combat as Anqa! He is now fully healed!
AS: Ririka Kawase has readied for combat as Amphion! She is now fully healed!
AS: Reiya Aomori has readied for combat as Kunimitsu! He is now fully healed!
AS: Myunghon Yeo has readied for combat as Kudlak! They is now fully healed!
AS: So-young Park has readied for combat as Icarus! She is now fully healed!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa has readied for combat as Giselle! She is now fully healed!

<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
The Cocoon is destroyed. Taro Nakata is freed. And his Homunculus--

"no. no. no. no."

... is still here.

He's there, still wearing his face; dragged back up from his inert position, he is kneeling on the grounds of the Big Top arena as his cognitive creations dissolve all around him. The Other Shadow is bent over, face completely overshadowed and gloved hands planted on the ground.

No. Not planted.

"it's mine. it's mine. it's mine."

Clawing at it. Scraping fingers against hard earth, even as Yanagi, Pernelle and Reiya address him, until his gloves split at the seams. Until he's dragging bloody furrows into the cognitive earth.

"IT'S MINE!"

Anyone who has had encounters with a human's Shadow knows there is one thing consistent across all of them: those bright, almost ''glowing'' yellow eyes. It's been true of every Palace Ruler. Any Shadow encountered in Mementos. And it ''was'' true of Taro's Homunculus, too.

But as the former, false ringmaster of the carnival whips around to face them, face now fully painted up in exceedingly fresh clown makeup, with wide eyes unhinged in fury--

They aren't yellow.

"GIVE IT BACK TO ME."

They're a blazing scarlet.

"I deserve this life. ME. I deserve it! Why should he have it and not me?! That pathetic alsoran deserves to wriggle through life like a milksop worm, accomplishing nothing?! I'M the one that ends here?! Just some SAD MEMORY for you all to hold until your brains rot away?! I won't accept that! I should have the life he could never have!"

His arms wrap around his trembling body. Those glowing scarlet eyes have shrunk to pinpricks as he violently grinds his teeth.

And looks up.

The Flegmats in the audience, now freed from the Homunculus' influence, shrink backwards, as if sensing some horrific force on the horizon. Some of them turn. Start to flee.

"I. WILL. Have. It."

Too late.

It's surreal, the way the Homunculus' borrowed body moves. The way its mouth widens suddenly and cartoonishly like a snake unhinging its jaw. The way it inhales...

... and the sheer, sudden suction force of it creates a vortex within the Big Top. The fabric of the tent walls ripple and bend inward towards the Homunculus' inhale. Those gathered will have to fight to not be drawn in -- but they'll manage.

The Flegmats, all of them flinging from the bleachers through the air towards that waiting, open mouth... are not so lucky.

With one singularly harrowing gulp, the Homunculus swallows them all. Those red eyes blaze.

"Even if I have to tear him apart."

And everything goes pitch black. Nothing, absolutely nothing is visible --

save for the Thing wearing Taro's face, visible only as a silhouette in saturated scarlet.

i am the other self

A silhouette that distorts. Distends. Shifts. Joints bending in ways they shouldn't. Body bulging in violent expansion.

Until it ''b u r s t s''.

Light suddenly returns to the Big Top as a concealing red mist gushes outward from the epicenter of that explosion. And within the haze...

the you that should be

Something emerges.

Large. Monolithic, even. That's the first impression as that towering and ungainly-looking silhouette pierces through the dissipating fog of scarlet. It seems to almost... teeter into being, the sheer weight of it swaying ''forward'' before tipping ''backward'', as if struggling with its own weight.

The reason for this soon becomes clear as that strange, blocky form emerges from the haze. It isn't a creature, per se: it's a vehicle. It looks like a tremendous palanquin or litter, fashioned out of arcade machines:

The base of it, from which the support rods extend, is a large flat horizontal arcade machine, sculpted in pure royal whites and golds.

And the 'cabin' of that litter? A classic arcade tower colored in aggressive neon green and pink, the garish colors almost evocative of old, 90s aesethetics. The screen of it occasionally flashes between scenes of what looks like samples of Night Parade fights, except distorted and somehow unsettling to look at directly. On the corner of the machine, the Homunculus' top hat hangs.

Like a proper palanquin it, of course, has guards: to anyone familiar with Night Parade, they look almost immediately familiar. Kaguya-hime. Master Koto. Nukekubi. Bakeduo-Neko, even. And more besides -- all of them looking almost like... real people, cosplaying the characters. People from -- Shujin? Anyone familiar might be able to identify them as the bullies in Taro Nakata's life.

They're all there... except for two characters in specific:

The first: Kappa. He's there -- in fact, there are -many- Kappas. Not amongst the guards -- but carrying the Arcade Palanquin, countless scaly-green, beaked, shell-bearing, sad-looking Kappas struggling and straining to support the overbearing weight of the machine carriage, all of them wearing rounded glasses.

All of them looking ''exactly'' like Taro Nakata.

And the last?

i am

She sits on the top of the arcade tower, leaned back and one foot planted, knee-bent on the top of the tower, lounging in all her glacial splendor like royal on the throne made for her. Pale skin. Blue lips. Eyes closed. Long black hair. An outfit in purple and black, with gray jeans and high-heeled sneakers.

Yuki-Offa. Yet like the others, her facial features are more reminiscent of someone else: ... Hazuki?

This is...

<pre>
i am the other self
u r
n Nanghaithya e
i the v
t Discontent e
e s
fles rehto eht ma i
</pre>

homunculus

Time to wonder over it lasts only so long, though. The Kappas shift, bringing the palanquin lurching to face those who stand before it. Those who defied it. Beneath the lounging Yuki-Offa, the Arcade Machine's screen goes black, and then alights with a dazzling array of colors and combat SFX and two words, flashed on after the other:

READY?

F I G H T !

BOSS THEME: Number One - https://youtu.be/7JEjQG4-tpU?si=YRlIj4_qrdVjJ8z7

Nanghaithya's myriad Kappa carriers take deep breaths, even as they strain to support the litter's oppressive mass. Their chests swell.

And suddenly, they -all- start breathing out great plumes of flames many time their own size, washing the Big Top arena's grounds and broiling a tidal path of fire towards all assembled.

And then they do it again.

And again.

And again.

Like some sort of--

Cheap, petty projectile spam?!

</poem>
AS: Nanghaithya has readied for combat as Nanghaithya the DiScOnTe! They are now fully healed! Crt_Up added! Ready for
14 opponents!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Katsuya Suou! 3 Hits!
AS: Pressure: Nanghaithya gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Saika Kikuchi! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Ririka Kawase! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Pernelle! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Yukari Takeba! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Yanagi Nagisa! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Roger! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Akari Hoshi! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Fuuka Yamagishi! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Hazuki Nakao! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Myunghon Yeo! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on So-young Park! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Tamaki Uchida! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Umie Akabane! 3 Hits!
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 11 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Avoid Fire!
AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 25 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Yukari Takeba takes 36 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 25 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Umie Akabane takes 27 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit! Avoid Fire!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Myunghon Yeo takes 22 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Worst! Myunghon Yeo takes 26 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Best! Myunghon Yeo takes 24 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Umie Akabane takes 27 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit! Avoid Fire!
AS: Block Worst! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 36 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Best! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 28 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 32 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Akari Hoshi takes 24 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Block Best! Akari Hoshi takes 21 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Worst! Akari Hoshi takes 43 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Saika Kikuchi takes 54 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Block Neutral! Saika Kikuchi takes 32 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Weak!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Roger takes 36 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Weak!
AS: Block Worst! Saika Kikuchi takes 35 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Weak!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Roger takes 50 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Avoid Worst! Roger takes 41 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Weak!
AS: Avoid Worst! So-young Park takes 35 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Weak!
AS: Avoid Neutral! So-young Park takes 30 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Weak!
AS: Avoid Best! So-young Park takes 38 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Avoid Worst! Hazuki Nakao takes 34 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Hazuki Nakao takes 42 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Hazuki Nakao takes 20 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Tamaki Uchida takes 25 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 27 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 18 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Block Neutral! Yanagi Nagisa takes 27 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Block Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 23 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Block Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 23 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Worst! Pernelle takes 27 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Best! Pernelle takes 22 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Pernelle takes 32 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 30 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: Block Best! Katsuya Suou takes 21 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: Block Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 20 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Resist!
AS: Nanghaithya has readied for combat with Nanghaithya the DiScOnTe! They are adjusted! Ready for 15 opponents!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Moriko Kumamoto! 3 Hits!
AS: Pressure: Nanghaithya gains 1 Limit!
AS: Block Best! Ririka Kawase takes 19 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Block Best! Ririka Kawase takes 30 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Best! Ririka Kawase takes 19 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>As Hazuki prepares to end this, to stay with Taro as he starts to collapse, there's a problem.

The Homuculus is defiant, absorbs much of the inhabitants of the Atelier, and transforms into a palanquin carried by Kappas, with...

Something on top. Something familiar.

As she dives out of the way of the vacuum suction, Hazuki's clutching her bat tightly, handing Taro to Reiya and Minato to guard.

"That's me... and Taro... is this how he felt? Or just how you think he felt? I'm confused..."

As the fire plumes blast into her, Hazuki's trying to roll between them. The first one sends her rolling backwards, singed with flames, before another is deflected with her bat, and the third is swept away even more with a twirl of it.

"But no matter! Light will prevail! The monster always fades away!"

Dodging forward, Hazuki prepares her bat, shouting out.

"The only way to counter a zoner is rushdown! Let's get in there!" They better not have a flash kick, she thinks, as she dashes forward and swings into the nearest Kappas, trying to get right in their face with that gilded bat!
</poem>

AS: Avoid Best! Moriko Kumamoto takes 33 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Moriko Kumamoto takes 40 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Worst! Moriko Kumamoto takes 56 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Weapon! Hazuki Nakao has used the Strike skill Batter Up on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Aggression: Hazuki Nakao gains 1 Limit!
AS: Counter Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 12 Strike damage from Hazuki Nakao's Batter Up. Resist! Counter Strike!
AS: COUNTER! Hazuki Nakao takes 27 Strike damage in return for her attack!

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
"Give it up already, you lost." Yukari replies with that unimpressed tone to the Homunculus beginning to freak out. "Go back to wherever you came from."

But it doesn't, it's possessive, and she recoils from the sheer ''creepiness'' of it's blazing scarlet eyes, "What's going on!? What's it doing?" As she now does in fact look to Pernelle, Yanagi and Saika whether they can answer it.

She ducks down using her bow as a shield, as the vacuum of it's force tears at her, while the tent becomes a part of it's vortex.

"... The other... self?" Yukari repeats, as if trying to work out what it means, as she looks up and-

the you that should be

She takes a breath, then another, feeling a welling fear within her, as it forms that weird-

"What..." She takes another step back from the monstrosity of palanquin, borne by Taro Kappas, atop arcade cabinets, "... how is this even weirder than the giant pig bot? This feels like something Junpei would dream up after spending all day at the Game Panic."

She's not sure where the Kappas would fit in, she's just rather certain. The words blink into being and-

- the kappas start breathing fire, and Yukari suddenly side-steps a projectile, only there's another that nearly hits her dead on, scorching her SEES jacket. "-Whoa!" Right before she has to balance her weight on her left foot and raise her right to avoid another, as she quickly pivots around before taking her Evoker to her head, "Io!" With the pull of a trigger the girl in her bovine coffin appears, taking on more projectiles from the Kappa crowd.

'The only way to counter a zoner is a rushdown! Let's get in there.'

"... They're not stopping! She's right, we've got to advance!" As winds rise against the flow of projectiles, Io spreads out her hands, and begins doing it's best to patch the damage for SEES, so they can get in there.

</poem>
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Recovery skill Media on Yukari Takeba, Moriko Kumamoto, Fuuka Yamagishi, and
Ririka Kawase!
AS: Support: Yukari Takeba gains 1 Limit!
AS: Yukari Takeba regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Yukari Takeba takes 88 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
They aren't yellow.

Myunghon does notice this, and it only panics them further. Their knowledge of the supernatural is ultimately superficial with how deep and unknown the unknowns get; it makes them wonder -- with how little they know of how it all works... was it right to pass judgement? It was right to save Taro Nakata, that much they are clear about -- yet what about the Homunculus, which can only seem to exist by usurping the identity of another?

Katsuya was quick to lay a path down -- if they want an identity, define their own.

But as it was with Roger's own impressive Awakening...

It's hard, to assert oneself, isn't it. It's something that most people might not ever end up doing in their entire lives. Myunghon themself isn't certain -- they are the Doctor Pangloss, ever blindly believing in a world that didn't have their best interests, needing to be told of the true power they possess.

What Yanagi said is echoing in their mind. A thing that shouldn't exist, not understanding before it was even born... just how did she come into possession of that certainty?

But they can't stay in their reverie for all too long, because the Homunculus manifests into a large, towering, impressive... monster -- a Yuki-onna (sorry, offa) upon a palanquin, carried by myriad kappa. It doesn't take long for the battle to be rejoined, and plumes of fire erupt out and threaten to burn them, the Big Top catching aflame as Myunghon scampers towards safety, singes of fire catching onto Kudlak and their Coat.

Yes, this all resembles some cheap, petty Zoner play, like their name is Pluçon Bloque.

"Nnnh..." Myunghon finds themself struggling in the wake of the flames, the aching in their chest flaring badly as they clutch against a still-standing support pillar of the Big Top. "Our objective is met. Taro Nakata has been rescued from the Cocoon. Yet, I doubt that we can leave the Homunculus to rampage without harming him in some cognitive manner."

Yamagishi and Kawase are both here, and they're more skilled at identifying weakness and support -- no, what they need to do here is to *create* weaknesses, in order for the battle to be conducted in better state.

Hazuki reflects on the nature of the creature, Nanghaithya -- and how Yuki-offa bears her face, and Taro is reflected in the many Kappa below. If it's the Homunculus... is it doomed to only reflect the inner desires and pains of others? What does *that* mean?

Merry, help.

"... no matter. The battlefield has changed, and thus my objective is clear -- I shall ascertain the variables in which our victory rests!" Merry declares, as a column of Blue rises with Kudlak's Coat stretching out to harrangue the many Kappa underneath to precariously trip them up and weaken it against assault, and then thrusts their hand out with a rattling noise to further create weakness within!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Dark skill Consume on Nanghaithya!
AS: Pressure: Myunghon Yeo gains 1 Limit!

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
The horror of the Homunculus, the sheer force and drive of the Thing's desire and intention to live, to survive, to thrive, to stand in the spotlight it had been denied by the mere vissicitudes of chance, radiates outwards. The world goes dark.

"Ah... shit," says Saika Kikuchi, a moment before the light illuminates the face of their enemy.

The true form, perhaps. She straightens up, at least; her pose shows little fatigue, however much of that might be pure pose vs. objective reality. That last flying leap took something out of her, but she's had a minute since then. Saika exhales as the Homunculus marches forwards... though the sight of the Thing's *face*, stolen as it is from someone whom Saika has seen a number of times, gives her a moment of hesitation.

You can only front so far, though it's farther than you might think. It might be telling that she strode forwards to get in front of Pernelle and Yanagi, if only by a pace or so, once the Homunculus manifested.

"Don't jinx it," she calls to Hazuki at her words -- which, of course, might have a double meaning for her in particular -- and SURE ENOUGH: the kappas' beaky fleshy mouths pop open, a gout of hideous flame erupting outwards from many angles, smashing against Saika as she brings her arms up into a crossblock.

"Kuh! Gahh--!!" A good half-dozen of the fireballs end up on Saika, the fruits of her forward-facing aggression, and she sinks to one knee. "Monster!" Saika calls out, and the gray-green-black shape of science's hubris manifests. There is a sense of an angry growl or groan, but the Monster expresses power in another way -

"Light 'em up!!"

Bolts of lightning crack out of the sky in a rapid barrage towards the waves of kapper doom, Saika lurching back upright. A brief glance towards their supporting crew, but the one Saika addresses next is Yanagi. "You see an opening, Yanagi?! I could break any six of these little turds, but there's a whole fuckin' army!"

</poem>
AS: Persona! Saika Kikuchi has used the Elec skill Rapid Zionga on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 8 Strike damage from Hazuki Nakao's Batter Up. Resist! Counter Strike!
AS: COUNTER! Hazuki Nakao takes 32 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 0 Dark damage from Myunghon Yeo's Consume. Resist!
AS: Def_Dn and Spd_Dn added!

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> 'I. WILL. Have. It.' As the Flegmats shrink backwards, a familar dual sided blade flashes from the shadows as a shape rushes forwards in a manner that lacks any of the cackling spiciness Umie displayed earlier.

It was all for show, in the end: calling the homunculus's death, Taro's fortunate fate, and the stars being in Hazuki's favor. It would be easy to overlook it as part of a performance aimed at tearing down the Homunculus's confidence, and in a way, that's all it was.

The other side of it lies in the fact that every _actual_ prophecy of Umie's is only true because every single word in them is uttered too late, be it by a year, a day, or years. So, in Umie's eyes, the only way to make it the truth is to enforce it herself, lest it become the last one she ever makes.

And it's the writhing shape that was the Homunculus's body that is reflected in Umie's eyes as she closes in with the blade, aiming to make a decisive slash to end it before it starts.

But it's too
late.

Now Umie is being sucked in, mimicking the way she had to keep from being swallowed by that lion, earlier. The hook on the kyoketsu-shoge's blade becomes a lifeline instead, hooking onto something secure as her shoes press up against that extended jaw, those new expensive sneakers she unwisely accepted(?) from Shiryuu inches from being sucked in. From her violently flapping coat come charms, origami shapes, and yes, that damn spare mask Umie was looking for, which are sucked in instead along with those unfortunate Flegmats.

.... yeah, Umie's not really thrilled about all this. She's also pretty terrified, as she watches that thing swallow it all in one distorted gulp, before the lights in the Big Top go black.

Gripping her kyoketsu-shoge's blade's hilt and giving it a few good good tugs, Umie wretches it from wherever it's embedded and makes her final push to end the situation before it begins.

But yet again, Umie is--

A violent THWACK from the expanding mass throws Umie much further, her body whirling in the air and bouncing off the ground a few feet more until her body's momentum is spent.

--too late.

'Wakey-wakey, Umie-chan~'

Getting up with a groan and a staggered gait, Umie boggles at the Arcade Palanquin. "... eh...?" Unfortunately, the pop culture references fly over the blonde young woman's head. (The Japanese mythology ones, though, she definitely gets.)

.... The other thing Umie will get is a lot of fire power coming at her quickly. "... Shit!"

She jumps back from the first one, which gives the second time to brush by side (NOT THE JACKET, NOOO), while the third she attempts to duck by, with similar results.

Looking over to 'Orange-san' (ie, Hazuki) Umie gives the teen a flummoxed look. "I'm barely getting any of that, but I'm just going to make things a lot harder for them."

And so, Umie summons Badb again, casting the one status ailment she rarely, if ever casts.

.... After all, when you're a squishy dodgy time, why cast the one thing that may make your life a little harder if you fail?

"I'll make *them* rush instead!!"
</poem>

AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 34 Elec damage from Saika Kikuchi's Rapid Zionga.
AS: Block Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 30 Elec damage from Saika Kikuchi's Rapid Zionga.
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 42 Elec damage from Saika Kikuchi's Rapid Zionga. Critical Hit!
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Almighty skill Warrior's Bell on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Umie Akabane regains 3 SP from Invigorate!

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>For one brief, shining moment, Akari thinks they've succeeded. They've saved Taro from the horrible fate of being replaced by his Homonculus! Everything has gone perfectly!

Except the Homonculus is still there. And it's standing up.

"Hazuki!" she calls, forgetting her honourific in the moment. "Roger-kun! Watch out!" Not that anyone needs the warning as the Homonculus clambers back up, red-eyed, but - she still steps forward, holding her sword flat across her body, using it once again like a shield as she takes the fore, planting herself against the sudden wind. She's expecting the thing to strike out like the cognitive threats from before, or maybe even summon more of them.

She is *not* expecting...

...

That.

Ixquic's eyes widen behind her helmet's visor, barely visible, as the palanquin rises. She had seen Kaneshiro, but something about this is different. Whether it's because there's so *many* of them, or simply because it doesn't feel the same. She can tell it's different.

"You monster!" Flame washes along her sword - again - as Ixquic is lightly crisped by the flames. Her outfit has shorts and short sleeves; she's feeling a little toasty, but not so much that she's going to back off immediately, even after the beating she's taken already.

"Villain! I, Magical Warrior Ixquic, challenge you! Fight me if you dare! But listen to this: you aren't allowed to hurt anyone else! You won't EVER take his body! His life is his!" Ixquic thrusts her sword forward, more posing than striking, and Quixote appears above and behind her, raising her lance - and the pennant on it unfurls, billowing in counterpoint with Ixquic's own cape.

Energy builds up, but not near the Homonculus; around Ixquic herself, around Hazuki, around Roger, around Saika who so impressed her before when she took out the cannon. Fair's fair, after all.

And then, because the Homonculus on the palanquin is clearly that sort of a person, Ixquic raises her other hand, making a come-on gesture, beckoning him. Challenging him, even.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Akari Hoshi has used the Recovery skill Heroic Dream on Akari Hoshi, Hazuki Nakao, Roger, and Saika
Kikuchi!
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 88 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.
AS: Take! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 88 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 0 Recovery healing from Akari Hoshi's Heroic Dream.
AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added!
AS: Take! Roger takes 0 Recovery healing from Akari Hoshi's Heroic Dream.
AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added!
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 0 Recovery healing from Akari Hoshi's Heroic Dream.
AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added!
AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 0 Recovery healing from Akari Hoshi's Heroic Dream.
AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> Roger - a Shadow who has awakened to his own Persona, somehow, and has undergone Transmutation into a more humanoid figure decked out like an odd hodge-podge of sports memorabilia - is broken free of his initial experiences with the concept of introspection with the Homunculus' tantrum and resultant transformation.

He can ruminate on the strange anxieties and doubts that have attached themselves to an elevated psyche later, as the enemy entity assumes a most dire form reflecting whatever it was that gave them the foothold to form. He snorts. "Bring it! You won't run it back against this razorback!"

Nanghaithya, in fact, brings it - a lot of it - with fireballs that sees Roger hop back and forth with middling success into a disastrous final shot into his hip.

"AHH! Ow, ow, ow...!" He falls onto his seat for a moment as Hazuki takes charge - they have to get in.

"...Hnnn.. you're right! I can't just sit here and fry," he gets back up as an etherial blue butterfly flits by. He slices his racquet into it, dispersing it. "Persona!"

That stout hog-like demigod, Kamapua'a, appears. With wide movements of his arms, a sense of renewal and rejuvenation emanates - for Roger, Hazuki, Akari, and (on the periphery) Saika.

(don't mind the funny burnt bandage on his bum)

"We'll get 'em together!!" He cheers, emboldened further by the materialized heroic resolve by Don Quixote.
</poem>

AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 0 Almighty damage from Umie Akabane's Warrior's Bell.
AS: Rage added!
AS: Persona! Roger has used the Recovery skill Healing Wave on Roger, Hazuki Nakao, Akari Hoshi, and Saika Kikuchi!
AS: Support: Roger gains 1 Limit!
AS: Roger regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Roger takes 0 Recovery healing from Roger's Healing Wave.
AS: Regen added!
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 0 Recovery healing from Roger's Healing Wave.
AS: Regen added!
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 0 Recovery healing from Roger's Healing Wave.
AS: Regen added!
AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 0 Recovery healing from Roger's Healing Wave.
AS: Regen added!

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
Pernelle, as he does his tippy-taps, asks Yanagi if she thinks Tsumugi would notice if he had a bite of Something Special.

"Do you think they wouldn't?" Yanagi counters.

And just in case there's any doubt that Pernelle would get her meaning, Saika just comes out and says it. Bless.

Yanagi leans in closer to her and Pernelle. "Yes, it's much easier with all this extra support," she murmurs. "They needed to be taught some things, but that's not their fault. Right now, we should be ready for... Ah. There we are."

The Homunculus whips around to glare at them with red, red eyes. Yanagi gazes back with that pitying look.

Giselle, still active, arches her back to protect Yanagi when the Homunculus unhinges its clown jaw and begins to suck Flegmats in by the dozens. There is darkness--and then there is bright. The Homunculus has transformed, a massive palanquin that teeters and totters with characters Yanagi doesn't know but that certainly involve a lot of kappas and a Yuki-Onna--sorry, a Yuki-Offa (is that why the baseball bat?)--on top.

Origami angels twirl and dance and vanish and reappear all throughout what was the Big Top, bringing back information to Yanagi's senses in a series of animation cel movies that her senses convert in an instant.

"Nanghaithya the Discontent..." Yanagi names it, voice rising. She's about to say more, but then there is a message, and Yanagi--who, again, is not familiar with gaming--furrows her brows in confusion. Then: "Ah!! Watch out!! Fire!!"

That's as much answer as Yukari gets, just before all those fireballs erupt in a spam of projectiles towards all of them. Yanagi doesn't jump out of the way; rather, Giselle spins around her and protects her with her body, flames breaking and breaking and breaking upon her ghostly visage. She burns away with a spindly scream, leaving Yanagi behind to fall to her knees and clutch her chest--but Saika has already taken point in front of her and Pernelle, and Yanagi gives her a grateful smile. It gives her time to lean on her cane-gun and stagger upright again.

Hazuki wonders at her face and Taro's faces on Yuki-Offa and Kappa. As Yanagi smashes another butterfly, she calls to her, "That is not Taro Nakata. It's simply a thing that has taken on something Taro Nakata could have become. Don't let it fool you." To Saika and Pernelle, as Giselle re-materializes, she says, "Giselle and I are analyzing it now! ...But it sounds like Hazuki has an idea of how to deal with this kind of enemy. Do what you do best and get in its face, Saika!"

She points in a certain direction, the gesture emphasized by Giselle pointing a needle-arm the same way. She makes no effort to hide it, so Myunghon, Roger, and everyone else will get to benefit, not just Saika and Pernelle: the figures holding up the massive palanquin. The ones bearing the brunt of its unwieldy size and weight. "There! Try knocking them down first! It might unbalance it!"
</poem>

AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Almighty skill Full Analysis on Tsumugi Kujaku!
AS: Insight: Yanagi Nagisa gains 1 Limit!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa regains 6 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa cancels 1 attacks on Tsumugi Kujaku.
AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Almighty skill Full Analysis on Nanghaithya!
AS: Insight: Yanagi Nagisa gains 1 Limit!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa regains 6 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 24 Almighty damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Full Analysis.
AS: Yanagi Nagisa's Strength Scan! Nanghaithya resists Strike, Fire, and Dark!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa's Weakness Scan! Nanghaithya is weak against Water and Light!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa's Support Scan! Nanghaithya has passive skills Apt Pupil, Auto-Rebellion, Counter Strike, Strike Amp,
Strike Boost, Strike Riposte, and Water Boost!

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>That all-consuming will to live... Fuuka can't help but feel a pang of sympathy. It was that same will to live that allowed her to survive in Tartarus all that time. But... his survival comes at the cost of Taro. What can they do, in this situation...?

...They have to make a choice. And that choice is Taro.

The Homunculus transforms. She's never ''played'' Night Parade herself, but Fuuka has watched videos on it - though she's not familiar enough to be able to name the characters by name. She's certain they're not supposed to look like... ''this'', though.

The Kappa breathe deep, however, and begin to spew out a tidal wave of flame.

"Lucia...!" Fuuka gasps. There's the sound of an Evoker firing, as she redoubles Lucia's protection. The flames wash over her. She winces, even from within the protective globe - but the healing that comes in after helps soothe the mind and body. Fuuka exhales.

"Thank you, Yukari-chan..." She offers. She can focus now - and she focuses her attention on Nanghaithya.

"What are you...? How do you fight?" She murmurs to herself. Yanagi has done some analysis of her own - so Fuuka instead turns her attention to focus on the Homuculus's attack patterns. It's tendencies, it's methods - predicting possible avenues of attacks it may use, and relaying this to everyone to help them avoid harm.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Fuuka Yamagishi has used the Almighty skill Divination on Nanghaithya!
AS: Insight: Fuuka Yamagishi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 24 Almighty damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Divination.
AS: Atk_Dn added!
AS: Fuuka Yamagishi's Support Scan! Nanghaithya has passive skills Apt Pupil, Auto-Rebellion, Counter Strike, Strike
Amp, Strike Boost, Strike Riposte, and Water Boost!
AS: Take! Moriko Kumamoto takes 88 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ririka scrambles back as the Homunculus ''changes'' and forms... a giant arcade tower? She gasps, as the feeling of its Resonance ''completely'' changes. "What the--" She recognizes all of those characters, of course, but seeing them like ''this'' is...

... unsettling, to put it mildly. "I've got a bad feeling about this..." Can they survive ''another'' fight after that long, drawn-out encounter they already survived?

... Do they even have a choice?

She barely knows where to start as all of the Taro-Kappas start to spit flame after flame after flame. For a moment she thinks of it as a cheap trick-- but that's in the game. ''Here'' it is an immensely worrying wall of flames headed for them. Out comes the katana, and she takes up a stance as she starts to deflec and block her way through the flames.

She's already panting by the time she's broken tghrough the last wave, but Yukari is there with a quick patch already. "Thanks, Takeba-san!" she calls. Out comes her Evoker and she shouts, "Amphion!" as she pulls the trigger, summoning the statue once more.

Hazuki calls for a rushdown to beat a zoner. "She's right! I'll back you all up! Amphion! Healing Song!"

The Persona starts to strum his lyre, strings flickering to life beneath his fingertips, and melodies weave around Moriko, So-young, Pernelle, and Myungon.

"Nagisa-san, Pernelle-san, Kikuchi-san, do you have any advice for fighting this?" They clearly seemed knoweldgeable before, so maybe they'll some somre more insights to share.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Recovery skill Healing Song on Moriko Kumamoto, So-young Park, Pernelle, and
Myunghon Yeo!
AS: Insight: Ririka Kawase gains 1 Limit!

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
"Nakata-san?!"

No.

It's not over.

As they all watch, the Homunculus distorts itself in horrific fashion, drawing ever more of the Flegmat Humors into itself. All goes black but for the silhouette in crimson:

the other self. what one could be. ''should'' be, as it puts it.

Something drags itself from the darkness, looming above them all. "Is that a-- an arcade cabinet...?" Katsuya utters at first, as if completely bewildered. He was still a child in the 90s, he's seen them for himself alongside friends, once upon a time! But he hasn't actually look at one in over fifteen years. Why has this Homunculus taken a shape like this--

Perhaps the answer can be found in the forms that ''bear'' the arcade cabinet-turned-palanquin. Katsuya doesn't know the game (he's too much of a square for that) let alone the figures within it, but the face of all those Kappa-themed (he is still a nerd though) figures is a familiar one.

"The same ethos as before, I see," he remarks, gazing up at the 'ruler' above. He shakes his head. "Then nothing has changed. We will stop you here!"

The Homunculus -- Nanghaithya, properly -- directs its Kappas accordingly: flame after flame rolls towards the lot of them. Though Katsuya rushes forward as if to already answer Hazuki's direction with Helios manifested before him, he still arrives at destination with his suit jacket singed. Even protection against flame only can take one so far. "Fire, is it?" He touches his fingers to his sunglasses, as if to readjust them.

"Persona!"

Helios is quick to appear at his call, bestowing a curtain of flame about those he's thought might have been more affected by Nanghaithya's fire.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
''Do you think they wouldn't?'' Pernelle actually stops, considering, as his long neck bends like a hook, head nearly upside down. "Mmmmnnn... mMMMMMNNNNN... mmmnnooooo?" he eventually responds, reluctantly, hopefully before heaving a sigh. "Very well, very well. I will show the utmost self restr -- oh dear, here it is."

'Oh dear' is a understatement for the colossal foe that forms itself anew, determined to steal an existence for itself by squandering another's. What ''is'' going on, Yukari asks, and Pernelle adjusts his glasses. The brightness of the spectacle turns them opaque, making his otherwise expression eyes blocked from view.

"So it has come to this..." Pernelle says, his voice low and grave. "What you see before you, my fine friends, is what I like to call...

"... a sticky wicket of a situation."

THANKS PERNELLE THAT'S REAL INSIGHTFUL

There is little time to wait for any more explanation before the situation explains itself Kappa driven fireballs come launching out, and Pernelle suddenly begins to spin, pirouette, and vault around the barrage with trailing, glittering train feathers. "Ha HA! Sir! You did not struck me once!"

He coughs a plume of smoke, a few singed feathers burning on the ground around him.

"... Well, you did not strike me thrice! I can assure you!" This could also be a lie, but does it matter? "Now, then, let us see how your palette endures the taste of your own medicine!"

Pernelle's Persona Anqa, in all her gold and rainbow seams, appears, singing out before her face explodes open with her own roar of fire, launching his own barrage of explosions at the figures holding the palanquin, as Yanagi points out.

He spins around, turning his back to the Frei-splosions as they detonate, because cool birds don't look at explosions... or maybe just so he can call out to Saika.

"Beautiful display, Saika!" he cheers. "Please continue!"

As he flaps his rings, he calls to Ririka: "I suggest, my speculating songstress, incredible violence!"

</poem>
AS: Take! Pernelle takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Healing Song.
AS: Regen added!
AS: Persona! Pernelle has used the Fire skill Trio Freila on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Ruin: Pernelle gains 1 Limit!
AS: Pernelle: Gains 49 HP from Regen!
AS: Take! Moriko Kumamoto takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Healing Song.
AS: Regen added!
AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Almighty skill Fire Wall on So-young Park, Saika Kikuchi, and Roger!
AS: Take! Roger takes 0 Almighty damage from Katsuya Suou's Fire Wall.
AS: Fire_Wall added!

<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
<poem>Moriko had been running support prior. Doing the whole keeping the critters away from the main show. Which is why she's running up, belated and just in time to catch a gout of flame. Pulling away sharply, she quickly works on getting it put out. Then gets a good look at what they're up against. "Oh." She murmurs. "This looks bad."

And in a quieter voice, "And like one of those cheap yen munchers." She couldn't help it. She spends enough time at the arcades.

"I dunno, there's some old myths it might be referencing an-" she frowns, "Later." Only to add after a brief pause, "Pig bot?" While swinging her polearm up and around, at the ready. THis is probably another stolen one. Don't worry about it.

She wants to argue about the zoning advice, but that's absolutely a topic for later. Pushing through the flames are absolutely going to suck, but she's probably right.

"Or sniping the supports down." Which. Is that an option? The shadows are usually one entity right?

That Taro's been saved and the shadow is still here kind of throws a few ideas out the window after all.

She does, at least lift her hand in thanks, briefly to Yukari with the support, "Thanks." with a further nod to Ririka "You too". Before she takes a breath, pulls out her own evoker and places it under her chin, calling out, "Otohime Gitsune!" The figure appearing behind her. Watching the tower of shadow, the word escaping the biker for a moment.

The fox stares the whole time, motes of light flitting around the amalgamation.

Moriko doesn't linger though. She's already dashing through the flame, arm covering her nose and mouth, head tucked in!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Moriko Kumamoto has used the Almighty skill Tarunda on Nanghaithya!
AS: Moriko Kumamoto: Gains 50 HP from Regen!
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Healing Song.
AS: Regen added!
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 0 Almighty damage from Katsuya Suou's Fire Wall.
AS: Fire_Wall added!

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
Given the highly strenuous week she's had so far, it's a wonder Tamaki's even here at all, but she has another client's case to worry about, and she'd like to get an idea of what a Homunculus could potentially become. That is, that's her reason for being here ''in addition'' to helping Taro Nakata himself.

She figures there are some times when you have to recognize when you're in the spotlight, and other times when you have to keep back and play stagehand instead. Nothing's going to get done if everyone's aiming to be on center stage.

And that's a high-effort job! She has been WIPED. No energy. Low-ebb. One could ''almost'' accuse her of phoning it in. Almost.

But you know one thing her and Arianrhod have plenty of practice at? One against many situations. Crowd control. While she had no interest in being on the top of that hill, she was more than glad to play interference and let someone else be king. It's like she told the big bad humour before: she's lost plenty of times, herself. That doesn't mean she can't put a foot on the scales, however!

She's quiet. Just here to observe. Others have got the pep talk handled ... and apparently, a Homunculus has multiple stages in its life, with the last one being full replacement, should no one intervene. 'Even if I have to tear him apart.'

Up until now, her focus has just been on helping to clear a path, but the transformation of the palanquin catches her attention enough that she gets the signal to shift back into the foreground. The Homunculus swallows the very crowd she had been helping to beat back --

The fireball spam is what ''really'' catches her attention. One catches her unaware, she manages to dodge the next one well enough to at least only get hit by the edge, and after the first two missteps she's now FULLY ALERT and ready to just graze past the third.

There's a big crowd of allies: some are familiar faces others aren't. Myunghon, Umie, So-Young, Saika, Moriko, Yukari ...

Tamaki peers more closely at the crowd. Is that ... is that ''Roger''?

Still opting for her general backstage-helper approach, when someone yells something about rushdown, Tamaki decides to at least make running headlong into the fray less dangerous for the others and give herself some time to regain her own bearings. "Media!"
</poem>

AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Recovery skill Media on Roger, Hazuki Nakao, Saika Kikuchi, and So-young Park!
AS: Take! Roger takes 62 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 62 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 62 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> So-young Park was supposed to be helping to secure the internet cafe that the Cardboard Dragon were using to access the Atelier, but-- well, plans have somewhat changed along the way. Stuck in her romanticism, she may have been expecting something rather more movie-like - shadowy agents and monsters converging on the door to a booth, a last-ditch fight to beat the tide away as Myunghon's fingers fly across the keyboard and dynamically hit an ENTER key with a stroke of finality--

--yes, yes, typing has nothing to do with this at all, but it really _would_ make for a good climax, you see--

But the reality is much different, and So-young was left bored out of her mind and incessantly pacing up and down a dingy corridor watching people shuffle past her, each of them entirely used to the solitude of their social contract here of all possible places. It hadn't really been all that long before her restless energy built up enough that she broke away from the plan to head into the Atelier herself. Besides, So-young Park is a creature of immediacy. If she's going to be involved she'd much rather it be right there with the others rather than sitting back and passively waiting for their return.

And if she's truly and brutally honest with herself, a big part of her is still thinking about the way Akira Hayashi dropped to the floor of a dingy warehouse, his existence blacked out in the blink of an eye to only leave a lump of meat behind. She's still yet to really process that ugly feeling that accompanies it - but she clings to it tightly, determined to use it as fuel at the very least.

* * *

The rest is a raw, mad dash, but thankfully that is Icarus' speciality, and So-young's gotten much better with practice at riding her Persona. There is a cacophony of strange fairground creatures between So-young and the climactic fight on the horizon, but this isn't her first trip through the Atelier, and the Persona's speed scatters many of them in its wake as a sonic boom rips ahead of her path, scattering some of the sideshow tents and setting their bells ringing violently around her.

It's not hard to see which direction she should be going in given the pyrotechnics on display, the constant slew of flames spat into the air to fill the sky like a roman candle. A piercing, rattling screech, somewhere between mechanical and furious, rips from her Persona as she dives into the cloud, doing her best to manoeuvre around them. Unfortunately, precision flight is the part she really hasn't gotten used to, and there's something very fitting about the way that Icarus' path is almost cut short, the Persona and its rider pitching down to the ground to try to avoid the gout of flame, fire licking along Icarus' spindly wooden frame as So-young grits her teeth.

Poetic tragedy? Couldn't happen to her.

She lands in a rather ungainly attempt at rolling, grimacing for a moment as she picks herself up off the ground before her expression settles back to something tight and thin. She'd heard the Homonculus rant and rave about what could have been and what should be from a distance, easily catching the creature bellowing out all of the emotions pent up inside himself. So-young Park is never the sort of person to regret anything, but there is a light of faint understanding in her eyes, part of her gaze cast far into the past.

"... well said," she mutters for a moment, before raising her hand, a slim silver baton in her grasp. "But even a milksop can break free of their past and become something much more, and that process holds an importance and meaning of its own. It may not be terribly fair of me--" she's not completely sure why she finds herself adding that, chasing some faint impulse of her own, before her expression hardens. "--but I won't have you denigrating that chance for growth."

This time it isn't Icarus' screech that echoes across the battlefield, but a single, soft note that accompanies the raising of both her arms - the sussuration of a performance about to start, of a violin holding its bow on the strings and the first drawn breath of a woodwind section. An elegant little flick marks the point at which she instinctively catches and follows Amphion's performance, the beats of her baton guiding and building on the other Persona's tune.

It's not just a whim to use the other Persona's power in this way. It's a chance to bolster herself, recentre her mind after her wild entrance. Music is a core part of her identity, and something tells her that holding onto that core is what will truly give her strength in a realm such as this. With a bright, clear note, a ring of light rockets outwards--

--but So-young is not immune to vanity by any means, and when she feels the protective sorcery of Officer Suou settle over her, the motions of her hands suddenly shift to extend her peformance outwards as if projecting a note across an auditorium as she winks in thanks. She's a little too late to cover Tamaki as well, but offers a quieter smile in return. "Let us do better this time," she mutters privately to herself.
</poem>

AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 0 Almighty damage from Katsuya Suou's Fire Wall.
AS: Fire_Wall added!
AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 62 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.
AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Almighty skill Sforzando on Myunghon Yeo, Katsuya Suou, Umie Akabane, and Ririka
Kawase!
AS: Support: So-young Park gains 1 Limit!
AS: So-young Park: Gains 47 HP from Regen!
AS: So-young Park regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: So-young Park spends Limit on Shift! Myunghon Yeo can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20!
AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 42 Fire damage from Pernelle's Trio Freila. Resist!
AS: Block Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 36 Fire damage from Pernelle's Trio Freila. Resist!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 50 Fire damage from Pernelle's Trio Freila. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: COUNTER! Pernelle takes 51 Strike damage in return for his attack!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 24 Almighty damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Tarunda.
AS: Atk_Dn added!
AS: Take! Myunghon Yeo takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Healing Song.
AS: Regen added!
AS: Take! Myunghon Yeo takes 0 Almighty damage from So-young Park's Sforzando.
AS: Crt_Up added!
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 0 Almighty damage from So-young Park's Sforzando.
AS: Crt_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
Monster!

Villain!

((Villain? No.))

Nanghaithya's voice is a distorted thing -- that digital static that Ririka had picked up earlier is just enhanced to dramatic degrees now, as the Homunculus talks as if a digitized voice projected through an aging speaker. Booming. All-present. Like the unseen announcer of a fight.

((Words like that don't matter.))

Hazuki rushes the Kappas. She smashes her bat into one, knocking it aside; it bounces with comical, rubbery sounds, rebounding off ground and into a support pillar before rolling back towards the lurching Palanquin.

((All that matters is winning.))

But before she can manage to strike a second, something sweeps in just between her and it. Tall, eloquent.

Snapping a whip right in her face.

Kaguya-hime, her face the face of some crude Shujin high schooler, whipcracks the broadside of Hazuki's assault. It's no flash kick, but it -is- enough force to knock her into the air--

--whereupon a second crack of the whip just -juggles her mercilessly- in an act that's really just aggressively -mean- on top of being -painful-.

((Nakao understands. What's the point of living if you aren't the best?))

The lightning of Frankenstein's Creation cracks down. Kappas are struck, seizing up as they flash brilliant flashes of yellow and black and white that reveals their adorable kappa skeletons beneath. Several fall over, smoking. The Palanquin tilts dangerously leftwards until several Kappas rush to that end of the Arcade Monument with little squeaks and squawking sounds, hefting it back upright with mighty "HUFFFA!"s of effort.

Saika may well be thinking of pressing her advantage, when--

"NYAA!"

Something suddenly pounces in the space between her and her quarries. It's -- my god -- it's --

A cat in a trenchcoat?!

No --

"NYAAAAA!"

TWO CATS IN A TRENCHCOAT?!

Saika will get all of three seconds to ponder this before the topmost cat suddenly does a dramatic flipkick -- the legendary flash kick -- upon Saika's corpus.

Whereupon it links hands with the bottom cat, and hoists it up mid-air, so that -the second cat can flipkick Saika-.

And then, hands still linked, they DOUBLE JUMP TO FLIP KICK HER AT THE SAME TIME.

Like some sort of -- never-ending, brutalizing, annihilating, INFAMOUS--

Genyaacide Cutta?!

While this is going on, Pernelle is bringing the fire -- or the nuclear blaze, maybe. As Saika is endlessly juggled in the backdrop, Pernelle dramatically turns backward as the thusly-dubbed Frei-splosions detonate like the cool flourish of a finishing move; behind him, many Kappas go flying, one of them inexplicably crying out "THAT BIRD IS A JERK" despite none of them having demonstrated any gift for language until this point. They just feel that strongly.

But it's as the third explosion of nuclear heat rings out --

That something glints in the air behind him.

Something tall. Something that's in a trenchcoat. Something that's actually two things.

It's -- BAKEDUO-NEKO, the Cat That Is Two Cats, coming screaming in from their aerial assault on Saika to pounce the first, fanciest bird they find --

and sadly -- Pernelle is much more fabulous than even Arqa.

One cat pounces, and then the second, trenchcoat falling behind to land on their backs as they look to knock Pernelle into the ground, flip over each other --

and then do a DUAL STOMP on his poor beautiful body while he's prone, in the pettiest, most frustrating of all moves -- the OKIZEME.

As all of this is going on, magical impetus weaves a variety of weakening spells upon the Palanquin and the assorted hosts that surround it. Myunghon's coat stretches its cognitive material to its fullest, harassing and tripping up Kappas; so assaulted and bereaved as they are, the Kappas must scramble and fall over themselves just -trying- with single-minded determination to keep that Palanquin upright. It lurches, lopes, lunges -- but it stays upright still. There's just -- so MANY of them --

The others, like Moriko and Fuuka, help to weaken the thing, even as both she and Yanagi peer into the nature of that strange, Otherly Shadow. It's a dense and esoteric existence -- one Yanagi has experience navigating, but still complicated by the fact that each Homunculus is so -different- from the other. For Fuuka -- it's like trying to gaze directly into something that Must Not Be Seen, the very SIGHT of its Other Sight painful like staring into a flashbang, or something that makes a person's stomach automatically lurch in empathetic revulsion --

But even as they work, Nanghaithya still moves, the many parts of it fanning outward. No -- it isn't until Umie casts that very specific, ENRAGING magic--

that the entire Palanquin lurches to turn and face her.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
Within the screen of the Arcade Tower, something flashes scarlet.

((You just don't know when to quit.))

That digital voice seethes.

And just as it does -- the headless body of Night Parade character Nukekubi comes crashing into Umie, with her floating head shortly screaming in thereafter. The floating head of the creature whips around, the long, snake-like strand of its neck intent to strike Umie -- before the body follows suit, intent on unloading a combination of body blows after body blows while that floating head keeps her off-balance in an eloquent sequence of maneuvers that aim to give her little to no roomm to maneuver in.

It's just -- an overwhelming assault. Because once you pop, the fun--

Fuuka and Ririka don't get much better off, as they try to focus on their Navigational skills. Soon enough, Kaguya-hime is advancing on Fuuka, and Master Koto upon Ririka, both unloading a... very elaborate, but very telegraphed sequence of moves on both. Kaguya, with the cracks of her whips and stylish high-kicking, and for Ririka -- she knows Master Koto's moves by now, the dance-like rhythm of its physical assaults coming in at a quick and relentless tempo in a perfectly-choreographed combo she probably knows by heart--

--especially as the pair -both- start to try to loop the same combos, -again-.

Are they just -- repeating the same tactics, over and over again?

Ririka will be able to sense it -- these guards, even the Kappas -- they're cycling through tried and tested, winning maneuvers for each one, with little to no variation in between.

It's a revelation that may well prove useful, but...

''Then nothing has changed.''

((Why would it?))

The Palanquin, with Yuki-Offa still on top, shifts. Energy starts to swirl around it in streams of saturating scarlet, funneling into the Kappas - into the Guards - into Yuki-Offa.

((Has the world changed? When have the losers of the world ever gotten anything in life they want?))

The Arcade screen goes black.

((Let's find out.))

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!

PLAYER SELECT

PLAYER ONE

The Arcade Palanquin's visuals shift towards a fighter select screen, showing all the various fighters of Night Parade. The selector cycles rapidly through all of them, like a classic random select roulette. It comes to a stop on...

Kaguya-hime?

Before suddenly glitching out. The screen tears. And suddenly the selector is no longer on Kaguya-hime, but--

YUKI-OFFA!!

Yuki-Offa, who has been oddly inert on her oddly-colored, arcade throne, lurches forward, her glossy hair spilling forward across her icy-pale features. The temperature in the Big Top begins to rapidly drop.

But -- the character select screen isn't finished.

PLAYER SELECT

PLAYER TWO

Player -- two?

The roulette selector rolls. It lands on Bakeduo-Neko. It glitches. The character selector hops--

--to--

KAPPA!!

((Ohhh. Tough luck.))

Nanghaithya's digital, static-scratchy voice echoes across the Big Top. The Arcade machine screen glows a bright, nauseating red.

Everything is blinded in a flash of saturating scarlet--

And in the aftermath?

Everyone fighting Nanghaithya has been transformed into Kappas.

Smaller. Weaker. Sadder. Look at that terrible hair, that uninspiring beak, that shell that doesn't seem like it even does anything useful--

READY?

F I G H T !

But there's no time to fret over your new, unflattering makeover for long, for the call to begin the second round cares not for the weakness that pervades the body; Yuki-Offa presses her hands against the edge of the Arcade Tower. Her violet (... violet? isn't the Homunculus' eyes red--) eyes open. She pushes off her lofty perch.

And only the toes of one stylish and slightly nonsensical sneaker touches the ground before the ice queen of Night Parade, suspended on one foot, lifts her right hand up into the air. The cold grows so intense the air in the Big Top condenses to vapor, to liquid, to solids, as an entire blizzard blooms within the carnival. A literal force of nature that condenses down into the palm of Yuki-OFfa's hand for one blisteringly, harrowingly beautiful moment--

before with the swing of her hand, Yuki-OFfa hurls that condensed blizzard forward, whereupon it ''detonates'' mid-way through its flight, creating a violent shockwave of the cold, raw fury of an entire force of nature compacted throughout ''anyone'' unfortunate enough to get in its way, in a rippling wave of bone-chilling winds and piercing frost.

(OOC NOTE: You are now all Kappas! How, exactly, you look depends on how you'd like your character to look as a Kappa, but the broad strokes of what a Kappa is remains the same! You are also just. So adorably tiny. So cute. E n j o y .)
</poem>

AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Almighty skill Save That Shit For Nationals on Nanghaithya!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 19 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's Save That Shit For Nationals.
AS: Crt_Up added! Atk_Dn removed!
AS: Nanghaithya spends Limit on Reach!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Almighty skill trash tier - Kappa on So-young Park, Tamaki Uchida, Moriko
Kumamoto, Pernelle, Katsuya Suou, Ririka Kawase, Fuuka Yamagishi, Yanagi Nagisa, Roger, Akari Hoshi, Umie Akabane, Saika
Kikuchi, Myunghon Yeo, Yukari Takeba, and Hazuki Nakao!
AS: Take! Myunghon Yeo takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added! Regen removed!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Strike skill oh! Oh! OH! OH!! OH!!! on Saika Kikuchi! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Strike skill Petty Okizeme on Pernelle!
AS: Take! Yukari Takeba takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Strike skill Flowchart Bullshit on Fuuka Yamagishi! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Strike skill Flowchart Bullshit on Ririka Kawase! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Strike skill You're So Pringles on Umie Akabane! 3 Hits!
AS: Nanghaithya spends Limit on Broad!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Water skill GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa on Roger, Akari Hoshi, Hazuki Nakao, and Yanagi
Nagisa! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Water skill GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa on Moriko Kumamoto, So-young Park, Katsuya Suou,
and Myunghon Yeo! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Water skill GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa on Tamaki Uchida and Yukari Takeba! 3 Hits!
AS: Nanghaithya: Broad and Reach removed!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Myunghon Yeo takes 43 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa.
AS: Avoid Best! Myunghon Yeo takes 43 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Myunghon Yeo takes 43 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Def_Dn and Spd_Dn added! Atk_Up and Regen removed!
AS: Take! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Akari Hoshi takes 63 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Akari Hoshi takes 33 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa.
AS: Block Neutral! Akari Hoshi takes 60 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Yukari Takeba takes 61 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Yukari Takeba takes 50 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa.
AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Def_Dn and Spd_Dn added! Atk_Up and Fire_Wall removed!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Yukari Takeba takes 42 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa.
AS: Avoid Best! Saika Kikuchi takes 59 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's oh! Oh! OH! OH!! OH!!!. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 37 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's Flowchart Bullshit.
AS: Block Best! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 53 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's Flowchart Bullshit. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 68 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's Flowchart Bullshit. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Saika Kikuchi takes 81 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's oh! Oh! OH! OH!! OH!!!. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Best! Saika Kikuchi takes 37 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's oh! Oh! OH! OH!! OH!!!.
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 0 Almighty damage from So-young Park's Sforzando.
AS: Crt_Up added!
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Def_Dn and Spd_Dn added! Atk_Up removed!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 31 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's You're So Pringles.
AS: Block Worst! Hazuki Nakao takes 74 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Hazuki Nakao takes 47 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa.
AS: Block Worst! Hazuki Nakao takes 74 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! So-young Park takes 64 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Worst! So-young Park takes 51 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa.
AS: Avoid Neutral! So-young Park takes 64 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 31 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's You're So Pringles.
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 51 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's You're So Pringles. Critical Hit!
AS: Take! Roger takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Def_Dn and Spd_Dn added! Atk_Up, Crt_Up, Fire_Wall, and Regen removed!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Roger takes 33 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Resist!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Roger takes 33 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Resist!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Roger takes 33 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Resist!
AS: Take! Pernelle takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Pernelle takes 64 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's Petty Okizeme.
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 0 Almighty damage from So-young Park's Sforzando.
AS: Crt_Up added!
AS: Hazuki Nakao spends Limit on Shift! Yukari Takeba can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20!
AS: Block Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 63 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Weak!
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 80 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>Ixquic gives a big thumbs-up to Roger before she gets both hands on her sword again. She knows where that energy came from!

"Ugh! Why is it so... so... big??" Ixquic draws herself up to her full height, gathering herself: "But I'm a Legendary Magical Warrior! I don't care how many monsters you are! I will fight all of you...! You're only a loser if you give up, and I, Ixquic, never, NEVER give up!"

Yamagi has already suggested hitting the bearers, but Ixquic was coming to that conclusion on her own - no Navigator needed! (Now, all the ADDITIONAL info, that she needs help with. Quixote is a lot of things, but Ixquic is not inclined to think particularly far ahead; she is a WOMAN OF ACTION and her Persona exemplifies it.)

Which means when she gets outside support confirming her already-brewing plan, Akari doesn't wait even a second before she puts it into effect.

Ixquic begins to run forward even as the Palanquin and its bearers begin their own attack. Yuki-Offa rises, and Ixquic's response is to speed up, lowering her head in a flat-out dash toward the Palanquin -

Player Select -- Player Two!
Kappa??

The energy washes over Ixquic, and what is left behind is not Ixquic. Not quite.

The imp - sorry, kappa - is still wearing about half of Ixquic's gear. The cape, for instance, red and billowing, remains. So does the helmet, though she has the little dish on *top* of it, a bubble of water wobbling with every step. She's shorter and has more chibi proportions and is now not so much carrying as dragging her sword, which traces a squealing, sparking track along the ground as it scrapes.

And THAT is followed up by ice, which makes Ixquic vanish from sight entirely, lost in a blizzard. The little water on her head threatens to freeze over, and she actually stops her forward movement for a moment as she's iced over -

Until with a *crack* she begins to move again, making the last few steps. "QUIXOTE!" she calls (god her voice is squeaky right now), and her Persona appears, racing past her, sword sweeping out in a slice that literally causes the Persona to wheel in a circle, almost spinning out as the enormous slash carves out, Ixquic attempting to topple the palanquin and bring Yuki-Offa to the ground!

...

"What," Ixquic adds, as Quixote vanishes after her summoning. One of her hands reaches up to feel at her helmet and the water dish on top of it.

...it took her this long to notice...
</poem>

AS: Persona! Akari Hoshi has used the Slash skill Hyper Slash on Nanghaithya!
AS: Aggression: Akari Hoshi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Yanagi Nagisa takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Block Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 34 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: Block Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 25 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Resist!
AS: Block Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 34 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 85 Slash damage from Akari Hoshi's Hyper Slash.

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>As Hazuki rushes in, it's Kaguya-Hime. Hazuki's kicked into the air before she can reply to anyone else, even as their blessings wwashed over her, and then juggled back down, smashing into the ground and rolling with a loud groan. As she starts to rise again...

Attacks are happening. Her eyes scan, quick on the details. Bakeduo Neko among others...

"The cats are rushdown! Keep a distance! Kaguya-Hime, too! I'll deal with-"

Yuki-Offa is picked.

And Kappa is picked.

"Crap, a bad match-up!"

Hazuki is transmogrified. She gains the little Kappa beak and appearance, but also, she's got orange-and-silver hair and a giant wing pauldron on. Also, she's tiny and adorable.

Even so, she's rushing in...

"Takeba-san! I'll give you breathing room, try and keep everyone alive!"

She knows what's coming next. It's her tells, the signals.

"A SUPER MOVE! IT COVERS THE WHOLE SCREEN, BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK!"

They're not fast enough. They're Kappas... and Kappa has a terrible reaction to this move.

Hazuki instead charges through it, grabbing her bat and diffusing the blast of cold that impacts her. It tinges her skin blue, it drives her backwards, and eventually, it overpowers her guard, causing her to roll over, frostbitten.

But she's not done.

"You think... it's about winning? It's about being on top? You're wrong!"

The blue butterfly returns, and Hazuki crushes it with an arcade stick grip closed over it, causing Janus to appear once more.

"It's about having fun with your friends!"

And a little bit winning, but.

Janus suddenly points those clock hands at the Homunculus's known weak points, as three balls of light manifest in the air, before flying out with a radiant crackle to explode!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Hazuki Nakao has used the Light skill Nirvana on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Hazuki Nakao: Gains 50 HP from Regen!

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Yanagi's advice is to try to knock down the ones bearing the brunt of the Palanquin, and her insight is indeed appreciated -- in an instant, Myunghon already has a fuller idea of what it's not vulnerable to... and they're at a disadvantage this battle, with Darkness being their primary means of damage. That doesn't mean they're helpless.

"Yes, that palanquin is undoubtedly precarious... I shall see if we can destablise it," Myunghon agrees.

Pernelle's advice is to enact INCREDIBLE VIOLENCE upon it, and what advice that is! Katsuya's taken the initiative to defend those more affected against flame -- an incredibly sound tactical move. Umie's chosen to try to goad it into rushing, which may very well be effective given Yukari's own taunts before...

Amphion's melodies weave beautifully, and Myunghon taps their feet for a moment before remarking, "My gratitude, Kawase-kun. Let us do our best." Tamaki's sudden appearance does catch them a little off-guard, but it's redoubled with a smile as she runs support, much like she organised her side of the battle in the warehouse. "It's relieving to see you here, Uchida-san."

But the roar of a flying machine overhead also tells them-- "Nuna?!" they watch So-young go into an ungaily roll for a moment, and frowns quietly as she makes a speech of her own. "... we can do this together." Much like Ririka's music before, So-young's performance wildly boosts the power of their own Persona.

Myunghon's capabilities to trip the palanquin is hard going indeed -- there's just so damn many of them. The digital voice seethes, and various Night Parade characters surge to threaten to thrash and pwnzor them all, Yuki-Offa projecting that philosophy of winners and losers as if nothing has ever changed. Violet eyes (violet? Myunghon is ever more confused) scan over the battlefield, as the air grows cold, so cold that it feels as if they're going to be encased in a tomb of ice --

Merry begins to run, throwing their Cognitive Coat against the supports of the Big Top to avoid the worst of it, but then the shockwave still slams into them and they're thrown against it and disappear into the bone-chilling winds.

And when they rise... How does Myunghon look like a Kappa?

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68Gu6pBUU4k

There's a rigidly 16-bit sprite standing where Myunghon was, as if they were completely made out of voxels, of:

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/9/94/FFVI_Kappa_the_Imp_Sprite.png/revision/latest?cb=20150329050434

Myunghon stares down at themself for a moment and is hit with a metric ton of dysphoria. Merry, seriously, *help*, please, it's too much.

"Hmph... so, 'When at least I came 'round, I found myself lying on my back surrounded by a large number of kappa', is it...?" Merry is, of course, quoting Ryuunosuke Akutagawa's eponymous 'Kappa'. The little 16-bit Kappa waddles forward, waggling a voxelised arm chidingly at Nanghaithya, the whole mass.

"It is Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's final work... are you familiar with it? You would find a lot that resonates within it. 'To attempt to do something is to be able to do it -- to be able to do something is to attempt to do it. Ultimately, we are unable to escape this viscous cycle. In other words...'"

Merry-Kappa smirks, their beak contorting defiantly.

"'... we begin and end in absurdity.' Now, allow me to show you absurdity in its fullest. Let us revel in tawdriness!"

Kaplak rises from within, also having been turned into a Kappa -- albeit he still retains his handsome tousled silver hair, which somehow looks even more mismatched, and grandiose Cognitive Coat. Myunghon watches their other self expectantly, and the vampire grandiosely turns as it places a cognitive hula-hoop over its waist.

"... ..."

Kaplak does a lame little unfortunate hula dance! Magic words manifest with the energy of the hubris of materialism! The Kappa emotes are being spammed in chat!! oh -poggers-, leave a RED superchat!!

KLLLLICK HERE FOR MASSIVE CREDITS!! SHUFFLE TIME GUARANTEED WINZ!!

"... ... ..."

Undeterred, Kaplak continues to do another shitty little dance! Fool are those avaricious, transcendent is wealth! ooh, look at himbucket shakin his green hips they badonkin donkin

MEET KOOL SINGLES AT YOUR LOCAL MEMENTOS!! FROST, PYRO AND RIPPER ARE WAITING TO CHAT WITH -YOU-!!

VIEWER DISCRETION: Watching the dance for too long may cause a mysterious halving in your savings accounts.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Almighty skill Hula of Misfortune on Nanghaithya!
AS: Pressure: Myunghon Yeo gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Almighty skill Hula of Misfortune on Nanghaithya!
AS: Myunghon Yeo spends Limit on Exploit! Myunghon Yeo can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Almighty skill Hula of Misfortune on Nanghaithya!
AS: Pressure: Myunghon Yeo gains 1 Limit!

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
"... a what...?" Yukari looks at a ''BIRD'' with incredulity, "That doesn't tell us anything we don't know!" 'Nanghaithya the Discontent' Yanagi adds, "... Oh great, at least now we know the name of the thing trying to murder us. ... Real improvement."

'all that matters is winning'

"And ''you're'' the best? You lost, so you just pulled a cheap trick!"

And then, the arcade screens begin to change. Glitching - YUKI-OFFA!! "What kind of name is that?!" But then- another glitch... KAPPA!

Blinded by the saturated scarlet, she raises her arms to try and shield herself with the bow and- and...!

"What happened?" She says with a squeaky voice, before she looks down at her arms. "Huh...?" Suddenly her arms raise, rubbing over her face, to feel a beak, "Wha-" And as the realization occurs she shrieks, "KAPPAAAHHHH!"

Yukari Takeba, normally fashionable, is now wearing a only a white heart choker, the Kappa having a chibi-parody of her hairstyle.

Her bow, a tiny one, with weird suction cup arrows attached to a spool of string.

And written on it's side:

SHIRIKODAMA EXTRACTOR!

"What did you do to me!?" She yells, "You change me back right this-!" And then suddenly the Yuki-Offa of the Night Parade, tries to come at her, and Yukari trips as waves of ice come at her, and shrieks, "KAPPAAAAHHH!"

As she scrambles up and weaves, barely dodging becoming a Kappasicle. Before she tries to hop - in a comically ineffectual way, as the final wave nearly freezes her solid.

Shivering, she grasps both of her arms, and- her beak chatters. "H-H-How are we going to d-d-do this n-now!?"

Hazuki however, tells her she's going to give her cover!? "Um! Guess we'll see if I can even DO that now! Do my best."

Taking up her now tiny evoker. She puts it up to her head, noting the new text.

POP A KAP-PA

"This is the Chairman's fault, isn't it?" She grouses, before, pulling the trigger, "Io!" And what emerges, is a fey girl with a beak atop... a Kappa Shell.

"... Even my Persona... great..."

And yet, the Persona spreads wide it's arms, and now a distinctly different river scented breeze spreads out to the Kappa Akari, Hazuki, Saika, and Katsuya like a quick 'triage' of whose Kappa looks the most battered or frozen.

And then, raising her scaled arms, Io's breeze wends through So-Young, Pernelle, Myunghon, and Roger to try and get them serviceably fighting fit, whatever that means...

... they are Kappa after all.

</poem>
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Recovery skill Naiad Mediarama on Akari Hoshi, Hazuki Nakao, Saika Kikuchi, and
Katsuya Suou!
AS: Support: Yukari Takeba gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 77 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Recovery skill Media on So-young Park, Pernelle, Myunghon Yeo, and Roger!
AS: Yukari Takeba regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Myunghon Yeo takes 57 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 73 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.
AS: Take! Pernelle takes 57 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
Ririka asks for advise from Peacock Silk on fighting a Homunculus. Yanagi laughs at Pernelle's ''very helpful'' suggestion of U L T R A V I O L E N C E <3. "Each Homunculus is different, so there's no one strategy that fits all!" she calls back. "However, there is one thing to remember as a Navigator: that sense of 'wrongness' will follow it no matter what. Steel yourself against it; there's no getting past it!" She looks to Fuuka, who is concentrating on analyzing the entity's attack patterns, and leaves her to it; each Navigator has their own specialty, and besides... Yanagi wants to see what she can do, now that she's past the euphoria of her initial awakening. Instead, she notes Hazuki's continued (projection of) confidence and adds, "Hazuki seems to understand its way of fighting--follow her lead!"

Little angels flutter around Yanagi and Giselle. As they unfold around her, she shuts her eyes, seeing the movies they play out in her mind. She nods once, decisively. "Don't try to punch it, or use fire, nuclear or dark magic--it resists all of those things," Yanagi announces, just before flashing an apologetic look to Saika and Pernelle. That rather hamstrings both of them, and they don't have Tsumugi here with their Wild Card... but maybe one of these others can do something that can turn one of those resistances around.

"Instead... use light, ice, or water! It's weak to all of those! How odd that it is. You'd think a Kappa would be strong against water," Yanagi muses in a sidebar. She raises her voice to continue, "Despite that, it's effective at using water, as well as blunt trauma assaults! It's also extremely good at countering and hitting critical strikes! Don't try to punch it, and don't let it punch you!"

...she says, just as two cats in a trenchcoat come for Saika and Pernelle's entire lives.

The palanquin is shifting. Yanagi looks up as Yuki-Offa stirs. Something... something is happening, but even as spinning Giselle swoops down to form a protective pirouette around Yanagi, Yanagi doesn't understand what she's sensing. The cold, though... the temperature is rapidly dropping. It won't bother her, but...

"Tough luck?" she echoes, just before she and everyone else -- POOF! -- becomes a Kappa. Sh-shirikodama extracted?!

She remains a magical girl-suited Kappa, too, her crown replaced by the Kappa's cap... pa, but still in that broad-skirted dress and still wearing those reinforced thigh-high boots. She's just very tiny now. And green. Teal-ish, but green. Like a willow on the shore...

"Oh... my?"

Yanagi can only be confused by this. Kappa-ppa-pp...ahh?? She looks back at Yuki-Offa just as the ice woman unleashes her massive blizzard attack, frost and ice overcoming her--but this is precisely the power in her soul. Even as the ice builds around her and Giselle (who is now a ghost kappa--mixing youkai is always a win, surely), turning her more and more teal until she's more blue than green, her waves of hair simply billow.

Yanagi shuts her eyes.

"Oh... I see now... so this is why," she whispers. "Giselle... One good turn deserves another--don't you think?"

She raises an adorably tiny webbed hand to the sky. "Let it snow!"

And so Giselle pirouettes, spinning a blizzard of her own and dancing it into being, returning that hailstorm forward layer by layer by layer, snowflakes crusting upon the base of the palanquin where the original Kappas still bear up under its weight.

...Kappa vs. Kappa is a fair match-up still... r-right?
</poem>

AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 73 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.
AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Water skill Flurry Bufula on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa regains 6 SP from Invigorate!

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> Roger fans out that Relaxing Wave as he stands further tall with help from others to reinforce and renew his newfound fighting spirit and new lot in life, facing up as Nanghaithya jeers - and reiterates their philosophy as the entity that ''could'' have been Taro Nakata.

"I don't get what you're saying at all..." Roger bounces a tennis ball up and down from his racquet against the ground idly, as things intensify. 'Has the world changed? When have the losers of the world ever gotten anything in life they want? Let's find out.'

Things get... weird. The lady on that throne's moving, but then...

A scarlet wave. Roger is smaller, still proportionally wider, with a big jaw and funny hooves, and...

"No, I really don't get it!!" Roger yells, defiantly, as he hops about by Yuki-Offa's relentless detonation of cold shockwaves, as if trying to hop and skip about it. Roger is not a being of the human world. The context of why Yuki-Offa is such a powerful, frightful figure and Kappa is an awful, weak, unhappy thing (or many weak, unhappy things - they were carrying that arcade palanquin, ater all) - is lost.

"Games are fun! That's why I like to play. Playing is fun!!" Roger says with sincerity as much as fury. "If you're not having fun... why are you playing at all?"

He might be less horrified by the sudden transformation considering he just went through a dramatic one not long ago.

He says this practically in unison with Hazuki: "It's about having fun with your friends!"

Another blue butterfly drifts by. Roger has to hop a few times to leap up high enough to actually tag it with his racquet. "Kamapua'aaa..!"

Once more, the Persona shows, defiant against the difficult emotions in the air in pursuit of the relationships he seeks, flaring out their arms as the cognitive perception of playing, being, and suffering as Kappa is lessened under another wave of supportive energies across himself, Hazuki, Akari, and Katsuya.

"And Taro Nakata is going to have a lot of fun again...!"
</poem>

AS: Take! Roger takes 57 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.
AS: Persona! Roger has used the Almighty skill Dekunda on Hazuki Nakao, Akari Hoshi, Katsuya Suou, and Roger!
AS: Roger regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Roger takes 0 Almighty damage from Roger's Dekunda.
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 0 Almighty damage from Roger's Dekunda.
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 0 Almighty damage from Roger's Dekunda.

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
They're not alone. The MAGICAL WARRIOR IXQUIC - a word Saika is not even going to try to pronounce - invokes destiny with an emphatic pose. The Don appears, to give benediction to dream this impossible dream, and Saika exhales with force. "Thanks!" she calls back, before -- another?

Saika laughs. "You guys--" It's a little pained, but the sentiment is real. "Thanks, Roger! Heh heh -- 'that'll do'--" A private humor, perhaps. As she steps back, swinging the chain-whip at her side as much for her own morale as anything else, she hears Yanagi's words. She grimaces for a moment--

Get up in the face. Well, how bad is fire? What's the worst that can happen, Saika tells herself, even as Pernelle returns fire in his characteristic way. Maybe Pernelle *can* vaporize all of them -- but then there's something unfamiliar. Someone else calls out.

"Sassy-kun?" Saika says, turning her head to look over her shoulder. "Holy shit, I was too focused, what --" ANd then a fiery cloak washes around her. "Al''right'', the cop on the edge rides again!" The Media afterwards from Tamaki makes her grin. "I guess I have to live up to all of your hopes, huh?" She stops whirling her chain, bringing one hand up to crack the other's knuckles--

TRENCHCOAT CAT!

Saika's face is in a momentary 'huh-whaaaaa??' of confusion, which lets the first blow connect - she swerves to try to avoid the second and is instead knocked hard enough to do a full three-hundred-and-sixty degree rotation in midair, landing and raising her arms in a crouch to receive a SECOND BLOW.

These cats are really Goe-ing for it. There's no Nitz-picking about it.

Saika slams her first into a direct straight at the top cat, but after that blast, something bursts scarlet-red. Is it an aneyurism sending her directly to Hell? No.

Saika looks at her forearms.

Her green, flabby, somehow chubbier forearms.

She reaches up to touch the top of her head and feels a dent. At this point Saika turns her gaze to the side, perhaps to see if it hit Yanagi, or more importantly, Pernelle, before she says, "I hate this." She sucks in a deep breath - and gwoks afterwards, crying out as she does, "THIS IS THE WOOOORST! Frankenstein's Monster, just -- ugh, hit that snow queen -"

The looming bulk of the Monster is perhaps a little greener, and maybe that flat head top seems a little more *concave*, but the manifestation of the Persona is transient, anyway; more to the point is probably the surging WHACK aimed towards Yuki-Offa's mouth (a notorious place to slap those who are talking mess).

</poem>
AS: Persona! Saika Kikuchi has used the Strike skill Sonic Punch on Nanghaithya!
AS: Defense: Saika Kikuchi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Saika Kikuchi: Gains 53 HP from Regen!

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
Pernelle is such a cool bird. The coolest bird. Kappa go flying, learning the gift of speech because of the strong feelings he has engraved onto their souls -- and they don't even have souls, given the whole situation of identity theft! Being Pernelle might be the best existence there is. Being Pernelle is amazing. Being Pernelle is --

''suffering''

"HHHRRKGKKLLKKK!" Pernelle says, eloquently, as he is punched with two whole cats and ''slammed'' into the earth so hard his head becomes stuck within it. His colorful train and wings flail wildly for a blessedly absurd second before the bird is assaulted during his knockdown in a -- let's be honest -- incredibly rude okizeme ''stomp''.

If anyone's asking Pernelle questions, all they are receiving is a lot of dirt muffled screaming. Pernelle, stuck in the ground, sweeps his tail left and right, up and down. He shakes his little avian ass as elegantly as he can manage, and one can ''almost'' hear his habitual, "Ha HA!" from below the dirt as he blindly fights with Bakeduo-Neko, trying to fend his foe off with his giant bladed fan he calls his train feathers.

It leaves him rather conveniently prone as the God Tier character select of Night Parade uses an attack that otherwise seeks to obliterate the whole screen. Maybe it ''is'' blessed to be Pernelle...?

Eventually, Pernelle gets the momentum to yank his head out of the dirt and --

and

It's like if someone took a hunchbacked penguin and stripped it of feathers, except all green, all scales, and with elongated arms with digits and webbing so long the silhouette remains wing-like.

He is still wearing his orange-tinted glasses, the chain hooked to his head dish.

Pernelle gasps the oxygen out of the room as he looks to his webbed limbs. "Astonishing! I have become... a new creature entirely! Look at this, look at ''this!''" He holds his webbing to the light. "The membrane remains iridescent! How quaint! And just look at the two of you!" Yanagi and Saika, he means. "Most precious!" He gives a tap of his webbed feet to the ground. "Oh, my, and a novel sound we can make! More of a ''slap'' than a ''click''." He begins tap dancing to make noise, giggling to himself until --

He stops.

"Dearest Yanagi, did you say ''no fire?''" Pernelle's face ''drops'', his warped beak excessively down turned like a an upside down 'v'.

The saddest bird --

er, kappa.

</poem>
AS: Weapon! Pernelle has used the Slash skill Train Tango on Nanghaithya!
AS: Pernelle: Gains 54 HP from Regen!
AS: Take! Moriko Kumamoto takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Moriko Kumamoto takes 87 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Moriko Kumamoto takes 53 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Moriko Kumamoto takes 73 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Ririka Kawase takes 36 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's Flowchart Bullshit.
AS: Block Neutral! Ririka Kawase takes 36 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's Flowchart Bullshit.
AS: Block Neutral! Ririka Kawase takes 36 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's Flowchart Bullshit.
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 66 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Nirvana. Weak!
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 66 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Nirvana. Weak!
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 66 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Nirvana. Weak!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 19 Almighty damage from Myunghon Yeo's Hula of Misfortune.
AS: Atk_Dn added!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 19 Almighty damage from Myunghon Yeo's Hula of Misfortune.
AS: Crt_Up removed!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 19 Almighty damage from Myunghon Yeo's Hula of Misfortune.
AS: Crt_Dn added!
AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 63 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Flurry Bufula. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Bind added!
AS: Block Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 56 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Flurry Bufula. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 74 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Flurry Bufula. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: COUNTER! Yanagi Nagisa takes 50 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 78 Strike damage from Saika Kikuchi's Sonic Punch. Resist! Counter Strike!
AS: Haze added! Bind removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: COUNTER! Saika Kikuchi takes 61 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 39 Slash damage from Pernelle's Train Tango.
AS: COUNTER! Pernelle takes 35 Strike damage in return for his attack!
AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Tamaki Uchida takes 68 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit! Avoid Water!
AS: Avoid Worst! Tamaki Uchida takes 68 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit! Avoid Water!
AS: Avoid Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 37 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit! Avoid Water!

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>Fuuka peers into the Homunculus - and it takes all her effort not to ''recoil back'' immediately.

"What is this...? What are you?" Fuuka breathes out unconsciously. It ''hurts'' to look at, and she feels her stomach twist, her breath caught in her throat... She hears Yanagi's words to Ririka. So this 'wrongness' is normal for them...?

She's dazed, momentarily, and that gives Kaguya-hime an opening to move in. Her strikes crash against Lucia's protective globe, and she can feel them reverberate to her.

The Homunculus has a new game plan, now.

"The screen?" Fuuka says, noting as it lights up again. Player two? What does -

It selects Kappa. And then there's a red ''flash'' -

...And suddenly, she's a kappa too, small and green.

Her hair... remains the same color. Somehow, it matches her new form pretty well...

Most significantly, Lucia's globe, which from the outside appears almost to be filled with water... is ''actually'' filled with water, now. Fuukappa floats in a small pool. At least her new form feels at ease here.

It's disorienting, feeling so small - and she feels weaker, too... but a fight is still happening, and their new forms makes everyone vulnerable. Even though it feels awful to look at, Fuuka forces herself to focus on the Homunculus again.

The base of the palanquin... She can see the aura around it, briefly - strands connecting it to each of the entities, save for the kappa and the arcade tower...

"...They're connected..." Fuuka murmurs. "Everyone! The base of the tower is influencing the rest of the entities! Aim for the base of the palanquin - it may disrupt its influence!"

Following her on advice and befitting of her current form, Lucia begins to shape a sphere of water and send it hurtling toward the base of the palanquin.

Water and electronics don't mix. That's one of the ''first'' things you learn in Fuuka's field.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Fuuka Yamagishi has used the Water skill Aqua on Nanghaithya!

<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
<poem>Moriko calls back, "If you don't lose you don't have anything to strive for." Giving her sentiment on the idea that all that matters is winning. She screws up her face briefly, watching the different characters rotate through.

Checking on the others briefly, not that she can support that much. She continues her push forward, intending to stand by what she'd said she'd do other times. Trying to cover her fellow SEES members. Because she's got some loyalty, even if she's on the quiet side of things too often.

She finds herself shorter somehow though. And wearing a blue dress, hiking boots and a hat. A webbed hand goes up to check the hat, complete with, "Wait what the f-" before she swings the now a toy polearm around like she's tempted to throw it.

Common sense catches up, she'd heard the callout that light was a weakness.

The squirtgun slips from her backpack and... fires against her head. She'll worry about that later. "Otohime!" She calls out through a beak. Which is unsettling.

Otohime Gitsune, the regal looking fox briefly gives her a disdainful look, but snaps her attention to Fuuka first, then the threat after. Bounding over the kappa's head to land, both paws forward. Flutters of flame circling around before a bright flash and a pillar of light engulf the palinquin. It's technically hitting the base. Right?.

"Not the first joke character I've taken into a fight." she mutters, mostly to herself. A distracted, very confused squawk of sorts escapes when Yukari blames the chairman though, "How?"

She couldn't help it.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Moriko Kumamoto has used the Light skill Hama on Nanghaithya!
AS: Moriko Kumamoto: Gains 47 HP from Regen!
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
Something about Hazuki's other cry prior to the 'rushdown' one rankles Tamaki. 'The monster always fades away'? She isn't so sure -- not on if this Shadow qualifies as a monster, and not on if they truly fade away, either. They may grow muted, but ...

A similar thought echoes through Tamaki's mind as she sees Ixquic's defiance.

She shakes the thought off. It's not appropriate to argue semantics with a stranger in this life-or-death situation. Form a united front now, in this time of crisis, save the debate for later. Whatever their philosophical differences may be, they're all in this to at least de-escalate the situation.

Yukari had the same instinct she did as she covers Moriko as she dives in headlong. Tamaki gives her a distant nod: she'll cover the part of the crowd that Yukari can't. While she's nowhere near the specialist that Yukari is, Tamaki's a substitute that'll do in a pinch -- not the star of the team, but a relief pitcher.

Tamaki belatedly recognizes Fuuka as one of those other kids at the shrine that day. ... and takes note that she seems to have similar perception-based abilities to Maki. That's something she can't serve as a substitute for.

Ririka, too. While she'd initially missed her in the crowd, she's now unmistakable as Amphion's song rings out. Cool to see her in action, though she's been meaning to see one of her band's shows in a more mundane setting.

She quietly notes to herself Saika, Yanagi, and Pernelle all seem to know each other. Pernelle must be that peacock Umie had mentioned. She'd only seen Saika alone before, but now she's come to associate them with that strange shop she'd only heard rumours of. Her understanding of the various groups involved expands further.

'I guess I have to live up to all of your hopes, huh?' Tamaki flashes a grin back at Saika. "It's highly encouraged, at least!"

Seeing Katsuya and Umie both ... just reminds Tamaki that she would like to catch up with them on different matters. Katsuya's a familiar face, but only from the distance involved in their respective professions; she's more familiar with the other Suou brother. As for Umie, they haven't spoken since that incident at the warehouse, and Tamaki's still beating herself up about losing the chance to come through with more information on their adversaries.

That's DEFINITELY Roger. Tamaki has SO many questions about him now when a few moments ago, she thought she had a decent handle on him. After seeing him regain his balance and rally from his prone position, from afar, she wordlessly echoes his cheer with a yell!

She dips, ducks, dives, dodges, and rolls through the fireball danmaku to Myunghon's side. While the incident deeply impacted everyone involved, Tamaki knows her fellow Rumourmonger had been taking Akira's death especially hard. As she tries to catch her breath from the exertion, she gives them a nod in support. "Anytime, Merry. Holding up alright? I've got some 18-litre tubs with your name on them. I can bring them to the Dragon when we're done here."

A similar concern for So-Young also comes to Tamaki's mind after hearing that sonic boom from Icarus. Had she been close enough to hear that private utterance of hers, she'd have flashed a thumbs-up her way. 'Let us do better this time' -- that's all you can hope to do.

Tamaki's had several years to get acclimated to the feeling. The way she'd tell it, you have to feel it, you can't look away from it or deny it -- but you can't let it slow you down, either. There are still plenty of other people counting on her.

...

The Shadow broadcasts its retorts. One in particular catches Tamaki's ear. 'When have the losers of the world ever gotten anything in life they want? Let's find out.'

An unfavorable game state is not necessarily an ''impossible'' game state.

A mad, unhinged grin breaks out onto her face. "Every loss is a lesson, I'll have you know. The losers that WANT IT bad enough are the ones that start to win!"

The grin persists even as she turns into a kappa. Her eyes burn with the defiance of a lone soldier backed into a corner as she holds her wooden toy sword towards her opponent, her water-filled crown gleaming brilliantly as she once did in the distant past --

-- and is unceremoniously swept away by the blizzard, sent tumbling and rolling until her momentum stops and she flops into a seated position.

The Tamaki-kappa smacks the sides of her face as she raises herself to her feet again, then the sound of glass shattering and the sight of blue flame heralds Arianrhod's appearance again with another "Media!"
</poem>

AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Recovery skill Media on Tamaki Uchida, Umie Akabane, Katsuya Suou, and Yanagi
Nagisa!
AS: Defense: Tamaki Uchida gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 40 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.
AS: Block Best! Katsuya Suou takes 75 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 77 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 0 Almighty damage from Roger's Dekunda.
AS: Atk_Dn and Def_Dn removed!
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 44 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.
AS: Take! Yanagi Nagisa takes 40 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 57 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
He soon spots a face he does know among the crowd, but that he hadn't expected to see here: one that he'd missed in no small part due to the person in question keeping a low profile. He remembers her from the Kuzunoha Detective Agency office, months ago--

"Uchida-san?!"

Music swells in that moment, one more instrument joining the chorus of Persona-song, and it's through So-young's additiona that he's found himself so bolstered. "Park-san? Thank you!"

What's the point of living if you aren't the best? You just don't know when to quit.

When have the losers of the world ever gotten anything in life they want?

"That's neither here nor there! Your theft of his identity is a crime! You cannot argue you have more 'right' to it in the eyes of the law!" Katsuya shouts, shaking his head in the face of all these arguments. But the wheels on the arcade cabinet spin wildly, landing on a particular one for 'player one' and another for 'player two'. It's a bad match-up, Hazuki says.

"A bad-- 'match-up'? What does that--"

He might have been in arcades as a child, but did he spend all that much time with fighting games? No. No, he didn't, and if you think otherwise you maybe should spend more time getting to know Katsuya Suou (he liked pinball).

Fortunately, an answer is on its way!

He's immediately aware that something is wrong. His perspective has shifted downward, and his body doesn't quite feel right. A glance at the others reveals that a singular transformation has taken place, and once he lifts his left hand with trepidation--

"Ah."

--it's clear that he hasn't been spared. He's still wearing a (singed) grey suit, and he's still got his trademark sunglasses perched (precariously!) on his beak, but the form wearing them has certainly changed to that of a kappa. He looks down at himself.

[SAVOIRE FAIRE]: No, there's no question about it. This suit is not cut to flatter a body with this sort of shape. Let's hope that your hair isn't as messy as the others.

Or at least, Katsuya more privately thinks, that he doesn't have to get confirmation one way or another.

Alas, a change in form doesn't amount to a change in resistances: the Helios in his soul makes him tragically that much more vulnerable to the wave of chill and frost that surges for him. Helios melts away as the howling blizzard's winds first come for him, and an attempt to find cover is sadly no more effective than that.

It takes him a moment to get back up again, slightly disoriented from the one-two punch again his tragic elemental weakness (alas, he can defend others against fire but can't do a thing for himself against water). What he comes around ''to'' is Myunghon quoting--

"Is that... Akutagawa's 'Kappa'?" he wonders aloud in his semi-daze, before Myunghon takes the meaning of the work right for Nanghaithya itself.

Fortunately, Yukari ("Takeba-san, thank you!"), Tamaki ("Uchida-san! Thank you!") and Roger's spells ("Thank you, Roger!") help bring him around, easing some of the damage received . Yanagi, meanwhile, gives her suggestions for what to use against it, which... leaves him at a bit of an impass. "Light, ice, or water, is it? I... see."

Pictured: Helios and its complete lack of any of these forms of attack. Also pictured: its preponderance of fire abilities.

Katsuya readjusts his sunglasses, which really just causes them to become more askew. "Then there's no helping it. Helios!"

Helios is smaller. A little rounder. Definitely greener. Than it used to be. Does it count at all as a cat? There is a green tail sticking out of that adorable 19th-century suit. And those still are cat-like eyes, and it hasn't lost its ear-like horns...

But appearance change or not, it's still the same Persona as always. In its hands is an (adorable) 19th-century firearm. Squinting one eye closed, Helios opens fire on Nanghaithya.

"I'll say it again," Katsuya starts, facing up at the thing the Homunculus has become, "this life is not yours to take!"
</poem>

AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 86 Water damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Aqua. Weak!
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: COUNTER! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 58 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 138 Light damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Hama. Weak!
AS: COUNTER! Moriko Kumamoto takes 56 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Pierce skill Torrent Shot on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Tamaki Uchida spends Limit on Shift! Myunghon Yeo can use another Weak skill this round!

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Of all the times Umie's excellence at inflicting bad statuses on her opponent had to fail, this is..

.... not one of those times. Nope, RAGE has successfully been applied.

She is being Perceived by the entire Palanquin now.

'Oh, <wrong button input>~'

"_WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN_?!" Umie shrieks inexpilictly as she books it from a long, long, loonnnggg caaaannnnnnn'ed Nukekubi, only to have that shrieky head whip around, nearly clocking her in the jaw. "Eep!!"

-- which is then followed by a one-two punch that Umie barely avoids, with the last managing to clock the little shinobi in her little shinobi jaw. "GRK!"

Umie flops down to the ground, missing a vital piece of context for what happens next.

Namely, why she has such stupidly stubby hands and feet when she gets up.

"eeehh--?" There's now a kappa, standing even shorter than Umie would be at. "Wh..." Little sound effects happen as Kappumie experimentally moves her stubby little arms, which are suitably very short in comparison to her overall body, as she reaches up and finds...

Positioned between two blonde hair buns, now shaped to be nearly perfect spheres on either side of her head, she finds... pattapattapatta. Water, Yep. Kappa.

Does Umie hear laughing? She hears laughing, as if someone is literally on the floor, rolling around as they cry with laughter.

"WHY AM I A KAPPA, KERO?!" _RAGE has been applied to Umie Akabane._

Careful, Umie, that rapidly heating head of yours might dry you up.

Umie turnss around, pointing a tiny webbed finger at the giant palaquin, now looming even *larger*.

"YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE, KERO!"

Sure, she should look at her teammates and see how they're faring, but NO. UMIE IS NOT A TEAM PLAYER RIGHT NOW, KERO.

(Okay, Fuukappa is helping give a target to throw all Umie's anger at, kero.)

Paradoxically (or, perhaps, following Mascot Character tradition now), Umie's Persona is unchanged, with Badb now even more mismatched in size in comparison to the tiny kappa managing to summon the deity of war and death.

And onslaught begins (kero) with a Soul Breaking maneuver, Badb's red laced fingers seductively curl towards Nanghaithya (IN COMPARISON TO THE FUMING GREMLIN CREATURE STANDING UNDERNEATH HER), ending with a panic-inducing (POTENTIALLY) burst of dark magic.

Pause. Blinkblink. Kappumie finally notices the motley assortment of kappas by her.

".............. i think i feel better since you're all kappa too, kero..."
</poem>

AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Exploit! Umie Akabane can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 40 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Almighty skill Soul Break on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Exploit! Umie Akabane can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 68 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Torrent Shot. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 55 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Torrent Shot.
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 72 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Torrent Shot.
AS: COUNTER! Katsuya Suou takes 29 Strike damage in return for his attack!
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Almighty skill Hooded Smile on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Mudo on Nanghaithya!
AS: Umie Akabane regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 19 Almighty damage from Umie Akabane's Soul Break.
AS: Exhaust added! Rage removed! Explosion! 60 damage!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 0 Almighty damage from Umie Akabane's Hooded Smile.
AS: Charm added!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 78 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Mudo. Resist!
AS: Panic added! Charm removed! Explosion! 60 damage!
AS: COUNTER! Umie Akabane takes 53 Strike damage in return for her attack!

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> "Ah... no, no. You can't rush your way to being the best, not when the journey is so important," So-young frowns almost to herself. There's still some impulse she can't quite name that can faintly pinpoint some of the key ways in which this feels wrong. But what can you say in return? This is already a hard pill to swallow when someone is in the best of minds. When they are a rampaging Homonculus surrounded by fierce magic it's another thing entirely.

Katsuya thanks her for the assistance, and she preens a little at that thanks. It's pleasant to hear, and it's nice to be recognized, and So-young is vain enough to admit that as a simple fact of life, and-- --and-- --wait he's thanking everyone. Fastidiously so, in fact. She can't help but feel a little deflated at that, but only a little. At least she appears doggedly ready to fight when Tamaki looks her over. If the events of the past are showing on her face, it's only because of a deep, stubborn determination to move past them and only look forwards, for better and for worse.

Looking back to Nanghaithya, So-young frowns. Maybe if she reaches for it, really extends a searching introspective look inside herself, maybe she can draw some parallels between her old school self and the 'milksop' that might help pull something profound out of her. It's not something she's used to doing, or good at doing, and she recognizes that fact with no shame at all. It's just not part of her skillset. But even so, maybe, just maybe, if she digs far enough--

--she'll-- turn into a Kappa?

"WHAT," screeches the discordant voice of the little tubby green creature that has managed to at least retain its monochrone clothes and hair. If anything, So-young might be most upset about the voice more than anything, not to mention the way that unfamiliar, strangely-shaped hands cannot quite hold onto her beloved baton, which falls from her new fingers and winks away.

One thing So-young has not yet figured out about her sibling is how exactly Myunghon manages to do this. Myunghon has said before that So-young is more confusing to talk to than demons, but that has a flipside - that in moments like this, even transformed into an eye-watering two dimensional shape, So-young simply cannot understand how Myunghon has the mental capacity to grin and smirk and quote literature. Don't get the conductor wrong, she's proud in distinctly contrarian and rebellious fashion, but she's still yet to understand how the hell it works.

At least she still has the ability to project her voice, and a deeply affronted whine sounds across the battlefield. "This had _better_ not be permanent! I don't give a damn if it's a cognitive space or not!" the little creature stomps one foot, its eyes at least managing to burn for a moment before it turns to see an ice storm bearing down on the entire carnival. With a croak of surprise, So-Kappa starts to bolt to one side, but her new frame is too small to get to cover in time, and she's flung like a pinball off of several different surfaces, ending up crashing into a sideshow tent.

As she fishes her way out from under the tarpaulin, So-young hears a familiar voice cry out across the grounds. Even Pernelle's squawk is astonished and joyous rather than distraught. Et tu, Pernelle?! --that thought filters through her brain, connects to the realisation she's not sure who all is involved here, and she finally spools back over the past couple of moments enough to realize she recognized the style and finer strokes of the musician whose song she picked up on. "Oh," she vocalizes, with a distinct undercurrent of 'oh shit that might take some explaining' to it.

Well, there are certainly bigger things to worry about right now. Somehow a small Kappa manages to pull itself to its full lack of height and level a viciously angry glare at the figure lording over them. "... I was prepared to be sympathetic, but now I am simply extremely upset," the kappa mutters. Whether it is puffed up from sheer indignance or from an upcoming attack is not clear, but the kappa does indeed puff up... and up... and up... and up as it continues to draw in breath.

It turns out that being frog-adjacent really helps with diaphragm control. All of a sudden, So-young hunches forwards, and--

@''` @''`
@/` @/` @/`

--delivers a rather uniquely ribbiting tune at the maximum volume she can manage. Impossibly, it seems to physically twist in the air, the energy of it rippling forwards with all the galeforce of Icarus behind it, slow at first before building in speed into a rushing gale of croaking noises dopplering across the intervening space to crash its final note against Nanghaithya.
</poem>

AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Wind skill Coda on Nanghaithya!
AS: So-young Park: Gains 52 HP from Regen!
AS: So-young Park regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Counter Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 105 Wind damage from So-young Park's Coda.
AS: Haze added!
AS: COUNTER! So-young Park takes 71 Strike damage in return for her attack!

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Pernelle suggests violence. "... right." That is... maybe less ''specific'' than she had wanted, but it's at least a direction. Not that she has a ''lot'' of attacks on hand. But Yanagi has more advice. Each one needs its own differences. And for the Navigators. "Right!" She pushes herself to listen, to take in more of the battlefield. Amphion puts his headphones on her head to help her filter out more of the extraneous bedlam so she can get to the heart of what's important.

"You're welcome, Kumamoto-san!" she calls back to Moriko.

But someone Ririka would be surprised to find is here, though she barely has time to recognize it as she's focusing on keeping track of everyone in the battle. But she ''does'' notice once So-young piggybacks on her song, casting out a performance of her own. She looks up as the magic settles in. "Park-san?"

Later. Focus on supporting everyone now.

What's the point of living if you aren't the best? Ririka's never cared for being the best, but... she has always wanted to apply herself to the best of her ability. To maintain the image of a dilligent, hard-working musical talent.

So she kind of gets it. But she never took it this far, did she? (Yes, but not in this way.)

But she's been listening (she can't help ''but'' listen to sounds, patterns, frequencies, rhythms...) to how the Homunculus talks. That strange, digital quality its voice. It sounds like--

The thought is interrupted as Master Koto approaches, and she takes up her katana in hand. So it's come to this... She knows the musician fighter's rhtyhms and routines by heart, and as the attacks come in she finds a rhythm of her own to meet and deflect block each strike with her weapon. She doesn't find an opening to attack, but...

"... Nakao-chan, everyone!" she calls out, transmitting her voice to the battlefield. "They're just trying to use the best combos without mixing them up! And the voice we've been hearing. It's not Yuki-offa's, it's--"

But right as she gets that revelation out, she hears it-- Player ''Two''. And the selection is glitched to be... Kappa. "Wha--" ''Something'' happens, and Ririka blinks as she finds herself in the form of a small turtle with light purple skin and a dark purple shell, staring down at herself in shock. She still has her headphones on, but now they're smaller. "Okay, this-- this is ''weird''."

She shakes her head. Focus. "The voice is coming from the tower," she finishes. She listens to Fuuka's advice, as well. The base of the palenquin... "Maybe if we disrupt it we can get at the tower?"

Worth a shot. Ririka takes a deep breath, drumming her finger--claws?--on her shell as she concentrates. It makes a rhythmic pattern (not Kappa's stage music, this time, Master Koto's, her main), as she tries to take in everything she needs to do. Kappas all around--holding up the palanquin, among the Persona users. She narrows in.

"Amphion! Let's go!" She points at the base of the palenquin. "Play a song to distract them!" Amphion strums his lyre, assaulting them with something that is ''almost'' Yuki-offa's stage theme, but it's off in ways that are jarring to those that know it well.

"And... second movement! Let's help those who we can!" Ririka sweeps her hand over Moriko, Fuuka, Katsuya, and Tamaki. Amphion keeps playing, and the power of the earth flows up through them, helping to reinforce their weakened bodies.
</poem>

AS: Ririka Kawase spends Limit on Exploit! Ririka Kawase can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Almighty skill Dissonant Song on Nanghaithya!
AS: Insight: Ririka Kawase gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Almighty skill Marakukaja on Moriko Kumamoto, Fuuka Yamagishi, Katsuya Suou, and
Tamaki Uchida!
AS: Take! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 0 Almighty damage from Ririka Kawase's Marakukaja.
AS: Def_Dn removed!
AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 0 Almighty damage from Ririka Kawase's Marakukaja.
AS: Def_Dn removed!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 0 Almighty damage from Ririka Kawase's Dissonant Song.
AS: Take! Moriko Kumamoto takes 0 Almighty damage from Ririka Kawase's Marakukaja.
AS: Def_Dn removed!
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 0 Almighty damage from Ririka Kawase's Marakukaja.
AS: Def_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
((Please. Your fun is a sick joke.))

Nanghaithya's digitized condemnation of Hazuki Nakao comes with almost perfect timing as Yuki-Offa's heeled sneakers hit the ground with a frosty, dual -=CLICK=- of impact, Hazuki's facial double finally taking the stage ''just'' as everyone else is reduced to the thing she counters so perfectly -- the thing Nanghaithya's cognition enforces as 'the weakest'.

Kappa. Kappa, as far as the eye can see...!

(('Fun.' It's the cocky claim of the ones who win. 'It's about having fun.'))

Hazuki comes rushing in, still defiant despite everything. Janus manifests, even despite the Kappafication of its host. Yuki-Offa turns to regard her most steadfast player, those violet eyes utterly empty -- a fact that may well be eerie, considering it's akin to looking into a soulless mirror.

((I agree. It's fun grinding your heel into people over and over. It's fun being the one lording above everyone else. It's fun being the one who dominates.))

Three balls of light are lobbed at Yuki-Offa -- each of them explode into violent bursts, knocking her back, sending her toppling over, dragging her out towards a frost-crackling roll across the Big Top--

((SO LET'S HAVE FUN.))

Whereupon she comes to a stop in a crouch, smoothly hurtling a huge CRESCENT of pure frost at Hazuki and Janus.

And then another!

And another!!

It's FLAGRANT projectile spam, forcing Haazuki's diminutive distance, and yet somehow -- Yuki-Offa seems more fluid, more graceful, more skillful, more POWERFUL than poor Kappa as she does it?? One might even call it... ''perfect''.

Is this what it means -- to be at the top of the meta...?!

It's Katsuya's passionate adherence to the law, however, that next calls the Homunculus' attention. Even as Yuki-Offa fights, the Palanquin itself seems to almost shift with the frantic scuttle of Kappas, until it is pointed directly at the detective.

What does the law matter?

The adorably round Helios-Kappa bears down on Nanghaithya. One shot! Two! The return fire from Katsuya's Persona hits two Taro-Kappas with perfect accuracy, sending them bouncing out from under the Palanquin and bouncing between the Big Top's support columns like those pinball machines the detective so loves. But the third shot--

((Tell me, law man:))

Is met by Kaguya-hime, just as she intercepted Hazuki before -- as if wholly dedicated to protecting that Palanquin at all costs. She's knocked aside briefly --

(Have those precious rules of yours ever mattered to the people at the top?))

Before that whip SNAPS up, ensnaring Helios -- before she CRACKS it back down, to catch Katsuya with the downswing as she sends his Persona smashing into the ground.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
But as Kaguya-hime tussles with Katsuya, Myunghon takes their opportunity to address Nanghaithya directly. They invoke Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's final work, the private agonies of which undoubtedly resonate with the kernel of longing and discontent that gave Nanghaithya its form in this world. And yet, as Myunghon recites the lines to the Homunculus -- as they and their incredible Kappalak invoke the absurdity of the work, revel in the nonsense of it all in a very

unfortunate

hula dance

that just

keeps

going

to a TIDAL WAVE of support and references and BADONKADONK STONKS

that makes the gaggle of Taro-Kappas shrink backwards, forcing the Palanquin to unsettle above them as it teeter-totters this way and that, almost as if the Taro-Kappas had fallen under INFLUENCE if you will of ABSURD CONTENT Kappalak is just cranking out--?!

Even as they struggle, even as an irritated hiss gushes out over those unseen speakers in gasping bursts of static, all Nanghaithya has to say to Myunghon is simply this:

((You're a fool!))

It's unfortunate, yet fitting, that the Homunculus is clearly unfamiliar with the work. Because, after all...

''A fool always considers others fools.''

A once-fabulous bird quarrels with a cat(s). The fanning dance of pinions and blades, blindly thrashing as it is, -does- manage to fend of Bakeduo-neko, a well-placed, lucky stroke carving into the cats with an annoyed YOWL as they're knocked skywards --

--but not before snapping a quick, bullying punt at Pernelle as they go. Wow. Those cats have _issues_.

Saika moves swift as well, even Kappa-fied as she is. Frankenstein's Kappareature rears up, swinging that big bulky fist Yuki-Offa's way as she fends off Hazuki. Her reaction times are absurd; one might think she's just cheating, the way that violet gaze just -snaps- towards the Creature the second it approaches. That fist comes swinging --

--and it CRACKS across Yuki-Offa's skull, sending her head snapping to one side even as she just -flip kicks- the Creature directly in the jaw to send it soaring in turn. Is there no end to the anti-air antics for poor Saika--?!

Ixquic (Ixcroak?!) is next on the offensive, her squeaky cry of defiance coming like a herald to her grand violence. Quixote manifests and rushes forth in a grand wheeling circle-slice, the slash SLAMMING into Yuki-Offa before she can continue to press the assault. She craters into the ground from the force of it. But as the dust settles--

Those crescent slices of ice comes for ''Ixquic'' next, punching through floating dirt and debris one after the other even as she wonders in confusion over her new, Kappa life. So eloquent. So magnificent. Is this how Taro perceives Yuki-Offa? The Homunculus? Or simply the concept of what it views as a 'winner'--?

But it's Yanagi and Fuuka who see the heart of what's going on -- and it's Ririka who peers into the truth of Nanghaithya. Fuuka broadcasts the nature of that Palanquin base to everyone -- that it is controlling the other fighters, even Yuki-Offa. Destroying it might well be key. She winds up a water spell to test that very theory -- and as it SPLASHES across the horizontal arcade machine that makes up the Palanquin's base --

Something happens.

The Palanquin rocks. The arcade base sparks and smokes. Kappas struggle to keep it aloft, even as their dainty little knees bend. And the other fighters, Yuki-Offa included, suddenly just --

Stop.

It's for a split second. Only a second. A very telling second.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
And then.

((Oh aren't you ''clever'' losers.))

"MYAAA!" "MYAAAAAAAA!!"

Bakeduo-Neko - who CANNOT BE STOPPED - comes crashing down from the Big Top's - well - top, where Pernelle had knocked it to, pouncing upon Fuuka's adorable little water-ball to KNOCK it across the ground.

Whereupon the two cats in a trenchcoat just start to try to chase the thing. To keep that clever Fuuka locked down, of course. But also, you know.

Because they're cats, and she's a rolling ball with a tasty prize inside.

((Not that it's going to matter.))

The others on the assault, knowingly or not, take up Fuuka's advise. Yanagi, who's seen that truth for herself, conjures a hailstorm upon the palanquin base, ice crashing in and forming into large, heavy crystals. The weight of it makes it strain further, making it bend and buckle -- Moriko's blaze of light PUMMELS the thing, sending all that additional weight bucking backwards, crushing a few poor Kappas supporting it at the rear -- Babd's distracting curl of a finger draws several Taro-Kappas wide, sparkling eyes of wonder (one even says "uwaaaaaah~!" and ''everything'') before they are CRUELLY BETRAYED by bursts of darkness that sends them flying, further weakening the Palanquin's support (the one who voiced wonder, it must be noted, now screams "BETRAYAL KEROOOOOOOOO--" before it punches through the roof of the Big Top)

--and So-young's BOOMING(ish) song crashes croaking notes of force DIRECTLY into Nanghaithya, the decibel force of her Kappa serenade enough to send several more Taro-Kappa's skyward, swept up in a melody they find possitively

''ribbiting''

-- all serve to destabilizing the palanquin. It lurches backwards -- and then tilts FORWARDS, violently. Pressure is pressed against the foremost Kappas as they suddenly find their rubbery Kappa bodies squashed, pinned between the ground ant the tottering Arcade base. Pressure mounts - and mounts - and MOUNTS, as they all just get bigger and bigger, like volume being redirected to one end of a balloon before--

*POIT!* *POIT!* *POITPOITPOIT!!*

They all just FIRE off like cannon shots, recipcrocating the violence Yanagi, So-young, Umie and Moriko have delivered with -further violence-.

((You all think you're so smart. You think you see my tricks? I'll show you.))

Yuki-Offa lurches forward. Her head turns towards Roger in particular.

((There's only one truth in this world.))

As if something about what he said has angered Nanghaithya in particular, she DASHES forward right into his personal space. Her arms snap backwards as if she's preparing for another projectile volley. They swing forward--

((The game is only fun for the people who rule!))

And then she just GLITCHES. Her whole body seems to just -- stop moving one way, and start moving another, as the forward snap of her arms becomes a sudden and surging and VIOLENT upper thrust of an assault upon Roger, chased after by a sharp CRACKLE of frosting electricity--

as the force of that perfect, impossible animation cancel BLOOMS around her in a violent shockwave, intent on catching everyone within its violent path.

It's only here that they might hear Ririka's words -- and see how her song is affecting not Yuki-Offa --

But the Arcade Tower. Its screen glitching -- distorting --

Showing flashes of an angry, pixelated face with blazing, scarlet eyes.

That's the truth.

What's the source of Taro Nakata's discontent? The seed that made it all possible? Was it Yuki-Offa -- was it Hazuki?

Or was it the very idea of losing at the thing he loves?

OBJECTIVE: DESTROY THE SOURCE OF NANGHAITHYA'S POWER!

REVEAL THE TRUE FORM OF THE HOMUNCULUS!

</poem>
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Water skill Perfect Projectile Spam on Hazuki Nakao! 3 Hits!
AS: Nanghaithya takes 60 damage from Panic!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Water skill Perfect Projectile Spam on Akari Hoshi! 3 Hits!
AS: Tandem! Nanghaithya has used the Elec skill DORYA on Roger! 2 Hits!
AS: Nanghaithya takes 60 damage from Exhaust!
AS: Nanghaithya spends Limit on Reach!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Slash skill Kara Cancel on Ririka Kawase, So-young Park, Umie Akabane, Katsuya
Suou, Tamaki Uchida, Moriko Kumamoto, Fuuka Yamagishi, Pernelle, Saika Kikuchi, Yanagi Nagisa, Yukari Takeba, and
Myunghon Yeo! 3 Hits!
AS: Nanghaithya: Reach removed!
AS: Block Neutral! Saika Kikuchi takes 30 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Best! Saika Kikuchi takes 18 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Block Neutral! Saika Kikuchi takes 30 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Akari Hoshi takes 21 Water damage from Nanghaithya's Perfect Projectile Spam. Critical Hit!
AS: Bind added!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Akari Hoshi takes 36 Water damage from Nanghaithya's Perfect Projectile Spam.
AS: Bind added!
AS: Avoid Best! Akari Hoshi takes 24 Water damage from Nanghaithya's Perfect Projectile Spam.
AS: Bind added!
AS: Block Worst! Yanagi Nagisa takes 31 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Best! Myunghon Yeo takes 21 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Myunghon Yeo takes 36 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Myunghon Yeo takes 36 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Yanagi Nagisa takes 31 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Block Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 22 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Umie Akabane takes 32 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 24 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Block Worst! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 24 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Block Worst! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 33 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 14 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 14 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Best! So-young Park takes 19 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! So-young Park takes 13 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Best! So-young Park takes 19 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Best! Katsuya Suou takes 11 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Katsuya Suou takes 11 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Block Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 15 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Block Worst! Hazuki Nakao takes 33 Water damage from Nanghaithya's Perfect Projectile Spam.
AS: Bind added!
AS: Counter Worst! Hazuki Nakao takes 26 Water damage from Nanghaithya's Perfect Projectile Spam.
AS: COUNTER! Nanghaithya takes 39 Water damage in return for their attack! Weak!
AS: Counter Best! Hazuki Nakao takes 15 Water damage from Nanghaithya's Perfect Projectile Spam.
AS: COUNTER! Nanghaithya takes 50 Water damage in return for their attack! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya has set a trigger!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Roger takes 47 Elec damage from Nanghaithya's DORYA. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Roger takes 36 Elec damage from Nanghaithya's DORYA.
AS: Avoid Worst! Pernelle takes 34 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Best! Pernelle takes 16 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Pernelle takes 27 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 15 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Yukari Takeba takes 35 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Yukari Takeba takes 27 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Block Neutral! Ririka Kawase takes 31 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Ririka Kawase takes 31 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Ririka Kawase takes 27 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>With her little Kappa body, Hazuki can't move fast enough. Yukari's trying, and the healing helps, but...

Those words echo with the pain of the projectiles. She is the winner, after all... it's hollow when she says it...

An attempt to guard the first projectile causes it to blast her backwards. The second comes, and she swings her bat at it, ending it flying backwards haphazardly. This gives her an idea on how to deal with the last ones, and she times the swing, even as they're battering into her...

And launching the projectiles directly at the Homunculus!

"...maybe you're right. Maybe the Goddess of Tricks... is just a big jerk!" She calls out, little kappa face defiant, as she rushes forward again once the spam ends.

The call is to destroy the arcade machine... Hazuki's not going to make it in time, at her distance. So instead she calls out, using English for a specific word choice...

"But that doesn't matter. If crushing you is `bad pool`... then I'll be the worst! Eligor! Give them the power to do it!"

Janus fades out, and in comes Eligor, the horned red knight on the black horse. He stomps his horse's hooves, points his spear, and an attack buff washes over Hazuki, Akari, Roger, and Saika, trying to get the principle hitters a big attack! She'll save hers for the finale, so to speak.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Hazuki Nakao has used the Almighty skill Matarukaja on Hazuki Nakao, Roger, Saika Kikuchi, and Akari Hoshi!
AS: Defense: Hazuki Nakao gains 1 Limit!
AS: Hazuki Nakao: Gains 55 HP from Regen!
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 0 Almighty damage from Hazuki Nakao's Matarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 0 Almighty damage from Hazuki Nakao's Matarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!
AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 0 Almighty damage from Hazuki Nakao's Matarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!
AS: Take! Roger takes 0 Almighty damage from Hazuki Nakao's Matarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!
AS: Fuuka Yamagishi spends Limit on Shift! Yanagi Nagisa can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa spends Limit on Shift! Fuuka Yamagishi can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Yukari Takeba spends Limit on Shift! Katsuya Suou can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20!
AS: Counter Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 32 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Nanghaithya takes 42 Slash damage in return for their attack!
AS: Counter Neutral! Tamaki Uchida takes 28 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: COUNTER! Nanghaithya takes 27 Slash damage in return for their attack!
AS: Counter Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 32 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Nanghaithya takes 42 Slash damage in return for their attack!
AS: Hazuki Nakao spends Limit on Shift! Akari Hoshi can use another Weak skill this round!

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
"I ''did''," Yanagi tells Pernelle, and her simple, straightforward response is a lament on his behalf, a shared tragedy that will bind their hearts together for all time. Not even kappa tippy-taps (tippy-kaps) can wash away this deep sorrow--his, or hers. Saika cries out her own vehement lament, if for a different reason, and Yanagi can only clasp her webbed hands together overtop her cane-gun. "Stay strong, Saika...!"

Healing energy washes over her then, and she looks to one side to see Arianrhod by way of Tamaki-kappa (Tamakappa) sending forth a Media to encompass her. "Oh! Thank you!" she says warmly. Uchida-san, she hears Katsuya call her, which is something she'll remember--and when Katsuya repeats her report of weaknesses, she nods to him as well, recognizing him as that photographer. "Good luck," she says sympathetically, hearing a similar tone in his voice as Pernelle's.

Fire may not be ''her'' power, but Pernelle is so dear to her, she can't help but be sad when others can't use it freely...

Even if Jack Frost continues to be superior to Jack-o'-Lantern. Sorry not sorry.

But the Homunculus, in its various Night Parade forms, is not content to have its palanquin base destabilized so easily. Its voice jeers at Yanagi and several others, lauching off rubbery Kappas in a counter-attack that SLAMS into Yanagi's Persona, destabilizing it into nothing as she cries out in shared pain and falls again to her knees. This time, she doesn't get back up so easily; she needs a moment to catch her heaving breath.

"You poor... pathetic thing. There is some truth to what you say; I've seen it for myself. But I..." She raises her head, brilliant green eyes narrowed in contempt. "...have no respect for such people. No--they're not even people. Merely ''things'' trussed up in suits of skin."

She teeters forward, hand trembling on her cane; with its help, she rises again.

"...How appropriate that one like you can count yourself among their number."

She turns her little kappa legs, boots supporting her slight weight as she raises her cane to point its barrel at the base of the palanquin. Once again, a mystic butterfly floats by, and once again, Yanagi shoots it down to re-summon Giselle, spinning her eternal pirouette, a bride's veil covering her kappa beak.

"Fuuka, yes?" she calls to her fellow Navigator. "You and I both see with sight... You, with your light, and I, with my ice--shall we support our friends in a more direct way?"

In other words--let them both help the other double up on weakness attacks. Yanagi smiles and reaches out a hand towards her, and then towards the Arcade Tower, now glitching that fearsome pixelated face with its blood-red eyes.

"There!"

The chill waters of a forest lake spin around Giselle and then crash towards the distorted screen. In this way, she does help guide the others towards where to attack by showing ''what'' to attack--one wave, and then another, and then ANOTHER, stronger and stronger as they ebb and flow and ''crash''. Kappa-ppa-ppa...
</poem>

AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Water skill Double Aqua on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Water skill Wonderful Aques on Nanghaithya!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa regains 6 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 80 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Double Aqua. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: COUNTER! Yanagi Nagisa takes 32 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 47 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Double Aqua. Weak!
AS: COUNTER! Yanagi Nagisa takes 32 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 126 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Wonderful Aques. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Charm added! Panic removed! Explosion! 50 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
There may be a shared understanding between her and Tamaki on trying to cover the crowd, but that doesn't make it any easier as a Kappa. Her Persona's magic just feels so much weaker.

But it's what they've got-! So she keeps trying her best!

And as Moriko asks how it's the Chairman's fault, she snaps, "Don't worry about it!"

The only bright side is, she's not alone in this humiliation. There's Katsuya over there... as a Kappa, and Umie afflicted with rage.

Even Fuuka floating in Lucia's globe!? "Where'd the water even come from..." She murmurs. At least it's not a ''just her'' situation.

Maybe this can be undone! She hopes.

Fuuka however somehow, despite barely staying afloat, finds that the base of the tower is the weakness.

"Please tell us it'll change us back."

She holds her breath. And- Kappa fly! The Palanquin destabilizes, Kappageddon! ... Honestly Yukari winces from having a hard time not thinking of THOSE Kappa as people.

Unfortunately the Homunculus is, not exactly ''thrilled''. And they're still Kappa. Yukia-Offa... prepares, and - glitches- "... Uhhhh...." - suddenly coming down in a shockwave, and Yukari comes down, the first blow knocking her sideways, with a sweatdrop on her forehead before the animation cancel barrage...

Well it doesn't slice through her, there's no KO animation! But she is freaked, "Come on! The way you just- whatever that is- that has to be illegal!"

Words, which almost certainly catch a certain Kappa Police Officer's attention, as she quickly gets up and waddles back as fast as her little legs allow her to.

A pull of a trigger, and Io- in full Kappa Glory(?) arrives, casting Kappa Mediarama, again!

Look - this Yuki-Offa is really carving through shell here!

"What's fun about this!?" Yukari isn't a gamer, she's never seen the appeal, but she understands at least it's meant to be fun for all parties. It's why Junpei acts excited like a little kid about it.

"Whether you're winning or losing, you just sound miserable all the time!"

</poem>
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Recovery skill Naiad Mediarama on Yanagi Nagisa, Tamaki Uchida, Umie Akabane,
and Saika Kikuchi!
AS: Support: Yukari Takeba gains 1 Limit!
AS: Yukari Takeba regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Yanagi Nagisa takes 72 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
When Pernelle enthuses -- 'Just look at you' -- Saika gives the majestic bird the dirtiest look possible for one currently experiencing kappadom.

But more is happening. Has she already let Tamaki down by becoming a deeply uncool kappa? Is she going to be able to prevail? Is this urge to eat a cucumber the kappa nature saturating her very thoughts, or is that just her regular ordinary experience of wanting to eat a cucumber?

The other kappas seem to be subdued. Perhaps kappa can slay kappa. Her eyes turn up towards Yuki-offa even as Saika dances back and forth with her arms held up in a guarded stance. It's comical, but perhaps it never hurts to be prepared. "Watch out!" she calls to Ixquic when ice smashes towards her. But then:

It's rocking. Everything stops.

We won? Saika thinks in optimism.

Optimism that is disproven, as it so often is. Such is the nature and unsatisfactory quality of life. That new girl, Hazumi, calls out to something. The other face of Janus. An energizing surge washes over her...! As it does, she says, "How's it feel over for you, Yanagi?" even as her head tilts upwards -- twitching as she realizes she's about to spill water out of the dish, her body rebelling against her.

Her eyes narrow towards the illuminated face of the Homunculus. "Awful nice of the thing to get in a big cabinet like that," Saika says as her arms fold. Her chubby, flabby li'l kappa arms. Kapparms. "It'd make the burial easier, FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTERRRRR"

The sudden shout coming out a bit froglike but nevertheless manifesting her will. The great Monster raises his head and bares his teeth for a moment; what comes next is not another stunning blow or strangling grasp but another barrage of lightning strikes, sharp forks arcing towards that screen. Once! Twice! THRICE, each time casting a sharp shadow and making a suitably imperious roll of thunder.

</poem>
AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 72 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Myunghon is a little grateful, internally, though they'd never admit it, for the Kappa disguise -- because most people look to some degree miserable or displeased with their disguise, themself included. (Not Pernelle, though. Pernelle is excited at the limitless boundaries of transpeacockism, and can anyone blame him?) They're really not doing great right now and they're not sure if Shinjiro and Shinobu and the others being here would've helped or made them feel like they have to put on an even stronger face, doubting what they're doing as hard as they are at present--

''Anytime, Merry. Holding up alright?''

Tamaki's there to uplift them, as if being able to sense that they're really not having a good time of it. "I-- ... will be, Uchida-san," they choke out. "... we still have a person to save. This is not over until we cross that threshold back to physical reality," they affirm, and Tamaki can feel the masking behind it as their Merry-self takes over, noticing just how graceful and experienced Tamaki's capability to manoeuvre through flame and frost both are.

What Tamaki says next is of particular aspirational quality. Every loss is a lesson -- the losers that WANT IT bad enough are the ones that start to win.

Yukari's Media washes over them, strengthening Kappalak from where it's already suffering tears and breaks. "Takeba-san, how gracious of you..."

How does Myunghon have the capability to grin, smirk and quote literature? Why So-young! The answer is that their self-esteem and mood is in such ruin that they've finely compartmentialised the ability to Resist and Rebel as entirely Merry's capability, that's how!

It's surely healthy.

"It must be, nuna," Kappa-Merry speaks encouragingly. "Remember -- these cognitive spaces are all about assertion. This Homunculus is in its wrathful throes because its only sense of identity is direly threatened. Recall your confidence!"

The Homunculus calls them a fool and takes umbrage, the Palanquin tilting forward and slamming them against their Kappa bodies, slamming and slamming and slamming, and Kappalak is forced to bodyblock the brunt of the assault. It is perhaps, fitting, yes, that they are called a fool -- though not because Myunghon looks down upon the Homunculus. As Reiya did before, Myunghon will inevitably hold this being in memory. Perhaps the vision of Patient 23 was the one with true insight into the very fool revelry that they must all participate in, this so-called 'best of all worlds'. The Kappa, within that work, are asked if they wish to be born or not, and one replies resoundingly:

"Yes, Suou-san! Well done! A model student you are. You, Homunculus, crave life so avidly that I may very well call you a discipline of Lifeism, or Life-worship! And to think, you're surrounded by so many cretins who express such despicable thoughts as the Kappa you sit beneath, whose wisest rule of life is to despise, and yet not in the least violate the manners and customs of his time."

Merry seems sedate for a moment, though that dangerous, jagged grin is from ear to ear still, the shine in their singular gray eye, even as a Kappa, evident, their stubby little hands cupping their cheeks. The insights of the Navigators brings to light that the very Palanquin base controls the other fighters.

"Yet upon that same work I evoke: ''No one has any objection to the destruction of idols. Nor has anyone the slightest objection to his being idolised. But he who can sit at ease on the throne of idols is one most blessed by the gods -- a fool, a rascal, a hero.''"

Kappalak manifests once more, but this time, the Rumourmonger's grin is ear to ear as they wield a shadow-card in their palm, a Skill Card that burns into blue flame. A dangerous, manifested blade of bright-blue ice is being wielded by the ribbon-tendrils of the Cognitive Coat.

"Now, courtesy of my hee-ro, Jack Frost!"

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHFSKkJkrC8

Kappalak powers up like they're hogging the Limit bar, surging forth in a weave of cold cognitive air as they tear out and SLAM that blade of ice not once, not thrice--

FOLKS we got a happy birthday with the 623BB mixup COMING IN COLD! They see Kappalak divekickin, they HATIN'!! OH SNAP! Kappalak tigerknees the j.22 and Yoghurt Greek Cancels their landing recovery into yet ANOTHER 623BB, superjump-cancelled into a BC X-factor level 3!! Unbelievable! Unbelievable!! This grainy-ass 240p footage will forever be known as EVO Memento 37!! (Give Jose the video for another stamp. He'll love it.)
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
When Pernelle enthuses -- 'Just look at you' -- Saika gives the majestic bird the dirtiest look possible for one currently experiencing kappadom.

But more is happening. Has she already let Tamaki down by becoming a deeply uncool kappa? Is she going to be able to prevail? Is this urge to eat a cucumber the kappa nature saturating her very thoughts, or is that just her regular ordinary experience of wanting to eat a cucumber?

The other kappas seem to be subdued. Perhaps kappa can slay kappa. Her eyes turn up towards Yuki-offa even as Saika dances back and forth with her arms held up in a guarded stance. It's comical, but perhaps it never hurts to be prepared. "Watch out!" she calls to Ixquic when ice smashes towards her. But then:

It's rocking. Everything stops.

We won? Saika thinks in optimism.

Optimism that is disproven, as it so often is. Such is the nature and unsatisfactory quality of life. That new girl, Hazumi, calls out to something. The other face of Janus. An energizing surge washes over her...! As it does, she says, "How's it feel over for you, Yanagi?" even as her head tilts upwards -- twitching as she realizes she's about to spill water out of the dish, her body rebelling against her.

Her eyes narrow towards the illuminated face of the Homunculus. "Awful nice of the thing to get in a big cabinet like that," Saika says as her arms fold. Her chubby, flabby li'l kappa arms. Kapparms. There's another wash of that soothing water from the blessing of Io, which feels even better, somehow, on her froglike (accursed) skin. After a leisurely sigh, Saika finishes her thought: "It'll make the burial easier, FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTERRRRR"

The sudden shout coming out a bit froglike but nevertheless manifesting her will. The great Monster raises his head and bares his teeth for a moment; what comes next is not another stunning blow or strangling grasp but another barrage of lightning strikes, sharp forks arcing towards that screen. Once! Twice! THRICE, each time casting a sharp shadow and making a suitably imperious roll of thunder.

</poem>
AS: Tandem! Myunghon Yeo has used the Water skill Chillbrand on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Tandem! Myunghon Yeo has used the Water skill Chillbrand on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Myunghon Yeo spends Limit on Exploit! Myunghon Yeo can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Tandem! Myunghon Yeo has used the Water skill Chillbrand on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Pressure: Myunghon Yeo gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Saika Kikuchi has used the Elec skill Rapid Zionga on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Defense: Saika Kikuchi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Saika Kikuchi: Gains 48 HP from Regen!

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>Ixquic will never be Ixcroak! You can't make her!!

(You can make her a kappa, though. That hasn't changed...)

Ixquic-the-kappa finishes examining herself. She hates it! This isn't the kind of dramatic figure she wants to cut! She looks like...

If she had to describe herself right now it would be like a kind of ugly plushie, honestly. And that's definitely not what Ixquic is all about!

She lashes about with her sword, smashing it into the crescent arcs of ice. One shatters, half-cut and half-broken by the impact of her heavy sword; another skims off it and bonks into Ixquic back first, causing her to stagger. Only the third gets through cleanly, and she reels backwards.

Ixquic manages to swing her sword down, catching herself with it and propping herself up with its length. She straightens a moment later, actually letting go of the golden blade for a moment to rub her hands together to try to warm them up - where she got her fingers scorched before, now they're aching from cold.

"Wrong!" Ixquic gets her hands warm enough that she doesn't feel half-numb, energized by Hazuki and Yukari (who'll get a wave later) and points, jabbing a finger. "That's not how it is! Everybody's telling you so! And if the world sucks, you have to reach out! Grasp it with your own hands - change the rules!! But if you won't listen until you lose..."

"I, the warrior maiden Ixquic, returned from the depths of eternity, will defeat you! IT'S WHOOP-ASS TIME!"

Ixquic raises her hand to her helmet and *pulls*. A few moments of that - and the entire visor *comes off*, her grey eyes visible behind a veil of blood and energy. "Quixote! GET THE PALANQUIN!" She remembered the word 'palanquin'. She's so proud of herself.

And Quixote does: appearing in a flash as Ixquic vaults onto the back, improbably balancing there. It may not be a windmill, but it's certainly a giant structure, and Quixote knows EXACTLY what to do with that. Her engine revs, and she tears off in a cloud of exhaust.

Quixote's lance lowers as the pair of them charge - but wait. It's not a pair anymore. It's just Quixote, driving in the lance with all the force in her body -

Because Ixquic has taken to the air. Energized by Quixote's spell, her sword is gleaming so bright it's leaving a smear of golden light behind it as she drives it straight down. Quixote goes low - and Ixquic goes high!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Akari Hoshi has used the Pierce skill Giantslayer Lance on Nanghaithya!
AS: Aggression: Akari Hoshi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Tandem! Akari Hoshi has used the Light skill Holy Sword on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 54 Water damage from Myunghon Yeo's Chillbrand. Weak!
AS: COUNTER! Myunghon Yeo takes 37 Strike damage in return for their attack!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 56 Water damage from Myunghon Yeo's Chillbrand. Weak!
AS: COUNTER! Myunghon Yeo takes 38 Strike damage in return for their attack!
AS: Block Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 51 Water damage from Myunghon Yeo's Chillbrand. Weak!
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 48 Water damage from Myunghon Yeo's Chillbrand. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> Through most of the chaos, Roger has been cheerleading even as the Kappig-man has struggled to close in against relentless fireballs, exploding ice, and so many jeers in the face of a towering arcade machine palanquin that threatens to destroy them in a grotesque mockery of the game that enraptured, entrapped, and enraged a young man into a deadly entanglement with... this.

'There's only one truth in this world,' and Roger sees Yuki-Offa getting into his space. His eyes widen (he has massive frame advantage on this facial expression, don't ask how) as he's launched into the air, twisting and corkscrewing against electrically-charged frost...

As he backflips in the air, righting himself up while a funny hash mark-shaped bruise on his chin manifests as he feels a wash of empowering strength from one of Hazuki's multiple Personas - but with it, a sudden clarity.

"Oh." Roger's voice trails off. "This world you're playing in is boaring. No wonder you're not having fun--"

Another blue butterfly of wispy make drifts ''just'' out of convenient reach, necessitating some funny mid-air flailing to strike it with his tennis racquet. "Personaaaa...! Let's have fun!"

Kamapua'a, once more, manifests - and with it, a wave of wondrous - terrific, humble, radiant... well, wonderful - Aques glides forth, being directed towards that screen as he lands in a three-point crouch, one hand going up to make sure the bowl of water on his head stays level without losing a drop.

Some droplets go down over Roger the Kappa-pig's eyes. He snorts loudly, and they go right back up into the bowl.

He is the face of the little Sanguin Humor that tried his best to rally anyone he could to the aid of the young man this Homunculus nearly replaced, even like this.

"You're not even keeping the score any more...!"
</poem>

AS: Block Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 54 Water damage from Myunghon Yeo's Chillbrand. Weak!
AS: Persona! Roger has used the Water skill Wonderful Aques on Nanghaithya!
AS: Roger regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 54 Water damage from Myunghon Yeo's Chillbrand. Weak!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 93 Elec damage from Saika Kikuchi's Rapid Zionga. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Saika Kikuchi takes 31 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 54 Elec damage from Saika Kikuchi's Rapid Zionga.
AS: COUNTER! Saika Kikuchi takes 24 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 58 Elec damage from Saika Kikuchi's Rapid Zionga.
AS: COUNTER! Saika Kikuchi takes 20 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 210 Water damage from Roger's Wonderful Aques. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: COUNTER! Roger takes 96 Strike damage in return for his attack!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 168 Pierce damage from Akari Hoshi's Giantslayer Lance .
AS: COUNTER! Akari Hoshi takes 73 Strike damage in return for her attack! Weak!
AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 102 Light damage from Akari Hoshi's Holy Sword. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 72 Light damage from Akari Hoshi's Holy Sword. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
Before the crowd turns to kappas, Tamaki flashes Katsuya a placating, guilty grin after he'd recognized her, like she's been caught somewhere she isn't supposed to be, like a jig of some kind is up. "Hiiiii, Suou-san. Give Serizawa my regards!" Likely unknown to him, she's been very, VERY busy.

Her response to Yanagi is simply chipper! "You're welcome! We're in this together, right?"

...

Ririka's callout catches her attention. 'They're just trying to use the best combos without mixing them up!' She's not much of a fighting-game player, but that sure sounds to her like an analogous concept in chess: some openings and game states are more, let's say, 'well-explored.' Standard. The peak of the current meta. Effective, sure, but also known quantities. Pro players trust that their opponent is equally skilled and anticipate them to take the most safely consistent options that they would similarly opt for ...

Since they've all apparently been forced into a suboptimal match-up, anyhow ... what she ''hears'' is that the group needs to drag their adversary kicking and screaming out into the untamed wilderness of suboptimal plays and boneheaded tactics. Unsafe frame data. Blind grabs. Get-up supers.

Tamaki thinks it's time for Yuki-Offa and the Kappas to all get on the bus and take a field trip to the uncharted territories of DONKEYSPACE. If one can liken kappas to dragons, then this section on the map barely has any markings other than the text of an ominous warning which reads ''Hic sunt dracones.''

The little princely Tamakappa boisterously leaps back to Myunghon's side and points her wooden sword forward again. In her new high-pitched squeaky voice, she chirps, "Well said! 'We begin and end in absurdity,' indeed!" Waving her toy sword in the air, she chants, "'The dancers are fools, the watchers are fools, both are fools alike, so why not dance?'"

With that, she offers Myunghon a high-five, entrusting them to enact such absurdity better than she could do herself. "We'll save that person and reach that threshold!"

"Winning may be fun when you're both going all-out, but ... You can't be in serious playing-to-win mode all the time! If you don't fuck around, then you're not going to find out!"

"Thank you, Takebakappa-san! Unfortunately, I fear I must leave the healing to you now. I've got to do some finding out, myself." Tamaki ''almost'' politely bows to Yukari as she asks for forgiveness in abandoning their shared duties, but stops herself short and momentarily leaves her head tilted forward. ... It's probably enough of a gesture to get the gist across.

Where she'd been playing defensively before, she now reverses course entirely. This isn't a clever maneuver, nor is it skillful, but she's just aiming to be where she's least expected to appear. Emboldened by the warding properties of Ririka's song, she leaps TOWARD the shockwave. Do not be mistaken -- it stings, it hurts, and she risks life and limb in exchange for this positioning advantage -- mutually-assured destruction is the aim. Her grin is soon hidden behind a newly-manifested Arianrhod, as Tamakappa clings to her back and swipes at some of the palanquin-carrying kappas with her wooden sword.

"Come and explore the unknown with me!", Tamaki calls out. She inhales as she invokes Arianrhod's next attack, then leans forward and places both of her claws splayed out as she cries out the last syllable. "Haaaaaaa ... MA!" Arianrhod lifts her sword, and a beam of light bursts from underneath the ground the palanquin stands on!
</poem>

AS: Avoid Worst! Moriko Kumamoto takes 65 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 72 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Moriko Kumamoto takes 41 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Weak!
AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Light skill Hama on Nanghaithya!
AS: Defense: Tamaki Uchida gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Moriko Kumamoto takes 41 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
"Dearest Saika, I must warn you the expression you wear is only making the whole display more endearing!" But revenge comes swiftly for Pernelle. Revenge comes fiercely.

Punting peacock posterior pushes Pernelle past palanquin promenades painfully.

Bounce, bounce, bounce Pernelle goes, tumbling end over end because he is being maliciously, horribly bullied. He peels himself from the ground with an undignified wince as healing energy weaves around him, glasses askew before he clumsily rights them. (There's a cracked lens. Media inexplicably repairs it.) "Cats," he says with a voice of condemnation. "I should expect as much."

Pernelle clears his throat. "Very well, fiend! You have earned the fiery passions of my heart! For this I defy fate itself! Witness me, Yanagi! Let no one ever deny us! I. CRAVE. INCINERATION!"

He breaks into an unhinged, maniacal giggle that rises into a full cackle of a laugh... or one that would exist after devouring all the helium frm a balloon. Being a Kappa hasn't made him ''that'' much smaller, and yet, and yet...

Here we are.

With a mighty ribbit(?!) Pernelle throws his webbed not-wings to the sky as Anqa appears. Her seams unravel, splitting her open as brilliant orange-crimson light form around the arcade machine before shattering, aiming to expose a vulnerability to the flame Yanagi informed him does not exist.

Pernelle rejects this reality, and then channels Anqa's power to restitch her body as she opens her plush beak and shoots a torrent of fire at the Arcade Tower screen. Weaken! Melt! Become brittle and ''explode'', even...!

At least he's... having fun? Perhaps this itself is meant to speak in defiance of Nanghaithya's claim of a singular truth.

</poem>
AS: Pernelle spends Limit on Exploit! Pernelle can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Persona! Pernelle has used the Almighty skill Fire Break on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ruin: Pernelle gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Pernelle has used the Fire skill Fire Breath on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Pernelle: Gains 52 HP from Regen! Paralyze and Regen removed!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 105 Light damage from Tamaki Uchida's Hama. Weak!
AS: COUNTER! Tamaki Uchida takes 70 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 0 Almighty damage from Pernelle's Fire Break.
AS: Fire_Break added!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 47 Fire damage from Pernelle's Fire Breath.
AS: COUNTER! Pernelle takes 24 Strike damage in return for his attack!
AS: Counter Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 42 Fire damage from Pernelle's Fire Breath.
AS: COUNTER! Pernelle takes 29 Strike damage in return for his attack!
AS: Counter Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 42 Fire damage from Pernelle's Fire Breath.
AS: COUNTER! Pernelle takes 29 Strike damage in return for his attack!

<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
<poem>Moriko calls back, "I- wait what? Fine!" She'll worry about it later. She can get her head in order that long at least. "This? Knowing how to beat the surface level spamming and humbling them." She scratches her cheek, briefly distracted again. "Ah. That's probably the wrong thing here. Sometimes you can get them to learn though! Come hang out next time we're all playing."

Later though. Much later.

She raises a hand, like she wants to bump knuckles with Tamaki as she takes a similar position to her. "Welcome to the uh. Show." That's a bad joke and she almost didn't want to finish it. "I.. no. I can't make the rest of it."

"You're missing out on a lot if you think there's only one truth." She calls back, "It's always more fun when it's close. Win or lose." She jabs back.

The shots ring out, albeit with a sound she didn't expect. Each striking her in rapid succesion, ending with her down on her knee. Spear planted in the ground to prop herself up. "Not out of the race yet." As she grits her teeth and pushes herself back to her feet. Leaning heavily on the polearm, hand fishing for that Evoker. Which pops out of the little backpack again. Snatched by the biker and the trigger is pulled with a lighter pop again. Head still jerking to the side. "Hama!" Regal kitsune avoiding looking at the kappa before her. Lunging forward and fading away into those motes of drifting light that flare and engulf!

The little dress clad Kappa's going to try and keep to her feet no matter what!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Moriko Kumamoto has used the Light skill Hama on Nanghaithya!
AS: Moriko Kumamoto: Gains 46 HP from Regen! Regen removed!
AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 102 Light damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Hama. Weak!
AS: Exhaust added!

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
"Of-- of course!" he says, in those moments before they all get turned into Kappas, like he's just as flustered about all this himself. She must have been here all along! How did he miss her (because she was trying not to be seen, but don't tell him that or he'll... still feel bad??).

It's that song that So-young's had joined before, but it seems louder, more focused now: his body feels more bolstered, as if he could withstand more blows that he could previously. "Miss--" Does he really need to say it, after so many similar expressions of gratitude for support throughout this conflict?

"Thank you!"

Yes. He does.

All he can do is keep using the abilities that he has available to him that don't fall into the categories that Yanagi warns them all about. He's not able to target any of its weaknesses, and he's likely to be a liability with defenses if Nanghaithya chooses to unleash that frigid storm once again.

But he has more in the moment to be concerned about than merely the next attack it uses.

"What does it matter?" An outsider can probably see that he's getting incensed at the very suggestion. "Of course it matters!" he insists, in the aftermath of Helios sniping a pair of Kappa. That third shot, though--

Kaguya-hime intervenes before another can be taken down.

Has the law ever mattered to the people at the top?

Nanghaithya couldn't have frozen Katsuya to the spot better if it had used ice, itself. "That's--" Katsuya utters, thinking about a certain colleague of his, thinking about what Akechi had told him might be the case about his workplace, thinking about the Foreign Minister and his son. It would probably be a great deal more dramatic, admittedly, if he weren't a small, green, vaguely frog-like being. In a nice suit (that doesn't suit his form the least bit presently), admittedly, but.

Helios is easily snapped up in Kaguya-hime's whips, only for it to crack down upon him with his Persona in tow. He's laid out across the floor, a sight far more comedic for his current condition than he'd otherwise prefer. Helios is the better off of the two of them because it can just dissipate into blue flame and vanish.

He's not out of the running yet, though. After some fumbling for his sunglasses (they were very much not on his face -- well, perched atop his kappa beak after all ''that'') he's back on his feet just in time to witness something very interesting when the arcade cabinet destablizes.

(As a side note, yes, he too hopes this isn't a permanent change. You probably can't be a homicide detective if you're a kappa!)

To be honest, he hasn't played pinball since he was a child. And he won't say he was good at it. He was rather middle of the road to be honest. As the machine shifts on its base, though, he's reminded of something you can do with a pinball machine: tilt it. It was frowned upon in competitive play, and some machines would even penalize you. But technically speaking, it's possible with the lighter cabinet of a pinball machine.

Looking at the cabinet of this machine, isn't it heavier? It's built to rest solidly on the ground. In normal operation, it wouldn't be moved -- shouldn't be moved. If it were, it was likely it could fall.

Which... is the thing that's been attacking them? The figures from that game? Or is it instead the game, the arcade tower itself?

It had seemed furious when it had nearly fallen over just now.

"It's-- the arcade machine!" he calls out, echoing a similar sentiment from some of the others like Yukari and Yanagi. "If we strike at the base, it won't be able to stand up! It should collapse!"

And it would be better yet if someone who can strike its weakness weren't so beleagured by status ailments. "Helios!" Katsuya calls, using the wages of one of the cards he'd bargained with them for in the first place to strengthen Myunghon; in the same instant, he draws his sidearm (now way, way cuter than a cop's gun should be-- it wasn't always bright green with a big kappa sticker on one side, was it??) and takes aim then fires at one of those Kappa supporting the enormous arcade cabinet.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Almighty skill Tarukaja on Myunghon Yeo!
AS: Defense: Katsuya Suou gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Myunghon Yeo takes 0 Almighty damage from Katsuya Suou's Tarukaja.
AS: Atk_Dn removed!
AS: Weapon! Katsuya Suou has used the Pierce skill Handgun - Shot on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 63 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Handgun - Shot.
AS: COUNTER! Katsuya Suou takes 26 Strike damage in return for his attack!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 67 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Handgun - Shot. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Katsuya Suou takes 45 Strike damage in return for his attack!

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>Oh no. There's a drawback, it seems, to taking shelter within a sphere. That is - you become ''incredibly'' rollable.

Bakeduo-Neko pounces! ...And Lucia goes rolling, rolling, rolling, as the cats chase and play.

"P-please stop...! This isn't a toy!" Fuuka pleads, sloshing about this way and that in her personal pool - until eventually Lucia ''does'' come to a stop.

Fuuka floats there in a swirly-eyed daze for a moment, at least until Yukari's words draw her back to some semblance of reality.

"I-I believe it should... " Fuuka replies. "Destroying it should disrupt its control - and likely its hold over us, as well."

Easier said than done, though. The Homunculus takes offense to their observation.

The game is only fun for the people who rule...

"That's... a very lonely way of looking at things." She murmurs. And then, Yanagi calls out to her. Fuuka is briefly surprised at being referred to by her first name - but she nods.

"...Yes! We should be able to destabilize it if we put enough pressure on it." Fuuka agrees.

That means attacking in sync - something made easier through their abilities than it is for others. As Yanagi inundates the base with waves, Lucia extends her hands outward atop her sphere. Two daggers of light form, and are sent racing toward the base for a precision attack. And where they land, they stick, to provide a helpful glowing target for everyone else!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Fuuka Yamagishi has used the Light skill Kouha on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Fuuka Yamagishi has used the Light skill Kouha on Nanghaithya!

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Waves of force lash out for everyone involved, and Ririka yelps and does what might be the most natural thing in the world for a Kappa player--or someone who has ''become'' a Kappa--to do.

.... She turtles.

Her shell rocks back and forth as the first two waves hit, but then the third one catches her at ''just'' the right moment and sends her rolling and tumbling across the ground until she lands on her back, stars circling around her head.

"... guard break," she groans.

She shakes her head to clear it. She can see--and hear--the truth of what's going on, those angry red eyes, and the effect of her song. "You know--" She grunts with effort as she rocks herself back and forth until she's up on her feet. "I'm not the best Night Parade player. But I still have ''fun'' even when I lose. Because what I enjoy isn't the winning!"

(Don't ask her what she enjoys. It's kind of obvious.)

"Amphion!" she shouts. "Magnara!" Amphion begins to strum his lyre (don't ask how he does this with tiny turtle claws), and around him several large chunks of earth float up. They all placidly circle the persona for a moment before suddenly rising high up and shooting straight for the Arcade Towr's screen and those red eyes.

As Amphion does that Ririka taps out a drumming pattern on her shell, and sends the rhythm to So-young. "Park-san!" she says, transmitting her voice. "Here's an opening you can use!" Maybe the extra beat will help guide an action she might take in this chaotic battlefield.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Earth skill Magnara on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ririka Kawase spends Limit on Shift! So-young Park can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20!

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem>
As her onslaught of attacks hit their mark, a stray, paranoid thought pops up, like a water bubble, in Umie's mind.

_Is her Mark showing?!_

Taking a moment to extend her short arms in front of her, (the webbed digits *are* kind of adorable, even if the red nail polish does not work very well on green nail beds) Umie's fears are laid to rest. All her clothing had scaled down adorably with her, including the thumbsleeves worn underneath her coat's sleeves.

It only stirs a bit of curiosity, however, as Umie wonders, in this form, does it still...?

She's careful as she peeks at her right wrist, shielding it with her left.

Alas, there is a disappointed Kappumie on the field, her cute little beak mouth curved in a widening frown. Even on this form, the Mark is still there.

All this talk, of games, and aceing, and winning, like losing was ever an option...

*POIT!* *POIT!* *POITPOITPOIT!!*

The first shot whiffs past Umie's head, undoing one of her cute little buns in a *piff* of blonde.

The rest fare less well; resolve and anger tighten Umie's kappa body to its limits, zipping past each shot.

Umie's about had enough, but her malaise kept her from paying attention to the fight, and what comes next. She looks now to Orange-san-- Hazuki, the person that seems closest to Taro, and thus the one most able to have information that could work.

Hazuki's defiance is brilliant, but she'll need whatever she can get to amp it to the next level (ha?!). Zipping by Hazuki (and looking less impressive doing so), Umie murmurs, "My prophecy is still in effect." Her amphibian eyelids lowering slightly. "But it can only work if it's in the past. The stars will only work in your favor if you make them do so."

That almost sounded cool. "--Kero." DAMN IT.

'It's-- the arcade machine!' Kappumie finally notices Katsuya, and, briefly, realizes that she technically is the one that inflicted the insult of this ailment on this poor man. It is kind of adorable, though.

............ is this gap moe (NOT NOW UMIE)

"On it, Katsuya-san!" Umie raises her right hand, summoning the large, slender form of Badb overhead.

"Roger's right. A game that you're the best at sure sounds boring, kero." If only she could snap her fingers right now...

Instead, Kappumie's break parts in a sinister smile, mirroring Badb's own.

'The fun part is in the struggle.'
"The fun part is in the struggle, kero."

(.... this is not working at all style-wise, maybe this will be the end and Umie can go play capybara in a bathtub for the rest of the night)
</poem>

AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 72 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Pale Shriek on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Umie Akabane regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 94 Light damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Kouha. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Haze added!
AS: COUNTER! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 63 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 59 Light damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Kouha. Weak!
AS: Haze added!
AS: Counter Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 139 Earth damage from Ririka Kawase's Magnara. Critical Hit!
AS: Bind added! Haze removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: COUNTER! Ririka Kawase takes 93 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 57 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Pale Shriek. Resist!
AS: COUNTER! Umie Akabane takes 74 Strike damage in return for her attack!

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> The kappa that is the Tokyo Philharmonic's conductor tries to pose elegantly with one hand under its chin. "You're a very poor winner. I can only imagine what might happen if you lose," So-young croaks without any trace of humour in her voice. Little by little, she's starting to identify the tone of their enemy's arguments - it's the same sort of desperation and insistence she's heard before, coming from the mouth of one Kaneshiro, twisted around to a different topic.

But this feels younger, somehow? More petulant, perhaps? Maybe she just feels that way because Kaneshiro was all about money and its uses, a much more utilitarian and 'adult' perspective than this one despite its similar simplicity. This feels like the kid who wants to stay on the arcade machine all day, who wants to be big and strong and the winner, because that means the games don't have to stop. That that's how the 'fun' continues, because otherwise it'll ''stop'', and that fear--

Maybe in another timeline there would be an epiphany to be had there, but once again So-young is distracted by the immediacy of the situation, because there are suddenly Kappa flying all around them and she's nowhere near self-sacrificing enough to bother risking her own skin when she could instead get the hell out of dodge and off to one side. She has just enough time to hope that none of these are the people she's supposed to be fighting with before one of them collides into her, leaving her careening between bodies in a way that probably looks more humorous than it feels.

She finally manages to catch herself on her hands and... legs? knees? she does not know frog anatomy - grimacing again as she feels a stab of foolishness and annoyance. It's not eluding her that this is a far cry from some of her more commanding appearances, especially when her appearance is a good ninety percent of her sense of self-confidence. Myunghon almost cheerfully calls over some advice, and her webbed hands curl up into tiny tiny fists as she registers it. ... right. It's a world of cognition. Maybe if she thinks hard enough about 'So-young Park', then 'So-young Park' will revert?

She can't make eloquent arguments like her sibling can, but she can certainly furrow her brow as she hauls herself back up to standing. She concentrates for a moment, and her baton winks back into her hand. These kappa hands still cannot grasp something so slim properly - but she decides there in that singular instant before it drops again that such outdated rules as physics simply don't apply to her here. She's already told gravity to screw off, so why can't she do the same to the idea of having opposable thumbs?

So-young Park is a Conductor. She will have her baton even if it has to float in front of her, damn it.

The kappa looks extremely serious as it closes its eyes. Not even connected to her hand, the spectral length of silver jogs downwards, and then to one side, and then upwards before repeating. Three beats to the bar, a waltz of combat - but more than that, a key reminder to herself that she can still do this even in this form. "... there we are," So-Kappa mutters with some relief under her breath, and the little tiny kappa throws its arms (as) wide (as it can) as it once again feels the rhythm of the fight, her Persona emitting a piercing cry in answer.

"Encore!" she demands of herself as the winds whip back around her, almost taking her smaller form off her feet. She's not completely sure what she's doing, but evidently part of her was listening to their navigators, because before she knows any better she has a translucent card spinning in her free palm, the telltale symbol of Rumormonger Merry's merchandise sparking with power as Icarus' trail explodes in a series of shimmering lights to try to set Nanghaithya off balance.

And as Katsuya makes a path forward clear for them and Ririka adds her attempt at carving an opening to So-young's own, she sends the rest of that gathered wind forwards with all her might, hurtling the form of Icarus forwards towards the base of the arcade machine in a flight so low it skims the ground. It becomes suddenly clear that she intends to simply crash Icarus into the side of the machine and damn the consequences. Whatever comes next she'll just figure out later, even if that is having to rebuild her Persona afterwards.
</poem>

AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Almighty skill Giocoso on So-young Park!
AS: Support: So-young Park gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 0 Almighty damage from So-young Park's Giocoso.
AS: Crt_Up added!
AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Light skill Kouha on Nanghaithya!
AS: So-young Park: Gains 55 HP from Regen! Fire_Wall and Regen removed!
AS: So-young Park regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: So-young Park spends Limit on Exploit! So-young Park can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Wind skill Rondo on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 58 Light damage from So-young Park's Kouha. Weak!
AS: Haze added! Bind removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: COUNTER! So-young Park takes 40 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 51 Wind damage from So-young Park's Rondo.
AS: COUNTER! So-young Park takes 26 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 64 Wind damage from So-young Park's Rondo. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! So-young Park takes 32 Strike damage in return for her attack!

<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
((AGH! DAMMIT!))

Frustration and pain screech out of garbled speakers as Nanghaithya is given a taste of its own medicine -- the crescent waves of ice it used via Yuki-Offa to assault poor Kappazuki are just reflected BACK at the Arcade Palanquin, striking the tower with a raucous CRASH of shattering ice. The screen flickers again -- the sight of that face spitting foul epithets about Hazuki that are thankfully all auto-censored into strings of symbols on the screen -- becomes visible once more as the Tower sparks and sputters, leaving little room for doubt.

The real Nanghaithya isn't Yuki-Offa, or any of the fighters.

It's that arcade tower, sat imperiously monolithic upon its gaming palanquin.

But as long as that palanquin remains, its power over those Night Parade fighters - whatever they are - will continue to hold, and this fight may inevitably tip in its favor simply because of how many -ways- it can counter everyone here. Yuki-Offa, especially, seems barely perturbed by any of the violence inflicted upon her: a living symbol of victory she is, unable to be stopped, unable to be beaten.

The ultimate cognition of a winner.

And so Yanagi helps to set the stage and guide the others after Hazuki's reflected assault; Giselle's chilling waters whip across the air, SMASHING into the screen with crackling ripples of electricity with each blow. As Yanagi attacks, Master Koto springs upon her with a spinning headstand-kick, aiming to wheel blow after blow into her frail, Kappa form with each blow --

But the damage is done. Myunghon seizes upon the initiative, evoking that novella that resonates so strongly with this moment once more. No one has any objection to the destruction of idols, they claim, as Kappalak once more remanifests, wielding not the power of darkness, nor the power of his adorable Kappa Koat, but --

One blade of ice! Oh!

Two blades of ice! OH!

Three blades of ice! OH!! IS THAT THE END OF IT?!

NO! FOUR! FIVE! SIX!! OH!!! OH!!!! OH!!!!!

They SMASH into the base of the Palanquin over and over, even as Bakeduo-neko rears his terrible, feline head to do a spinning, hand-linking, very-normal-human maneuver that sends its twin cat bodies whirlwinding STRAIGHT through Myunghon and Kappalak's supposedly weak, supposedly useless bodies--

But the second it lands? The two cats glitch. For a moment, they look like -- the audience Flegmats Nanghaithya absorbed, each stacked on top of each other?? -- before the cats reassert themselves and bound off again.

The palanquin sparks and shorts, but still holds Nanghaithya aloft, even as more Taro-Kappas are smooshed beneath its weight.

No one has any objection to the destruction of idols.

But he who can sit at ease on the throne of idols...

((You -- you -- YOU! Who cares about some dusty old book?! What does some dead man matter?! It won't stop me! I won't -- I won't--))

Alas. Perhaps it's as Yanagi says. ... Its view is just to limited by its predatory, parasitic nature to see the very thing that keeps it from becoming what it yearns to be:

Existence.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
Tamaki and Saika come next -- Tamaki - no, TAMAKAPPA - rides a reckless wave of that most sweet siren song of FUCKING AROUND, and she finds out -- that victory often tastes the sweetest when there's risks. Her wooden sword sweeps -- and it takes the feet out of several of those litter-bearing Taro-Kappas, tripping them up, making their grasp slacken and tear off completely; some of its proverbial footing lost, Nanghaithya's Palanquin begins to sway again -- until Arianrhod IGNITES that beam of light underneath the Palanquin. It bucks UPWARD like a rearing horse--

--just in time for Kappastein's Monster to unleash the very furious plasma that gave it life, CRACKING thunderbolts into Nanghaithya's 'face'! Again! And AGAIN! The white-hot flashes of his power, combined with the upwards shunt of the Palanquin, sends Nanghaithya's Arcade Tower body ''sliiiding'' precariously backwards as it cries out with a distorted shriek of static--

--and it is only a sudden self-sacrifice of a gaggle of Kappas, surging upwards to desperately press stubbly little hands to the back of their idol and shove it ''back'' into place that saves it.

Which doesn't keep them from getting squashed like poor Goombas introduced to the bootheels of the foul demon Mario as they land and that Palanquin's backwards rocking just crashes bodily into them.

alas, poor Kappas.

((What is there to find out?! There's nothing - NOTHING - complicated about this life! NOTHING! I refuse to be crushed underfoot by people as pathetic as you all! I refu--))

And this is when Pernelle, living evidence against Nanghaithya's singular philosophy, just strips away the Homunculus' bulwark against the unyielding flames of this passionate world.

((Wait. What--))

Billowing flames are conjured forth with the swing of glorious, stubby not-wings and a baleful ribbit. Once more, Bakeduo-neko leaps from the fray to try to intercept Pernelle. And while they manage to bounce-rebound off of him and Anqa like feline pinball machines --

They're ultimately caught in the towering inferno of Anqa's flames, letting out a hideous yowl as their rival (????) overpowers them. Bakeduo-neko goes stumbling into a collapsed heap, smoking as a little 'K.O.!!' message manifests over its head. And as for Nanghaithya--

It gets the remaining brunt of the flames, letting out a frustrated static-shriek as they buffet and CRACK that screen in a brutal, long, thin spider-web line of fracturing glass.

It's mad. Distracted. Enough so that Moriko's Persona manages to completely blindside it with another blast of light eroding at its sacred mount; more Kappas are blasted away, going flying with despondent "kerooooooooooooooooooo<nowiki>~~~</nowiki>!"s. Nanghaitha slumps this way and that on the Palanquin, unable to move its own body to right itself.

And it's from that defenseless position that Katsuya capitalizes, realizing the Homunculus' own immobility. He personally draws his gun, taking pot-shots with his ~* SUPER KAWAII *~ implement of police brutality. Each POK POK POK! of fire nails one of those supporting Kappas, sending it ricocheting away from the Palanquin base. The front end crashes DOWN. The remaining Kappas scramble, trying to redistribute their numbers to heft the thing up once more--

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
But its too late. Moving to Ririka's guiding rhythm, Amphion HURLS rocks at Nanghaithya's screen. The kinetic impact WHAPS against it, over and over, even as Kaguya-hime comes crashing down with the SNAP of her whip to try to stop her.

''That's... a very lonely way of looking at things.''

But she can't stop Fuuka and Lucia, helping to open the way further for those who remain, as Umie and Babd come in in hot pursuit, the raucous SHRIEK of Umie's Persona unsettling Nanghaithya just as daggers of light CRACK into the Palanquin Base, forming the start of a fracture along its center.

''The fun part is in the struggle, kero.''

Whereupon Icarus, guided by So-young's turbulent winds, just CRASHES into that fracture with a sudden shriek of shattering glass and bending metal, straining its form further--

''And if the world sucks, you have to reach out!''

''This world you're playing in is boaring. No wonder you're not having fun--''

Roger and Ixquic, empowered by Hazuki, crash down upon Nanghaithya. Water and blade sing in perfect harmony for the Homunculus. And as the Kappa struggle to heft that weight--

*KRA-KOOM*

--Quixote crashes down in a furious flash of light, lance-first.

For a moment, everything seems to freeze. Like those perfect, glorious points where the game just has to do a panning shot of the ridiculous maneuver that has just been performed.

Nanghaithya, its monolithic tower of a body, hurtling through the air, detached from its base, its screen a furious scarlet DX of rage.

And that Palanquin.

Shattering in half with the sound of a thunder crack.

It all freezes. And then--

With an unceremonious CRRSH, Nanghaithya hits the ground, sparking and smoking and inert.

And every single fighter, from Yuki-Offa to Kaguya-hime, all just freeze.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
They linger. But only for a moment. Soon, those glitches return, sporadic spurts of pixels that see them all slowly discorporating -- the cognitive glamour that ensorcelled them giving way as streams of Flegmats forcefully bound burst from those dissolving bodies, flying through the air with newfound freedom.

And so, too --

Yukappa and the others' worried of permanence are washed away as their forms crackle, distort, glitch --

And the guise of weak and adorable Kappas all slowly dissolve away, revealing their true, cognitive forms beneath.

The spell broken. The Fighters unbound and freed.

And Nanghaithya...

((... There's no point in struggling.))

Nanghaithya speaks slowly. The distorted, static crackle of barely-simmering rage. The Taro-Kappas - the only minions that remain - all slowly rise.

((If you aren't at the top, you might as well not even try.))

And become indistinct, shimmery frameworks of what they once were, as each one dissolves into offputting fluids of green and pink that flow inward --

Towards Nanghaithya.

They provide it form. They provide it strength.

They provide it a second chance.

A tiny, pathetic body forms beneath the Arcade Tower that is the Homunculus, all knobby limbs and rotund torso. It's sad.

But it's enough.

Enough to drag itself upwards, as the fluid stretches to cover and reshape Nanghaithya's Arcade Tower body.

Enough to -lift- it into a floating position, stunty-legs crossing and stunty-arms folding in its tiny lap as Nanghaithya's new 'head' shapes -- looking like an Arcade Tower that has been forcibly remolded into a Kappa's head. The screen and the overhanging top and buttons beneath form the 'beak.' At its 'scalp,' that ringmaster hat remains, blown out and burned away to the point the top of the top hat has been completely torn away, leaving what looks almost like a signature, Kappa-ring of hair.

And at either side of the tower--

((If you don't win, you lose. Don't you get it? If you're not first -- you might as well be last.))

Big, bulging eyes of saturated scarlet form, pixelated blazes of its parasitic nature.

((But if I can't win... YOU won't win either.))

It rises into the air in that faux-enlightened posture, as all around it, wind starts to whip. The support columns of the Big Top begin to strain, threatening to uproot. Chunks of ground rip from the fixture of the Atelier, swirling within the mounting vortex, as it becomes terribly clear what it's trying to do:

((You don't win.))

It's trying to tear apart the Big Top. No --

It's trying to ''destroy the whole Atelier''.

And yet, as those winds mount, as the harrowing cyclone builds, as the very world seems to tear apart--

It resists.

Something within the Atelier -- something within Taro Nakata's will, perhaps -- rebels against Nanghaithya. Against its power.

Against its sad, narrow-minded views.

And as it makes its suicidal maneuver, answering that question of just what would happen if it -does- lose --

Those gathered find new might and life swelling within them as the very Atelier itself empowers them.

They are at their last legs. The abuse they have sustained is immense.

((YOU DON'T WIN.))

But even a single pixel of health is enough to pull off victory, as long as you struggle for it.

</poem>
AS: Roger sets off Nanghaithya's trigger! 1260 damage!
AS: Nanghaithya spends Limit on Broad!
AS: Nanghaithya spends Limit on Break!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Wind skill You. Didn't. WIN. on Hazuki Nakao, Roger, Akari Hoshi, and Tamaki
Uchida!
AS: Charm results in party damage! Nanghaithya takes 60 damage!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Wind skill You. Didn't. WIN. on Myunghon Yeo, So-young Park, Katsuya Suou, and
Umie Akabane!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Wind skill You. Didn't. WIN. on Yanagi Nagisa, Pernelle, and Saika Kikuchi!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Wind skill You. Didn't. WIN. on Fuuka Yamagishi, Ririka Kawase, Moriko Kumamoto,
and Yukari Takeba!
AS: Nanghaithya spends Limit on Reach!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Recovery skill !!EVO MOMENT 37!! on Umie Akabane, Ririka Kawase, Fuuka Yamagishi,
Katsuya Suou, Moriko Kumamoto, Pernelle, Tamaki Uchida, Roger, Akari Hoshi, Saika Kikuchi, Myunghon Yeo, Yukari Takeba,
Yanagi Nagisa, and Hazuki Nakao!
AS: Avoid Best! Hazuki Nakao takes 70 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN.. Critical Hit!
AS: Break! Hazuki Nakao can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Worst! Myunghon Yeo takes 66 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Break! Myunghon Yeo can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Block Worst! Yanagi Nagisa takes 62 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Rage added!
AS: Break! Yanagi Nagisa can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 12 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN.. Resist!
AS: Rage added!
AS: Break! Yukari Takeba can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 48 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Atk_Up, Crt_Up, and Regen added!
AS: Break! Hazuki Nakao can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Yukari Takeba takes 57 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn and Def_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Yukari Takeba can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Yanagi Nagisa takes 57 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Yanagi Nagisa can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Myunghon Yeo takes 48 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Atk_Up, Crt_Up, and Regen added!
AS: Break! Myunghon Yeo can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Hazuki Nakao has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Akari Hoshi spends Limit on Shift! Hazuki Nakao can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20!
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 52 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Atk_Up, Crt_Up, and Regen added! Def_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Akari Hoshi can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Block Neutral! Akari Hoshi takes 53 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Break! Akari Hoshi can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 41 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN.. Critical Hit!
AS: Rage added!
AS: Break! Umie Akabane can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 57 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Umie Akabane can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Fuuka Yamagishi spends Limit on Brace!
AS: Block Best! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 26 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Rage added!
AS: Break! Fuuka Yamagishi can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 41 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Fuuka Yamagishi can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Block Best! Katsuya Suou takes 27 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN.. Critical Hit!
AS: Break! Katsuya Suou can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 52 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Atk_Up, Crt_Up, and Regen added!
AS: Break! Katsuya Suou can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Worst! Roger takes 96 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN.. Critical Hit!
AS: Break! Roger can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Roger takes 48 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Atk_Up, Crt_Up, and Regen added!
AS: Break! Roger can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Worst! Pernelle takes 63 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Break! Pernelle can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Pernelle takes 48 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Pernelle can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Block Neutral! Saika Kikuchi takes 47 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Break! Saika Kikuchi can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Tamaki Uchida takes 58 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Rage added!
AS: Break! Tamaki Uchida can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 30 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Atk_Up, Crt_Up, and Regen added! Def_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Saika Kikuchi has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Break! Saika Kikuchi can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 57 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Tamaki Uchida can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Worst! So-young Park takes 44 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN.. Resist!
AS: Break! So-young Park can take another Weak action this round!

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>The Homunculus keeps going, and going. But the team manages to destroy that Arcade Palanuin, as Hazuki turns to Umie and...

"Eh?"

She doesn't understand the oracle... but she does, too. She'll seize her destiny here and now.

Hazuki returns to normal, but the pathetic Homunculus draws power into itself from the Taro-Kappas.

And then it rows, and grows, and tries to *destroy the Atelier*, and Hazuki...is mad.

But she lets it bleed away. Her friends, strangers, everyone's fighting with her. For *Taro*.

"I don't win?" She calls out, calmly walking forward, bat in her hand. The wind shatters towards her, and suddenly, she's dodge rolling, missing the brunt of it, staying on her feet despite her hair blowing back and her skin getting bruised. Taro's Atelier empowers her...

"Good try, but nah."

BGM SHIFT: Cassette Beasts - Cross Your Heart - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjMk-qwnMAs

"I should have sympathy for you, struggling to exist. But I don't. You're a parasite who only cares about hurting people. You're not a *person*. And for that..."

Her pace is still casual, as Janus is summoned above her, floating alongside her through that wind.

"If I'm the Goddess of Tricks who never loses, who makes you so mad, then I declare... game over for Nanghaithya the Discontent!"

Suddenly, she's blurring forward. Janus shines light on her bat, and it blazes brilliantly like a holy sword...

And she starts swinging, graceful strikes. Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash.

After those six perfect strikes, suddenly Janus shines on her once more, and the light *cascades*, radiant in all its splendor. Hazuki moves to impale the Homunculus with it...

The light show is sure to be explosive in the end, as a ray *detonates* out of the strike, beautiful and deadly.
</poem>

AS: Tandem! Hazuki Nakao has used the Light skill Holy Sword on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Aggression: Hazuki Nakao gains 1 Limit!
AS: Tandem! Hazuki Nakao has used the Light skill Holy Sword on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Tandem! Hazuki Nakao has used the Light skill Holy Sword on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Tandem! Hazuki Nakao has used the Light skill Smiling Supernova on Nanghaithya!
AS: Hazuki Nakao has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Hazuki Nakao: Gains 51 HP from Regen! Bind, Crt_Up, Def_Dn, and Regen removed!

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
Given time, Fuuka will learn that Yanagi addressing people by their first names with no suffix at first acquaintance is normal for her, no matter how off-putting it is for anyone else. Yanagi is rarely challenged on this mark--Japanese people are so often reluctant to make waves. Yanagi knows this well. She beams at her all the same when Fuuka agrees to cooperate and follows up with her attack--and when Lucia brings down those two daggers of light to make a target for the others, Yanagi calls to her, "Oh, well done!"

She likewise beams at Tamaki, who says they're in this together. "More or less!" she chirps, promisingly. The soothing waves of Yukari's Mediarama wash over her next, restoring even more energy--a good thing, considering the Homunculus continues to retaliate against her via Master Koto, doing his own spinning by way of wheeling kick after kick down upon her. She had cried out in pain reflexively, but the moment it had ended, Yukari's Mediarama had come to her aid.

"Aahhh...! You have a half-rotten personality at least, but your healing is expertly done! Thank you!" Yanagi tells Yukari earnestly, despite the open insult. (She might not have said anything at the time, but she definitely heard Yukari talking smack about taking advice from a talking bird earlier.)

Speaking of whom--! The talking bird in question announces his defiance of this damnable strength-against-fire! "Pernelle...!" Yanagi's eyes sparkle like light off a lake, which likewise glitters off the cuppa in her cap-pa. "I ''shall'' witness you! Let it be burned on the projector of my heart!" Anqa parts, and there--is--CONFLAGRATION.

...It might not be all that effective, but some of Giselle's little angel-shaped Wilis shall record it all the same. What matters is not the power, but the ''passion'', and let no one say that Pernelle is lacking.

So when Saika asks her how it feels, it really doesn't matter that her health is flagging and maintained only by Yukari's Mediarama. Yanagi is used to pain. She beams at her friend and says, "It feels wonderful! It won't be much longer, now!"

Sure enough, Nanghaithya's palanquin shatters, sending the Homunculus to CRASH and spark and smoke upon the floor. All the fighters save for the Taro-Kappas vanish after a moment and release the Flegmat Shadows that had been forced to take those forms, and the Kappa forms that had been forced upon the Persona Users vanish in turn. Yanagi tosses her hair back, raising her hands as her breath bursts out.

And... the Homunculus speaks. Nanghaithya, the Discontent, claims there's no point in struggling. That if you aren't at the top, you may as well not bother trying.

"...What an odd thing to say."

Yanagi lowers her head until she gazes directly upon the wretched creature.

"What do you think you're doing right now?"

It's a sad little indeed that the Taro-Kappas form for the Homunculus. Yanagi smiles ruefully as Nanghaithya only proves her point by refusing to the very end to go down without a fight. As it reforms itself, floating into a Kappa-head formed by electronics and ringmaster regalia, it expresses its true nature as the sorest of losers.

By trying to destroy the Atelier, and all of them with it, in a building hurricane of ripping winds.

She's nothing left to say to it. She merely sighs and shakes her head before the tearing gales would swallow her up. Even as that happens, though--even as she might be about to get torn and hurtled away--there's something about the Atelier... about the true Taro Nakata that the Homunculus tried so desperately to usurp... that resists.

Yanagi Nagisa is lifted on the hurricane winds that would rend her asunder into naught but strips of meat, but there is more life that swells up around her, keeping her intact.

She breathes out into that destroying gale with that sigh, with a bone-chilling cold that might slow it down enough for the others--for Hazuki, the Goddess of Tricks, rising up with only deep contempt for the Thing that Wore Nakata's Face--to strike Nanghaithya the Discontent down once and for all.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Water skill Cold Breath on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Water skill Cold Breath on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Water skill Flurry Bufula on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa: Gains 54 HP from Regen! Def_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa regains 6 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Block Worst! Ririka Kawase takes 76 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN.. Critical Hit!
AS: Rage added!
AS: Break! Ririka Kawase can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 57 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Ririka Kawase can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Worst! Moriko Kumamoto takes 81 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Break! Moriko Kumamoto can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Moriko Kumamoto takes 48 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Moriko Kumamoto can take another Weak action this round!

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
'Takebakappa-san'

Yukari's soul withers at Tamaki's statement, "If we live through this, you're never going to let me forget this, are you?"

Tamaki bows to her though and leaves it to her, "Ah? ... Oh-okay! I'm... barely keeping up as is but I'll do my best, aha-ha." Her Kappa brow is sweating buckets now.

And try she does. However - it's a battle of attrition. She can't heal as well as she ordinarily does, and she feels so weak.

"You're welcome...?" She says to Yanagi, before, "Wait- Half-rotten!? What do you mean by that!?"

Fortunately there's no time for her to litigate this, given the frantic pace.

But she holds her breath, as a decisive hit is scored and then, the Palanquin shatters, and the cabinet crashes.

"Was it... was it enough?"

The terror is there for a few moments, that this may be permanent, but - then, as she looks at her hands, there's a distorted glitch. And the guise melts away, leaving a teenage girl behind, staring at her hands.

"Oh thank goodness..." She takes a deep breath, hugging herself for a long moment. "... What am I even doing?"

'If you aren't at the top, you might as well not even try.'

It speaks slowly, the tiny Homunculus arising.

"... That's not how it works." As it arises, Kappa ascendant, what's left of it, it's big bulging eyes pixelating as the mounting vortex blasts her more and more. The Atelier prone to shatter - and with it... someone else will die.

She thinks of the Kirijo Group, at the top - able to cover it all up what happened, leaving her adrift.

So many pointless years of investigating something that someone like her wouldn't begin to know how to figure out. Striving in vain for one little clue of information.

But she didn't give up, no matter how often it was tempting to. This whole world where those at the top win, and everyone else gets crushed?

She won't accept it.

"I don't have to win..." As suddenly, instinctually, she reaches into a pocket, and slides what looks like a clip into the Evoker, with a flash of light as it does. "... But I won't lose either."

She presses it against her head, and pulls the trigger, her eyes alit with hues of crimson as the ephemeral glass breaks, a reflection of her eyes as each piece falls.

Io erupts behind her and rather than grabbing arrows. They just ''form''. Arrows of emerald light, which she nocks and pulls at preternatural speed. One after another after another is fired through the storm trying to destroy the Atelier, buoyed by wind currents.

Before Io lifts her up in spiraling currents of wind, flipping her end over end - orienting her- as another emerald arrow forms, it's tip aglow with power as she sights down Nanghaithya.

"I WON'T!" The tip flashes brightly, and launches with tremendous force towards the Homunculus. And where it strikes- a column of riotous wind slams down upon it.

</poem>
AS: Yukari Takeba spends Limit on Psych!
AS: Tandem! Yukari Takeba has used the Wind skill Cyclone Arrow on Nanghaithya!
AS: Weapon! Yukari Takeba has used the Pierce skill Please Hit! on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Yukari Takeba: Gains 54 HP from Regen! Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Yukari Takeba regains 3 SP from Invigorate!

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>Ixquic hangs halfway through her slash, her blade still shimmering with the holy energy from Quixote as it's halfway through, while Quixote has driven the lance directly through the Palanquin. A picture-perfect freeze, the camera rotating -

Nanghaithya's palanquin shatters.

Ixquic flips backward, losing her kappa shape as she does with a crackling distortion. The shift actually makes her less agile, because her balance changed halfway through her flight path; she manages to land on her feet but she staggers when she does it, Quixote wheeling up next to her before vanishing in white-blue sparkles.

(Also, with the transformation, her mask is back on.)

Akari breathes in, then out, as she tries to catch her breath by controlled breathing. It sort of works, but she's still so hyper she can't sit still. She's found her reserves, and while she'll pay for it in the morning, it's keeping her going NOW as the thing forms the last Kappa, drawing the remainder of them in.

"Wrong again!"

Ixquic gestures with her sword, by now a practiced gesture everyone has seen here, pointing it directly at Nanghaithya's last Kappa as it reaches for the sky - no, for the Atelier itself.

"I'll never give up. And as long as I never give up, as long as a heart of justice and purity beats in my chest - " Ixquic thumps her own chest with her fist. "No matter what you do to me, I'll never really lose!"

"Hazuki-chan! Roger-kun! Everyone else..."

"Let's show it the power that shines in all our hearts! The power to smite evil, to right wrongs! The power to CHANGE THE WORLD!"

Quixote reappears without even being summoned out loud, the cloud of blue glitter particularly dense, and the Persona seems more *there* than before. It's something that she did before, to cut the bobbin's threads, as Quixote's engine blares, rocketing Ixquic forward while surrounded by light. Light that comes to a point in front of her and spreads out along the sides of Quixote, making the entire Persona into a blade, driving THROUGH the wind even as it tears at her -

And Ixquic hunches down slightly, bracing for impact as the two of just *keep going* - not driving into so much as driving *through*, cutting their own path into the future, leaving a wake from their comet-tail of light!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Akari Hoshi has used the Slash skill Wild Slash on Nanghaithya!
AS: Tandem! Akari Hoshi has used the Slash skill Rocinante on Nanghaithya!
AS: Aggression: Akari Hoshi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Akari Hoshi: Gains 51 HP from Regen! Bind and Crt_Up removed!

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>"Thank you! That was wonderful." Fuuka replies as Yanagi calls out to her. Together, they bring down the palanquin - bring down Nanghaithya. It's discorporating... and her Kappa form melts away, revealing Fuuka herself once more. She breathes a sigh of relief.

Except... maybe it's a little too early for that. The foe transforms. And... she feels something building up.

"It's trying to bring down the Atelier...!" Fuuka gasps. "We have to stop it!"

What'll happen if it collapses, with them in it...? She doesn't want to find out. Lucia protects her from falling debris, and Fuuka looks out at everyone.

If they want to finish this quickly, then... Maybe she can help with that. She draws out her Evoker again, sliding a cartridge into it. She can feel it and her heart beating as one...

She can do this. Fuuka breathes deep - and fires.

Her eyes open ''wide'' - and the already weakened Homunculus's weaknesses are laid bare to her. Blind spots, points where its defenses are at its weakest... Lucia points them all out to her.

"...Everyone. Follow my lead - focus your attacks where I'm directing you." Fuuka says. A wave emits out from Lucia - and suddenly they'll feel their power ''enhanced''. Images begin to flash as she reaches out to them, highlighting the ideal places to strike.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Fuuka Yamagishi has used the Almighty skill Oracle - Guiding Insight on Tamaki Uchida, Pernelle, Moriko
Kumamoto, and Umie Akabane!
AS: Insight: Fuuka Yamagishi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Pernelle takes 0 Almighty damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Oracle - Guiding Insight.
AS: Atk_Up and Spd_Up added!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 24 Almighty damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Oracle - Guiding Insight.
AS: Atk_Up and Def_Up added!
AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 24 Almighty damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Oracle - Guiding Insight.
AS: Atk_Up and Atk_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
"Ehehehehe... hahahaha...!" Pernelle laughs and laughs. Effective? No. But passion! Defiance! Fun!! Are these not more valuable than ''effect?'' (People are going to die, Pernelle.) "AAAHAHAHA -- WHARRGARBL!"

Pernelle is pelted! Persistently! He and Anqa, back and forth, Anqa's head rattling with loose buttons and Pernelle's with... well, we may not wish to have that question answered. By the end of it, the pinball-like assault from his felid foe sends him crashing to the ground, head spinning. Yet the K.O. is made, and Pernelle throws his weird kappa not-wings up again. "Yaaaaaay!"

He's helping! One part of a beautiful dance where each performance on stage comes together in this grand, violent, destructive finale! And all of them adorably small and very very green! It really brings the choreography together.

Even so, once their true forms are restored and the cognitive glitch dispelled, Pernelle gives a quick strut in a circle and a flourished bow. "Ah, such an intriguing form to visit, but there is no substitute for perfection."

Alas, such joy must be cut short, for Nanghaithya may not win, but there is a path to ensure that everyone else ''loses''. But even in the terrifying face of the Homunculus' rage and power, Pernelle gazes into those scarlet, blazing eyes. He lashes his tongue over his beak, and vibrates until his feathers rustle. Soon! Soon they will have their prize...!

All they have to do is

not die.

The earth rips into the sky. The Big Top buckles. The Atelier threatens to end in a cataclysm, and with them all here together, how is it any different from the end of the world? Trick question: it is not. But what does one ''do'' when they world is ending?

Dance.

Pernelle, on iridescent wings, leaps from chunk of earth to broken column and around again. One foot, two, step, step. While Fuuka's Oracle guidance, his wings sweep out, throwing feather-shaped blades from his wings in a piercing assault until he is close enough to spin and slash with the edges of his wings, where more glinting blades hide.

"You carry a curious philosophy...!" Pernelle says admits his acrobatics. "I must admit, I do not understand a lick of it. For who decides what is a win, and what is a loss?"

Well, Pernelle, in a video game it tends to be pretty cut and dry --

"I have decided! What I do today, what I do now, shall be a win."

Does... does that even make any sense? Pernelle seems to think it does.

"Anqa! May I have this dance?" His Persona appears with him mid-movement, and they spin, twirl, and fly until Pernelle tosses her higher in the air for the grand finale: a beautiful explosion of fire, raining down in upon Nanghaithya every color of the rainbow, and even a few more.

</poem>
AS: Pernelle spends Limit on Psych!
AS: Weapon! Pernelle has used the Pierce skill Feathery Fandango on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ruin: Pernelle gains 1 Limit!
AS: Weapon! Pernelle has used the Slash skill Wing Waltz on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Pernelle has used the Fire skill Iridescent Immolation on Nanghaithya!
AS: Pernelle: Gains 55 HP from Regen! Def_Dn and Psych removed!
AS: Persona! Fuuka Yamagishi has used the Recovery skill Rousing Wave on Ririka Kawase, So-young Park, and Fuuka
Yamagishi!
AS: Take! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 11 Recovery healing from Fuuka Yamagishi's Rousing Wave.
AS: Def_Up added!
AS: Persona! Fuuka Yamagishi has used the Light skill Kouha on Nanghaithya!
AS: Fuuka Yamagishi: Gains 53 HP from Regen!

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
This Atelier is taking forever, thinks Saika. It's a wry sort of thought. One of those internal jokes. 'You should see the other guy,' har de har har. She is holding together, sustained perhaps by the vitality of the figure within her soul. But if *she's* sucking wind -- while restrained by this flabby green kappa-corpus -- how bad off are the others going to be?

More than half of 'em seem... young. (Later, Saika will realize the horror of what this implies about herself.)

One of them, Yanagi, she hasn't counted among them. She lets out a little smirk as she exults in the situation. And then as the myriad blows take their toll, the Homunculus...

...

Once more, he rises. Desperate. Struggling. Saika's face tightens for a moment, until there is the sudden unzipping -- the ripping of the kappa-guise in a sea of glitches, like a thousand zippers all starting to come undone, clashing against each other and causing irregular pealing. She straightens up, and looks down, and her legs seem to telescope up--

The winds whip at her hair, which has helpfully returned, going hard enough that she has to lean into it. The inscriptions on her coat flap in the hurricane-force wind as she brings her arm up to try and shield her face. Her pigtails flap violently-- one of them, where she's had several near misses throughout this entire misadventure, sheds its elastic, billowing irregularly free.

you don't win.

"I respect that," Saika says into the wind, blinking several times and nodding.

"But," Saika continues, "there's something you're kinda overlooking while you're tryin' to do your revenge here, even if --" Her eyes follow Yanagi as she vaults up, soaring on the wind. Saika's feet remain firmly planted on the increasingly tenuous ground as she grits her teeth, looking at the Homunculus with its out-sized head, the rest of its body reduced to a frame to support that immense growth...

Someone speaks behind her. Yukari. Saika's eyes turn to the side. Then she turns into the wind, her coat flapping as she calls to her, "Hey! Arrows!" before sweeping her un-chain-wrapped arm towards the Homunculus. "Can you believe this guy!? Even in the like, absolute last-last ditch, he's being SO INCREDIBLY ANNOYING! Just clinging on with those bloody fingernails and conjuring up this storm, and he doesn't even realize--"

"He's wide open."

And with that, Saika sweeps an arm forwards and breaks into a run towards the Homunculus. It is honestly rather absurd for the first few steps because the wind she is running into is hard enough to strip bark off of the less durable sort of tree. She can see Ixquic ahead of her, and she grins as the running accelerates -- she starts moving forwards -- one of those bounding strides she did to come in and

Whisk! Away on the wind she flies, swept to the side -- she finds herself pivoting and fist-pumps, saying something that's very faint and swallowed in the roaring howl of the dying Atelier even as that consumption liberates energy that flows into her.

(What did Saika say? "I knew it! Cyclonic!")

Before she can make a complete loop, though, she grasps onto part of her coat, immediately making 'a large drag-producing object' into a momentary SAIL, which whips her out of the maelstrom! She pivots around, leading with her feet as she starts unwrapping the chain round her forearm--

And after her contact, aimed right square at the Homunculus, she brings up the lash, whipping scourge-like against the thing twice before her third one aims to snap the entire chain *around its neck*.

</poem>
AS: Persona! Saika Kikuchi has used the Almighty skill You're Wide Open! on Nanghaithya!
AS: Defense: Saika Kikuchi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Saika Kikuchi has used the Strike skill Saika Body Attack on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Weapon! Saika Kikuchi has used the Strike skill Chain of Destiny on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Saika Kikuchi has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Saika Kikuchi: Gains 47 HP from Regen! Crt_Up and Regen removed!
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 0 Recovery healing from Fuuka Yamagishi's Rousing Wave.
AS: Atk_Dn removed!

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
There's a sweet moment where Myunghon-Kappa almost looks stunned as Tamakappa offers them a chance at a high five, and they sweetly return it -- and then the low, if she'll have it too. Inspired by someone who's been doing it as long as Tamaki and still with the verve that she has, it reminds them that they don't have to be scared right now, even if they're terrified at their decision at present... but they have to believe in the root core of saving Taro Nakata.

"Let us dance indeed," Merry-Kappa gracefully says as they pose with Tamakappa's suave, princely gesture with their wooden sword. Pernelle demands -- craves -- incineration. Perhaps the tater tots must be extra crispy, in order to truly please him? The way he has fun, however, is certainly infectious...

Moriko's words are salient -- is there truly only one truth? No. Myunghon also thinks that there may only be one set of facts, but those facts mean so many truths to so many different people. The way in which certain facts do not become truth and others do...

Myunghon can't know of how much of a pinball history Katsuya Suou has. A long time ago, though:

MANY YEARS AGO

"... this is boring," a young Tatsuya Suou tiptoes so that he can even peer at the glittering lights and loud exciting noises the pinball machine is emitting. Yet even he can't help but get taken in by the click-clackety-clack as his brother keeps on going, keeps becoming entranced at the way the ball gets paddled to-and-fro, and--

"Bro, your hee-ho fell into the hole," Tatsuya cheekily observes as Katsuya's last Jack Frost-shaped ball descends into the abyss, ho ho ho...

NOW

Katsuya spells out the arcade machine for them, and Umie says she's on it too -- and Myunghon will have to do their best in turn. So-young calls for an encore, and carves forward as Icarus just plans on lawndarting onto the side of the machine--

What does some dead man matter?

"... you're right," Myunghon quietly answers. It won't stop them. Bakeduo-neko is about to slam into them with horrible catlike reflexes, and yet-- and yet-- it glitches. They're saved from the Palanquin's wrath for a moment, and yet... seemingly defeated, the Homunculus voices its lament...

''If you aren't at the top, you might as well not even try.''
''If you don't win, you lose. Don't you get it? If you're not first -- you might as well be last.''

The wounds rend them. It takes them back to a board meeting, where a man whose soul has been directly wrinkled out of his face, in a lifeless suit, taps upon a whiteboard and declares:

A FEW YEARS AGO

"If Frey Pharmaceuticals can't remain at the top, then we may as well not try. Our stakeholders demand it. 'Trying your best' means nothing, Yukichi-san," he drones lifelessly.

There is another man next to him, a Western man. His smile is rictus, like he's performed it so often his expression is stuck like that.

"Don't worry about it, Miss Yukichi," he posits the very image of advertising and slime. "Once we turbo-charge our quarterly earnings and really get that synergy going, our profit margins are going to go into overdrive."

NOW

Myunghon finds themself thrown about on hurricane winds, as the Homunculus threatens to tear them apart along with the rest of the Big Top -- no, the rest of the Atelier. Even as they're threatened to be sliced apart, however, they're still alight and upright by virtue of the Cognitive Coat steadying them, breathing out, trembling...

"... I was just like you, once. I lived in a zero-sum world that didn't believe in anything but winners, while it blithely told everyone that they had potential. But it was always obvious that only certain people could win from the start..."

They're crying right now, disturbed and panicked at their lack of knowledge and inability to understand the truth of what they're doing at present. But if they do nothing, then another dead body awaits them. Akira Hayashi is gone; they still can act to save Taro Nakata.

But this nemesis that stands before them?

They still haven't answered that all-burning, pivotal question: ''what are they.''

They won't be able to, before the end comes for the Discontent.

They despise their lack of knowledge.

But they still will act.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tSZoYuKwtk

There's a burst of cognitive power for a brief moment, as the small, delicate origami Wishing Dragon that Jose granted the Cardboard Dragon comes into view. Myunghon draws power from within it, feeling strong the bonds that they've formed in the last few months as their body descends momentarily into a colourless dream, velocity dancing upon an endless story, as they witness their Constants, shining bright within a lightless sky--

Shinjiro's currently waiting for them back at the internet booth.
Shinobu's undoubtedly working hard on a gig someplace...
Where is Tsumugi, when the rest of the Silk are fighting hard? They yearn for them.
Somewhere, in St. Bernadette's in Aoba, Mio's got her shift going...
Remi's currently tending to the store, if they're not mistaken, ever having their back no matter what.
Umie is here, their sinister smile mirrored upon Badb's own, relishing the struggle.
Are Miho and Yua back from London yet? They want to congratulate them with all their heart...
They wonder if Tsubasa and Lance need something else for the new house.
They hope they and Ichika have a sweet summer vacation...
Though they've only started their working relationship, Tamaki has much they can show them.
And So-young was there all along, a gate into another world they never knew.

--and the Wishing Dragon flourishes further with bond-power, their melting body unravelling beyond speed and transmission as they realise they see the coalescing, superliminal form of their Hope. All they have to do is reach it, that Hope that Tsumugi Kujaku described as seething throughout a garden, strangling out every other sentiment in its spread.

And within that moment, they have the clarity to point out one final thing to the Homunculus:

"You were truly, wonderfully, resplendently, undeniably........."

They let that singular point descend from their palm, a miniature point of imperishable Black in this colourless realm.

"... Human."
</poem>

AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Almighty skill Lightless on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Dark skill Constants in the Chaos on Nanghaithya!
AS: Myunghon Yeo: Gains 51 HP from Regen! Crt_Up, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn removed!

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> Roger turns to give a little cheer as Ixquic and himself accidentally coordinate their movements to smash that cabinet palanquin, as they seem to score decisive blows together to put a stop to this. Even when Roger's shape returns to his newly awakened Transmutation, he doesn't miss a beat on it even with the sudden change in proportion and balance.

He waves an arm to the stream of Flegmat Humors. They haven't acknowledged him prior, and won't now, but...

"Flegmat Humors breaking free is a good thing!" He explains. "That'll help make sure the Atelier gets back into balance as soon as we're done winning!"

Speaking of...

The Homunculus assumes its last, true, pathetic shape. He snorts and scowls at the bulging scarlet eyes, only to let out a little squealy yelp of surprise as the cyclone builds, and everything batters against him even as he lowers his head and runs the periphery...

'You don't win. YOU DON'T WIN.'

For a moment, Roger is caught in contemplation. A feeling, one that strikes him in mental and emotional places he simply did not have the capacity for prior. The discomfort, the confusion... a feeling he somehow knew this Homonculus for longer than he truly did the rightful owner of the Atelier.

...

It doesn't change who he is, and what he wants.

"Eh?! This feeling..." His eyes widen. "Oh! Everyone! The Atelier itself is giving us strength... then...!"

There's a blue butterfly, eerie creature as it is, peacefully flitting its wings across this windy landscape like it's not there, as Roger takes a hard swipe at it one last time.

"Looks like he's found a life worth living even if he doesn't win..." Those familiar with the myths of Kamapua'a knows there's one relationship he desired that he could never achieve. If Roger is - was? - a Sanguin Humor, a part of Taro Nakata's Atelier... could this Persona have been meant for Taro Nakata, originally?

There's no telling for sure, as Roger points the racquet forward. "Chase 'em like a game of tag!"

Kamapua'a ''leaps'' into the cyclone, as water follows, swimming into it in a rapid, panic-inducing wide swirl of water trying to surround and overwhelm Nanghaithya, as Roger crouches down and lets the wind continue to whip about him as he follows after from behind.

"Take this! And that!" He goes for two rapid swings of his racquet, back and forth, against the enemy on their last legs before leaping back and throwing the tennis ball up into the air.

It whips around a few times in the cyclone, seeming to separate Roger from the intended cool follow-up, but...

"Game!" The ball goes past him once, but he doesn't swing for it. He's watching Hazuki's movements as to not endanger her.

"Set!" Another miss of the ball's roll-around...

"MATCH!" Roger declares as he ''swings'' for it on the third pass, sending that tennis ball rocketing forth to join that detonating ray of light.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Roger has used the Water skill Torrent Chaser on Nanghaithya!
AS: Weapon! Roger has used the Strike skill Melee - Tennis Racquet on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Weapon! Roger has used the Strike skill Ranged - Tennis Ball on Nanghaithya!
AS: Roger: Gains 49 HP from Regen! Def_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Roger regains 3 SP from Invigorate!

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
She does, in fact, reciprocate Myunghon's down-low.

Tamaki's first order of business is to not leave Moriko hanging. Clawbump. She does tilt her head slightly in confusion. "What show?"

'More or less'? That's an odd response, but she isn't one to scrutinize an ally too closely in a time like this. That's a Later Tamaki problem.

"Not to worry. I've already forgotten, Takeba-san." The detective gives her a wink.

She shakes her head at Nanghaithya. "What is there to find out? Why, you've only explored one peak, one ''local'' maximum ... but even higher heights may exist beyond the fog of war. I've said elsewhere that the rules of the game keep changing and evolving. Adapt or fall behind." Given her own history, she's reminding herself just as much as she's chiding Nanghaithya here.

"Deep down, you know it, too."

Arianrhod holds her palm over Tamaki's current kappa-fied form. Translucent shadowy energy rises up and begins to form a ball in her outstretched hand, then changes into an orb of light, shimmering in every color on the visible spectrum. Tamaki touches her toy sword to the orb as it coats her blade, and she holds it aloft. The very curse that had been laid upon her now serves as her strength! It'll take a moment to charge ...

As Tamaki readies her own attack, the wing-armored goddess slashes the arcade machine's screen, leaving a red streak of an afterimage behind the sword's trail. Using some of the remnants of the energy that now coats Tamaki's sword, Arianrhod manifests rainbow circles along the trail of red left on the screen.

As long as you've still got a pixel of health left, as long as your lungs still carry breath, as long as you can still get back up despite failure after failure, then it's not over yet.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bRnXPpodhI

With her eyes burning in defiant fury, Tamaki takes her rainbow-coated blade and slashes at the air, sending a Technicolor shockwave to the screen. And again. And again. And again and again and again in a veritable barrage that would otherwise bowl down an army. She repeats her earlier promise to Myunghon: "We'll cross through that threshold!"

With a battlecry of "PER ASPERA!", she lunges directly at the screen to give it one last up-close-and-personal slash!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Slash skill Straight Slash on Nanghaithya!
AS: Defense: Tamaki Uchida gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Slash skill Per Aspera on Nanghaithya!
AS: Tamaki Uchida: Gains 49 HP from Regen! Spd_Dn removed!

<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
<poem>The biker hesitates. Moriko's gaze watching the screen. "If you lose. Find out why. Fix it. Come back at it. Gives you something to strive to." She plants her spear with a thump for emphasis. Battered as she is.

She has nothing nice to say about the rest. Moriko's able to lean into the worst of the Palinquin's latest attack. Trying to sound like she's not on her last legs, "Like riding in bad weather." Planting her foot against the base of her spear, leaning just the right way and just barely getting blown away or knocked over.

She thumbs up Yukari, "Just go out swinging either way right?" She's starting to drawl a bit. It's fine.

She's breathing heavy. She's at a fragment of health and... she's still standing. And she grins up at tower.

She replies to Tamaki with a thin smile, "You know. Circus. The-" she gestures around and says, "I.. later." Levity helped some people, but she's not sure now's the right time!

Up until it's clearly trying to drag the place down around them. She shifts her foot heavily away from the pole, pushes herself up and grimaces. Ready to try and help pull others out even if she probably needs it more than some would by now.

"Flipping th'table ain't helping you." Her drawl's a lot more noticeable as she yells up at him, laughing almost. She's too tired to suppress it.

She brings the Evoker to bear again. Pulling the trigger with a defiant smile on her features as the fox appears once again. Looming over her. Crouched into a growl, it suddenly pounces and fades away just as her jaws snapped forward towards one of the points designated by Fuuka. The weight growing exponentially. It's not quite a light skill, but it's the best shot she's got in her. Besides, the fox in holy garments reappears as a second shot follows up. Trying to exploit the gravitation pull with a jagged earth spike. One last spell. And if you're going out, go out with a swing.

Offering a two finger salute before shifting both hands to hold the spear. Holding herself up.
</poem>

AS: Take! Moriko Kumamoto takes 0 Almighty damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Oracle - Guiding Insight.
AS: Atk_Up and Atk_Up added!
AS: Persona! Moriko Kumamoto has used the Earth skill Riotous Gryva on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 14 Recovery healing from Fuuka Yamagishi's Rousing Wave.
AS: Spd_Up added!
AS: Persona! Moriko Kumamoto has used the Light skill Kouha on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Moriko Kumamoto has used the Light skill Kouha on Nanghaithya!
AS: Moriko Kumamoto: Gains 55 HP from Regen!

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
The tower topples, and with it, the spell disrupting their forms breaks. Ririka blinks as she finds herself back in her taller (too tall!) form, patting herself down. "Whew... that's better." She wants to ask herself if that means this is over--

But they thought that last time, too.

She stares as a new body is formed, ''again''. "''Seriously''?" She ''almost'' feels bad that the Homunculus can't continue to exist, fighting this hard for survival. But that would mean letting it consume Taro, which they can't do. And besides...

"... you're kind of a sore loser. Winning is what you make of it--there's more ways to win than just coming in first."

But it lifts, and it starts to destroy the Atelier. "Can it ''do'' that!?" she asks, alarmed, as it becomes clear. Tearing winds come for her and as she holds up her katana to block it, it's torn out of her hands and she is sent tuimbling. "Damn."

... but it's not over yet. Something is resisting it, and... they all have to keep resisting, too. If this is ''Taro's'' Atelier, then... Ririka groans as she picks herself back up. "Hey, Nakata-san. You don't know me, but..." Ririka draws in a deep breath, and taps into that part of her that she calls forth when she steps on stage.

And she gives Taro a confident grin. "What song's gonna get you more pumped up than anything else right now?"

And it's a Night Parade stage theme, of course. "Coming right up!" Ririka starts to play, holographic piano keys springing to life at her fingertips as she starts to crank out a fast-paced theme, sending it to everyone to get them motivated for the last little bit of the fight.

BFM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJARSPU3tHk

Amphion joins in, and Ririka hears Fuuka's call to let her guide their attacks. "Got it, Yamagishi-san!" She'll take that guidance, even as she offers her own to some of those around her, then she locks her eyes on the Homunculus. "Amphion! Let's put that Skill Card to good use! Triple time!"

Amphion strums, and at his urging gouts of flame erupt for Nanghaithya, not just one, but two, and then a third!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Recovery skill Victory Song on Katsuya Suou, Ririka Kawase, Umie Akabane, and
So-young Park!
AS: Insight: Ririka Kawase gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 14 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Victory Song.
AS: Def_Dn removed!
AS: Ririka Kawase spends Limit on Exploit! Ririka Kawase can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Victory Song.
AS: Spd_Up added!
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Victory Song.
AS: Def_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 14 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Victory Song.
AS: Spd_Up added!
AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Fire skill Agi on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Fire skill Agi on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Fire skill Agi on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ririka Kawase: Gains 52 HP from Regen! Crt_Up removed!

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> 'Eh?' Hazuki's confusion is taken in stride, Umie giving a impish grin, her froggy eyes narrowing to cheeky slits.

"... I'm telling you to kick that thing's ass, kero. Or are you going to make a liar of me, Orange-san?"

The siege breaks the spell placed over them; vantage points and restored heights are now newly appreciated, at least, for Umie.

(..... hopefully that tic of saying kero has gone away too, right?? Right??)

'... There's no point in struggling.'

BGM: https://youtu.be/MEduHFi0FYU?si=YBEJnRNRtsSCUPJQ

"If you can't even rise to bear the pain of existing, you won't survive outside this zone. This was your test, and you've _failed_."

(Umie just may have given the students here flashbacks to exam week.)

'But if I can't win... YOU won't win either.'

"So in the end, then you're just a sore loser," Umie proclaims, loose blonde hair flowing up against the silhouette of grey feathers, Badb's signature motif trailing past her eyes.

Dark energy fires out, a warning shot to note what's to come.

.... If Umie can summon the ability to continue.

She winces; her body bends over as if in the throes of a vicious cramp.

You want your power? Then tell me those pretty lies.

Umie's hands grip the two ends of her kyoketsu shoge. "... Alright then. I'm not letting my momentum stop here." Almost as a contradiction to her words earlier, she lets that fugue take her, the sharp glint of her gaze and curve of her grin loosening their grip on her expression.

Just let it happen, this time. It has to be your choice.

"A man hangs from the branch, caught between decision and action,
A blackbird cries in the tree, who hears it?
Who is there? Who is it, with that face?
Black butterflies fill the school hallways.
It is just the beginning."

It'll be nonsense to most here, no more concerning than the 'prophecies' she made earlier, and 'encouragements' she made to Hazuki, but to Katsuya... it may be a little concerning.

The kyoketsu shoge crosses a cognitive screen over Nanghaithya, slowing to form a cat's cradle over the being against the barbs and feathers of a misty, muddy field.

"Garden of the Crow!"
</poem>

AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Psych!
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Final Warning on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Tandem! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Garden of the Crow on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Umie Akabane: Gains 55 HP from Regen! Crt_Up and Psych removed!
AS: Umie Akabane regains 3 SP from Invigorate!

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
It can't move by itself. It can only move by impelling its 'servitors', the Kappa upon which the palanquin depends. Once they fall, it's a certain thing that the arcade cabinet will go with it. And so it is that Katsuya targets some of the Kappa up in front. As he'd predicted -- isn't basic physics fun -- it collapses towards the front. It's still short of the toppling he'd hoped for: it must be fixed to the palanquin's base in some way to secure it. Yet, even this is little detriment as he's hardly alone here, is he? The rest of them see to the next part and soon, with the arcade cabinet flung free from the palanquin and the palanquin shattered. Everything the Homunculus controlled seems to freeze in place, as far as Katsuya can tell.

One by one, fighters glitch out and vanish. This effect spreads to the lot of them as well, but it's not themselves being erased -- no! -- it's the glamour that had affected them. Just like that, Katsuya finds that he is himself and whole (suit jacket's still singed, though). "Is this--"

No. It's still not the end. Even broken, even in such a pathetic state as it's in now, it remolds itself into a semblance of what it had been.

"...You're still trying. If everything were as you said it was, would there be any point in continuing to strive?" he remarks as it manages to get itself upright, as it reiterates, again, its whole ethos. Yanagi may take some amusement, perhaps, in the point that they're saying much the same thing.

But if it can't win, it'll make sure they can't win, either. It'll destroy this place, itself, and them with it.

Shock etches its way across his face. "What are you-- no! Of all the short-sighted--"

But all he can do in this moment is defend himself, throwing up an arm as those terrible winds howl all about them. The ground below them heaves; sections of it begin to tear themselves free and upwards in abeyance of natural law.

Yet, there's something in the midst of all this, isn't there? Some expression of hope, for that last-gasp victory. For that faintest sliver that lets you manage to get in that last, critical blow.
For that one in a million shot.

It's in this moment that music starts to play, courtesy of Ririka's Amphion. Diagetic music, at a moment like this? Well, why not--!

Katsuya takes a step backwards as the ground under his feet cracks, then another as it crumbles away. The cracks continue to spread. He only has moments. "As a civil servant-- I won't let you!" he calls out amidst the howling winds. Sighting Nanghaithya, he draws his firearm and takes aim.

The storm in which they're all caught is taking a turn for the catastrophic. However you slice it, it would be poor conditions for any ranged weapon. And handgun has terrible aim. This is a matter of fact. But in a cognitive space, is that still true? And, even should that weigh in, does it still--

All he can do is strive. He takes that shot, however uncertain it might prove to be, then follows it with another. He turns to leap atop a rising chunk of earth before the rest of the ground breaks apart into the darkness below.

"This is it! Helios!"

Helios -- normal again itself -- manifests beside him and follows up that shot with a bolt from the heavens. But not just once. Twice.

It's in the silence that follows that Katsuya can hear Umie's voice. She recites a poem that is...
...known to him. But how does she know that? And why? They're both questions that will need to await another time: in this moment, instead, Umie will only receive the look of confused shock on Katsuya's face as he stares right at her.
</poem>

AS: Katsuya Suou spends Limit on Exploit! Katsuya Suou can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Weapon! Katsuya Suou has used the Pierce skill Tactical Rebuke on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Defense: Katsuya Suou gains 1 Limit!
AS: Weapon! Katsuya Suou has used the Pierce skill Handgun - Shot on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Elec skill Zio on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Elec skill Zio on Nanghaithya!
AS: Katsuya Suou: Gains 51 HP from Regen! Crt_Up removed!

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> As So-young sheds her kappa guise you can just see the cloak of self-confidence reassert itself around her like a living thing, so vividly described in her posture and her motions that it's like a tangible force throwing her forwards, stripping away the last few minutes in so many little wisps of memory. She was never ranting and complaining about it being permanent. She was sure it would work out the moment she got a hold of herself. Of course. How could you ever think any differently?

That feeling only lasts a moment before the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, and her eyes widen as she jolts her head upwards. She doesn't need to be a battle maniac or a cognitive master to understand what their opponent is trying to do, all she needs is a sense of the dramatic. She's already been through one too many collapsing mindscapes.

"Oh, hells--" she yells as she hunkers downwards, thankful for her extra weight as the winds attempt to tear her off her feet once more. Icarus reappears, somehow whole and intact as if it didn't just buffet itself to pieces on the side of the palanquin, to wind around her in a protective position, curving unnaturally into a spiral in ways that slats of what might be balsa wood and feathers probably shouldn't be able to.

"So petulance is what it comes down to?" So-young calls through the roar of the air around her - but it's not a sound of defiance or a roar of righteous anger, surprising even herself as the words slip out much more quietly than she ever intended. She's not one to ever feel regret - but she can recognize a chance lost, an obliteration when maybe, maybe there could have been some kind of reconciliation instead.

Maybe it's the most wishful thinking there ever was, or maybe she's still stuck thinking about Hayashi-san's murder right in front of her. So-young simply doesn't know, not really equipped in this moment to interrogate the thought any closer. She can't even reach for words, all of her eloquence too surface-level to really elaborate on how she's feeling and the odd lump in her throat that won't go away.

In the intervening space Myunghon puts it much better than she ever could... but for all that inescapable truth that carries the weight and promise of existence--

--that use of the past tense is going to haunt her a little tonight.

Shoving that thought down with a fierce mental rejection to be dealt with later, she finally and truly focuses on the fight around them. Pernelle is dancing above them in a sea of bright pyrotechnics, Ririka's song curling around them all as everyone pushes themselves upwards towards a crescendo and a conclusion. Now is certainly not the time to feel sorry for yourself, she tells herself firmly as she raises her hand to push her focus outwards in front of her.

The silvery light that makes up her baton spins itself away in a burst of cognitive certainty, reforming into a violin and bow; she raises it to her chin, letting out a soft note of faint amusement under her breath. She'd been expecting to play a dirge, but-- well, in this moment Myunghon is _her_ conductor, and around her rise calls for a song of Hope.

(And a copyrighted soundtrack, no less. Scandalous!)

In this, at least, she can oblige, and not least because she somehow actually seems to know the tune off by heart. The pace and tone of her playing is immediate and upbeat, winding around Ririka's music and melding into the background ensemble. When she looks up it's with a much more clear gaze; this has always been how she breaks free of her unpleasant thoughts, after all.

"Icarus! Go!" she commands strongly as several quick thrusts of her bow send her Persona roaring upwards. It blasts straight past Homonculus, striking against it with two quick buffets of wind, and then a final piercing cry accompanies a high, warbling note as Icarus stretches out its wings amidst Pernelle's conflagration - and crashes down upon the Homonculus, as if the flames were as scorching as the Sun.
</poem>

AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Pierce skill Ostinato on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Wind skill Coda on Nanghaithya!
AS: So-young Park regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 120 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Holy Sword. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 120 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Holy Sword. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 141 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Holy Sword. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 121 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Holy Sword. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 139 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Holy Sword. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 120 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Holy Sword. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 310 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Smiling Supernova. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 75 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Cold Breath. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 92 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Cold Breath. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 75 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Cold Breath. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 73 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Cold Breath. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 73 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Cold Breath. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 91 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Cold Breath. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 83 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Flurry Bufula. Weak!
AS: Bind added! Haze removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 83 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Flurry Bufula. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 83 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Flurry Bufula. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 218 Wind damage from Yukari Takeba's Cyclone Arrow.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 61 Pierce damage from Yukari Takeba's Please Hit!.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 77 Pierce damage from Yukari Takeba's Please Hit!. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 208 Slash damage from Akari Hoshi's Wild Slash.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 367 Slash damage from Akari Hoshi's Rocinante. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 88 Pierce damage from Pernelle's Feathery Fandango.
AS: Bind added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 85 Slash damage from Pernelle's Wing Waltz.
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 348 Fire damage from Pernelle's Iridescent Immolation. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 163 Light damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Kouha. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Haze added! Bind removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 0 Almighty damage from Saika Kikuchi's You're Wide Open!.
AS: Strike_Break added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 107 Strike damage from Saika Kikuchi's Saika Body Attack. Critical Hit!
AS: Blast added! Paralyze removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 77 Strike damage from Saika Kikuchi's Chain of Destiny.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 77 Strike damage from Saika Kikuchi's Chain of Destiny.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 90 Strike damage from Saika Kikuchi's Chain of Destiny. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 0 Almighty damage from Myunghon Yeo's Lightless.
AS: Dark_Break added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 312 Dark damage from Myunghon Yeo's Constants in the Chaos. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 307 Water damage from Roger's Torrent Chaser. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Panic added! Charm removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 85 Strike damage from Roger's Melee - Tennis Racquet. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 85 Strike damage from Roger's Melee - Tennis Racquet. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 98 Strike damage from Roger's Ranged - Tennis Ball.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 146 Slash damage from Tamaki Uchida's Straight Slash.
AS: Paralyze added! Blast removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 245 Slash damage from Tamaki Uchida's Per Aspera.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 86 Earth damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Riotous Gryva.
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 86 Earth damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Riotous Gryva.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 98 Earth damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Riotous Gryva. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 153 Light damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Kouha. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 144 Light damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Kouha. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 109 Fire damage from Ririka Kawase's Agi.
AS: Haze added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 135 Fire damage from Ririka Kawase's Agi. Critical Hit!
AS: Haze added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 117 Fire damage from Ririka Kawase's Agi.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 117 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Final Warning.
AS: Panic added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 147 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Garden of the Crow. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 121 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Garden of the Crow. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 147 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Garden of the Crow. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 105 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Tactical Rebuke.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 105 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Tactical Rebuke.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 90 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Handgun - Shot.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 106 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Handgun - Shot. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 122 Elec damage from Katsuya Suou's Zio.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 158 Elec damage from Katsuya Suou's Zio. Critical Hit!
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 57 Pierce damage from So-young Park's Ostinato.
AS: Bind added! Haze removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 57 Pierce damage from So-young Park's Ostinato.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 156 Wind damage from So-young Park's Coda.
AS: Panic added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
What does it think its doing right now?

Indeed, Nanghaithya struggles. Even though it has lost, it struggles -- if not to ''win'', then to make sure ''nobody'' can win. Like a petulant child upturning the gameboard the moment the know they've lost the game, Nanghaithya offers nothing to Yanagi's incisive observation but the fierce howl of the ever-intensifying, catastrophic winds it summons.

THere is no more time for words. And so, Yanagi responds with a sigh --

And an absolute frost that chills the great head of Nanghaithya and its diminutive body down deep to the core. It slows the intensifying of the winds -- and even if it doesn't stop it, it buys them time -- and renders the Homunculus brittle enough for the violence that is to come.

''I don't have to win... But I won't lose either.''

As the others rally. As Yukari and Io's winds scream out in direct defiance to Nanghaithya's own, arrow after arrow lancing into that tiny body, controlling her movements and positioning her mid-air at the perfect vantage point to loose that final great, glowing emerald pierces RIGHT through the side of its head, the point JUTTING out of the other end of that mass of metal and electronics that was once an arcade cabinet before the HOWL of wins smashes down, sending it lurching back.

''I must admit, I do not understand a lick of it. For who decides what is a win, and what is a loss? I have decided! What I do today, what I do now, shall be a win.''

''Can you believe this guy!? Even in the like, absolute last-last ditch, he's being SO INCREDIBLY ANNOYING! Just clinging on with those bloody fingernails and conjuring up this storm, and he doesn't even realize-- He's wide open.''

As Pernelle and Saika work in perfect tandem, a study in contrasting dances -- Pernelle, swooping and dramatic and graceful, a true ballroom bonanza that ends at the very apex of the tempest until he and his Persona add to the brewing apocalypse with a sleet of rainbow fire, crashing down across the Homunculus, melting down pieces and chunks of its massive head, and BLINDING it with prismatic fury--

-- as the raw, direct, berserk insanity that is Saika's riding the storm reaches its zenith with a discordant SCREAM of metal on metal, as built up momentum and power that far outstrips her size SMASHES that biker chain into the side of Nanghaithya's overlarge head, denting it dramatically in once, CRUSHING the arcade buttons that make up its maw with the second--

and then -lashing- it to force it to feel the full brunt of Pernelle's heat, and everything else to come, as she holds fast to its neck, even as the storm tries desperately to -peel her off-.

''What is there to find out? Why, you've only explored one peak, one ''local'' maximum ... but even higher heights may exist beyond the fog of war. I've said elsewhere that the rules of the game keep changing and evolving. Adapt or fall behind. ... Deep down, you know it, too.''

As Tamaki and Arianrhod fly with rainbow-colored blade in hand, showing her defiance, her will to - and her own reminder that she must - adapt and thrive from one discovery to the next in that dual assault between Persona and User, the great slash of the armored goddess carving a deep furrow into the Homunculus' great black screen -- and Tamaki further compounding that fracture with that great shockwave of color, of color, of color of color of COLOR until--

that furrow -shatters-, black glass spraying everywhere as static blares with impotent rage that cannot - no, REFUSES - to adapt beyond that monofocused worldview.

''If you lose. Find out why. Fix it. Come back at it. Gives you something to strive to. Just go out swinging either way right?''

As Moriko summons Otohime, the great fox snapping down on a weakpoint at the Homunculus' shoulder made brittle and vulnerable by Yanagi's magic. Its shoulder fractures, splinters -- and the following blow of jagged, cracking earth just SHATTERS the Homunculus' right arm entirely, sending it lurching, straining futiley against Saika's chains.

''... you're kind of a sore loser. Winning is what you make of it--there's more ways to win than just coming in first.''

As Ririka addresses Nakata directly, emboldening and doubling the power his Atelier provides through literally hyping it up with a nostalgic theme from a game he loves, even if it became the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. It helps to strengthen the others, to make them push that extra inch.

The triplicate gouts of flame that batter and bake at Nanghaithya's weakening form, stripped of its fiery protections? Well, it just helps to underscore the whole point. There's more than one way to win.

''If you can't even rise to bear the pain of existing, you won't survive outside this zone. This was your test, and you've _failed_.''

As Umie weaves the bleak words of that poetic, (prophetic?) verse, creating a disconcerting tableau for the sake of the fight that fuels the koyketsu shoge's dangerous dance, the cats cradle of barbs ensnaring and cutting into the form of Nanghaithya with angry and discontent screeches of metal scraping metal, helping to ensnare it just as it was beginning to strain and break from Saika's grasp.

''...You're still trying. If everything were as you said it was, would there be any point in continuing to strive?''

As Katsuya, rising high on that ascending chunk of cognitive earth, defies the idea of extreme wind resistance to squeeze that trigger and - despite all odds - pull of that perfect shot, piercing Nanghaithya straight through the overhang of its arcade 'forehead'. It cracks -- and the furious bolts of Helios beat upon that weak point, until frozen-over plastic and metal SHATTERS, revealing nothing but swarming, absolute, saturated scarlet beneath the arcade facade.

''So petulance is what it comes down to?''

As So-young weaves a song of Hope in answer to Myunghon's call, the upbeat and uplifting notes winding and empowering Ririka's own music to break past the doubt, the unpleasantness - the discontent of it all -

- to send Icarus BLASTING past, buffeting winds sending it toppling -backwards- in mid-air before that great cry literally cracks and SHATTERS what glass remains on the screen, revealing more of that depthless, endless scarlet sea promising everything and nothing all at once--

</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
''... I was just like you, once. I lived in a zero-sum world that didn't believe in anything but winners, while it blithely told everyone that they had potential. But it was always obvious that only certain people could win from the start...''

... As Myunghon still tries to reach out to the Homunculus - the thing that can only feel existence in this 'real' life by usurping someone else's - in how its words echoes with their own past. How, even despite everything, they still sympathize -- even as the power of their bonds, the power of that suffocating Hope, smothers out the very defenses Nanghaithya had against Kudlak's quintessential element--

--until that single, small point of absolute, imperishable black descends, that small point of not-light touching upon it --

--and dragging the garish greens and pestilent pinks of color from the Homunculus' crackling frame as it becomes a world of monochrome unto itself, a coup de grace to weaken it for the final blows...

''I'll never give up. And as long as I never give up, as long as a heart of justice and purity beats in my chest - No matter what you do to me, I'll never really lose!''

As Ixquic and Quixote defy their zero-sum view of life with the very idea that you CAN change - change yourself - change the ''world'' - hammering that point home with as she punches through those tempestuous, catastrophic winds despite all logic to drive STRAIGHT through Nanghaithya, puncturing its frozen, brittle, bulbous belly in a diagonal impact that sees the mighty warrior and her Persona BURSTING out right where that oversized head connects to its freshly-forged body. Sparks sputter from severed cables in her wake, Nanghaithya lurching towards the right--

''Looks like he's found a life worth living even if he doesn't win...''

As Roger's existential ruminations give way to defiance, as he finds it within himself to defy the end with his newfound power - ''his'' newfound power - of individuality - whipping that racquet about and about until he SLAMS that ball into a wild, tempestuous spin through the maelstrom--

Game! Set! MATCH!

-- building up so much frightening momentum that by the time Roger strikes it, it screams like a meteorite of blazing light--

''If I'm the Goddess of Tricks who never loses, who makes you so mad, then I declare... game over for Nanghaithya the Discontent!''

-- just as Hazuki Nakao, defying the parasitic existence of Nanghaithya the Discontent for the sake of the boy whose skin it wore and now strives to unmake in its petty rage--

-- drives down slash, after slash, after slash, carving away chunks of the Homunculus, revealing more swarming, infinite scarlet saturation beneath--

until Janus's great light reaches a blinding crescendo--

((WHY WON'T YOU ALL JUST))

THOOOOOOOM

until Hazuki and the comet that is Roger's tennis ball SMASH into Nanghaithya at the same time, and the whole world becomes a brilliant flash of white.

...

...

...

In the aftermath...

It's there, crumpled and sagged to the side. Nanghaithya the Discontent.

((why.))

Reality - physicality - flecking off its form like shedding scales, bit by dissolving bit.

((why. why. why. why can't i win.))

Until all that's left is a silhouette of saturated scarlet once more, and two points of shining red light separate from it.

((i want to))

Its last words fade into weak angry nothings of static as it dissolves away. As the winds die down.

As the Atelier finally knows peace, and freedom, after coming so very close to a precipice there was no returning from.

Across the Big Top, the remains of the Cocoon are scattered -- dazzling, glittering, beautiful, and swelling with latent, cognitive power that could be plied towards making something truly powerful.

And where the Homunculus faded?

All that remains are those two points of red light - its Eyes - shimmering, orbiting, for a brief moment--

--until they fall to the ground with a clatter, revealing nothing more than a pair of ruby joysticks in their wake.

''You were truly, wonderfully, resplendently, undeniably.........''

''... Human.''

</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>As Nanghaithya the Discontent falls, muttering his last words, Hazuki steps forward. She has no pity, no remorse in those eyes, even as he's immensely pitiable.

"Players 1... win."

And then, suddenly, she stops, taking a deep breath, as the Homunculus fades away, Hazuki looking everywhere and nowhere at once.

She suddenly goes into a trance, like she's not there at all. She's still standing, but she's somewhere else.

It's dark, at first. But she feels the compulsion to walk. Each step lights up underneath her feet, like she's stepping on lightup tiles in the formless void. Brilliant colors sparkle outwards, as she traces a line through the light, a thread to follow, or perhaps half of a connecting cord.

The thread leads her in different directions, until she finally reaches a grandly displayed golden door with a massive keyhole in it.

Hazuki reaches to push open the door, but it doesn't budge. No, it's sealed.

Her hand rises, as if on its own. It begins to move, to touch something sight unseen, and the door starts to unlock, opening...

Behind it is only light.

It's time to wake up. Time to connect.

Hazuki snaps out of her reverie, taking a few steps forward. She moves towards the center of the Big Top, ignoring all pleas, all calls, all requests.

She reaches out for something no one else can see... and she finds it.

Like yanking on loose seams, something unravels, a veil no one else has ever seen. In the center of the Atelier, floating in the air, is a large two-dimensional neon sign depicting art of Kappa, likely crafted by a child many years ago. The Kappa is smiling, cheerful, but faded - the light barely shines, and the colors are dim.

"...connect," Hazuki says simply and audibly, reaching her hand out for the symbol. A brilliant blaze emerges in her hand, a golden light that shines with warmth and radiant power.

Hazuki smiles, a big wide one. Her eyes are focused, clear.

She touches the Kappa symbol with that light, and suddenly, there's a flash of energy, as an all-but-blinding flash beacons upwards, shining immaculately through the Big Top. Absolutely everyone there can see it, from human to Humor.

The Kappa symbol, once cleansed with that light, is revealed. No longer faded, the neon green lights shine brightly, as the Atelier feels stronger, more stable. Like it won't just slip away so easily again.

The veil soon rethreads itself, hiding it away again, safe and sound.

Then, wracked by the day's exhaustion, Hazuki starts to slump over, eyes hazy. Someone might want to help her stay upright.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
"Well, you could be fully rotten, but you're so helpful in combat that I think you do have redeeming qualities after all!" Yanagi helpfully explains to Yukari.

That was earlier. Now the Homunculus has been destroyed and the winds are dying. Yanagi lands with the help of Giselle, summoned in mid-air to bring her to safety; the Persona descends en pointe, and Yanagi is cradled in her needle arms. She slips down with the help of her cane-gun, and gazes at the Homunculus's final moments, listens to its final words.

She did warn it that it would die never understanding why it would never get to exist. But if it understood, it probably wouldn't have ended up this way.

Yanagi glances to one side at Myunghon as they express not pity but genuine empathy, going so far as to call it human. A curious reaction indeed... but she isn't going to tell them they're wrong for feeling that way. Instead, she looks back at the Homunculus--or, rather at this point, what remains of it.

Its red eyes have left behind a pair of ruby game controllers.

Yanagi looks at Saika and Pernelle, and nods. Then she looks at the others--whomever of them are paying attention to Peacock Silk instead of Hazuki and her dazed march towards a golden door and the light behind it, anyway. Not that Yanagi can see that part too, even with her abilities, but the oddness of it has her interest anyway. Still, a woman needs to prioritize.

"The threads of the Cocoon are called filum regium. They're ''very'' useful for making armors and such," she explains, pointing to the beautifully glimmering remains of the Cocoon spooled all around them. "Collect what you can, and if you bring them to Peacock Silk, we can make them into something wonderful for you." She smiles and waves farewell. "We'll be waiting for you~!"

When Saika and Pernelle have gathered the controllers, Yanagi will give one last lingering look at Hazuki as she "connects" that Kappa symbol and somehow revitalizes it, an unasked question in her gaze. Then she leaves with her dear companions.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
Pernelle descends from his aerial assault in slow, gliding circles. He comes to a gentle landing by the Homunculus' fallen treasures... those beautiful, ruby red joysticks... tilting his head back and forth like the early bird spotting a juicy pair of worms...

... before he strikes back down like a viper twice in quick succession, pecking up the joysticks with such violence one would think Pernelle thought them still trapped in their sockets. He tosses them into the air with the momentum of his enthusiasm, catching each in his beak.

Mouth full with his prize, Pernelle must make his farewell a wordless one. He lowers into a deep, elegant bow before turning to hurriedly dash away with the natural waddle caused by his heavy train.

In his wake, he leaves the fading echo of mischievous giggling.

He got his taste after all...

</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> Roger takes in heavy breath - maybe a little freaked out, coming down from an adrenaline high, what is this? - as the Homunculus is destroyed. The threat to Taro Nakata is no more, and he will continue to live his life. His life, and no other.

Surrounding the Big Top, the group can see Coleric Humors looming menacingly... save for a handful of Sanguin Humors interposing themselves, as they all stare to the gathered. (This seems a threatening gesture, until the Tickets Machine Repair One holds out an offering of tickets to a number of incidental Persona-users who are nearby.)

Roger doesn't quite grasp the idea of being truly exhausted, what it means when it feels like you, yourself, are no longer running on all cylinders. This is normal for new awakenings, and it seems even those who are - were? - Shadows are no different.

"We did win...!" He says to Hazuki, and then laughs, looking to the rest. "Everything will be fun here again, but..."

But?

He looks at himself. Was he excluded by the other Humors because of this? Was he always capable of this? Everything's a weird blur where he only started to really notice what was going on around him when the Homonculus arrived. He...

...He can still understand what he's hearing among the murmuring Humors.

"Oh! The Sanguin Humors here... they're holding the Coleric Humors back, for now, so--"

He catches Hazuki heading off in a trance somewhere. "Ah? Hazuki-chan? What are you doing? Um--"

He watches her approach, the surprising scene plays out as Hazuki forms a connection. A brilliant blaze, that golden light... and the neon green shine of the Kappa symbol, as Flegmat Humors murmur small newfound echoes of the little thoughts and ways that Taro Nakata - the rightful ruler of his Atelier - asserts himself anew.

...About in time for Hazuki to faint.

"Oh no! Hazuki-chan!" Roger jogs over at a sedate, tired pace himself to help keep her upright.

The joysticks are taken, and Roger looks up. "Oh! They helped us a lot," Roger explains about the Peacock Silk people leaving with their prize, "and all they wanted was what the Homunculus left behind... I don't like the idea of having anything of them lying around an Atelier." ...But he doesn't know why anyone would want anything to do with those. There's a lot of questions to ask.

He'll leave with everyone else, and that sentence expressing such a casual act to the point it glances over the what it means for 'with everyone else' is something he doesn't catch onto until it happens.

...But after all, he wants to play with everyone as someone, so why would that cross his mind if he were just doing that?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
The moment of colourless, lightless transcendance is only that -- a superliminal moment that can't be measured even by the speed of light, because it has gone beyond where light can reach. Myunghon feels the caging sensations of body and physicality once more, even within the supernatural space, afterwards, freed of the enchantments of being Kappa. They were crying before.

They're still choking back sobs now, vulnerable in their mortifying curse of physical existence.

They're not sad about it. They're terrified. The only times in human history when someone says 'this thing deserves to die' is replete with the worst examples of human atrocity that doesn't need to be repeated at all here. Myunghon craves knowledge, surety in knowledge, and they're terrified of the 'gut feeling' that their supernatural senses told them 'this is wrong'. An app invasively wormed its way into their life. Umie is touched by a dark force. They can't trust that what their senses tell them isn't some other invisible force's designs on them either.

Because Humans do ''incredibly'' cruel, terrible things to each other based on their 'gut feeling'.

To even just reach very closely to a recent trauma, Koichi Ishiba's entire campaign of violence upon them, and his opinion on whether or not they should exist or belong in Japan, is based on a 'gut feeling'. They can't accept the judgement of 'Homunculi deserve to die' on an ontological level. Not while their knowledge of the depths of the supernatural space and what it means is still so shallow.

They're shedding, Nanghaithya the Discontent. They're questioning, in their last moments. They return to red... to scarlet... and--

A pair of ruby joysticks clatter in their wake. Ruby-red, just like its eyes.

They still have no idea of the question they asked at the start of all this:

''Who were they?''

Hazuki Nakao expresses no pity of remorse. And she isn't wrong, they do believe, that she feels that way. Her close friend was in mortal danger, of being subsumed, taken over forever. Myunghon acted in order to save Taro Nakata, along with everyone else, when they couldn't before. There is a blaze, a golden light... the shine of the symbol -- and Hazuki starts to fall over, and they gasp and quietly hurry, but Roger's there at her side to ensure she doesn't fall over.

Somehow, they can feel Yanagi's glance upon them -- and for a moment they meet eye-to-eyes, and Myunghon can't help but choke again. As she explains that it's filum regium, a very special material for crafting armor. They've been at this for a while... what do they know about the Homunculus that they don't? They must understand.

Merry. One more time, help.

A centering breath, and...

"... then we shall clean them with you, Roger. Will you be... coming with us?" speaks Merry, plain and simple enough, asserting themself. "Is everyone all right? Speak up if you need medical assistance." Yes, asserting the mission plan and checking off all the boxes will do to assuage their doubt at present.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ririka is tense as everyone puts their efforts forth. She keeps playing, doing her best to empower Taro, to help things hold on just long enough, and then finally...

Nothing is left but a pair of ruby joysticks. Ririka heaves a deep sigh and finally lets her hands drop. "... Okay. That thing better not have a ''fourth'' life bar."

She notices, too, those threads, formed of the Cocoon that once held a supernatural space--and Taro. She's about to ask when Yanagi explains. "Filum regium... is it really okay if we just take it...?" Or those joysticks--the Homunculus' eyes--for that matter, but Pernelle's got that one already.

Instead she's distracted by Hazuki doing... something, drawing in a sharp breath as she hears the effect of that connection being made, even if she doesn't understand it. That drawing of a Kappa... the way it looks... was it Taro's? It has to be. Maybe she can ask Hazuki about it later... when she hasn't fainted. "Nakao-chan!"

She'll go to help her, and she nods as Roger says that they should leave. "... right. We should probably avoid any more fights for tonight. Are... you gonna stay, or...?" Like Myunghon, she's curious.

... and she'll collect some of that filum regium on her way out, too.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
<poem>"Winning wasn't what mattered. It's what you do along the way." Moriko says, still through hoarse breaths. She's glad this fight's over. She's got nothing left in her as best she can tell. This is going to suck tomorrow for sure. The biker's always tinkering away, working. It's probably no shock.

She does whince a bit at Yanagi's explanation to Yukari as the fight winds down. "That's not fair." She suggests. She does admit Yukari's got a temper. Might be some solidarity with the mean faced biker that picks fights though.

That may or may not make things better.

"Thanks Kawase and Takeba." fingers tightening their grip as she forces herself up. "I think I'm good for now."

Reaching out to snag some of the drifting filum regium as it floats by. Turning it over and back in her hands before stashing it.

Following Ririka's eyes to Hazuki, she watches quietly, then turns away and watches the others instead. "You all good?" That Osakan accent's thick at this point.

"Yeah. Leaving's good." She rolls her shoulders back. Works her neck back and forth, then slumps forward again, adjusting her jacket. Clearly ready to go.
Hazuki Nakao goes home.
Hazuki Nakao has left for Historia: The White Chronicle.
</poem>

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

2025-10-31: Let Your Self Be Free I

2025-11-05T22:32:52Z

Jean:

*'''Log: Let Your Self Be Free I'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Roger]], [[Hazuki Nakao]], [[Minato Arisato]], [[Reiya Aomori]], [[Myunghon Yeo]], [[Yukari Takeba]], [[Umie Akabane]], [[Katsuya Suou]], [[Ririka Kawase]], [[Fuuka Yamagishi]], [[Akari Hoshi]], [[Koh Katsuhiro]], [[Saika Kikuchi]], [[Pernelle]], [[Yanagi Nagisa]], GM'd by Tsumugi Kujaku
*'''Where:''' Taro Nakata's Atelier, The Big Top
*'''OOC Date:''' October 31, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' August 03, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Hazuki Nakao, her allies, and all the interested parties intent on solving the mystery of the Atelier arrive at the Big Top, intent on freeing Taro Nakata from the Thing that possesses him before it is too late. But how do you possibly stand against such a creature in a space that has become almost irrevocably warped into its seat of power...?''

----

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
BEFORE

Welcome, friends, to the Big Top!

"Aha! Look, everyone!"

You're expected.

"Our ''special guests'' have arrived."

It's pitch black inside, when everyone has finally properly prepared to enter the Big Top of Taro Nakata's Atelier. Within the utter darkness, though, there is a distinct feeling: ''you are not alone.''

And then that voice comes. A light ignites.

And within the pitch black, the spotlight shines for the man at the top of the hill, and him alone.

Illuminated by that lone, searingly bright light, Taro Nakata's Homunculus sits, dressed in the red-white pinstripe three piece ensemble of a ringmaster, his top hat skewed at a jaunty angle, the sash on it reading in simple English, 'AIM FOR THE TOP!' Ringmaster's baton settled in his lap, he is perched with prim arrogance on what looks almost like... a large Schiffli bobbin positioned horizontally in the air high above, its threads spooling outward to suspend it at one end of the Big Top to the other like an extremely avant garde tight rope.

From here, the Homunculus looks at his guests, a rictus grin on his face. The last time Hazuki saw the Homunculus, that clown makeup on his face looked like it was in the process of... ''melting'' off him. Before, it seemed like it was almost half-melted off.

Now, it looks almost entirely gone, save for a few, dribbling vestiges.

The Homunculus opens his eyes, that bright, glowing yellow of his gaze focusing on the Persona-Users even within the plunging dark of the tent. As if on cue, another spotlight ignites over them all, to shards of framing light in the dark. His head tips up, grandiosely.

"You're a little late, but not to worry."

A gloved hand lifts, thumb to middle finger.

"The audience is always eager to see someone try and fail!"

*snap*

And then the ''whole tent'' just ''alights'', revealing the great arena of the big top and the throngs of bleachers that encircle it, stuffed to the brim with a captive audience of Flegmat Humors, cheering and jeering for the latest unfortunate freak show to stumble into the Big Top...

... as one by one, cognitive beasts, clowns and circus freaks come into being in swelling bursts of pustulent, bruising black.

The Homunculus' grin widens.

"So... shall we begin the show?"

NOW

Things are not going well.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf6swWyqT2s

It's not really a matter of strength or skill. The cognitive creatures that the Homunculus arrays against everyone aren't particularly strong -- certainly not stronger than the Melanc Humors that had been guarding the Big Top. They're dispatched easily enough.

The problem is...

"Again!"
"Again!"
"Again!"
"Again!!!"

Every time they destroy one of those cognitive creations, it's instantly replaced by another, with no end in sight.

Attrition is the name of the game. Warped, distorted strong Men and Sword Swallowers attack relentlessly, and every time one is destroyed, a gaggle of masked clowns burst into being just behind their dissolving bodies, giggling and spring-spronging into the fray; every time the clowns are taken out, a fire-eater is suddenly there, spraying the ground floor of the Big Top with flames.

And more and more, and more, of countless shapes and varieties. As if there was no end to them. The solution should be obvious:

Destroy the Homunculus. Take them out at the source.

And yet any time someone -tries- to even -reach- that Homunculus on its bobbin throne, it ''instantly'' repels them with the sweep of a baton or the casting of some powerful magic or simply a shockingly powerful insult, knocking them back into the show.

Monstrous, gangly lions have begun to prowl out of the shadows as the Homunculus cackles above, bouncing on his bobbin and planting gloved hands on knees as he leans forward in delight.

"You see, you see?! There's only room for one at the top of the hill! Everyone else--"

Lions spring, soon joined by clowns, strong men and other so-called freaks to the excited cheers of the crowd.

"--is just the fodder at the bottom!!"

Just how are they meant to win when the enemy decides the rules--?

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem>
From behind those who gathered, a show already unfolds around them as a number of local Sanguin Humors appear. The cavalry, as it were. Aware of the Homonculus' presence, and without enough of the hijacked Melanc Humors to stop them, they flood into the show. The ticket machine repairman, the soggy dunk tank occupant with a mouth on them, the ride operators, the rigged shooting game host, and others of their ilk shout the reflected vestiges of Taro Nakata's interests and desires as Coleric Humors flood in.

No one has anything to fear about being surrounded, in the moment, as the Coleric Humors are directed around the gathered to directly engage the Homonculus' forces. A moment of hope, from the rallying cry of Hazuki's call of arrival and will that the gathered aren't going anywhere?

"We're here at last!" Roger, the most familiar of all, that pig-like Sanguin Humor, pumps a fist. "Your terrible games are boring and not fun for anyone! It's game over, and you're out of credaaaaaah--!!"

He is cut off by no less than a trio of slinking Coleric Humors trampling him. Another Sanguin Humor shoves him aside to a protesting series of squeals of both surprise and also distress.

"Even now...?" Roger protests, anger and dismay giving way to disbelief - and not just because of the exclusion by what should be his peers within the Atelier.

It is because the cavalry is quickly being routed by the Homonculus' influence. Coleric Humors dissipate back into the shadowy mists and disperse as they are defeated by the Homonculus' own loyal. Even one of the present natural Melanc Humors that were under the Homonculus' sway are not spared in the carnage, the Homonclus' need for them effectively at end at the cusp of overtaking Taro Nakata once and for all.

Roger can only watch as exaggerated tears fly in horror, and yet, somehow, with clarity on what exactly is happening. "Oh no...! The Homonculus is about to fully take their place! I... I can't even recognize what those are!"

Whatever the cognitions the Homonculus has created, it is clear that after a point, it's the Homonculus ripping and warping this length of the fabric of reality to their whims to something unrecognizable and... unnatural. Something that should not, and cannot, be.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>THEN:

They're running out of time. Hazuki Nakao has sent the text to those she knows are involved: it's time to drop everything and save Taro Nakata.

As the Persona Users enter the Big Top, she leads the pack, clad in her full transmutation garb, orange and ash grey hair visually muddying her true appearance along with her golden eyes shining so brightly. Her wing pauldron guards her arm, as a gilded baseball bat with an infinity symbol on it rests against her opposite shoulder.

The pitch black darkness doesn't scare her. Right now, nothing scares her. But as the light ignites, Hazuki's shouting out. She doesn't know if he can hear her, but...

"Nakata-kun! We're here! We're not going anywhere!"

She let him down. She was pushy, clingy, selfish, and didn't notice his pain simply because she didn't ''know'' him. But to let that kill him, to let that be his last grasp of life... that's not okay. Even if he never forgives her...

He deserves a chance to shine brightly as another star in the sky.

The Homunculus is terrifying. He addresses them, so cocky, so confident.

The bat is swung into a point, straight at the Homunculus. There is no fear on her face, even if it exists in her heart. Just a determined glare. She might lose. She might die. They might both die. But as she told SEES, the priority is to save Nakata-kun.

She can't stand by and let him fade away.

"You've done enough. I, Hazuki Nakao, will strike you down!"

NOW:

Another clown tramples towards her. The bat swings out, smashing it away, as Janus floats ahead, the two-faced Persona having enhanced her attack power and speed already. It's not enough.

Janus fires another blast of light at a strongman, burning into it with the brightness of the sun. It's not enough.

At one point, she charges the Homunculus himself, and is thrown bodily backwards, sliding onto her heel and gritting her teeth.

"Coward! Face us yourself!"

The lions come out. Hazuki's getting worn down. A battle of attrition, for sure.

But she's not giving up, as she cocks her head to Roger. He can't fight. He's just a Sanguin Humor, a little pig who wants to try.

...but she's going to speak to him nonetheless.

"Don't give up, Roger! We're all connected here! As long as we stick together, we'll get a perfect clear!"

Even if, right now, it's mostly an attempt to reassure herself, too.
</poem>
GAME: Hazuki Nakao sets her Transmutation desc!

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
<poem>
When the enemy decides the rules...

"Takeba-san, left flank," Minato calls out, with that same calm nature which made him the leader to begin with. "I'll call their attention." An archer like her struggles when the enemies are crowding her out; that's why he's standing in front of her. His own weariness is a thing which isn't clearly conveyed in his manner; just a little sag of his shoulders here, a little extra puff of exertion there. "Katsuhiro-kun, keep them off-balance," he advises, in his next breath.

He will get them through this. That's the image he has to project -- no matter what 'this' is.

Minato once again makes an attempt to leap up to meet the Homunculus, only for a downright ''incisive'' comment on his ''emo hair'' to send him tumbling all the way back down.

"Kawase-san," he says, without missing a beat as he stands again, "analyse the harmonic frequencies of his vocal assault." Did he put himself on the line to get dunked on JUST so their melodic Navigator could get another voice sample?! "Yamagishi-san, I know it's a lot to ask, but I need you to continue evaluating this new wave for weaknesses."

Minato is kind of a weird guy, but...

But Orpheus appears to strum his lyre and shower healing magics onto Hazuki -- the war-notes of ''Cadenza'' -- and it's clear he's used to helping others access their strengths. "Focus your attacks on the enemies with weak defenses, Kumamoto-san," he advises, to Moriko.

"Aomori-kun," he calls to Reiya, as he looks sharply to him and the camera snaps that way, too, "you're up."

(Of course he can Baton Pass! The fight has been going on for ''ages.'')

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
<poem>
Reiya Aomori is not uncomfortable in darkness, alone or not. But the light comes soon enough.

The ringmaster... And the show.

Reiya drops into a crouching combat stance, three needles in his right hand as he sways to be ready.

But...

More than once, Reiya tries it. He tries it directly, leaping up towards the Homunculus and somersaulting forward--only to be ''blasted'' back with the light of flame.

He sneaks up, coming around the edge while the others keep the Shadows busy--only for the spotlight to ignite upon him.

Again, and again...

Minato sets him up. Reiya rises from where he'd stood, heedless of his own fatigue. "Yes!" He answers, and summons his Persona with a shot of the Evoker to rain needles down upon some of the Shadows.

"Nakao-san!" he calls, looking to her in some concern--but sees her reaching out to Roger...

He ''sprints'' across the battlefield, to skid to a stop beside Hazuki.

"Roger-san," he says.

"...If there is something you can do..."

"Otherwise, this game may be about to end..."

He grits his teeth. "But Nakao-san, I ''will'' see you a way through!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
The Cardboard Dragon are here, in answer to Hazuki Nakao's text.

Myunghon Yeo, Rumourmonger Merry, is of course draped in their resplendent black Cognitive Coat, surrounded by the rest of the team that they trust explicitly with their life. It's time for a turnabout big top, as they enter the Big Top itself...

It's pitch black. They aren't alone. Myunghon is on guard, and then a light ignites.

It's Showtime.

So, this is a Homunculus... the way in which his dress embodies the struggles within is clear enough to see -- but that Schiffli bobbin... that must be the cocoon, then? Their objective. The way that clown makeup is melting off nigh resembles the way in which the sands from an hourglass tell them: They're almost out of time.

"Our objective is clear, then. Subdue the Homunculus and free Taro Nakata from his Cocoon!"

There's a wince as the Coleric Humours start to trample on Roger, and the Rumourmonger is swift to take action to defend him, the Cognitive Coat creating a lattice of cutting ribbons as they say, "Leave him alone."

AND THEN

"... ngh," Myunghon grunts as the Cognitive Coat ribbons rend and warp through Strong Men, one coming far too close for comfort as they find themself surrounded -- and boosts up into the air in a graceful moonsault all aided by the might of the shifting, flowing Coat. "Suou-san, Akabane-san, we must regroup," they call to their allies.

"Plan C is of no use to us anymore. We must reconsider our strategy. Akabane-san, any thoughts?" Myunghon inquires to the other devious mind of the Cardboard Dragon. Culling the herd of Humours has no visible effect, and yet aiming for the ringmaster also has them repelled by a powerful barrier (as Myunghon themself has observed, blasted away by a SICK BURN that they had to use some Y Burn on.) They thrust their coat forward to analyse samples, tasting desperation and a single-minded, heady desire for triumph at the cost of all else...

"Suou-san, Piercing and Fire attacks both shall work on these Shadows, yet--"

Then that same Strong Man seizes Myunghon and throws them onto the other side of the top and they crash against the floor, rolling painfully before landing onto a thud. They groan and grasp at that chest, which is still throbbing hard from the battle with Hiroto and Tsurugi in the abandoned warehouse in Konan. Yet, they still rise to their feet, with difficulty.

Roger falls into despair with exaggerated tears, as he claims that the Homunculus is about to achieve its goal -- they would fail. Hazuki shouts her encouragements to the Shadow-pig.

"Yes. Hazuki is right. We aren't defeated yet. This is yet another ordeal in which we need to find the thread to lace through the eye of the needle...!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
BEFORE

Tickets. So many weird challenges to obtain ''tickets''. And she's not even certain they were really required in the first place?

This place is infuriating. Even moreso when it's pitch black inside the Big Top, as she clutches her Evoker, with it pressed against her forehead. She stays in place, eyes trying to sweep around to pick anything out of the darkness... when-!

'Our ''special guests'' have arrived.'

Her lips close together. She can hear him, but she can't see him. And things you can't see are always the most frightening, even if they're speaking words she can comprehend.

And then, light!

Yukari's no longer afraid per se, but she is pretty ''bewildered''. "Uhhhh..." She doesn't know enough about Homunculi to know if this will be like Kaneshiro, or otherwise. "What are you going to do? Put on a show for-" Rictus Grin, "-us..." It steals all that sassiness from her, to see it, the only thing that seems static amongst the dribbling paint. "Ew-eugh!" She recoils a step back.

'The audience is always eager to see someone try and fail!'

"... What's with this!?"

NOW

"This is hopeless! He's just replacing them as soon as we beat them!"

Yet, as Minato calls out to her, "Got it!" And she starts darting left, bow drawn, letting their leader make space for her. The bow is smoothly drawn, and lowered in a vertical position, before more arrows sprout from one of the sword-swallowers harassing Minato.

But she too is feeling the wear and tear from this battle of attrition.

"Should we fall back?" She asks him, as she draws another arrow and tries to send it at the throne, the Homunculus instantly shattering the arrow with a sweeping flourish of his baton. "Katsuhiro-san, to your right!" She warns, as she's delayed on covering him by her attempt to shoot at the Ringmaster.

The rules...

Something darkens upon her expression, as she thinks of those rules. One at the top of the hill, everyone else fodder for the bottom. An attempt to control time - her father, in her belief that he was fodder for that ambition.

Roger and Hazuki arrive, Roger, in tears. She's still not sure what to think of that weird pig thing. Hazuki? "Is that...?" She seems surprised, then something a little crestfallen appears in her eyes. This is why she didn't want her to come. "... it's done now." She says, something in her voice hardening.

What she tells Roger is inspirational, but it's not about 'sticking together' she thinks about. She focuses on that thought she had before.

"Gotta be brave." She whispers to herself, at that realization, "Io!" With a pull of a trigger, ephemeral glass shatters out of the back of her head like skull fragments, and the Persona appears, blasting a springing lion and a strong man back with the Magaru spell.

"... You're at the top? Don't make me laugh. If I'm the fodder, then why are you so ugly that I can barely stand to look at you?"

Maybe provocation isn't the right way to go, but either way... it's done now. She might as well try to give Nakao an opening... because if they're not retreating, the only way out is to win, by saving their friend.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Umie Akabane has a general rulebook for how she navigates supernatural spaces, regardless of what they are:

Rule 1: Do not be seen.
Rule 3: Do not be expected.
Rule 9: Every lock is simply a barrier.
Rule 11: If the rules are set up just to force you down, make your own.
Rule 13: _Failure is *not* an option._ (Because it means death, or, potentially, a fate worse than death.)

'Oh my, I do love seeing you keep trying the same thing over and over and over...'

Umie is one of many who try to directly try to subdue the Homunculus, suddenly in the air behind the Homunculus Ringmaster in mid-spin, bifurcated blade in one hand and a metal coin ring clasped in the other. Her intent is not to *kill*, as she's unsure of the consequences, but, as she found out the first time she attempted this stunt--

"Grt--!" --you can't half-ass your approach.

So there goes Umie, yet again, knocked like a ball by a burst of magic, rocketing over to land neatly in the hands of a warped strongman, who in turn tosses her in the air in an impressive throw aimed towards the hungry waiting jaws of a monstrous lion.

Red-nailed hands land, palms down, against each row of the lion's viciously sharp teeth, as Umie's mouth silently mutters a mantra of 'shitshitshitshitshit' as she gazes down into a seeming chasm of a throat paradoxically lion-shaped, yet wide enough to swallow her whole. She bends her legs, adding onto it with a similar (shaky) bend of her elbows, attempting to produce the momentum needed by kicking and straightening them both. The coat's back falling over the back of her head is not helping much here, now is the two weights behind each end of the shoge.

"Hup!" But land on her feet Umie does, springing back a few steps. Then, hunching down, she casts her gaze about, looking for some shadow or another to hide in.

There are none, of course. This is a circus, and a proper show needs proper lighting.

'... It's like having my own cute little clown~'

That's... not a bad idea, Umie thinks, to Mai-chan's sweetly whispered words in her mind. Not the clown part, but... "... That's it!" Anyone close to the short young woman may be perplexed as to what Umie is responding to, though, in the rush of things, it may not even matter.

"... Katsuya-san! Merry-san! If this is all a stage... Maybe we need to appeal to the crowd? Everyone loves an underdog, so...!" (That may just be you, Umie.)

Like many of Umie's strange experimental ideas, it may be boom or bust.

There's just one problem: unlike the showmanship she displayed earlier, the actual *thought* of grabbing an unseen crowd's attention... For some reason, it's scarier than directly grabbing the Old Maid's attention, or some other opponent that she can see and percieve herself.

'... Afraid of the spotlight again, Umie-chan?'

And this weakness has someone being *extra* chatty tonight.

'All those eyes, seeing you, perceiving you, changing their perception of you, changing you?'

Umie *had* a mask. It's not there anymore, lost somewhere between the second attempt, or was it the third attempt?

'Though I suppose you don't have to worry about it if you're dead~'

She tries to dig into the pockets of her jacket. She had a spare, she know she does, somewhere... "They can't see who I am..." she hisses, under her breath.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
He had come when Umie had called him. There had been a development with the Atelier, a phenomenon about which it seemed even veteran Persona-users knew very little about, beyond the basics of how to enter on. That is, beyond the apparent nature of the 'Homunculus' and its threat to the holder of the Atelier.
She'd wanted him along.

It was just days ago that someone had made a disturbing post onto the Darkside BBS. That person had recounted a tale that, if true, had some unsettling support for the fact of the Homunculus's 'self'.

But... now it's possible to enter the Big Top at the heart of the Atelier. What in the world does this mean? He could speculate, but speculation is useless at this state--

BEFORE

"I can't see anything...?"

Still, he wouldn't have expected complete and total darkness within. He's read about the perfect darkness found in the depths of caves, but this--

Even with sunglasses, when there is, shockingly, that one point of brilliant light, Katsuya squints at the Homunculus, the master of the Circus. It's a hideous sight.
And around them, too, there is light. He takes a quick look around, drawing his own conclusions about the supernatural realm in which they now stand. "If this is a circus, then there should be an audience," he states, pointing at the Ringmaster Homunculus. Surely, they aren't the 'guests'.

Ah.

"I think... that I understand. If they are the audience, then we are--"

NOW

When you're not the one who controls the show or the viewer, then you're the participant.
Whether you like it not.

But for each Melanc Humor they dispatch, there's another taking its place. It's attrition writ plain. "At this rate...!" Katsuya declares, aiming his firearm towards the ground in the wake of the Sisyphian task of felling another sword-swallower Melanc. They'll run out of resources or stamina before they can make a dent in the horde. If... even that is possible.

"Appeal to the crowd... The Homunculus seems to believe there is only room for one to stand out, while the rest are 'faceless'. Is it just being exceptional that matters? As it stands, it can't be touched!" he wonders aloud, snapping up his gun to draw a bead on one of those Melanc lions. "Or--"

Do they need to appeal to the Homunculus's logic, or do they need to disprove it? Which one is correct? What are the 'rules' here?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
BEFORE

Hazuki had sent out the call, and Ririka was here with SEES to respond. Apparently time was running out, so they had to act. Ririka just hoped they were ready for what came next.

She was nervous. Scared, even. She tried to swallow it down, to set her jaw and to draw from that well of confidence she used when she was on stage performing. It wasn't endless, but hopefully it would carry her through this fight.

She's dressed in her new SEES uniform--it looks, at a glance, like the regular Gekkoukan uniform, with some important differences. Her jacket has a purple ribbon instead of red, a red SEES arm band and shoulder plate on one arm and a metal plate on the other. She has a pair of gloves and boots with metal bands, and a belt with both a holster for her Evoker and a scabbard for her katana.

She draws up short when the Homunculus comes into view, fighting a shiver. "... ''that's'' it," she mutters to her fellow SEES members. "... that feels like what I felt at the arcade."

But Shadows are summoned to start the show, and Ririka pulls out her Evoker and puts it to her head. She closes her eyes for just a moment, her grip tightening in the instant before she pulls the trigger. "... Amphion!"

A stone man manifests in blue flame and shattering glass, clutching a golden lyre. "I'll support everyone the best I can!"

NOW

Minato puts himself in a position to be attacked, and calls on her for analysis. "R-right!" She's got a pair of headphones on her head, courtesy of Amphion, and she clutches at them with one hand while playing something rapidly on an invisible keyboard in front of her. "... I can't find a way to counter it! It's too strong!"

She's flagging. She's been using every trick she could to boost everyone's defenses, to rap them up in melodies to continually mnd wounds and restore stamina, and even sharing her own energy directly with others in need.

And she's starting to run out. "Arisato-san, we need a new plan."

A short-lived cavalry attempt arrives, spearheaded by Roger, the friendly (?) Shadow they met before. "Roger!" It feels weird to be concerned for a Shadow, but she is. "Hang in there! Amphion, Rakukaja!" Earthly energy flows up to embrace Roger and fortify his defenses.

he knows the place best. He's their best insight into what's going on.
Aigis has arrived from Historia: The White Chronicle.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>Fuuka Yamagishi knows what it's like to be trapped in a hostile, supernatural environment against your will. Whether trapped in Tartarus or within one's own mind, it eats away at you, leaving you with nothing but your fears and insecurities...

For Taro, right now, it may be even more literal than it was for her. That's why she wants to help him - even though she doesn't know him. SEES had said they would do what they can... but it feels personal, too. She wants to prove she can help people in the way she was helped.

And that's what brings her here today. The last time she was here, it was just for reconnaissance... but today, she's ready for a fight - and so, she's dressed this time in full combat uniform. It's largely reminiscent of the Gekkoukan winter uniform, but a few changes have been made - the sleeves of her turtleneck are fitted more closely around her arm, rather than widening out with dangling tassels. The simple club armband has been replaced with a sleeker, longer one, covering her upper arm and shoulder. Accompanying this is a black, hooded shoulder cape, with zippers on each side. Resting over her ears is a set of silver headphones bearing a gold SEES label, to better keep in touch with her team even in the middle of supernatural conflict.

...And right now, they're all in the middle of a fight - one that has been going on for quite a while, by this point, as every time they seem to be making headway against the flood of Shadows, more seem to appear.

Fuuka stands behind her allies. Lucia surrounds her, arms outstretched wide as her globe protects her. But a crack is beginning to form on its surface, the metal forming the eye ring growing tarnished and worn through exhaustion.

"More enemies coming in...!" Fuuka announces. "They just keep coming... Is there no end to them? There has to be something we're missing..."

Fuuka closes her eyes, breathes in, and exhales. She tries to relax and focus. Fortunately, Minato's voice cuts through the din of battle. She nods, her gaze sharpening once more.

"Understood, Arisato-san." Fuuka replies. She turns her eyes onto the enemy once more. "There are multiple weaknesses... Let them pinpoint them for you, everyone."

One advantage, however slight, of having so many foes is that there's no shortage of targets. She relays the information she has to everyone, allowing them to pick their own with a bit more insight.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>The Legendary Magical Warrior Ixquic, returned from the depths of eternity (because it's easier for Akari to pronounce than perpetuity) has been here with Hazuki the whole way. She braved the Atelier with her on the first trip, and she was off like a shot as soon as she knew tonight was the night. She was eager for an adventure after her (extremely) lackluster showing on her exams; they may just be middle school exams, but...

But THAT is a problem for NOT NOW.

"You foul demon that hides in the darkness, concealing your true face behind another's..."

"It is I, the Legendary Magical Warrior Ixquic, who has come to help! You, who have taken another's place, an echo of corruption... I'm going to kick your butt!" When the lights come on, Ixquic is already posing, holding her gigantic golden sword - now with a tassel of ribbons tied to the hilt - and pointing the tip directly at the Homonculus. All the gold on her outfit - bracers, belt, the sides of her helmet - is polished, and she gleams, her red cape billowing despite the lack of obvious wind.

It's like she was made for the spotlight.

NOW

Ixquic is feeling significantly less spotlight-positive.

Ixquic's general strategy is to hit hard, take out her target, and move on. She has momentum on her side with the gigantic sword and her motorcycle-centauride Persona, Quixote. Well, she can take out as many as she likes, but it *doesn't matter*. She's tried to get into the Homonculus twice, once by running and once in a leap off Quixote's ... back? saddle?

Either way, she has managed to get thrown once by said Homonculus for her trouble (the other time a Strongman grabbed her out of the air so she didn't get there at all; when he threw her she nearly hit the SEES team but stuck her sword into the ground and spun around it three times, drilling a divot in the floor with the angled tip, before she got her feet under her).

Even Akari, bottomless well of energy that she is, is struggling...

But she has another idea.

"Hazuki-chan!" Ixquic calls, waving her arms. One of the arms is still holding her gigantic golden sword so it looks vaguely threatening, though she manages to turn the backswing into using the flat like a shield to take a stray shot.

"This isn't working! We just need to get there, right...? To knock him off?" She's starting to get an idea... "We need an opening! I have a plan though! It's genius! But it needs you too!"

But 'get an opening' is harder than it seems...
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
<poem>
THEN

"Oh," Koh says, once light burns away the darkness of the big top and he's blinked away the afterimage burnt into his eyes.

"Better put on a show, then." His lips cut into a smile that carries more confidence than he feels.

NOW

False bravado has given way to exhaustion, both physical and spiritual. The needlessly stylish SEES combat uniform that Koh just recently received is already in need of repair, but the bright patch remains at least untouched.

Minato's request is met with a, "No problem!" despite there being very many problems. Koh twists out of the way of a flung bowling pin at Yukari's warning, flashing his teammate a quick raise of hand in thanks before his evoker fires again.

Dancing behind him, reveling in the melee, his Persona gleefully siphons his remaining reserves into another malignant wall of vapors.

The next few Shadows that breach close enough to SEES formation will at least do so unsteadily, as likely to tear into each other as the two navigators.

"A little low!" He calls in warning, though it's clear by the heavy breathing and sagging posture.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
''Coward! Face us yourself!''

The answer to that taunt is bald-faced, contemptible laughter, seeming to almost distort at times like a strained, old digital note. It's a fact that Ririka, tuned and so focused on such things, can tell:

Just like the Homunculus itself, it doesn't sound - for FEEL - natural. Like natural noise being replicated and blasted through an old speaker.

"Oh please! Why would I bother with trash? You're the entertainment! So -- ENTERTAIN ME."

And entertained the Homunculus seems, throughout all their attempts to reach him -- throughout all their struggles against his seemingly limitless creations. The Flegmats seem to respond to his amusement, cheering and clapping in increasingly higher volumes the more and more exhausted the Persona-Users who have rallied with Hazuki become.

Reiya continues with increasingly canny methods to try to reach the Thing wearing Nakata's face directly -- and yet every time, it seems to have a new way to repel him, even as he puts those vaunted talents for moving in the shadows to use.

The others: Minato, Myunghon, Umie, Hazuki -- they all experience a similar fate.

And every time, the Flegmats call out,

"Again!" "Again!" "Again!!"

As if demanding they continue to try, and fall flat.

Like this entire world lived to see them struggle and fail.

Not that anyone here is going down without a fight. Between Myunghon, Ririka and Fuuka, they are managing to keep a lock on the vulnerabilities of the encroaching cognitions: the rapid-fire of Yukari's bow pierces through the Strongmen attacking Minato -- and one additional lion, attempting to pounce in from behind.

Katsuya's efforts and trusty firearm takes out another sword swallower before it can brandish its blade against him.

The flames of a fire-spitter buffet wildly against Ixquic's massive sword, the heat broiling against cognitive metal that refuses to yield against the onslaught.

Koh's Persona all but sings in the chaos, ripping through approaching cognitions, at one point destroying one before it's even fully spawned out of its bruising blotch of befouled, cognitive energies.

Minato's healing helps to power and bolster Hazuki, the supportive magics that the natural-born leader of SEES wields helping to keep them all in the fight a little bit longer.

But the more they fight that fight, the more it might feel like there's only one possible end. The cognitions simply keep coming, fueled by the Homunculus' increasingly iron-fisted grip on this space. Myunghon is right -- a change of strategy is necessary. A direct approach simply isn't working. But then what can they do?

Appeal to the crowds? Work within the Homunculus' rules? ...

Above, the Homunculus leans forward, its yellow-eyed stare focusing on Roger with a faint frown.

"... Annoying," he mumbles beneath his breath, a thick, greasy driblet of paint dropping off the tip of his nose. "Annoying. Annoying. What are you..."

But, suddenly--

''... You're at the top? Don't make me laugh. If I'm the fodder, then why are you so ugly that I can barely stand to look at you?''

"... What?"

-- he finds himself distracted from his reverie.

Yellow eyes glide towards Yukari, the exact second she spits out that insult. That gaze narrows, as lips almost free of a clown's ruddy red paint pull into a tight frown.

"Who are you?" he asks, his voice a crackled snarl. "WHO ARE YOU? ''I'm'' ugly? You're NOTHING. You think you can laugh at me??"

That seems to have gotten his attention.

The Flegmats hush in reaction. His gaze darts to them for a moment, and frustration becomes apparent on his features. Maybe it is like Umie says -- maybe turning the crowds against him ''will'' work, if only for the sake of his ego. The others' ideas about distracting him - Ixquic's idea about ''unseating'' him - might just be on the right track. But--

"... You can't stand to look at me, huh? Fine. Fine. FINE. Let's make this the last time you have to, then."

The Thing Wearing Taro Nakata's Face sighs, head slumping into a gloved and waiting palm, fingers squishing a paint-grease smeared cheek as the unrightful ringleader of this captive carnival stares on at the chaos in with a bland, half-lidded stare.

"This isn't fun anymore." it states flatly, to the audience? To itself? Perhaps only one of those answers truly matters. "So let's just end it here, shall we? What a shame, Nakao. All that tough talk, and in the end, you're just like the rest of them. A small, inconsequential loser."

The Homunculus sighs. It lifts its free, gloved hand up, thumb pointed sideways.

"But let's be fair about it. The people will get their say. So, ''people''!"

The Flegmats in the audience all fall silent. As if just -- ''waiting''.

"Should we put an end to these little losers?!"

"KILL THEM!"
"Kill them!"
"KILL THEM!"
"kill them!"
"KILL THEM!"
"kIlL tHeM!"
"do a flip"

"KILL THEM!!"

"Well."

The Homunculus leans forward, yellow eyes widening with inhuman delight. A grin of cartoonish proportion grows on its scarcely-painted lips, spreading almost to the very corners of its eyes, pearly white teeth far too wide and far too pointed.

"You heard 'em."

Its gloved hand tips down. It swipes its cane, flips to a standing position on that bobbin, and swings that cane downward.

As, just above, a TREMENDOUS circle cannon seems to just ''unmeld'' from the tent top, fuse lighting in preparation to deliver the coup de grace upon all gathered.

"Guess that PERFECT CLEAR is just out of reach, Nakao! YOU LOSE--!"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
"Here comes a new challenger, mother****!"

INSERT MUSIC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrUuKehpGuQ - NOT FOR CHILD

This interruption comes from someone who is hauling ass from the front of the big top. A late arrival? Covering a flank unannounced? A dramatic hang-back? Something of all of these?

Either way, Saika Kikuchi is on the scene. Many have seen her, but perhaps this is the first time she has been seen *clearly*. Saika is running, sort of; but it's more like a leaping, skipping motion, momentum as well as some power in her legs meaning that she leaps *over* people on her way forwards.

It puts one in a great position to read some of the things on the back of that long white yankii coat she has on. Flowery kanji that doesn't *exactly* suit what's being expressed, block-printed in vivid, glossy black. One in particular stands out as her leaping bounds move from covering ground to rising in height:

'Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I
can make you so wretched the light of day will be hateful to you.'

As Saika's skipping motion bursts past the ragged, bloody edge of those assembled's conflict with the terrifying power of the Homunculus, she vaults up - planting a foot *on top of the Homunculus's head* on her way upwards. As she rises, she turns round, legs spreading halfway-apart like scissors to grasp around the gaping barrel of that deadly cannon.

Like an acrobat, one hooks over - Saika reaches up to lash her arm to the cross-barred ankle with the chain she carries wrapped around one hand and wrist. And after that:

"hrrrrrr--"

The cannon sinks slightly out of true from the additional 10X pounds of Saika it's sprouted. There is a subtle groaning.

"Come ON--"

The groaning isn't coming from Saika.

"-- Frankenstein's-- ''Monster,''" Saika grunts, and the shadowy form of the Monster of legend appears, although curiously enough, he's inverted, just like Saika. His eyes cross over Hazuki's and Minato's in particularly, it seems, before that groaning sound rises to a shriek.

The barrel of the cannon is bent. Slightly 'squished', bent six degrees or so from true. Saika exhales hugely. She looks satisfied, momentarily calm.

Her eyes open. A moment later she is throwing the legendary Double Deuce at the Homunculus with both hands, *still dangling from the cannon*, her tongue hanging out of her mouth as she cackles like a harpy. "Kahahaa!! Nice show-piece, but I guess it's PRETTY USELESS NOW, HUH!?"

The cackling continues for several seconds.

After that Saika's head turns to look at the assembled. Her hands go to rest on her hips. Her hair and the long end of the chain dangle. She does not seem concerned.

"Man! That piggy was working his tenderloins off, and it's a pretty good thing he was, given what I'm seein' up here. There were like eight thousand Flegmats in here! Round of applause to all of you!" Her head turns around, looking over the group. "You know what, save that for when we win." Saika leans forwards (upwards) like a monkey, hugging the barrel with one arm as she transfers her weight from a leg-lock to an arm lock around the barrel, talking over her shoulder. "Pernelle! Yanagi! Tell 'em what's up!"

"Back to work," she says, as she lets go to fall feet-first at the Homunculus's head. As she does, she lets out that damn LAUGH again.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
"And if you would so kindly turn your attention to our left -- oh, no, my mistake, your other left -- you will see..."

A peacock soars onto the battlefield after Saika, his wingspan catching the light in shimmering iridescence. Ah, but Pernelle is not ''merely'' a peacock, and here in the Atelier, everyone can see him for what he is: a peacock ''in stylish clothing''. Admire him in his beautiful indigo vest. Adore him in his fluffy neck scarf and orange-tinted glasses. Appreciate his trendishly tattered tricorne, adorned with his own feather.

"... none other than splendid, splendiferous me!"

Every one of Pernelle's movements is more cartoonishly articulate in their range and expressiveness. He lands upon his footclaw with a graceful twirl to pivot toward a group of enemies. This bird can fight, and fight he does, steel glinting within his wings and train feathers. He opens that train -- eye spots actually ''blinking'' -- like it were spring loaded, cutting into a nearby masked clown for him to follow up with a one-two slice of the feather blades hidden in his wings with all the fluidity and elegance of a dance.

"Anqa, darling!" he calls, flourishing a deep bow as a sparkling butterfly passes by his vision. He snaps his long neck out, chomping down upon it fierce with his beak to ''devour'' as the space above him shatters into the form of a beautifully stitched, golden doll of a bird, like him her body's silhouette, but unlike him in her falcon's head. Pernelle sweeps into her, wing to wing, and Persona and User dance together before Anqa lowers Pernelle in a deep dip, her gemstone eyes set upon the enemies before them.

The seams of her head explode open, revealing the darkness within her plush skull as Mafrei bursts out and into group of sword swallowers with all the brilliance of fireworks.

"Ha HA!" Pernelle laughs joyously as he dispatches his foes. "Delightful fun!" He spins to face the others with such enthusiasm he nearly falls over before righting his balance. "But do you see? All style and not a dash of substance! This battle, my friends...

"... is a ''charade!''"

A creature that squawks loudly enough to wake the neighborhood at 2am shows the advantage to his sonorous voice as it carries over the din of battle. These are the moments that truly count. Who needs sleep in the hours before dawn when Pernelle is here in your moment of need?

"Your target is not the Homunculus, it is the cage of silk he would call his throne!" Pernelle cries. "That is where the genuine article slumbers, captured by his counterfeit!"

Pernelle sweeps out his wing, pointing to the bobbin that the Homunculus bounces upon, its threads spreading out as the tightropes of the Big Top.

"You must aim for the Cocoon!"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
And behind Saika and Pernelle is Yanagi, the support for her own group and therefore the logical back row resident. Where Saika runs and ''leaps'' on into the fray, and Pernelle flies in in grand style, Yanagi walks leisurely along, her walking cane supporting her every step.

Like Saika, Pernelle, and Hazuki, she doesn't look like she usually does, though her face is recognizably her own. Her pale skin is still pale, but her ashen hair is now a brilliant sunset pink, hot and vibrant and shaded in the dark lavender of twilight. Her lead eyes are peacock green, bright and shimmering with hints of deep blue. Her outfit is rather like a magical girl costume, with a wrap around her waist, a skirt shorter in front than in back, enveloped by a stained glass-like coat that hoop around her reinforced thigh-high boots. With each step she takes, that long hair of hers seems to undulate like the sea, waves upon waves cresting in her wake, a circlet on her brow and glittering with jewels on her temples.

She looks upon the circus with calm--from the Homunculus that would be Taro Nakata and his clown make-up that is very nearly gone, to Hazuki and her pig Shadow friend, to members of SEES and members of Cardboard Dragon and more, to the relentless hordes of Shadows that replace themselves as soon as they're felled.

It's clear that they can't sustain this, whatever plans they try to pull off. But that's all right. Yanagi waves jauntily at Saika when she encourages her and Pernelle to follow up--but then settles her attention on the Homunculus and smiles sweetly.

"Oh, my! You're almost there. Just a little more and you get to be 'Taro Nakata,'" she calls to it. She tilts her head, both hands settling on the head of her polished cane. "Or rather... Just a little more, and you ''would have gotten'' to be 'Taro Nakata.' After all, doesn't the audience love it best when the one who seems to be on top... takes a sudden, dramatic fall?"

A butterfly of light materializes before her, fluttering across her path. Yanagi raises her cane--and it becomes apparent that the inside is hollow, a muzzle that flashes when she pulls the trigger. The butterfly shatters just as she lilts, "Giselle!"

A ghostly ballerina bride with catheter needles for arms and legs materializes behind Yanagi, spinning an endless, graceful pirouette. As she remains en pointe, tiny origami angels materialize around ''her''... then vanish, only to reappear around the Homunculus, tittering as they float and sway and vanish and reappear like motes of golden dust in the darkness. They can do no harm, but they are ''quite'' annoying--and so sure to draw the Ringmaster's attention.

The Homunculus isn't the only one approached by these little paper angels. Hazuki and everyone else has one each materialize in front of them too. They unfold out of their angel form into a crumpled but flattened piece of animation paper, which frames the Ringmaster... and then pans down to the strange Schiffli bobbin on which he is perched. The thing that Pernelle just spoke of, to which he'd just pointed. It glows briefly red, before the animation cel fades.

''This'' is what they must target: the Cocoon in which the true Taro Nakata is trapped.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem>
'Don't give up, Roger! We're all connected here! As long as we stick together, we'll get a perfect clear!'

'Roger-san,' '...If there is something you can do...' 'Otherwise, this game may be about to end...'

'Yes. Hazuki is right. We aren't defeated yet. This is yet another ordeal in which we need to find the thread to lace through the eye of the needle...!'

'Hang in there! Amphion, Rakukaja!'

Roger snorts pathetically as he tries to sit up. He's been turned into a spectator without realizing (albeit one with a cushy Rakukaja buff). On on eside, the failing Humors defending what is left of the Atelier that could conceivably belong to 'Taro Nakata' and not 'the Homonculus, which is that ringmaster monstrosity.' All of them have treated him like he was an outsider, not a fellow Humor and denizen of an Atelier. On the other side, the many strange, but fun, friends who have all gathered with their amazing powers of Persona. The way SEES plays as a team is remarkable (even scary). The flashy, cool, confident ones with their own daring strategems...

"Eeee..." Roger sniffs. "I really don't know... I..." He looks up to Hazuki. "If anyone can get that 'perfect clear,' then..." If anyone. If any... one. He presses his fingers inward as he peers down. He feels like all he can do is watch, somehow surrounded by the Flegmat Humors that have warped to the Homonculus' will even though he is not ''in'' the stands.

He's... not getting to play.

"Aaah!" Roger squeals and stuffs his hands into his face, starting to panic-dance back and forth, side-to-side, as the Homonculus points that enormous cannon down at them, but then---

Here comes a new challenger, mother**** indeed, with the cannon undone... and Pernelle's keen eye for the cocoon'd guy... and the distracting teasing and marking of what the Homonculus is protecting...

Even with Saika's praise of all of his efforts, Roger continues to look downcast as what remains of the Shadow hordes that appear to reflect the real Taro Nakata's psyche continue to throw themselves into the thick of it.

"But... what can I do now? I'm not..." He gets drowned out over the sound of a familiar Sanguin Humor who fulfilled the role of a ticket machine repair specialist screaming bloody murder about tickets as the opposing Shadow hordes obscure him.

What (incidental) support the Atelier itself is attempting to leverage, Roger has no hand in - and never did, as far as anyone knows.

"Hazuki-chan... everyone... this is what separates us, isn't it..."

They have their true target, and he still can't play.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>The SEES crew is doing their best. The Cardboard Dragon is doing their best. Roger is doing his best.

What is Hazuki doing?

She's scared. But she shouldn't be - that's just vestiges of the mask she wears, telling her it's okay to be scared.

But inside, she knows she shouldn't be. Because as Reiya vows to see her through...

"Don't worry, Aomori-san. I'm gonna end this... without losing a single life."

Reiya and Yukari, as well as any others paying close attention to Hazuki, may realize this isn't just adrenaline high, or reluctant confidence, or a coping mechanism.

It's a certain sense of *surety*, a combat high that comes only from someone who feels like they were born for this. Someone freeing herself from all shackles, piercing the darkness that veils her with the light of a thousand stars.

A sense of mania that only comes from someone who this is a natural environment for. It's nothing like that gloomy girl who apologizes and is nervous on every word.

Ixquic's words cause her to snap those golden eyes over. "Okay, Ixquic-senpai! Let's set it up!"

Yes, she calls the middle schooler senpai.

But, as they push, the Homunculus Taro gets *angry* at Yukari. He gets bored. He tells Hazuki her perfect clear is out of reach, as that cannon prepares to kill them all.

She's defiant, til the last. She's still showing a determined face, as she starts stepping towards that cannon, prepared to try and defuse the brunt of it with her bat. It's insane. But if they're going to die if they do nothing...

And then comes FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER WITH A STEEL CHAIR!!!

Peacock Silk's appearance and the destruction of the cannon gets Hazuki shouting out. "Kikuchi-san! Nagisa-san! Pernelle-san! Not a moment too late! Thank you!"

it was ABSOLUTELY almost too late are you kidding

As Pernelle declares the charade and Giselle frames that bobbin for them, showing it in red as the target, Hazuki's turning towards the one person she personally brought here.

"Ixquic-senpai! We need to get to that cocoon!" She's rushing towards Ixquic, preparing a team-action, as...

"ELIGOR!"

Janus fades out, and in fades a demonic spear knight in red armor, riding a black horse. He has two horns.

Hazuki Nakao truly was a Wild Card.

"Make it count!"

Eligor casts an attack-boosting spell on Hazuki and Ixquic, energy washing over them and preparing her for her future assault!

"Nakata-kun! I'm coming for you, just hold on a little longer!"

And as Roger looks downcast, Hazuki's turning back to him, a grin on her face.

"Come on! If you can't be Player One... be Player Two! I believe in you, Roger! This is your home... it's time to save it!"

It sounded cooler in her head, but for a gamer, it's inspiring nonetheless. The message is clear: either way, you can still play.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Umie does have a plan -- cognitively, if this is all a stage, and they are but actors upon it... then are they playing the incorrect role? Katsuya himself seems to be struggling with what approach in cognitive logic they must take. There's no time to hesitate, however. They do understand the implicit weakness in Umie's own plan -- Umie would prefer to be in the *shadows*, to nto be seen. Even now, she's struggling to find her mask--

"I'll cover you, Akabane-san." They listen to Katsuya's logic. "It is all a zero-sum game to him. Only either a winner, or a loser," they remark. "But what Akabane-san says is true in that there must exist a logic in which how the 'winner' is determined. If we can pull upon that thread like the earth from underneath him, then this cognitive superiority may very well be disproved."

They saw it, after all, with Kaneshiro -- he was seemingly invincible until his money ran out.

But -- it's Yukari's taunt that seems to have wormed its way into the Homunculus' skin. Perhaps it is as Umie says. Unseating him, as Akari says. But the Homunculus is now more enraged, still wielding the power in this cognitive big top, and it stirs the audience, the frenzy, into a bloodlust as they chant for their deaths.

Myunghon recognises the threat of the cannon moments after it manifests, and they raise the ribbons of their Coat to prepare Trafuri once more. "I'm calling a retreat. Takeba-kun, SEES, can you evacuate?! We can't afford to remain here--"

But then--

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!

Myunghon's eye widen as they exclaim, "Saika?!"

This time, Saika's draped in a long white coat that has various yojijukugo imprinted upon it. No, it's not quite -- they remember that passage from... the Mary Shelley novel?

And as if confirming that, Saika's call is for the Monster itself -- appearing, as if from myth, from fiction, as it just about goes and up and tangles the cannon until it's naught but a decoration. The show isn't over, though, because Saika calls for Pernelle -- for Yanagi --

Their heart skips a bit.

Does that mean ''they'' are here too?

Ah. And how splendiferous indeed Pernelle is, iridescent in clothing adorned just for him, right from the vest to the tricorne hat! Pernelle, too, summons a Persona -- Myunghon had been wondering all this time if the Peacock is awakened -- and Anqa rises, as if in dance between two birds, and the two work in tandem to make nuclear fission happen.

This is how the world ends: when fowl play is involved.

Pernelle's advice is salient -- aim not for the Homunculus... but the Cocoon.

But Saika graced a third woman for entry -- and of course, Myunghon does watch with rapt attention; it's Yanagi Nagisa, walking in leisurely grace, but like how they'd chatted about colour, what was once ashen hair is now vibrant, sunset pink and lavender, eyes peacock green, her outfit magical and transmutative and wondrous. It is breathtaking.

"Yanagi...!"

Yanagi taunts the Homunculus dramatically, speaking of the dramatic fall that awaits Taro Nakata -- and Yanagi, too, manifests a Persona from... that flash... is that a-- Before Myunghon can wonder if that is some kind of custom-made Evoker, their attention is drawn to the repeated motifs of the butterfly, and the ghostly ballerina that pirouettes behind her.

Is... Tsumugi not here, then?

... they're not ...pining... or anything.

Hazuki has an insistence that she'll ''end'' this, without losing a single life. There's something within her words that reminds them of how they become, as Rumourmonger Merry -- it's not an adrenaline high, or reluctant confidence, or a coping mechanism... it's the surety that is seeded within her the way it was seeded in them. The certainty of what it is they must do in life--

Much like how Rumourmonger Merry must replace their flesh and blood with light and Hope.

Roger is struggling further, swallowed by that self-doubt as the Shadow hordes seem to threaten to drown him. Myunghon is finding it difficult to care and look for everyone else and they're relying on Hazuki for Roger's safety too. They think of how Roger couches everything in entertainment and play...

"Your Game is nowhere close to Over, Roger! Are you satisfied with this outcome without even picking 'Continue'?! If you are out of 100-yen coins, then I shall lend you more change!"

The Rumourmonger dramatically flips a coin across the battlefield, which lands at Roger's front. It's a Mon coin, Myunghon's precious, used to pay for ferriage across the Sanzu river.

A dangerous grin is on Merry's face as they look to roger. "My life shall be the 1-Up to let you continue!"

"... the plan hasn't changed -- we're shifting..." Merry rings the coccoon with their index finger and thumb, as Yanagi's little beautiful origami angel points out, that Revolutionary smirk on their face. "There," as Pernelle pointed out as well.

"Suou-san, Akabane-san, I'd like you to prepare the strongest force that you can muster when we do. I'll empower you!"

And then the Rumourmonger does just that, as Kudlak rises from within the vast, inky blackness of their form -- and Trafuri fires off, and the three of them are teleported across the battlefield in short order, at a more opportune angle to aim for the Schiffli bobbin, the Cocoon... empowered by... CRIME!

Can you charge a Homunculus with identity fraud, Katsuya Suou?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
<poem>
Yukari's the one who draws the Homunculus's ire, eventually, and Minato regards her affirmatively for it. It doesn't matter to him that they've decided it's time for them to die -- she found the key trigger to move this creature to its next stage.

He doesn't malign her for that -- he regards her highly. Now... how to ''survive'' the next stage... that part is his job.

Except -- the trick is -- Fools never act alone...!! And so, in a flurry of style...!

Orpheus, floating behind Minato, regards Saika -- just as Frankenstein's Monster beholds ''him.'' The cannon is bent, and...

"Cool," Minato decides, with a stern nod.

Cool, as well: the peacock soaring in. "... he can fight," Minato notes, with his usual dull expression. Surely he is impressed on the ''inside,'' though, for he was moved to ''speak'' on it.

"You, too..." He regards Yanagi with recognition. "They helped us, when the Emperor and Empress attacked," he explains, to the others. "This woman, and her peacock friend. They helped give me the strength to withstand the Full Moon Shadows."

Minato, leader of SEES... is vouching for them!!

But Roger is struggling, and Minato turns to that Shadow who has a mind of its own, that anomaly in his universe. "If there is nothing more you can do in this game," he suggests, "start another. No one game lasts forever... but the soul of a gamer endures."

Hazuki, meanwhile, summons another Persona from the sea of her soul, and Minato nods, firmly, once. "That's it."

With that, he turns -- and fires his Evoker against his skull, unflinching. "Naga!" He invokes, as a slithering snake-man rises up behind him to inflame the fighting spirits of SEES. "Katsuhiro-kun, addle the enemies so no one interferes. Takeba-san, I need you to revitalise our forces. Kawase-san, Yamagishi-san, can you work together to find the best way to break that cocoon? Aomori-kun, follow their directives with a direct assault."

He's not shaken in the slightest...!

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
<poem>
'Without losing a single life.'

Reiya is not so sure, but he knows she'll try--at the cost of her own, if need be. That's part of why he ''must'' be here.

And... Maybe Yukari's insults are the way to go. Reiya can respect her sharp tongue--it's a skill he simply doesn't have... and his own skills seem not to be doing the trick. No matter how stealthy his approach, it isn't enough. Even his ability to cloak his Resonance isn't sufficient.

But the audience...

Reiya is not one to appeal to the crowd; as it happens, it seems this challenge requires the ''opposite'' of his skillset. He isn't a performer for the stage; he's the technician who makes them shine.

But just as Reiya tries to find a way to do just that--The cannon. "Tch," Reiya says. "We're not here for your 'fun'!" he shouts, defiant, the least composed he has been seen to be thus far.

The cannon is ready... until, thanks to Saika and Frankenstein's Monster, it isn't. Reiya blinks at the double deuce. He blinks at Pernelle approaching. No substance?

And Yanagi. Yanagi, again, but different indeed. Reiya recognizes her...

"...So this is the question I should've asked," Reiya reflects, looking over Yanagi's form and the Cocoon as it has been revealed, staring at the little paper angel.

"I should've realized," Reiya reflects. "To protect your most precious vulnerability..."

"Provide another target, instead. Basic."

But Roger... Roger doesn't know what to do. Reiya looks at him. Is there anything a Shadow can do? ...Hazuki seems to believe in him. And after all...

It is his home. And yet...

"The game isn't over after all," he comments.

Minato vouches for them, and Reiya might too. ...The soul of a gamer, though...

Hm.

"Direct assault," Reiya repeats. "On it, Leader."

Reiya starts upward, weaving around obstacles so that he can get in position to attack.

"On your signal!" he calls to Kawase and Yamagishi, pulling three needles into his hand again and preparing to throw them on his way forward.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
Nakao shows surety, and Yukari seems bewildered by it, given the desperation inherent in the situation. "... How can you be so confident? That's your friend up there."

That got it's attention. She quakes inwardly, some part of her, but the Homunculus' worldview is so repulsive that she manages to steel herself, and say, "... You're too pathetic to even laugh at."

His talk is frantic, it promises violence, it promises loss - it promises that at the end of the day Nakao won't have a friend any longer.

He asks the crowd.

The raucous chorus of 'kill them' is met with a cannon's appearance, and a fuse being lit- even as Myunghon calls for retreat, "What's the call, leader?" She asks Minato.

And then- "An acrobat!?" As she worries now suddenly they'll have targets coming from above! But, instead, the cannon sinks as the figure-

"Wait she's a Persona User?" She seems taken aback, as they're saved by some weird cackling Persona User. "Uh, thanks?" Before 'our left-' Yukari looks left- then Yukari looks her ''other left''- "Make up your mind?"

And a Peacock!? "Wait... He's wearing... clothes now!?" Anqa, darling! "And he has a PERSONA?"

Just imagine if you will that conversation with Mitsuru Kirijo not long before, when she asked about Shadows, now with the addendum of a Peacock wielding a Persona.

She has the feeling that Mitsuru would only stare at her like she was a crazy person.

'a charade' "What do you mean?" 'You must aim for the Cocoon!' "And how do you even know that!?"

Another Persona User makes their instance, and for some reason, "Wait - they're ''all'' from that weird boutique?"

And then Hazuki shows a Persona and- it's different from the one she came in with, "Really? Does she have the same power as the Arisatos?" She says, sounding shocked by the thought of it.

Like 'her'???

She didn't want to bring her here at all- and now... that surety. Will it be like when Minato took up her Evoker?

That insecurity creeps in again, and a need for it not to go that way, and as Minato calls for her to revitalize all of them, taking her out of such self-pitying thoughts.

She pops a soul drop in her mouth, before putting the Evoker to her head, and pulling the trigger, "Right!" And as Io arrives, suddenly a wave of healing washes over all of SEES, from a Mediarama spell, "... You don't need to worry about me pulling my weight."

No one was of course, she says that more to herself, as she that wave of healing brings them up and makes it clear they're ready for round two.

"Let us know once you've given the Cocoon a good hard look Fuuka...!" She calls out, after Minato and Reiya, "... I want to be really sure before we start taking battle strategy from a talking bird."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Koh calls that he's a little low, and Ririka glances over to him. "Katsuhiro-san! I've got you! Amphion!" The Persona strums his lyre, and the enchanted melody carries with it a fresh little bit of strength. It's not much, but... she's been doling out what she can for a while now.

The Homunculus laughs, and Ririka listens carefully, hand on her headphone to help her sort through the sounds of the rowdy crowd. Like an old speaker... does it mean something besides the obvious? She's not sure.

And of course she can't fail to hear the angry shouting that Yukari prompts. "Well you got his attention," Ririka murmurs. She hopes Yukari had a plan to go with that.

But the thing wearing Taro's face leaves it up to the crowd, and she doesn't need Navigator-aided hearing to hear the judgement. "Craaaaap," she mutters as that large cannon manifests.

But someone new emerges, and Ririka whips around to see Saiaka bounding, and then she plants a foot on the Homunuclus and goes for the cannon, all she can do is stare, mouth agape. "What the--"

Round of applause. "Um..." Ririka blinks, and then glances over to see Pernelle. "Wait, ''Pernelle''?" She's looking dubious at his claim of 'fun', but she does direct her attention to the Cocoon. And Yanagi emphasizes the point, by summoning butterflies that unfold and guide their attention.

She doesn't have answers for Roger, but Hazuki's surety... Ririka takes a deep breath, lets fresh air fill her lungs and sets her jaw as Minato issues orders. "On it! Let's do this, Yamagishi-san!"

Ririka reaches out, and at her fingertips piano keys made of light spring into existence as she starts to play a fast-paced tune. She's listening to how the sound bounces off of the Cocoon, looking for weaknesses, reaching out to Fuuka to share the information she's getting in real time.

She's too busy with that to make an appeal to Taro directly, but... some here might recognize the tune she's playing: it's an up-tempo version of the stage music for Kappa, Taro's best Night Parade fighter.

"Almost there, Aomori-san! Stand by...!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
Again, and again. And again.

If it weren't a cognitive space, he would have exhausted his bullets by now. "If it were possible to prove that the world is not a zero-sum as it thinks," he articulates, gazing up at the Homunculus, "then, maybe... But is it as simple as that? Will it listen? If we can undermine its logic in some way, and play its rules against it--"

He snipes another sword-swallower Melanc as it closes near. "--How the 'winner' is determined? Is that it? But, do we know how?" he asks of Myunghon.

That may be the question of the moment.

Alas, it's also a moment that is quickly slipping from their grasp. "--We're out of time," Katsuya says, his gaze on that cannon overhead. His glance turns sharply Myunghon's way. "Yet, if we retreat here, Nakata-san may not be able to hold out much longer! Surely--"

But in this moment, they are not alone. One among their number is someone that Katsuya knows on sight.

"--Saika-san?" ...He's on first-name basis with her? (Admittedly, it's the only name for her he knows.)

Yanagi. Where has he heard that name before? And is that-- surely it's not. Even though Saika calls ''him'' by name.

"There is... no mistaking that personality," he admits aloud to himself as Pernelle makes his own arrival and explains the truth of the tableau before them. Katsuya's gaze lands squarely upon the thing which the Homunculus rests upon. "That thing is... a cocoon?! Has it been shaped by the Atelier, or--"

Now is not the time for such things, though. Shaking his head, he's just in time to turn his head towards Myunghon and say, "Then we must--" as they declare that the strategy has shifted, and the spell takes them

right across

the battlefield.

He's obviously taken by surprise, his initial sudden movement suggesting he's not entirely sure where he is in relation to the Homunculus at first. "Right there?!" he calls out, his gaze tracing a path towards the bobbin upon which the Homunculus perches. As much force as possible. Then he knows what he needs to do. Touching his fingertips to the bridge of his glasses, Katsuya calls out, "Helios! Come forth!"

The felinoid shape that rises behind him trails blue flame, ascending but a short distance before its shots ring out, one after another, and aimed for that bobbin alone. If what they're saying is right, then this should decide it. But, what if they're mistaken?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>Yukari's words seem to catch the Homunculus's attention. Fuuka can feel it as the Flegmats fall silent. It's ominous.

"Something's coming...!" She gasps - and as the Humors call for their deaths, the Homunculus calls upon something. It's... a cannon. Fuuka's eyes open wide.

"That's just not fair...!" She gasps. "I'll - try to think of a countermeasure, but-"

Fortunately, she won't have to. Suddenly, they receive unexpected help - the employees of Peacock Silk are here.

"It's you...!" Fuuka observes. She recognizes Yanagi and Pernelle, from the night of her rescue - Saika, however, is a new face. She certainly knows how to make a good first impression, though - the cannon is squished!

More Humors are dispersed... and important information is dispensed.

"The Cocoon..." Fuuka repeats. Her attention turns toward the paper angel that appears in front of her. The bobbin the Ringmaster is perched on... She looks up at it. Their true target was hiding in plain sight all along.

"...I understand! Thank you!" Fuuka calls out. Their target is set, and Minato gives the next order. Reiya and Yukari are counting on her

"Yes. I'm beginning analysis of the Cocoon now, everyone. Let's work together, Kawase-san!"

She focuses her attention on it, as if she could pierce it through with her eyes - to look through it layer by layer, to get a better understanding of it on a spiritual level.

"Tell me... What are you? What secrets do you hide? How can we save the soul hidden within you...?" She murmurs. Ririka establishes a link - and Fuuka meets her on the other end of it. What information she gathers is passed to her in turn. From the outside, it might be as if the communication happened instantaneously - if they notice it happening it all, as they do their best to reach a consensus.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>Ixquic has been trying to keep an eye on the people she knows - Umie, Roger, Yukari, Myunghon, among others - but she has been mostly sticking with Hazuki -

Well, scratch that. She has mostly been trying to fight and then *returning* to Hazuki. They're a team, if not as experienced as SEES, as unified as the Cardboard Dragon. Hazuki is the only person who knows even part of the true secret of Ixquic...

Ixquic lets out a little whining sound - quiet, easy to miss - when her planted sword functions as a shield; it's certainly broad enough, but while the sword remains intact, Ixquic can still feel the heat radiating from it. If she didn't have gloves on she would probably regret hefting it again, but she does.

"You can't just end it like that!" Ixquic calls, with the (lack of) clarity of youth, as he threatens a cannon: "That's not *winning*!" Sorry, Ixquic, while this may have worked on some of the Shadows, it certainly isn't going to work on the Homonculus. What can she even do against a cannon? If she was up there she could hit it, but even with Quixote she can't get there in time - Quixote can jump but she can't fly -

Because Ixquic has her full helmet on, her expression is impossible to read. But the way she angles her head to look at Saika implies she is staring. They even have... "Peacock Silk!" she blurts out. "You're here!! At the last moment, a hero comes, dressed in finery...!"

She looks from Saika, to Pernelle (who she doesn't actually recognize at first) to Yanagi to the little scrap of paper. Bringing her sword up, she points again, thrusting it forward. "All right! I, Ixquic, will stand firm against the darkness!"

Ixquic spares a glance for Roger, nodding as much to herself as him. "They're right! Listen to Hazuki-chan! We're all together here. You don't have to play alone!" Ixquic is less of a video gamer, but that doesn't mean she knows nothing, and with the others supporting him.

She has her own role to play.

Ixquic's original plan was to try to slam the Taro-Homonculus off his throne. But with this new information... she can change the plan. And it'll work just as well... maybe better. "Right! It's time for the last charge! To stake it all on this single blow! QUIXOTE!"

The centauride-motorcycle appears... and stays, this time, revving her engine loudly as Ixquic literally swings herself up. She slides as far forward on the seat as she can as she pops a wheelie (!) and tears out, Quixote leaving a trail of sparkling light behind her as Ixquic accelerates.

She swerves dangerously to one side, reaching out with the hand that's not holding the sword - for Hazuki.

"Hup!"

Ixquic is a lot stronger than she looks - a lot stronger than most middle schoolers. Maybe it's because of Quixote's aid; she certainly doesn't seem that strong normally, despite her size. But she boosts Hazuki up onto the seat behind her without slowing down. Quixote's engine changes pitch slightly...

...but keeps accelerating.

"Hold on!" Ixquic calls, over the noise. "I'm going to pass by it on the left! Swing to the right! I can't, I need to steer!" Ixquic CAN swing off Quixote - she's done it before - but she'd probably elbow Hazuki right off the seat, so best not to try.

And, ultimately, Taro is Hazuki's friend. It feels *right*. Yes, Akari thinks, a warrior fighting for someone who claims to hate them, to bring them back to the side of righteousness! A fire burns in her that isn't JUST the Tarukaja...

"One! Two! Three!"

Ixquic ramps off a Strongman cognition, Quixote leaving a short-lived trail of light now in the air instead of along the ground. Ixquic does not use her sword - but at the last moment, she swerves Quixote, adding force and impact to whatever Hazuki chooses to do and causing that light to *shear* off in a cutting line!
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
<poem>
Koh flashes a quick grin when Ririka passes over a little more juice. It doesn't last long, though.

"Takeba-san! I think you made him mad!"

The cannon is a problem. Koh can staunch wounds, but that's so far been predicated on he and his allies remaining in a whole piece. "Uh, Aristao-san, everyone"

But Saika's daring acrobatics save the day before the grand show is brought to a premature end.

"Haa. Awesome."

Peacock Silk arrives to bring a brief reprieve! The bird calls to aim for the Cocoon, and the paper angels reinforce the message. They seem to know what they're doing. Minato says so too and Koh believes it.

"Arcade's not closed yet, Roger-san."

Koh gets to work, revitalized. "Hey, Aomori-san! Good luck!" As Reiya makes his ascent Koh provides aid; clouds of toxic smoke explode to deter pursuit, not as immediately deadly as Yukari's bow but still a potent deterrent.

To SEES leader he calls, "I can take over when when Kawase-san and Yamagishi-san are ready!" The Wild Card will be able to do more real damage on offense than Koh, no doubt.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Umie isn't the only 'shinobi' here; Reiya's tactics are following along similar lines. And someone Marked in the way Umie is would find themselves all too eager to fall into the pattern of trying and failing, over and over, while something watches-- _perceives_, even -- with growing amusement.

To keep trying would be the natural fate for someone destined to fail.

Is this what they call a 'flow state'?

Time for a new game.

If Saika's loud disregard for the Ringmaster's show of superior firepower isn't bolstering enough, or Pernelle's stylish avian self pointing out the trick-- "_You have got to be fucking kidding me_," Umie mutters below her breath --or Yanagi's soft (and yet savage) words pointing out one trope an audience would certainly love--

If there's something that could bolster a scared Umie, it's the fear of something feeling equally small and vulnerable. Scared, even.

Tutor-sensei hears your fear and is going to respond, Roger. You will not be separated from your friend.

A clown? A performer? An acrobat? Nope. The worst way to disrupt a show was there all along: be Yukari Takeba! .... or not. Umie Akabane is not Yukari Takeba, but she can *certainly* be _Umie Akabane_. "Meh... I attended a circus not too long ago, and it was worlds more exciting than this." She turns over her hand, examining her nails. "Food, attendants, mystery, danger, even a tent where you got your fortune told. It was scarily good." Her other hand swings the metal ring to and fro, like a metronome.

"So I'll take a page from that place and tell you your fortune," Umie says, her lips splitting open in a curved grin. "You'll succeed in freeing yourself. A new life unfolds in front of you, full of possibility." She taps a finger to her chin. "Ah, wait, no, that's the fortune for * Taro Nakata*, not a _Ringmaster_. <My mistake.>" Umie raises one of her half-garbed hands overhead as Badb appears overhead a burst of blue light, the split halves of the white being's shawl fluttering out in an impossible gust of rushing wind. "Yeah, my bad, yours is completely different."

"You got a rough night ahead of y--"

And she's suddenly shifted to another point entirely, courtesy of Myunghon.

"--ou... shit." Umie palms her face.

Of course her timing was off.

Thankfully, she has some help. Red brown eyes focus as one of Yanagi's origami angels floats by her, Umie barely getting a moment to wonder at its construction before it unfolds into an animation cel, framing the bobbin.

"... should've just shot the thing instead of making a damn production out of it," Umie grumbles, summoning Badb once more, which lets out a shattering shriek of dark energy at the
same time as Helios' shots.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
"YOU--"

''Here comes a new challenger, mother****!''

"--LOSE--?!"

The damning order of the Homunculus claiming Taro Nakata's life becomes less an authoritative declaration ringing with finality, and more a surprised and unsettled squawk as ''uninvited guests'' show up at HIS Atelier. Surprise manages to take him for a brief, rare moment -- Saika, in that familiar white garb, leaps on and -past- him before taking dramatic hold of that cannon.

"You can't--" he begins, bluster giving way towards a taunting tone -- before with the power of the Creature of Frankensteins' mad works at her beck and call --

a loud shrieking SCREAM of metal heralds the truth: that she does what the Homunculus was sure would be a hilariously suicidal attempt --

she bends that cannon barrel, seconds before firing.

Soon enough, nuclear flames are washing the grounds, incinerating several sword-swallowers as they still, mindlessly, try to charge their targets. Peacock Silk's dramatic entrance brings a hush to the crowds of Flegmats ringing the audience. They look almost uncertain -- as if the Homunculus' hold on them has been shaken if only briefly in its surprise.

They are silent. The fuse on the cannon, despite the barrel being bent, continues to burn down.

And as Saika lunges off that large, cognitive apparatus of destruction?

As that cannonball ignites and then ''backfires'' creating a dramatic, rolling SHOCKWAVE of an explosion that becomes her backdrop as it ripples throughout the carnival?

The Flegmats all suddenly cheer, applause ringing throughout as Saika comes at the Homunculus, feet-first.

Maybe it's like Umie suggested - like that taunt Yanagi assailed against them -

The people yearn for a show. And what's a bigger show than the fall of the one at the top?

And perhaps Saika is prepared to give just that--

"Back to NOTHING. NOTHING!"

*tap*

A baton touches the soles of her boots.

"NOTHING!!"

And her entire momentum just -stops-.

"You think you can stunt on me?! Steal my spotlight!? NO!"

The baton swipes DOWN.

"BACK TO THE BOTTOM!"

And suddenly, flying out of the sky --

*HONK HONK*

-- an entire ''clown car'' stuffed to the brim with clowns all holding cartoon bombs just FLIES out of the sky to ramrod into Saika, to send them BOTH crashing groundwards with a harrowingly cartoonish explosion.

And there the Homunculus stands on top of its bobbin throne - no, on top of the COCOON, the prison in which the true Taro Nakata resides - its eyes wide, its pupils beady, its top hat slumped forward as

"SHUT UP!"

the cheers of the Flegmats ''instantly'' cease.

"So what. So what? So WHAT! So what that you have reinforcements now?! You're all the same! Unremarkable! Insignificant! Look at you! All you can do is babysit that-- that--"

The baton swings, pointing directly at Roger.

"--''pathetic'', ''sad'' slab of a mistake! It shouldn't even exist! And you think trying to make it ''feel better'' will do anything?! The world doesn't care about rejects like you! It'll grind you up and spit you out and no one will remember your names! Just like Nakao! Just like that -stupid pig-! But not me."

It leans forward, yellow eyes bulging. Distracted, it does not notice Katsuya and Umie being shunted across space below it.

"The world will remember MY name, even if I have to MAKE it! Because I'm--"

''Helios! Come forth!''

"--number ONE--?!"

Helios, in all its feline glory, manifests. Babd summons forth, hot on its heels. Screams ripple into the Cocoon; shot after shot rings out, and hits the thing, dead center. It wobbles in place, threads fraying; and though it doesn't quite ''break''--

--the Homunculus stops dead in its tracks as it lurches forward on its throne.

"what -- no! Stop that!"

And suddenly it's just -there-, wheeling around, LUNGING at Katsuya and Umie's Personas.

"STOP TOUCHING THAT."

It grips Helios within a strangling grasp of its gloved fingers, disheveled bangs draping over circular glasses as it tries to HURL the Persona groundwards. The Homunculus hits the arena grounds with a CRASH of impact. The assault might not have been a complete success, but it accomplishes two, critical things:

it proves that what Pernelle and Yanagi are saying is true -- the Cocoon IS the key.

And...

"I'm DONE with this show!"

... it takes the Homunculus off the perch it had been guarding that very Cocoon over, and onto the ground below.

And as Ririka and Fuuka pour their attention onto the Cocoon, they'll see it too. That Cocoon -- it's a supernatural space, encased in some kind of strange, cognitive material that makes up the bobbin-like form itself. And within --

They'll sense it. A Shadow. A real Shadow. No, not just that--

The ''real'' Taro Nakata, too.

A fact made all too clear for Ririka as the Kappa's theme plays, and the Cocoon -reacts-. The Flegmats all hush again, like they're uncertain - like they're not sure what to follow, or who to root for.

They just need to search a little more, and--

--and there!

Fuuka and Ririka will be able to see it:

The threads attaching the Cocoon to the Big Top on either side of it. ''That's'' where its weakest.

They need to be severed at the same time!

On the ground, unaware of what the Navigators are doing, the Homunculus sneers, wiping its face -- the dregs of clown makeup not wiping ''off'', but seeming ''thicker'' now, more ''there'', like they were building up in direct response to that reaction of the Cocoon to Ririka's Persona.

"You brats. 'That's not how games are played,'" the Thing Calling Itself Taro mock-whines. "This is EXACTLY how games are played! 'A rough night'? Your prophecy is garbage. Garbage! GARBAGE! I'll be the ''real'' Taro Nakata soon! ''I'm'' the one who decides what the future holds! The ones at the top decide the rules! Decide who wins! And I'm--"

It looks down, towards the ground it stands on.

"--I'm--"

And up, towards where the bobbin hangs in its tightrope position. Unguarded.

With Ixquic fast on the approach, preparing something immense.

"--I'm-- no! No--!!"

It springs, surprise and fury and -- ''fear'' on its face. Cognitions rally, clowns piling on top of each other to create a huge hill of bodies for the Homunculus to race up, towards Ixquic.

Its baton swings back, ready to summon something evermore heinous--

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> 'Come on! If you can't be Player One... be Player Two! I believe in you, Roger! This is your home... it's time to save it!' Roger muses over just how much of the place felt wrong the moment he was acutely aware there was a loose Homonculus.

A coin is flipped across the battlefield, following Rumormonger Merry's declaration that the Shadow's Game is nowhere close to Over. Is he satisfied with this outcome without even picking 'Continue'? He receives that Mon coin, that 1-Up.

'If there is nothing more you can do in this game, start another. No one game lasts forever... but the soul of a gamer endures.' Roger has to wonder... what other games are there left to play, now?

'The game isn't over after all.' Roger snorts, playfully exaggerated puffs of steam escaping his nostrils.

'They're right! Listen to Hazuki-chan! we're all together here. You don't have to play alone!' Right now, he is standing alone - not in the stands, not allowed to join the rest of the Humors that should include ''him'' on their team, and he lacks a Persona like Hazuki-chan and her friends.

'Arcade's not closed yet, Roger-san.' Somehow, this feels more apt to him in the moment than the carnival he calls home.

"Rrrr...! Nakata, here I come...!" Roger dives back into the fray, and... well.

It goes as well as one might expect. Let's save some paragraphs here, for expediency - it ends with Roger being ejected ham over hock, bouncing against the ground and wall like a gnarly tennis ball serve by the collective wall of violence.

'--''pathetic'', ''sad'' slab of a mistake! It shouldn't even exist! And you think trying to make it ''feel better'' will do anything?! The world doesn't care about rejects like you! It'll grind you up and spit you out and no one will remember your names! Just like Nakao! Just like that -stupid pig-! But not me.'

"Ooooh..." Roger grunts out, splayed out on his belly as he suffers the most recent round of lumps in his ineffectual efforts to participate - to be - as if the whole of what were going on were a game he was simply not invited, not able, to play - even if the others seem to want it (and do).

He's a Sanguin Humor. He should be a reflection of the desires and wants of the Atelier's true owner, and yet he cannot will the Coleric Humors present. The other Sanguin Humors - though not holding their ground that well - don't even acknowledge him among them.

"Why can't I play..." Roger whines, squeals, and rolls up to a seated position with little tears going down his eyes. "Now, of all times... I want to play..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

That means Nakata still does too, despite being at the cusp of full consumption and destruction, right? He still wants to play.

He wants to play!

Somewhere in this big top show gone pear-shaped, the air shimmers and distorts around him. Fabric surrounds, entraps, obscures - cocoon-like. He squeals the once in surprise and shock as the helpful (or at least, well-meaning) Sanguin Humor - a mere Shadow - looks to be the next victim of the darker forces of a corrupted Atelier. How easy would it be for the likes of Roger to be dispersed into the cognitive aether of this supernatural space? He's not a human. Just a reflective facet of this environment, with hardly the substance of a human being.

It may already have happened...
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem>
INSIDE THE COCOON

It's dark in there. Lonesome, distant. Sensations of sound, sight, smell, and touch are murky at best. It's a void suitable for Shadows to disappear into, their existence and capacity for perpetuity as an entity not... easy, or simple, to gauge.

The one sense that they have feels foreign, heavy, uncomfortable.

Thought. Like an anchoring point. A tether. A chain? A prison? A thing, holding them. Is it stopping him - them? - it? - from going where a Shadow is supposed to go? A cage?

...A handhold?

"I."

I, I, I. This is a haunting sentiment, not to have it heard, but to have it originate from this point. I. I...

I want. Want. Want. I want. I want want want.

Play. Want. I. Play I want play play I play want I want.

I want to play.

This sentiment echoes to no audience, no applause, no criticism. The void seems too vast for this sentiment... but also, too small, too tight. Too constricting. Like a space that isn't meant, specifically, to be filled.

I want to play. The sentiment persists, as if a flailing morass of instinct and desire were clawing violently at a picture. A form. A need. A goal.

I want to play... with everyone. With everyone. With everyone. I want to play with everyone as...

Someone. To play with.

This entity can be. This entity...

Reaches, a now familiar-looking hand with a sense of object permanence towards something that wasn't quite a void, at closer look. Because this entity...

Is.

A vivid tapestry of colors seemingly unreachable, unrecognizeable, prior, forms inside one's undeniable, unalienable being.

I AM THOU
THOU ART I
A GREAT CHANGE BECKONS... DECLARE YOURSELF AS COMPETITOR TO THE WORLD WHOSE HEARTS CHALLENGE YOU...
I AM KAMAPUA'A... HE WHO PURSUES HIS DESIRED PLACE WITH OTHERS...

BGM Shift: Trails of Cold Steel IV - Burning Throb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pulPN_-3y1s
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem>
BACK OUTSIDE THE COCOON

This entity... "Roger." Their name is Roger. His name is Roger. Human or Shadow, that is who he is, and he wants to play with everyone as someone.

The cocoon's make latches around him, defining his shape - his existence - his very ''being'' that is ''here''. Roger's shape whirls to something... significantly more humanoid, if eccentric (to put it charitably). Heavy-set, an upturned nose, highly expressive eyebrows that any artist would simplify as carets. His shadowy self's chrome-silver eyes seem to have some flecks of orange-gold in there. He has a noticeable underbite, giving him a large chin. His body's flesh color takes on a cartoonishly bright reddish hue, as if reminiscent of the limited color palettes of ancient electric arcade games. His hair is a short black with, strange as it may seem, reddish reflective highlights in the way jet black hair would normally show light against it as blue.

The swirling fabric parts to reveal a vibrant red and black shirt of erratic patterns and mild orange-gold accents - more accurately, a sports jersey - with the name 'ROGER' printed in reflective eye-catching silver. (His number, if any, is not seen in this shot.) It cuts off around the elbows. His hands are adorned in bright white gloves. His shorts are a match in color, terminating above his knees - his legs seem a little small for the weight they're supporting - into black socks with red and orange-gold stripes. They end in cartoonish-looking white and red cleats that are also on the verge of being too small to pass for being worn by human(-like?) feet.

Fabric continues to part as a lengthy white towel drapes across his shoulders, bars of red, orange, black, and silver, as a silver-hued whistle dangles on a chain from around his neck. Finally, the fabric parts around what he soon holds in his hands - an entire tennis racquet, slightly oversized, in his right... and an equally over-large tennis ball held in his left.

"I'm not playing your game any more...!" Roger declares - that is his voice! - as he points the tennis racquet towards the Homonculus. "Now the ball's in our court instead!"

Behind him is something unmistakable based on the blue aura emergent around them - a Persona. A stout(er) masculine figure of brilliant black and yellow hues, spines flowing vertically up their back and scalp flowering with kukui leaves. A blue helmet, terminating in a sharp point between their eyes. Their blood red face would be seen as handsome, even with a pig-like snout and strong elongated chin. They wear a short-sleeved outfit marked with yellow stripes above the waist, and black and blue from the waist down - all exposed skin blood red, legs terminating in hooves.

Roger throws the tennis ball up, as a phantasmal blue butterfly finds a momentary perch on its ascent before the racquet ''smashes'' it into dispersing sapphire blue motes, and the Persona moves in turn - Kamapua'a - as a Wonderful Aques-empowered wave of water envelops the tennis ball sent careening towards one of Taro Nakata's imprisoning cocoon's weakest points - going for a killer shot on the rebound if deflected or deterred.

Not out of the duty of being a Sanguin Humor - but as a teammate of those who have come together to save him from this unwanted guest that has long overstayed their welcome in this Atelier.

"I'm Roger, and I'm bringing the A-Game with everyone else here!!" He declares with a big, piggish blunt-toothed grin. (Only mildly less disturbing than his native Shadow shape's own smile. Mildly.)
</poem>

AS: Roger has readied for combat as Kamapua'a! He is now fully healed!

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Yukari asks how Hazuki can be so confident, as she mounts Ixquic's Persona.

"Because he's my friend... that's why I'm confident! If I wasn't... then that'd be giving up on him on the spot! Instead, I'll believe with my whole heart that I can do anything!"

"Because we're a constellation of stars, and even a single one going dim... I can't abide it!"

Hazuki points that bat towards the Homunculus as Akari rides forth, Quixote pulling them along. Then, she readies for a swing...

She's ignoring the Homunculus as it comes forth, even if she doesn't want to. She has to trust Ixquic will make it through, and she'll hit that thread!

While this is happening, Roger awakens, and Hazuki catches that flash of cocoon, that flash of light.

"Roger..."

She smiles, so genuinely, so strongly, that it shows her confidence was not misplaced.

"Roger! We're all going to play... right now, this is our game!"

As Roger goes for the thread, Hazuki's going for the other one with Ixquic.

"Nakata-kun! I'm sorry!"

She readies for the swing.

"I shouldn't have been so pushy and declared myself your friend! I never really knew you... and I insisted I did! You were hurting inside and I only made it worse...! I don't care if you never forgive me, if you want nothing to do with me, because..."

A wide grin, right as she closes in. Janus suddenly manifests to the side, channeling light into her own bat.

"You still deserve to live! You deserve a chance to shine! You're a human being, through and through, and I'm going to make sure you see tomorrow..."

"UNLIKE THIS FAKER!"

The bat goes to *smash* into that bobbin thread, light suffusing out like a powerful supernova, explosive in all its impact.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Katsuya does provide the very essence of the issue with retreat: if they flee, then Taro Nakata is doomed. ... that Myunghon made that call does mean something -- whether or not that is reasonable or not, Myunghon saw a need to ensure that they survived to see another day, because the Revolutionary can only become legacy not in obscurity, but in the lime of the light. Perhaps that selfishness is what embodies Kudlak within them, the creature of the night, an ill omen in the society they are born.

Their decisions killed Akira Hayashi, after all.

But this time, Hazuki gets her wish -- no one has to die. Katsuya pours as much force upon the bobblin with fire and gunfire alike, all the while the questions hang upon them -- what if they are mistaken?

...

Then Rumourmonger Merry will bear that mistake too.

That Ixquic is here isn't lost on Merry either -- but she seems to be supporting Hazuki at the moment, and it's better that people work with at least one buddy they trust. And it turns out her plan involves... motorcycles! If only Merry had a motorcycle, they'd... probably just be found flat on the ground, completely dead. Yes, they never renewed their motor license for the loss of an eye. Katsuya would be mad at them for driving without.

Umie isn't quite ready for the shift, and Myunghon does think they could do with smome more practice if they're going to make this a regular thing -- but fortunately, with Yanagi's help, she's able to still pull it off. "Danger?" Myunghon does aside to Umie, having missed the whole fiasco with Thelaire's circus.

"It's having an effect...!" Myunghon calls, as the Homunculus is clearly quite annoyed at both Helios and Badb's advances upon the Cocoon. SEES is doing their own investigation, and if they can attract its attention long enough, together, they can all work this miracle.

But the Homunculus is full of wrath, and Myunghon is ready to heal and sustain Katsuya and Umie as they bear the worst of the assault. Ixquic's assault brings fear upon its face, even as Cognitions pile for her --

"Tsk...! Ixquic, get out of there--!!"

But the surprises don't end there. The words they're providing to the Shadow-Pig seem to have spurred something within him, and he shouts his desire to dive back and-- even if he's batted back over and over again, he still laments his inability to play... come on... come on!

Play! Play your heart out!

Within this space, it's a Friday night, your parents don't care if you stay up all night long, and you have a 2-litre bottle of soda and a large Bomino's pizza, Roger!!

And then it--

Happens.

''Roger.''

The identity is asserted. He's not playing the Homunculus' game anymore -- in manifestation, Roger, too, obtains a rsplendent outfit, cartoonish and fun, as is his wont, sporty and trendy, brandishing a tennis racquet in reflection of Hazuki's baseball bat. And his persona is... awe-inspiring, the very essence of the Hog-Child of Hawaiian mythology, washing the tennis ball back with aw ave of water!

"Now that's the kind of game I'd pay to see," Merry calls out.

Hazuki pours her heart out -- and her metaphor is that of a constellation of stars, and that even one of them going dim would break the whole chain. She implores for Taro Nakata, the real one, the one trapped within the cocoon...

"The variables for our plan are all known. We can save Taro Nakata... we only need to execute upon it! Akabane-san, Suou-san, I'll support us once more!"

Merry makes a graceful gesture with their arm, extended upon the Cognitive Coat in a column of rich blue as Kudlak lurches forward in the form of two massive maws each stretching out to carve away where the tendrils are weakest, leaving open vulnerabilities for their allies to exploit.

"Kudlak... CONSUME!!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
<poem>
It shouldn't even exist... it certainly shouldn't have a Persona. The thing is -- Minato hears the Homunculus, and -- he can appreciate the perspective where it's ''right.'' Shadows shouldn't talk; shouldn't want to play games. Roger, by all accounts, is an anomaly to his experience.

... even so. "Roger-kun has something to say," Minato replies, smoothly, recognising him as a fellow young man in the process. "We can at least do him the courtesy of listening."

And as someone to ''play with'' emanates... a Persona manifests.

"A Shadow with a Persona," Minato marvels.

"... all right."

With a stern nod, and heeding the advice of his Navigators, he calls out to SEES: "Let's back Nakao-san and Roger-kun up! Split up and follow them both in!"

''He'' will follow ''Hazuki'' up, as Naga slithers towards the bobbin-thread, a Seal Bomb piercing into the cord at his full power.

What Hazuki has to say to the boy inside there... is something only she can say, after all.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
<poem>
Stand by... Reiya continues moving for the Cocoon, and he does recognize the music. He sees what she's doing, he thinks. The officer over there is already fighting again. He'll work on Ririka and Fuuka's information.

But a friend... Reiya thinks that Hazuki is too ambitious--that there's no way she can have everything she wants. But it's nice to see her try. "Good luck," he tells her. "I hope that you achieve all you wish."

...Hope. It's a good thing to have, in a battle like this.

"Go with it, Takeba-san!" Reiya suggests. "The girl's information," Yanagi, "Has checked out so far!"

Pernelle... Don't worry about it.

But Roger? Roger shows...

"A Shadow with a Persona?" Reiya says in wonder. "How is this possible?"

He wants to play...

"...Very well. I will not be left behind!"

He hears Hazuki speaking, and he agrees with some. "...All of the people here deserve to live," he says. "To live free of such monsters as this!"

"And I will see it done!"

Minato gives out his orders; Reiya falls in line next to Roger, despite the fact that he's a Shadow. "Persona!"

Kunimitsu appears, and Reiya throws his needles. They ignite in purple flame, darkness suffusing his attacks as he throws again, and again, and again.

Straight for that thread.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
("What can I say," Saika answers Ixquic airily as she had passed her by, giving her a grin in the way. "We took our time!")

Saika's praise for that fine swine who put his bacon on the line cannot be reupped. Some things can only happen once. Also, she's begun her attack run. It's a high enough fall that she's probably descending towards the Homunculus, accelerating under the pull of Earth's yellow sun (or something) all the while.

She doesn't look up, but when Myunghon calls her name, Saika does bring her chain-wrapped hand up to throw a big finger-- no, a big thumb! A big thumbs *up*, don't worry--

At this point, the cannon explodes.

Saika does not change her expression but the sudden burst of flame right above/beside her, and a moment later:

And is stopped.

Perched involuntarily on that Baton, Saika looks down at the Homunculus. "Look," she begins, before an entire clown car full of exploding bombs held by soon-to-be-exploding clowns smashes into Saika. "BARF!!!" she vocalizes, before smashing into the ground.

* C H O O M ! *

Afterwards, Saika is sprawled on the ground, head thrown back, contorted in that same way as a Gothic-era engraving intended to communicate the Torment of the Sorrow of the Horror of the Pain of something. She is also lightly caked in soot.

"Pain in the ass... Ugh," Saika continues, heaving herself up to one elbow and standing upright with some initial difficulty -- stiffness at least. "Why'd'ya even have to do a thing --" But then a few things happen in quick succession. Something becomes clear. The Homunculus speaks - others are moving. An increasingly deep clownstack is thrown forwards, the Homunculus heading towards that -- legendary warrior? (I can't judge, Saika tells herself, by way of reminder.)

But that little piggy - what's up with him? Saika can see him struggling. Her eyes turn away then... and towards the Homunculus whom she addresses in a loud voice. "HEY! Are you complainin' you get this kind of competition? Cuz a lot of these games ain't open ended, you know! Rules are just a structure! Sometimes they keep you in..."

At this point Saika's broken back into the same loping, leaping pace she'd had before, each smash of her leg like displacing weights, leaving divots in the sawdust and clown-giblet flooring. Closing, closing, running upwards; another crouch and Saika throws herself forwards.

"And sometimes--"

("Monster!" The great shadow looms again, smashing one fist with an explosive PWAP into the clownheap Saika seeks to ascend in a single great leap; this seems to help Saika start twisting, hips turning... another scissor-leg move?)

"-- You jump off 'em!!!"

(Nice, thinks Saika. That sounded tight as *hell.*)

As she says this, Saika's legs come around and when they are more or less on either side of the Homunculus's neck, they snap shut. Suddenly anchored to the Homunculus, Saika keeps flying with hurtling momentum. Something's got to give.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
How delightful a battle these woken ones rage! Hazuki in her optimistic defiance continues. Pernelle watches her with a particular curious eye before turning to witness the others in their skills and moxie. Ah! Even precious Myunghon? He promised So-young a bit of worry on their behalf, did he not?

Pernelle shall watch their flank, swooping in with Anqa screaming out fiery bursts while he tosses bladed feathers at the clowns that dare close in on the left, and any jokers approaching from the right! Twirling past Yukari with his Persona, because of course the bird has a Persona, he gives her a wink.

"My knowledge is as vast as my beauty!" he explains, explaining nothing. Anqa disperses, leaving Pernelle to drop from his next dip and roll upright, where he waves the tips of his feathers like fingers at Katsuya. "Fancy meeting you here, detective-chan."

As Minato vouches for him and Fuuka recognizes him, Pernelle lowers a deep a bow toward them both, wing outstretched. "You still stand, passionate ones! May the flames of your souls burn through this battle and to the next!"

Ririka's surprise receives a simpler response, but one brighter with Pernelle's blinding enthusiasm than most others like it were his favorite thing to say in all the world: "Me!"

Yanagi points the fighters true, and Pernelle laughs delightedly, interrupted by gigglefits which is just more laughter while the fake Taro Nakata, the thing wearing his face, gets more and more discombobulated by the events to follow. He takes off his glasses with a wing, wiping under his eye with the other. "Ah, it never gets old."

But then something...
truly
beautiful
...begins to happen.

"Bravest boar!" Pernelle calls to Roger. "She is she, I am I, and you, Roger dodger, have found the youest you! Go forth! Your job is done... now... have your ''fun!''"

Pernelle shall have his.

While the threads are left in the care of these intrepid heroes, Pernelle spreads his wings and launches into the air with a single flap of them, turning into a corkscrew spin. "PER - SO - NA~!" he sing-songs, and once again Anqa breaks forth beside him, two birds rising in an aerial dance, grabbing each other's clawed feet. Pernelle twists and ''swings'' Anqa even higher -- level with the Homunculus as she explodes at every seam into a dizzying display of brilliant, iridescent flames like firework-missiles in a dazzling display to give Saika as much of an opening as possible.

"Ahem, as I do believe the gamers say... get pwned, noob-chan!"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
"That..." Yukari says, to Nakao's description of why they're so confident including the metaphor of a constellation of stars, as she starts, then stops, then continues, "... really doesn't make any sense?"

In Yukari's world, the idea of failure, death, just looms too large to be confident.

Whereas Pernelle twirls past her with a... "Did that Peacock just wink at me?" Yukari says, astounded. Hoping he's not going to be hitting on her too, "Uhhhh... okay?" She says, to Reiya's idea to just go with it, based on Yanagi being credible.

The thing that is wearing Taro Nakata's face, it begins to break down, as it loses it's sense of control over everything. "You think we're the brats when you're throwing a tantrum...? ...Honestly. Where's all that big talk now?"

His way of ''being'' continues to rub her the wrong way.

She's still readying herself, after healing SEES, before asking Minato, "What's your call?" And then- Roger, is he really putting down the poor pig?

She still thinks the pig is... weird, but he was nice enough, and he did help them. And then the pig-!

"Roger! Hey! Stay back. Let us handle this!"

And the way the Shadow ridicules, belittles him, "Leave him alone! You have no place calling ''him'' pathetic when you're acting like this yourself!"

And Roger, he's not... he's not moving, he's whimpering. All of a sudden, the Cocoon latches onto him, and- "Wait- hat's it doing to him?"

Her mouth hangs open as the transformation happens and in the aftermath, "Excuse me? Roger has a ''Persona'' too? What is even going on anymore!? This is too weird!"

And then - Minato gives his orders, "Right...!" For Yukari's part, it's more simplistic, towards the same thread that Minato is working on.

An Evoker to the head, and Garula, after Garula. Consecutive spells of slicing winds assaulting from that direction.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
'I'm gonna end this... without losing a single life,' Hazuki swears.

Yanagi tilts her head her way. "Oh?" Her gaze lingers for a moment... and then she smiles. "A 'single life,' hmm..." She raises a hand to wave to her as she shouts her gratitude for their arrival. "We simply couldn't miss this!"

And likewise... she couldn't miss how Hazuki would handle this battle. Sure enough, she calls forth another Persona, like a few certain others Yanagi knows, and she watches, enraptured, as Eligor casts his strengthening magic on Hazuki and Ixquic. Yet another one...!

She isn't the only Wild Card here, either. Yanagi smiles warmly at Minato when he recognizes her--though she then blinks in surprise when he also vouches for her and Pernelle. "Oh! We didn't do anything of the sort..." She smiles anew. "But I'm happy to know you think so!"

It'll make him and SEES more pliable in the future if they've already decided they can trust them. Likewise Reiya, to whom she chuckles as he realizes what she'd been hinting at before. "That's right. You can consider this one on the house!" To Fuuka, she echoes back an effusive, "It's us!" She and Ririka are working together well, too...!

Her vivid gaze settles on Myunghon, and she smiles for them too. That look of wonder is quite splendid, but... "No, they aren't here today," she tells them conversationally, almost as if reading their mind--but no; it's simply a good guess based on their previous conversations. "You'll simply have to settle for us."

Yukari remarks/questions in shock about Peacock Silk and its employees' true nature. Yanagi jazz-hands one-handed across her face. "Surprise~!"

So many of them are encouraging Roger the Sanguin Shadow, even as they change their focus to fire upon the Cocoon. As they do, Yanagi settles her attention on Roger for a moment, colored lips pursed thoughtfully. Having never been one for video games, most of the theming is lost on her, but it's clear that it's tailored to him. Is it enough? When she'd first encountered Roger, she'd paid him little mind, but he immediately made it clear that he's no ordinary Shadow. Will he surprise her again?

However, the Homunculus is not content to just sit back and let everyone counter him. Explosions rock the Big Top, and Saika is clowned on by a clown car, a fact that gets Yanagi to gasp in concern for a moment--but Saika's much tougher than that, and she soon smiles again as her dear friend drags herself back upright.

For her part, Yanagi remains on her feet, thanks to the impeccable balance of the Persona behind her; it gives her something to balance against, where she might have otherwise fallen. The Homunculus leaps down from its bobbin throne at Katsuya and Umie, snarling about how insignificant they all and in particular Roger are. One invective in particular, though, makes her burst out laughing in tandem with Pernelle.

"Ahahahahah--oh, my, forgive me, but I couldn't help but laugh," she wheezes, wiping away a tear. Pernelle leaves his mirth at that, but she adds, "It's too funny, the concept of you railing against something--" She flicks her finger to one side, smiling sweetly. "--that ''shouldn't exist''."

Hazuki's Awakening had been the first Yanagi had been privileged to witness. It's no less marvelous the second time as she witnesses Roger's. She raises a hand to her crowned brow, eyes wide as countless threads cocoon around ''him'', then part as fabric to reveal his glorious Transmutation. "Oh my!" she gasps, eyes sparkling. Her smile brims with welcome as she enthuses, "Welcome to the game, Roger!!"

She, she gets it. She gets the joke.

For all her taunting, though... her brilliant eyes take on a brief pity as the tides turn against the Homunculus.

She gets the joke... including the punchline.

As the others aim to cut down the threads connecting the Cocoon to the rest of the Atelier, Yanagi rests her hand on her chest. Behind her, Giselle continues to spin, guiding and summoning and calling back the little origami angels that spirit about on her--their--behalf. The Homunculus is in a rage, charging, racing, out to inflict terrible violence on everyone here--

A delicate snow begins to fall. One flake, two, four, eight--and then rapidly onwards, until a blizzard hails down on the Ringmaster to freeze its joints and slow it down long enough for Saika to scissor her legs around its neck and Pernelle to hurl Anqa forth in a fireworks display of flame. It isn't time yet to take it out... but they'll need to keep it busy until it's time for the true battle.

"Come now," Yanagi calls, delicate voice rising along with her hand. "You who should not exist--may you see red!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
He might be right. If they run, they might doom the young man whose atelier this is. On the other hand, if they stay, they could all die and it might amount to the same but worse. Which option is the right one to take?

Except, it never quite comes to that.

There's another way presented to them, right in the nick of time. Katsuya will wonder about that, later on. In the moment, there's no time to think otherwise.

Well, except to wilt slightly at 'detective-chan', that is.

Translocated across the field (does... teleportation actually exist??) he manifests his Persona to have at the Homunculus' cocoon. Helios in all his finery unleases shot after shot at the fragile thing. Perhaps they ''are'' mistaken. But it's too late to second-guess things. They need to act, and take responsibility for their actions--

A grimace crosses his face as Helios is seized bodily; dashed to the ground, it vanishes in a circulating flare of blue flame. Recovering from that strike, Katsuya jabs one finger towards the being, and tells it this:

"Homunculus! Stealing another's identity is a serious crime! Are you prepared to take responsibility!?"

You know, speaking of 'taking responsibility' and all. Better he keep its attention towards him, and open the floor to the others!

"We're on the right track!" he calls to the others. "Attack the Cocoon, there!" Another point of the finger!
Though it will be those with the Personas best suited to see it precisely ''where'' it's the weakest.

But then, Roger -- that Sanguin Humor, that Shadow, the one who had guided them through the outer limits of the Atelier, is simply swept aside and engulfed into the stuff of the Cocoon. "Wait, what's happening--"

Katsuya will get his answer, a scant few moments from now. Humans, he knows, can have Personas. He has scant little experience with the fact that other beings can have them as well. "He-- has a Persona!" he remarks, once the transformation -- the affirmed identity -- is completed.

"Then-- in that case, let us work together!"
He is pragmatic about such things in the end.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ririka and Fuuka have talked about how their experiences with Navigator powers varied from each other. But this might be the first time they've worked on something in tandem like this, and it's interesting getting Fuuka's version of the data she's gathering within the link like this.

"Got it, Katsuhiro-san!" Ririka calls to her fellow teammate.

But Saika's curb (homunculus) stomping is cut suddenly short, and the Homunuclus grows irate, calling them out for protecting Roger. A mistake. A reject that the world doesn't care about. "''HEY''!" snaps Ririka. "Don't project your own issues on Roger! I'd rather hang with a guy that just wants to have fun over a guy ready to put others down!"

But she quiets down a moment later as the picture inside becomes clear. A supernatural space, a Shadow--and a ''person''.

''Yamagishi-san, so you see it?'' She thinks to Fuuka. ''That's him, isn't it? And those threads...''

She hears the reaction of the crowd, too, the way they react to her song. "Amphion," she utters out loud, shifting her song on the fly as her Persona joins in on his lire. Holographic strings spring to life at the Persona's touch, providing a fast, up-tempo accompaniment to her piano-playing.

Suddenly her thoughts are shared with everyone present. ''We need to sever the strings holding up that Cocoon. Both sides, at the same time. You can use my song to gauge the timing.'' Congrats, she just added a new game to the mix: a rhythm mini-game.

But she keeps playing even as her attention is drawn to something startling. "An Awakening...?" She glances over her shoulder to behold Roger's new form--and his new Pesona--as both emerge. "I think we got room for one more," she says with a small grin. She's hoping this is a good omen, even if it's weird and inexplicable in the moment. "Roger-kun, here--" She shares about the weak points with him, too.

She keeps playing, fingers flying across imaginary keys as she keeps her theme up to try and keep swaying the audience, but as the others go in to attack, she does have something to add. "Amphion," she says quickly. "Magnara!"

A few strums and stones lift from the ground around Amphion before flying off to make contact with the threads.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>It's certainly a fascinating experience on Fuuka's end, too. She's used to working with and testing audio equipment... but the data she receives from Ririka is like nothing she's seen before. It's remarkable, seeing - hearing? - things the way she does.

''I do.'' Fuuka confirms to Ririka. ''Yes... He needs our help. Now, more than ever.''

What is the nature of the Cocoon? See can see it, its weakness laid bare - and together, they come to the conclusion.

"...I see. Everyone! The Cocoon's weaknesses are the threads on either side! They all need to be severed at once!" Fuuka calls out, as Ririka does the same through the link.

...But another Cocoon begins to form here today. This time, around Roger.

"...What's this feeling...?" Fuuka gasps, surprised. And Roger emerges from his cocoon, changed - and Awakened.

"Roger-san... You have a Persona, too? That' s incredible...!" She gasps. He is a Shadow - and yet, he has a Persona.

How is it possible? She has so many question... But right now, they have a pressing matter.

Her attention turns back to the Cocoon that remains.

Ririka leads one group with a rhythm game.

"I'll take the other side." Fuuka says. She focuses. She hears the rhythm of Ririka's song. They need to act in unison. And she waits until the right moment, for -

"Now, everyone...!"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>Akari isn't sure what she expected from Roger, but that is not it. She's never seen anyone come into their power with a Persona before, and she's only sorry that she does not have the attention to spare for it now.

"It's fine!" she calls back at Myunghon. "The Legendary Warrior Ixquic can handle anything! He gave me the spotlight when I came in," though they all had the spotlight, "so I'm going to steal it! A legendary warrior, aiding a new hero - more than one new hero! We'll save him - together...!"

Steering Quixote seems like it would be easy but it's actually surprisingly challenging. It takes a lot of Ixquic's focus to keep on task. And speaking of that, a hill of bodies appears in front of Ixquic.

Ixquic's response is to grin in response - slightly mad behind her helmet, not that it shows, as in a situation like this she is absolutely going to wear the whole helmet with the faceguard.

A normal person might back off. A slightly less normal but still determined person might swerve. Ixquic does neither of those. She instead raises the front wheel of Quixote and -

- drives -

- STRAIGHT UP.

So Hazuki ends up not only having a clear shot, but having a clear shot in *midair* as Quixote makes an improbable leap, slamming down with a bounce enough to nearly knock Ixquic off of her seat as they land with a loud whoop of excitement.

And at the end, even though she said she wouldn't, Ixquic raises her sword again.

"Quixote!" she calls, and Quixote raises HER sword, bringing it down in a tremendous slash!
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> 'STOP TOUCHING THAT.'

"Sorry, I think I heard 'keep touching'," Umie retorts right back with a snicker, all fear gone.

That viciously heady bragging is cut off when Umie recognizes Katsuya's Persona being snagged; her own moving alongside her as Umie dodges back, allowing hers to escape the same fate. "Katsuya-san!"

'Homunculus! Stealing another's identity is a serious crime!' If Katsuya was going to say anything, let it be that. He's definitely okay, if he's going to talk like that.

But where is Roger? Umie's gaze flicks around, but doesn't see him, just another Cocoon--

Umie's senses, while not as developed as the Navigators here, still catches that signal of something new coming into the battle; a 'shadow' with a Persona. "Maybe we're using the wrong terms here?" she mutters, below her breath. He doesn't *seem* at all like a Shadow.

Meanwhile, the Homunculus has moved from his perch, and the Badb in Umie has her zeroed in on this exposed weakness in the unprotected bobbin.

"Oopsie~" Umie taunts, eyelids lowering halfway. "So whose prophecies are garbage? Not mine. The stars are in Orange-san's favor." Orange-san being... Hazuki?? "I'll be calling your end before long, Ring-lea-der-san!" Yanagi's not alone in commenting from the sides of the battle; it may as well be one of Umie's favorite pasttimes, as long as she's not being the one focused on. (Not unless she wants it to be.)

Yamagishi-- where Umie's journey to insert herself into this world theoretically began, points to the best point and time to strike.

Given her position, Umie opts for support.

"The end's come for you! Bloody Revolution!"

Those who are aiming towards the threads will find the spirit of bloodshed and war sharpening their strikes, strengthening their heavier attacks, or making their magic attacks just that much more threatening.

All in the name of excessive violence, of course.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
<poem>
The sudden shift of resonance, the sharp tug in his gut, even among the chaos draws Koh's eyes to the cocoon, mouth opening in surprise as the Shadow he knows as a carnival mascot is swallowed up.

And then he's back!

Animals and Shadows with Personas? What's next!?

But there's no time to dwell further on it when Fuuka and Ririka call out their findings and Minato gives orders.

But there's time for this: "Welcome back, Roger-san!"

They attack! Most of SEES, anyway, the threads reach heights best left to magical attackers or those like Reiya, Akari, Saika, and Pernelle. Creatures unburdened by things like gravity.

But he's not useless. Madness follows in Minato's wake. Clowns now unicycling under the influence smash and pile into each other in a heap, which might provide convenient stepping stones. "Got you covered!" And anything that draws too close to the three spellcaster soon finds a knife embedded into it.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
''It's too funny, the concept of you railing against something''

''that -shouldn't exist-.''

Clawing its way up its every-growing tower of interlinking clowns, the Thing Calling Itself Taro snarls out something in an incomprehensible scatter of what sounds like ''''frustrated static'''' at the barbs Yanagi digs into its ever-fragile ego.

''Homunculus! Stealing another's identity is a serious crime! Are you prepared to take responsibility!?''

"No. N-no. No. This identity is mine. What crime is there in taking something that's being wasted? You're wrong. You're wrong. You're both wrong! I will exist," it huffs as it lunges across clown after clown, stomping on heads, using them as springboards for its own personal glory in the ascent towards Ixquic.

"I will exist."

"I will exist."

"I WILL EXIST!"

Closer and closer, it chases. The clowns all reach towards Ixquic. The Homunculus raises its baton in preparation--

--and then--

--it begins--

--to... slow...--

"What? What--" it begins, until it realizes: it's ''cold''. Frost builds up rapidly around it as snowflakes drift, a few at first rapidly becoming a blizzard unto itself. It freezes at its joints; makes excess, cognitive moisture cling at its heels, fusing to its clown-linked ascent.

"No--!"

Clowns swipe the air futiley near Ixquic as she rises, barely missing Quixote as she ferries her magical mistress and Hazuki Nakao straight up into the air to clear the path for Hazuki's shot.

The Homunculus' frustration grows. Frost snaps and shatters. It won't hold the thing for long--

But it doesn't need to, as nuclear flame washes down like a tidal wave through that rising bridge of clowns courtesy of Pernelle and Arqa, the heat of it BAKING at the Homunculus' skin, burning at the tailcoats of their jacket as they are bowled backwards across their increasingly shrinking makeshift tower of bodies.

''Ahem, as I do believe the gamers say... get pwned, noob-chan!''

"Who -- even says that -- anymore--!!"

Sadly -- the Homunculus' criticisms about the most eldest of internet memes is lost within the flames, proving that if nothing else,

Pernelle truly has pwned that noob-chan.

A static roar. A gloved hand punches through the heat.

And that is when Saika -vaults- over the heap of clown bodies courtesy of the creature to -SNAG- onto the Homunculus' neck.

She keeps moving. The Homunculus tries to resist, feet digging in.

And even as it attempts to--

It can see it.

It can FEEL it.

The way Roger turns from some strange anomaly into some STRANGER anomaly, leaving the Homunculus crying out in dismayed bursts of static, "WHAT -- ARE YOU--?!" even as Saika's legs find their neck.

It can see - it can FEEL - the way the Navigators coordinate the others, one for either side of that Cocoon.

As Ririka makes a rhythm game out of the guiding notes of her music.

As Fuuka aligns her mind to direct the other side to attack in perfect sync to that rhythm.

As Umie empowers them all with the bloodthirsty power of revolution, even as the Homunculus lets out incoherent invective to her taunts.

As Koh fights from the ground, attacking cognitive creation after cognitive creation, smashing through clowns on unicycles, lions and their tamers, flame-spitting monstrosities; at one point, an entire, (cognitively) sentient strength-testing machine tries to just up and drop on him as the creations get stranger and stranger, only to be rent asunder as the weight of the thing hits the bell with a triumphant CLANG.

He keeps the others safe, while--

On one side...

Needles impale into thick, metaphysical threads. With the ignition of Kunimitsu's purple flames, string after string of connective fiber burn towards thin lines and snap.

Ririka's stones smash into burning threads already weakened by Reiya's opening salvo, snapping yet more still.

The Cognitive Coat of Myunghon Yeo forges the massive jaws of Kudlak, snapping away at -both- sides of the Cocoon, chewing away thread after thread.

And on the other side...

Minato leads the charge, a well-placed Seal Bomb bursting with kinetic force to send cord after cord snapping as the tensile force is shredded into so much nothing.

Yukari follows after, wind blades building on that weakness, Garula after Garulla snapping thread after thread.

The mighty sword of Quixote, Persona of Ixquic, Magical Guardian of JUSTICE, swings forward in a titanic slash, CARVING down what Myunghon, Yukari and Minato do not reach until all that is left are threadbare vestiges on both sides--

''''I'm Roger, and I'm bringing the A-Game with everyone else here!!''''

''''Nakata-kun! I'm sorry!''''

Between ball and bat, water and light, Hazuki Nakao and the freshly awakened once-Humor Roger launch dual, synchronized assaults on the remaining threads holding that Cocoon aloft. Light flares.

...

...

In a sea of scarlet, Taro Nakata drifts, curled in on himself in a fetal position. He can hear them. All of them. So many voices he doesn't know. Speaking... on behalf of him?

... Why?

Why...

The compulsion to shut them all out is so strong. It takes so much effort just to keep his eyes open. Isn't all life like this? So much effort. And for what?

To be ridiculed again?

To be dismissed again?

To be used as a prop again?

To have people decide his life again?

Why should he...

''Nakata-kun! I'm sorry!''

Behind glasses, Taro Nakata blinks once. Nakao. She said she was his friend. She never even asked. She probably just liked how easy it was to beat him, over and over. Shut your eyes, Nakata. Just let something better take over. Just--

''I shouldn't have been so pushy and declared myself your friend! I never really knew you... and I insisted I did! You were hurting inside and I only made it worse...! I don't care if you never forgive me, if you want nothing to do with me, because...''

let it

''You still deserve to live! You deserve a chance to shine! You're a human being, through and through, and I'm going to make sure you see tomorrow...''

END

''UNLIKE THIS FAKER!''

"NO!"

Taro's eyes fling wide.

"I want to live!"

His hand reaches out.

"Nakao-san--!!"

...

...

In the Big Top,

the last two threads snap at once,

"Nakao-san!!"

It happens so fast. The moment those last threads snap, ALL the threads start to recede. In Saika's grasp, the Homunculus lets out an agonized sound, and suddenly goes limp. With all her momentum, she simply RAGDOLLS the thing, sending it hurtling to SMASH into the rent fairgrounds and rebound once before rolling and coming to a seemingly lifeless, inert stop...

All around it, the grounds of the Carnival start to split open as massive THREADS of corded fabric RIP out of the ground before rapidly shriveling away, as if like an unseen infestation being suddenly revealed as it dies.

The Cocoon shakes, QUIVERS in a strangely fluid way.

And from the center of that would-be tightrope now undone, a hand PUSHES through the mass of fabric just as it all BURSTS apart.

"I want to live!!"

And in mid-air, Taro Nakata - the REAL Taro Nakata, does the one thing that could save a life in free fall:

He reaches out.

</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Yukari says she doesn't get it. Hazuki just sighs, smiling. "You don't need to! It's for me to get."

And then, it all happens at once.

The threads snap. The grounds are shaking. The cocoon is opening.

Hazuki instinctively knows what to do. As she sees that hand destroying the fabric, she moves forward to reach out, grab Taro by the hand, and pull with all her strength.

If she can get him down safely, she will. She'll apologize again, where he can respond, later. For now...

"Nakata-kun! If you want to live, then you'll live! We'll live! That's my promise to you!"

She'd rather herself die than let him die, in this moment.

But she doesn't think either will have to happen, and so she makes a promise to that extent.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> Roger cheers in earnest as he joins the fray alongside the rest on equal... ish... footing. Even if the existential state of a ''Shadow'' having a ''Persona'' is beyond bizarre and worrisome for some - for good reason - his conduct throughout to this point should cast little doubt in the heat of the moment:

This stranger to humanity is a friend, and wants to play, as someone.

The other Humors - if he even truly still ''is'' one of their number - hardly seem to acknowledge or react to him in the span of time presented. The cocoon that houses the true Taro Nakata - one who was close to oblivion - is seen to freedom in the caring hands of the friend who did not give up on him.

Roger gives a cheer, pumped fist, and a little circular dance as he watches the fairgrounds start to evaporate from under the Homonculus' hold... and that dance slows down, moment by moment, watching it all disappear. As he said to everyone when asked, looking up - it feels weird to look up, somehow - this Atelier already felt strange and wrong. He pinned it on the Homonculus, which made sense.

For the reasserted shape and landscape of Taro Nakata's Atelier that should be inevitable, he should feel like... he knows what to expect.

...he's full of doubts, concerns, worries, second-guesses, and anxieties, even in a seeming moment of triumph. (it's very strange and foreign a sensation. thinking is hard. being someone is... something.)

He snorts the once, pig-like, even in the more human-like guise of his Transmutation, coming to grips with how to express these complicated thoughts... but will he have the time to do so, in the moment?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
The Homunculus snarls in static, insisting that it will exist, it will exist, it will exist!!

And that's why that pity crosses Yanagi's eyes.

As wretched a creature as a Homunculus is... who can fault it the will and desire to live?

"You won't," Yanagi replies, shaking her head slowly. "No matter how much you wish to live a life of your own... your wish will never come true. You poor, pathetic creature, undesired by all that is... Do you understand why? Why you will not have this life, no matter how desperately you crave it?"

She stretches out a hand as if towards it--but not truly. Not while it's getting washed through with nuclear flame, not while Saika is seizing hold of its neck, not while every last thread strangling the Cocoon is severed in turn until Roger and Hazuki release it.

Certainly not while the true Taro Nakata rips a hand through the strange fabric and reaches out. Not while Hazuki reaches out in turn.

Yanagi levels her hand towards ''that'', as if to put it on display.

"''That'' is why. If that makes no sense to you, then know this:

"You will come to an end before you were ever truly born... without ever understanding why you failed."

Yanagi layers her hand atop her other hand, on the handle of her gun-cane. This time, though, she looks at her dear friends. "Saika... Pernelle... it's about time, isn't it?" She smiles fondly. "Let's bring Tsumugi back something special. <3"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
Yanagi's jazz-hands across her face and Yukari seems a little stunned by the flippancy of the gesture, "... Get serious." How can people take life or death conflicts ''so unseriously''. "...It's not some surprise birthday party..."

"... Sure, alright." Yukari replies to Hazuki, remembering the times she heard Junpei practicing 'cool lines'. Maybe it's like that? Either way, the logic doesn't make sense to her.

Though the conversation perhaps matters little in the grand scheme of things, it does provide one thing, as they all work to sever the cocoon threads.

And as they break, the cocoon flares.

She doesn't know Taro Nakata, she doesn't know anything about him other than what she was told. She only met him with a Homunculus wearing him like a creepy skin puppet.

But... the others do reach out to him, and- the real Taro Nakata bursts free, "Wait... it's not his..."

Shadow? She was trying to say, but she's not certain what's going on, how is the real him even ''here''?

Hazuki takes their hand. And she finds herself surprised, because - it was so desperate, that she was sure there was no way for them to win.

And, they managed to prove her wrong. It doesn't mean she thinks her logic was wrong? But - irrational confidence, irrational belief...

... perhaps they are what saved the day.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Saika's thumbs-up is indeed inspiring, a superstar in the midst of all the action, wearing the very words that inspire her upon her coat as she continues to get physical as, much like the rest of the Peacock Silk, she's quick to remind: sometimes... the rules are just there for your benefit.

Don't worry, Saika, that'll leave a lasting impression on Myunghon.

Pernelle reveals that he has a command of Gamer Lingo, much more than Myunghon can fake with their '1-ups' and 'continues'. "P-poowned...?" they momentarily stammer. You're at risk of becoming another Sassy-san at this rate, Myunghon.

SIDEQUEST UNLOCKED: Learn Gamer Lingo from Pernelle

But.... should you?

Much like the last time they were in battle, Yanagi spares a moment where their eye(s) meet. But Yanagi is seemingly psychic! She's treated to a cute moment where Myunghon dead pauses for two seconds, before remarking, with just a bit of bashfulness, "I-- I was not thinking anything of the sort. Settle? I'm rather pleased to see you, and am charmed by all your powers, Yanagi."

But Yanagi's words to the Homunculus isn't lost on them either. The concept of them railing against something that... ''shouldn't exist.''

...

Those words have a certain gravity soft belied by her levity, but Merry doesn't have time to dwell upon this at present. Because Katsuya does insist that, yes, a Homunculus can be charged with identity fraud, and will in fact be having them take responsibility for it!

The Navigators organise the group to correctly strike at the right time, and Umie's chosen support as her choice this time -- a choice well spent, as Kudlak's very ribbons feel that much more powerful and bloody, as is befitting the legend of the vampire, under her will.

But as their attacks work in tandem, in concordance to Ririka's rhythm and Fuuka's seeming prescience, there's a moment in which the sounds of battle are washed out, all, that they find themself distracted by something they didn't think they'd be distracted by.

The topic of the Other that shouldn't exist is a common and extremely loaded one in media. Often manifesting as something like a demon or a youma, some silly little villain-caricature that's there for the magical girl to beat up, to entertain children for exactly 23 minutes plus an op and ed, and commercials, to something as deeply unpleasant as an author's barely veiled thoughts about who should live when and where.

It's one thing when it's in the realm of fiction.

It's another thing when, at the cusp of success, Myunghon is now just thinking, more than a Palace Ruler, which is someone's Shadow that will safely be absorbed back into the being it distorted from, more than the Shadows of Tartarus, which seem more like creatures of mindless instinct, more than the Demons of Sumaru, which they ''do'' acknowledge and barter with on a regular basis and thus understand them to have a place to exist in the world...

...

Who is this? What is this?

I will exist.
It shouldn't exist.
I will exist.
It shouldn't exist.
I will ''exist.''

They're so distracted by this they almost don't acknowledge Taro Nakata's desire to leave, to reach out, Hazuki's own imploration that if he wants to live -- then they'll live. That's her promise to him... it's a good thing that they're not being actively attacked at the moment, but their eye is cast upon Yanagi's form again.

The thing that shouldn't exist.

Yanagi pushes it further, bringing to words what they're silently having a miniature panic attack about. No matter how they wish to live a life of their own... their wish will never come true. A poor, pathetic creature, undesired by all... why? Yanagi answers why they won't ever have that life:

Because of Taro Nakata. The true Nakata, reaching for Roger and Hazuki.

It will come to an end before it was ever truly born... without understanding why it failed.

... then what was it???????

Then, just like that, Yanagi sweetly cheers for bringing Tsumugi back something special.

...

Myunghon allows themself a cold, terrified, timorous tremble of their body for a moment, then they let Merry force the the feeling pass, because they're still conducting combat at present. They're still on guard -- these spaces have a tendency to collapse, for starters, and they're not certain they're out of risk yet...
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
<poem>
Teamwork. It's the only way to bring this battle to a close, and Reiya will do his part.

...But Yanagi's words to the Homunculus sit ill with Reiya. What is a creature that can never truly exist? What is a creature that can only take from others...?

"Did it choose to be this way?" Reiya wonders. "Or is this all it oculd ever be?"

A Shadow. A creature of pain. But at the same time... Roger.

Reiya looks to Hazuki and Taro. "A promise kept..."

"...My duty was to eradicate you," he says to the Homunculus, turning towards it. If it cannot exist...

"But I will watch your end. I will observe it."

"...If you can be nothing else, you will be a memory."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
Pernelle lands on a single claw, bringing the other down and sweeping both wings out as his train lowers horizontal to the floor.

"It is as she says," Pernelle asserts to the Homunculus as he rises back up to look at the Homunculus, in the wake of Yanagi's words. He has his own pity in heart and in his eyes. "Take pride in the moment you fought to break the shell of your egg... Or do not, if you acted without true pride at all."

This judgment of his own given, he turns to Yanagi. Pernelle half spreads his wings from his body and taps his clawed feet up and down in his habitual tippy-taps.

"Quite so! Do you think they'll notice if I have a little taste first...?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
<poem>
The Homunculus... will never have been born, and Minato regards it, with his cool blue eyes.

"Sayonara," he bids it adieu.

But the cocoon unravels by Taro's own hand, and Minato watches, as Hazuki grasps his hand and guides him to safety.

"To live is the fullest essence of humanity," Minato says, as he steps up to them, though his eyes are on Taro. "I'd like to get to know you, Nakata-kun. So..."

So, live, is the implicit end of that sentence.

But Taro's the one who needs to finish it.

He will stay close to Taro, now he's broken free; he will help Hazuki defend him. Though... there doesn't seem to be anything left to defend him ''from,'' now.

"Congratulations," he says, to Roger. And to Yanagi, Pernelle, and Saika, he looks to them, and says: "Thank you."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ririka is releived to hear that both she and Fuuka have come to the same conclusion about the Cocoon. Now, more than ever, she says, and Ririka nods. ''Right!''

It's handy, that they can both combine and split their efforts, and both of them guiding one side comes naturally.

She appreciates Koh keeping an eye on those of them not rising--literally--to the challenge of attacking the threads, though. She's rather a bit distracted, after all.

Everyone attacks, threads snap, and Ririka keeps playing until--Taro declares he wants to ''live''. And with that, the Homunculus ragdolls, and Ririka stills her hands for a moment, letting them drop to her sides as the light from her holographic keyboard fades.

"Whew..." She starts to rub her wrists, stretching out the fingers. Hazuki reaches for Taro, and Ririka watches. She hopes Taro will feel better after this ordeal.

She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly as she listens to Yanagi's words. "Bring back something nice...?" she mutters to herself. Somehow she doesn't think they mean more clown skins. (Which are ''still'' a weird thing to ahve.)

But she watches the Homunculus, too. That desperate will to live... makes something ache a little. She once thought she couldn't go on... and some days she still isn't sure she can, even if she's trying. Is it cruel to deny that for someone else? She stays silent with her thoughts.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
Hearing Yanagi talk mad (and wholly justified) mess to the Homunculus brings a smile to Saika's face. It's not like it takes a lot for it to come back even as fiery incineration bursts through clowns, filling the air with the curiously grease-painty smell.

But she keeps moving. As she flies she looks back the way she came. She can see Roger but the vision makes no sense to her, not in the flashing instants that occupy her life. Others are moving. Threads tear, bite, bombed, snapped, a mighty sword smashing down on one side, water and light on the other.

And something snaps.
And something else snaps.
And the Homunculus goes from present to past tense as Saika looks down

And Saika doesn't really like it, but she can feel her mouth splitting in an enormous grin, wide enough to be slightly painful. A satisfaction that can't be beat.

After this Saika hits the ground. She has no reason to keep the Homunculus but she's kind of stuck with them for about a 180 degree rotation before the creature comes loose, unspooling apart. 720 more degrees of rotation later, Saika pushes herself to her elbows.

"Welcome back, Nakata," Saika says -- not shouts -- and she smiles, somewhat more normally.

And after that, Saika gets up and walks a few steps over, towards the others, even as the world starts to unspool around them. "You know," she answers Reiya, "I understand where that question's comin from, and it does you credit." She walks past the purple-eyed boy, giving him a brief clap on the shoulder -- unless he dodges. "Don't let 'em get to you."

Saika smiles then at Pernelle and Yanagi as they come closer. "I guess Hazuki over there lived up to her brag, huh? Pretty awesome. Yeah, let's get it over with."

It is perhaps notable that Saika has put herself between Yanagi and Pernelle and the body of the others, but that's the kind of thing *Reiya* might notice -- because she has nothing ill to say, just a smile and a brief thump of her chest at Minato. "Thank *you*. I'm not gonna say it wasn't hard... but phew! Havin' this much support makes everything easier. You guys should come by Shimokita sometime, I like the cut on your --" Saika seems to not want to commit to a word so she sort of makes a back-and-forth gesture. (Their outfits. She can probably tell the quality. Possibly a lot about the quality.)

Another grin from the stitched-face woman, and she turns to walk with the others. More quietly, only to them, she says: "Gets harder to keep track, though... would'a sucked if those clowns came from both sides. Uuugh, my shoulder's aching already..."

("And I heard your question, Pern, and I'm pretty sure the answer is 'yes they would')

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
''Can'' you charge a Homunculus with identity fraud? Is there a court in Japan, or in the entire world, who would or could hear that case?

Perhaps, the logistics of such a claim don't matter in the moment. Perhaps, what matters most is the way that the Homunculus's attention is grabbed and pulled towards him, towards others to call it and its designs out and undermine its pride and sense of control. It leaves the Cocoon bared to the sights of the other Navigators and to the attacks from others who are here gathered.

Even if. The Homunculus tries its level best to defend itself.
Or the idea of 'itself' as a concept, at that.

"If you desire an identity, then create one of your own!" Katsuya declares as the Cocoon shudders under the onslaught. "To resort to theft of another's-- civil society cannot tolerate such a thing!"

...is this really a matter of what 'civil society' wants, though...

Yet, there, the Cocoon shudders, trembles, and ''rips'' apart. The Homunculus goes limp like a puppet with its strings cut. Here the real Taro Nakata tumbles free.

"Nakata-san!"

Hazuki, though, is already surging to grab his hand.

Is it-- can it be over?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
<poem>
Koh watches the gathered Persona users tear into the threads, and then the result of Hazuki's heartfelt efforts.

Taro Nakata is free and the Homunculus, no matter how much it wanted to live, will not. Maybe it never even had a chance.

But, isn't that just the way it goes?

A breathless, hacking laugh escapes the boy's lips. More relief than any genuine amusement at the events unfolded.

"Guess we won, huh?" Nobody's dead, that's what's important.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> 'Saika... Pernelle... it's about time, isn't it? Let's bring Tsumugi back something special. <3'
'Quite so! Do you think they'll notice if I have a little taste first...?'

Umie's cheshire cat smile disappears, in the blink in an eye.

As adrenaline seeps out, the garden in Umie's heart lies still, and like weeds, paranoia sprouts and blooms.

It's a covered path a certain creature walks down with soft footfalls, sweet and deceptive as the scent of almond.

'You think it'll be that easy, Umie-chan?'

Mai-chan's words could be one of her many veiled insults/encouragements, never fully leaning towards one side or another.

Here, they just encourage doubt. "... We don't know all the rules here, do we..."

Reiya's oath to watch the Homunculus's end is noted, his visit fresh in Umie's mind.

Saika, the other part of Peacock Silk, stills Umie's suspicion of them, but her paranoia still stalks, eager for another focus.

"...." Umie hunches down, like a nervous spring ever pulling tighter.

It's tradition, after all: if death will not be accepted peacefully by a samurai, then someone has to come in and bring it to an end for them.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
Hazuki takes Taro's hand. It's clear from his face he really isn't sure what's happening - frankly, he isn't even sure this is Hazuki, given how she looks, and yet...

... when they finally land safely, the bespectacled boy just... smiles an exhausted smile.

Minato says he'd like to know him. ''Him''. Taro blinks. "Um. I w-would, too. I -- I think."

But thinking is getting more difficult; it's hard to process just everything he's seeing, and yet so much of it feels so... familiar. He can't for the life of him say why; he can only focus on Hazuki's promise, as whatever strength he managed to summon up fades, and he slumps forward with a heavy exhale.

"Good... I'll... keep you to that..."

He doesn't know if this is a dream or not. But it feels...

... good. To know people want to know him. To know someone really sees him.

To know people who really care.

...
...

The Cocoon is destroyed. Taro Nakata is freed. And his Homunculus--

"no. no. no. no."

... is still here.

He's there, still wearing his face; dragged back up from his inert position, he is kneeling on the grounds of the Big Top arena as his cognitive creations dissolve all around him. The Other Shadow is bent over, face completely overshadowed and gloved hands planted on the ground.

No. Not planted.

"it's mine. it's mine. it's mine."

Clawing at it. Scraping fingers against hard earth, even as Yanagi, Pernelle and Reiya address him, until his gloves split at the seams. Until he's dragging bloody furrows into the cognitive earth.

"IT'S MINE!"

Anyone who has had encounters with a human's Shadow knows there is one thing consistent across all of them: those bright, almost ''glowing'' yellow eyes. It's been true of every Palace Ruler. Any Shadow encountered in Mementos. And it was true of Taro's Homunculus, too.

But as the former, false ringmaster of the carnival whips around to face them, face now fully painted up in exceedingly fresh clown makeup, with wide eyes unhinged in fury--

They aren't yellow.

"GIVE IT BACK TO ME."

They're a blazing scarlet.

"I deserve this life. ME. I deserve it! Why should he have it and not me?! That pathetic alsoran deserves to wriggle through life like a milksop worm, accomplishing nothing?! I'M the one that ends here?! Just some SAD MEMORY for you all to hold until your brains rot away?! I won't accept that! I should have the life he could never have!"

His arms wrap around his trembling body. Those glowing scarlet eyes have shrunk to pinpricks as he violently grinds his teeth.

And looks up.

The Flegmats in the audience, now freed from the Homunculus' influence, shrink backwards, as if sensing some horrific force on the horizon. Some of them turn. Start to flee.

"I. WILL. Have. It."

Too late.

It's surreal, the way the Homunculus' borrowed body moves. The way its mouth widens suddenly and cartoonishly like a snake unhinging its jaw. The way it inhales...

... and the sheer, sudden suction force of it creates a vortex within the Big Top. The fabric of the tent walls ripple and bend inward towards the Homunculus' inhale. Those gathered will have to fight to not be drawn in -- but they'll manage.

The Flegmats, all of them flinging from the bleachers through the air towards that waiting, open mouth... are not so lucky.

With one singularly harrowing gulp, the Homunculus swallows them all. Those red eyes blaze.

"Even if I have to tear him apart."

And everything goes pitch black. Nothing, absolutely nothing is visible --

save for the Thing wearing Taro's face, visible only as a silhouette in saturated scarlet.

i am the other self

A silhouette that distorts. Distends. Shifts. Joints bending in ways they shouldn't. Body bulging in violent expansion.

Until it ''b u r s t s''.

Light suddenly returns to the Big Top as a concealing red mist gushes outward from the epicenter of that explosion. And within the haze...

the you that should be

Something emerges.

Large. Monolithic, even. That's the first impression as that towering and ungainly-looking silhouette pierces through the dissipating fog of scarlet. It seems to almost... teeter into being, the sheer weight of it swaying ''forward'' before tipping ''backward'', as if struggling with its own weight.

The reason for this soon becomes clear as that strange, blocky form emerges from the haze. It isn't a creature, per se: it's a vehicle. It looks like a tremendous palanquin or litter, fashioned out of arcade machines:

The base of it, from which the support rods extend, is a large flat horizontal arcade machine, sculpted in pure royal whites and golds.

And the 'cabin' of that litter? A classic arcade tower colored in aggressive neon green and pink, the garish colors almost evocative of old, 90s aesethetics. The screen of it occasionally flashes between scenes of what looks like samples of Night Parade fights, except distorted and somehow unsettling to look at directly. On the corner of the machine, the Homunculus' top hat hangs.

Like a proper palanquin it, of course, has guards: to anyone familiar with Night Parade, they look almost immediately familiar. Kaguya-hime. Master Koto. Nukekubi. Bakeduo-Neko, even. And more besides -- all of them looking almost like... real people, cosplaying the characters. People from -- Shujin? Anyone familiar might be able to identify them as the bullies in Taro Nakata's life.

They're all there... except for two characters in specific:

The first: Kappa. He's there -- in fact, there are -many- Kappas. Not amongst the guards -- but carrying the Arcade Palanquin, countless scaly-green, beaked, shell-bearing, sad-looking Kappas struggling and straining to support the overbearing weight of the machine carriage, all of them wearing rounded glasses.

All of them looking ''exactly'' like Taro Nakata.

And the last?

i am

She sits on the top of the arcade tower, leaned back and one foot planted, knee-bent on the top of the tower, lounging in all her glacial splendor like royal on the throne made for her. Pale skin. Blue lips. Eyes closed. Long black hair. An outfit in purple and black, with gray jeans and high-heeled sneakers.

Yuki-Offa. Yet like the others, her facial features are more reminiscent of someone else: ... Hazuki?

This is...

<pre>
i am the other self
u r
n Nanghaithya e
i the v
t Discontent e
e s
fles rehto eht ma i
</pre>

homunculus

TO BE CONCLUDED...

</poem>

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

2025-11-01: Let Your Self Be Free II

2025-11-05T22:32:22Z

Jean: Created page with "  *'''Log: Let Your Self Be Free II''' *'''Cast:''' Nanghaithya (NPC'd by Tsumugi Kujaku), Hazuki Nakao, Yukari Takeba, Myunghon Yeo, Saika Kikuchi, Umie Akabane, Akari Hoshi, Roger, Yanagi Nagisa, Fuuka Yamagishi, Ririka Kawase, Katsuya Suou, Pernell..."

*'''Log: Let Your Self Be Free II'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Nanghaithya]] (NPC'd by Tsumugi Kujaku), [[Hazuki Nakao]], [[Yukari Takeba]], [[Myunghon Yeo]], [[Saika Kikuchi]], [[Umie Akabane]], [[Akari Hoshi]], [[Roger]], [[Yanagi Nagisa]], [[Fuuka Yamagishi]], [[Ririka Kawase]], [[Katsuya Suou]], [[Pernelle]], [[Moriko Kumamoto]], [[Tamaki Uchida]], [[So-young Park]], [[Tsumugi Kujaku]]
*'''Where:''' Taro Nakata's Atelier, The Big Top
*'''OOC Date:''' November 01, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' August 03, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Taro Nakata has been freed; his Homunculus has been rendered vulnerable. But vulnerable is not the same as weak. It's time for our brave Persona-users to show they have a Kappa's fighting spirit! READY? FIGHT!''

----

AS: Yukari Takeba has readied for combat as Io! She is now fully healed!
AS: Hazuki Nakao has readied for combat as Janus! She is now fully healed!
AS: Akari Hoshi has readied for combat as Legendary Magical Warrior Ixquic! She is now fully healed!
AS: Tamaki Uchida has readied for combat as Arianrhod! She is now fully healed!
AS: Akari Hoshi has readied for combat as Legendary Magical Warrior Ixquic! She is now fully healed!
AS: Saika Kikuchi has readied for combat as Frankenstein's Monster! She is now fully healed!
AS: Roger has readied for combat as Kamapua'a! He is now fully healed!
AS: Pernelle has readied for combat as Anqa! He is now fully healed!
AS: Ririka Kawase has readied for combat as Amphion! She is now fully healed!
AS: Reiya Aomori has readied for combat as Kunimitsu! He is now fully healed!
AS: Myunghon Yeo has readied for combat as Kudlak! They is now fully healed!
AS: So-young Park has readied for combat as Icarus! She is now fully healed!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa has readied for combat as Giselle! She is now fully healed!

<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
The Cocoon is destroyed. Taro Nakata is freed. And his Homunculus--

"no. no. no. no."

... is still here.

He's there, still wearing his face; dragged back up from his inert position, he is kneeling on the grounds of the Big Top arena as his cognitive creations dissolve all around him. The Other Shadow is bent over, face completely overshadowed and gloved hands planted on the ground.

No. Not planted.

"it's mine. it's mine. it's mine."

Clawing at it. Scraping fingers against hard earth, even as Yanagi, Pernelle and Reiya address him, until his gloves split at the seams. Until he's dragging bloody furrows into the cognitive earth.

"IT'S MINE!"

Anyone who has had encounters with a human's Shadow knows there is one thing consistent across all of them: those bright, almost ''glowing'' yellow eyes. It's been true of every Palace Ruler. Any Shadow encountered in Mementos. And it ''was'' true of Taro's Homunculus, too.

But as the former, false ringmaster of the carnival whips around to face them, face now fully painted up in exceedingly fresh clown makeup, with wide eyes unhinged in fury--

They aren't yellow.

"GIVE IT BACK TO ME."

They're a blazing scarlet.

"I deserve this life. ME. I deserve it! Why should he have it and not me?! That pathetic alsoran deserves to wriggle through life like a milksop worm, accomplishing nothing?! I'M the one that ends here?! Just some SAD MEMORY for you all to hold until your brains rot away?! I won't accept that! I should have the life he could never have!"

His arms wrap around his trembling body. Those glowing scarlet eyes have shrunk to pinpricks as he violently grinds his teeth.

And looks up.

The Flegmats in the audience, now freed from the Homunculus' influence, shrink backwards, as if sensing some horrific force on the horizon. Some of them turn. Start to flee.

"I. WILL. Have. It."

Too late.

It's surreal, the way the Homunculus' borrowed body moves. The way its mouth widens suddenly and cartoonishly like a snake unhinging its jaw. The way it inhales...

... and the sheer, sudden suction force of it creates a vortex within the Big Top. The fabric of the tent walls ripple and bend inward towards the Homunculus' inhale. Those gathered will have to fight to not be drawn in -- but they'll manage.

The Flegmats, all of them flinging from the bleachers through the air towards that waiting, open mouth... are not so lucky.

With one singularly harrowing gulp, the Homunculus swallows them all. Those red eyes blaze.

"Even if I have to tear him apart."

And everything goes pitch black. Nothing, absolutely nothing is visible --

save for the Thing wearing Taro's face, visible only as a silhouette in saturated scarlet.

i am the other self

A silhouette that distorts. Distends. Shifts. Joints bending in ways they shouldn't. Body bulging in violent expansion.

Until it ''b u r s t s''.

Light suddenly returns to the Big Top as a concealing red mist gushes outward from the epicenter of that explosion. And within the haze...

the you that should be

Something emerges.

Large. Monolithic, even. That's the first impression as that towering and ungainly-looking silhouette pierces through the dissipating fog of scarlet. It seems to almost... teeter into being, the sheer weight of it swaying ''forward'' before tipping ''backward'', as if struggling with its own weight.

The reason for this soon becomes clear as that strange, blocky form emerges from the haze. It isn't a creature, per se: it's a vehicle. It looks like a tremendous palanquin or litter, fashioned out of arcade machines:

The base of it, from which the support rods extend, is a large flat horizontal arcade machine, sculpted in pure royal whites and golds.

And the 'cabin' of that litter? A classic arcade tower colored in aggressive neon green and pink, the garish colors almost evocative of old, 90s aesethetics. The screen of it occasionally flashes between scenes of what looks like samples of Night Parade fights, except distorted and somehow unsettling to look at directly. On the corner of the machine, the Homunculus' top hat hangs.

Like a proper palanquin it, of course, has guards: to anyone familiar with Night Parade, they look almost immediately familiar. Kaguya-hime. Master Koto. Nukekubi. Bakeduo-Neko, even. And more besides -- all of them looking almost like... real people, cosplaying the characters. People from -- Shujin? Anyone familiar might be able to identify them as the bullies in Taro Nakata's life.

They're all there... except for two characters in specific:

The first: Kappa. He's there -- in fact, there are -many- Kappas. Not amongst the guards -- but carrying the Arcade Palanquin, countless scaly-green, beaked, shell-bearing, sad-looking Kappas struggling and straining to support the overbearing weight of the machine carriage, all of them wearing rounded glasses.

All of them looking ''exactly'' like Taro Nakata.

And the last?

i am

She sits on the top of the arcade tower, leaned back and one foot planted, knee-bent on the top of the tower, lounging in all her glacial splendor like royal on the throne made for her. Pale skin. Blue lips. Eyes closed. Long black hair. An outfit in purple and black, with gray jeans and high-heeled sneakers.

Yuki-Offa. Yet like the others, her facial features are more reminiscent of someone else: ... Hazuki?

This is...

<pre>
i am the other self
u r
n Nanghaithya e
i the v
t Discontent e
e s
fles rehto eht ma i
</pre>

homunculus

Time to wonder over it lasts only so long, though. The Kappas shift, bringing the palanquin lurching to face those who stand before it. Those who defied it. Beneath the lounging Yuki-Offa, the Arcade Machine's screen goes black, and then alights with a dazzling array of colors and combat SFX and two words, flashed on after the other:

READY?

F I G H T !

BOSS THEME: Number One - https://youtu.be/7JEjQG4-tpU?si=YRlIj4_qrdVjJ8z7

Nanghaithya's myriad Kappa carriers take deep breaths, even as they strain to support the litter's oppressive mass. Their chests swell.

And suddenly, they -all- start breathing out great plumes of flames many time their own size, washing the Big Top arena's grounds and broiling a tidal path of fire towards all assembled.

And then they do it again.

And again.

And again.

Like some sort of--

Cheap, petty projectile spam?!

</poem>
AS: Nanghaithya has readied for combat as Nanghaithya the DiScOnTe! They are now fully healed! Crt_Up added! Ready for
14 opponents!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Katsuya Suou! 3 Hits!
AS: Pressure: Nanghaithya gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Saika Kikuchi! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Ririka Kawase! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Pernelle! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Yukari Takeba! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Yanagi Nagisa! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Roger! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Akari Hoshi! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Fuuka Yamagishi! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Hazuki Nakao! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Myunghon Yeo! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on So-young Park! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Tamaki Uchida! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Umie Akabane! 3 Hits!
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 11 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Avoid Fire!
AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 25 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Yukari Takeba takes 36 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 25 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Umie Akabane takes 27 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit! Avoid Fire!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Myunghon Yeo takes 22 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Worst! Myunghon Yeo takes 26 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Best! Myunghon Yeo takes 24 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Umie Akabane takes 27 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit! Avoid Fire!
AS: Block Worst! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 36 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Best! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 28 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 32 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Akari Hoshi takes 24 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Block Best! Akari Hoshi takes 21 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Worst! Akari Hoshi takes 43 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Saika Kikuchi takes 54 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Block Neutral! Saika Kikuchi takes 32 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Weak!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Roger takes 36 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Weak!
AS: Block Worst! Saika Kikuchi takes 35 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Weak!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Roger takes 50 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Avoid Worst! Roger takes 41 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Weak!
AS: Avoid Worst! So-young Park takes 35 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Weak!
AS: Avoid Neutral! So-young Park takes 30 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Weak!
AS: Avoid Best! So-young Park takes 38 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Avoid Worst! Hazuki Nakao takes 34 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Hazuki Nakao takes 42 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Hazuki Nakao takes 20 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Tamaki Uchida takes 25 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 27 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 18 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Block Neutral! Yanagi Nagisa takes 27 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Block Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 23 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Block Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 23 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Worst! Pernelle takes 27 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Best! Pernelle takes 22 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Pernelle takes 32 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 30 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: Block Best! Katsuya Suou takes 21 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: Block Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 20 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Resist!
AS: Nanghaithya has readied for combat with Nanghaithya the DiScOnTe! They are adjusted! Ready for 15 opponents!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Fire skill Shameless Zoning on Moriko Kumamoto! 3 Hits!
AS: Pressure: Nanghaithya gains 1 Limit!
AS: Block Best! Ririka Kawase takes 19 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Block Best! Ririka Kawase takes 30 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Best! Ririka Kawase takes 19 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>As Hazuki prepares to end this, to stay with Taro as he starts to collapse, there's a problem.

The Homuculus is defiant, absorbs much of the inhabitants of the Atelier, and transforms into a palanquin carried by Kappas, with...

Something on top. Something familiar.

As she dives out of the way of the vacuum suction, Hazuki's clutching her bat tightly, handing Taro to Reiya and Minato to guard.

"That's me... and Taro... is this how he felt? Or just how you think he felt? I'm confused..."

As the fire plumes blast into her, Hazuki's trying to roll between them. The first one sends her rolling backwards, singed with flames, before another is deflected with her bat, and the third is swept away even more with a twirl of it.

"But no matter! Light will prevail! The monster always fades away!"

Dodging forward, Hazuki prepares her bat, shouting out.

"The only way to counter a zoner is rushdown! Let's get in there!" They better not have a flash kick, she thinks, as she dashes forward and swings into the nearest Kappas, trying to get right in their face with that gilded bat!
</poem>

AS: Avoid Best! Moriko Kumamoto takes 33 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Moriko Kumamoto takes 40 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning.
AS: Avoid Worst! Moriko Kumamoto takes 56 Fire damage from Nanghaithya's Shameless Zoning. Critical Hit!
AS: Weapon! Hazuki Nakao has used the Strike skill Batter Up on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Aggression: Hazuki Nakao gains 1 Limit!
AS: Counter Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 12 Strike damage from Hazuki Nakao's Batter Up. Resist! Counter Strike!
AS: COUNTER! Hazuki Nakao takes 27 Strike damage in return for her attack!

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
"Give it up already, you lost." Yukari replies with that unimpressed tone to the Homunculus beginning to freak out. "Go back to wherever you came from."

But it doesn't, it's possessive, and she recoils from the sheer ''creepiness'' of it's blazing scarlet eyes, "What's going on!? What's it doing?" As she now does in fact look to Pernelle, Yanagi and Saika whether they can answer it.

She ducks down using her bow as a shield, as the vacuum of it's force tears at her, while the tent becomes a part of it's vortex.

"... The other... self?" Yukari repeats, as if trying to work out what it means, as she looks up and-

the you that should be

She takes a breath, then another, feeling a welling fear within her, as it forms that weird-

"What..." She takes another step back from the monstrosity of palanquin, borne by Taro Kappas, atop arcade cabinets, "... how is this even weirder than the giant pig bot? This feels like something Junpei would dream up after spending all day at the Game Panic."

She's not sure where the Kappas would fit in, she's just rather certain. The words blink into being and-

- the kappas start breathing fire, and Yukari suddenly side-steps a projectile, only there's another that nearly hits her dead on, scorching her SEES jacket. "-Whoa!" Right before she has to balance her weight on her left foot and raise her right to avoid another, as she quickly pivots around before taking her Evoker to her head, "Io!" With the pull of a trigger the girl in her bovine coffin appears, taking on more projectiles from the Kappa crowd.

'The only way to counter a zoner is a rushdown! Let's get in there.'

"... They're not stopping! She's right, we've got to advance!" As winds rise against the flow of projectiles, Io spreads out her hands, and begins doing it's best to patch the damage for SEES, so they can get in there.

</poem>
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Recovery skill Media on Yukari Takeba, Moriko Kumamoto, Fuuka Yamagishi, and
Ririka Kawase!
AS: Support: Yukari Takeba gains 1 Limit!
AS: Yukari Takeba regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Yukari Takeba takes 88 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
They aren't yellow.

Myunghon does notice this, and it only panics them further. Their knowledge of the supernatural is ultimately superficial with how deep and unknown the unknowns get; it makes them wonder -- with how little they know of how it all works... was it right to pass judgement? It was right to save Taro Nakata, that much they are clear about -- yet what about the Homunculus, which can only seem to exist by usurping the identity of another?

Katsuya was quick to lay a path down -- if they want an identity, define their own.

But as it was with Roger's own impressive Awakening...

It's hard, to assert oneself, isn't it. It's something that most people might not ever end up doing in their entire lives. Myunghon themself isn't certain -- they are the Doctor Pangloss, ever blindly believing in a world that didn't have their best interests, needing to be told of the true power they possess.

What Yanagi said is echoing in their mind. A thing that shouldn't exist, not understanding before it was even born... just how did she come into possession of that certainty?

But they can't stay in their reverie for all too long, because the Homunculus manifests into a large, towering, impressive... monster -- a Yuki-onna (sorry, offa) upon a palanquin, carried by myriad kappa. It doesn't take long for the battle to be rejoined, and plumes of fire erupt out and threaten to burn them, the Big Top catching aflame as Myunghon scampers towards safety, singes of fire catching onto Kudlak and their Coat.

Yes, this all resembles some cheap, petty Zoner play, like their name is Pluçon Bloque.

"Nnnh..." Myunghon finds themself struggling in the wake of the flames, the aching in their chest flaring badly as they clutch against a still-standing support pillar of the Big Top. "Our objective is met. Taro Nakata has been rescued from the Cocoon. Yet, I doubt that we can leave the Homunculus to rampage without harming him in some cognitive manner."

Yamagishi and Kawase are both here, and they're more skilled at identifying weakness and support -- no, what they need to do here is to *create* weaknesses, in order for the battle to be conducted in better state.

Hazuki reflects on the nature of the creature, Nanghaithya -- and how Yuki-offa bears her face, and Taro is reflected in the many Kappa below. If it's the Homunculus... is it doomed to only reflect the inner desires and pains of others? What does *that* mean?

Merry, help.

"... no matter. The battlefield has changed, and thus my objective is clear -- I shall ascertain the variables in which our victory rests!" Merry declares, as a column of Blue rises with Kudlak's Coat stretching out to harrangue the many Kappa underneath to precariously trip them up and weaken it against assault, and then thrusts their hand out with a rattling noise to further create weakness within!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Dark skill Consume on Nanghaithya!
AS: Pressure: Myunghon Yeo gains 1 Limit!

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
The horror of the Homunculus, the sheer force and drive of the Thing's desire and intention to live, to survive, to thrive, to stand in the spotlight it had been denied by the mere vissicitudes of chance, radiates outwards. The world goes dark.

"Ah... shit," says Saika Kikuchi, a moment before the light illuminates the face of their enemy.

The true form, perhaps. She straightens up, at least; her pose shows little fatigue, however much of that might be pure pose vs. objective reality. That last flying leap took something out of her, but she's had a minute since then. Saika exhales as the Homunculus marches forwards... though the sight of the Thing's *face*, stolen as it is from someone whom Saika has seen a number of times, gives her a moment of hesitation.

You can only front so far, though it's farther than you might think. It might be telling that she strode forwards to get in front of Pernelle and Yanagi, if only by a pace or so, once the Homunculus manifested.

"Don't jinx it," she calls to Hazuki at her words -- which, of course, might have a double meaning for her in particular -- and SURE ENOUGH: the kappas' beaky fleshy mouths pop open, a gout of hideous flame erupting outwards from many angles, smashing against Saika as she brings her arms up into a crossblock.

"Kuh! Gahh--!!" A good half-dozen of the fireballs end up on Saika, the fruits of her forward-facing aggression, and she sinks to one knee. "Monster!" Saika calls out, and the gray-green-black shape of science's hubris manifests. There is a sense of an angry growl or groan, but the Monster expresses power in another way -

"Light 'em up!!"

Bolts of lightning crack out of the sky in a rapid barrage towards the waves of kapper doom, Saika lurching back upright. A brief glance towards their supporting crew, but the one Saika addresses next is Yanagi. "You see an opening, Yanagi?! I could break any six of these little turds, but there's a whole fuckin' army!"

</poem>
AS: Persona! Saika Kikuchi has used the Elec skill Rapid Zionga on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 8 Strike damage from Hazuki Nakao's Batter Up. Resist! Counter Strike!
AS: COUNTER! Hazuki Nakao takes 32 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 0 Dark damage from Myunghon Yeo's Consume. Resist!
AS: Def_Dn and Spd_Dn added!

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> 'I. WILL. Have. It.' As the Flegmats shrink backwards, a familar dual sided blade flashes from the shadows as a shape rushes forwards in a manner that lacks any of the cackling spiciness Umie displayed earlier.

It was all for show, in the end: calling the homunculus's death, Taro's fortunate fate, and the stars being in Hazuki's favor. It would be easy to overlook it as part of a performance aimed at tearing down the Homunculus's confidence, and in a way, that's all it was.

The other side of it lies in the fact that every _actual_ prophecy of Umie's is only true because every single word in them is uttered too late, be it by a year, a day, or years. So, in Umie's eyes, the only way to make it the truth is to enforce it herself, lest it become the last one she ever makes.

And it's the writhing shape that was the Homunculus's body that is reflected in Umie's eyes as she closes in with the blade, aiming to make a decisive slash to end it before it starts.

But it's too
late.

Now Umie is being sucked in, mimicking the way she had to keep from being swallowed by that lion, earlier. The hook on the kyoketsu-shoge's blade becomes a lifeline instead, hooking onto something secure as her shoes press up against that extended jaw, those new expensive sneakers she unwisely accepted(?) from Shiryuu inches from being sucked in. From her violently flapping coat come charms, origami shapes, and yes, that damn spare mask Umie was looking for, which are sucked in instead along with those unfortunate Flegmats.

.... yeah, Umie's not really thrilled about all this. She's also pretty terrified, as she watches that thing swallow it all in one distorted gulp, before the lights in the Big Top go black.

Gripping her kyoketsu-shoge's blade's hilt and giving it a few good good tugs, Umie wretches it from wherever it's embedded and makes her final push to end the situation before it begins.

But yet again, Umie is--

A violent THWACK from the expanding mass throws Umie much further, her body whirling in the air and bouncing off the ground a few feet more until her body's momentum is spent.

--too late.

'Wakey-wakey, Umie-chan~'

Getting up with a groan and a staggered gait, Umie boggles at the Arcade Palanquin. "... eh...?" Unfortunately, the pop culture references fly over the blonde young woman's head. (The Japanese mythology ones, though, she definitely gets.)

.... The other thing Umie will get is a lot of fire power coming at her quickly. "... Shit!"

She jumps back from the first one, which gives the second time to brush by side (NOT THE JACKET, NOOO), while the third she attempts to duck by, with similar results.

Looking over to 'Orange-san' (ie, Hazuki) Umie gives the teen a flummoxed look. "I'm barely getting any of that, but I'm just going to make things a lot harder for them."

And so, Umie summons Badb again, casting the one status ailment she rarely, if ever casts.

.... After all, when you're a squishy dodgy time, why cast the one thing that may make your life a little harder if you fail?

"I'll make *them* rush instead!!"
</poem>

AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 34 Elec damage from Saika Kikuchi's Rapid Zionga.
AS: Block Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 30 Elec damage from Saika Kikuchi's Rapid Zionga.
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 42 Elec damage from Saika Kikuchi's Rapid Zionga. Critical Hit!
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Almighty skill Warrior's Bell on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Umie Akabane regains 3 SP from Invigorate!

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>For one brief, shining moment, Akari thinks they've succeeded. They've saved Taro from the horrible fate of being replaced by his Homonculus! Everything has gone perfectly!

Except the Homonculus is still there. And it's standing up.

"Hazuki!" she calls, forgetting her honourific in the moment. "Roger-kun! Watch out!" Not that anyone needs the warning as the Homonculus clambers back up, red-eyed, but - she still steps forward, holding her sword flat across her body, using it once again like a shield as she takes the fore, planting herself against the sudden wind. She's expecting the thing to strike out like the cognitive threats from before, or maybe even summon more of them.

She is *not* expecting...

...

That.

Ixquic's eyes widen behind her helmet's visor, barely visible, as the palanquin rises. She had seen Kaneshiro, but something about this is different. Whether it's because there's so *many* of them, or simply because it doesn't feel the same. She can tell it's different.

"You monster!" Flame washes along her sword - again - as Ixquic is lightly crisped by the flames. Her outfit has shorts and short sleeves; she's feeling a little toasty, but not so much that she's going to back off immediately, even after the beating she's taken already.

"Villain! I, Magical Warrior Ixquic, challenge you! Fight me if you dare! But listen to this: you aren't allowed to hurt anyone else! You won't EVER take his body! His life is his!" Ixquic thrusts her sword forward, more posing than striking, and Quixote appears above and behind her, raising her lance - and the pennant on it unfurls, billowing in counterpoint with Ixquic's own cape.

Energy builds up, but not near the Homonculus; around Ixquic herself, around Hazuki, around Roger, around Saika who so impressed her before when she took out the cannon. Fair's fair, after all.

And then, because the Homonculus on the palanquin is clearly that sort of a person, Ixquic raises her other hand, making a come-on gesture, beckoning him. Challenging him, even.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Akari Hoshi has used the Recovery skill Heroic Dream on Akari Hoshi, Hazuki Nakao, Roger, and Saika
Kikuchi!
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 88 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.
AS: Take! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 88 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 0 Recovery healing from Akari Hoshi's Heroic Dream.
AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added!
AS: Take! Roger takes 0 Recovery healing from Akari Hoshi's Heroic Dream.
AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added!
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 0 Recovery healing from Akari Hoshi's Heroic Dream.
AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added!
AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 0 Recovery healing from Akari Hoshi's Heroic Dream.
AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> Roger - a Shadow who has awakened to his own Persona, somehow, and has undergone Transmutation into a more humanoid figure decked out like an odd hodge-podge of sports memorabilia - is broken free of his initial experiences with the concept of introspection with the Homunculus' tantrum and resultant transformation.

He can ruminate on the strange anxieties and doubts that have attached themselves to an elevated psyche later, as the enemy entity assumes a most dire form reflecting whatever it was that gave them the foothold to form. He snorts. "Bring it! You won't run it back against this razorback!"

Nanghaithya, in fact, brings it - a lot of it - with fireballs that sees Roger hop back and forth with middling success into a disastrous final shot into his hip.

"AHH! Ow, ow, ow...!" He falls onto his seat for a moment as Hazuki takes charge - they have to get in.

"...Hnnn.. you're right! I can't just sit here and fry," he gets back up as an etherial blue butterfly flits by. He slices his racquet into it, dispersing it. "Persona!"

That stout hog-like demigod, Kamapua'a, appears. With wide movements of his arms, a sense of renewal and rejuvenation emanates - for Roger, Hazuki, Akari, and (on the periphery) Saika.

(don't mind the funny burnt bandage on his bum)

"We'll get 'em together!!" He cheers, emboldened further by the materialized heroic resolve by Don Quixote.
</poem>

AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 0 Almighty damage from Umie Akabane's Warrior's Bell.
AS: Rage added!
AS: Persona! Roger has used the Recovery skill Healing Wave on Roger, Hazuki Nakao, Akari Hoshi, and Saika Kikuchi!
AS: Support: Roger gains 1 Limit!
AS: Roger regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Roger takes 0 Recovery healing from Roger's Healing Wave.
AS: Regen added!
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 0 Recovery healing from Roger's Healing Wave.
AS: Regen added!
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 0 Recovery healing from Roger's Healing Wave.
AS: Regen added!
AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 0 Recovery healing from Roger's Healing Wave.
AS: Regen added!

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
Pernelle, as he does his tippy-taps, asks Yanagi if she thinks Tsumugi would notice if he had a bite of Something Special.

"Do you think they wouldn't?" Yanagi counters.

And just in case there's any doubt that Pernelle would get her meaning, Saika just comes out and says it. Bless.

Yanagi leans in closer to her and Pernelle. "Yes, it's much easier with all this extra support," she murmurs. "They needed to be taught some things, but that's not their fault. Right now, we should be ready for... Ah. There we are."

The Homunculus whips around to glare at them with red, red eyes. Yanagi gazes back with that pitying look.

Giselle, still active, arches her back to protect Yanagi when the Homunculus unhinges its clown jaw and begins to suck Flegmats in by the dozens. There is darkness--and then there is bright. The Homunculus has transformed, a massive palanquin that teeters and totters with characters Yanagi doesn't know but that certainly involve a lot of kappas and a Yuki-Onna--sorry, a Yuki-Offa (is that why the baseball bat?)--on top.

Origami angels twirl and dance and vanish and reappear all throughout what was the Big Top, bringing back information to Yanagi's senses in a series of animation cel movies that her senses convert in an instant.

"Nanghaithya the Discontent..." Yanagi names it, voice rising. She's about to say more, but then there is a message, and Yanagi--who, again, is not familiar with gaming--furrows her brows in confusion. Then: "Ah!! Watch out!! Fire!!"

That's as much answer as Yukari gets, just before all those fireballs erupt in a spam of projectiles towards all of them. Yanagi doesn't jump out of the way; rather, Giselle spins around her and protects her with her body, flames breaking and breaking and breaking upon her ghostly visage. She burns away with a spindly scream, leaving Yanagi behind to fall to her knees and clutch her chest--but Saika has already taken point in front of her and Pernelle, and Yanagi gives her a grateful smile. It gives her time to lean on her cane-gun and stagger upright again.

Hazuki wonders at her face and Taro's faces on Yuki-Offa and Kappa. As Yanagi smashes another butterfly, she calls to her, "That is not Taro Nakata. It's simply a thing that has taken on something Taro Nakata could have become. Don't let it fool you." To Saika and Pernelle, as Giselle re-materializes, she says, "Giselle and I are analyzing it now! ...But it sounds like Hazuki has an idea of how to deal with this kind of enemy. Do what you do best and get in its face, Saika!"

She points in a certain direction, the gesture emphasized by Giselle pointing a needle-arm the same way. She makes no effort to hide it, so Myunghon, Roger, and everyone else will get to benefit, not just Saika and Pernelle: the figures holding up the massive palanquin. The ones bearing the brunt of its unwieldy size and weight. "There! Try knocking them down first! It might unbalance it!"
</poem>

AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Almighty skill Full Analysis on Tsumugi Kujaku!
AS: Insight: Yanagi Nagisa gains 1 Limit!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa regains 6 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa cancels 1 attacks on Tsumugi Kujaku.
AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Almighty skill Full Analysis on Nanghaithya!
AS: Insight: Yanagi Nagisa gains 1 Limit!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa regains 6 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 24 Almighty damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Full Analysis.
AS: Yanagi Nagisa's Strength Scan! Nanghaithya resists Strike, Fire, and Dark!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa's Weakness Scan! Nanghaithya is weak against Water and Light!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa's Support Scan! Nanghaithya has passive skills Apt Pupil, Auto-Rebellion, Counter Strike, Strike Amp,
Strike Boost, Strike Riposte, and Water Boost!

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>That all-consuming will to live... Fuuka can't help but feel a pang of sympathy. It was that same will to live that allowed her to survive in Tartarus all that time. But... his survival comes at the cost of Taro. What can they do, in this situation...?

...They have to make a choice. And that choice is Taro.

The Homunculus transforms. She's never ''played'' Night Parade herself, but Fuuka has watched videos on it - though she's not familiar enough to be able to name the characters by name. She's certain they're not supposed to look like... ''this'', though.

The Kappa breathe deep, however, and begin to spew out a tidal wave of flame.

"Lucia...!" Fuuka gasps. There's the sound of an Evoker firing, as she redoubles Lucia's protection. The flames wash over her. She winces, even from within the protective globe - but the healing that comes in after helps soothe the mind and body. Fuuka exhales.

"Thank you, Yukari-chan..." She offers. She can focus now - and she focuses her attention on Nanghaithya.

"What are you...? How do you fight?" She murmurs to herself. Yanagi has done some analysis of her own - so Fuuka instead turns her attention to focus on the Homuculus's attack patterns. It's tendencies, it's methods - predicting possible avenues of attacks it may use, and relaying this to everyone to help them avoid harm.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Fuuka Yamagishi has used the Almighty skill Divination on Nanghaithya!
AS: Insight: Fuuka Yamagishi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 24 Almighty damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Divination.
AS: Atk_Dn added!
AS: Fuuka Yamagishi's Support Scan! Nanghaithya has passive skills Apt Pupil, Auto-Rebellion, Counter Strike, Strike
Amp, Strike Boost, Strike Riposte, and Water Boost!
AS: Take! Moriko Kumamoto takes 88 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ririka scrambles back as the Homunculus ''changes'' and forms... a giant arcade tower? She gasps, as the feeling of its Resonance ''completely'' changes. "What the--" She recognizes all of those characters, of course, but seeing them like ''this'' is...

... unsettling, to put it mildly. "I've got a bad feeling about this..." Can they survive ''another'' fight after that long, drawn-out encounter they already survived?

... Do they even have a choice?

She barely knows where to start as all of the Taro-Kappas start to spit flame after flame after flame. For a moment she thinks of it as a cheap trick-- but that's in the game. ''Here'' it is an immensely worrying wall of flames headed for them. Out comes the katana, and she takes up a stance as she starts to deflec and block her way through the flames.

She's already panting by the time she's broken tghrough the last wave, but Yukari is there with a quick patch already. "Thanks, Takeba-san!" she calls. Out comes her Evoker and she shouts, "Amphion!" as she pulls the trigger, summoning the statue once more.

Hazuki calls for a rushdown to beat a zoner. "She's right! I'll back you all up! Amphion! Healing Song!"

The Persona starts to strum his lyre, strings flickering to life beneath his fingertips, and melodies weave around Moriko, So-young, Pernelle, and Myungon.

"Nagisa-san, Pernelle-san, Kikuchi-san, do you have any advice for fighting this?" They clearly seemed knoweldgeable before, so maybe they'll some somre more insights to share.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Recovery skill Healing Song on Moriko Kumamoto, So-young Park, Pernelle, and
Myunghon Yeo!
AS: Insight: Ririka Kawase gains 1 Limit!

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
"Nakata-san?!"

No.

It's not over.

As they all watch, the Homunculus distorts itself in horrific fashion, drawing ever more of the Flegmat Humors into itself. All goes black but for the silhouette in crimson:

the other self. what one could be. ''should'' be, as it puts it.

Something drags itself from the darkness, looming above them all. "Is that a-- an arcade cabinet...?" Katsuya utters at first, as if completely bewildered. He was still a child in the 90s, he's seen them for himself alongside friends, once upon a time! But he hasn't actually look at one in over fifteen years. Why has this Homunculus taken a shape like this--

Perhaps the answer can be found in the forms that ''bear'' the arcade cabinet-turned-palanquin. Katsuya doesn't know the game (he's too much of a square for that) let alone the figures within it, but the face of all those Kappa-themed (he is still a nerd though) figures is a familiar one.

"The same ethos as before, I see," he remarks, gazing up at the 'ruler' above. He shakes his head. "Then nothing has changed. We will stop you here!"

The Homunculus -- Nanghaithya, properly -- directs its Kappas accordingly: flame after flame rolls towards the lot of them. Though Katsuya rushes forward as if to already answer Hazuki's direction with Helios manifested before him, he still arrives at destination with his suit jacket singed. Even protection against flame only can take one so far. "Fire, is it?" He touches his fingers to his sunglasses, as if to readjust them.

"Persona!"

Helios is quick to appear at his call, bestowing a curtain of flame about those he's thought might have been more affected by Nanghaithya's fire.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
''Do you think they wouldn't?'' Pernelle actually stops, considering, as his long neck bends like a hook, head nearly upside down. "Mmmmnnn... mMMMMMNNNNN... mmmnnooooo?" he eventually responds, reluctantly, hopefully before heaving a sigh. "Very well, very well. I will show the utmost self restr -- oh dear, here it is."

'Oh dear' is a understatement for the colossal foe that forms itself anew, determined to steal an existence for itself by squandering another's. What ''is'' going on, Yukari asks, and Pernelle adjusts his glasses. The brightness of the spectacle turns them opaque, making his otherwise expression eyes blocked from view.

"So it has come to this..." Pernelle says, his voice low and grave. "What you see before you, my fine friends, is what I like to call...

"... a sticky wicket of a situation."

THANKS PERNELLE THAT'S REAL INSIGHTFUL

There is little time to wait for any more explanation before the situation explains itself Kappa driven fireballs come launching out, and Pernelle suddenly begins to spin, pirouette, and vault around the barrage with trailing, glittering train feathers. "Ha HA! Sir! You did not struck me once!"

He coughs a plume of smoke, a few singed feathers burning on the ground around him.

"... Well, you did not strike me thrice! I can assure you!" This could also be a lie, but does it matter? "Now, then, let us see how your palette endures the taste of your own medicine!"

Pernelle's Persona Anqa, in all her gold and rainbow seams, appears, singing out before her face explodes open with her own roar of fire, launching his own barrage of explosions at the figures holding the palanquin, as Yanagi points out.

He spins around, turning his back to the Frei-splosions as they detonate, because cool birds don't look at explosions... or maybe just so he can call out to Saika.

"Beautiful display, Saika!" he cheers. "Please continue!"

As he flaps his rings, he calls to Ririka: "I suggest, my speculating songstress, incredible violence!"

</poem>
AS: Take! Pernelle takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Healing Song.
AS: Regen added!
AS: Persona! Pernelle has used the Fire skill Trio Freila on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Ruin: Pernelle gains 1 Limit!
AS: Pernelle: Gains 49 HP from Regen!
AS: Take! Moriko Kumamoto takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Healing Song.
AS: Regen added!
AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Almighty skill Fire Wall on So-young Park, Saika Kikuchi, and Roger!
AS: Take! Roger takes 0 Almighty damage from Katsuya Suou's Fire Wall.
AS: Fire_Wall added!

<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
<poem>Moriko had been running support prior. Doing the whole keeping the critters away from the main show. Which is why she's running up, belated and just in time to catch a gout of flame. Pulling away sharply, she quickly works on getting it put out. Then gets a good look at what they're up against. "Oh." She murmurs. "This looks bad."

And in a quieter voice, "And like one of those cheap yen munchers." She couldn't help it. She spends enough time at the arcades.

"I dunno, there's some old myths it might be referencing an-" she frowns, "Later." Only to add after a brief pause, "Pig bot?" While swinging her polearm up and around, at the ready. THis is probably another stolen one. Don't worry about it.

She wants to argue about the zoning advice, but that's absolutely a topic for later. Pushing through the flames are absolutely going to suck, but she's probably right.

"Or sniping the supports down." Which. Is that an option? The shadows are usually one entity right?

That Taro's been saved and the shadow is still here kind of throws a few ideas out the window after all.

She does, at least lift her hand in thanks, briefly to Yukari with the support, "Thanks." with a further nod to Ririka "You too". Before she takes a breath, pulls out her own evoker and places it under her chin, calling out, "Otohime Gitsune!" The figure appearing behind her. Watching the tower of shadow, the word escaping the biker for a moment.

The fox stares the whole time, motes of light flitting around the amalgamation.

Moriko doesn't linger though. She's already dashing through the flame, arm covering her nose and mouth, head tucked in!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Moriko Kumamoto has used the Almighty skill Tarunda on Nanghaithya!
AS: Moriko Kumamoto: Gains 50 HP from Regen!
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Healing Song.
AS: Regen added!
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 0 Almighty damage from Katsuya Suou's Fire Wall.
AS: Fire_Wall added!

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
Given the highly strenuous week she's had so far, it's a wonder Tamaki's even here at all, but she has another client's case to worry about, and she'd like to get an idea of what a Homunculus could potentially become. That is, that's her reason for being here ''in addition'' to helping Taro Nakata himself.

She figures there are some times when you have to recognize when you're in the spotlight, and other times when you have to keep back and play stagehand instead. Nothing's going to get done if everyone's aiming to be on center stage.

And that's a high-effort job! She has been WIPED. No energy. Low-ebb. One could ''almost'' accuse her of phoning it in. Almost.

But you know one thing her and Arianrhod have plenty of practice at? One against many situations. Crowd control. While she had no interest in being on the top of that hill, she was more than glad to play interference and let someone else be king. It's like she told the big bad humour before: she's lost plenty of times, herself. That doesn't mean she can't put a foot on the scales, however!

She's quiet. Just here to observe. Others have got the pep talk handled ... and apparently, a Homunculus has multiple stages in its life, with the last one being full replacement, should no one intervene. 'Even if I have to tear him apart.'

Up until now, her focus has just been on helping to clear a path, but the transformation of the palanquin catches her attention enough that she gets the signal to shift back into the foreground. The Homunculus swallows the very crowd she had been helping to beat back --

The fireball spam is what ''really'' catches her attention. One catches her unaware, she manages to dodge the next one well enough to at least only get hit by the edge, and after the first two missteps she's now FULLY ALERT and ready to just graze past the third.

There's a big crowd of allies: some are familiar faces others aren't. Myunghon, Umie, So-Young, Saika, Moriko, Yukari ...

Tamaki peers more closely at the crowd. Is that ... is that ''Roger''?

Still opting for her general backstage-helper approach, when someone yells something about rushdown, Tamaki decides to at least make running headlong into the fray less dangerous for the others and give herself some time to regain her own bearings. "Media!"
</poem>

AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Recovery skill Media on Roger, Hazuki Nakao, Saika Kikuchi, and So-young Park!
AS: Take! Roger takes 62 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 62 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 62 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> So-young Park was supposed to be helping to secure the internet cafe that the Cardboard Dragon were using to access the Atelier, but-- well, plans have somewhat changed along the way. Stuck in her romanticism, she may have been expecting something rather more movie-like - shadowy agents and monsters converging on the door to a booth, a last-ditch fight to beat the tide away as Myunghon's fingers fly across the keyboard and dynamically hit an ENTER key with a stroke of finality--

--yes, yes, typing has nothing to do with this at all, but it really _would_ make for a good climax, you see--

But the reality is much different, and So-young was left bored out of her mind and incessantly pacing up and down a dingy corridor watching people shuffle past her, each of them entirely used to the solitude of their social contract here of all possible places. It hadn't really been all that long before her restless energy built up enough that she broke away from the plan to head into the Atelier herself. Besides, So-young Park is a creature of immediacy. If she's going to be involved she'd much rather it be right there with the others rather than sitting back and passively waiting for their return.

And if she's truly and brutally honest with herself, a big part of her is still thinking about the way Akira Hayashi dropped to the floor of a dingy warehouse, his existence blacked out in the blink of an eye to only leave a lump of meat behind. She's still yet to really process that ugly feeling that accompanies it - but she clings to it tightly, determined to use it as fuel at the very least.

* * *

The rest is a raw, mad dash, but thankfully that is Icarus' speciality, and So-young's gotten much better with practice at riding her Persona. There is a cacophony of strange fairground creatures between So-young and the climactic fight on the horizon, but this isn't her first trip through the Atelier, and the Persona's speed scatters many of them in its wake as a sonic boom rips ahead of her path, scattering some of the sideshow tents and setting their bells ringing violently around her.

It's not hard to see which direction she should be going in given the pyrotechnics on display, the constant slew of flames spat into the air to fill the sky like a roman candle. A piercing, rattling screech, somewhere between mechanical and furious, rips from her Persona as she dives into the cloud, doing her best to manoeuvre around them. Unfortunately, precision flight is the part she really hasn't gotten used to, and there's something very fitting about the way that Icarus' path is almost cut short, the Persona and its rider pitching down to the ground to try to avoid the gout of flame, fire licking along Icarus' spindly wooden frame as So-young grits her teeth.

Poetic tragedy? Couldn't happen to her.

She lands in a rather ungainly attempt at rolling, grimacing for a moment as she picks herself up off the ground before her expression settles back to something tight and thin. She'd heard the Homonculus rant and rave about what could have been and what should be from a distance, easily catching the creature bellowing out all of the emotions pent up inside himself. So-young Park is never the sort of person to regret anything, but there is a light of faint understanding in her eyes, part of her gaze cast far into the past.

"... well said," she mutters for a moment, before raising her hand, a slim silver baton in her grasp. "But even a milksop can break free of their past and become something much more, and that process holds an importance and meaning of its own. It may not be terribly fair of me--" she's not completely sure why she finds herself adding that, chasing some faint impulse of her own, before her expression hardens. "--but I won't have you denigrating that chance for growth."

This time it isn't Icarus' screech that echoes across the battlefield, but a single, soft note that accompanies the raising of both her arms - the sussuration of a performance about to start, of a violin holding its bow on the strings and the first drawn breath of a woodwind section. An elegant little flick marks the point at which she instinctively catches and follows Amphion's performance, the beats of her baton guiding and building on the other Persona's tune.

It's not just a whim to use the other Persona's power in this way. It's a chance to bolster herself, recentre her mind after her wild entrance. Music is a core part of her identity, and something tells her that holding onto that core is what will truly give her strength in a realm such as this. With a bright, clear note, a ring of light rockets outwards--

--but So-young is not immune to vanity by any means, and when she feels the protective sorcery of Officer Suou settle over her, the motions of her hands suddenly shift to extend her peformance outwards as if projecting a note across an auditorium as she winks in thanks. She's a little too late to cover Tamaki as well, but offers a quieter smile in return. "Let us do better this time," she mutters privately to herself.
</poem>

AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 0 Almighty damage from Katsuya Suou's Fire Wall.
AS: Fire_Wall added!
AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 62 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.
AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Almighty skill Sforzando on Myunghon Yeo, Katsuya Suou, Umie Akabane, and Ririka
Kawase!
AS: Support: So-young Park gains 1 Limit!
AS: So-young Park: Gains 47 HP from Regen!
AS: So-young Park regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: So-young Park spends Limit on Shift! Myunghon Yeo can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20!
AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 42 Fire damage from Pernelle's Trio Freila. Resist!
AS: Block Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 36 Fire damage from Pernelle's Trio Freila. Resist!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 50 Fire damage from Pernelle's Trio Freila. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: COUNTER! Pernelle takes 51 Strike damage in return for his attack!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 24 Almighty damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Tarunda.
AS: Atk_Dn added!
AS: Take! Myunghon Yeo takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Healing Song.
AS: Regen added!
AS: Take! Myunghon Yeo takes 0 Almighty damage from So-young Park's Sforzando.
AS: Crt_Up added!
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 0 Almighty damage from So-young Park's Sforzando.
AS: Crt_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
Monster!

Villain!

((Villain? No.))

Nanghaithya's voice is a distorted thing -- that digital static that Ririka had picked up earlier is just enhanced to dramatic degrees now, as the Homunculus talks as if a digitized voice projected through an aging speaker. Booming. All-present. Like the unseen announcer of a fight.

((Words like that don't matter.))

Hazuki rushes the Kappas. She smashes her bat into one, knocking it aside; it bounces with comical, rubbery sounds, rebounding off ground and into a support pillar before rolling back towards the lurching Palanquin.

((All that matters is winning.))

But before she can manage to strike a second, something sweeps in just between her and it. Tall, eloquent.

Snapping a whip right in her face.

Kaguya-hime, her face the face of some crude Shujin high schooler, whipcracks the broadside of Hazuki's assault. It's no flash kick, but it -is- enough force to knock her into the air--

--whereupon a second crack of the whip just -juggles her mercilessly- in an act that's really just aggressively -mean- on top of being -painful-.

((Nakao understands. What's the point of living if you aren't the best?))

The lightning of Frankenstein's Creation cracks down. Kappas are struck, seizing up as they flash brilliant flashes of yellow and black and white that reveals their adorable kappa skeletons beneath. Several fall over, smoking. The Palanquin tilts dangerously leftwards until several Kappas rush to that end of the Arcade Monument with little squeaks and squawking sounds, hefting it back upright with mighty "HUFFFA!"s of effort.

Saika may well be thinking of pressing her advantage, when--

"NYAA!"

Something suddenly pounces in the space between her and her quarries. It's -- my god -- it's --

A cat in a trenchcoat?!

No --

"NYAAAAA!"

TWO CATS IN A TRENCHCOAT?!

Saika will get all of three seconds to ponder this before the topmost cat suddenly does a dramatic flipkick -- the legendary flash kick -- upon Saika's corpus.

Whereupon it links hands with the bottom cat, and hoists it up mid-air, so that -the second cat can flipkick Saika-.

And then, hands still linked, they DOUBLE JUMP TO FLIP KICK HER AT THE SAME TIME.

Like some sort of -- never-ending, brutalizing, annihilating, INFAMOUS--

Genyaacide Cutta?!

While this is going on, Pernelle is bringing the fire -- or the nuclear blaze, maybe. As Saika is endlessly juggled in the backdrop, Pernelle dramatically turns backward as the thusly-dubbed Frei-splosions detonate like the cool flourish of a finishing move; behind him, many Kappas go flying, one of them inexplicably crying out "THAT BIRD IS A JERK" despite none of them having demonstrated any gift for language until this point. They just feel that strongly.

But it's as the third explosion of nuclear heat rings out --

That something glints in the air behind him.

Something tall. Something that's in a trenchcoat. Something that's actually two things.

It's -- BAKEDUO-NEKO, the Cat That Is Two Cats, coming screaming in from their aerial assault on Saika to pounce the first, fanciest bird they find --

and sadly -- Pernelle is much more fabulous than even Arqa.

One cat pounces, and then the second, trenchcoat falling behind to land on their backs as they look to knock Pernelle into the ground, flip over each other --

and then do a DUAL STOMP on his poor beautiful body while he's prone, in the pettiest, most frustrating of all moves -- the OKIZEME.

As all of this is going on, magical impetus weaves a variety of weakening spells upon the Palanquin and the assorted hosts that surround it. Myunghon's coat stretches its cognitive material to its fullest, harassing and tripping up Kappas; so assaulted and bereaved as they are, the Kappas must scramble and fall over themselves just -trying- with single-minded determination to keep that Palanquin upright. It lurches, lopes, lunges -- but it stays upright still. There's just -- so MANY of them --

The others, like Moriko and Fuuka, help to weaken the thing, even as both she and Yanagi peer into the nature of that strange, Otherly Shadow. It's a dense and esoteric existence -- one Yanagi has experience navigating, but still complicated by the fact that each Homunculus is so -different- from the other. For Fuuka -- it's like trying to gaze directly into something that Must Not Be Seen, the very SIGHT of its Other Sight painful like staring into a flashbang, or something that makes a person's stomach automatically lurch in empathetic revulsion --

But even as they work, Nanghaithya still moves, the many parts of it fanning outward. No -- it isn't until Umie casts that very specific, ENRAGING magic--

that the entire Palanquin lurches to turn and face her.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
Within the screen of the Arcade Tower, something flashes scarlet.

((You just don't know when to quit.))

That digital voice seethes.

And just as it does -- the headless body of Night Parade character Nukekubi comes crashing into Umie, with her floating head shortly screaming in thereafter. The floating head of the creature whips around, the long, snake-like strand of its neck intent to strike Umie -- before the body follows suit, intent on unloading a combination of body blows after body blows while that floating head keeps her off-balance in an eloquent sequence of maneuvers that aim to give her little to no roomm to maneuver in.

It's just -- an overwhelming assault. Because once you pop, the fun--

Fuuka and Ririka don't get much better off, as they try to focus on their Navigational skills. Soon enough, Kaguya-hime is advancing on Fuuka, and Master Koto upon Ririka, both unloading a... very elaborate, but very telegraphed sequence of moves on both. Kaguya, with the cracks of her whips and stylish high-kicking, and for Ririka -- she knows Master Koto's moves by now, the dance-like rhythm of its physical assaults coming in at a quick and relentless tempo in a perfectly-choreographed combo she probably knows by heart--

--especially as the pair -both- start to try to loop the same combos, -again-.

Are they just -- repeating the same tactics, over and over again?

Ririka will be able to sense it -- these guards, even the Kappas -- they're cycling through tried and tested, winning maneuvers for each one, with little to no variation in between.

It's a revelation that may well prove useful, but...

''Then nothing has changed.''

((Why would it?))

The Palanquin, with Yuki-Offa still on top, shifts. Energy starts to swirl around it in streams of saturating scarlet, funneling into the Kappas - into the Guards - into Yuki-Offa.

((Has the world changed? When have the losers of the world ever gotten anything in life they want?))

The Arcade screen goes black.

((Let's find out.))

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!

PLAYER SELECT

PLAYER ONE

The Arcade Palanquin's visuals shift towards a fighter select screen, showing all the various fighters of Night Parade. The selector cycles rapidly through all of them, like a classic random select roulette. It comes to a stop on...

Kaguya-hime?

Before suddenly glitching out. The screen tears. And suddenly the selector is no longer on Kaguya-hime, but--

YUKI-OFFA!!

Yuki-Offa, who has been oddly inert on her oddly-colored, arcade throne, lurches forward, her glossy hair spilling forward across her icy-pale features. The temperature in the Big Top begins to rapidly drop.

But -- the character select screen isn't finished.

PLAYER SELECT

PLAYER TWO

Player -- two?

The roulette selector rolls. It lands on Bakeduo-Neko. It glitches. The character selector hops--

--to--

KAPPA!!

((Ohhh. Tough luck.))

Nanghaithya's digital, static-scratchy voice echoes across the Big Top. The Arcade machine screen glows a bright, nauseating red.

Everything is blinded in a flash of saturating scarlet--

And in the aftermath?

Everyone fighting Nanghaithya has been transformed into Kappas.

Smaller. Weaker. Sadder. Look at that terrible hair, that uninspiring beak, that shell that doesn't seem like it even does anything useful--

READY?

F I G H T !

But there's no time to fret over your new, unflattering makeover for long, for the call to begin the second round cares not for the weakness that pervades the body; Yuki-Offa presses her hands against the edge of the Arcade Tower. Her violet (... violet? isn't the Homunculus' eyes red--) eyes open. She pushes off her lofty perch.

And only the toes of one stylish and slightly nonsensical sneaker touches the ground before the ice queen of Night Parade, suspended on one foot, lifts her right hand up into the air. The cold grows so intense the air in the Big Top condenses to vapor, to liquid, to solids, as an entire blizzard blooms within the carnival. A literal force of nature that condenses down into the palm of Yuki-OFfa's hand for one blisteringly, harrowingly beautiful moment--

before with the swing of her hand, Yuki-OFfa hurls that condensed blizzard forward, whereupon it ''detonates'' mid-way through its flight, creating a violent shockwave of the cold, raw fury of an entire force of nature compacted throughout ''anyone'' unfortunate enough to get in its way, in a rippling wave of bone-chilling winds and piercing frost.

(OOC NOTE: You are now all Kappas! How, exactly, you look depends on how you'd like your character to look as a Kappa, but the broad strokes of what a Kappa is remains the same! You are also just. So adorably tiny. So cute. E n j o y .)
</poem>

AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Almighty skill Save That Shit For Nationals on Nanghaithya!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 19 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's Save That Shit For Nationals.
AS: Crt_Up added! Atk_Dn removed!
AS: Nanghaithya spends Limit on Reach!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Almighty skill trash tier - Kappa on So-young Park, Tamaki Uchida, Moriko
Kumamoto, Pernelle, Katsuya Suou, Ririka Kawase, Fuuka Yamagishi, Yanagi Nagisa, Roger, Akari Hoshi, Umie Akabane, Saika
Kikuchi, Myunghon Yeo, Yukari Takeba, and Hazuki Nakao!
AS: Take! Myunghon Yeo takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added! Regen removed!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Strike skill oh! Oh! OH! OH!! OH!!! on Saika Kikuchi! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Strike skill Petty Okizeme on Pernelle!
AS: Take! Yukari Takeba takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Strike skill Flowchart Bullshit on Fuuka Yamagishi! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Strike skill Flowchart Bullshit on Ririka Kawase! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Strike skill You're So Pringles on Umie Akabane! 3 Hits!
AS: Nanghaithya spends Limit on Broad!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Water skill GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa on Roger, Akari Hoshi, Hazuki Nakao, and Yanagi
Nagisa! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Water skill GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa on Moriko Kumamoto, So-young Park, Katsuya Suou,
and Myunghon Yeo! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Water skill GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa on Tamaki Uchida and Yukari Takeba! 3 Hits!
AS: Nanghaithya: Broad and Reach removed!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Myunghon Yeo takes 43 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa.
AS: Avoid Best! Myunghon Yeo takes 43 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Myunghon Yeo takes 43 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Def_Dn and Spd_Dn added! Atk_Up and Regen removed!
AS: Take! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Akari Hoshi takes 63 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Akari Hoshi takes 33 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa.
AS: Block Neutral! Akari Hoshi takes 60 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Yukari Takeba takes 61 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Yukari Takeba takes 50 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa.
AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Def_Dn and Spd_Dn added! Atk_Up and Fire_Wall removed!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Yukari Takeba takes 42 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa.
AS: Avoid Best! Saika Kikuchi takes 59 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's oh! Oh! OH! OH!! OH!!!. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 37 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's Flowchart Bullshit.
AS: Block Best! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 53 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's Flowchart Bullshit. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 68 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's Flowchart Bullshit. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Saika Kikuchi takes 81 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's oh! Oh! OH! OH!! OH!!!. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Best! Saika Kikuchi takes 37 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's oh! Oh! OH! OH!! OH!!!.
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 0 Almighty damage from So-young Park's Sforzando.
AS: Crt_Up added!
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Def_Dn and Spd_Dn added! Atk_Up removed!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 31 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's You're So Pringles.
AS: Block Worst! Hazuki Nakao takes 74 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Hazuki Nakao takes 47 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa.
AS: Block Worst! Hazuki Nakao takes 74 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! So-young Park takes 64 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Worst! So-young Park takes 51 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa.
AS: Avoid Neutral! So-young Park takes 64 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 31 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's You're So Pringles.
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 51 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's You're So Pringles. Critical Hit!
AS: Take! Roger takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Def_Dn and Spd_Dn added! Atk_Up, Crt_Up, Fire_Wall, and Regen removed!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Roger takes 33 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Resist!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Roger takes 33 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Resist!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Roger takes 33 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Resist!
AS: Take! Pernelle takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Pernelle takes 64 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's Petty Okizeme.
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 0 Almighty damage from So-young Park's Sforzando.
AS: Crt_Up added!
AS: Hazuki Nakao spends Limit on Shift! Yukari Takeba can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20!
AS: Block Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 63 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Weak!
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 80 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>Ixquic gives a big thumbs-up to Roger before she gets both hands on her sword again. She knows where that energy came from!

"Ugh! Why is it so... so... big??" Ixquic draws herself up to her full height, gathering herself: "But I'm a Legendary Magical Warrior! I don't care how many monsters you are! I will fight all of you...! You're only a loser if you give up, and I, Ixquic, never, NEVER give up!"

Yamagi has already suggested hitting the bearers, but Ixquic was coming to that conclusion on her own - no Navigator needed! (Now, all the ADDITIONAL info, that she needs help with. Quixote is a lot of things, but Ixquic is not inclined to think particularly far ahead; she is a WOMAN OF ACTION and her Persona exemplifies it.)

Which means when she gets outside support confirming her already-brewing plan, Akari doesn't wait even a second before she puts it into effect.

Ixquic begins to run forward even as the Palanquin and its bearers begin their own attack. Yuki-Offa rises, and Ixquic's response is to speed up, lowering her head in a flat-out dash toward the Palanquin -

Player Select -- Player Two!
Kappa??

The energy washes over Ixquic, and what is left behind is not Ixquic. Not quite.

The imp - sorry, kappa - is still wearing about half of Ixquic's gear. The cape, for instance, red and billowing, remains. So does the helmet, though she has the little dish on *top* of it, a bubble of water wobbling with every step. She's shorter and has more chibi proportions and is now not so much carrying as dragging her sword, which traces a squealing, sparking track along the ground as it scrapes.

And THAT is followed up by ice, which makes Ixquic vanish from sight entirely, lost in a blizzard. The little water on her head threatens to freeze over, and she actually stops her forward movement for a moment as she's iced over -

Until with a *crack* she begins to move again, making the last few steps. "QUIXOTE!" she calls (god her voice is squeaky right now), and her Persona appears, racing past her, sword sweeping out in a slice that literally causes the Persona to wheel in a circle, almost spinning out as the enormous slash carves out, Ixquic attempting to topple the palanquin and bring Yuki-Offa to the ground!

...

"What," Ixquic adds, as Quixote vanishes after her summoning. One of her hands reaches up to feel at her helmet and the water dish on top of it.

...it took her this long to notice...
</poem>

AS: Persona! Akari Hoshi has used the Slash skill Hyper Slash on Nanghaithya!
AS: Aggression: Akari Hoshi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Yanagi Nagisa takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Block Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 34 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: Block Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 25 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Resist!
AS: Block Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 34 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 85 Slash damage from Akari Hoshi's Hyper Slash.

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>As Hazuki rushes in, it's Kaguya-Hime. Hazuki's kicked into the air before she can reply to anyone else, even as their blessings wwashed over her, and then juggled back down, smashing into the ground and rolling with a loud groan. As she starts to rise again...

Attacks are happening. Her eyes scan, quick on the details. Bakeduo Neko among others...

"The cats are rushdown! Keep a distance! Kaguya-Hime, too! I'll deal with-"

Yuki-Offa is picked.

And Kappa is picked.

"Crap, a bad match-up!"

Hazuki is transmogrified. She gains the little Kappa beak and appearance, but also, she's got orange-and-silver hair and a giant wing pauldron on. Also, she's tiny and adorable.

Even so, she's rushing in...

"Takeba-san! I'll give you breathing room, try and keep everyone alive!"

She knows what's coming next. It's her tells, the signals.

"A SUPER MOVE! IT COVERS THE WHOLE SCREEN, BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK!"

They're not fast enough. They're Kappas... and Kappa has a terrible reaction to this move.

Hazuki instead charges through it, grabbing her bat and diffusing the blast of cold that impacts her. It tinges her skin blue, it drives her backwards, and eventually, it overpowers her guard, causing her to roll over, frostbitten.

But she's not done.

"You think... it's about winning? It's about being on top? You're wrong!"

The blue butterfly returns, and Hazuki crushes it with an arcade stick grip closed over it, causing Janus to appear once more.

"It's about having fun with your friends!"

And a little bit winning, but.

Janus suddenly points those clock hands at the Homunculus's known weak points, as three balls of light manifest in the air, before flying out with a radiant crackle to explode!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Hazuki Nakao has used the Light skill Nirvana on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Hazuki Nakao: Gains 50 HP from Regen!

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Yanagi's advice is to try to knock down the ones bearing the brunt of the Palanquin, and her insight is indeed appreciated -- in an instant, Myunghon already has a fuller idea of what it's not vulnerable to... and they're at a disadvantage this battle, with Darkness being their primary means of damage. That doesn't mean they're helpless.

"Yes, that palanquin is undoubtedly precarious... I shall see if we can destablise it," Myunghon agrees.

Pernelle's advice is to enact INCREDIBLE VIOLENCE upon it, and what advice that is! Katsuya's taken the initiative to defend those more affected against flame -- an incredibly sound tactical move. Umie's chosen to try to goad it into rushing, which may very well be effective given Yukari's own taunts before...

Amphion's melodies weave beautifully, and Myunghon taps their feet for a moment before remarking, "My gratitude, Kawase-kun. Let us do our best." Tamaki's sudden appearance does catch them a little off-guard, but it's redoubled with a smile as she runs support, much like she organised her side of the battle in the warehouse. "It's relieving to see you here, Uchida-san."

But the roar of a flying machine overhead also tells them-- "Nuna?!" they watch So-young go into an ungaily roll for a moment, and frowns quietly as she makes a speech of her own. "... we can do this together." Much like Ririka's music before, So-young's performance wildly boosts the power of their own Persona.

Myunghon's capabilities to trip the palanquin is hard going indeed -- there's just so damn many of them. The digital voice seethes, and various Night Parade characters surge to threaten to thrash and pwnzor them all, Yuki-Offa projecting that philosophy of winners and losers as if nothing has ever changed. Violet eyes (violet? Myunghon is ever more confused) scan over the battlefield, as the air grows cold, so cold that it feels as if they're going to be encased in a tomb of ice --

Merry begins to run, throwing their Cognitive Coat against the supports of the Big Top to avoid the worst of it, but then the shockwave still slams into them and they're thrown against it and disappear into the bone-chilling winds.

And when they rise... How does Myunghon look like a Kappa?

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68Gu6pBUU4k

There's a rigidly 16-bit sprite standing where Myunghon was, as if they were completely made out of voxels, of:

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/9/94/FFVI_Kappa_the_Imp_Sprite.png/revision/latest?cb=20150329050434

Myunghon stares down at themself for a moment and is hit with a metric ton of dysphoria. Merry, seriously, *help*, please, it's too much.

"Hmph... so, 'When at least I came 'round, I found myself lying on my back surrounded by a large number of kappa', is it...?" Merry is, of course, quoting Ryuunosuke Akutagawa's eponymous 'Kappa'. The little 16-bit Kappa waddles forward, waggling a voxelised arm chidingly at Nanghaithya, the whole mass.

"It is Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's final work... are you familiar with it? You would find a lot that resonates within it. 'To attempt to do something is to be able to do it -- to be able to do something is to attempt to do it. Ultimately, we are unable to escape this viscous cycle. In other words...'"

Merry-Kappa smirks, their beak contorting defiantly.

"'... we begin and end in absurdity.' Now, allow me to show you absurdity in its fullest. Let us revel in tawdriness!"

Kaplak rises from within, also having been turned into a Kappa -- albeit he still retains his handsome tousled silver hair, which somehow looks even more mismatched, and grandiose Cognitive Coat. Myunghon watches their other self expectantly, and the vampire grandiosely turns as it places a cognitive hula-hoop over its waist.

"... ..."

Kaplak does a lame little unfortunate hula dance! Magic words manifest with the energy of the hubris of materialism! The Kappa emotes are being spammed in chat!! oh -poggers-, leave a RED superchat!!

KLLLLICK HERE FOR MASSIVE CREDITS!! SHUFFLE TIME GUARANTEED WINZ!!

"... ... ..."

Undeterred, Kaplak continues to do another shitty little dance! Fool are those avaricious, transcendent is wealth! ooh, look at himbucket shakin his green hips they badonkin donkin

MEET KOOL SINGLES AT YOUR LOCAL MEMENTOS!! FROST, PYRO AND RIPPER ARE WAITING TO CHAT WITH -YOU-!!

VIEWER DISCRETION: Watching the dance for too long may cause a mysterious halving in your savings accounts.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Almighty skill Hula of Misfortune on Nanghaithya!
AS: Pressure: Myunghon Yeo gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Almighty skill Hula of Misfortune on Nanghaithya!
AS: Myunghon Yeo spends Limit on Exploit! Myunghon Yeo can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Almighty skill Hula of Misfortune on Nanghaithya!
AS: Pressure: Myunghon Yeo gains 1 Limit!

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
"... a what...?" Yukari looks at a ''BIRD'' with incredulity, "That doesn't tell us anything we don't know!" 'Nanghaithya the Discontent' Yanagi adds, "... Oh great, at least now we know the name of the thing trying to murder us. ... Real improvement."

'all that matters is winning'

"And ''you're'' the best? You lost, so you just pulled a cheap trick!"

And then, the arcade screens begin to change. Glitching - YUKI-OFFA!! "What kind of name is that?!" But then- another glitch... KAPPA!

Blinded by the saturated scarlet, she raises her arms to try and shield herself with the bow and- and...!

"What happened?" She says with a squeaky voice, before she looks down at her arms. "Huh...?" Suddenly her arms raise, rubbing over her face, to feel a beak, "Wha-" And as the realization occurs she shrieks, "KAPPAAAHHHH!"

Yukari Takeba, normally fashionable, is now wearing a only a white heart choker, the Kappa having a chibi-parody of her hairstyle.

Her bow, a tiny one, with weird suction cup arrows attached to a spool of string.

And written on it's side:

SHIRIKODAMA EXTRACTOR!

"What did you do to me!?" She yells, "You change me back right this-!" And then suddenly the Yuki-Offa of the Night Parade, tries to come at her, and Yukari trips as waves of ice come at her, and shrieks, "KAPPAAAAHHH!"

As she scrambles up and weaves, barely dodging becoming a Kappasicle. Before she tries to hop - in a comically ineffectual way, as the final wave nearly freezes her solid.

Shivering, she grasps both of her arms, and- her beak chatters. "H-H-How are we going to d-d-do this n-now!?"

Hazuki however, tells her she's going to give her cover!? "Um! Guess we'll see if I can even DO that now! Do my best."

Taking up her now tiny evoker. She puts it up to her head, noting the new text.

POP A KAP-PA

"This is the Chairman's fault, isn't it?" She grouses, before, pulling the trigger, "Io!" And what emerges, is a fey girl with a beak atop... a Kappa Shell.

"... Even my Persona... great..."

And yet, the Persona spreads wide it's arms, and now a distinctly different river scented breeze spreads out to the Kappa Akari, Hazuki, Saika, and Katsuya like a quick 'triage' of whose Kappa looks the most battered or frozen.

And then, raising her scaled arms, Io's breeze wends through So-Young, Pernelle, Myunghon, and Roger to try and get them serviceably fighting fit, whatever that means...

... they are Kappa after all.

</poem>
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Recovery skill Naiad Mediarama on Akari Hoshi, Hazuki Nakao, Saika Kikuchi, and
Katsuya Suou!
AS: Support: Yukari Takeba gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 77 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Recovery skill Media on So-young Park, Pernelle, Myunghon Yeo, and Roger!
AS: Yukari Takeba regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Myunghon Yeo takes 57 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 73 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.
AS: Take! Pernelle takes 57 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
Ririka asks for advise from Peacock Silk on fighting a Homunculus. Yanagi laughs at Pernelle's ''very helpful'' suggestion of U L T R A V I O L E N C E <3. "Each Homunculus is different, so there's no one strategy that fits all!" she calls back. "However, there is one thing to remember as a Navigator: that sense of 'wrongness' will follow it no matter what. Steel yourself against it; there's no getting past it!" She looks to Fuuka, who is concentrating on analyzing the entity's attack patterns, and leaves her to it; each Navigator has their own specialty, and besides... Yanagi wants to see what she can do, now that she's past the euphoria of her initial awakening. Instead, she notes Hazuki's continued (projection of) confidence and adds, "Hazuki seems to understand its way of fighting--follow her lead!"

Little angels flutter around Yanagi and Giselle. As they unfold around her, she shuts her eyes, seeing the movies they play out in her mind. She nods once, decisively. "Don't try to punch it, or use fire, nuclear or dark magic--it resists all of those things," Yanagi announces, just before flashing an apologetic look to Saika and Pernelle. That rather hamstrings both of them, and they don't have Tsumugi here with their Wild Card... but maybe one of these others can do something that can turn one of those resistances around.

"Instead... use light, ice, or water! It's weak to all of those! How odd that it is. You'd think a Kappa would be strong against water," Yanagi muses in a sidebar. She raises her voice to continue, "Despite that, it's effective at using water, as well as blunt trauma assaults! It's also extremely good at countering and hitting critical strikes! Don't try to punch it, and don't let it punch you!"

...she says, just as two cats in a trenchcoat come for Saika and Pernelle's entire lives.

The palanquin is shifting. Yanagi looks up as Yuki-Offa stirs. Something... something is happening, but even as spinning Giselle swoops down to form a protective pirouette around Yanagi, Yanagi doesn't understand what she's sensing. The cold, though... the temperature is rapidly dropping. It won't bother her, but...

"Tough luck?" she echoes, just before she and everyone else -- POOF! -- becomes a Kappa. Sh-shirikodama extracted?!

She remains a magical girl-suited Kappa, too, her crown replaced by the Kappa's cap... pa, but still in that broad-skirted dress and still wearing those reinforced thigh-high boots. She's just very tiny now. And green. Teal-ish, but green. Like a willow on the shore...

"Oh... my?"

Yanagi can only be confused by this. Kappa-ppa-pp...ahh?? She looks back at Yuki-Offa just as the ice woman unleashes her massive blizzard attack, frost and ice overcoming her--but this is precisely the power in her soul. Even as the ice builds around her and Giselle (who is now a ghost kappa--mixing youkai is always a win, surely), turning her more and more teal until she's more blue than green, her waves of hair simply billow.

Yanagi shuts her eyes.

"Oh... I see now... so this is why," she whispers. "Giselle... One good turn deserves another--don't you think?"

She raises an adorably tiny webbed hand to the sky. "Let it snow!"

And so Giselle pirouettes, spinning a blizzard of her own and dancing it into being, returning that hailstorm forward layer by layer by layer, snowflakes crusting upon the base of the palanquin where the original Kappas still bear up under its weight.

...Kappa vs. Kappa is a fair match-up still... r-right?
</poem>

AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 73 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.
AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Water skill Flurry Bufula on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa regains 6 SP from Invigorate!

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> Roger fans out that Relaxing Wave as he stands further tall with help from others to reinforce and renew his newfound fighting spirit and new lot in life, facing up as Nanghaithya jeers - and reiterates their philosophy as the entity that ''could'' have been Taro Nakata.

"I don't get what you're saying at all..." Roger bounces a tennis ball up and down from his racquet against the ground idly, as things intensify. 'Has the world changed? When have the losers of the world ever gotten anything in life they want? Let's find out.'

Things get... weird. The lady on that throne's moving, but then...

A scarlet wave. Roger is smaller, still proportionally wider, with a big jaw and funny hooves, and...

"No, I really don't get it!!" Roger yells, defiantly, as he hops about by Yuki-Offa's relentless detonation of cold shockwaves, as if trying to hop and skip about it. Roger is not a being of the human world. The context of why Yuki-Offa is such a powerful, frightful figure and Kappa is an awful, weak, unhappy thing (or many weak, unhappy things - they were carrying that arcade palanquin, ater all) - is lost.

"Games are fun! That's why I like to play. Playing is fun!!" Roger says with sincerity as much as fury. "If you're not having fun... why are you playing at all?"

He might be less horrified by the sudden transformation considering he just went through a dramatic one not long ago.

He says this practically in unison with Hazuki: "It's about having fun with your friends!"

Another blue butterfly drifts by. Roger has to hop a few times to leap up high enough to actually tag it with his racquet. "Kamapua'aaa..!"

Once more, the Persona shows, defiant against the difficult emotions in the air in pursuit of the relationships he seeks, flaring out their arms as the cognitive perception of playing, being, and suffering as Kappa is lessened under another wave of supportive energies across himself, Hazuki, Akari, and Katsuya.

"And Taro Nakata is going to have a lot of fun again...!"
</poem>

AS: Take! Roger takes 57 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.
AS: Persona! Roger has used the Almighty skill Dekunda on Hazuki Nakao, Akari Hoshi, Katsuya Suou, and Roger!
AS: Roger regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Roger takes 0 Almighty damage from Roger's Dekunda.
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 0 Almighty damage from Roger's Dekunda.
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 0 Almighty damage from Roger's Dekunda.

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
They're not alone. The MAGICAL WARRIOR IXQUIC - a word Saika is not even going to try to pronounce - invokes destiny with an emphatic pose. The Don appears, to give benediction to dream this impossible dream, and Saika exhales with force. "Thanks!" she calls back, before -- another?

Saika laughs. "You guys--" It's a little pained, but the sentiment is real. "Thanks, Roger! Heh heh -- 'that'll do'--" A private humor, perhaps. As she steps back, swinging the chain-whip at her side as much for her own morale as anything else, she hears Yanagi's words. She grimaces for a moment--

Get up in the face. Well, how bad is fire? What's the worst that can happen, Saika tells herself, even as Pernelle returns fire in his characteristic way. Maybe Pernelle *can* vaporize all of them -- but then there's something unfamiliar. Someone else calls out.

"Sassy-kun?" Saika says, turning her head to look over her shoulder. "Holy shit, I was too focused, what --" ANd then a fiery cloak washes around her. "Al''right'', the cop on the edge rides again!" The Media afterwards from Tamaki makes her grin. "I guess I have to live up to all of your hopes, huh?" She stops whirling her chain, bringing one hand up to crack the other's knuckles--

TRENCHCOAT CAT!

Saika's face is in a momentary 'huh-whaaaaa??' of confusion, which lets the first blow connect - she swerves to try to avoid the second and is instead knocked hard enough to do a full three-hundred-and-sixty degree rotation in midair, landing and raising her arms in a crouch to receive a SECOND BLOW.

These cats are really Goe-ing for it. There's no Nitz-picking about it.

Saika slams her first into a direct straight at the top cat, but after that blast, something bursts scarlet-red. Is it an aneyurism sending her directly to Hell? No.

Saika looks at her forearms.

Her green, flabby, somehow chubbier forearms.

She reaches up to touch the top of her head and feels a dent. At this point Saika turns her gaze to the side, perhaps to see if it hit Yanagi, or more importantly, Pernelle, before she says, "I hate this." She sucks in a deep breath - and gwoks afterwards, crying out as she does, "THIS IS THE WOOOORST! Frankenstein's Monster, just -- ugh, hit that snow queen -"

The looming bulk of the Monster is perhaps a little greener, and maybe that flat head top seems a little more *concave*, but the manifestation of the Persona is transient, anyway; more to the point is probably the surging WHACK aimed towards Yuki-Offa's mouth (a notorious place to slap those who are talking mess).

</poem>
AS: Persona! Saika Kikuchi has used the Strike skill Sonic Punch on Nanghaithya!
AS: Defense: Saika Kikuchi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Saika Kikuchi: Gains 53 HP from Regen!

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
Pernelle is such a cool bird. The coolest bird. Kappa go flying, learning the gift of speech because of the strong feelings he has engraved onto their souls -- and they don't even have souls, given the whole situation of identity theft! Being Pernelle might be the best existence there is. Being Pernelle is amazing. Being Pernelle is --

''suffering''

"HHHRRKGKKLLKKK!" Pernelle says, eloquently, as he is punched with two whole cats and ''slammed'' into the earth so hard his head becomes stuck within it. His colorful train and wings flail wildly for a blessedly absurd second before the bird is assaulted during his knockdown in a -- let's be honest -- incredibly rude okizeme ''stomp''.

If anyone's asking Pernelle questions, all they are receiving is a lot of dirt muffled screaming. Pernelle, stuck in the ground, sweeps his tail left and right, up and down. He shakes his little avian ass as elegantly as he can manage, and one can ''almost'' hear his habitual, "Ha HA!" from below the dirt as he blindly fights with Bakeduo-Neko, trying to fend his foe off with his giant bladed fan he calls his train feathers.

It leaves him rather conveniently prone as the God Tier character select of Night Parade uses an attack that otherwise seeks to obliterate the whole screen. Maybe it ''is'' blessed to be Pernelle...?

Eventually, Pernelle gets the momentum to yank his head out of the dirt and --

and

It's like if someone took a hunchbacked penguin and stripped it of feathers, except all green, all scales, and with elongated arms with digits and webbing so long the silhouette remains wing-like.

He is still wearing his orange-tinted glasses, the chain hooked to his head dish.

Pernelle gasps the oxygen out of the room as he looks to his webbed limbs. "Astonishing! I have become... a new creature entirely! Look at this, look at ''this!''" He holds his webbing to the light. "The membrane remains iridescent! How quaint! And just look at the two of you!" Yanagi and Saika, he means. "Most precious!" He gives a tap of his webbed feet to the ground. "Oh, my, and a novel sound we can make! More of a ''slap'' than a ''click''." He begins tap dancing to make noise, giggling to himself until --

He stops.

"Dearest Yanagi, did you say ''no fire?''" Pernelle's face ''drops'', his warped beak excessively down turned like a an upside down 'v'.

The saddest bird --

er, kappa.

</poem>
AS: Weapon! Pernelle has used the Slash skill Train Tango on Nanghaithya!
AS: Pernelle: Gains 54 HP from Regen!
AS: Take! Moriko Kumamoto takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Moriko Kumamoto takes 87 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Moriko Kumamoto takes 53 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Moriko Kumamoto takes 73 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Ririka Kawase takes 36 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's Flowchart Bullshit.
AS: Block Neutral! Ririka Kawase takes 36 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's Flowchart Bullshit.
AS: Block Neutral! Ririka Kawase takes 36 Strike damage from Nanghaithya's Flowchart Bullshit.
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 66 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Nirvana. Weak!
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 66 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Nirvana. Weak!
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 66 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Nirvana. Weak!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 19 Almighty damage from Myunghon Yeo's Hula of Misfortune.
AS: Atk_Dn added!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 19 Almighty damage from Myunghon Yeo's Hula of Misfortune.
AS: Crt_Up removed!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 19 Almighty damage from Myunghon Yeo's Hula of Misfortune.
AS: Crt_Dn added!
AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 63 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Flurry Bufula. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Bind added!
AS: Block Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 56 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Flurry Bufula. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 74 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Flurry Bufula. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: COUNTER! Yanagi Nagisa takes 50 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 78 Strike damage from Saika Kikuchi's Sonic Punch. Resist! Counter Strike!
AS: Haze added! Bind removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: COUNTER! Saika Kikuchi takes 61 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 39 Slash damage from Pernelle's Train Tango.
AS: COUNTER! Pernelle takes 35 Strike damage in return for his attack!
AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Tamaki Uchida takes 68 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit! Avoid Water!
AS: Avoid Worst! Tamaki Uchida takes 68 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit! Avoid Water!
AS: Avoid Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 37 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit! Avoid Water!

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>Fuuka peers into the Homunculus - and it takes all her effort not to ''recoil back'' immediately.

"What is this...? What are you?" Fuuka breathes out unconsciously. It ''hurts'' to look at, and she feels her stomach twist, her breath caught in her throat... She hears Yanagi's words to Ririka. So this 'wrongness' is normal for them...?

She's dazed, momentarily, and that gives Kaguya-hime an opening to move in. Her strikes crash against Lucia's protective globe, and she can feel them reverberate to her.

The Homunculus has a new game plan, now.

"The screen?" Fuuka says, noting as it lights up again. Player two? What does -

It selects Kappa. And then there's a red ''flash'' -

...And suddenly, she's a kappa too, small and green.

Her hair... remains the same color. Somehow, it matches her new form pretty well...

Most significantly, Lucia's globe, which from the outside appears almost to be filled with water... is ''actually'' filled with water, now. Fuukappa floats in a small pool. At least her new form feels at ease here.

It's disorienting, feeling so small - and she feels weaker, too... but a fight is still happening, and their new forms makes everyone vulnerable. Even though it feels awful to look at, Fuuka forces herself to focus on the Homunculus again.

The base of the palanquin... She can see the aura around it, briefly - strands connecting it to each of the entities, save for the kappa and the arcade tower...

"...They're connected..." Fuuka murmurs. "Everyone! The base of the tower is influencing the rest of the entities! Aim for the base of the palanquin - it may disrupt its influence!"

Following her on advice and befitting of her current form, Lucia begins to shape a sphere of water and send it hurtling toward the base of the palanquin.

Water and electronics don't mix. That's one of the ''first'' things you learn in Fuuka's field.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Fuuka Yamagishi has used the Water skill Aqua on Nanghaithya!

<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
<poem>Moriko calls back, "If you don't lose you don't have anything to strive for." Giving her sentiment on the idea that all that matters is winning. She screws up her face briefly, watching the different characters rotate through.

Checking on the others briefly, not that she can support that much. She continues her push forward, intending to stand by what she'd said she'd do other times. Trying to cover her fellow SEES members. Because she's got some loyalty, even if she's on the quiet side of things too often.

She finds herself shorter somehow though. And wearing a blue dress, hiking boots and a hat. A webbed hand goes up to check the hat, complete with, "Wait what the f-" before she swings the now a toy polearm around like she's tempted to throw it.

Common sense catches up, she'd heard the callout that light was a weakness.

The squirtgun slips from her backpack and... fires against her head. She'll worry about that later. "Otohime!" She calls out through a beak. Which is unsettling.

Otohime Gitsune, the regal looking fox briefly gives her a disdainful look, but snaps her attention to Fuuka first, then the threat after. Bounding over the kappa's head to land, both paws forward. Flutters of flame circling around before a bright flash and a pillar of light engulf the palinquin. It's technically hitting the base. Right?.

"Not the first joke character I've taken into a fight." she mutters, mostly to herself. A distracted, very confused squawk of sorts escapes when Yukari blames the chairman though, "How?"

She couldn't help it.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Moriko Kumamoto has used the Light skill Hama on Nanghaithya!
AS: Moriko Kumamoto: Gains 47 HP from Regen!
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 0 Almighty damage from Nanghaithya's trash tier - Kappa.
AS: Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn added!

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
Something about Hazuki's other cry prior to the 'rushdown' one rankles Tamaki. 'The monster always fades away'? She isn't so sure -- not on if this Shadow qualifies as a monster, and not on if they truly fade away, either. They may grow muted, but ...

A similar thought echoes through Tamaki's mind as she sees Ixquic's defiance.

She shakes the thought off. It's not appropriate to argue semantics with a stranger in this life-or-death situation. Form a united front now, in this time of crisis, save the debate for later. Whatever their philosophical differences may be, they're all in this to at least de-escalate the situation.

Yukari had the same instinct she did as she covers Moriko as she dives in headlong. Tamaki gives her a distant nod: she'll cover the part of the crowd that Yukari can't. While she's nowhere near the specialist that Yukari is, Tamaki's a substitute that'll do in a pinch -- not the star of the team, but a relief pitcher.

Tamaki belatedly recognizes Fuuka as one of those other kids at the shrine that day. ... and takes note that she seems to have similar perception-based abilities to Maki. That's something she can't serve as a substitute for.

Ririka, too. While she'd initially missed her in the crowd, she's now unmistakable as Amphion's song rings out. Cool to see her in action, though she's been meaning to see one of her band's shows in a more mundane setting.

She quietly notes to herself Saika, Yanagi, and Pernelle all seem to know each other. Pernelle must be that peacock Umie had mentioned. She'd only seen Saika alone before, but now she's come to associate them with that strange shop she'd only heard rumours of. Her understanding of the various groups involved expands further.

'I guess I have to live up to all of your hopes, huh?' Tamaki flashes a grin back at Saika. "It's highly encouraged, at least!"

Seeing Katsuya and Umie both ... just reminds Tamaki that she would like to catch up with them on different matters. Katsuya's a familiar face, but only from the distance involved in their respective professions; she's more familiar with the other Suou brother. As for Umie, they haven't spoken since that incident at the warehouse, and Tamaki's still beating herself up about losing the chance to come through with more information on their adversaries.

That's DEFINITELY Roger. Tamaki has SO many questions about him now when a few moments ago, she thought she had a decent handle on him. After seeing him regain his balance and rally from his prone position, from afar, she wordlessly echoes his cheer with a yell!

She dips, ducks, dives, dodges, and rolls through the fireball danmaku to Myunghon's side. While the incident deeply impacted everyone involved, Tamaki knows her fellow Rumourmonger had been taking Akira's death especially hard. As she tries to catch her breath from the exertion, she gives them a nod in support. "Anytime, Merry. Holding up alright? I've got some 18-litre tubs with your name on them. I can bring them to the Dragon when we're done here."

A similar concern for So-Young also comes to Tamaki's mind after hearing that sonic boom from Icarus. Had she been close enough to hear that private utterance of hers, she'd have flashed a thumbs-up her way. 'Let us do better this time' -- that's all you can hope to do.

Tamaki's had several years to get acclimated to the feeling. The way she'd tell it, you have to feel it, you can't look away from it or deny it -- but you can't let it slow you down, either. There are still plenty of other people counting on her.

...

The Shadow broadcasts its retorts. One in particular catches Tamaki's ear. 'When have the losers of the world ever gotten anything in life they want? Let's find out.'

An unfavorable game state is not necessarily an ''impossible'' game state.

A mad, unhinged grin breaks out onto her face. "Every loss is a lesson, I'll have you know. The losers that WANT IT bad enough are the ones that start to win!"

The grin persists even as she turns into a kappa. Her eyes burn with the defiance of a lone soldier backed into a corner as she holds her wooden toy sword towards her opponent, her water-filled crown gleaming brilliantly as she once did in the distant past --

-- and is unceremoniously swept away by the blizzard, sent tumbling and rolling until her momentum stops and she flops into a seated position.

The Tamaki-kappa smacks the sides of her face as she raises herself to her feet again, then the sound of glass shattering and the sight of blue flame heralds Arianrhod's appearance again with another "Media!"
</poem>

AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Recovery skill Media on Tamaki Uchida, Umie Akabane, Katsuya Suou, and Yanagi
Nagisa!
AS: Defense: Tamaki Uchida gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 40 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.
AS: Block Best! Katsuya Suou takes 75 Water damage from Nanghaithya's GOD TIER - Yuki-Offa. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 77 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 0 Almighty damage from Roger's Dekunda.
AS: Atk_Dn and Def_Dn removed!
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 44 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.
AS: Take! Yanagi Nagisa takes 40 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 57 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
He soon spots a face he does know among the crowd, but that he hadn't expected to see here: one that he'd missed in no small part due to the person in question keeping a low profile. He remembers her from the Kuzunoha Detective Agency office, months ago--

"Uchida-san?!"

Music swells in that moment, one more instrument joining the chorus of Persona-song, and it's through So-young's additiona that he's found himself so bolstered. "Park-san? Thank you!"

What's the point of living if you aren't the best? You just don't know when to quit.

When have the losers of the world ever gotten anything in life they want?

"That's neither here nor there! Your theft of his identity is a crime! You cannot argue you have more 'right' to it in the eyes of the law!" Katsuya shouts, shaking his head in the face of all these arguments. But the wheels on the arcade cabinet spin wildly, landing on a particular one for 'player one' and another for 'player two'. It's a bad match-up, Hazuki says.

"A bad-- 'match-up'? What does that--"

He might have been in arcades as a child, but did he spend all that much time with fighting games? No. No, he didn't, and if you think otherwise you maybe should spend more time getting to know Katsuya Suou (he liked pinball).

Fortunately, an answer is on its way!

He's immediately aware that something is wrong. His perspective has shifted downward, and his body doesn't quite feel right. A glance at the others reveals that a singular transformation has taken place, and once he lifts his left hand with trepidation--

"Ah."

--it's clear that he hasn't been spared. He's still wearing a (singed) grey suit, and he's still got his trademark sunglasses perched (precariously!) on his beak, but the form wearing them has certainly changed to that of a kappa. He looks down at himself.

[SAVOIRE FAIRE]: No, there's no question about it. This suit is not cut to flatter a body with this sort of shape. Let's hope that your hair isn't as messy as the others.

Or at least, Katsuya more privately thinks, that he doesn't have to get confirmation one way or another.

Alas, a change in form doesn't amount to a change in resistances: the Helios in his soul makes him tragically that much more vulnerable to the wave of chill and frost that surges for him. Helios melts away as the howling blizzard's winds first come for him, and an attempt to find cover is sadly no more effective than that.

It takes him a moment to get back up again, slightly disoriented from the one-two punch again his tragic elemental weakness (alas, he can defend others against fire but can't do a thing for himself against water). What he comes around ''to'' is Myunghon quoting--

"Is that... Akutagawa's 'Kappa'?" he wonders aloud in his semi-daze, before Myunghon takes the meaning of the work right for Nanghaithya itself.

Fortunately, Yukari ("Takeba-san, thank you!"), Tamaki ("Uchida-san! Thank you!") and Roger's spells ("Thank you, Roger!") help bring him around, easing some of the damage received . Yanagi, meanwhile, gives her suggestions for what to use against it, which... leaves him at a bit of an impass. "Light, ice, or water, is it? I... see."

Pictured: Helios and its complete lack of any of these forms of attack. Also pictured: its preponderance of fire abilities.

Katsuya readjusts his sunglasses, which really just causes them to become more askew. "Then there's no helping it. Helios!"

Helios is smaller. A little rounder. Definitely greener. Than it used to be. Does it count at all as a cat? There is a green tail sticking out of that adorable 19th-century suit. And those still are cat-like eyes, and it hasn't lost its ear-like horns...

But appearance change or not, it's still the same Persona as always. In its hands is an (adorable) 19th-century firearm. Squinting one eye closed, Helios opens fire on Nanghaithya.

"I'll say it again," Katsuya starts, facing up at the thing the Homunculus has become, "this life is not yours to take!"
</poem>

AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 86 Water damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Aqua. Weak!
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: COUNTER! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 58 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 138 Light damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Hama. Weak!
AS: COUNTER! Moriko Kumamoto takes 56 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Pierce skill Torrent Shot on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Tamaki Uchida spends Limit on Shift! Myunghon Yeo can use another Weak skill this round!

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Of all the times Umie's excellence at inflicting bad statuses on her opponent had to fail, this is..

.... not one of those times. Nope, RAGE has successfully been applied.

She is being Perceived by the entire Palanquin now.

'Oh, <wrong button input>~'

"_WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN_?!" Umie shrieks inexpilictly as she books it from a long, long, loonnnggg caaaannnnnnn'ed Nukekubi, only to have that shrieky head whip around, nearly clocking her in the jaw. "Eep!!"

-- which is then followed by a one-two punch that Umie barely avoids, with the last managing to clock the little shinobi in her little shinobi jaw. "GRK!"

Umie flops down to the ground, missing a vital piece of context for what happens next.

Namely, why she has such stupidly stubby hands and feet when she gets up.

"eeehh--?" There's now a kappa, standing even shorter than Umie would be at. "Wh..." Little sound effects happen as Kappumie experimentally moves her stubby little arms, which are suitably very short in comparison to her overall body, as she reaches up and finds...

Positioned between two blonde hair buns, now shaped to be nearly perfect spheres on either side of her head, she finds... pattapattapatta. Water, Yep. Kappa.

Does Umie hear laughing? She hears laughing, as if someone is literally on the floor, rolling around as they cry with laughter.

"WHY AM I A KAPPA, KERO?!" _RAGE has been applied to Umie Akabane._

Careful, Umie, that rapidly heating head of yours might dry you up.

Umie turnss around, pointing a tiny webbed finger at the giant palaquin, now looming even *larger*.

"YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE, KERO!"

Sure, she should look at her teammates and see how they're faring, but NO. UMIE IS NOT A TEAM PLAYER RIGHT NOW, KERO.

(Okay, Fuukappa is helping give a target to throw all Umie's anger at, kero.)

Paradoxically (or, perhaps, following Mascot Character tradition now), Umie's Persona is unchanged, with Badb now even more mismatched in size in comparison to the tiny kappa managing to summon the deity of war and death.

And onslaught begins (kero) with a Soul Breaking maneuver, Badb's red laced fingers seductively curl towards Nanghaithya (IN COMPARISON TO THE FUMING GREMLIN CREATURE STANDING UNDERNEATH HER), ending with a panic-inducing (POTENTIALLY) burst of dark magic.

Pause. Blinkblink. Kappumie finally notices the motley assortment of kappas by her.

".............. i think i feel better since you're all kappa too, kero..."
</poem>

AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Exploit! Umie Akabane can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 40 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media.
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Almighty skill Soul Break on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Exploit! Umie Akabane can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 68 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Torrent Shot. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 55 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Torrent Shot.
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 72 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Torrent Shot.
AS: COUNTER! Katsuya Suou takes 29 Strike damage in return for his attack!
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Almighty skill Hooded Smile on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Mudo on Nanghaithya!
AS: Umie Akabane regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 19 Almighty damage from Umie Akabane's Soul Break.
AS: Exhaust added! Rage removed! Explosion! 60 damage!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 0 Almighty damage from Umie Akabane's Hooded Smile.
AS: Charm added!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 78 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Mudo. Resist!
AS: Panic added! Charm removed! Explosion! 60 damage!
AS: COUNTER! Umie Akabane takes 53 Strike damage in return for her attack!

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> "Ah... no, no. You can't rush your way to being the best, not when the journey is so important," So-young frowns almost to herself. There's still some impulse she can't quite name that can faintly pinpoint some of the key ways in which this feels wrong. But what can you say in return? This is already a hard pill to swallow when someone is in the best of minds. When they are a rampaging Homonculus surrounded by fierce magic it's another thing entirely.

Katsuya thanks her for the assistance, and she preens a little at that thanks. It's pleasant to hear, and it's nice to be recognized, and So-young is vain enough to admit that as a simple fact of life, and-- --and-- --wait he's thanking everyone. Fastidiously so, in fact. She can't help but feel a little deflated at that, but only a little. At least she appears doggedly ready to fight when Tamaki looks her over. If the events of the past are showing on her face, it's only because of a deep, stubborn determination to move past them and only look forwards, for better and for worse.

Looking back to Nanghaithya, So-young frowns. Maybe if she reaches for it, really extends a searching introspective look inside herself, maybe she can draw some parallels between her old school self and the 'milksop' that might help pull something profound out of her. It's not something she's used to doing, or good at doing, and she recognizes that fact with no shame at all. It's just not part of her skillset. But even so, maybe, just maybe, if she digs far enough--

--she'll-- turn into a Kappa?

"WHAT," screeches the discordant voice of the little tubby green creature that has managed to at least retain its monochrone clothes and hair. If anything, So-young might be most upset about the voice more than anything, not to mention the way that unfamiliar, strangely-shaped hands cannot quite hold onto her beloved baton, which falls from her new fingers and winks away.

One thing So-young has not yet figured out about her sibling is how exactly Myunghon manages to do this. Myunghon has said before that So-young is more confusing to talk to than demons, but that has a flipside - that in moments like this, even transformed into an eye-watering two dimensional shape, So-young simply cannot understand how Myunghon has the mental capacity to grin and smirk and quote literature. Don't get the conductor wrong, she's proud in distinctly contrarian and rebellious fashion, but she's still yet to understand how the hell it works.

At least she still has the ability to project her voice, and a deeply affronted whine sounds across the battlefield. "This had _better_ not be permanent! I don't give a damn if it's a cognitive space or not!" the little creature stomps one foot, its eyes at least managing to burn for a moment before it turns to see an ice storm bearing down on the entire carnival. With a croak of surprise, So-Kappa starts to bolt to one side, but her new frame is too small to get to cover in time, and she's flung like a pinball off of several different surfaces, ending up crashing into a sideshow tent.

As she fishes her way out from under the tarpaulin, So-young hears a familiar voice cry out across the grounds. Even Pernelle's squawk is astonished and joyous rather than distraught. Et tu, Pernelle?! --that thought filters through her brain, connects to the realisation she's not sure who all is involved here, and she finally spools back over the past couple of moments enough to realize she recognized the style and finer strokes of the musician whose song she picked up on. "Oh," she vocalizes, with a distinct undercurrent of 'oh shit that might take some explaining' to it.

Well, there are certainly bigger things to worry about right now. Somehow a small Kappa manages to pull itself to its full lack of height and level a viciously angry glare at the figure lording over them. "... I was prepared to be sympathetic, but now I am simply extremely upset," the kappa mutters. Whether it is puffed up from sheer indignance or from an upcoming attack is not clear, but the kappa does indeed puff up... and up... and up... and up as it continues to draw in breath.

It turns out that being frog-adjacent really helps with diaphragm control. All of a sudden, So-young hunches forwards, and--

@''` @''`
@/` @/` @/`

--delivers a rather uniquely ribbiting tune at the maximum volume she can manage. Impossibly, it seems to physically twist in the air, the energy of it rippling forwards with all the galeforce of Icarus behind it, slow at first before building in speed into a rushing gale of croaking noises dopplering across the intervening space to crash its final note against Nanghaithya.
</poem>

AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Wind skill Coda on Nanghaithya!
AS: So-young Park: Gains 52 HP from Regen!
AS: So-young Park regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Counter Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 105 Wind damage from So-young Park's Coda.
AS: Haze added!
AS: COUNTER! So-young Park takes 71 Strike damage in return for her attack!

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Pernelle suggests violence. "... right." That is... maybe less ''specific'' than she had wanted, but it's at least a direction. Not that she has a ''lot'' of attacks on hand. But Yanagi has more advice. Each one needs its own differences. And for the Navigators. "Right!" She pushes herself to listen, to take in more of the battlefield. Amphion puts his headphones on her head to help her filter out more of the extraneous bedlam so she can get to the heart of what's important.

"You're welcome, Kumamoto-san!" she calls back to Moriko.

But someone Ririka would be surprised to find is here, though she barely has time to recognize it as she's focusing on keeping track of everyone in the battle. But she ''does'' notice once So-young piggybacks on her song, casting out a performance of her own. She looks up as the magic settles in. "Park-san?"

Later. Focus on supporting everyone now.

What's the point of living if you aren't the best? Ririka's never cared for being the best, but... she has always wanted to apply herself to the best of her ability. To maintain the image of a dilligent, hard-working musical talent.

So she kind of gets it. But she never took it this far, did she? (Yes, but not in this way.)

But she's been listening (she can't help ''but'' listen to sounds, patterns, frequencies, rhythms...) to how the Homunculus talks. That strange, digital quality its voice. It sounds like--

The thought is interrupted as Master Koto approaches, and she takes up her katana in hand. So it's come to this... She knows the musician fighter's rhtyhms and routines by heart, and as the attacks come in she finds a rhythm of her own to meet and deflect block each strike with her weapon. She doesn't find an opening to attack, but...

"... Nakao-chan, everyone!" she calls out, transmitting her voice to the battlefield. "They're just trying to use the best combos without mixing them up! And the voice we've been hearing. It's not Yuki-offa's, it's--"

But right as she gets that revelation out, she hears it-- Player ''Two''. And the selection is glitched to be... Kappa. "Wha--" ''Something'' happens, and Ririka blinks as she finds herself in the form of a small turtle with light purple skin and a dark purple shell, staring down at herself in shock. She still has her headphones on, but now they're smaller. "Okay, this-- this is ''weird''."

She shakes her head. Focus. "The voice is coming from the tower," she finishes. She listens to Fuuka's advice, as well. The base of the palenquin... "Maybe if we disrupt it we can get at the tower?"

Worth a shot. Ririka takes a deep breath, drumming her finger--claws?--on her shell as she concentrates. It makes a rhythmic pattern (not Kappa's stage music, this time, Master Koto's, her main), as she tries to take in everything she needs to do. Kappas all around--holding up the palanquin, among the Persona users. She narrows in.

"Amphion! Let's go!" She points at the base of the palenquin. "Play a song to distract them!" Amphion strums his lyre, assaulting them with something that is ''almost'' Yuki-offa's stage theme, but it's off in ways that are jarring to those that know it well.

"And... second movement! Let's help those who we can!" Ririka sweeps her hand over Moriko, Fuuka, Katsuya, and Tamaki. Amphion keeps playing, and the power of the earth flows up through them, helping to reinforce their weakened bodies.
</poem>

AS: Ririka Kawase spends Limit on Exploit! Ririka Kawase can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Almighty skill Dissonant Song on Nanghaithya!
AS: Insight: Ririka Kawase gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Almighty skill Marakukaja on Moriko Kumamoto, Fuuka Yamagishi, Katsuya Suou, and
Tamaki Uchida!
AS: Take! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 0 Almighty damage from Ririka Kawase's Marakukaja.
AS: Def_Dn removed!
AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 0 Almighty damage from Ririka Kawase's Marakukaja.
AS: Def_Dn removed!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 0 Almighty damage from Ririka Kawase's Dissonant Song.
AS: Take! Moriko Kumamoto takes 0 Almighty damage from Ririka Kawase's Marakukaja.
AS: Def_Dn removed!
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 0 Almighty damage from Ririka Kawase's Marakukaja.
AS: Def_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
((Please. Your fun is a sick joke.))

Nanghaithya's digitized condemnation of Hazuki Nakao comes with almost perfect timing as Yuki-Offa's heeled sneakers hit the ground with a frosty, dual -=CLICK=- of impact, Hazuki's facial double finally taking the stage ''just'' as everyone else is reduced to the thing she counters so perfectly -- the thing Nanghaithya's cognition enforces as 'the weakest'.

Kappa. Kappa, as far as the eye can see...!

(('Fun.' It's the cocky claim of the ones who win. 'It's about having fun.'))

Hazuki comes rushing in, still defiant despite everything. Janus manifests, even despite the Kappafication of its host. Yuki-Offa turns to regard her most steadfast player, those violet eyes utterly empty -- a fact that may well be eerie, considering it's akin to looking into a soulless mirror.

((I agree. It's fun grinding your heel into people over and over. It's fun being the one lording above everyone else. It's fun being the one who dominates.))

Three balls of light are lobbed at Yuki-Offa -- each of them explode into violent bursts, knocking her back, sending her toppling over, dragging her out towards a frost-crackling roll across the Big Top--

((SO LET'S HAVE FUN.))

Whereupon she comes to a stop in a crouch, smoothly hurtling a huge CRESCENT of pure frost at Hazuki and Janus.

And then another!

And another!!

It's FLAGRANT projectile spam, forcing Haazuki's diminutive distance, and yet somehow -- Yuki-Offa seems more fluid, more graceful, more skillful, more POWERFUL than poor Kappa as she does it?? One might even call it... ''perfect''.

Is this what it means -- to be at the top of the meta...?!

It's Katsuya's passionate adherence to the law, however, that next calls the Homunculus' attention. Even as Yuki-Offa fights, the Palanquin itself seems to almost shift with the frantic scuttle of Kappas, until it is pointed directly at the detective.

What does the law matter?

The adorably round Helios-Kappa bears down on Nanghaithya. One shot! Two! The return fire from Katsuya's Persona hits two Taro-Kappas with perfect accuracy, sending them bouncing out from under the Palanquin and bouncing between the Big Top's support columns like those pinball machines the detective so loves. But the third shot--

((Tell me, law man:))

Is met by Kaguya-hime, just as she intercepted Hazuki before -- as if wholly dedicated to protecting that Palanquin at all costs. She's knocked aside briefly --

(Have those precious rules of yours ever mattered to the people at the top?))

Before that whip SNAPS up, ensnaring Helios -- before she CRACKS it back down, to catch Katsuya with the downswing as she sends his Persona smashing into the ground.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
But as Kaguya-hime tussles with Katsuya, Myunghon takes their opportunity to address Nanghaithya directly. They invoke Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's final work, the private agonies of which undoubtedly resonate with the kernel of longing and discontent that gave Nanghaithya its form in this world. And yet, as Myunghon recites the lines to the Homunculus -- as they and their incredible Kappalak invoke the absurdity of the work, revel in the nonsense of it all in a very

unfortunate

hula dance

that just

keeps

going

to a TIDAL WAVE of support and references and BADONKADONK STONKS

that makes the gaggle of Taro-Kappas shrink backwards, forcing the Palanquin to unsettle above them as it teeter-totters this way and that, almost as if the Taro-Kappas had fallen under INFLUENCE if you will of ABSURD CONTENT Kappalak is just cranking out--?!

Even as they struggle, even as an irritated hiss gushes out over those unseen speakers in gasping bursts of static, all Nanghaithya has to say to Myunghon is simply this:

((You're a fool!))

It's unfortunate, yet fitting, that the Homunculus is clearly unfamiliar with the work. Because, after all...

''A fool always considers others fools.''

A once-fabulous bird quarrels with a cat(s). The fanning dance of pinions and blades, blindly thrashing as it is, -does- manage to fend of Bakeduo-neko, a well-placed, lucky stroke carving into the cats with an annoyed YOWL as they're knocked skywards --

--but not before snapping a quick, bullying punt at Pernelle as they go. Wow. Those cats have _issues_.

Saika moves swift as well, even Kappa-fied as she is. Frankenstein's Kappareature rears up, swinging that big bulky fist Yuki-Offa's way as she fends off Hazuki. Her reaction times are absurd; one might think she's just cheating, the way that violet gaze just -snaps- towards the Creature the second it approaches. That fist comes swinging --

--and it CRACKS across Yuki-Offa's skull, sending her head snapping to one side even as she just -flip kicks- the Creature directly in the jaw to send it soaring in turn. Is there no end to the anti-air antics for poor Saika--?!

Ixquic (Ixcroak?!) is next on the offensive, her squeaky cry of defiance coming like a herald to her grand violence. Quixote manifests and rushes forth in a grand wheeling circle-slice, the slash SLAMMING into Yuki-Offa before she can continue to press the assault. She craters into the ground from the force of it. But as the dust settles--

Those crescent slices of ice comes for ''Ixquic'' next, punching through floating dirt and debris one after the other even as she wonders in confusion over her new, Kappa life. So eloquent. So magnificent. Is this how Taro perceives Yuki-Offa? The Homunculus? Or simply the concept of what it views as a 'winner'--?

But it's Yanagi and Fuuka who see the heart of what's going on -- and it's Ririka who peers into the truth of Nanghaithya. Fuuka broadcasts the nature of that Palanquin base to everyone -- that it is controlling the other fighters, even Yuki-Offa. Destroying it might well be key. She winds up a water spell to test that very theory -- and as it SPLASHES across the horizontal arcade machine that makes up the Palanquin's base --

Something happens.

The Palanquin rocks. The arcade base sparks and smokes. Kappas struggle to keep it aloft, even as their dainty little knees bend. And the other fighters, Yuki-Offa included, suddenly just --

Stop.

It's for a split second. Only a second. A very telling second.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
And then.

((Oh aren't you ''clever'' losers.))

"MYAAA!" "MYAAAAAAAA!!"

Bakeduo-Neko - who CANNOT BE STOPPED - comes crashing down from the Big Top's - well - top, where Pernelle had knocked it to, pouncing upon Fuuka's adorable little water-ball to KNOCK it across the ground.

Whereupon the two cats in a trenchcoat just start to try to chase the thing. To keep that clever Fuuka locked down, of course. But also, you know.

Because they're cats, and she's a rolling ball with a tasty prize inside.

((Not that it's going to matter.))

The others on the assault, knowingly or not, take up Fuuka's advise. Yanagi, who's seen that truth for herself, conjures a hailstorm upon the palanquin base, ice crashing in and forming into large, heavy crystals. The weight of it makes it strain further, making it bend and buckle -- Moriko's blaze of light PUMMELS the thing, sending all that additional weight bucking backwards, crushing a few poor Kappas supporting it at the rear -- Babd's distracting curl of a finger draws several Taro-Kappas wide, sparkling eyes of wonder (one even says "uwaaaaaah~!" and ''everything'') before they are CRUELLY BETRAYED by bursts of darkness that sends them flying, further weakening the Palanquin's support (the one who voiced wonder, it must be noted, now screams "BETRAYAL KEROOOOOOOOO--" before it punches through the roof of the Big Top)

--and So-young's BOOMING(ish) song crashes croaking notes of force DIRECTLY into Nanghaithya, the decibel force of her Kappa serenade enough to send several more Taro-Kappa's skyward, swept up in a melody they find possitively

''ribbiting''

-- all serve to destabilizing the palanquin. It lurches backwards -- and then tilts FORWARDS, violently. Pressure is pressed against the foremost Kappas as they suddenly find their rubbery Kappa bodies squashed, pinned between the ground ant the tottering Arcade base. Pressure mounts - and mounts - and MOUNTS, as they all just get bigger and bigger, like volume being redirected to one end of a balloon before--

*POIT!* *POIT!* *POITPOITPOIT!!*

They all just FIRE off like cannon shots, recipcrocating the violence Yanagi, So-young, Umie and Moriko have delivered with -further violence-.

((You all think you're so smart. You think you see my tricks? I'll show you.))

Yuki-Offa lurches forward. Her head turns towards Roger in particular.

((There's only one truth in this world.))

As if something about what he said has angered Nanghaithya in particular, she DASHES forward right into his personal space. Her arms snap backwards as if she's preparing for another projectile volley. They swing forward--

((The game is only fun for the people who rule!))

And then she just GLITCHES. Her whole body seems to just -- stop moving one way, and start moving another, as the forward snap of her arms becomes a sudden and surging and VIOLENT upper thrust of an assault upon Roger, chased after by a sharp CRACKLE of frosting electricity--

as the force of that perfect, impossible animation cancel BLOOMS around her in a violent shockwave, intent on catching everyone within its violent path.

It's only here that they might hear Ririka's words -- and see how her song is affecting not Yuki-Offa --

But the Arcade Tower. Its screen glitching -- distorting --

Showing flashes of an angry, pixelated face with blazing, scarlet eyes.

That's the truth.

What's the source of Taro Nakata's discontent? The seed that made it all possible? Was it Yuki-Offa -- was it Hazuki?

Or was it the very idea of losing at the thing he loves?

OBJECTIVE: DESTROY THE SOURCE OF NANGHAITHYA'S POWER!

REVEAL THE TRUE FORM OF THE HOMUNCULUS!

</poem>
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Water skill Perfect Projectile Spam on Hazuki Nakao! 3 Hits!
AS: Nanghaithya takes 60 damage from Panic!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Water skill Perfect Projectile Spam on Akari Hoshi! 3 Hits!
AS: Tandem! Nanghaithya has used the Elec skill DORYA on Roger! 2 Hits!
AS: Nanghaithya takes 60 damage from Exhaust!
AS: Nanghaithya spends Limit on Reach!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Slash skill Kara Cancel on Ririka Kawase, So-young Park, Umie Akabane, Katsuya
Suou, Tamaki Uchida, Moriko Kumamoto, Fuuka Yamagishi, Pernelle, Saika Kikuchi, Yanagi Nagisa, Yukari Takeba, and
Myunghon Yeo! 3 Hits!
AS: Nanghaithya: Reach removed!
AS: Block Neutral! Saika Kikuchi takes 30 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Best! Saika Kikuchi takes 18 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Block Neutral! Saika Kikuchi takes 30 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Akari Hoshi takes 21 Water damage from Nanghaithya's Perfect Projectile Spam. Critical Hit!
AS: Bind added!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Akari Hoshi takes 36 Water damage from Nanghaithya's Perfect Projectile Spam.
AS: Bind added!
AS: Avoid Best! Akari Hoshi takes 24 Water damage from Nanghaithya's Perfect Projectile Spam.
AS: Bind added!
AS: Block Worst! Yanagi Nagisa takes 31 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Best! Myunghon Yeo takes 21 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Myunghon Yeo takes 36 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Myunghon Yeo takes 36 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Yanagi Nagisa takes 31 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Block Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 22 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Umie Akabane takes 32 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 24 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Block Worst! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 24 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Block Worst! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 33 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 14 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 14 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Best! So-young Park takes 19 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! So-young Park takes 13 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Best! So-young Park takes 19 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Best! Katsuya Suou takes 11 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Katsuya Suou takes 11 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Block Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 15 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Block Worst! Hazuki Nakao takes 33 Water damage from Nanghaithya's Perfect Projectile Spam.
AS: Bind added!
AS: Counter Worst! Hazuki Nakao takes 26 Water damage from Nanghaithya's Perfect Projectile Spam.
AS: COUNTER! Nanghaithya takes 39 Water damage in return for their attack! Weak!
AS: Counter Best! Hazuki Nakao takes 15 Water damage from Nanghaithya's Perfect Projectile Spam.
AS: COUNTER! Nanghaithya takes 50 Water damage in return for their attack! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya has set a trigger!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Roger takes 47 Elec damage from Nanghaithya's DORYA. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Roger takes 36 Elec damage from Nanghaithya's DORYA.
AS: Avoid Worst! Pernelle takes 34 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Best! Pernelle takes 16 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Pernelle takes 27 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 15 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Yukari Takeba takes 35 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Yukari Takeba takes 27 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: Block Neutral! Ririka Kawase takes 31 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Ririka Kawase takes 31 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Ririka Kawase takes 27 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>With her little Kappa body, Hazuki can't move fast enough. Yukari's trying, and the healing helps, but...

Those words echo with the pain of the projectiles. She is the winner, after all... it's hollow when she says it...

An attempt to guard the first projectile causes it to blast her backwards. The second comes, and she swings her bat at it, ending it flying backwards haphazardly. This gives her an idea on how to deal with the last ones, and she times the swing, even as they're battering into her...

And launching the projectiles directly at the Homunculus!

"...maybe you're right. Maybe the Goddess of Tricks... is just a big jerk!" She calls out, little kappa face defiant, as she rushes forward again once the spam ends.

The call is to destroy the arcade machine... Hazuki's not going to make it in time, at her distance. So instead she calls out, using English for a specific word choice...

"But that doesn't matter. If crushing you is `bad pool`... then I'll be the worst! Eligor! Give them the power to do it!"

Janus fades out, and in comes Eligor, the horned red knight on the black horse. He stomps his horse's hooves, points his spear, and an attack buff washes over Hazuki, Akari, Roger, and Saika, trying to get the principle hitters a big attack! She'll save hers for the finale, so to speak.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Hazuki Nakao has used the Almighty skill Matarukaja on Hazuki Nakao, Roger, Saika Kikuchi, and Akari Hoshi!
AS: Defense: Hazuki Nakao gains 1 Limit!
AS: Hazuki Nakao: Gains 55 HP from Regen!
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 0 Almighty damage from Hazuki Nakao's Matarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 0 Almighty damage from Hazuki Nakao's Matarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!
AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 0 Almighty damage from Hazuki Nakao's Matarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!
AS: Take! Roger takes 0 Almighty damage from Hazuki Nakao's Matarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!
AS: Fuuka Yamagishi spends Limit on Shift! Yanagi Nagisa can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa spends Limit on Shift! Fuuka Yamagishi can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Yukari Takeba spends Limit on Shift! Katsuya Suou can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20!
AS: Counter Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 32 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Nanghaithya takes 42 Slash damage in return for their attack!
AS: Counter Neutral! Tamaki Uchida takes 28 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel.
AS: COUNTER! Nanghaithya takes 27 Slash damage in return for their attack!
AS: Counter Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 32 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Nanghaithya takes 42 Slash damage in return for their attack!
AS: Hazuki Nakao spends Limit on Shift! Akari Hoshi can use another Weak skill this round!

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
"I ''did''," Yanagi tells Pernelle, and her simple, straightforward response is a lament on his behalf, a shared tragedy that will bind their hearts together for all time. Not even kappa tippy-taps (tippy-kaps) can wash away this deep sorrow--his, or hers. Saika cries out her own vehement lament, if for a different reason, and Yanagi can only clasp her webbed hands together overtop her cane-gun. "Stay strong, Saika...!"

Healing energy washes over her then, and she looks to one side to see Arianrhod by way of Tamaki-kappa (Tamakappa) sending forth a Media to encompass her. "Oh! Thank you!" she says warmly. Uchida-san, she hears Katsuya call her, which is something she'll remember--and when Katsuya repeats her report of weaknesses, she nods to him as well, recognizing him as that photographer. "Good luck," she says sympathetically, hearing a similar tone in his voice as Pernelle's.

Fire may not be ''her'' power, but Pernelle is so dear to her, she can't help but be sad when others can't use it freely...

Even if Jack Frost continues to be superior to Jack-o'-Lantern. Sorry not sorry.

But the Homunculus, in its various Night Parade forms, is not content to have its palanquin base destabilized so easily. Its voice jeers at Yanagi and several others, lauching off rubbery Kappas in a counter-attack that SLAMS into Yanagi's Persona, destabilizing it into nothing as she cries out in shared pain and falls again to her knees. This time, she doesn't get back up so easily; she needs a moment to catch her heaving breath.

"You poor... pathetic thing. There is some truth to what you say; I've seen it for myself. But I..." She raises her head, brilliant green eyes narrowed in contempt. "...have no respect for such people. No--they're not even people. Merely ''things'' trussed up in suits of skin."

She teeters forward, hand trembling on her cane; with its help, she rises again.

"...How appropriate that one like you can count yourself among their number."

She turns her little kappa legs, boots supporting her slight weight as she raises her cane to point its barrel at the base of the palanquin. Once again, a mystic butterfly floats by, and once again, Yanagi shoots it down to re-summon Giselle, spinning her eternal pirouette, a bride's veil covering her kappa beak.

"Fuuka, yes?" she calls to her fellow Navigator. "You and I both see with sight... You, with your light, and I, with my ice--shall we support our friends in a more direct way?"

In other words--let them both help the other double up on weakness attacks. Yanagi smiles and reaches out a hand towards her, and then towards the Arcade Tower, now glitching that fearsome pixelated face with its blood-red eyes.

"There!"

The chill waters of a forest lake spin around Giselle and then crash towards the distorted screen. In this way, she does help guide the others towards where to attack by showing ''what'' to attack--one wave, and then another, and then ANOTHER, stronger and stronger as they ebb and flow and ''crash''. Kappa-ppa-ppa...
</poem>

AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Water skill Double Aqua on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Water skill Wonderful Aques on Nanghaithya!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa regains 6 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 80 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Double Aqua. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: COUNTER! Yanagi Nagisa takes 32 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 47 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Double Aqua. Weak!
AS: COUNTER! Yanagi Nagisa takes 32 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 126 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Wonderful Aques. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Charm added! Panic removed! Explosion! 50 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
There may be a shared understanding between her and Tamaki on trying to cover the crowd, but that doesn't make it any easier as a Kappa. Her Persona's magic just feels so much weaker.

But it's what they've got-! So she keeps trying her best!

And as Moriko asks how it's the Chairman's fault, she snaps, "Don't worry about it!"

The only bright side is, she's not alone in this humiliation. There's Katsuya over there... as a Kappa, and Umie afflicted with rage.

Even Fuuka floating in Lucia's globe!? "Where'd the water even come from..." She murmurs. At least it's not a ''just her'' situation.

Maybe this can be undone! She hopes.

Fuuka however somehow, despite barely staying afloat, finds that the base of the tower is the weakness.

"Please tell us it'll change us back."

She holds her breath. And- Kappa fly! The Palanquin destabilizes, Kappageddon! ... Honestly Yukari winces from having a hard time not thinking of THOSE Kappa as people.

Unfortunately the Homunculus is, not exactly ''thrilled''. And they're still Kappa. Yukia-Offa... prepares, and - glitches- "... Uhhhh...." - suddenly coming down in a shockwave, and Yukari comes down, the first blow knocking her sideways, with a sweatdrop on her forehead before the animation cancel barrage...

Well it doesn't slice through her, there's no KO animation! But she is freaked, "Come on! The way you just- whatever that is- that has to be illegal!"

Words, which almost certainly catch a certain Kappa Police Officer's attention, as she quickly gets up and waddles back as fast as her little legs allow her to.

A pull of a trigger, and Io- in full Kappa Glory(?) arrives, casting Kappa Mediarama, again!

Look - this Yuki-Offa is really carving through shell here!

"What's fun about this!?" Yukari isn't a gamer, she's never seen the appeal, but she understands at least it's meant to be fun for all parties. It's why Junpei acts excited like a little kid about it.

"Whether you're winning or losing, you just sound miserable all the time!"

</poem>
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Recovery skill Naiad Mediarama on Yanagi Nagisa, Tamaki Uchida, Umie Akabane,
and Saika Kikuchi!
AS: Support: Yukari Takeba gains 1 Limit!
AS: Yukari Takeba regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Yanagi Nagisa takes 72 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
When Pernelle enthuses -- 'Just look at you' -- Saika gives the majestic bird the dirtiest look possible for one currently experiencing kappadom.

But more is happening. Has she already let Tamaki down by becoming a deeply uncool kappa? Is she going to be able to prevail? Is this urge to eat a cucumber the kappa nature saturating her very thoughts, or is that just her regular ordinary experience of wanting to eat a cucumber?

The other kappas seem to be subdued. Perhaps kappa can slay kappa. Her eyes turn up towards Yuki-offa even as Saika dances back and forth with her arms held up in a guarded stance. It's comical, but perhaps it never hurts to be prepared. "Watch out!" she calls to Ixquic when ice smashes towards her. But then:

It's rocking. Everything stops.

We won? Saika thinks in optimism.

Optimism that is disproven, as it so often is. Such is the nature and unsatisfactory quality of life. That new girl, Hazumi, calls out to something. The other face of Janus. An energizing surge washes over her...! As it does, she says, "How's it feel over for you, Yanagi?" even as her head tilts upwards -- twitching as she realizes she's about to spill water out of the dish, her body rebelling against her.

Her eyes narrow towards the illuminated face of the Homunculus. "Awful nice of the thing to get in a big cabinet like that," Saika says as her arms fold. Her chubby, flabby li'l kappa arms. Kapparms. "It'd make the burial easier, FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTERRRRR"

The sudden shout coming out a bit froglike but nevertheless manifesting her will. The great Monster raises his head and bares his teeth for a moment; what comes next is not another stunning blow or strangling grasp but another barrage of lightning strikes, sharp forks arcing towards that screen. Once! Twice! THRICE, each time casting a sharp shadow and making a suitably imperious roll of thunder.

</poem>
AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 72 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Myunghon is a little grateful, internally, though they'd never admit it, for the Kappa disguise -- because most people look to some degree miserable or displeased with their disguise, themself included. (Not Pernelle, though. Pernelle is excited at the limitless boundaries of transpeacockism, and can anyone blame him?) They're really not doing great right now and they're not sure if Shinjiro and Shinobu and the others being here would've helped or made them feel like they have to put on an even stronger face, doubting what they're doing as hard as they are at present--

''Anytime, Merry. Holding up alright?''

Tamaki's there to uplift them, as if being able to sense that they're really not having a good time of it. "I-- ... will be, Uchida-san," they choke out. "... we still have a person to save. This is not over until we cross that threshold back to physical reality," they affirm, and Tamaki can feel the masking behind it as their Merry-self takes over, noticing just how graceful and experienced Tamaki's capability to manoeuvre through flame and frost both are.

What Tamaki says next is of particular aspirational quality. Every loss is a lesson -- the losers that WANT IT bad enough are the ones that start to win.

Yukari's Media washes over them, strengthening Kappalak from where it's already suffering tears and breaks. "Takeba-san, how gracious of you..."

How does Myunghon have the capability to grin, smirk and quote literature? Why So-young! The answer is that their self-esteem and mood is in such ruin that they've finely compartmentialised the ability to Resist and Rebel as entirely Merry's capability, that's how!

It's surely healthy.

"It must be, nuna," Kappa-Merry speaks encouragingly. "Remember -- these cognitive spaces are all about assertion. This Homunculus is in its wrathful throes because its only sense of identity is direly threatened. Recall your confidence!"

The Homunculus calls them a fool and takes umbrage, the Palanquin tilting forward and slamming them against their Kappa bodies, slamming and slamming and slamming, and Kappalak is forced to bodyblock the brunt of the assault. It is perhaps, fitting, yes, that they are called a fool -- though not because Myunghon looks down upon the Homunculus. As Reiya did before, Myunghon will inevitably hold this being in memory. Perhaps the vision of Patient 23 was the one with true insight into the very fool revelry that they must all participate in, this so-called 'best of all worlds'. The Kappa, within that work, are asked if they wish to be born or not, and one replies resoundingly:

"Yes, Suou-san! Well done! A model student you are. You, Homunculus, crave life so avidly that I may very well call you a discipline of Lifeism, or Life-worship! And to think, you're surrounded by so many cretins who express such despicable thoughts as the Kappa you sit beneath, whose wisest rule of life is to despise, and yet not in the least violate the manners and customs of his time."

Merry seems sedate for a moment, though that dangerous, jagged grin is from ear to ear still, the shine in their singular gray eye, even as a Kappa, evident, their stubby little hands cupping their cheeks. The insights of the Navigators brings to light that the very Palanquin base controls the other fighters.

"Yet upon that same work I evoke: ''No one has any objection to the destruction of idols. Nor has anyone the slightest objection to his being idolised. But he who can sit at ease on the throne of idols is one most blessed by the gods -- a fool, a rascal, a hero.''"

Kappalak manifests once more, but this time, the Rumourmonger's grin is ear to ear as they wield a shadow-card in their palm, a Skill Card that burns into blue flame. A dangerous, manifested blade of bright-blue ice is being wielded by the ribbon-tendrils of the Cognitive Coat.

"Now, courtesy of my hee-ro, Jack Frost!"

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHFSKkJkrC8

Kappalak powers up like they're hogging the Limit bar, surging forth in a weave of cold cognitive air as they tear out and SLAM that blade of ice not once, not thrice--

FOLKS we got a happy birthday with the 623BB mixup COMING IN COLD! They see Kappalak divekickin, they HATIN'!! OH SNAP! Kappalak tigerknees the j.22 and Yoghurt Greek Cancels their landing recovery into yet ANOTHER 623BB, superjump-cancelled into a BC X-factor level 3!! Unbelievable! Unbelievable!! This grainy-ass 240p footage will forever be known as EVO Memento 37!! (Give Jose the video for another stamp. He'll love it.)
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
When Pernelle enthuses -- 'Just look at you' -- Saika gives the majestic bird the dirtiest look possible for one currently experiencing kappadom.

But more is happening. Has she already let Tamaki down by becoming a deeply uncool kappa? Is she going to be able to prevail? Is this urge to eat a cucumber the kappa nature saturating her very thoughts, or is that just her regular ordinary experience of wanting to eat a cucumber?

The other kappas seem to be subdued. Perhaps kappa can slay kappa. Her eyes turn up towards Yuki-offa even as Saika dances back and forth with her arms held up in a guarded stance. It's comical, but perhaps it never hurts to be prepared. "Watch out!" she calls to Ixquic when ice smashes towards her. But then:

It's rocking. Everything stops.

We won? Saika thinks in optimism.

Optimism that is disproven, as it so often is. Such is the nature and unsatisfactory quality of life. That new girl, Hazumi, calls out to something. The other face of Janus. An energizing surge washes over her...! As it does, she says, "How's it feel over for you, Yanagi?" even as her head tilts upwards -- twitching as she realizes she's about to spill water out of the dish, her body rebelling against her.

Her eyes narrow towards the illuminated face of the Homunculus. "Awful nice of the thing to get in a big cabinet like that," Saika says as her arms fold. Her chubby, flabby li'l kappa arms. Kapparms. There's another wash of that soothing water from the blessing of Io, which feels even better, somehow, on her froglike (accursed) skin. After a leisurely sigh, Saika finishes her thought: "It'll make the burial easier, FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTERRRRR"

The sudden shout coming out a bit froglike but nevertheless manifesting her will. The great Monster raises his head and bares his teeth for a moment; what comes next is not another stunning blow or strangling grasp but another barrage of lightning strikes, sharp forks arcing towards that screen. Once! Twice! THRICE, each time casting a sharp shadow and making a suitably imperious roll of thunder.

</poem>
AS: Tandem! Myunghon Yeo has used the Water skill Chillbrand on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Tandem! Myunghon Yeo has used the Water skill Chillbrand on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Myunghon Yeo spends Limit on Exploit! Myunghon Yeo can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Tandem! Myunghon Yeo has used the Water skill Chillbrand on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Pressure: Myunghon Yeo gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Saika Kikuchi has used the Elec skill Rapid Zionga on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Defense: Saika Kikuchi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Saika Kikuchi: Gains 48 HP from Regen!

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>Ixquic will never be Ixcroak! You can't make her!!

(You can make her a kappa, though. That hasn't changed...)

Ixquic-the-kappa finishes examining herself. She hates it! This isn't the kind of dramatic figure she wants to cut! She looks like...

If she had to describe herself right now it would be like a kind of ugly plushie, honestly. And that's definitely not what Ixquic is all about!

She lashes about with her sword, smashing it into the crescent arcs of ice. One shatters, half-cut and half-broken by the impact of her heavy sword; another skims off it and bonks into Ixquic back first, causing her to stagger. Only the third gets through cleanly, and she reels backwards.

Ixquic manages to swing her sword down, catching herself with it and propping herself up with its length. She straightens a moment later, actually letting go of the golden blade for a moment to rub her hands together to try to warm them up - where she got her fingers scorched before, now they're aching from cold.

"Wrong!" Ixquic gets her hands warm enough that she doesn't feel half-numb, energized by Hazuki and Yukari (who'll get a wave later) and points, jabbing a finger. "That's not how it is! Everybody's telling you so! And if the world sucks, you have to reach out! Grasp it with your own hands - change the rules!! But if you won't listen until you lose..."

"I, the warrior maiden Ixquic, returned from the depths of eternity, will defeat you! IT'S WHOOP-ASS TIME!"

Ixquic raises her hand to her helmet and *pulls*. A few moments of that - and the entire visor *comes off*, her grey eyes visible behind a veil of blood and energy. "Quixote! GET THE PALANQUIN!" She remembered the word 'palanquin'. She's so proud of herself.

And Quixote does: appearing in a flash as Ixquic vaults onto the back, improbably balancing there. It may not be a windmill, but it's certainly a giant structure, and Quixote knows EXACTLY what to do with that. Her engine revs, and she tears off in a cloud of exhaust.

Quixote's lance lowers as the pair of them charge - but wait. It's not a pair anymore. It's just Quixote, driving in the lance with all the force in her body -

Because Ixquic has taken to the air. Energized by Quixote's spell, her sword is gleaming so bright it's leaving a smear of golden light behind it as she drives it straight down. Quixote goes low - and Ixquic goes high!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Akari Hoshi has used the Pierce skill Giantslayer Lance on Nanghaithya!
AS: Aggression: Akari Hoshi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Tandem! Akari Hoshi has used the Light skill Holy Sword on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 54 Water damage from Myunghon Yeo's Chillbrand. Weak!
AS: COUNTER! Myunghon Yeo takes 37 Strike damage in return for their attack!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 56 Water damage from Myunghon Yeo's Chillbrand. Weak!
AS: COUNTER! Myunghon Yeo takes 38 Strike damage in return for their attack!
AS: Block Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 51 Water damage from Myunghon Yeo's Chillbrand. Weak!
AS: Block Best! Nanghaithya takes 48 Water damage from Myunghon Yeo's Chillbrand. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> Through most of the chaos, Roger has been cheerleading even as the Kappig-man has struggled to close in against relentless fireballs, exploding ice, and so many jeers in the face of a towering arcade machine palanquin that threatens to destroy them in a grotesque mockery of the game that enraptured, entrapped, and enraged a young man into a deadly entanglement with... this.

'There's only one truth in this world,' and Roger sees Yuki-Offa getting into his space. His eyes widen (he has massive frame advantage on this facial expression, don't ask how) as he's launched into the air, twisting and corkscrewing against electrically-charged frost...

As he backflips in the air, righting himself up while a funny hash mark-shaped bruise on his chin manifests as he feels a wash of empowering strength from one of Hazuki's multiple Personas - but with it, a sudden clarity.

"Oh." Roger's voice trails off. "This world you're playing in is boaring. No wonder you're not having fun--"

Another blue butterfly of wispy make drifts ''just'' out of convenient reach, necessitating some funny mid-air flailing to strike it with his tennis racquet. "Personaaaa...! Let's have fun!"

Kamapua'a, once more, manifests - and with it, a wave of wondrous - terrific, humble, radiant... well, wonderful - Aques glides forth, being directed towards that screen as he lands in a three-point crouch, one hand going up to make sure the bowl of water on his head stays level without losing a drop.

Some droplets go down over Roger the Kappa-pig's eyes. He snorts loudly, and they go right back up into the bowl.

He is the face of the little Sanguin Humor that tried his best to rally anyone he could to the aid of the young man this Homunculus nearly replaced, even like this.

"You're not even keeping the score any more...!"
</poem>

AS: Block Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 54 Water damage from Myunghon Yeo's Chillbrand. Weak!
AS: Persona! Roger has used the Water skill Wonderful Aques on Nanghaithya!
AS: Roger regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 54 Water damage from Myunghon Yeo's Chillbrand. Weak!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 93 Elec damage from Saika Kikuchi's Rapid Zionga. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Saika Kikuchi takes 31 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 54 Elec damage from Saika Kikuchi's Rapid Zionga.
AS: COUNTER! Saika Kikuchi takes 24 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 58 Elec damage from Saika Kikuchi's Rapid Zionga.
AS: COUNTER! Saika Kikuchi takes 20 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 210 Water damage from Roger's Wonderful Aques. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: COUNTER! Roger takes 96 Strike damage in return for his attack!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 168 Pierce damage from Akari Hoshi's Giantslayer Lance .
AS: COUNTER! Akari Hoshi takes 73 Strike damage in return for her attack! Weak!
AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 102 Light damage from Akari Hoshi's Holy Sword. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 72 Light damage from Akari Hoshi's Holy Sword. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
Before the crowd turns to kappas, Tamaki flashes Katsuya a placating, guilty grin after he'd recognized her, like she's been caught somewhere she isn't supposed to be, like a jig of some kind is up. "Hiiiii, Suou-san. Give Serizawa my regards!" Likely unknown to him, she's been very, VERY busy.

Her response to Yanagi is simply chipper! "You're welcome! We're in this together, right?"

...

Ririka's callout catches her attention. 'They're just trying to use the best combos without mixing them up!' She's not much of a fighting-game player, but that sure sounds to her like an analogous concept in chess: some openings and game states are more, let's say, 'well-explored.' Standard. The peak of the current meta. Effective, sure, but also known quantities. Pro players trust that their opponent is equally skilled and anticipate them to take the most safely consistent options that they would similarly opt for ...

Since they've all apparently been forced into a suboptimal match-up, anyhow ... what she ''hears'' is that the group needs to drag their adversary kicking and screaming out into the untamed wilderness of suboptimal plays and boneheaded tactics. Unsafe frame data. Blind grabs. Get-up supers.

Tamaki thinks it's time for Yuki-Offa and the Kappas to all get on the bus and take a field trip to the uncharted territories of DONKEYSPACE. If one can liken kappas to dragons, then this section on the map barely has any markings other than the text of an ominous warning which reads ''Hic sunt dracones.''

The little princely Tamakappa boisterously leaps back to Myunghon's side and points her wooden sword forward again. In her new high-pitched squeaky voice, she chirps, "Well said! 'We begin and end in absurdity,' indeed!" Waving her toy sword in the air, she chants, "'The dancers are fools, the watchers are fools, both are fools alike, so why not dance?'"

With that, she offers Myunghon a high-five, entrusting them to enact such absurdity better than she could do herself. "We'll save that person and reach that threshold!"

"Winning may be fun when you're both going all-out, but ... You can't be in serious playing-to-win mode all the time! If you don't fuck around, then you're not going to find out!"

"Thank you, Takebakappa-san! Unfortunately, I fear I must leave the healing to you now. I've got to do some finding out, myself." Tamaki ''almost'' politely bows to Yukari as she asks for forgiveness in abandoning their shared duties, but stops herself short and momentarily leaves her head tilted forward. ... It's probably enough of a gesture to get the gist across.

Where she'd been playing defensively before, she now reverses course entirely. This isn't a clever maneuver, nor is it skillful, but she's just aiming to be where she's least expected to appear. Emboldened by the warding properties of Ririka's song, she leaps TOWARD the shockwave. Do not be mistaken -- it stings, it hurts, and she risks life and limb in exchange for this positioning advantage -- mutually-assured destruction is the aim. Her grin is soon hidden behind a newly-manifested Arianrhod, as Tamakappa clings to her back and swipes at some of the palanquin-carrying kappas with her wooden sword.

"Come and explore the unknown with me!", Tamaki calls out. She inhales as she invokes Arianrhod's next attack, then leans forward and places both of her claws splayed out as she cries out the last syllable. "Haaaaaaa ... MA!" Arianrhod lifts her sword, and a beam of light bursts from underneath the ground the palanquin stands on!
</poem>

AS: Avoid Worst! Moriko Kumamoto takes 65 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 72 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Moriko Kumamoto takes 41 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Weak!
AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Light skill Hama on Nanghaithya!
AS: Defense: Tamaki Uchida gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Moriko Kumamoto takes 41 Slash damage from Nanghaithya's Kara Cancel. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
"Dearest Saika, I must warn you the expression you wear is only making the whole display more endearing!" But revenge comes swiftly for Pernelle. Revenge comes fiercely.

Punting peacock posterior pushes Pernelle past palanquin promenades painfully.

Bounce, bounce, bounce Pernelle goes, tumbling end over end because he is being maliciously, horribly bullied. He peels himself from the ground with an undignified wince as healing energy weaves around him, glasses askew before he clumsily rights them. (There's a cracked lens. Media inexplicably repairs it.) "Cats," he says with a voice of condemnation. "I should expect as much."

Pernelle clears his throat. "Very well, fiend! You have earned the fiery passions of my heart! For this I defy fate itself! Witness me, Yanagi! Let no one ever deny us! I. CRAVE. INCINERATION!"

He breaks into an unhinged, maniacal giggle that rises into a full cackle of a laugh... or one that would exist after devouring all the helium frm a balloon. Being a Kappa hasn't made him ''that'' much smaller, and yet, and yet...

Here we are.

With a mighty ribbit(?!) Pernelle throws his webbed not-wings to the sky as Anqa appears. Her seams unravel, splitting her open as brilliant orange-crimson light form around the arcade machine before shattering, aiming to expose a vulnerability to the flame Yanagi informed him does not exist.

Pernelle rejects this reality, and then channels Anqa's power to restitch her body as she opens her plush beak and shoots a torrent of fire at the Arcade Tower screen. Weaken! Melt! Become brittle and ''explode'', even...!

At least he's... having fun? Perhaps this itself is meant to speak in defiance of Nanghaithya's claim of a singular truth.

</poem>
AS: Pernelle spends Limit on Exploit! Pernelle can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Persona! Pernelle has used the Almighty skill Fire Break on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ruin: Pernelle gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Pernelle has used the Fire skill Fire Breath on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Pernelle: Gains 52 HP from Regen! Paralyze and Regen removed!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 105 Light damage from Tamaki Uchida's Hama. Weak!
AS: COUNTER! Tamaki Uchida takes 70 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 0 Almighty damage from Pernelle's Fire Break.
AS: Fire_Break added!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 47 Fire damage from Pernelle's Fire Breath.
AS: COUNTER! Pernelle takes 24 Strike damage in return for his attack!
AS: Counter Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 42 Fire damage from Pernelle's Fire Breath.
AS: COUNTER! Pernelle takes 29 Strike damage in return for his attack!
AS: Counter Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 42 Fire damage from Pernelle's Fire Breath.
AS: COUNTER! Pernelle takes 29 Strike damage in return for his attack!

<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
<poem>Moriko calls back, "I- wait what? Fine!" She'll worry about it later. She can get her head in order that long at least. "This? Knowing how to beat the surface level spamming and humbling them." She scratches her cheek, briefly distracted again. "Ah. That's probably the wrong thing here. Sometimes you can get them to learn though! Come hang out next time we're all playing."

Later though. Much later.

She raises a hand, like she wants to bump knuckles with Tamaki as she takes a similar position to her. "Welcome to the uh. Show." That's a bad joke and she almost didn't want to finish it. "I.. no. I can't make the rest of it."

"You're missing out on a lot if you think there's only one truth." She calls back, "It's always more fun when it's close. Win or lose." She jabs back.

The shots ring out, albeit with a sound she didn't expect. Each striking her in rapid succesion, ending with her down on her knee. Spear planted in the ground to prop herself up. "Not out of the race yet." As she grits her teeth and pushes herself back to her feet. Leaning heavily on the polearm, hand fishing for that Evoker. Which pops out of the little backpack again. Snatched by the biker and the trigger is pulled with a lighter pop again. Head still jerking to the side. "Hama!" Regal kitsune avoiding looking at the kappa before her. Lunging forward and fading away into those motes of drifting light that flare and engulf!

The little dress clad Kappa's going to try and keep to her feet no matter what!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Moriko Kumamoto has used the Light skill Hama on Nanghaithya!
AS: Moriko Kumamoto: Gains 46 HP from Regen! Regen removed!
AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 102 Light damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Hama. Weak!
AS: Exhaust added!

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
"Of-- of course!" he says, in those moments before they all get turned into Kappas, like he's just as flustered about all this himself. She must have been here all along! How did he miss her (because she was trying not to be seen, but don't tell him that or he'll... still feel bad??).

It's that song that So-young's had joined before, but it seems louder, more focused now: his body feels more bolstered, as if he could withstand more blows that he could previously. "Miss--" Does he really need to say it, after so many similar expressions of gratitude for support throughout this conflict?

"Thank you!"

Yes. He does.

All he can do is keep using the abilities that he has available to him that don't fall into the categories that Yanagi warns them all about. He's not able to target any of its weaknesses, and he's likely to be a liability with defenses if Nanghaithya chooses to unleash that frigid storm once again.

But he has more in the moment to be concerned about than merely the next attack it uses.

"What does it matter?" An outsider can probably see that he's getting incensed at the very suggestion. "Of course it matters!" he insists, in the aftermath of Helios sniping a pair of Kappa. That third shot, though--

Kaguya-hime intervenes before another can be taken down.

Has the law ever mattered to the people at the top?

Nanghaithya couldn't have frozen Katsuya to the spot better if it had used ice, itself. "That's--" Katsuya utters, thinking about a certain colleague of his, thinking about what Akechi had told him might be the case about his workplace, thinking about the Foreign Minister and his son. It would probably be a great deal more dramatic, admittedly, if he weren't a small, green, vaguely frog-like being. In a nice suit (that doesn't suit his form the least bit presently), admittedly, but.

Helios is easily snapped up in Kaguya-hime's whips, only for it to crack down upon him with his Persona in tow. He's laid out across the floor, a sight far more comedic for his current condition than he'd otherwise prefer. Helios is the better off of the two of them because it can just dissipate into blue flame and vanish.

He's not out of the running yet, though. After some fumbling for his sunglasses (they were very much not on his face -- well, perched atop his kappa beak after all ''that'') he's back on his feet just in time to witness something very interesting when the arcade cabinet destablizes.

(As a side note, yes, he too hopes this isn't a permanent change. You probably can't be a homicide detective if you're a kappa!)

To be honest, he hasn't played pinball since he was a child. And he won't say he was good at it. He was rather middle of the road to be honest. As the machine shifts on its base, though, he's reminded of something you can do with a pinball machine: tilt it. It was frowned upon in competitive play, and some machines would even penalize you. But technically speaking, it's possible with the lighter cabinet of a pinball machine.

Looking at the cabinet of this machine, isn't it heavier? It's built to rest solidly on the ground. In normal operation, it wouldn't be moved -- shouldn't be moved. If it were, it was likely it could fall.

Which... is the thing that's been attacking them? The figures from that game? Or is it instead the game, the arcade tower itself?

It had seemed furious when it had nearly fallen over just now.

"It's-- the arcade machine!" he calls out, echoing a similar sentiment from some of the others like Yukari and Yanagi. "If we strike at the base, it won't be able to stand up! It should collapse!"

And it would be better yet if someone who can strike its weakness weren't so beleagured by status ailments. "Helios!" Katsuya calls, using the wages of one of the cards he'd bargained with them for in the first place to strengthen Myunghon; in the same instant, he draws his sidearm (now way, way cuter than a cop's gun should be-- it wasn't always bright green with a big kappa sticker on one side, was it??) and takes aim then fires at one of those Kappa supporting the enormous arcade cabinet.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Almighty skill Tarukaja on Myunghon Yeo!
AS: Defense: Katsuya Suou gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Myunghon Yeo takes 0 Almighty damage from Katsuya Suou's Tarukaja.
AS: Atk_Dn removed!
AS: Weapon! Katsuya Suou has used the Pierce skill Handgun - Shot on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 63 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Handgun - Shot.
AS: COUNTER! Katsuya Suou takes 26 Strike damage in return for his attack!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 67 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Handgun - Shot. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Katsuya Suou takes 45 Strike damage in return for his attack!

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>Oh no. There's a drawback, it seems, to taking shelter within a sphere. That is - you become ''incredibly'' rollable.

Bakeduo-Neko pounces! ...And Lucia goes rolling, rolling, rolling, as the cats chase and play.

"P-please stop...! This isn't a toy!" Fuuka pleads, sloshing about this way and that in her personal pool - until eventually Lucia ''does'' come to a stop.

Fuuka floats there in a swirly-eyed daze for a moment, at least until Yukari's words draw her back to some semblance of reality.

"I-I believe it should... " Fuuka replies. "Destroying it should disrupt its control - and likely its hold over us, as well."

Easier said than done, though. The Homunculus takes offense to their observation.

The game is only fun for the people who rule...

"That's... a very lonely way of looking at things." She murmurs. And then, Yanagi calls out to her. Fuuka is briefly surprised at being referred to by her first name - but she nods.

"...Yes! We should be able to destabilize it if we put enough pressure on it." Fuuka agrees.

That means attacking in sync - something made easier through their abilities than it is for others. As Yanagi inundates the base with waves, Lucia extends her hands outward atop her sphere. Two daggers of light form, and are sent racing toward the base for a precision attack. And where they land, they stick, to provide a helpful glowing target for everyone else!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Fuuka Yamagishi has used the Light skill Kouha on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Fuuka Yamagishi has used the Light skill Kouha on Nanghaithya!

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Waves of force lash out for everyone involved, and Ririka yelps and does what might be the most natural thing in the world for a Kappa player--or someone who has ''become'' a Kappa--to do.

.... She turtles.

Her shell rocks back and forth as the first two waves hit, but then the third one catches her at ''just'' the right moment and sends her rolling and tumbling across the ground until she lands on her back, stars circling around her head.

"... guard break," she groans.

She shakes her head to clear it. She can see--and hear--the truth of what's going on, those angry red eyes, and the effect of her song. "You know--" She grunts with effort as she rocks herself back and forth until she's up on her feet. "I'm not the best Night Parade player. But I still have ''fun'' even when I lose. Because what I enjoy isn't the winning!"

(Don't ask her what she enjoys. It's kind of obvious.)

"Amphion!" she shouts. "Magnara!" Amphion begins to strum his lyre (don't ask how he does this with tiny turtle claws), and around him several large chunks of earth float up. They all placidly circle the persona for a moment before suddenly rising high up and shooting straight for the Arcade Towr's screen and those red eyes.

As Amphion does that Ririka taps out a drumming pattern on her shell, and sends the rhythm to So-young. "Park-san!" she says, transmitting her voice. "Here's an opening you can use!" Maybe the extra beat will help guide an action she might take in this chaotic battlefield.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Earth skill Magnara on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ririka Kawase spends Limit on Shift! So-young Park can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20!

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem>
As her onslaught of attacks hit their mark, a stray, paranoid thought pops up, like a water bubble, in Umie's mind.

_Is her Mark showing?!_

Taking a moment to extend her short arms in front of her, (the webbed digits *are* kind of adorable, even if the red nail polish does not work very well on green nail beds) Umie's fears are laid to rest. All her clothing had scaled down adorably with her, including the thumbsleeves worn underneath her coat's sleeves.

It only stirs a bit of curiosity, however, as Umie wonders, in this form, does it still...?

She's careful as she peeks at her right wrist, shielding it with her left.

Alas, there is a disappointed Kappumie on the field, her cute little beak mouth curved in a widening frown. Even on this form, the Mark is still there.

All this talk, of games, and aceing, and winning, like losing was ever an option...

*POIT!* *POIT!* *POITPOITPOIT!!*

The first shot whiffs past Umie's head, undoing one of her cute little buns in a *piff* of blonde.

The rest fare less well; resolve and anger tighten Umie's kappa body to its limits, zipping past each shot.

Umie's about had enough, but her malaise kept her from paying attention to the fight, and what comes next. She looks now to Orange-san-- Hazuki, the person that seems closest to Taro, and thus the one most able to have information that could work.

Hazuki's defiance is brilliant, but she'll need whatever she can get to amp it to the next level (ha?!). Zipping by Hazuki (and looking less impressive doing so), Umie murmurs, "My prophecy is still in effect." Her amphibian eyelids lowering slightly. "But it can only work if it's in the past. The stars will only work in your favor if you make them do so."

That almost sounded cool. "--Kero." DAMN IT.

'It's-- the arcade machine!' Kappumie finally notices Katsuya, and, briefly, realizes that she technically is the one that inflicted the insult of this ailment on this poor man. It is kind of adorable, though.

............ is this gap moe (NOT NOW UMIE)

"On it, Katsuya-san!" Umie raises her right hand, summoning the large, slender form of Badb overhead.

"Roger's right. A game that you're the best at sure sounds boring, kero." If only she could snap her fingers right now...

Instead, Kappumie's break parts in a sinister smile, mirroring Badb's own.

'The fun part is in the struggle.'
"The fun part is in the struggle, kero."

(.... this is not working at all style-wise, maybe this will be the end and Umie can go play capybara in a bathtub for the rest of the night)
</poem>

AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 72 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama.
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Pale Shriek on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Umie Akabane regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 94 Light damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Kouha. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Haze added!
AS: COUNTER! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 63 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Block Worst! Nanghaithya takes 59 Light damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Kouha. Weak!
AS: Haze added!
AS: Counter Neutral! Nanghaithya takes 139 Earth damage from Ririka Kawase's Magnara. Critical Hit!
AS: Bind added! Haze removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: COUNTER! Ririka Kawase takes 93 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 57 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Pale Shriek. Resist!
AS: COUNTER! Umie Akabane takes 74 Strike damage in return for her attack!

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> The kappa that is the Tokyo Philharmonic's conductor tries to pose elegantly with one hand under its chin. "You're a very poor winner. I can only imagine what might happen if you lose," So-young croaks without any trace of humour in her voice. Little by little, she's starting to identify the tone of their enemy's arguments - it's the same sort of desperation and insistence she's heard before, coming from the mouth of one Kaneshiro, twisted around to a different topic.

But this feels younger, somehow? More petulant, perhaps? Maybe she just feels that way because Kaneshiro was all about money and its uses, a much more utilitarian and 'adult' perspective than this one despite its similar simplicity. This feels like the kid who wants to stay on the arcade machine all day, who wants to be big and strong and the winner, because that means the games don't have to stop. That that's how the 'fun' continues, because otherwise it'll ''stop'', and that fear--

Maybe in another timeline there would be an epiphany to be had there, but once again So-young is distracted by the immediacy of the situation, because there are suddenly Kappa flying all around them and she's nowhere near self-sacrificing enough to bother risking her own skin when she could instead get the hell out of dodge and off to one side. She has just enough time to hope that none of these are the people she's supposed to be fighting with before one of them collides into her, leaving her careening between bodies in a way that probably looks more humorous than it feels.

She finally manages to catch herself on her hands and... legs? knees? she does not know frog anatomy - grimacing again as she feels a stab of foolishness and annoyance. It's not eluding her that this is a far cry from some of her more commanding appearances, especially when her appearance is a good ninety percent of her sense of self-confidence. Myunghon almost cheerfully calls over some advice, and her webbed hands curl up into tiny tiny fists as she registers it. ... right. It's a world of cognition. Maybe if she thinks hard enough about 'So-young Park', then 'So-young Park' will revert?

She can't make eloquent arguments like her sibling can, but she can certainly furrow her brow as she hauls herself back up to standing. She concentrates for a moment, and her baton winks back into her hand. These kappa hands still cannot grasp something so slim properly - but she decides there in that singular instant before it drops again that such outdated rules as physics simply don't apply to her here. She's already told gravity to screw off, so why can't she do the same to the idea of having opposable thumbs?

So-young Park is a Conductor. She will have her baton even if it has to float in front of her, damn it.

The kappa looks extremely serious as it closes its eyes. Not even connected to her hand, the spectral length of silver jogs downwards, and then to one side, and then upwards before repeating. Three beats to the bar, a waltz of combat - but more than that, a key reminder to herself that she can still do this even in this form. "... there we are," So-Kappa mutters with some relief under her breath, and the little tiny kappa throws its arms (as) wide (as it can) as it once again feels the rhythm of the fight, her Persona emitting a piercing cry in answer.

"Encore!" she demands of herself as the winds whip back around her, almost taking her smaller form off her feet. She's not completely sure what she's doing, but evidently part of her was listening to their navigators, because before she knows any better she has a translucent card spinning in her free palm, the telltale symbol of Rumormonger Merry's merchandise sparking with power as Icarus' trail explodes in a series of shimmering lights to try to set Nanghaithya off balance.

And as Katsuya makes a path forward clear for them and Ririka adds her attempt at carving an opening to So-young's own, she sends the rest of that gathered wind forwards with all her might, hurtling the form of Icarus forwards towards the base of the arcade machine in a flight so low it skims the ground. It becomes suddenly clear that she intends to simply crash Icarus into the side of the machine and damn the consequences. Whatever comes next she'll just figure out later, even if that is having to rebuild her Persona afterwards.
</poem>

AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Almighty skill Giocoso on So-young Park!
AS: Support: So-young Park gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 0 Almighty damage from So-young Park's Giocoso.
AS: Crt_Up added!
AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Light skill Kouha on Nanghaithya!
AS: So-young Park: Gains 55 HP from Regen! Fire_Wall and Regen removed!
AS: So-young Park regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: So-young Park spends Limit on Exploit! So-young Park can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Wind skill Rondo on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Counter Best! Nanghaithya takes 58 Light damage from So-young Park's Kouha. Weak!
AS: Haze added! Bind removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: COUNTER! So-young Park takes 40 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 51 Wind damage from So-young Park's Rondo.
AS: COUNTER! So-young Park takes 26 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Counter Worst! Nanghaithya takes 64 Wind damage from So-young Park's Rondo. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! So-young Park takes 32 Strike damage in return for her attack!

<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
((AGH! DAMMIT!))

Frustration and pain screech out of garbled speakers as Nanghaithya is given a taste of its own medicine -- the crescent waves of ice it used via Yuki-Offa to assault poor Kappazuki are just reflected BACK at the Arcade Palanquin, striking the tower with a raucous CRASH of shattering ice. The screen flickers again -- the sight of that face spitting foul epithets about Hazuki that are thankfully all auto-censored into strings of symbols on the screen -- becomes visible once more as the Tower sparks and sputters, leaving little room for doubt.

The real Nanghaithya isn't Yuki-Offa, or any of the fighters.

It's that arcade tower, sat imperiously monolithic upon its gaming palanquin.

But as long as that palanquin remains, its power over those Night Parade fighters - whatever they are - will continue to hold, and this fight may inevitably tip in its favor simply because of how many -ways- it can counter everyone here. Yuki-Offa, especially, seems barely perturbed by any of the violence inflicted upon her: a living symbol of victory she is, unable to be stopped, unable to be beaten.

The ultimate cognition of a winner.

And so Yanagi helps to set the stage and guide the others after Hazuki's reflected assault; Giselle's chilling waters whip across the air, SMASHING into the screen with crackling ripples of electricity with each blow. As Yanagi attacks, Master Koto springs upon her with a spinning headstand-kick, aiming to wheel blow after blow into her frail, Kappa form with each blow --

But the damage is done. Myunghon seizes upon the initiative, evoking that novella that resonates so strongly with this moment once more. No one has any objection to the destruction of idols, they claim, as Kappalak once more remanifests, wielding not the power of darkness, nor the power of his adorable Kappa Koat, but --

One blade of ice! Oh!

Two blades of ice! OH!

Three blades of ice! OH!! IS THAT THE END OF IT?!

NO! FOUR! FIVE! SIX!! OH!!! OH!!!! OH!!!!!

They SMASH into the base of the Palanquin over and over, even as Bakeduo-neko rears his terrible, feline head to do a spinning, hand-linking, very-normal-human maneuver that sends its twin cat bodies whirlwinding STRAIGHT through Myunghon and Kappalak's supposedly weak, supposedly useless bodies--

But the second it lands? The two cats glitch. For a moment, they look like -- the audience Flegmats Nanghaithya absorbed, each stacked on top of each other?? -- before the cats reassert themselves and bound off again.

The palanquin sparks and shorts, but still holds Nanghaithya aloft, even as more Taro-Kappas are smooshed beneath its weight.

No one has any objection to the destruction of idols.

But he who can sit at ease on the throne of idols...

((You -- you -- YOU! Who cares about some dusty old book?! What does some dead man matter?! It won't stop me! I won't -- I won't--))

Alas. Perhaps it's as Yanagi says. ... Its view is just to limited by its predatory, parasitic nature to see the very thing that keeps it from becoming what it yearns to be:

Existence.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
Tamaki and Saika come next -- Tamaki - no, TAMAKAPPA - rides a reckless wave of that most sweet siren song of FUCKING AROUND, and she finds out -- that victory often tastes the sweetest when there's risks. Her wooden sword sweeps -- and it takes the feet out of several of those litter-bearing Taro-Kappas, tripping them up, making their grasp slacken and tear off completely; some of its proverbial footing lost, Nanghaithya's Palanquin begins to sway again -- until Arianrhod IGNITES that beam of light underneath the Palanquin. It bucks UPWARD like a rearing horse--

--just in time for Kappastein's Monster to unleash the very furious plasma that gave it life, CRACKING thunderbolts into Nanghaithya's 'face'! Again! And AGAIN! The white-hot flashes of his power, combined with the upwards shunt of the Palanquin, sends Nanghaithya's Arcade Tower body ''sliiiding'' precariously backwards as it cries out with a distorted shriek of static--

--and it is only a sudden self-sacrifice of a gaggle of Kappas, surging upwards to desperately press stubbly little hands to the back of their idol and shove it ''back'' into place that saves it.

Which doesn't keep them from getting squashed like poor Goombas introduced to the bootheels of the foul demon Mario as they land and that Palanquin's backwards rocking just crashes bodily into them.

alas, poor Kappas.

((What is there to find out?! There's nothing - NOTHING - complicated about this life! NOTHING! I refuse to be crushed underfoot by people as pathetic as you all! I refu--))

And this is when Pernelle, living evidence against Nanghaithya's singular philosophy, just strips away the Homunculus' bulwark against the unyielding flames of this passionate world.

((Wait. What--))

Billowing flames are conjured forth with the swing of glorious, stubby not-wings and a baleful ribbit. Once more, Bakeduo-neko leaps from the fray to try to intercept Pernelle. And while they manage to bounce-rebound off of him and Anqa like feline pinball machines --

They're ultimately caught in the towering inferno of Anqa's flames, letting out a hideous yowl as their rival (????) overpowers them. Bakeduo-neko goes stumbling into a collapsed heap, smoking as a little 'K.O.!!' message manifests over its head. And as for Nanghaithya--

It gets the remaining brunt of the flames, letting out a frustrated static-shriek as they buffet and CRACK that screen in a brutal, long, thin spider-web line of fracturing glass.

It's mad. Distracted. Enough so that Moriko's Persona manages to completely blindside it with another blast of light eroding at its sacred mount; more Kappas are blasted away, going flying with despondent "kerooooooooooooooooooo<nowiki>~~~</nowiki>!"s. Nanghaitha slumps this way and that on the Palanquin, unable to move its own body to right itself.

And it's from that defenseless position that Katsuya capitalizes, realizing the Homunculus' own immobility. He personally draws his gun, taking pot-shots with his ~* SUPER KAWAII *~ implement of police brutality. Each POK POK POK! of fire nails one of those supporting Kappas, sending it ricocheting away from the Palanquin base. The front end crashes DOWN. The remaining Kappas scramble, trying to redistribute their numbers to heft the thing up once more--

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
But its too late. Moving to Ririka's guiding rhythm, Amphion HURLS rocks at Nanghaithya's screen. The kinetic impact WHAPS against it, over and over, even as Kaguya-hime comes crashing down with the SNAP of her whip to try to stop her.

''That's... a very lonely way of looking at things.''

But she can't stop Fuuka and Lucia, helping to open the way further for those who remain, as Umie and Babd come in in hot pursuit, the raucous SHRIEK of Umie's Persona unsettling Nanghaithya just as daggers of light CRACK into the Palanquin Base, forming the start of a fracture along its center.

''The fun part is in the struggle, kero.''

Whereupon Icarus, guided by So-young's turbulent winds, just CRASHES into that fracture with a sudden shriek of shattering glass and bending metal, straining its form further--

''And if the world sucks, you have to reach out!''

''This world you're playing in is boaring. No wonder you're not having fun--''

Roger and Ixquic, empowered by Hazuki, crash down upon Nanghaithya. Water and blade sing in perfect harmony for the Homunculus. And as the Kappa struggle to heft that weight--

*KRA-KOOM*

--Quixote crashes down in a furious flash of light, lance-first.

For a moment, everything seems to freeze. Like those perfect, glorious points where the game just has to do a panning shot of the ridiculous maneuver that has just been performed.

Nanghaithya, its monolithic tower of a body, hurtling through the air, detached from its base, its screen a furious scarlet DX of rage.

And that Palanquin.

Shattering in half with the sound of a thunder crack.

It all freezes. And then--

With an unceremonious CRRSH, Nanghaithya hits the ground, sparking and smoking and inert.

And every single fighter, from Yuki-Offa to Kaguya-hime, all just freeze.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
They linger. But only for a moment. Soon, those glitches return, sporadic spurts of pixels that see them all slowly discorporating -- the cognitive glamour that ensorcelled them giving way as streams of Flegmats forcefully bound burst from those dissolving bodies, flying through the air with newfound freedom.

And so, too --

Yukappa and the others' worried of permanence are washed away as their forms crackle, distort, glitch --

And the guise of weak and adorable Kappas all slowly dissolve away, revealing their true, cognitive forms beneath.

The spell broken. The Fighters unbound and freed.

And Nanghaithya...

((... There's no point in struggling.))

Nanghaithya speaks slowly. The distorted, static crackle of barely-simmering rage. The Taro-Kappas - the only minions that remain - all slowly rise.

((If you aren't at the top, you might as well not even try.))

And become indistinct, shimmery frameworks of what they once were, as each one dissolves into offputting fluids of green and pink that flow inward --

Towards Nanghaithya.

They provide it form. They provide it strength.

They provide it a second chance.

A tiny, pathetic body forms beneath the Arcade Tower that is the Homunculus, all knobby limbs and rotund torso. It's sad.

But it's enough.

Enough to drag itself upwards, as the fluid stretches to cover and reshape Nanghaithya's Arcade Tower body.

Enough to -lift- it into a floating position, stunty-legs crossing and stunty-arms folding in its tiny lap as Nanghaithya's new 'head' shapes -- looking like an Arcade Tower that has been forcibly remolded into a Kappa's head. The screen and the overhanging top and buttons beneath form the 'beak.' At its 'scalp,' that ringmaster hat remains, blown out and burned away to the point the top of the top hat has been completely torn away, leaving what looks almost like a signature, Kappa-ring of hair.

And at either side of the tower--

((If you don't win, you lose. Don't you get it? If you're not first -- you might as well be last.))

Big, bulging eyes of saturated scarlet form, pixelated blazes of its parasitic nature.

((But if I can't win... YOU won't win either.))

It rises into the air in that faux-enlightened posture, as all around it, wind starts to whip. The support columns of the Big Top begin to strain, threatening to uproot. Chunks of ground rip from the fixture of the Atelier, swirling within the mounting vortex, as it becomes terribly clear what it's trying to do:

((You don't win.))

It's trying to tear apart the Big Top. No --

It's trying to ''destroy the whole Atelier''.

And yet, as those winds mount, as the harrowing cyclone builds, as the very world seems to tear apart--

It resists.

Something within the Atelier -- something within Taro Nakata's will, perhaps -- rebels against Nanghaithya. Against its power.

Against its sad, narrow-minded views.

And as it makes its suicidal maneuver, answering that question of just what would happen if it -does- lose --

Those gathered find new might and life swelling within them as the very Atelier itself empowers them.

They are at their last legs. The abuse they have sustained is immense.

((YOU DON'T WIN.))

But even a single pixel of health is enough to pull off victory, as long as you struggle for it.

</poem>
AS: Roger sets off Nanghaithya's trigger! 1260 damage!
AS: Nanghaithya spends Limit on Broad!
AS: Nanghaithya spends Limit on Break!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Wind skill You. Didn't. WIN. on Hazuki Nakao, Roger, Akari Hoshi, and Tamaki
Uchida!
AS: Charm results in party damage! Nanghaithya takes 60 damage!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Wind skill You. Didn't. WIN. on Myunghon Yeo, So-young Park, Katsuya Suou, and
Umie Akabane!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Wind skill You. Didn't. WIN. on Yanagi Nagisa, Pernelle, and Saika Kikuchi!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Wind skill You. Didn't. WIN. on Fuuka Yamagishi, Ririka Kawase, Moriko Kumamoto,
and Yukari Takeba!
AS: Nanghaithya spends Limit on Reach!
AS: Persona! Nanghaithya has used the Recovery skill !!EVO MOMENT 37!! on Umie Akabane, Ririka Kawase, Fuuka Yamagishi,
Katsuya Suou, Moriko Kumamoto, Pernelle, Tamaki Uchida, Roger, Akari Hoshi, Saika Kikuchi, Myunghon Yeo, Yukari Takeba,
Yanagi Nagisa, and Hazuki Nakao!
AS: Avoid Best! Hazuki Nakao takes 70 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN.. Critical Hit!
AS: Break! Hazuki Nakao can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Worst! Myunghon Yeo takes 66 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Break! Myunghon Yeo can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Block Worst! Yanagi Nagisa takes 62 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Rage added!
AS: Break! Yanagi Nagisa can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 12 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN.. Resist!
AS: Rage added!
AS: Break! Yukari Takeba can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Hazuki Nakao takes 48 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Atk_Up, Crt_Up, and Regen added!
AS: Break! Hazuki Nakao can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Yukari Takeba takes 57 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn and Def_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Yukari Takeba can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Yanagi Nagisa takes 57 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Yanagi Nagisa can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Myunghon Yeo takes 48 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Atk_Up, Crt_Up, and Regen added!
AS: Break! Myunghon Yeo can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Hazuki Nakao has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Akari Hoshi spends Limit on Shift! Hazuki Nakao can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20!
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 52 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Atk_Up, Crt_Up, and Regen added! Def_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Akari Hoshi can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Block Neutral! Akari Hoshi takes 53 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Break! Akari Hoshi can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 41 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN.. Critical Hit!
AS: Rage added!
AS: Break! Umie Akabane can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 57 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Umie Akabane can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Fuuka Yamagishi spends Limit on Brace!
AS: Block Best! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 26 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Rage added!
AS: Break! Fuuka Yamagishi can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 41 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Fuuka Yamagishi can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Block Best! Katsuya Suou takes 27 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN.. Critical Hit!
AS: Break! Katsuya Suou can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 52 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Atk_Up, Crt_Up, and Regen added!
AS: Break! Katsuya Suou can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Worst! Roger takes 96 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN.. Critical Hit!
AS: Break! Roger can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Roger takes 48 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Atk_Up, Crt_Up, and Regen added!
AS: Break! Roger can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Worst! Pernelle takes 63 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Break! Pernelle can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Pernelle takes 48 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Pernelle can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Block Neutral! Saika Kikuchi takes 47 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Break! Saika Kikuchi can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Tamaki Uchida takes 58 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Rage added!
AS: Break! Tamaki Uchida can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Saika Kikuchi takes 30 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Atk_Up, Crt_Up, and Regen added! Def_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Saika Kikuchi has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Break! Saika Kikuchi can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 57 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Tamaki Uchida can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Worst! So-young Park takes 44 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN.. Resist!
AS: Break! So-young Park can take another Weak action this round!

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>The Homunculus keeps going, and going. But the team manages to destroy that Arcade Palanuin, as Hazuki turns to Umie and...

"Eh?"

She doesn't understand the oracle... but she does, too. She'll seize her destiny here and now.

Hazuki returns to normal, but the pathetic Homunculus draws power into itself from the Taro-Kappas.

And then it rows, and grows, and tries to *destroy the Atelier*, and Hazuki...is mad.

But she lets it bleed away. Her friends, strangers, everyone's fighting with her. For *Taro*.

"I don't win?" She calls out, calmly walking forward, bat in her hand. The wind shatters towards her, and suddenly, she's dodge rolling, missing the brunt of it, staying on her feet despite her hair blowing back and her skin getting bruised. Taro's Atelier empowers her...

"Good try, but nah."

BGM SHIFT: Cassette Beasts - Cross Your Heart - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjMk-qwnMAs

"I should have sympathy for you, struggling to exist. But I don't. You're a parasite who only cares about hurting people. You're not a *person*. And for that..."

Her pace is still casual, as Janus is summoned above her, floating alongside her through that wind.

"If I'm the Goddess of Tricks who never loses, who makes you so mad, then I declare... game over for Nanghaithya the Discontent!"

Suddenly, she's blurring forward. Janus shines light on her bat, and it blazes brilliantly like a holy sword...

And she starts swinging, graceful strikes. Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash.

After those six perfect strikes, suddenly Janus shines on her once more, and the light *cascades*, radiant in all its splendor. Hazuki moves to impale the Homunculus with it...

The light show is sure to be explosive in the end, as a ray *detonates* out of the strike, beautiful and deadly.
</poem>

AS: Tandem! Hazuki Nakao has used the Light skill Holy Sword on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Aggression: Hazuki Nakao gains 1 Limit!
AS: Tandem! Hazuki Nakao has used the Light skill Holy Sword on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Tandem! Hazuki Nakao has used the Light skill Holy Sword on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Tandem! Hazuki Nakao has used the Light skill Smiling Supernova on Nanghaithya!
AS: Hazuki Nakao has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Hazuki Nakao: Gains 51 HP from Regen! Bind, Crt_Up, Def_Dn, and Regen removed!

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
Given time, Fuuka will learn that Yanagi addressing people by their first names with no suffix at first acquaintance is normal for her, no matter how off-putting it is for anyone else. Yanagi is rarely challenged on this mark--Japanese people are so often reluctant to make waves. Yanagi knows this well. She beams at her all the same when Fuuka agrees to cooperate and follows up with her attack--and when Lucia brings down those two daggers of light to make a target for the others, Yanagi calls to her, "Oh, well done!"

She likewise beams at Tamaki, who says they're in this together. "More or less!" she chirps, promisingly. The soothing waves of Yukari's Mediarama wash over her next, restoring even more energy--a good thing, considering the Homunculus continues to retaliate against her via Master Koto, doing his own spinning by way of wheeling kick after kick down upon her. She had cried out in pain reflexively, but the moment it had ended, Yukari's Mediarama had come to her aid.

"Aahhh...! You have a half-rotten personality at least, but your healing is expertly done! Thank you!" Yanagi tells Yukari earnestly, despite the open insult. (She might not have said anything at the time, but she definitely heard Yukari talking smack about taking advice from a talking bird earlier.)

Speaking of whom--! The talking bird in question announces his defiance of this damnable strength-against-fire! "Pernelle...!" Yanagi's eyes sparkle like light off a lake, which likewise glitters off the cuppa in her cap-pa. "I ''shall'' witness you! Let it be burned on the projector of my heart!" Anqa parts, and there--is--CONFLAGRATION.

...It might not be all that effective, but some of Giselle's little angel-shaped Wilis shall record it all the same. What matters is not the power, but the ''passion'', and let no one say that Pernelle is lacking.

So when Saika asks her how it feels, it really doesn't matter that her health is flagging and maintained only by Yukari's Mediarama. Yanagi is used to pain. She beams at her friend and says, "It feels wonderful! It won't be much longer, now!"

Sure enough, Nanghaithya's palanquin shatters, sending the Homunculus to CRASH and spark and smoke upon the floor. All the fighters save for the Taro-Kappas vanish after a moment and release the Flegmat Shadows that had been forced to take those forms, and the Kappa forms that had been forced upon the Persona Users vanish in turn. Yanagi tosses her hair back, raising her hands as her breath bursts out.

And... the Homunculus speaks. Nanghaithya, the Discontent, claims there's no point in struggling. That if you aren't at the top, you may as well not bother trying.

"...What an odd thing to say."

Yanagi lowers her head until she gazes directly upon the wretched creature.

"What do you think you're doing right now?"

It's a sad little indeed that the Taro-Kappas form for the Homunculus. Yanagi smiles ruefully as Nanghaithya only proves her point by refusing to the very end to go down without a fight. As it reforms itself, floating into a Kappa-head formed by electronics and ringmaster regalia, it expresses its true nature as the sorest of losers.

By trying to destroy the Atelier, and all of them with it, in a building hurricane of ripping winds.

She's nothing left to say to it. She merely sighs and shakes her head before the tearing gales would swallow her up. Even as that happens, though--even as she might be about to get torn and hurtled away--there's something about the Atelier... about the true Taro Nakata that the Homunculus tried so desperately to usurp... that resists.

Yanagi Nagisa is lifted on the hurricane winds that would rend her asunder into naught but strips of meat, but there is more life that swells up around her, keeping her intact.

She breathes out into that destroying gale with that sigh, with a bone-chilling cold that might slow it down enough for the others--for Hazuki, the Goddess of Tricks, rising up with only deep contempt for the Thing that Wore Nakata's Face--to strike Nanghaithya the Discontent down once and for all.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Water skill Cold Breath on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Water skill Cold Breath on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Water skill Flurry Bufula on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa: Gains 54 HP from Regen! Def_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Yanagi Nagisa regains 6 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Block Worst! Ririka Kawase takes 76 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN.. Critical Hit!
AS: Rage added!
AS: Break! Ririka Kawase can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 57 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Ririka Kawase can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Worst! Moriko Kumamoto takes 81 Wind damage from Nanghaithya's You. Didn't. WIN..
AS: Break! Moriko Kumamoto can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Take! Moriko Kumamoto takes 48 Recovery healing from Nanghaithya's !!EVO MOMENT 37!!.
AS: Crt_Up and Regen added! Atk_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Break! Moriko Kumamoto can take another Weak action this round!

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
'Takebakappa-san'

Yukari's soul withers at Tamaki's statement, "If we live through this, you're never going to let me forget this, are you?"

Tamaki bows to her though and leaves it to her, "Ah? ... Oh-okay! I'm... barely keeping up as is but I'll do my best, aha-ha." Her Kappa brow is sweating buckets now.

And try she does. However - it's a battle of attrition. She can't heal as well as she ordinarily does, and she feels so weak.

"You're welcome...?" She says to Yanagi, before, "Wait- Half-rotten!? What do you mean by that!?"

Fortunately there's no time for her to litigate this, given the frantic pace.

But she holds her breath, as a decisive hit is scored and then, the Palanquin shatters, and the cabinet crashes.

"Was it... was it enough?"

The terror is there for a few moments, that this may be permanent, but - then, as she looks at her hands, there's a distorted glitch. And the guise melts away, leaving a teenage girl behind, staring at her hands.

"Oh thank goodness..." She takes a deep breath, hugging herself for a long moment. "... What am I even doing?"

'If you aren't at the top, you might as well not even try.'

It speaks slowly, the tiny Homunculus arising.

"... That's not how it works." As it arises, Kappa ascendant, what's left of it, it's big bulging eyes pixelating as the mounting vortex blasts her more and more. The Atelier prone to shatter - and with it... someone else will die.

She thinks of the Kirijo Group, at the top - able to cover it all up what happened, leaving her adrift.

So many pointless years of investigating something that someone like her wouldn't begin to know how to figure out. Striving in vain for one little clue of information.

But she didn't give up, no matter how often it was tempting to. This whole world where those at the top win, and everyone else gets crushed?

She won't accept it.

"I don't have to win..." As suddenly, instinctually, she reaches into a pocket, and slides what looks like a clip into the Evoker, with a flash of light as it does. "... But I won't lose either."

She presses it against her head, and pulls the trigger, her eyes alit with hues of crimson as the ephemeral glass breaks, a reflection of her eyes as each piece falls.

Io erupts behind her and rather than grabbing arrows. They just ''form''. Arrows of emerald light, which she nocks and pulls at preternatural speed. One after another after another is fired through the storm trying to destroy the Atelier, buoyed by wind currents.

Before Io lifts her up in spiraling currents of wind, flipping her end over end - orienting her- as another emerald arrow forms, it's tip aglow with power as she sights down Nanghaithya.

"I WON'T!" The tip flashes brightly, and launches with tremendous force towards the Homunculus. And where it strikes- a column of riotous wind slams down upon it.

</poem>
AS: Yukari Takeba spends Limit on Psych!
AS: Tandem! Yukari Takeba has used the Wind skill Cyclone Arrow on Nanghaithya!
AS: Weapon! Yukari Takeba has used the Pierce skill Please Hit! on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Yukari Takeba: Gains 54 HP from Regen! Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Yukari Takeba regains 3 SP from Invigorate!

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>Ixquic hangs halfway through her slash, her blade still shimmering with the holy energy from Quixote as it's halfway through, while Quixote has driven the lance directly through the Palanquin. A picture-perfect freeze, the camera rotating -

Nanghaithya's palanquin shatters.

Ixquic flips backward, losing her kappa shape as she does with a crackling distortion. The shift actually makes her less agile, because her balance changed halfway through her flight path; she manages to land on her feet but she staggers when she does it, Quixote wheeling up next to her before vanishing in white-blue sparkles.

(Also, with the transformation, her mask is back on.)

Akari breathes in, then out, as she tries to catch her breath by controlled breathing. It sort of works, but she's still so hyper she can't sit still. She's found her reserves, and while she'll pay for it in the morning, it's keeping her going NOW as the thing forms the last Kappa, drawing the remainder of them in.

"Wrong again!"

Ixquic gestures with her sword, by now a practiced gesture everyone has seen here, pointing it directly at Nanghaithya's last Kappa as it reaches for the sky - no, for the Atelier itself.

"I'll never give up. And as long as I never give up, as long as a heart of justice and purity beats in my chest - " Ixquic thumps her own chest with her fist. "No matter what you do to me, I'll never really lose!"

"Hazuki-chan! Roger-kun! Everyone else..."

"Let's show it the power that shines in all our hearts! The power to smite evil, to right wrongs! The power to CHANGE THE WORLD!"

Quixote reappears without even being summoned out loud, the cloud of blue glitter particularly dense, and the Persona seems more *there* than before. It's something that she did before, to cut the bobbin's threads, as Quixote's engine blares, rocketing Ixquic forward while surrounded by light. Light that comes to a point in front of her and spreads out along the sides of Quixote, making the entire Persona into a blade, driving THROUGH the wind even as it tears at her -

And Ixquic hunches down slightly, bracing for impact as the two of just *keep going* - not driving into so much as driving *through*, cutting their own path into the future, leaving a wake from their comet-tail of light!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Akari Hoshi has used the Slash skill Wild Slash on Nanghaithya!
AS: Tandem! Akari Hoshi has used the Slash skill Rocinante on Nanghaithya!
AS: Aggression: Akari Hoshi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Akari Hoshi: Gains 51 HP from Regen! Bind and Crt_Up removed!

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>"Thank you! That was wonderful." Fuuka replies as Yanagi calls out to her. Together, they bring down the palanquin - bring down Nanghaithya. It's discorporating... and her Kappa form melts away, revealing Fuuka herself once more. She breathes a sigh of relief.

Except... maybe it's a little too early for that. The foe transforms. And... she feels something building up.

"It's trying to bring down the Atelier...!" Fuuka gasps. "We have to stop it!"

What'll happen if it collapses, with them in it...? She doesn't want to find out. Lucia protects her from falling debris, and Fuuka looks out at everyone.

If they want to finish this quickly, then... Maybe she can help with that. She draws out her Evoker again, sliding a cartridge into it. She can feel it and her heart beating as one...

She can do this. Fuuka breathes deep - and fires.

Her eyes open ''wide'' - and the already weakened Homunculus's weaknesses are laid bare to her. Blind spots, points where its defenses are at its weakest... Lucia points them all out to her.

"...Everyone. Follow my lead - focus your attacks where I'm directing you." Fuuka says. A wave emits out from Lucia - and suddenly they'll feel their power ''enhanced''. Images begin to flash as she reaches out to them, highlighting the ideal places to strike.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Fuuka Yamagishi has used the Almighty skill Oracle - Guiding Insight on Tamaki Uchida, Pernelle, Moriko
Kumamoto, and Umie Akabane!
AS: Insight: Fuuka Yamagishi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Pernelle takes 0 Almighty damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Oracle - Guiding Insight.
AS: Atk_Up and Spd_Up added!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 24 Almighty damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Oracle - Guiding Insight.
AS: Atk_Up and Def_Up added!
AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 24 Almighty damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Oracle - Guiding Insight.
AS: Atk_Up and Atk_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
"Ehehehehe... hahahaha...!" Pernelle laughs and laughs. Effective? No. But passion! Defiance! Fun!! Are these not more valuable than ''effect?'' (People are going to die, Pernelle.) "AAAHAHAHA -- WHARRGARBL!"

Pernelle is pelted! Persistently! He and Anqa, back and forth, Anqa's head rattling with loose buttons and Pernelle's with... well, we may not wish to have that question answered. By the end of it, the pinball-like assault from his felid foe sends him crashing to the ground, head spinning. Yet the K.O. is made, and Pernelle throws his weird kappa not-wings up again. "Yaaaaaay!"

He's helping! One part of a beautiful dance where each performance on stage comes together in this grand, violent, destructive finale! And all of them adorably small and very very green! It really brings the choreography together.

Even so, once their true forms are restored and the cognitive glitch dispelled, Pernelle gives a quick strut in a circle and a flourished bow. "Ah, such an intriguing form to visit, but there is no substitute for perfection."

Alas, such joy must be cut short, for Nanghaithya may not win, but there is a path to ensure that everyone else ''loses''. But even in the terrifying face of the Homunculus' rage and power, Pernelle gazes into those scarlet, blazing eyes. He lashes his tongue over his beak, and vibrates until his feathers rustle. Soon! Soon they will have their prize...!

All they have to do is

not die.

The earth rips into the sky. The Big Top buckles. The Atelier threatens to end in a cataclysm, and with them all here together, how is it any different from the end of the world? Trick question: it is not. But what does one ''do'' when they world is ending?

Dance.

Pernelle, on iridescent wings, leaps from chunk of earth to broken column and around again. One foot, two, step, step. While Fuuka's Oracle guidance, his wings sweep out, throwing feather-shaped blades from his wings in a piercing assault until he is close enough to spin and slash with the edges of his wings, where more glinting blades hide.

"You carry a curious philosophy...!" Pernelle says admits his acrobatics. "I must admit, I do not understand a lick of it. For who decides what is a win, and what is a loss?"

Well, Pernelle, in a video game it tends to be pretty cut and dry --

"I have decided! What I do today, what I do now, shall be a win."

Does... does that even make any sense? Pernelle seems to think it does.

"Anqa! May I have this dance?" His Persona appears with him mid-movement, and they spin, twirl, and fly until Pernelle tosses her higher in the air for the grand finale: a beautiful explosion of fire, raining down in upon Nanghaithya every color of the rainbow, and even a few more.

</poem>
AS: Pernelle spends Limit on Psych!
AS: Weapon! Pernelle has used the Pierce skill Feathery Fandango on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ruin: Pernelle gains 1 Limit!
AS: Weapon! Pernelle has used the Slash skill Wing Waltz on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Pernelle has used the Fire skill Iridescent Immolation on Nanghaithya!
AS: Pernelle: Gains 55 HP from Regen! Def_Dn and Psych removed!
AS: Persona! Fuuka Yamagishi has used the Recovery skill Rousing Wave on Ririka Kawase, So-young Park, and Fuuka
Yamagishi!
AS: Take! Fuuka Yamagishi takes 11 Recovery healing from Fuuka Yamagishi's Rousing Wave.
AS: Def_Up added!
AS: Persona! Fuuka Yamagishi has used the Light skill Kouha on Nanghaithya!
AS: Fuuka Yamagishi: Gains 53 HP from Regen!

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
This Atelier is taking forever, thinks Saika. It's a wry sort of thought. One of those internal jokes. 'You should see the other guy,' har de har har. She is holding together, sustained perhaps by the vitality of the figure within her soul. But if *she's* sucking wind -- while restrained by this flabby green kappa-corpus -- how bad off are the others going to be?

More than half of 'em seem... young. (Later, Saika will realize the horror of what this implies about herself.)

One of them, Yanagi, she hasn't counted among them. She lets out a little smirk as she exults in the situation. And then as the myriad blows take their toll, the Homunculus...

...

Once more, he rises. Desperate. Struggling. Saika's face tightens for a moment, until there is the sudden unzipping -- the ripping of the kappa-guise in a sea of glitches, like a thousand zippers all starting to come undone, clashing against each other and causing irregular pealing. She straightens up, and looks down, and her legs seem to telescope up--

The winds whip at her hair, which has helpfully returned, going hard enough that she has to lean into it. The inscriptions on her coat flap in the hurricane-force wind as she brings her arm up to try and shield her face. Her pigtails flap violently-- one of them, where she's had several near misses throughout this entire misadventure, sheds its elastic, billowing irregularly free.

you don't win.

"I respect that," Saika says into the wind, blinking several times and nodding.

"But," Saika continues, "there's something you're kinda overlooking while you're tryin' to do your revenge here, even if --" Her eyes follow Yanagi as she vaults up, soaring on the wind. Saika's feet remain firmly planted on the increasingly tenuous ground as she grits her teeth, looking at the Homunculus with its out-sized head, the rest of its body reduced to a frame to support that immense growth...

Someone speaks behind her. Yukari. Saika's eyes turn to the side. Then she turns into the wind, her coat flapping as she calls to her, "Hey! Arrows!" before sweeping her un-chain-wrapped arm towards the Homunculus. "Can you believe this guy!? Even in the like, absolute last-last ditch, he's being SO INCREDIBLY ANNOYING! Just clinging on with those bloody fingernails and conjuring up this storm, and he doesn't even realize--"

"He's wide open."

And with that, Saika sweeps an arm forwards and breaks into a run towards the Homunculus. It is honestly rather absurd for the first few steps because the wind she is running into is hard enough to strip bark off of the less durable sort of tree. She can see Ixquic ahead of her, and she grins as the running accelerates -- she starts moving forwards -- one of those bounding strides she did to come in and

Whisk! Away on the wind she flies, swept to the side -- she finds herself pivoting and fist-pumps, saying something that's very faint and swallowed in the roaring howl of the dying Atelier even as that consumption liberates energy that flows into her.

(What did Saika say? "I knew it! Cyclonic!")

Before she can make a complete loop, though, she grasps onto part of her coat, immediately making 'a large drag-producing object' into a momentary SAIL, which whips her out of the maelstrom! She pivots around, leading with her feet as she starts unwrapping the chain round her forearm--

And after her contact, aimed right square at the Homunculus, she brings up the lash, whipping scourge-like against the thing twice before her third one aims to snap the entire chain *around its neck*.

</poem>
AS: Persona! Saika Kikuchi has used the Almighty skill You're Wide Open! on Nanghaithya!
AS: Defense: Saika Kikuchi gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Saika Kikuchi has used the Strike skill Saika Body Attack on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Weapon! Saika Kikuchi has used the Strike skill Chain of Destiny on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Saika Kikuchi has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Saika Kikuchi: Gains 47 HP from Regen! Crt_Up and Regen removed!
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 0 Recovery healing from Fuuka Yamagishi's Rousing Wave.
AS: Atk_Dn removed!

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
There's a sweet moment where Myunghon-Kappa almost looks stunned as Tamakappa offers them a chance at a high five, and they sweetly return it -- and then the low, if she'll have it too. Inspired by someone who's been doing it as long as Tamaki and still with the verve that she has, it reminds them that they don't have to be scared right now, even if they're terrified at their decision at present... but they have to believe in the root core of saving Taro Nakata.

"Let us dance indeed," Merry-Kappa gracefully says as they pose with Tamakappa's suave, princely gesture with their wooden sword. Pernelle demands -- craves -- incineration. Perhaps the tater tots must be extra crispy, in order to truly please him? The way he has fun, however, is certainly infectious...

Moriko's words are salient -- is there truly only one truth? No. Myunghon also thinks that there may only be one set of facts, but those facts mean so many truths to so many different people. The way in which certain facts do not become truth and others do...

Myunghon can't know of how much of a pinball history Katsuya Suou has. A long time ago, though:

MANY YEARS AGO

"... this is boring," a young Tatsuya Suou tiptoes so that he can even peer at the glittering lights and loud exciting noises the pinball machine is emitting. Yet even he can't help but get taken in by the click-clackety-clack as his brother keeps on going, keeps becoming entranced at the way the ball gets paddled to-and-fro, and--

"Bro, your hee-ho fell into the hole," Tatsuya cheekily observes as Katsuya's last Jack Frost-shaped ball descends into the abyss, ho ho ho...

NOW

Katsuya spells out the arcade machine for them, and Umie says she's on it too -- and Myunghon will have to do their best in turn. So-young calls for an encore, and carves forward as Icarus just plans on lawndarting onto the side of the machine--

What does some dead man matter?

"... you're right," Myunghon quietly answers. It won't stop them. Bakeduo-neko is about to slam into them with horrible catlike reflexes, and yet-- and yet-- it glitches. They're saved from the Palanquin's wrath for a moment, and yet... seemingly defeated, the Homunculus voices its lament...

''If you aren't at the top, you might as well not even try.''
''If you don't win, you lose. Don't you get it? If you're not first -- you might as well be last.''

The wounds rend them. It takes them back to a board meeting, where a man whose soul has been directly wrinkled out of his face, in a lifeless suit, taps upon a whiteboard and declares:

A FEW YEARS AGO

"If Frey Pharmaceuticals can't remain at the top, then we may as well not try. Our stakeholders demand it. 'Trying your best' means nothing, Yukichi-san," he drones lifelessly.

There is another man next to him, a Western man. His smile is rictus, like he's performed it so often his expression is stuck like that.

"Don't worry about it, Miss Yukichi," he posits the very image of advertising and slime. "Once we turbo-charge our quarterly earnings and really get that synergy going, our profit margins are going to go into overdrive."

NOW

Myunghon finds themself thrown about on hurricane winds, as the Homunculus threatens to tear them apart along with the rest of the Big Top -- no, the rest of the Atelier. Even as they're threatened to be sliced apart, however, they're still alight and upright by virtue of the Cognitive Coat steadying them, breathing out, trembling...

"... I was just like you, once. I lived in a zero-sum world that didn't believe in anything but winners, while it blithely told everyone that they had potential. But it was always obvious that only certain people could win from the start..."

They're crying right now, disturbed and panicked at their lack of knowledge and inability to understand the truth of what they're doing at present. But if they do nothing, then another dead body awaits them. Akira Hayashi is gone; they still can act to save Taro Nakata.

But this nemesis that stands before them?

They still haven't answered that all-burning, pivotal question: ''what are they.''

They won't be able to, before the end comes for the Discontent.

They despise their lack of knowledge.

But they still will act.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tSZoYuKwtk

There's a burst of cognitive power for a brief moment, as the small, delicate origami Wishing Dragon that Jose granted the Cardboard Dragon comes into view. Myunghon draws power from within it, feeling strong the bonds that they've formed in the last few months as their body descends momentarily into a colourless dream, velocity dancing upon an endless story, as they witness their Constants, shining bright within a lightless sky--

Shinjiro's currently waiting for them back at the internet booth.
Shinobu's undoubtedly working hard on a gig someplace...
Where is Tsumugi, when the rest of the Silk are fighting hard? They yearn for them.
Somewhere, in St. Bernadette's in Aoba, Mio's got her shift going...
Remi's currently tending to the store, if they're not mistaken, ever having their back no matter what.
Umie is here, their sinister smile mirrored upon Badb's own, relishing the struggle.
Are Miho and Yua back from London yet? They want to congratulate them with all their heart...
They wonder if Tsubasa and Lance need something else for the new house.
They hope they and Ichika have a sweet summer vacation...
Though they've only started their working relationship, Tamaki has much they can show them.
And So-young was there all along, a gate into another world they never knew.

--and the Wishing Dragon flourishes further with bond-power, their melting body unravelling beyond speed and transmission as they realise they see the coalescing, superliminal form of their Hope. All they have to do is reach it, that Hope that Tsumugi Kujaku described as seething throughout a garden, strangling out every other sentiment in its spread.

And within that moment, they have the clarity to point out one final thing to the Homunculus:

"You were truly, wonderfully, resplendently, undeniably........."

They let that singular point descend from their palm, a miniature point of imperishable Black in this colourless realm.

"... Human."
</poem>

AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Almighty skill Lightless on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Dark skill Constants in the Chaos on Nanghaithya!
AS: Myunghon Yeo: Gains 51 HP from Regen! Crt_Up, Def_Dn, and Spd_Dn removed!

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> Roger turns to give a little cheer as Ixquic and himself accidentally coordinate their movements to smash that cabinet palanquin, as they seem to score decisive blows together to put a stop to this. Even when Roger's shape returns to his newly awakened Transmutation, he doesn't miss a beat on it even with the sudden change in proportion and balance.

He waves an arm to the stream of Flegmat Humors. They haven't acknowledged him prior, and won't now, but...

"Flegmat Humors breaking free is a good thing!" He explains. "That'll help make sure the Atelier gets back into balance as soon as we're done winning!"

Speaking of...

The Homunculus assumes its last, true, pathetic shape. He snorts and scowls at the bulging scarlet eyes, only to let out a little squealy yelp of surprise as the cyclone builds, and everything batters against him even as he lowers his head and runs the periphery...

'You don't win. YOU DON'T WIN.'

For a moment, Roger is caught in contemplation. A feeling, one that strikes him in mental and emotional places he simply did not have the capacity for prior. The discomfort, the confusion... a feeling he somehow knew this Homonculus for longer than he truly did the rightful owner of the Atelier.

...

It doesn't change who he is, and what he wants.

"Eh?! This feeling..." His eyes widen. "Oh! Everyone! The Atelier itself is giving us strength... then...!"

There's a blue butterfly, eerie creature as it is, peacefully flitting its wings across this windy landscape like it's not there, as Roger takes a hard swipe at it one last time.

"Looks like he's found a life worth living even if he doesn't win..." Those familiar with the myths of Kamapua'a knows there's one relationship he desired that he could never achieve. If Roger is - was? - a Sanguin Humor, a part of Taro Nakata's Atelier... could this Persona have been meant for Taro Nakata, originally?

There's no telling for sure, as Roger points the racquet forward. "Chase 'em like a game of tag!"

Kamapua'a ''leaps'' into the cyclone, as water follows, swimming into it in a rapid, panic-inducing wide swirl of water trying to surround and overwhelm Nanghaithya, as Roger crouches down and lets the wind continue to whip about him as he follows after from behind.

"Take this! And that!" He goes for two rapid swings of his racquet, back and forth, against the enemy on their last legs before leaping back and throwing the tennis ball up into the air.

It whips around a few times in the cyclone, seeming to separate Roger from the intended cool follow-up, but...

"Game!" The ball goes past him once, but he doesn't swing for it. He's watching Hazuki's movements as to not endanger her.

"Set!" Another miss of the ball's roll-around...

"MATCH!" Roger declares as he ''swings'' for it on the third pass, sending that tennis ball rocketing forth to join that detonating ray of light.
</poem>

AS: Persona! Roger has used the Water skill Torrent Chaser on Nanghaithya!
AS: Weapon! Roger has used the Strike skill Melee - Tennis Racquet on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Weapon! Roger has used the Strike skill Ranged - Tennis Ball on Nanghaithya!
AS: Roger: Gains 49 HP from Regen! Def_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Roger regains 3 SP from Invigorate!

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
She does, in fact, reciprocate Myunghon's down-low.

Tamaki's first order of business is to not leave Moriko hanging. Clawbump. She does tilt her head slightly in confusion. "What show?"

'More or less'? That's an odd response, but she isn't one to scrutinize an ally too closely in a time like this. That's a Later Tamaki problem.

"Not to worry. I've already forgotten, Takeba-san." The detective gives her a wink.

She shakes her head at Nanghaithya. "What is there to find out? Why, you've only explored one peak, one ''local'' maximum ... but even higher heights may exist beyond the fog of war. I've said elsewhere that the rules of the game keep changing and evolving. Adapt or fall behind." Given her own history, she's reminding herself just as much as she's chiding Nanghaithya here.

"Deep down, you know it, too."

Arianrhod holds her palm over Tamaki's current kappa-fied form. Translucent shadowy energy rises up and begins to form a ball in her outstretched hand, then changes into an orb of light, shimmering in every color on the visible spectrum. Tamaki touches her toy sword to the orb as it coats her blade, and she holds it aloft. The very curse that had been laid upon her now serves as her strength! It'll take a moment to charge ...

As Tamaki readies her own attack, the wing-armored goddess slashes the arcade machine's screen, leaving a red streak of an afterimage behind the sword's trail. Using some of the remnants of the energy that now coats Tamaki's sword, Arianrhod manifests rainbow circles along the trail of red left on the screen.

As long as you've still got a pixel of health left, as long as your lungs still carry breath, as long as you can still get back up despite failure after failure, then it's not over yet.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bRnXPpodhI

With her eyes burning in defiant fury, Tamaki takes her rainbow-coated blade and slashes at the air, sending a Technicolor shockwave to the screen. And again. And again. And again and again and again in a veritable barrage that would otherwise bowl down an army. She repeats her earlier promise to Myunghon: "We'll cross through that threshold!"

With a battlecry of "PER ASPERA!", she lunges directly at the screen to give it one last up-close-and-personal slash!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Slash skill Straight Slash on Nanghaithya!
AS: Defense: Tamaki Uchida gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Slash skill Per Aspera on Nanghaithya!
AS: Tamaki Uchida: Gains 49 HP from Regen! Spd_Dn removed!

<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
<poem>The biker hesitates. Moriko's gaze watching the screen. "If you lose. Find out why. Fix it. Come back at it. Gives you something to strive to." She plants her spear with a thump for emphasis. Battered as she is.

She has nothing nice to say about the rest. Moriko's able to lean into the worst of the Palinquin's latest attack. Trying to sound like she's not on her last legs, "Like riding in bad weather." Planting her foot against the base of her spear, leaning just the right way and just barely getting blown away or knocked over.

She thumbs up Yukari, "Just go out swinging either way right?" She's starting to drawl a bit. It's fine.

She's breathing heavy. She's at a fragment of health and... she's still standing. And she grins up at tower.

She replies to Tamaki with a thin smile, "You know. Circus. The-" she gestures around and says, "I.. later." Levity helped some people, but she's not sure now's the right time!

Up until it's clearly trying to drag the place down around them. She shifts her foot heavily away from the pole, pushes herself up and grimaces. Ready to try and help pull others out even if she probably needs it more than some would by now.

"Flipping th'table ain't helping you." Her drawl's a lot more noticeable as she yells up at him, laughing almost. She's too tired to suppress it.

She brings the Evoker to bear again. Pulling the trigger with a defiant smile on her features as the fox appears once again. Looming over her. Crouched into a growl, it suddenly pounces and fades away just as her jaws snapped forward towards one of the points designated by Fuuka. The weight growing exponentially. It's not quite a light skill, but it's the best shot she's got in her. Besides, the fox in holy garments reappears as a second shot follows up. Trying to exploit the gravitation pull with a jagged earth spike. One last spell. And if you're going out, go out with a swing.

Offering a two finger salute before shifting both hands to hold the spear. Holding herself up.
</poem>

AS: Take! Moriko Kumamoto takes 0 Almighty damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Oracle - Guiding Insight.
AS: Atk_Up and Atk_Up added!
AS: Persona! Moriko Kumamoto has used the Earth skill Riotous Gryva on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 14 Recovery healing from Fuuka Yamagishi's Rousing Wave.
AS: Spd_Up added!
AS: Persona! Moriko Kumamoto has used the Light skill Kouha on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Moriko Kumamoto has used the Light skill Kouha on Nanghaithya!
AS: Moriko Kumamoto: Gains 55 HP from Regen!

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
The tower topples, and with it, the spell disrupting their forms breaks. Ririka blinks as she finds herself back in her taller (too tall!) form, patting herself down. "Whew... that's better." She wants to ask herself if that means this is over--

But they thought that last time, too.

She stares as a new body is formed, ''again''. "''Seriously''?" She ''almost'' feels bad that the Homunculus can't continue to exist, fighting this hard for survival. But that would mean letting it consume Taro, which they can't do. And besides...

"... you're kind of a sore loser. Winning is what you make of it--there's more ways to win than just coming in first."

But it lifts, and it starts to destroy the Atelier. "Can it ''do'' that!?" she asks, alarmed, as it becomes clear. Tearing winds come for her and as she holds up her katana to block it, it's torn out of her hands and she is sent tuimbling. "Damn."

... but it's not over yet. Something is resisting it, and... they all have to keep resisting, too. If this is ''Taro's'' Atelier, then... Ririka groans as she picks herself back up. "Hey, Nakata-san. You don't know me, but..." Ririka draws in a deep breath, and taps into that part of her that she calls forth when she steps on stage.

And she gives Taro a confident grin. "What song's gonna get you more pumped up than anything else right now?"

And it's a Night Parade stage theme, of course. "Coming right up!" Ririka starts to play, holographic piano keys springing to life at her fingertips as she starts to crank out a fast-paced theme, sending it to everyone to get them motivated for the last little bit of the fight.

BFM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJARSPU3tHk

Amphion joins in, and Ririka hears Fuuka's call to let her guide their attacks. "Got it, Yamagishi-san!" She'll take that guidance, even as she offers her own to some of those around her, then she locks her eyes on the Homunculus. "Amphion! Let's put that Skill Card to good use! Triple time!"

Amphion strums, and at his urging gouts of flame erupt for Nanghaithya, not just one, but two, and then a third!
</poem>

AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Recovery skill Victory Song on Katsuya Suou, Ririka Kawase, Umie Akabane, and
So-young Park!
AS: Insight: Ririka Kawase gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 14 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Victory Song.
AS: Def_Dn removed!
AS: Ririka Kawase spends Limit on Exploit! Ririka Kawase can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Victory Song.
AS: Spd_Up added!
AS: Take! So-young Park takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Victory Song.
AS: Def_Dn and Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 14 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Victory Song.
AS: Spd_Up added!
AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Fire skill Agi on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Fire skill Agi on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Fire skill Agi on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ririka Kawase: Gains 52 HP from Regen! Crt_Up removed!

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> 'Eh?' Hazuki's confusion is taken in stride, Umie giving a impish grin, her froggy eyes narrowing to cheeky slits.

"... I'm telling you to kick that thing's ass, kero. Or are you going to make a liar of me, Orange-san?"

The siege breaks the spell placed over them; vantage points and restored heights are now newly appreciated, at least, for Umie.

(..... hopefully that tic of saying kero has gone away too, right?? Right??)

'... There's no point in struggling.'

BGM: https://youtu.be/MEduHFi0FYU?si=YBEJnRNRtsSCUPJQ

"If you can't even rise to bear the pain of existing, you won't survive outside this zone. This was your test, and you've _failed_."

(Umie just may have given the students here flashbacks to exam week.)

'But if I can't win... YOU won't win either.'

"So in the end, then you're just a sore loser," Umie proclaims, loose blonde hair flowing up against the silhouette of grey feathers, Badb's signature motif trailing past her eyes.

Dark energy fires out, a warning shot to note what's to come.

.... If Umie can summon the ability to continue.

She winces; her body bends over as if in the throes of a vicious cramp.

You want your power? Then tell me those pretty lies.

Umie's hands grip the two ends of her kyoketsu shoge. "... Alright then. I'm not letting my momentum stop here." Almost as a contradiction to her words earlier, she lets that fugue take her, the sharp glint of her gaze and curve of her grin loosening their grip on her expression.

Just let it happen, this time. It has to be your choice.

"A man hangs from the branch, caught between decision and action,
A blackbird cries in the tree, who hears it?
Who is there? Who is it, with that face?
Black butterflies fill the school hallways.
It is just the beginning."

It'll be nonsense to most here, no more concerning than the 'prophecies' she made earlier, and 'encouragements' she made to Hazuki, but to Katsuya... it may be a little concerning.

The kyoketsu shoge crosses a cognitive screen over Nanghaithya, slowing to form a cat's cradle over the being against the barbs and feathers of a misty, muddy field.

"Garden of the Crow!"
</poem>

AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Psych!
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Final Warning on Nanghaithya!
AS: Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Tandem! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Garden of the Crow on Nanghaithya! 3 Hits!
AS: Umie Akabane: Gains 55 HP from Regen! Crt_Up and Psych removed!
AS: Umie Akabane regains 3 SP from Invigorate!

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
It can't move by itself. It can only move by impelling its 'servitors', the Kappa upon which the palanquin depends. Once they fall, it's a certain thing that the arcade cabinet will go with it. And so it is that Katsuya targets some of the Kappa up in front. As he'd predicted -- isn't basic physics fun -- it collapses towards the front. It's still short of the toppling he'd hoped for: it must be fixed to the palanquin's base in some way to secure it. Yet, even this is little detriment as he's hardly alone here, is he? The rest of them see to the next part and soon, with the arcade cabinet flung free from the palanquin and the palanquin shattered. Everything the Homunculus controlled seems to freeze in place, as far as Katsuya can tell.

One by one, fighters glitch out and vanish. This effect spreads to the lot of them as well, but it's not themselves being erased -- no! -- it's the glamour that had affected them. Just like that, Katsuya finds that he is himself and whole (suit jacket's still singed, though). "Is this--"

No. It's still not the end. Even broken, even in such a pathetic state as it's in now, it remolds itself into a semblance of what it had been.

"...You're still trying. If everything were as you said it was, would there be any point in continuing to strive?" he remarks as it manages to get itself upright, as it reiterates, again, its whole ethos. Yanagi may take some amusement, perhaps, in the point that they're saying much the same thing.

But if it can't win, it'll make sure they can't win, either. It'll destroy this place, itself, and them with it.

Shock etches its way across his face. "What are you-- no! Of all the short-sighted--"

But all he can do in this moment is defend himself, throwing up an arm as those terrible winds howl all about them. The ground below them heaves; sections of it begin to tear themselves free and upwards in abeyance of natural law.

Yet, there's something in the midst of all this, isn't there? Some expression of hope, for that last-gasp victory. For that faintest sliver that lets you manage to get in that last, critical blow.
For that one in a million shot.

It's in this moment that music starts to play, courtesy of Ririka's Amphion. Diagetic music, at a moment like this? Well, why not--!

Katsuya takes a step backwards as the ground under his feet cracks, then another as it crumbles away. The cracks continue to spread. He only has moments. "As a civil servant-- I won't let you!" he calls out amidst the howling winds. Sighting Nanghaithya, he draws his firearm and takes aim.

The storm in which they're all caught is taking a turn for the catastrophic. However you slice it, it would be poor conditions for any ranged weapon. And handgun has terrible aim. This is a matter of fact. But in a cognitive space, is that still true? And, even should that weigh in, does it still--

All he can do is strive. He takes that shot, however uncertain it might prove to be, then follows it with another. He turns to leap atop a rising chunk of earth before the rest of the ground breaks apart into the darkness below.

"This is it! Helios!"

Helios -- normal again itself -- manifests beside him and follows up that shot with a bolt from the heavens. But not just once. Twice.

It's in the silence that follows that Katsuya can hear Umie's voice. She recites a poem that is...
...known to him. But how does she know that? And why? They're both questions that will need to await another time: in this moment, instead, Umie will only receive the look of confused shock on Katsuya's face as he stares right at her.
</poem>

AS: Katsuya Suou spends Limit on Exploit! Katsuya Suou can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Weapon! Katsuya Suou has used the Pierce skill Tactical Rebuke on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Defense: Katsuya Suou gains 1 Limit!
AS: Weapon! Katsuya Suou has used the Pierce skill Handgun - Shot on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Elec skill Zio on Nanghaithya!
AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Elec skill Zio on Nanghaithya!
AS: Katsuya Suou: Gains 51 HP from Regen! Crt_Up removed!

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
<poem> As So-young sheds her kappa guise you can just see the cloak of self-confidence reassert itself around her like a living thing, so vividly described in her posture and her motions that it's like a tangible force throwing her forwards, stripping away the last few minutes in so many little wisps of memory. She was never ranting and complaining about it being permanent. She was sure it would work out the moment she got a hold of herself. Of course. How could you ever think any differently?

That feeling only lasts a moment before the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, and her eyes widen as she jolts her head upwards. She doesn't need to be a battle maniac or a cognitive master to understand what their opponent is trying to do, all she needs is a sense of the dramatic. She's already been through one too many collapsing mindscapes.

"Oh, hells--" she yells as she hunkers downwards, thankful for her extra weight as the winds attempt to tear her off her feet once more. Icarus reappears, somehow whole and intact as if it didn't just buffet itself to pieces on the side of the palanquin, to wind around her in a protective position, curving unnaturally into a spiral in ways that slats of what might be balsa wood and feathers probably shouldn't be able to.

"So petulance is what it comes down to?" So-young calls through the roar of the air around her - but it's not a sound of defiance or a roar of righteous anger, surprising even herself as the words slip out much more quietly than she ever intended. She's not one to ever feel regret - but she can recognize a chance lost, an obliteration when maybe, maybe there could have been some kind of reconciliation instead.

Maybe it's the most wishful thinking there ever was, or maybe she's still stuck thinking about Hayashi-san's murder right in front of her. So-young simply doesn't know, not really equipped in this moment to interrogate the thought any closer. She can't even reach for words, all of her eloquence too surface-level to really elaborate on how she's feeling and the odd lump in her throat that won't go away.

In the intervening space Myunghon puts it much better than she ever could... but for all that inescapable truth that carries the weight and promise of existence--

--that use of the past tense is going to haunt her a little tonight.

Shoving that thought down with a fierce mental rejection to be dealt with later, she finally and truly focuses on the fight around them. Pernelle is dancing above them in a sea of bright pyrotechnics, Ririka's song curling around them all as everyone pushes themselves upwards towards a crescendo and a conclusion. Now is certainly not the time to feel sorry for yourself, she tells herself firmly as she raises her hand to push her focus outwards in front of her.

The silvery light that makes up her baton spins itself away in a burst of cognitive certainty, reforming into a violin and bow; she raises it to her chin, letting out a soft note of faint amusement under her breath. She'd been expecting to play a dirge, but-- well, in this moment Myunghon is _her_ conductor, and around her rise calls for a song of Hope.

(And a copyrighted soundtrack, no less. Scandalous!)

In this, at least, she can oblige, and not least because she somehow actually seems to know the tune off by heart. The pace and tone of her playing is immediate and upbeat, winding around Ririka's music and melding into the background ensemble. When she looks up it's with a much more clear gaze; this has always been how she breaks free of her unpleasant thoughts, after all.

"Icarus! Go!" she commands strongly as several quick thrusts of her bow send her Persona roaring upwards. It blasts straight past Homonculus, striking against it with two quick buffets of wind, and then a final piercing cry accompanies a high, warbling note as Icarus stretches out its wings amidst Pernelle's conflagration - and crashes down upon the Homonculus, as if the flames were as scorching as the Sun.
</poem>

AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Pierce skill Ostinato on Nanghaithya! 2 Hits!
AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Wind skill Coda on Nanghaithya!
AS: So-young Park regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 120 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Holy Sword. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 120 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Holy Sword. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 141 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Holy Sword. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 121 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Holy Sword. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 139 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Holy Sword. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 120 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Holy Sword. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 310 Light damage from Hazuki Nakao's Smiling Supernova. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 75 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Cold Breath. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 92 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Cold Breath. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 75 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Cold Breath. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 73 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Cold Breath. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 73 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Cold Breath. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 91 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Cold Breath. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 83 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Flurry Bufula. Weak!
AS: Bind added! Haze removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 83 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Flurry Bufula. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 83 Water damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Flurry Bufula. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 218 Wind damage from Yukari Takeba's Cyclone Arrow.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 61 Pierce damage from Yukari Takeba's Please Hit!.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 77 Pierce damage from Yukari Takeba's Please Hit!. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 208 Slash damage from Akari Hoshi's Wild Slash.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 367 Slash damage from Akari Hoshi's Rocinante. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 88 Pierce damage from Pernelle's Feathery Fandango.
AS: Bind added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 85 Slash damage from Pernelle's Wing Waltz.
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 348 Fire damage from Pernelle's Iridescent Immolation. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 163 Light damage from Fuuka Yamagishi's Kouha. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Haze added! Bind removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 0 Almighty damage from Saika Kikuchi's You're Wide Open!.
AS: Strike_Break added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 107 Strike damage from Saika Kikuchi's Saika Body Attack. Critical Hit!
AS: Blast added! Paralyze removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 77 Strike damage from Saika Kikuchi's Chain of Destiny.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 77 Strike damage from Saika Kikuchi's Chain of Destiny.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 90 Strike damage from Saika Kikuchi's Chain of Destiny. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 0 Almighty damage from Myunghon Yeo's Lightless.
AS: Dark_Break added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 312 Dark damage from Myunghon Yeo's Constants in the Chaos. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 307 Water damage from Roger's Torrent Chaser. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Panic added! Charm removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 85 Strike damage from Roger's Melee - Tennis Racquet. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 85 Strike damage from Roger's Melee - Tennis Racquet. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 98 Strike damage from Roger's Ranged - Tennis Ball.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 146 Slash damage from Tamaki Uchida's Straight Slash.
AS: Paralyze added! Blast removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 245 Slash damage from Tamaki Uchida's Per Aspera.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 86 Earth damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Riotous Gryva.
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 86 Earth damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Riotous Gryva.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 98 Earth damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Riotous Gryva. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 153 Light damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Kouha. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 144 Light damage from Moriko Kumamoto's Kouha. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 109 Fire damage from Ririka Kawase's Agi.
AS: Haze added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 135 Fire damage from Ririka Kawase's Agi. Critical Hit!
AS: Haze added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 117 Fire damage from Ririka Kawase's Agi.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 117 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Final Warning.
AS: Panic added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 147 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Garden of the Crow. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 121 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Garden of the Crow. Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 147 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Garden of the Crow. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 105 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Tactical Rebuke.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 105 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Tactical Rebuke.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 90 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Handgun - Shot.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 106 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Handgun - Shot. Critical Hit!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 122 Elec damage from Katsuya Suou's Zio.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 158 Elec damage from Katsuya Suou's Zio. Critical Hit!
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 57 Pierce damage from So-young Park's Ostinato.
AS: Bind added! Haze removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 57 Pierce damage from So-young Park's Ostinato.
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Nanghaithya takes 156 Wind damage from So-young Park's Coda.
AS: Panic added!
AS: Nanghaithya is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
What does it think its doing right now?

Indeed, Nanghaithya struggles. Even though it has lost, it struggles -- if not to ''win'', then to make sure ''nobody'' can win. Like a petulant child upturning the gameboard the moment the know they've lost the game, Nanghaithya offers nothing to Yanagi's incisive observation but the fierce howl of the ever-intensifying, catastrophic winds it summons.

THere is no more time for words. And so, Yanagi responds with a sigh --

And an absolute frost that chills the great head of Nanghaithya and its diminutive body down deep to the core. It slows the intensifying of the winds -- and even if it doesn't stop it, it buys them time -- and renders the Homunculus brittle enough for the violence that is to come.

''I don't have to win... But I won't lose either.''

As the others rally. As Yukari and Io's winds scream out in direct defiance to Nanghaithya's own, arrow after arrow lancing into that tiny body, controlling her movements and positioning her mid-air at the perfect vantage point to loose that final great, glowing emerald pierces RIGHT through the side of its head, the point JUTTING out of the other end of that mass of metal and electronics that was once an arcade cabinet before the HOWL of wins smashes down, sending it lurching back.

''I must admit, I do not understand a lick of it. For who decides what is a win, and what is a loss? I have decided! What I do today, what I do now, shall be a win.''

''Can you believe this guy!? Even in the like, absolute last-last ditch, he's being SO INCREDIBLY ANNOYING! Just clinging on with those bloody fingernails and conjuring up this storm, and he doesn't even realize-- He's wide open.''

As Pernelle and Saika work in perfect tandem, a study in contrasting dances -- Pernelle, swooping and dramatic and graceful, a true ballroom bonanza that ends at the very apex of the tempest until he and his Persona add to the brewing apocalypse with a sleet of rainbow fire, crashing down across the Homunculus, melting down pieces and chunks of its massive head, and BLINDING it with prismatic fury--

-- as the raw, direct, berserk insanity that is Saika's riding the storm reaches its zenith with a discordant SCREAM of metal on metal, as built up momentum and power that far outstrips her size SMASHES that biker chain into the side of Nanghaithya's overlarge head, denting it dramatically in once, CRUSHING the arcade buttons that make up its maw with the second--

and then -lashing- it to force it to feel the full brunt of Pernelle's heat, and everything else to come, as she holds fast to its neck, even as the storm tries desperately to -peel her off-.

''What is there to find out? Why, you've only explored one peak, one ''local'' maximum ... but even higher heights may exist beyond the fog of war. I've said elsewhere that the rules of the game keep changing and evolving. Adapt or fall behind. ... Deep down, you know it, too.''

As Tamaki and Arianrhod fly with rainbow-colored blade in hand, showing her defiance, her will to - and her own reminder that she must - adapt and thrive from one discovery to the next in that dual assault between Persona and User, the great slash of the armored goddess carving a deep furrow into the Homunculus' great black screen -- and Tamaki further compounding that fracture with that great shockwave of color, of color, of color of color of COLOR until--

that furrow -shatters-, black glass spraying everywhere as static blares with impotent rage that cannot - no, REFUSES - to adapt beyond that monofocused worldview.

''If you lose. Find out why. Fix it. Come back at it. Gives you something to strive to. Just go out swinging either way right?''

As Moriko summons Otohime, the great fox snapping down on a weakpoint at the Homunculus' shoulder made brittle and vulnerable by Yanagi's magic. Its shoulder fractures, splinters -- and the following blow of jagged, cracking earth just SHATTERS the Homunculus' right arm entirely, sending it lurching, straining futiley against Saika's chains.

''... you're kind of a sore loser. Winning is what you make of it--there's more ways to win than just coming in first.''

As Ririka addresses Nakata directly, emboldening and doubling the power his Atelier provides through literally hyping it up with a nostalgic theme from a game he loves, even if it became the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. It helps to strengthen the others, to make them push that extra inch.

The triplicate gouts of flame that batter and bake at Nanghaithya's weakening form, stripped of its fiery protections? Well, it just helps to underscore the whole point. There's more than one way to win.

''If you can't even rise to bear the pain of existing, you won't survive outside this zone. This was your test, and you've _failed_.''

As Umie weaves the bleak words of that poetic, (prophetic?) verse, creating a disconcerting tableau for the sake of the fight that fuels the koyketsu shoge's dangerous dance, the cats cradle of barbs ensnaring and cutting into the form of Nanghaithya with angry and discontent screeches of metal scraping metal, helping to ensnare it just as it was beginning to strain and break from Saika's grasp.

''...You're still trying. If everything were as you said it was, would there be any point in continuing to strive?''

As Katsuya, rising high on that ascending chunk of cognitive earth, defies the idea of extreme wind resistance to squeeze that trigger and - despite all odds - pull of that perfect shot, piercing Nanghaithya straight through the overhang of its arcade 'forehead'. It cracks -- and the furious bolts of Helios beat upon that weak point, until frozen-over plastic and metal SHATTERS, revealing nothing but swarming, absolute, saturated scarlet beneath the arcade facade.

''So petulance is what it comes down to?''

As So-young weaves a song of Hope in answer to Myunghon's call, the upbeat and uplifting notes winding and empowering Ririka's own music to break past the doubt, the unpleasantness - the discontent of it all -

- to send Icarus BLASTING past, buffeting winds sending it toppling -backwards- in mid-air before that great cry literally cracks and SHATTERS what glass remains on the screen, revealing more of that depthless, endless scarlet sea promising everything and nothing all at once--

</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Nanghaithya has posed.
<poem>
''... I was just like you, once. I lived in a zero-sum world that didn't believe in anything but winners, while it blithely told everyone that they had potential. But it was always obvious that only certain people could win from the start...''

... As Myunghon still tries to reach out to the Homunculus - the thing that can only feel existence in this 'real' life by usurping someone else's - in how its words echoes with their own past. How, even despite everything, they still sympathize -- even as the power of their bonds, the power of that suffocating Hope, smothers out the very defenses Nanghaithya had against Kudlak's quintessential element--

--until that single, small point of absolute, imperishable black descends, that small point of not-light touching upon it --

--and dragging the garish greens and pestilent pinks of color from the Homunculus' crackling frame as it becomes a world of monochrome unto itself, a coup de grace to weaken it for the final blows...

''I'll never give up. And as long as I never give up, as long as a heart of justice and purity beats in my chest - No matter what you do to me, I'll never really lose!''

As Ixquic and Quixote defy their zero-sum view of life with the very idea that you CAN change - change yourself - change the ''world'' - hammering that point home with as she punches through those tempestuous, catastrophic winds despite all logic to drive STRAIGHT through Nanghaithya, puncturing its frozen, brittle, bulbous belly in a diagonal impact that sees the mighty warrior and her Persona BURSTING out right where that oversized head connects to its freshly-forged body. Sparks sputter from severed cables in her wake, Nanghaithya lurching towards the right--

''Looks like he's found a life worth living even if he doesn't win...''

As Roger's existential ruminations give way to defiance, as he finds it within himself to defy the end with his newfound power - ''his'' newfound power - of individuality - whipping that racquet about and about until he SLAMS that ball into a wild, tempestuous spin through the maelstrom--

Game! Set! MATCH!

-- building up so much frightening momentum that by the time Roger strikes it, it screams like a meteorite of blazing light--

''If I'm the Goddess of Tricks who never loses, who makes you so mad, then I declare... game over for Nanghaithya the Discontent!''

-- just as Hazuki Nakao, defying the parasitic existence of Nanghaithya the Discontent for the sake of the boy whose skin it wore and now strives to unmake in its petty rage--

-- drives down slash, after slash, after slash, carving away chunks of the Homunculus, revealing more swarming, infinite scarlet saturation beneath--

until Janus's great light reaches a blinding crescendo--

((WHY WON'T YOU ALL JUST))

THOOOOOOOM

until Hazuki and the comet that is Roger's tennis ball SMASH into Nanghaithya at the same time, and the whole world becomes a brilliant flash of white.

...

...

...

In the aftermath...

It's there, crumpled and sagged to the side. Nanghaithya the Discontent.

((why.))

Reality - physicality - flecking off its form like shedding scales, bit by dissolving bit.

((why. why. why. why can't i win.))

Until all that's left is a silhouette of saturated scarlet once more, and two points of shining red light separate from it.

((i want to))

Its last words fade into weak angry nothings of static as it dissolves away. As the winds die down.

As the Atelier finally knows peace, and freedom, after coming so very close to a precipice there was no returning from.

Across the Big Top, the remains of the Cocoon are scattered -- dazzling, glittering, beautiful, and swelling with latent, cognitive power that could be plied towards making something truly powerful.

And where the Homunculus faded?

All that remains are those two points of red light - its Eyes - shimmering, orbiting, for a brief moment--

--until they fall to the ground with a clatter, revealing nothing more than a pair of ruby joysticks in their wake.

''You were truly, wonderfully, resplendently, undeniably.........''

''... Human.''

</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>As Nanghaithya the Discontent falls, muttering his last words, Hazuki steps forward. She has no pity, no remorse in those eyes, even as he's immensely pitiable.

"Players 1... win."

And then, suddenly, she stops, taking a deep breath, as the Homunculus fades away, Hazuki looking everywhere and nowhere at once.

She suddenly goes into a trance, like she's not there at all. She's still standing, but she's somewhere else.

It's dark, at first. But she feels the compulsion to walk. Each step lights up underneath her feet, like she's stepping on lightup tiles in the formless void. Brilliant colors sparkle outwards, as she traces a line through the light, a thread to follow, or perhaps half of a connecting cord.

The thread leads her in different directions, until she finally reaches a grandly displayed golden door with a massive keyhole in it.

Hazuki reaches to push open the door, but it doesn't budge. No, it's sealed.

Her hand rises, as if on its own. It begins to move, to touch something sight unseen, and the door starts to unlock, opening...

Behind it is only light.

It's time to wake up. Time to connect.

Hazuki snaps out of her reverie, taking a few steps forward. She moves towards the center of the Big Top, ignoring all pleas, all calls, all requests.

She reaches out for something no one else can see... and she finds it.

Like yanking on loose seams, something unravels, a veil no one else has ever seen. In the center of the Atelier, floating in the air, is a large two-dimensional neon sign depicting art of Kappa, likely crafted by a child many years ago. The Kappa is smiling, cheerful, but faded - the light barely shines, and the colors are dim.

"...connect," Hazuki says simply and audibly, reaching her hand out for the symbol. A brilliant blaze emerges in her hand, a golden light that shines with warmth and radiant power.

Hazuki smiles, a big wide one. Her eyes are focused, clear.

She touches the Kappa symbol with that light, and suddenly, there's a flash of energy, as an all-but-blinding flash beacons upwards, shining immaculately through the Big Top. Absolutely everyone there can see it, from human to Humor.

The Kappa symbol, once cleansed with that light, is revealed. No longer faded, the neon green lights shine brightly, as the Atelier feels stronger, more stable. Like it won't just slip away so easily again.

The veil soon rethreads itself, hiding it away again, safe and sound.

Then, wracked by the day's exhaustion, Hazuki starts to slump over, eyes hazy. Someone might want to help her stay upright.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
"Well, you could be fully rotten, but you're so helpful in combat that I think you do have redeeming qualities after all!" Yanagi helpfully explains to Yukari.

That was earlier. Now the Homunculus has been destroyed and the winds are dying. Yanagi lands with the help of Giselle, summoned in mid-air to bring her to safety; the Persona descends en pointe, and Yanagi is cradled in her needle arms. She slips down with the help of her cane-gun, and gazes at the Homunculus's final moments, listens to its final words.

She did warn it that it would die never understanding why it would never get to exist. But if it understood, it probably wouldn't have ended up this way.

Yanagi glances to one side at Myunghon as they express not pity but genuine empathy, going so far as to call it human. A curious reaction indeed... but she isn't going to tell them they're wrong for feeling that way. Instead, she looks back at the Homunculus--or, rather at this point, what remains of it.

Its red eyes have left behind a pair of ruby game controllers.

Yanagi looks at Saika and Pernelle, and nods. Then she looks at the others--whomever of them are paying attention to Peacock Silk instead of Hazuki and her dazed march towards a golden door and the light behind it, anyway. Not that Yanagi can see that part too, even with her abilities, but the oddness of it has her interest anyway. Still, a woman needs to prioritize.

"The threads of the Cocoon are called filum regium. They're ''very'' useful for making armors and such," she explains, pointing to the beautifully glimmering remains of the Cocoon spooled all around them. "Collect what you can, and if you bring them to Peacock Silk, we can make them into something wonderful for you." She smiles and waves farewell. "We'll be waiting for you~!"

When Saika and Pernelle have gathered the controllers, Yanagi will give one last lingering look at Hazuki as she "connects" that Kappa symbol and somehow revitalizes it, an unasked question in her gaze. Then she leaves with her dear companions.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
Pernelle descends from his aerial assault in slow, gliding circles. He comes to a gentle landing by the Homunculus' fallen treasures... those beautiful, ruby red joysticks... tilting his head back and forth like the early bird spotting a juicy pair of worms...

... before he strikes back down like a viper twice in quick succession, pecking up the joysticks with such violence one would think Pernelle thought them still trapped in their sockets. He tosses them into the air with the momentum of his enthusiasm, catching each in his beak.

Mouth full with his prize, Pernelle must make his farewell a wordless one. He lowers into a deep, elegant bow before turning to hurriedly dash away with the natural waddle caused by his heavy train.

In his wake, he leaves the fading echo of mischievous giggling.

He got his taste after all...

</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> Roger takes in heavy breath - maybe a little freaked out, coming down from an adrenaline high, what is this? - as the Homunculus is destroyed. The threat to Taro Nakata is no more, and he will continue to live his life. His life, and no other.

Surrounding the Big Top, the group can see Coleric Humors looming menacingly... save for a handful of Sanguin Humors interposing themselves, as they all stare to the gathered. (This seems a threatening gesture, until the Tickets Machine Repair One holds out an offering of tickets to a number of incidental Persona-users who are nearby.)

Roger doesn't quite grasp the idea of being truly exhausted, what it means when it feels like you, yourself, are no longer running on all cylinders. This is normal for new awakenings, and it seems even those who are - were? - Shadows are no different.

"We did win...!" He says to Hazuki, and then laughs, looking to the rest. "Everything will be fun here again, but..."

But?

He looks at himself. Was he excluded by the other Humors because of this? Was he always capable of this? Everything's a weird blur where he only started to really notice what was going on around him when the Homonculus arrived. He...

...He can still understand what he's hearing among the murmuring Humors.

"Oh! The Sanguin Humors here... they're holding the Coleric Humors back, for now, so--"

He catches Hazuki heading off in a trance somewhere. "Ah? Hazuki-chan? What are you doing? Um--"

He watches her approach, the surprising scene plays out as Hazuki forms a connection. A brilliant blaze, that golden light... and the neon green shine of the Kappa symbol, as Flegmat Humors murmur small newfound echoes of the little thoughts and ways that Taro Nakata - the rightful ruler of his Atelier - asserts himself anew.

...About in time for Hazuki to faint.

"Oh no! Hazuki-chan!" Roger jogs over at a sedate, tired pace himself to help keep her upright.

The joysticks are taken, and Roger looks up. "Oh! They helped us a lot," Roger explains about the Peacock Silk people leaving with their prize, "and all they wanted was what the Homunculus left behind... I don't like the idea of having anything of them lying around an Atelier." ...But he doesn't know why anyone would want anything to do with those. There's a lot of questions to ask.

He'll leave with everyone else, and that sentence expressing such a casual act to the point it glances over the what it means for 'with everyone else' is something he doesn't catch onto until it happens.

...But after all, he wants to play with everyone as someone, so why would that cross his mind if he were just doing that?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
The moment of colourless, lightless transcendance is only that -- a superliminal moment that can't be measured even by the speed of light, because it has gone beyond where light can reach. Myunghon feels the caging sensations of body and physicality once more, even within the supernatural space, afterwards, freed of the enchantments of being Kappa. They were crying before.

They're still choking back sobs now, vulnerable in their mortifying curse of physical existence.

They're not sad about it. They're terrified. The only times in human history when someone says 'this thing deserves to die' is replete with the worst examples of human atrocity that doesn't need to be repeated at all here. Myunghon craves knowledge, surety in knowledge, and they're terrified of the 'gut feeling' that their supernatural senses told them 'this is wrong'. An app invasively wormed its way into their life. Umie is touched by a dark force. They can't trust that what their senses tell them isn't some other invisible force's designs on them either.

Because Humans do ''incredibly'' cruel, terrible things to each other based on their 'gut feeling'.

To even just reach very closely to a recent trauma, Koichi Ishiba's entire campaign of violence upon them, and his opinion on whether or not they should exist or belong in Japan, is based on a 'gut feeling'. They can't accept the judgement of 'Homunculi deserve to die' on an ontological level. Not while their knowledge of the depths of the supernatural space and what it means is still so shallow.

They're shedding, Nanghaithya the Discontent. They're questioning, in their last moments. They return to red... to scarlet... and--

A pair of ruby joysticks clatter in their wake. Ruby-red, just like its eyes.

They still have no idea of the question they asked at the start of all this:

''Who were they?''

Hazuki Nakao expresses no pity of remorse. And she isn't wrong, they do believe, that she feels that way. Her close friend was in mortal danger, of being subsumed, taken over forever. Myunghon acted in order to save Taro Nakata, along with everyone else, when they couldn't before. There is a blaze, a golden light... the shine of the symbol -- and Hazuki starts to fall over, and they gasp and quietly hurry, but Roger's there at her side to ensure she doesn't fall over.

Somehow, they can feel Yanagi's glance upon them -- and for a moment they meet eye-to-eyes, and Myunghon can't help but choke again. As she explains that it's filum regium, a very special material for crafting armor. They've been at this for a while... what do they know about the Homunculus that they don't? They must understand.

Merry. One more time, help.

A centering breath, and...

"... then we shall clean them with you, Roger. Will you be... coming with us?" speaks Merry, plain and simple enough, asserting themself. "Is everyone all right? Speak up if you need medical assistance." Yes, asserting the mission plan and checking off all the boxes will do to assuage their doubt at present.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ririka is tense as everyone puts their efforts forth. She keeps playing, doing her best to empower Taro, to help things hold on just long enough, and then finally...

Nothing is left but a pair of ruby joysticks. Ririka heaves a deep sigh and finally lets her hands drop. "... Okay. That thing better not have a ''fourth'' life bar."

She notices, too, those threads, formed of the Cocoon that once held a supernatural space--and Taro. She's about to ask when Yanagi explains. "Filum regium... is it really okay if we just take it...?" Or those joysticks--the Homunculus' eyes--for that matter, but Pernelle's got that one already.

Instead she's distracted by Hazuki doing... something, drawing in a sharp breath as she hears the effect of that connection being made, even if she doesn't understand it. That drawing of a Kappa... the way it looks... was it Taro's? It has to be. Maybe she can ask Hazuki about it later... when she hasn't fainted. "Nakao-chan!"

She'll go to help her, and she nods as Roger says that they should leave. "... right. We should probably avoid any more fights for tonight. Are... you gonna stay, or...?" Like Myunghon, she's curious.

... and she'll collect some of that filum regium on her way out, too.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
<poem>"Winning wasn't what mattered. It's what you do along the way." Moriko says, still through hoarse breaths. She's glad this fight's over. She's got nothing left in her as best she can tell. This is going to suck tomorrow for sure. The biker's always tinkering away, working. It's probably no shock.

She does whince a bit at Yanagi's explanation to Yukari as the fight winds down. "That's not fair." She suggests. She does admit Yukari's got a temper. Might be some solidarity with the mean faced biker that picks fights though.

That may or may not make things better.

"Thanks Kawase and Takeba." fingers tightening their grip as she forces herself up. "I think I'm good for now."

Reaching out to snag some of the drifting filum regium as it floats by. Turning it over and back in her hands before stashing it.

Following Ririka's eyes to Hazuki, she watches quietly, then turns away and watches the others instead. "You all good?" That Osakan accent's thick at this point.

"Yeah. Leaving's good." She rolls her shoulders back. Works her neck back and forth, then slumps forward again, adjusting her jacket. Clearly ready to go.
Hazuki Nakao goes home.
Hazuki Nakao has left for Historia: The White Chronicle.
</poem>

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

2025-10-31: Let Your Self Be Free I

2025-11-05T22:30:46Z

Jean:

*'''Log: Let Your Self Be Free I'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Roger]], [[Hazuki Nakao]], [[Minato Arisato]], [[Reiya Aomori]], [[Myunghon Yeo]], [[Yukari Takeba]], [[Umie Akabane]], [[Katsuya Suou]], [[Ririka Kawase]], [[Fuuka Yamagishi]], [[Akari Hoshi]], [[Koh Katsuhiro]], [[Saika Kikuchi]], [[Pernelle]], [[Yanagi Nagisa]], GM'd by Tsumugi Kujaku
*'''Where:''' Taro Nakata's Atelier
*'''OOC Date:''' October 31, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' August 03, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Hazuki Nakao, her allies, and all the interested parties intent on solving the mystery of the Atelier arrive at the Big Top, intent on freeing Taro Nakata from the Thing that possesses him before it is too late. But how do you possibly stand against such a creature in a space that has become almost irrevocably warped into its seat of power...?''

----

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
BEFORE

Welcome, friends, to the Big Top!

"Aha! Look, everyone!"

You're expected.

"Our ''special guests'' have arrived."

It's pitch black inside, when everyone has finally properly prepared to enter the Big Top of Taro Nakata's Atelier. Within the utter darkness, though, there is a distinct feeling: ''you are not alone.''

And then that voice comes. A light ignites.

And within the pitch black, the spotlight shines for the man at the top of the hill, and him alone.

Illuminated by that lone, searingly bright light, Taro Nakata's Homunculus sits, dressed in the red-white pinstripe three piece ensemble of a ringmaster, his top hat skewed at a jaunty angle, the sash on it reading in simple English, 'AIM FOR THE TOP!' Ringmaster's baton settled in his lap, he is perched with prim arrogance on what looks almost like... a large Schiffli bobbin positioned horizontally in the air high above, its threads spooling outward to suspend it at one end of the Big Top to the other like an extremely avant garde tight rope.

From here, the Homunculus looks at his guests, a rictus grin on his face. The last time Hazuki saw the Homunculus, that clown makeup on his face looked like it was in the process of... ''melting'' off him. Before, it seemed like it was almost half-melted off.

Now, it looks almost entirely gone, save for a few, dribbling vestiges.

The Homunculus opens his eyes, that bright, glowing yellow of his gaze focusing on the Persona-Users even within the plunging dark of the tent. As if on cue, another spotlight ignites over them all, to shards of framing light in the dark. His head tips up, grandiosely.

"You're a little late, but not to worry."

A gloved hand lifts, thumb to middle finger.

"The audience is always eager to see someone try and fail!"

*snap*

And then the ''whole tent'' just ''alights'', revealing the great arena of the big top and the throngs of bleachers that encircle it, stuffed to the brim with a captive audience of Flegmat Humors, cheering and jeering for the latest unfortunate freak show to stumble into the Big Top...

... as one by one, cognitive beasts, clowns and circus freaks come into being in swelling bursts of pustulent, bruising black.

The Homunculus' grin widens.

"So... shall we begin the show?"

NOW

Things are not going well.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf6swWyqT2s

It's not really a matter of strength or skill. The cognitive creatures that the Homunculus arrays against everyone aren't particularly strong -- certainly not stronger than the Melanc Humors that had been guarding the Big Top. They're dispatched easily enough.

The problem is...

"Again!"
"Again!"
"Again!"
"Again!!!"

Every time they destroy one of those cognitive creations, it's instantly replaced by another, with no end in sight.

Attrition is the name of the game. Warped, distorted strong Men and Sword Swallowers attack relentlessly, and every time one is destroyed, a gaggle of masked clowns burst into being just behind their dissolving bodies, giggling and spring-spronging into the fray; every time the clowns are taken out, a fire-eater is suddenly there, spraying the ground floor of the Big Top with flames.

And more and more, and more, of countless shapes and varieties. As if there was no end to them. The solution should be obvious:

Destroy the Homunculus. Take them out at the source.

And yet any time someone -tries- to even -reach- that Homunculus on its bobbin throne, it ''instantly'' repels them with the sweep of a baton or the casting of some powerful magic or simply a shockingly powerful insult, knocking them back into the show.

Monstrous, gangly lions have begun to prowl out of the shadows as the Homunculus cackles above, bouncing on his bobbin and planting gloved hands on knees as he leans forward in delight.

"You see, you see?! There's only room for one at the top of the hill! Everyone else--"

Lions spring, soon joined by clowns, strong men and other so-called freaks to the excited cheers of the crowd.

"--is just the fodder at the bottom!!"

Just how are they meant to win when the enemy decides the rules--?

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem>
From behind those who gathered, a show already unfolds around them as a number of local Sanguin Humors appear. The cavalry, as it were. Aware of the Homonculus' presence, and without enough of the hijacked Melanc Humors to stop them, they flood into the show. The ticket machine repairman, the soggy dunk tank occupant with a mouth on them, the ride operators, the rigged shooting game host, and others of their ilk shout the reflected vestiges of Taro Nakata's interests and desires as Coleric Humors flood in.

No one has anything to fear about being surrounded, in the moment, as the Coleric Humors are directed around the gathered to directly engage the Homonculus' forces. A moment of hope, from the rallying cry of Hazuki's call of arrival and will that the gathered aren't going anywhere?

"We're here at last!" Roger, the most familiar of all, that pig-like Sanguin Humor, pumps a fist. "Your terrible games are boring and not fun for anyone! It's game over, and you're out of credaaaaaah--!!"

He is cut off by no less than a trio of slinking Coleric Humors trampling him. Another Sanguin Humor shoves him aside to a protesting series of squeals of both surprise and also distress.

"Even now...?" Roger protests, anger and dismay giving way to disbelief - and not just because of the exclusion by what should be his peers within the Atelier.

It is because the cavalry is quickly being routed by the Homonculus' influence. Coleric Humors dissipate back into the shadowy mists and disperse as they are defeated by the Homonculus' own loyal. Even one of the present natural Melanc Humors that were under the Homonculus' sway are not spared in the carnage, the Homonclus' need for them effectively at end at the cusp of overtaking Taro Nakata once and for all.

Roger can only watch as exaggerated tears fly in horror, and yet, somehow, with clarity on what exactly is happening. "Oh no...! The Homonculus is about to fully take their place! I... I can't even recognize what those are!"

Whatever the cognitions the Homonculus has created, it is clear that after a point, it's the Homonculus ripping and warping this length of the fabric of reality to their whims to something unrecognizable and... unnatural. Something that should not, and cannot, be.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>THEN:

They're running out of time. Hazuki Nakao has sent the text to those she knows are involved: it's time to drop everything and save Taro Nakata.

As the Persona Users enter the Big Top, she leads the pack, clad in her full transmutation garb, orange and ash grey hair visually muddying her true appearance along with her golden eyes shining so brightly. Her wing pauldron guards her arm, as a gilded baseball bat with an infinity symbol on it rests against her opposite shoulder.

The pitch black darkness doesn't scare her. Right now, nothing scares her. But as the light ignites, Hazuki's shouting out. She doesn't know if he can hear her, but...

"Nakata-kun! We're here! We're not going anywhere!"

She let him down. She was pushy, clingy, selfish, and didn't notice his pain simply because she didn't ''know'' him. But to let that kill him, to let that be his last grasp of life... that's not okay. Even if he never forgives her...

He deserves a chance to shine brightly as another star in the sky.

The Homunculus is terrifying. He addresses them, so cocky, so confident.

The bat is swung into a point, straight at the Homunculus. There is no fear on her face, even if it exists in her heart. Just a determined glare. She might lose. She might die. They might both die. But as she told SEES, the priority is to save Nakata-kun.

She can't stand by and let him fade away.

"You've done enough. I, Hazuki Nakao, will strike you down!"

NOW:

Another clown tramples towards her. The bat swings out, smashing it away, as Janus floats ahead, the two-faced Persona having enhanced her attack power and speed already. It's not enough.

Janus fires another blast of light at a strongman, burning into it with the brightness of the sun. It's not enough.

At one point, she charges the Homunculus himself, and is thrown bodily backwards, sliding onto her heel and gritting her teeth.

"Coward! Face us yourself!"

The lions come out. Hazuki's getting worn down. A battle of attrition, for sure.

But she's not giving up, as she cocks her head to Roger. He can't fight. He's just a Sanguin Humor, a little pig who wants to try.

...but she's going to speak to him nonetheless.

"Don't give up, Roger! We're all connected here! As long as we stick together, we'll get a perfect clear!"

Even if, right now, it's mostly an attempt to reassure herself, too.
</poem>
GAME: Hazuki Nakao sets her Transmutation desc!

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
<poem>
When the enemy decides the rules...

"Takeba-san, left flank," Minato calls out, with that same calm nature which made him the leader to begin with. "I'll call their attention." An archer like her struggles when the enemies are crowding her out; that's why he's standing in front of her. His own weariness is a thing which isn't clearly conveyed in his manner; just a little sag of his shoulders here, a little extra puff of exertion there. "Katsuhiro-kun, keep them off-balance," he advises, in his next breath.

He will get them through this. That's the image he has to project -- no matter what 'this' is.

Minato once again makes an attempt to leap up to meet the Homunculus, only for a downright ''incisive'' comment on his ''emo hair'' to send him tumbling all the way back down.

"Kawase-san," he says, without missing a beat as he stands again, "analyse the harmonic frequencies of his vocal assault." Did he put himself on the line to get dunked on JUST so their melodic Navigator could get another voice sample?! "Yamagishi-san, I know it's a lot to ask, but I need you to continue evaluating this new wave for weaknesses."

Minato is kind of a weird guy, but...

But Orpheus appears to strum his lyre and shower healing magics onto Hazuki -- the war-notes of ''Cadenza'' -- and it's clear he's used to helping others access their strengths. "Focus your attacks on the enemies with weak defenses, Kumamoto-san," he advises, to Moriko.

"Aomori-kun," he calls to Reiya, as he looks sharply to him and the camera snaps that way, too, "you're up."

(Of course he can Baton Pass! The fight has been going on for ''ages.'')

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
<poem>
Reiya Aomori is not uncomfortable in darkness, alone or not. But the light comes soon enough.

The ringmaster... And the show.

Reiya drops into a crouching combat stance, three needles in his right hand as he sways to be ready.

But...

More than once, Reiya tries it. He tries it directly, leaping up towards the Homunculus and somersaulting forward--only to be ''blasted'' back with the light of flame.

He sneaks up, coming around the edge while the others keep the Shadows busy--only for the spotlight to ignite upon him.

Again, and again...

Minato sets him up. Reiya rises from where he'd stood, heedless of his own fatigue. "Yes!" He answers, and summons his Persona with a shot of the Evoker to rain needles down upon some of the Shadows.

"Nakao-san!" he calls, looking to her in some concern--but sees her reaching out to Roger...

He ''sprints'' across the battlefield, to skid to a stop beside Hazuki.

"Roger-san," he says.

"...If there is something you can do..."

"Otherwise, this game may be about to end..."

He grits his teeth. "But Nakao-san, I ''will'' see you a way through!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
The Cardboard Dragon are here, in answer to Hazuki Nakao's text.

Myunghon Yeo, Rumourmonger Merry, is of course draped in their resplendent black Cognitive Coat, surrounded by the rest of the team that they trust explicitly with their life. It's time for a turnabout big top, as they enter the Big Top itself...

It's pitch black. They aren't alone. Myunghon is on guard, and then a light ignites.

It's Showtime.

So, this is a Homunculus... the way in which his dress embodies the struggles within is clear enough to see -- but that Schiffli bobbin... that must be the cocoon, then? Their objective. The way that clown makeup is melting off nigh resembles the way in which the sands from an hourglass tell them: They're almost out of time.

"Our objective is clear, then. Subdue the Homunculus and free Taro Nakata from his Cocoon!"

There's a wince as the Coleric Humours start to trample on Roger, and the Rumourmonger is swift to take action to defend him, the Cognitive Coat creating a lattice of cutting ribbons as they say, "Leave him alone."

AND THEN

"... ngh," Myunghon grunts as the Cognitive Coat ribbons rend and warp through Strong Men, one coming far too close for comfort as they find themself surrounded -- and boosts up into the air in a graceful moonsault all aided by the might of the shifting, flowing Coat. "Suou-san, Akabane-san, we must regroup," they call to their allies.

"Plan C is of no use to us anymore. We must reconsider our strategy. Akabane-san, any thoughts?" Myunghon inquires to the other devious mind of the Cardboard Dragon. Culling the herd of Humours has no visible effect, and yet aiming for the ringmaster also has them repelled by a powerful barrier (as Myunghon themself has observed, blasted away by a SICK BURN that they had to use some Y Burn on.) They thrust their coat forward to analyse samples, tasting desperation and a single-minded, heady desire for triumph at the cost of all else...

"Suou-san, Piercing and Fire attacks both shall work on these Shadows, yet--"

Then that same Strong Man seizes Myunghon and throws them onto the other side of the top and they crash against the floor, rolling painfully before landing onto a thud. They groan and grasp at that chest, which is still throbbing hard from the battle with Hiroto and Tsurugi in the abandoned warehouse in Konan. Yet, they still rise to their feet, with difficulty.

Roger falls into despair with exaggerated tears, as he claims that the Homunculus is about to achieve its goal -- they would fail. Hazuki shouts her encouragements to the Shadow-pig.

"Yes. Hazuki is right. We aren't defeated yet. This is yet another ordeal in which we need to find the thread to lace through the eye of the needle...!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
BEFORE

Tickets. So many weird challenges to obtain ''tickets''. And she's not even certain they were really required in the first place?

This place is infuriating. Even moreso when it's pitch black inside the Big Top, as she clutches her Evoker, with it pressed against her forehead. She stays in place, eyes trying to sweep around to pick anything out of the darkness... when-!

'Our ''special guests'' have arrived.'

Her lips close together. She can hear him, but she can't see him. And things you can't see are always the most frightening, even if they're speaking words she can comprehend.

And then, light!

Yukari's no longer afraid per se, but she is pretty ''bewildered''. "Uhhhh..." She doesn't know enough about Homunculi to know if this will be like Kaneshiro, or otherwise. "What are you going to do? Put on a show for-" Rictus Grin, "-us..." It steals all that sassiness from her, to see it, the only thing that seems static amongst the dribbling paint. "Ew-eugh!" She recoils a step back.

'The audience is always eager to see someone try and fail!'

"... What's with this!?"

NOW

"This is hopeless! He's just replacing them as soon as we beat them!"

Yet, as Minato calls out to her, "Got it!" And she starts darting left, bow drawn, letting their leader make space for her. The bow is smoothly drawn, and lowered in a vertical position, before more arrows sprout from one of the sword-swallowers harassing Minato.

But she too is feeling the wear and tear from this battle of attrition.

"Should we fall back?" She asks him, as she draws another arrow and tries to send it at the throne, the Homunculus instantly shattering the arrow with a sweeping flourish of his baton. "Katsuhiro-san, to your right!" She warns, as she's delayed on covering him by her attempt to shoot at the Ringmaster.

The rules...

Something darkens upon her expression, as she thinks of those rules. One at the top of the hill, everyone else fodder for the bottom. An attempt to control time - her father, in her belief that he was fodder for that ambition.

Roger and Hazuki arrive, Roger, in tears. She's still not sure what to think of that weird pig thing. Hazuki? "Is that...?" She seems surprised, then something a little crestfallen appears in her eyes. This is why she didn't want her to come. "... it's done now." She says, something in her voice hardening.

What she tells Roger is inspirational, but it's not about 'sticking together' she thinks about. She focuses on that thought she had before.

"Gotta be brave." She whispers to herself, at that realization, "Io!" With a pull of a trigger, ephemeral glass shatters out of the back of her head like skull fragments, and the Persona appears, blasting a springing lion and a strong man back with the Magaru spell.

"... You're at the top? Don't make me laugh. If I'm the fodder, then why are you so ugly that I can barely stand to look at you?"

Maybe provocation isn't the right way to go, but either way... it's done now. She might as well try to give Nakao an opening... because if they're not retreating, the only way out is to win, by saving their friend.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Umie Akabane has a general rulebook for how she navigates supernatural spaces, regardless of what they are:

Rule 1: Do not be seen.
Rule 3: Do not be expected.
Rule 9: Every lock is simply a barrier.
Rule 11: If the rules are set up just to force you down, make your own.
Rule 13: _Failure is *not* an option._ (Because it means death, or, potentially, a fate worse than death.)

'Oh my, I do love seeing you keep trying the same thing over and over and over...'

Umie is one of many who try to directly try to subdue the Homunculus, suddenly in the air behind the Homunculus Ringmaster in mid-spin, bifurcated blade in one hand and a metal coin ring clasped in the other. Her intent is not to *kill*, as she's unsure of the consequences, but, as she found out the first time she attempted this stunt--

"Grt--!" --you can't half-ass your approach.

So there goes Umie, yet again, knocked like a ball by a burst of magic, rocketing over to land neatly in the hands of a warped strongman, who in turn tosses her in the air in an impressive throw aimed towards the hungry waiting jaws of a monstrous lion.

Red-nailed hands land, palms down, against each row of the lion's viciously sharp teeth, as Umie's mouth silently mutters a mantra of 'shitshitshitshitshit' as she gazes down into a seeming chasm of a throat paradoxically lion-shaped, yet wide enough to swallow her whole. She bends her legs, adding onto it with a similar (shaky) bend of her elbows, attempting to produce the momentum needed by kicking and straightening them both. The coat's back falling over the back of her head is not helping much here, now is the two weights behind each end of the shoge.

"Hup!" But land on her feet Umie does, springing back a few steps. Then, hunching down, she casts her gaze about, looking for some shadow or another to hide in.

There are none, of course. This is a circus, and a proper show needs proper lighting.

'... It's like having my own cute little clown~'

That's... not a bad idea, Umie thinks, to Mai-chan's sweetly whispered words in her mind. Not the clown part, but... "... That's it!" Anyone close to the short young woman may be perplexed as to what Umie is responding to, though, in the rush of things, it may not even matter.

"... Katsuya-san! Merry-san! If this is all a stage... Maybe we need to appeal to the crowd? Everyone loves an underdog, so...!" (That may just be you, Umie.)

Like many of Umie's strange experimental ideas, it may be boom or bust.

There's just one problem: unlike the showmanship she displayed earlier, the actual *thought* of grabbing an unseen crowd's attention... For some reason, it's scarier than directly grabbing the Old Maid's attention, or some other opponent that she can see and percieve herself.

'... Afraid of the spotlight again, Umie-chan?'

And this weakness has someone being *extra* chatty tonight.

'All those eyes, seeing you, perceiving you, changing their perception of you, changing you?'

Umie *had* a mask. It's not there anymore, lost somewhere between the second attempt, or was it the third attempt?

'Though I suppose you don't have to worry about it if you're dead~'

She tries to dig into the pockets of her jacket. She had a spare, she know she does, somewhere... "They can't see who I am..." she hisses, under her breath.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
He had come when Umie had called him. There had been a development with the Atelier, a phenomenon about which it seemed even veteran Persona-users knew very little about, beyond the basics of how to enter on. That is, beyond the apparent nature of the 'Homunculus' and its threat to the holder of the Atelier.
She'd wanted him along.

It was just days ago that someone had made a disturbing post onto the Darkside BBS. That person had recounted a tale that, if true, had some unsettling support for the fact of the Homunculus's 'self'.

But... now it's possible to enter the Big Top at the heart of the Atelier. What in the world does this mean? He could speculate, but speculation is useless at this state--

BEFORE

"I can't see anything...?"

Still, he wouldn't have expected complete and total darkness within. He's read about the perfect darkness found in the depths of caves, but this--

Even with sunglasses, when there is, shockingly, that one point of brilliant light, Katsuya squints at the Homunculus, the master of the Circus. It's a hideous sight.
And around them, too, there is light. He takes a quick look around, drawing his own conclusions about the supernatural realm in which they now stand. "If this is a circus, then there should be an audience," he states, pointing at the Ringmaster Homunculus. Surely, they aren't the 'guests'.

Ah.

"I think... that I understand. If they are the audience, then we are--"

NOW

When you're not the one who controls the show or the viewer, then you're the participant.
Whether you like it not.

But for each Melanc Humor they dispatch, there's another taking its place. It's attrition writ plain. "At this rate...!" Katsuya declares, aiming his firearm towards the ground in the wake of the Sisyphian task of felling another sword-swallower Melanc. They'll run out of resources or stamina before they can make a dent in the horde. If... even that is possible.

"Appeal to the crowd... The Homunculus seems to believe there is only room for one to stand out, while the rest are 'faceless'. Is it just being exceptional that matters? As it stands, it can't be touched!" he wonders aloud, snapping up his gun to draw a bead on one of those Melanc lions. "Or--"

Do they need to appeal to the Homunculus's logic, or do they need to disprove it? Which one is correct? What are the 'rules' here?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
BEFORE

Hazuki had sent out the call, and Ririka was here with SEES to respond. Apparently time was running out, so they had to act. Ririka just hoped they were ready for what came next.

She was nervous. Scared, even. She tried to swallow it down, to set her jaw and to draw from that well of confidence she used when she was on stage performing. It wasn't endless, but hopefully it would carry her through this fight.

She's dressed in her new SEES uniform--it looks, at a glance, like the regular Gekkoukan uniform, with some important differences. Her jacket has a purple ribbon instead of red, a red SEES arm band and shoulder plate on one arm and a metal plate on the other. She has a pair of gloves and boots with metal bands, and a belt with both a holster for her Evoker and a scabbard for her katana.

She draws up short when the Homunculus comes into view, fighting a shiver. "... ''that's'' it," she mutters to her fellow SEES members. "... that feels like what I felt at the arcade."

But Shadows are summoned to start the show, and Ririka pulls out her Evoker and puts it to her head. She closes her eyes for just a moment, her grip tightening in the instant before she pulls the trigger. "... Amphion!"

A stone man manifests in blue flame and shattering glass, clutching a golden lyre. "I'll support everyone the best I can!"

NOW

Minato puts himself in a position to be attacked, and calls on her for analysis. "R-right!" She's got a pair of headphones on her head, courtesy of Amphion, and she clutches at them with one hand while playing something rapidly on an invisible keyboard in front of her. "... I can't find a way to counter it! It's too strong!"

She's flagging. She's been using every trick she could to boost everyone's defenses, to rap them up in melodies to continually mnd wounds and restore stamina, and even sharing her own energy directly with others in need.

And she's starting to run out. "Arisato-san, we need a new plan."

A short-lived cavalry attempt arrives, spearheaded by Roger, the friendly (?) Shadow they met before. "Roger!" It feels weird to be concerned for a Shadow, but she is. "Hang in there! Amphion, Rakukaja!" Earthly energy flows up to embrace Roger and fortify his defenses.

he knows the place best. He's their best insight into what's going on.
Aigis has arrived from Historia: The White Chronicle.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>Fuuka Yamagishi knows what it's like to be trapped in a hostile, supernatural environment against your will. Whether trapped in Tartarus or within one's own mind, it eats away at you, leaving you with nothing but your fears and insecurities...

For Taro, right now, it may be even more literal than it was for her. That's why she wants to help him - even though she doesn't know him. SEES had said they would do what they can... but it feels personal, too. She wants to prove she can help people in the way she was helped.

And that's what brings her here today. The last time she was here, it was just for reconnaissance... but today, she's ready for a fight - and so, she's dressed this time in full combat uniform. It's largely reminiscent of the Gekkoukan winter uniform, but a few changes have been made - the sleeves of her turtleneck are fitted more closely around her arm, rather than widening out with dangling tassels. The simple club armband has been replaced with a sleeker, longer one, covering her upper arm and shoulder. Accompanying this is a black, hooded shoulder cape, with zippers on each side. Resting over her ears is a set of silver headphones bearing a gold SEES label, to better keep in touch with her team even in the middle of supernatural conflict.

...And right now, they're all in the middle of a fight - one that has been going on for quite a while, by this point, as every time they seem to be making headway against the flood of Shadows, more seem to appear.

Fuuka stands behind her allies. Lucia surrounds her, arms outstretched wide as her globe protects her. But a crack is beginning to form on its surface, the metal forming the eye ring growing tarnished and worn through exhaustion.

"More enemies coming in...!" Fuuka announces. "They just keep coming... Is there no end to them? There has to be something we're missing..."

Fuuka closes her eyes, breathes in, and exhales. She tries to relax and focus. Fortunately, Minato's voice cuts through the din of battle. She nods, her gaze sharpening once more.

"Understood, Arisato-san." Fuuka replies. She turns her eyes onto the enemy once more. "There are multiple weaknesses... Let them pinpoint them for you, everyone."

One advantage, however slight, of having so many foes is that there's no shortage of targets. She relays the information she has to everyone, allowing them to pick their own with a bit more insight.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>The Legendary Magical Warrior Ixquic, returned from the depths of eternity (because it's easier for Akari to pronounce than perpetuity) has been here with Hazuki the whole way. She braved the Atelier with her on the first trip, and she was off like a shot as soon as she knew tonight was the night. She was eager for an adventure after her (extremely) lackluster showing on her exams; they may just be middle school exams, but...

But THAT is a problem for NOT NOW.

"You foul demon that hides in the darkness, concealing your true face behind another's..."

"It is I, the Legendary Magical Warrior Ixquic, who has come to help! You, who have taken another's place, an echo of corruption... I'm going to kick your butt!" When the lights come on, Ixquic is already posing, holding her gigantic golden sword - now with a tassel of ribbons tied to the hilt - and pointing the tip directly at the Homonculus. All the gold on her outfit - bracers, belt, the sides of her helmet - is polished, and she gleams, her red cape billowing despite the lack of obvious wind.

It's like she was made for the spotlight.

NOW

Ixquic is feeling significantly less spotlight-positive.

Ixquic's general strategy is to hit hard, take out her target, and move on. She has momentum on her side with the gigantic sword and her motorcycle-centauride Persona, Quixote. Well, she can take out as many as she likes, but it *doesn't matter*. She's tried to get into the Homonculus twice, once by running and once in a leap off Quixote's ... back? saddle?

Either way, she has managed to get thrown once by said Homonculus for her trouble (the other time a Strongman grabbed her out of the air so she didn't get there at all; when he threw her she nearly hit the SEES team but stuck her sword into the ground and spun around it three times, drilling a divot in the floor with the angled tip, before she got her feet under her).

Even Akari, bottomless well of energy that she is, is struggling...

But she has another idea.

"Hazuki-chan!" Ixquic calls, waving her arms. One of the arms is still holding her gigantic golden sword so it looks vaguely threatening, though she manages to turn the backswing into using the flat like a shield to take a stray shot.

"This isn't working! We just need to get there, right...? To knock him off?" She's starting to get an idea... "We need an opening! I have a plan though! It's genius! But it needs you too!"

But 'get an opening' is harder than it seems...
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
<poem>
THEN

"Oh," Koh says, once light burns away the darkness of the big top and he's blinked away the afterimage burnt into his eyes.

"Better put on a show, then." His lips cut into a smile that carries more confidence than he feels.

NOW

False bravado has given way to exhaustion, both physical and spiritual. The needlessly stylish SEES combat uniform that Koh just recently received is already in need of repair, but the bright patch remains at least untouched.

Minato's request is met with a, "No problem!" despite there being very many problems. Koh twists out of the way of a flung bowling pin at Yukari's warning, flashing his teammate a quick raise of hand in thanks before his evoker fires again.

Dancing behind him, reveling in the melee, his Persona gleefully siphons his remaining reserves into another malignant wall of vapors.

The next few Shadows that breach close enough to SEES formation will at least do so unsteadily, as likely to tear into each other as the two navigators.

"A little low!" He calls in warning, though it's clear by the heavy breathing and sagging posture.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
''Coward! Face us yourself!''

The answer to that taunt is bald-faced, contemptible laughter, seeming to almost distort at times like a strained, old digital note. It's a fact that Ririka, tuned and so focused on such things, can tell:

Just like the Homunculus itself, it doesn't sound - for FEEL - natural. Like natural noise being replicated and blasted through an old speaker.

"Oh please! Why would I bother with trash? You're the entertainment! So -- ENTERTAIN ME."

And entertained the Homunculus seems, throughout all their attempts to reach him -- throughout all their struggles against his seemingly limitless creations. The Flegmats seem to respond to his amusement, cheering and clapping in increasingly higher volumes the more and more exhausted the Persona-Users who have rallied with Hazuki become.

Reiya continues with increasingly canny methods to try to reach the Thing wearing Nakata's face directly -- and yet every time, it seems to have a new way to repel him, even as he puts those vaunted talents for moving in the shadows to use.

The others: Minato, Myunghon, Umie, Hazuki -- they all experience a similar fate.

And every time, the Flegmats call out,

"Again!" "Again!" "Again!!"

As if demanding they continue to try, and fall flat.

Like this entire world lived to see them struggle and fail.

Not that anyone here is going down without a fight. Between Myunghon, Ririka and Fuuka, they are managing to keep a lock on the vulnerabilities of the encroaching cognitions: the rapid-fire of Yukari's bow pierces through the Strongmen attacking Minato -- and one additional lion, attempting to pounce in from behind.

Katsuya's efforts and trusty firearm takes out another sword swallower before it can brandish its blade against him.

The flames of a fire-spitter buffet wildly against Ixquic's massive sword, the heat broiling against cognitive metal that refuses to yield against the onslaught.

Koh's Persona all but sings in the chaos, ripping through approaching cognitions, at one point destroying one before it's even fully spawned out of its bruising blotch of befouled, cognitive energies.

Minato's healing helps to power and bolster Hazuki, the supportive magics that the natural-born leader of SEES wields helping to keep them all in the fight a little bit longer.

But the more they fight that fight, the more it might feel like there's only one possible end. The cognitions simply keep coming, fueled by the Homunculus' increasingly iron-fisted grip on this space. Myunghon is right -- a change of strategy is necessary. A direct approach simply isn't working. But then what can they do?

Appeal to the crowds? Work within the Homunculus' rules? ...

Above, the Homunculus leans forward, its yellow-eyed stare focusing on Roger with a faint frown.

"... Annoying," he mumbles beneath his breath, a thick, greasy driblet of paint dropping off the tip of his nose. "Annoying. Annoying. What are you..."

But, suddenly--

''... You're at the top? Don't make me laugh. If I'm the fodder, then why are you so ugly that I can barely stand to look at you?''

"... What?"

-- he finds himself distracted from his reverie.

Yellow eyes glide towards Yukari, the exact second she spits out that insult. That gaze narrows, as lips almost free of a clown's ruddy red paint pull into a tight frown.

"Who are you?" he asks, his voice a crackled snarl. "WHO ARE YOU? ''I'm'' ugly? You're NOTHING. You think you can laugh at me??"

That seems to have gotten his attention.

The Flegmats hush in reaction. His gaze darts to them for a moment, and frustration becomes apparent on his features. Maybe it is like Umie says -- maybe turning the crowds against him ''will'' work, if only for the sake of his ego. The others' ideas about distracting him - Ixquic's idea about ''unseating'' him - might just be on the right track. But--

"... You can't stand to look at me, huh? Fine. Fine. FINE. Let's make this the last time you have to, then."

The Thing Wearing Taro Nakata's Face sighs, head slumping into a gloved and waiting palm, fingers squishing a paint-grease smeared cheek as the unrightful ringleader of this captive carnival stares on at the chaos in with a bland, half-lidded stare.

"This isn't fun anymore." it states flatly, to the audience? To itself? Perhaps only one of those answers truly matters. "So let's just end it here, shall we? What a shame, Nakao. All that tough talk, and in the end, you're just like the rest of them. A small, inconsequential loser."

The Homunculus sighs. It lifts its free, gloved hand up, thumb pointed sideways.

"But let's be fair about it. The people will get their say. So, ''people''!"

The Flegmats in the audience all fall silent. As if just -- ''waiting''.

"Should we put an end to these little losers?!"

"KILL THEM!"
"Kill them!"
"KILL THEM!"
"kill them!"
"KILL THEM!"
"kIlL tHeM!"
"do a flip"

"KILL THEM!!"

"Well."

The Homunculus leans forward, yellow eyes widening with inhuman delight. A grin of cartoonish proportion grows on its scarcely-painted lips, spreading almost to the very corners of its eyes, pearly white teeth far too wide and far too pointed.

"You heard 'em."

Its gloved hand tips down. It swipes its cane, flips to a standing position on that bobbin, and swings that cane downward.

As, just above, a TREMENDOUS circle cannon seems to just ''unmeld'' from the tent top, fuse lighting in preparation to deliver the coup de grace upon all gathered.

"Guess that PERFECT CLEAR is just out of reach, Nakao! YOU LOSE--!"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
"Here comes a new challenger, mother****!"

INSERT MUSIC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrUuKehpGuQ - NOT FOR CHILD

This interruption comes from someone who is hauling ass from the front of the big top. A late arrival? Covering a flank unannounced? A dramatic hang-back? Something of all of these?

Either way, Saika Kikuchi is on the scene. Many have seen her, but perhaps this is the first time she has been seen *clearly*. Saika is running, sort of; but it's more like a leaping, skipping motion, momentum as well as some power in her legs meaning that she leaps *over* people on her way forwards.

It puts one in a great position to read some of the things on the back of that long white yankii coat she has on. Flowery kanji that doesn't *exactly* suit what's being expressed, block-printed in vivid, glossy black. One in particular stands out as her leaping bounds move from covering ground to rising in height:

'Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I
can make you so wretched the light of day will be hateful to you.'

As Saika's skipping motion bursts past the ragged, bloody edge of those assembled's conflict with the terrifying power of the Homunculus, she vaults up - planting a foot *on top of the Homunculus's head* on her way upwards. As she rises, she turns round, legs spreading halfway-apart like scissors to grasp around the gaping barrel of that deadly cannon.

Like an acrobat, one hooks over - Saika reaches up to lash her arm to the cross-barred ankle with the chain she carries wrapped around one hand and wrist. And after that:

"hrrrrrr--"

The cannon sinks slightly out of true from the additional 10X pounds of Saika it's sprouted. There is a subtle groaning.

"Come ON--"

The groaning isn't coming from Saika.

"-- Frankenstein's-- ''Monster,''" Saika grunts, and the shadowy form of the Monster of legend appears, although curiously enough, he's inverted, just like Saika. His eyes cross over Hazuki's and Minato's in particularly, it seems, before that groaning sound rises to a shriek.

The barrel of the cannon is bent. Slightly 'squished', bent six degrees or so from true. Saika exhales hugely. She looks satisfied, momentarily calm.

Her eyes open. A moment later she is throwing the legendary Double Deuce at the Homunculus with both hands, *still dangling from the cannon*, her tongue hanging out of her mouth as she cackles like a harpy. "Kahahaa!! Nice show-piece, but I guess it's PRETTY USELESS NOW, HUH!?"

The cackling continues for several seconds.

After that Saika's head turns to look at the assembled. Her hands go to rest on her hips. Her hair and the long end of the chain dangle. She does not seem concerned.

"Man! That piggy was working his tenderloins off, and it's a pretty good thing he was, given what I'm seein' up here. There were like eight thousand Flegmats in here! Round of applause to all of you!" Her head turns around, looking over the group. "You know what, save that for when we win." Saika leans forwards (upwards) like a monkey, hugging the barrel with one arm as she transfers her weight from a leg-lock to an arm lock around the barrel, talking over her shoulder. "Pernelle! Yanagi! Tell 'em what's up!"

"Back to work," she says, as she lets go to fall feet-first at the Homunculus's head. As she does, she lets out that damn LAUGH again.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
"And if you would so kindly turn your attention to our left -- oh, no, my mistake, your other left -- you will see..."

A peacock soars onto the battlefield after Saika, his wingspan catching the light in shimmering iridescence. Ah, but Pernelle is not ''merely'' a peacock, and here in the Atelier, everyone can see him for what he is: a peacock ''in stylish clothing''. Admire him in his beautiful indigo vest. Adore him in his fluffy neck scarf and orange-tinted glasses. Appreciate his trendishly tattered tricorne, adorned with his own feather.

"... none other than splendid, splendiferous me!"

Every one of Pernelle's movements is more cartoonishly articulate in their range and expressiveness. He lands upon his footclaw with a graceful twirl to pivot toward a group of enemies. This bird can fight, and fight he does, steel glinting within his wings and train feathers. He opens that train -- eye spots actually ''blinking'' -- like it were spring loaded, cutting into a nearby masked clown for him to follow up with a one-two slice of the feather blades hidden in his wings with all the fluidity and elegance of a dance.

"Anqa, darling!" he calls, flourishing a deep bow as a sparkling butterfly passes by his vision. He snaps his long neck out, chomping down upon it fierce with his beak to ''devour'' as the space above him shatters into the form of a beautifully stitched, golden doll of a bird, like him her body's silhouette, but unlike him in her falcon's head. Pernelle sweeps into her, wing to wing, and Persona and User dance together before Anqa lowers Pernelle in a deep dip, her gemstone eyes set upon the enemies before them.

The seams of her head explode open, revealing the darkness within her plush skull as Mafrei bursts out and into group of sword swallowers with all the brilliance of fireworks.

"Ha HA!" Pernelle laughs joyously as he dispatches his foes. "Delightful fun!" He spins to face the others with such enthusiasm he nearly falls over before righting his balance. "But do you see? All style and not a dash of substance! This battle, my friends...

"... is a ''charade!''"

A creature that squawks loudly enough to wake the neighborhood at 2am shows the advantage to his sonorous voice as it carries over the din of battle. These are the moments that truly count. Who needs sleep in the hours before dawn when Pernelle is here in your moment of need?

"Your target is not the Homunculus, it is the cage of silk he would call his throne!" Pernelle cries. "That is where the genuine article slumbers, captured by his counterfeit!"

Pernelle sweeps out his wing, pointing to the bobbin that the Homunculus bounces upon, its threads spreading out as the tightropes of the Big Top.

"You must aim for the Cocoon!"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
And behind Saika and Pernelle is Yanagi, the support for her own group and therefore the logical back row resident. Where Saika runs and ''leaps'' on into the fray, and Pernelle flies in in grand style, Yanagi walks leisurely along, her walking cane supporting her every step.

Like Saika, Pernelle, and Hazuki, she doesn't look like she usually does, though her face is recognizably her own. Her pale skin is still pale, but her ashen hair is now a brilliant sunset pink, hot and vibrant and shaded in the dark lavender of twilight. Her lead eyes are peacock green, bright and shimmering with hints of deep blue. Her outfit is rather like a magical girl costume, with a wrap around her waist, a skirt shorter in front than in back, enveloped by a stained glass-like coat that hoop around her reinforced thigh-high boots. With each step she takes, that long hair of hers seems to undulate like the sea, waves upon waves cresting in her wake, a circlet on her brow and glittering with jewels on her temples.

She looks upon the circus with calm--from the Homunculus that would be Taro Nakata and his clown make-up that is very nearly gone, to Hazuki and her pig Shadow friend, to members of SEES and members of Cardboard Dragon and more, to the relentless hordes of Shadows that replace themselves as soon as they're felled.

It's clear that they can't sustain this, whatever plans they try to pull off. But that's all right. Yanagi waves jauntily at Saika when she encourages her and Pernelle to follow up--but then settles her attention on the Homunculus and smiles sweetly.

"Oh, my! You're almost there. Just a little more and you get to be 'Taro Nakata,'" she calls to it. She tilts her head, both hands settling on the head of her polished cane. "Or rather... Just a little more, and you ''would have gotten'' to be 'Taro Nakata.' After all, doesn't the audience love it best when the one who seems to be on top... takes a sudden, dramatic fall?"

A butterfly of light materializes before her, fluttering across her path. Yanagi raises her cane--and it becomes apparent that the inside is hollow, a muzzle that flashes when she pulls the trigger. The butterfly shatters just as she lilts, "Giselle!"

A ghostly ballerina bride with catheter needles for arms and legs materializes behind Yanagi, spinning an endless, graceful pirouette. As she remains en pointe, tiny origami angels materialize around ''her''... then vanish, only to reappear around the Homunculus, tittering as they float and sway and vanish and reappear like motes of golden dust in the darkness. They can do no harm, but they are ''quite'' annoying--and so sure to draw the Ringmaster's attention.

The Homunculus isn't the only one approached by these little paper angels. Hazuki and everyone else has one each materialize in front of them too. They unfold out of their angel form into a crumpled but flattened piece of animation paper, which frames the Ringmaster... and then pans down to the strange Schiffli bobbin on which he is perched. The thing that Pernelle just spoke of, to which he'd just pointed. It glows briefly red, before the animation cel fades.

''This'' is what they must target: the Cocoon in which the true Taro Nakata is trapped.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem>
'Don't give up, Roger! We're all connected here! As long as we stick together, we'll get a perfect clear!'

'Roger-san,' '...If there is something you can do...' 'Otherwise, this game may be about to end...'

'Yes. Hazuki is right. We aren't defeated yet. This is yet another ordeal in which we need to find the thread to lace through the eye of the needle...!'

'Hang in there! Amphion, Rakukaja!'

Roger snorts pathetically as he tries to sit up. He's been turned into a spectator without realizing (albeit one with a cushy Rakukaja buff). On on eside, the failing Humors defending what is left of the Atelier that could conceivably belong to 'Taro Nakata' and not 'the Homonculus, which is that ringmaster monstrosity.' All of them have treated him like he was an outsider, not a fellow Humor and denizen of an Atelier. On the other side, the many strange, but fun, friends who have all gathered with their amazing powers of Persona. The way SEES plays as a team is remarkable (even scary). The flashy, cool, confident ones with their own daring strategems...

"Eeee..." Roger sniffs. "I really don't know... I..." He looks up to Hazuki. "If anyone can get that 'perfect clear,' then..." If anyone. If any... one. He presses his fingers inward as he peers down. He feels like all he can do is watch, somehow surrounded by the Flegmat Humors that have warped to the Homonculus' will even though he is not ''in'' the stands.

He's... not getting to play.

"Aaah!" Roger squeals and stuffs his hands into his face, starting to panic-dance back and forth, side-to-side, as the Homonculus points that enormous cannon down at them, but then---

Here comes a new challenger, mother**** indeed, with the cannon undone... and Pernelle's keen eye for the cocoon'd guy... and the distracting teasing and marking of what the Homonculus is protecting...

Even with Saika's praise of all of his efforts, Roger continues to look downcast as what remains of the Shadow hordes that appear to reflect the real Taro Nakata's psyche continue to throw themselves into the thick of it.

"But... what can I do now? I'm not..." He gets drowned out over the sound of a familiar Sanguin Humor who fulfilled the role of a ticket machine repair specialist screaming bloody murder about tickets as the opposing Shadow hordes obscure him.

What (incidental) support the Atelier itself is attempting to leverage, Roger has no hand in - and never did, as far as anyone knows.

"Hazuki-chan... everyone... this is what separates us, isn't it..."

They have their true target, and he still can't play.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>The SEES crew is doing their best. The Cardboard Dragon is doing their best. Roger is doing his best.

What is Hazuki doing?

She's scared. But she shouldn't be - that's just vestiges of the mask she wears, telling her it's okay to be scared.

But inside, she knows she shouldn't be. Because as Reiya vows to see her through...

"Don't worry, Aomori-san. I'm gonna end this... without losing a single life."

Reiya and Yukari, as well as any others paying close attention to Hazuki, may realize this isn't just adrenaline high, or reluctant confidence, or a coping mechanism.

It's a certain sense of *surety*, a combat high that comes only from someone who feels like they were born for this. Someone freeing herself from all shackles, piercing the darkness that veils her with the light of a thousand stars.

A sense of mania that only comes from someone who this is a natural environment for. It's nothing like that gloomy girl who apologizes and is nervous on every word.

Ixquic's words cause her to snap those golden eyes over. "Okay, Ixquic-senpai! Let's set it up!"

Yes, she calls the middle schooler senpai.

But, as they push, the Homunculus Taro gets *angry* at Yukari. He gets bored. He tells Hazuki her perfect clear is out of reach, as that cannon prepares to kill them all.

She's defiant, til the last. She's still showing a determined face, as she starts stepping towards that cannon, prepared to try and defuse the brunt of it with her bat. It's insane. But if they're going to die if they do nothing...

And then comes FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER WITH A STEEL CHAIR!!!

Peacock Silk's appearance and the destruction of the cannon gets Hazuki shouting out. "Kikuchi-san! Nagisa-san! Pernelle-san! Not a moment too late! Thank you!"

it was ABSOLUTELY almost too late are you kidding

As Pernelle declares the charade and Giselle frames that bobbin for them, showing it in red as the target, Hazuki's turning towards the one person she personally brought here.

"Ixquic-senpai! We need to get to that cocoon!" She's rushing towards Ixquic, preparing a team-action, as...

"ELIGOR!"

Janus fades out, and in fades a demonic spear knight in red armor, riding a black horse. He has two horns.

Hazuki Nakao truly was a Wild Card.

"Make it count!"

Eligor casts an attack-boosting spell on Hazuki and Ixquic, energy washing over them and preparing her for her future assault!

"Nakata-kun! I'm coming for you, just hold on a little longer!"

And as Roger looks downcast, Hazuki's turning back to him, a grin on her face.

"Come on! If you can't be Player One... be Player Two! I believe in you, Roger! This is your home... it's time to save it!"

It sounded cooler in her head, but for a gamer, it's inspiring nonetheless. The message is clear: either way, you can still play.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Umie does have a plan -- cognitively, if this is all a stage, and they are but actors upon it... then are they playing the incorrect role? Katsuya himself seems to be struggling with what approach in cognitive logic they must take. There's no time to hesitate, however. They do understand the implicit weakness in Umie's own plan -- Umie would prefer to be in the *shadows*, to nto be seen. Even now, she's struggling to find her mask--

"I'll cover you, Akabane-san." They listen to Katsuya's logic. "It is all a zero-sum game to him. Only either a winner, or a loser," they remark. "But what Akabane-san says is true in that there must exist a logic in which how the 'winner' is determined. If we can pull upon that thread like the earth from underneath him, then this cognitive superiority may very well be disproved."

They saw it, after all, with Kaneshiro -- he was seemingly invincible until his money ran out.

But -- it's Yukari's taunt that seems to have wormed its way into the Homunculus' skin. Perhaps it is as Umie says. Unseating him, as Akari says. But the Homunculus is now more enraged, still wielding the power in this cognitive big top, and it stirs the audience, the frenzy, into a bloodlust as they chant for their deaths.

Myunghon recognises the threat of the cannon moments after it manifests, and they raise the ribbons of their Coat to prepare Trafuri once more. "I'm calling a retreat. Takeba-kun, SEES, can you evacuate?! We can't afford to remain here--"

But then--

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!

Myunghon's eye widen as they exclaim, "Saika?!"

This time, Saika's draped in a long white coat that has various yojijukugo imprinted upon it. No, it's not quite -- they remember that passage from... the Mary Shelley novel?

And as if confirming that, Saika's call is for the Monster itself -- appearing, as if from myth, from fiction, as it just about goes and up and tangles the cannon until it's naught but a decoration. The show isn't over, though, because Saika calls for Pernelle -- for Yanagi --

Their heart skips a bit.

Does that mean ''they'' are here too?

Ah. And how splendiferous indeed Pernelle is, iridescent in clothing adorned just for him, right from the vest to the tricorne hat! Pernelle, too, summons a Persona -- Myunghon had been wondering all this time if the Peacock is awakened -- and Anqa rises, as if in dance between two birds, and the two work in tandem to make nuclear fission happen.

This is how the world ends: when fowl play is involved.

Pernelle's advice is salient -- aim not for the Homunculus... but the Cocoon.

But Saika graced a third woman for entry -- and of course, Myunghon does watch with rapt attention; it's Yanagi Nagisa, walking in leisurely grace, but like how they'd chatted about colour, what was once ashen hair is now vibrant, sunset pink and lavender, eyes peacock green, her outfit magical and transmutative and wondrous. It is breathtaking.

"Yanagi...!"

Yanagi taunts the Homunculus dramatically, speaking of the dramatic fall that awaits Taro Nakata -- and Yanagi, too, manifests a Persona from... that flash... is that a-- Before Myunghon can wonder if that is some kind of custom-made Evoker, their attention is drawn to the repeated motifs of the butterfly, and the ghostly ballerina that pirouettes behind her.

Is... Tsumugi not here, then?

... they're not ...pining... or anything.

Hazuki has an insistence that she'll ''end'' this, without losing a single life. There's something within her words that reminds them of how they become, as Rumourmonger Merry -- it's not an adrenaline high, or reluctant confidence, or a coping mechanism... it's the surety that is seeded within her the way it was seeded in them. The certainty of what it is they must do in life--

Much like how Rumourmonger Merry must replace their flesh and blood with light and Hope.

Roger is struggling further, swallowed by that self-doubt as the Shadow hordes seem to threaten to drown him. Myunghon is finding it difficult to care and look for everyone else and they're relying on Hazuki for Roger's safety too. They think of how Roger couches everything in entertainment and play...

"Your Game is nowhere close to Over, Roger! Are you satisfied with this outcome without even picking 'Continue'?! If you are out of 100-yen coins, then I shall lend you more change!"

The Rumourmonger dramatically flips a coin across the battlefield, which lands at Roger's front. It's a Mon coin, Myunghon's precious, used to pay for ferriage across the Sanzu river.

A dangerous grin is on Merry's face as they look to roger. "My life shall be the 1-Up to let you continue!"

"... the plan hasn't changed -- we're shifting..." Merry rings the coccoon with their index finger and thumb, as Yanagi's little beautiful origami angel points out, that Revolutionary smirk on their face. "There," as Pernelle pointed out as well.

"Suou-san, Akabane-san, I'd like you to prepare the strongest force that you can muster when we do. I'll empower you!"

And then the Rumourmonger does just that, as Kudlak rises from within the vast, inky blackness of their form -- and Trafuri fires off, and the three of them are teleported across the battlefield in short order, at a more opportune angle to aim for the Schiffli bobbin, the Cocoon... empowered by... CRIME!

Can you charge a Homunculus with identity fraud, Katsuya Suou?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
<poem>
Yukari's the one who draws the Homunculus's ire, eventually, and Minato regards her affirmatively for it. It doesn't matter to him that they've decided it's time for them to die -- she found the key trigger to move this creature to its next stage.

He doesn't malign her for that -- he regards her highly. Now... how to ''survive'' the next stage... that part is his job.

Except -- the trick is -- Fools never act alone...!! And so, in a flurry of style...!

Orpheus, floating behind Minato, regards Saika -- just as Frankenstein's Monster beholds ''him.'' The cannon is bent, and...

"Cool," Minato decides, with a stern nod.

Cool, as well: the peacock soaring in. "... he can fight," Minato notes, with his usual dull expression. Surely he is impressed on the ''inside,'' though, for he was moved to ''speak'' on it.

"You, too..." He regards Yanagi with recognition. "They helped us, when the Emperor and Empress attacked," he explains, to the others. "This woman, and her peacock friend. They helped give me the strength to withstand the Full Moon Shadows."

Minato, leader of SEES... is vouching for them!!

But Roger is struggling, and Minato turns to that Shadow who has a mind of its own, that anomaly in his universe. "If there is nothing more you can do in this game," he suggests, "start another. No one game lasts forever... but the soul of a gamer endures."

Hazuki, meanwhile, summons another Persona from the sea of her soul, and Minato nods, firmly, once. "That's it."

With that, he turns -- and fires his Evoker against his skull, unflinching. "Naga!" He invokes, as a slithering snake-man rises up behind him to inflame the fighting spirits of SEES. "Katsuhiro-kun, addle the enemies so no one interferes. Takeba-san, I need you to revitalise our forces. Kawase-san, Yamagishi-san, can you work together to find the best way to break that cocoon? Aomori-kun, follow their directives with a direct assault."

He's not shaken in the slightest...!

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
<poem>
'Without losing a single life.'

Reiya is not so sure, but he knows she'll try--at the cost of her own, if need be. That's part of why he ''must'' be here.

And... Maybe Yukari's insults are the way to go. Reiya can respect her sharp tongue--it's a skill he simply doesn't have... and his own skills seem not to be doing the trick. No matter how stealthy his approach, it isn't enough. Even his ability to cloak his Resonance isn't sufficient.

But the audience...

Reiya is not one to appeal to the crowd; as it happens, it seems this challenge requires the ''opposite'' of his skillset. He isn't a performer for the stage; he's the technician who makes them shine.

But just as Reiya tries to find a way to do just that--The cannon. "Tch," Reiya says. "We're not here for your 'fun'!" he shouts, defiant, the least composed he has been seen to be thus far.

The cannon is ready... until, thanks to Saika and Frankenstein's Monster, it isn't. Reiya blinks at the double deuce. He blinks at Pernelle approaching. No substance?

And Yanagi. Yanagi, again, but different indeed. Reiya recognizes her...

"...So this is the question I should've asked," Reiya reflects, looking over Yanagi's form and the Cocoon as it has been revealed, staring at the little paper angel.

"I should've realized," Reiya reflects. "To protect your most precious vulnerability..."

"Provide another target, instead. Basic."

But Roger... Roger doesn't know what to do. Reiya looks at him. Is there anything a Shadow can do? ...Hazuki seems to believe in him. And after all...

It is his home. And yet...

"The game isn't over after all," he comments.

Minato vouches for them, and Reiya might too. ...The soul of a gamer, though...

Hm.

"Direct assault," Reiya repeats. "On it, Leader."

Reiya starts upward, weaving around obstacles so that he can get in position to attack.

"On your signal!" he calls to Kawase and Yamagishi, pulling three needles into his hand again and preparing to throw them on his way forward.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
Nakao shows surety, and Yukari seems bewildered by it, given the desperation inherent in the situation. "... How can you be so confident? That's your friend up there."

That got it's attention. She quakes inwardly, some part of her, but the Homunculus' worldview is so repulsive that she manages to steel herself, and say, "... You're too pathetic to even laugh at."

His talk is frantic, it promises violence, it promises loss - it promises that at the end of the day Nakao won't have a friend any longer.

He asks the crowd.

The raucous chorus of 'kill them' is met with a cannon's appearance, and a fuse being lit- even as Myunghon calls for retreat, "What's the call, leader?" She asks Minato.

And then- "An acrobat!?" As she worries now suddenly they'll have targets coming from above! But, instead, the cannon sinks as the figure-

"Wait she's a Persona User?" She seems taken aback, as they're saved by some weird cackling Persona User. "Uh, thanks?" Before 'our left-' Yukari looks left- then Yukari looks her ''other left''- "Make up your mind?"

And a Peacock!? "Wait... He's wearing... clothes now!?" Anqa, darling! "And he has a PERSONA?"

Just imagine if you will that conversation with Mitsuru Kirijo not long before, when she asked about Shadows, now with the addendum of a Peacock wielding a Persona.

She has the feeling that Mitsuru would only stare at her like she was a crazy person.

'a charade' "What do you mean?" 'You must aim for the Cocoon!' "And how do you even know that!?"

Another Persona User makes their instance, and for some reason, "Wait - they're ''all'' from that weird boutique?"

And then Hazuki shows a Persona and- it's different from the one she came in with, "Really? Does she have the same power as the Arisatos?" She says, sounding shocked by the thought of it.

Like 'her'???

She didn't want to bring her here at all- and now... that surety. Will it be like when Minato took up her Evoker?

That insecurity creeps in again, and a need for it not to go that way, and as Minato calls for her to revitalize all of them, taking her out of such self-pitying thoughts.

She pops a soul drop in her mouth, before putting the Evoker to her head, and pulling the trigger, "Right!" And as Io arrives, suddenly a wave of healing washes over all of SEES, from a Mediarama spell, "... You don't need to worry about me pulling my weight."

No one was of course, she says that more to herself, as she that wave of healing brings them up and makes it clear they're ready for round two.

"Let us know once you've given the Cocoon a good hard look Fuuka...!" She calls out, after Minato and Reiya, "... I want to be really sure before we start taking battle strategy from a talking bird."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Koh calls that he's a little low, and Ririka glances over to him. "Katsuhiro-san! I've got you! Amphion!" The Persona strums his lyre, and the enchanted melody carries with it a fresh little bit of strength. It's not much, but... she's been doling out what she can for a while now.

The Homunculus laughs, and Ririka listens carefully, hand on her headphone to help her sort through the sounds of the rowdy crowd. Like an old speaker... does it mean something besides the obvious? She's not sure.

And of course she can't fail to hear the angry shouting that Yukari prompts. "Well you got his attention," Ririka murmurs. She hopes Yukari had a plan to go with that.

But the thing wearing Taro's face leaves it up to the crowd, and she doesn't need Navigator-aided hearing to hear the judgement. "Craaaaap," she mutters as that large cannon manifests.

But someone new emerges, and Ririka whips around to see Saiaka bounding, and then she plants a foot on the Homunuclus and goes for the cannon, all she can do is stare, mouth agape. "What the--"

Round of applause. "Um..." Ririka blinks, and then glances over to see Pernelle. "Wait, ''Pernelle''?" She's looking dubious at his claim of 'fun', but she does direct her attention to the Cocoon. And Yanagi emphasizes the point, by summoning butterflies that unfold and guide their attention.

She doesn't have answers for Roger, but Hazuki's surety... Ririka takes a deep breath, lets fresh air fill her lungs and sets her jaw as Minato issues orders. "On it! Let's do this, Yamagishi-san!"

Ririka reaches out, and at her fingertips piano keys made of light spring into existence as she starts to play a fast-paced tune. She's listening to how the sound bounces off of the Cocoon, looking for weaknesses, reaching out to Fuuka to share the information she's getting in real time.

She's too busy with that to make an appeal to Taro directly, but... some here might recognize the tune she's playing: it's an up-tempo version of the stage music for Kappa, Taro's best Night Parade fighter.

"Almost there, Aomori-san! Stand by...!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
Again, and again. And again.

If it weren't a cognitive space, he would have exhausted his bullets by now. "If it were possible to prove that the world is not a zero-sum as it thinks," he articulates, gazing up at the Homunculus, "then, maybe... But is it as simple as that? Will it listen? If we can undermine its logic in some way, and play its rules against it--"

He snipes another sword-swallower Melanc as it closes near. "--How the 'winner' is determined? Is that it? But, do we know how?" he asks of Myunghon.

That may be the question of the moment.

Alas, it's also a moment that is quickly slipping from their grasp. "--We're out of time," Katsuya says, his gaze on that cannon overhead. His glance turns sharply Myunghon's way. "Yet, if we retreat here, Nakata-san may not be able to hold out much longer! Surely--"

But in this moment, they are not alone. One among their number is someone that Katsuya knows on sight.

"--Saika-san?" ...He's on first-name basis with her? (Admittedly, it's the only name for her he knows.)

Yanagi. Where has he heard that name before? And is that-- surely it's not. Even though Saika calls ''him'' by name.

"There is... no mistaking that personality," he admits aloud to himself as Pernelle makes his own arrival and explains the truth of the tableau before them. Katsuya's gaze lands squarely upon the thing which the Homunculus rests upon. "That thing is... a cocoon?! Has it been shaped by the Atelier, or--"

Now is not the time for such things, though. Shaking his head, he's just in time to turn his head towards Myunghon and say, "Then we must--" as they declare that the strategy has shifted, and the spell takes them

right across

the battlefield.

He's obviously taken by surprise, his initial sudden movement suggesting he's not entirely sure where he is in relation to the Homunculus at first. "Right there?!" he calls out, his gaze tracing a path towards the bobbin upon which the Homunculus perches. As much force as possible. Then he knows what he needs to do. Touching his fingertips to the bridge of his glasses, Katsuya calls out, "Helios! Come forth!"

The felinoid shape that rises behind him trails blue flame, ascending but a short distance before its shots ring out, one after another, and aimed for that bobbin alone. If what they're saying is right, then this should decide it. But, what if they're mistaken?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>Yukari's words seem to catch the Homunculus's attention. Fuuka can feel it as the Flegmats fall silent. It's ominous.

"Something's coming...!" She gasps - and as the Humors call for their deaths, the Homunculus calls upon something. It's... a cannon. Fuuka's eyes open wide.

"That's just not fair...!" She gasps. "I'll - try to think of a countermeasure, but-"

Fortunately, she won't have to. Suddenly, they receive unexpected help - the employees of Peacock Silk are here.

"It's you...!" Fuuka observes. She recognizes Yanagi and Pernelle, from the night of her rescue - Saika, however, is a new face. She certainly knows how to make a good first impression, though - the cannon is squished!

More Humors are dispersed... and important information is dispensed.

"The Cocoon..." Fuuka repeats. Her attention turns toward the paper angel that appears in front of her. The bobbin the Ringmaster is perched on... She looks up at it. Their true target was hiding in plain sight all along.

"...I understand! Thank you!" Fuuka calls out. Their target is set, and Minato gives the next order. Reiya and Yukari are counting on her

"Yes. I'm beginning analysis of the Cocoon now, everyone. Let's work together, Kawase-san!"

She focuses her attention on it, as if she could pierce it through with her eyes - to look through it layer by layer, to get a better understanding of it on a spiritual level.

"Tell me... What are you? What secrets do you hide? How can we save the soul hidden within you...?" She murmurs. Ririka establishes a link - and Fuuka meets her on the other end of it. What information she gathers is passed to her in turn. From the outside, it might be as if the communication happened instantaneously - if they notice it happening it all, as they do their best to reach a consensus.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>Ixquic has been trying to keep an eye on the people she knows - Umie, Roger, Yukari, Myunghon, among others - but she has been mostly sticking with Hazuki -

Well, scratch that. She has mostly been trying to fight and then *returning* to Hazuki. They're a team, if not as experienced as SEES, as unified as the Cardboard Dragon. Hazuki is the only person who knows even part of the true secret of Ixquic...

Ixquic lets out a little whining sound - quiet, easy to miss - when her planted sword functions as a shield; it's certainly broad enough, but while the sword remains intact, Ixquic can still feel the heat radiating from it. If she didn't have gloves on she would probably regret hefting it again, but she does.

"You can't just end it like that!" Ixquic calls, with the (lack of) clarity of youth, as he threatens a cannon: "That's not *winning*!" Sorry, Ixquic, while this may have worked on some of the Shadows, it certainly isn't going to work on the Homonculus. What can she even do against a cannon? If she was up there she could hit it, but even with Quixote she can't get there in time - Quixote can jump but she can't fly -

Because Ixquic has her full helmet on, her expression is impossible to read. But the way she angles her head to look at Saika implies she is staring. They even have... "Peacock Silk!" she blurts out. "You're here!! At the last moment, a hero comes, dressed in finery...!"

She looks from Saika, to Pernelle (who she doesn't actually recognize at first) to Yanagi to the little scrap of paper. Bringing her sword up, she points again, thrusting it forward. "All right! I, Ixquic, will stand firm against the darkness!"

Ixquic spares a glance for Roger, nodding as much to herself as him. "They're right! Listen to Hazuki-chan! We're all together here. You don't have to play alone!" Ixquic is less of a video gamer, but that doesn't mean she knows nothing, and with the others supporting him.

She has her own role to play.

Ixquic's original plan was to try to slam the Taro-Homonculus off his throne. But with this new information... she can change the plan. And it'll work just as well... maybe better. "Right! It's time for the last charge! To stake it all on this single blow! QUIXOTE!"

The centauride-motorcycle appears... and stays, this time, revving her engine loudly as Ixquic literally swings herself up. She slides as far forward on the seat as she can as she pops a wheelie (!) and tears out, Quixote leaving a trail of sparkling light behind her as Ixquic accelerates.

She swerves dangerously to one side, reaching out with the hand that's not holding the sword - for Hazuki.

"Hup!"

Ixquic is a lot stronger than she looks - a lot stronger than most middle schoolers. Maybe it's because of Quixote's aid; she certainly doesn't seem that strong normally, despite her size. But she boosts Hazuki up onto the seat behind her without slowing down. Quixote's engine changes pitch slightly...

...but keeps accelerating.

"Hold on!" Ixquic calls, over the noise. "I'm going to pass by it on the left! Swing to the right! I can't, I need to steer!" Ixquic CAN swing off Quixote - she's done it before - but she'd probably elbow Hazuki right off the seat, so best not to try.

And, ultimately, Taro is Hazuki's friend. It feels *right*. Yes, Akari thinks, a warrior fighting for someone who claims to hate them, to bring them back to the side of righteousness! A fire burns in her that isn't JUST the Tarukaja...

"One! Two! Three!"

Ixquic ramps off a Strongman cognition, Quixote leaving a short-lived trail of light now in the air instead of along the ground. Ixquic does not use her sword - but at the last moment, she swerves Quixote, adding force and impact to whatever Hazuki chooses to do and causing that light to *shear* off in a cutting line!
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
<poem>
Koh flashes a quick grin when Ririka passes over a little more juice. It doesn't last long, though.

"Takeba-san! I think you made him mad!"

The cannon is a problem. Koh can staunch wounds, but that's so far been predicated on he and his allies remaining in a whole piece. "Uh, Aristao-san, everyone"

But Saika's daring acrobatics save the day before the grand show is brought to a premature end.

"Haa. Awesome."

Peacock Silk arrives to bring a brief reprieve! The bird calls to aim for the Cocoon, and the paper angels reinforce the message. They seem to know what they're doing. Minato says so too and Koh believes it.

"Arcade's not closed yet, Roger-san."

Koh gets to work, revitalized. "Hey, Aomori-san! Good luck!" As Reiya makes his ascent Koh provides aid; clouds of toxic smoke explode to deter pursuit, not as immediately deadly as Yukari's bow but still a potent deterrent.

To SEES leader he calls, "I can take over when when Kawase-san and Yamagishi-san are ready!" The Wild Card will be able to do more real damage on offense than Koh, no doubt.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Umie isn't the only 'shinobi' here; Reiya's tactics are following along similar lines. And someone Marked in the way Umie is would find themselves all too eager to fall into the pattern of trying and failing, over and over, while something watches-- _perceives_, even -- with growing amusement.

To keep trying would be the natural fate for someone destined to fail.

Is this what they call a 'flow state'?

Time for a new game.

If Saika's loud disregard for the Ringmaster's show of superior firepower isn't bolstering enough, or Pernelle's stylish avian self pointing out the trick-- "_You have got to be fucking kidding me_," Umie mutters below her breath --or Yanagi's soft (and yet savage) words pointing out one trope an audience would certainly love--

If there's something that could bolster a scared Umie, it's the fear of something feeling equally small and vulnerable. Scared, even.

Tutor-sensei hears your fear and is going to respond, Roger. You will not be separated from your friend.

A clown? A performer? An acrobat? Nope. The worst way to disrupt a show was there all along: be Yukari Takeba! .... or not. Umie Akabane is not Yukari Takeba, but she can *certainly* be _Umie Akabane_. "Meh... I attended a circus not too long ago, and it was worlds more exciting than this." She turns over her hand, examining her nails. "Food, attendants, mystery, danger, even a tent where you got your fortune told. It was scarily good." Her other hand swings the metal ring to and fro, like a metronome.

"So I'll take a page from that place and tell you your fortune," Umie says, her lips splitting open in a curved grin. "You'll succeed in freeing yourself. A new life unfolds in front of you, full of possibility." She taps a finger to her chin. "Ah, wait, no, that's the fortune for * Taro Nakata*, not a _Ringmaster_. <My mistake.>" Umie raises one of her half-garbed hands overhead as Badb appears overhead a burst of blue light, the split halves of the white being's shawl fluttering out in an impossible gust of rushing wind. "Yeah, my bad, yours is completely different."

"You got a rough night ahead of y--"

And she's suddenly shifted to another point entirely, courtesy of Myunghon.

"--ou... shit." Umie palms her face.

Of course her timing was off.

Thankfully, she has some help. Red brown eyes focus as one of Yanagi's origami angels floats by her, Umie barely getting a moment to wonder at its construction before it unfolds into an animation cel, framing the bobbin.

"... should've just shot the thing instead of making a damn production out of it," Umie grumbles, summoning Badb once more, which lets out a shattering shriek of dark energy at the
same time as Helios' shots.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
"YOU--"

''Here comes a new challenger, mother****!''

"--LOSE--?!"

The damning order of the Homunculus claiming Taro Nakata's life becomes less an authoritative declaration ringing with finality, and more a surprised and unsettled squawk as ''uninvited guests'' show up at HIS Atelier. Surprise manages to take him for a brief, rare moment -- Saika, in that familiar white garb, leaps on and -past- him before taking dramatic hold of that cannon.

"You can't--" he begins, bluster giving way towards a taunting tone -- before with the power of the Creature of Frankensteins' mad works at her beck and call --

a loud shrieking SCREAM of metal heralds the truth: that she does what the Homunculus was sure would be a hilariously suicidal attempt --

she bends that cannon barrel, seconds before firing.

Soon enough, nuclear flames are washing the grounds, incinerating several sword-swallowers as they still, mindlessly, try to charge their targets. Peacock Silk's dramatic entrance brings a hush to the crowds of Flegmats ringing the audience. They look almost uncertain -- as if the Homunculus' hold on them has been shaken if only briefly in its surprise.

They are silent. The fuse on the cannon, despite the barrel being bent, continues to burn down.

And as Saika lunges off that large, cognitive apparatus of destruction?

As that cannonball ignites and then ''backfires'' creating a dramatic, rolling SHOCKWAVE of an explosion that becomes her backdrop as it ripples throughout the carnival?

The Flegmats all suddenly cheer, applause ringing throughout as Saika comes at the Homunculus, feet-first.

Maybe it's like Umie suggested - like that taunt Yanagi assailed against them -

The people yearn for a show. And what's a bigger show than the fall of the one at the top?

And perhaps Saika is prepared to give just that--

"Back to NOTHING. NOTHING!"

*tap*

A baton touches the soles of her boots.

"NOTHING!!"

And her entire momentum just -stops-.

"You think you can stunt on me?! Steal my spotlight!? NO!"

The baton swipes DOWN.

"BACK TO THE BOTTOM!"

And suddenly, flying out of the sky --

*HONK HONK*

-- an entire ''clown car'' stuffed to the brim with clowns all holding cartoon bombs just FLIES out of the sky to ramrod into Saika, to send them BOTH crashing groundwards with a harrowingly cartoonish explosion.

And there the Homunculus stands on top of its bobbin throne - no, on top of the COCOON, the prison in which the true Taro Nakata resides - its eyes wide, its pupils beady, its top hat slumped forward as

"SHUT UP!"

the cheers of the Flegmats ''instantly'' cease.

"So what. So what? So WHAT! So what that you have reinforcements now?! You're all the same! Unremarkable! Insignificant! Look at you! All you can do is babysit that-- that--"

The baton swings, pointing directly at Roger.

"--''pathetic'', ''sad'' slab of a mistake! It shouldn't even exist! And you think trying to make it ''feel better'' will do anything?! The world doesn't care about rejects like you! It'll grind you up and spit you out and no one will remember your names! Just like Nakao! Just like that -stupid pig-! But not me."

It leans forward, yellow eyes bulging. Distracted, it does not notice Katsuya and Umie being shunted across space below it.

"The world will remember MY name, even if I have to MAKE it! Because I'm--"

''Helios! Come forth!''

"--number ONE--?!"

Helios, in all its feline glory, manifests. Babd summons forth, hot on its heels. Screams ripple into the Cocoon; shot after shot rings out, and hits the thing, dead center. It wobbles in place, threads fraying; and though it doesn't quite ''break''--

--the Homunculus stops dead in its tracks as it lurches forward on its throne.

"what -- no! Stop that!"

And suddenly it's just -there-, wheeling around, LUNGING at Katsuya and Umie's Personas.

"STOP TOUCHING THAT."

It grips Helios within a strangling grasp of its gloved fingers, disheveled bangs draping over circular glasses as it tries to HURL the Persona groundwards. The Homunculus hits the arena grounds with a CRASH of impact. The assault might not have been a complete success, but it accomplishes two, critical things:

it proves that what Pernelle and Yanagi are saying is true -- the Cocoon IS the key.

And...

"I'm DONE with this show!"

... it takes the Homunculus off the perch it had been guarding that very Cocoon over, and onto the ground below.

And as Ririka and Fuuka pour their attention onto the Cocoon, they'll see it too. That Cocoon -- it's a supernatural space, encased in some kind of strange, cognitive material that makes up the bobbin-like form itself. And within --

They'll sense it. A Shadow. A real Shadow. No, not just that--

The ''real'' Taro Nakata, too.

A fact made all too clear for Ririka as the Kappa's theme plays, and the Cocoon -reacts-. The Flegmats all hush again, like they're uncertain - like they're not sure what to follow, or who to root for.

They just need to search a little more, and--

--and there!

Fuuka and Ririka will be able to see it:

The threads attaching the Cocoon to the Big Top on either side of it. ''That's'' where its weakest.

They need to be severed at the same time!

On the ground, unaware of what the Navigators are doing, the Homunculus sneers, wiping its face -- the dregs of clown makeup not wiping ''off'', but seeming ''thicker'' now, more ''there'', like they were building up in direct response to that reaction of the Cocoon to Ririka's Persona.

"You brats. 'That's not how games are played,'" the Thing Calling Itself Taro mock-whines. "This is EXACTLY how games are played! 'A rough night'? Your prophecy is garbage. Garbage! GARBAGE! I'll be the ''real'' Taro Nakata soon! ''I'm'' the one who decides what the future holds! The ones at the top decide the rules! Decide who wins! And I'm--"

It looks down, towards the ground it stands on.

"--I'm--"

And up, towards where the bobbin hangs in its tightrope position. Unguarded.

With Ixquic fast on the approach, preparing something immense.

"--I'm-- no! No--!!"

It springs, surprise and fury and -- ''fear'' on its face. Cognitions rally, clowns piling on top of each other to create a huge hill of bodies for the Homunculus to race up, towards Ixquic.

Its baton swings back, ready to summon something evermore heinous--

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> 'Come on! If you can't be Player One... be Player Two! I believe in you, Roger! This is your home... it's time to save it!' Roger muses over just how much of the place felt wrong the moment he was acutely aware there was a loose Homonculus.

A coin is flipped across the battlefield, following Rumormonger Merry's declaration that the Shadow's Game is nowhere close to Over. Is he satisfied with this outcome without even picking 'Continue'? He receives that Mon coin, that 1-Up.

'If there is nothing more you can do in this game, start another. No one game lasts forever... but the soul of a gamer endures.' Roger has to wonder... what other games are there left to play, now?

'The game isn't over after all.' Roger snorts, playfully exaggerated puffs of steam escaping his nostrils.

'They're right! Listen to Hazuki-chan! we're all together here. You don't have to play alone!' Right now, he is standing alone - not in the stands, not allowed to join the rest of the Humors that should include ''him'' on their team, and he lacks a Persona like Hazuki-chan and her friends.

'Arcade's not closed yet, Roger-san.' Somehow, this feels more apt to him in the moment than the carnival he calls home.

"Rrrr...! Nakata, here I come...!" Roger dives back into the fray, and... well.

It goes as well as one might expect. Let's save some paragraphs here, for expediency - it ends with Roger being ejected ham over hock, bouncing against the ground and wall like a gnarly tennis ball serve by the collective wall of violence.

'--''pathetic'', ''sad'' slab of a mistake! It shouldn't even exist! And you think trying to make it ''feel better'' will do anything?! The world doesn't care about rejects like you! It'll grind you up and spit you out and no one will remember your names! Just like Nakao! Just like that -stupid pig-! But not me.'

"Ooooh..." Roger grunts out, splayed out on his belly as he suffers the most recent round of lumps in his ineffectual efforts to participate - to be - as if the whole of what were going on were a game he was simply not invited, not able, to play - even if the others seem to want it (and do).

He's a Sanguin Humor. He should be a reflection of the desires and wants of the Atelier's true owner, and yet he cannot will the Coleric Humors present. The other Sanguin Humors - though not holding their ground that well - don't even acknowledge him among them.

"Why can't I play..." Roger whines, squeals, and rolls up to a seated position with little tears going down his eyes. "Now, of all times... I want to play..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

That means Nakata still does too, despite being at the cusp of full consumption and destruction, right? He still wants to play.

He wants to play!

Somewhere in this big top show gone pear-shaped, the air shimmers and distorts around him. Fabric surrounds, entraps, obscures - cocoon-like. He squeals the once in surprise and shock as the helpful (or at least, well-meaning) Sanguin Humor - a mere Shadow - looks to be the next victim of the darker forces of a corrupted Atelier. How easy would it be for the likes of Roger to be dispersed into the cognitive aether of this supernatural space? He's not a human. Just a reflective facet of this environment, with hardly the substance of a human being.

It may already have happened...
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem>
INSIDE THE COCOON

It's dark in there. Lonesome, distant. Sensations of sound, sight, smell, and touch are murky at best. It's a void suitable for Shadows to disappear into, their existence and capacity for perpetuity as an entity not... easy, or simple, to gauge.

The one sense that they have feels foreign, heavy, uncomfortable.

Thought. Like an anchoring point. A tether. A chain? A prison? A thing, holding them. Is it stopping him - them? - it? - from going where a Shadow is supposed to go? A cage?

...A handhold?

"I."

I, I, I. This is a haunting sentiment, not to have it heard, but to have it originate from this point. I. I...

I want. Want. Want. I want. I want want want.

Play. Want. I. Play I want play play I play want I want.

I want to play.

This sentiment echoes to no audience, no applause, no criticism. The void seems too vast for this sentiment... but also, too small, too tight. Too constricting. Like a space that isn't meant, specifically, to be filled.

I want to play. The sentiment persists, as if a flailing morass of instinct and desire were clawing violently at a picture. A form. A need. A goal.

I want to play... with everyone. With everyone. With everyone. I want to play with everyone as...

Someone. To play with.

This entity can be. This entity...

Reaches, a now familiar-looking hand with a sense of object permanence towards something that wasn't quite a void, at closer look. Because this entity...

Is.

A vivid tapestry of colors seemingly unreachable, unrecognizeable, prior, forms inside one's undeniable, unalienable being.

I AM THOU
THOU ART I
A GREAT CHANGE BECKONS... DECLARE YOURSELF AS COMPETITOR TO THE WORLD WHOSE HEARTS CHALLENGE YOU...
I AM KAMAPUA'A... HE WHO PURSUES HIS DESIRED PLACE WITH OTHERS...

BGM Shift: Trails of Cold Steel IV - Burning Throb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pulPN_-3y1s
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem>
BACK OUTSIDE THE COCOON

This entity... "Roger." Their name is Roger. His name is Roger. Human or Shadow, that is who he is, and he wants to play with everyone as someone.

The cocoon's make latches around him, defining his shape - his existence - his very ''being'' that is ''here''. Roger's shape whirls to something... significantly more humanoid, if eccentric (to put it charitably). Heavy-set, an upturned nose, highly expressive eyebrows that any artist would simplify as carets. His shadowy self's chrome-silver eyes seem to have some flecks of orange-gold in there. He has a noticeable underbite, giving him a large chin. His body's flesh color takes on a cartoonishly bright reddish hue, as if reminiscent of the limited color palettes of ancient electric arcade games. His hair is a short black with, strange as it may seem, reddish reflective highlights in the way jet black hair would normally show light against it as blue.

The swirling fabric parts to reveal a vibrant red and black shirt of erratic patterns and mild orange-gold accents - more accurately, a sports jersey - with the name 'ROGER' printed in reflective eye-catching silver. (His number, if any, is not seen in this shot.) It cuts off around the elbows. His hands are adorned in bright white gloves. His shorts are a match in color, terminating above his knees - his legs seem a little small for the weight they're supporting - into black socks with red and orange-gold stripes. They end in cartoonish-looking white and red cleats that are also on the verge of being too small to pass for being worn by human(-like?) feet.

Fabric continues to part as a lengthy white towel drapes across his shoulders, bars of red, orange, black, and silver, as a silver-hued whistle dangles on a chain from around his neck. Finally, the fabric parts around what he soon holds in his hands - an entire tennis racquet, slightly oversized, in his right... and an equally over-large tennis ball held in his left.

"I'm not playing your game any more...!" Roger declares - that is his voice! - as he points the tennis racquet towards the Homonculus. "Now the ball's in our court instead!"

Behind him is something unmistakable based on the blue aura emergent around them - a Persona. A stout(er) masculine figure of brilliant black and yellow hues, spines flowing vertically up their back and scalp flowering with kukui leaves. A blue helmet, terminating in a sharp point between their eyes. Their blood red face would be seen as handsome, even with a pig-like snout and strong elongated chin. They wear a short-sleeved outfit marked with yellow stripes above the waist, and black and blue from the waist down - all exposed skin blood red, legs terminating in hooves.

Roger throws the tennis ball up, as a phantasmal blue butterfly finds a momentary perch on its ascent before the racquet ''smashes'' it into dispersing sapphire blue motes, and the Persona moves in turn - Kamapua'a - as a Wonderful Aques-empowered wave of water envelops the tennis ball sent careening towards one of Taro Nakata's imprisoning cocoon's weakest points - going for a killer shot on the rebound if deflected or deterred.

Not out of the duty of being a Sanguin Humor - but as a teammate of those who have come together to save him from this unwanted guest that has long overstayed their welcome in this Atelier.

"I'm Roger, and I'm bringing the A-Game with everyone else here!!" He declares with a big, piggish blunt-toothed grin. (Only mildly less disturbing than his native Shadow shape's own smile. Mildly.)
</poem>

AS: Roger has readied for combat as Kamapua'a! He is now fully healed!

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Yukari asks how Hazuki can be so confident, as she mounts Ixquic's Persona.

"Because he's my friend... that's why I'm confident! If I wasn't... then that'd be giving up on him on the spot! Instead, I'll believe with my whole heart that I can do anything!"

"Because we're a constellation of stars, and even a single one going dim... I can't abide it!"

Hazuki points that bat towards the Homunculus as Akari rides forth, Quixote pulling them along. Then, she readies for a swing...

She's ignoring the Homunculus as it comes forth, even if she doesn't want to. She has to trust Ixquic will make it through, and she'll hit that thread!

While this is happening, Roger awakens, and Hazuki catches that flash of cocoon, that flash of light.

"Roger..."

She smiles, so genuinely, so strongly, that it shows her confidence was not misplaced.

"Roger! We're all going to play... right now, this is our game!"

As Roger goes for the thread, Hazuki's going for the other one with Ixquic.

"Nakata-kun! I'm sorry!"

She readies for the swing.

"I shouldn't have been so pushy and declared myself your friend! I never really knew you... and I insisted I did! You were hurting inside and I only made it worse...! I don't care if you never forgive me, if you want nothing to do with me, because..."

A wide grin, right as she closes in. Janus suddenly manifests to the side, channeling light into her own bat.

"You still deserve to live! You deserve a chance to shine! You're a human being, through and through, and I'm going to make sure you see tomorrow..."

"UNLIKE THIS FAKER!"

The bat goes to *smash* into that bobbin thread, light suffusing out like a powerful supernova, explosive in all its impact.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Katsuya does provide the very essence of the issue with retreat: if they flee, then Taro Nakata is doomed. ... that Myunghon made that call does mean something -- whether or not that is reasonable or not, Myunghon saw a need to ensure that they survived to see another day, because the Revolutionary can only become legacy not in obscurity, but in the lime of the light. Perhaps that selfishness is what embodies Kudlak within them, the creature of the night, an ill omen in the society they are born.

Their decisions killed Akira Hayashi, after all.

But this time, Hazuki gets her wish -- no one has to die. Katsuya pours as much force upon the bobblin with fire and gunfire alike, all the while the questions hang upon them -- what if they are mistaken?

...

Then Rumourmonger Merry will bear that mistake too.

That Ixquic is here isn't lost on Merry either -- but she seems to be supporting Hazuki at the moment, and it's better that people work with at least one buddy they trust. And it turns out her plan involves... motorcycles! If only Merry had a motorcycle, they'd... probably just be found flat on the ground, completely dead. Yes, they never renewed their motor license for the loss of an eye. Katsuya would be mad at them for driving without.

Umie isn't quite ready for the shift, and Myunghon does think they could do with smome more practice if they're going to make this a regular thing -- but fortunately, with Yanagi's help, she's able to still pull it off. "Danger?" Myunghon does aside to Umie, having missed the whole fiasco with Thelaire's circus.

"It's having an effect...!" Myunghon calls, as the Homunculus is clearly quite annoyed at both Helios and Badb's advances upon the Cocoon. SEES is doing their own investigation, and if they can attract its attention long enough, together, they can all work this miracle.

But the Homunculus is full of wrath, and Myunghon is ready to heal and sustain Katsuya and Umie as they bear the worst of the assault. Ixquic's assault brings fear upon its face, even as Cognitions pile for her --

"Tsk...! Ixquic, get out of there--!!"

But the surprises don't end there. The words they're providing to the Shadow-Pig seem to have spurred something within him, and he shouts his desire to dive back and-- even if he's batted back over and over again, he still laments his inability to play... come on... come on!

Play! Play your heart out!

Within this space, it's a Friday night, your parents don't care if you stay up all night long, and you have a 2-litre bottle of soda and a large Bomino's pizza, Roger!!

And then it--

Happens.

''Roger.''

The identity is asserted. He's not playing the Homunculus' game anymore -- in manifestation, Roger, too, obtains a rsplendent outfit, cartoonish and fun, as is his wont, sporty and trendy, brandishing a tennis racquet in reflection of Hazuki's baseball bat. And his persona is... awe-inspiring, the very essence of the Hog-Child of Hawaiian mythology, washing the tennis ball back with aw ave of water!

"Now that's the kind of game I'd pay to see," Merry calls out.

Hazuki pours her heart out -- and her metaphor is that of a constellation of stars, and that even one of them going dim would break the whole chain. She implores for Taro Nakata, the real one, the one trapped within the cocoon...

"The variables for our plan are all known. We can save Taro Nakata... we only need to execute upon it! Akabane-san, Suou-san, I'll support us once more!"

Merry makes a graceful gesture with their arm, extended upon the Cognitive Coat in a column of rich blue as Kudlak lurches forward in the form of two massive maws each stretching out to carve away where the tendrils are weakest, leaving open vulnerabilities for their allies to exploit.

"Kudlak... CONSUME!!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
<poem>
It shouldn't even exist... it certainly shouldn't have a Persona. The thing is -- Minato hears the Homunculus, and -- he can appreciate the perspective where it's ''right.'' Shadows shouldn't talk; shouldn't want to play games. Roger, by all accounts, is an anomaly to his experience.

... even so. "Roger-kun has something to say," Minato replies, smoothly, recognising him as a fellow young man in the process. "We can at least do him the courtesy of listening."

And as someone to ''play with'' emanates... a Persona manifests.

"A Shadow with a Persona," Minato marvels.

"... all right."

With a stern nod, and heeding the advice of his Navigators, he calls out to SEES: "Let's back Nakao-san and Roger-kun up! Split up and follow them both in!"

''He'' will follow ''Hazuki'' up, as Naga slithers towards the bobbin-thread, a Seal Bomb piercing into the cord at his full power.

What Hazuki has to say to the boy inside there... is something only she can say, after all.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
<poem>
Stand by... Reiya continues moving for the Cocoon, and he does recognize the music. He sees what she's doing, he thinks. The officer over there is already fighting again. He'll work on Ririka and Fuuka's information.

But a friend... Reiya thinks that Hazuki is too ambitious--that there's no way she can have everything she wants. But it's nice to see her try. "Good luck," he tells her. "I hope that you achieve all you wish."

...Hope. It's a good thing to have, in a battle like this.

"Go with it, Takeba-san!" Reiya suggests. "The girl's information," Yanagi, "Has checked out so far!"

Pernelle... Don't worry about it.

But Roger? Roger shows...

"A Shadow with a Persona?" Reiya says in wonder. "How is this possible?"

He wants to play...

"...Very well. I will not be left behind!"

He hears Hazuki speaking, and he agrees with some. "...All of the people here deserve to live," he says. "To live free of such monsters as this!"

"And I will see it done!"

Minato gives out his orders; Reiya falls in line next to Roger, despite the fact that he's a Shadow. "Persona!"

Kunimitsu appears, and Reiya throws his needles. They ignite in purple flame, darkness suffusing his attacks as he throws again, and again, and again.

Straight for that thread.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
("What can I say," Saika answers Ixquic airily as she had passed her by, giving her a grin in the way. "We took our time!")

Saika's praise for that fine swine who put his bacon on the line cannot be reupped. Some things can only happen once. Also, she's begun her attack run. It's a high enough fall that she's probably descending towards the Homunculus, accelerating under the pull of Earth's yellow sun (or something) all the while.

She doesn't look up, but when Myunghon calls her name, Saika does bring her chain-wrapped hand up to throw a big finger-- no, a big thumb! A big thumbs *up*, don't worry--

At this point, the cannon explodes.

Saika does not change her expression but the sudden burst of flame right above/beside her, and a moment later:

And is stopped.

Perched involuntarily on that Baton, Saika looks down at the Homunculus. "Look," she begins, before an entire clown car full of exploding bombs held by soon-to-be-exploding clowns smashes into Saika. "BARF!!!" she vocalizes, before smashing into the ground.

* C H O O M ! *

Afterwards, Saika is sprawled on the ground, head thrown back, contorted in that same way as a Gothic-era engraving intended to communicate the Torment of the Sorrow of the Horror of the Pain of something. She is also lightly caked in soot.

"Pain in the ass... Ugh," Saika continues, heaving herself up to one elbow and standing upright with some initial difficulty -- stiffness at least. "Why'd'ya even have to do a thing --" But then a few things happen in quick succession. Something becomes clear. The Homunculus speaks - others are moving. An increasingly deep clownstack is thrown forwards, the Homunculus heading towards that -- legendary warrior? (I can't judge, Saika tells herself, by way of reminder.)

But that little piggy - what's up with him? Saika can see him struggling. Her eyes turn away then... and towards the Homunculus whom she addresses in a loud voice. "HEY! Are you complainin' you get this kind of competition? Cuz a lot of these games ain't open ended, you know! Rules are just a structure! Sometimes they keep you in..."

At this point Saika's broken back into the same loping, leaping pace she'd had before, each smash of her leg like displacing weights, leaving divots in the sawdust and clown-giblet flooring. Closing, closing, running upwards; another crouch and Saika throws herself forwards.

"And sometimes--"

("Monster!" The great shadow looms again, smashing one fist with an explosive PWAP into the clownheap Saika seeks to ascend in a single great leap; this seems to help Saika start twisting, hips turning... another scissor-leg move?)

"-- You jump off 'em!!!"

(Nice, thinks Saika. That sounded tight as *hell.*)

As she says this, Saika's legs come around and when they are more or less on either side of the Homunculus's neck, they snap shut. Suddenly anchored to the Homunculus, Saika keeps flying with hurtling momentum. Something's got to give.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
How delightful a battle these woken ones rage! Hazuki in her optimistic defiance continues. Pernelle watches her with a particular curious eye before turning to witness the others in their skills and moxie. Ah! Even precious Myunghon? He promised So-young a bit of worry on their behalf, did he not?

Pernelle shall watch their flank, swooping in with Anqa screaming out fiery bursts while he tosses bladed feathers at the clowns that dare close in on the left, and any jokers approaching from the right! Twirling past Yukari with his Persona, because of course the bird has a Persona, he gives her a wink.

"My knowledge is as vast as my beauty!" he explains, explaining nothing. Anqa disperses, leaving Pernelle to drop from his next dip and roll upright, where he waves the tips of his feathers like fingers at Katsuya. "Fancy meeting you here, detective-chan."

As Minato vouches for him and Fuuka recognizes him, Pernelle lowers a deep a bow toward them both, wing outstretched. "You still stand, passionate ones! May the flames of your souls burn through this battle and to the next!"

Ririka's surprise receives a simpler response, but one brighter with Pernelle's blinding enthusiasm than most others like it were his favorite thing to say in all the world: "Me!"

Yanagi points the fighters true, and Pernelle laughs delightedly, interrupted by gigglefits which is just more laughter while the fake Taro Nakata, the thing wearing his face, gets more and more discombobulated by the events to follow. He takes off his glasses with a wing, wiping under his eye with the other. "Ah, it never gets old."

But then something...
truly
beautiful
...begins to happen.

"Bravest boar!" Pernelle calls to Roger. "She is she, I am I, and you, Roger dodger, have found the youest you! Go forth! Your job is done... now... have your ''fun!''"

Pernelle shall have his.

While the threads are left in the care of these intrepid heroes, Pernelle spreads his wings and launches into the air with a single flap of them, turning into a corkscrew spin. "PER - SO - NA~!" he sing-songs, and once again Anqa breaks forth beside him, two birds rising in an aerial dance, grabbing each other's clawed feet. Pernelle twists and ''swings'' Anqa even higher -- level with the Homunculus as she explodes at every seam into a dizzying display of brilliant, iridescent flames like firework-missiles in a dazzling display to give Saika as much of an opening as possible.

"Ahem, as I do believe the gamers say... get pwned, noob-chan!"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
"That..." Yukari says, to Nakao's description of why they're so confident including the metaphor of a constellation of stars, as she starts, then stops, then continues, "... really doesn't make any sense?"

In Yukari's world, the idea of failure, death, just looms too large to be confident.

Whereas Pernelle twirls past her with a... "Did that Peacock just wink at me?" Yukari says, astounded. Hoping he's not going to be hitting on her too, "Uhhhh... okay?" She says, to Reiya's idea to just go with it, based on Yanagi being credible.

The thing that is wearing Taro Nakata's face, it begins to break down, as it loses it's sense of control over everything. "You think we're the brats when you're throwing a tantrum...? ...Honestly. Where's all that big talk now?"

His way of ''being'' continues to rub her the wrong way.

She's still readying herself, after healing SEES, before asking Minato, "What's your call?" And then- Roger, is he really putting down the poor pig?

She still thinks the pig is... weird, but he was nice enough, and he did help them. And then the pig-!

"Roger! Hey! Stay back. Let us handle this!"

And the way the Shadow ridicules, belittles him, "Leave him alone! You have no place calling ''him'' pathetic when you're acting like this yourself!"

And Roger, he's not... he's not moving, he's whimpering. All of a sudden, the Cocoon latches onto him, and- "Wait- hat's it doing to him?"

Her mouth hangs open as the transformation happens and in the aftermath, "Excuse me? Roger has a ''Persona'' too? What is even going on anymore!? This is too weird!"

And then - Minato gives his orders, "Right...!" For Yukari's part, it's more simplistic, towards the same thread that Minato is working on.

An Evoker to the head, and Garula, after Garula. Consecutive spells of slicing winds assaulting from that direction.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
'I'm gonna end this... without losing a single life,' Hazuki swears.

Yanagi tilts her head her way. "Oh?" Her gaze lingers for a moment... and then she smiles. "A 'single life,' hmm..." She raises a hand to wave to her as she shouts her gratitude for their arrival. "We simply couldn't miss this!"

And likewise... she couldn't miss how Hazuki would handle this battle. Sure enough, she calls forth another Persona, like a few certain others Yanagi knows, and she watches, enraptured, as Eligor casts his strengthening magic on Hazuki and Ixquic. Yet another one...!

She isn't the only Wild Card here, either. Yanagi smiles warmly at Minato when he recognizes her--though she then blinks in surprise when he also vouches for her and Pernelle. "Oh! We didn't do anything of the sort..." She smiles anew. "But I'm happy to know you think so!"

It'll make him and SEES more pliable in the future if they've already decided they can trust them. Likewise Reiya, to whom she chuckles as he realizes what she'd been hinting at before. "That's right. You can consider this one on the house!" To Fuuka, she echoes back an effusive, "It's us!" She and Ririka are working together well, too...!

Her vivid gaze settles on Myunghon, and she smiles for them too. That look of wonder is quite splendid, but... "No, they aren't here today," she tells them conversationally, almost as if reading their mind--but no; it's simply a good guess based on their previous conversations. "You'll simply have to settle for us."

Yukari remarks/questions in shock about Peacock Silk and its employees' true nature. Yanagi jazz-hands one-handed across her face. "Surprise~!"

So many of them are encouraging Roger the Sanguin Shadow, even as they change their focus to fire upon the Cocoon. As they do, Yanagi settles her attention on Roger for a moment, colored lips pursed thoughtfully. Having never been one for video games, most of the theming is lost on her, but it's clear that it's tailored to him. Is it enough? When she'd first encountered Roger, she'd paid him little mind, but he immediately made it clear that he's no ordinary Shadow. Will he surprise her again?

However, the Homunculus is not content to just sit back and let everyone counter him. Explosions rock the Big Top, and Saika is clowned on by a clown car, a fact that gets Yanagi to gasp in concern for a moment--but Saika's much tougher than that, and she soon smiles again as her dear friend drags herself back upright.

For her part, Yanagi remains on her feet, thanks to the impeccable balance of the Persona behind her; it gives her something to balance against, where she might have otherwise fallen. The Homunculus leaps down from its bobbin throne at Katsuya and Umie, snarling about how insignificant they all and in particular Roger are. One invective in particular, though, makes her burst out laughing in tandem with Pernelle.

"Ahahahahah--oh, my, forgive me, but I couldn't help but laugh," she wheezes, wiping away a tear. Pernelle leaves his mirth at that, but she adds, "It's too funny, the concept of you railing against something--" She flicks her finger to one side, smiling sweetly. "--that ''shouldn't exist''."

Hazuki's Awakening had been the first Yanagi had been privileged to witness. It's no less marvelous the second time as she witnesses Roger's. She raises a hand to her crowned brow, eyes wide as countless threads cocoon around ''him'', then part as fabric to reveal his glorious Transmutation. "Oh my!" she gasps, eyes sparkling. Her smile brims with welcome as she enthuses, "Welcome to the game, Roger!!"

She, she gets it. She gets the joke.

For all her taunting, though... her brilliant eyes take on a brief pity as the tides turn against the Homunculus.

She gets the joke... including the punchline.

As the others aim to cut down the threads connecting the Cocoon to the rest of the Atelier, Yanagi rests her hand on her chest. Behind her, Giselle continues to spin, guiding and summoning and calling back the little origami angels that spirit about on her--their--behalf. The Homunculus is in a rage, charging, racing, out to inflict terrible violence on everyone here--

A delicate snow begins to fall. One flake, two, four, eight--and then rapidly onwards, until a blizzard hails down on the Ringmaster to freeze its joints and slow it down long enough for Saika to scissor her legs around its neck and Pernelle to hurl Anqa forth in a fireworks display of flame. It isn't time yet to take it out... but they'll need to keep it busy until it's time for the true battle.

"Come now," Yanagi calls, delicate voice rising along with her hand. "You who should not exist--may you see red!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
He might be right. If they run, they might doom the young man whose atelier this is. On the other hand, if they stay, they could all die and it might amount to the same but worse. Which option is the right one to take?

Except, it never quite comes to that.

There's another way presented to them, right in the nick of time. Katsuya will wonder about that, later on. In the moment, there's no time to think otherwise.

Well, except to wilt slightly at 'detective-chan', that is.

Translocated across the field (does... teleportation actually exist??) he manifests his Persona to have at the Homunculus' cocoon. Helios in all his finery unleases shot after shot at the fragile thing. Perhaps they ''are'' mistaken. But it's too late to second-guess things. They need to act, and take responsibility for their actions--

A grimace crosses his face as Helios is seized bodily; dashed to the ground, it vanishes in a circulating flare of blue flame. Recovering from that strike, Katsuya jabs one finger towards the being, and tells it this:

"Homunculus! Stealing another's identity is a serious crime! Are you prepared to take responsibility!?"

You know, speaking of 'taking responsibility' and all. Better he keep its attention towards him, and open the floor to the others!

"We're on the right track!" he calls to the others. "Attack the Cocoon, there!" Another point of the finger!
Though it will be those with the Personas best suited to see it precisely ''where'' it's the weakest.

But then, Roger -- that Sanguin Humor, that Shadow, the one who had guided them through the outer limits of the Atelier, is simply swept aside and engulfed into the stuff of the Cocoon. "Wait, what's happening--"

Katsuya will get his answer, a scant few moments from now. Humans, he knows, can have Personas. He has scant little experience with the fact that other beings can have them as well. "He-- has a Persona!" he remarks, once the transformation -- the affirmed identity -- is completed.

"Then-- in that case, let us work together!"
He is pragmatic about such things in the end.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ririka and Fuuka have talked about how their experiences with Navigator powers varied from each other. But this might be the first time they've worked on something in tandem like this, and it's interesting getting Fuuka's version of the data she's gathering within the link like this.

"Got it, Katsuhiro-san!" Ririka calls to her fellow teammate.

But Saika's curb (homunculus) stomping is cut suddenly short, and the Homunuclus grows irate, calling them out for protecting Roger. A mistake. A reject that the world doesn't care about. "''HEY''!" snaps Ririka. "Don't project your own issues on Roger! I'd rather hang with a guy that just wants to have fun over a guy ready to put others down!"

But she quiets down a moment later as the picture inside becomes clear. A supernatural space, a Shadow--and a ''person''.

''Yamagishi-san, so you see it?'' She thinks to Fuuka. ''That's him, isn't it? And those threads...''

She hears the reaction of the crowd, too, the way they react to her song. "Amphion," she utters out loud, shifting her song on the fly as her Persona joins in on his lire. Holographic strings spring to life at the Persona's touch, providing a fast, up-tempo accompaniment to her piano-playing.

Suddenly her thoughts are shared with everyone present. ''We need to sever the strings holding up that Cocoon. Both sides, at the same time. You can use my song to gauge the timing.'' Congrats, she just added a new game to the mix: a rhythm mini-game.

But she keeps playing even as her attention is drawn to something startling. "An Awakening...?" She glances over her shoulder to behold Roger's new form--and his new Pesona--as both emerge. "I think we got room for one more," she says with a small grin. She's hoping this is a good omen, even if it's weird and inexplicable in the moment. "Roger-kun, here--" She shares about the weak points with him, too.

She keeps playing, fingers flying across imaginary keys as she keeps her theme up to try and keep swaying the audience, but as the others go in to attack, she does have something to add. "Amphion," she says quickly. "Magnara!"

A few strums and stones lift from the ground around Amphion before flying off to make contact with the threads.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>It's certainly a fascinating experience on Fuuka's end, too. She's used to working with and testing audio equipment... but the data she receives from Ririka is like nothing she's seen before. It's remarkable, seeing - hearing? - things the way she does.

''I do.'' Fuuka confirms to Ririka. ''Yes... He needs our help. Now, more than ever.''

What is the nature of the Cocoon? See can see it, its weakness laid bare - and together, they come to the conclusion.

"...I see. Everyone! The Cocoon's weaknesses are the threads on either side! They all need to be severed at once!" Fuuka calls out, as Ririka does the same through the link.

...But another Cocoon begins to form here today. This time, around Roger.

"...What's this feeling...?" Fuuka gasps, surprised. And Roger emerges from his cocoon, changed - and Awakened.

"Roger-san... You have a Persona, too? That' s incredible...!" She gasps. He is a Shadow - and yet, he has a Persona.

How is it possible? She has so many question... But right now, they have a pressing matter.

Her attention turns back to the Cocoon that remains.

Ririka leads one group with a rhythm game.

"I'll take the other side." Fuuka says. She focuses. She hears the rhythm of Ririka's song. They need to act in unison. And she waits until the right moment, for -

"Now, everyone...!"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>Akari isn't sure what she expected from Roger, but that is not it. She's never seen anyone come into their power with a Persona before, and she's only sorry that she does not have the attention to spare for it now.

"It's fine!" she calls back at Myunghon. "The Legendary Warrior Ixquic can handle anything! He gave me the spotlight when I came in," though they all had the spotlight, "so I'm going to steal it! A legendary warrior, aiding a new hero - more than one new hero! We'll save him - together...!"

Steering Quixote seems like it would be easy but it's actually surprisingly challenging. It takes a lot of Ixquic's focus to keep on task. And speaking of that, a hill of bodies appears in front of Ixquic.

Ixquic's response is to grin in response - slightly mad behind her helmet, not that it shows, as in a situation like this she is absolutely going to wear the whole helmet with the faceguard.

A normal person might back off. A slightly less normal but still determined person might swerve. Ixquic does neither of those. She instead raises the front wheel of Quixote and -

- drives -

- STRAIGHT UP.

So Hazuki ends up not only having a clear shot, but having a clear shot in *midair* as Quixote makes an improbable leap, slamming down with a bounce enough to nearly knock Ixquic off of her seat as they land with a loud whoop of excitement.

And at the end, even though she said she wouldn't, Ixquic raises her sword again.

"Quixote!" she calls, and Quixote raises HER sword, bringing it down in a tremendous slash!
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> 'STOP TOUCHING THAT.'

"Sorry, I think I heard 'keep touching'," Umie retorts right back with a snicker, all fear gone.

That viciously heady bragging is cut off when Umie recognizes Katsuya's Persona being snagged; her own moving alongside her as Umie dodges back, allowing hers to escape the same fate. "Katsuya-san!"

'Homunculus! Stealing another's identity is a serious crime!' If Katsuya was going to say anything, let it be that. He's definitely okay, if he's going to talk like that.

But where is Roger? Umie's gaze flicks around, but doesn't see him, just another Cocoon--

Umie's senses, while not as developed as the Navigators here, still catches that signal of something new coming into the battle; a 'shadow' with a Persona. "Maybe we're using the wrong terms here?" she mutters, below her breath. He doesn't *seem* at all like a Shadow.

Meanwhile, the Homunculus has moved from his perch, and the Badb in Umie has her zeroed in on this exposed weakness in the unprotected bobbin.

"Oopsie~" Umie taunts, eyelids lowering halfway. "So whose prophecies are garbage? Not mine. The stars are in Orange-san's favor." Orange-san being... Hazuki?? "I'll be calling your end before long, Ring-lea-der-san!" Yanagi's not alone in commenting from the sides of the battle; it may as well be one of Umie's favorite pasttimes, as long as she's not being the one focused on. (Not unless she wants it to be.)

Yamagishi-- where Umie's journey to insert herself into this world theoretically began, points to the best point and time to strike.

Given her position, Umie opts for support.

"The end's come for you! Bloody Revolution!"

Those who are aiming towards the threads will find the spirit of bloodshed and war sharpening their strikes, strengthening their heavier attacks, or making their magic attacks just that much more threatening.

All in the name of excessive violence, of course.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
<poem>
The sudden shift of resonance, the sharp tug in his gut, even among the chaos draws Koh's eyes to the cocoon, mouth opening in surprise as the Shadow he knows as a carnival mascot is swallowed up.

And then he's back!

Animals and Shadows with Personas? What's next!?

But there's no time to dwell further on it when Fuuka and Ririka call out their findings and Minato gives orders.

But there's time for this: "Welcome back, Roger-san!"

They attack! Most of SEES, anyway, the threads reach heights best left to magical attackers or those like Reiya, Akari, Saika, and Pernelle. Creatures unburdened by things like gravity.

But he's not useless. Madness follows in Minato's wake. Clowns now unicycling under the influence smash and pile into each other in a heap, which might provide convenient stepping stones. "Got you covered!" And anything that draws too close to the three spellcaster soon finds a knife embedded into it.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
''It's too funny, the concept of you railing against something''

''that -shouldn't exist-.''

Clawing its way up its every-growing tower of interlinking clowns, the Thing Calling Itself Taro snarls out something in an incomprehensible scatter of what sounds like ''''frustrated static'''' at the barbs Yanagi digs into its ever-fragile ego.

''Homunculus! Stealing another's identity is a serious crime! Are you prepared to take responsibility!?''

"No. N-no. No. This identity is mine. What crime is there in taking something that's being wasted? You're wrong. You're wrong. You're both wrong! I will exist," it huffs as it lunges across clown after clown, stomping on heads, using them as springboards for its own personal glory in the ascent towards Ixquic.

"I will exist."

"I will exist."

"I WILL EXIST!"

Closer and closer, it chases. The clowns all reach towards Ixquic. The Homunculus raises its baton in preparation--

--and then--

--it begins--

--to... slow...--

"What? What--" it begins, until it realizes: it's ''cold''. Frost builds up rapidly around it as snowflakes drift, a few at first rapidly becoming a blizzard unto itself. It freezes at its joints; makes excess, cognitive moisture cling at its heels, fusing to its clown-linked ascent.

"No--!"

Clowns swipe the air futiley near Ixquic as she rises, barely missing Quixote as she ferries her magical mistress and Hazuki Nakao straight up into the air to clear the path for Hazuki's shot.

The Homunculus' frustration grows. Frost snaps and shatters. It won't hold the thing for long--

But it doesn't need to, as nuclear flame washes down like a tidal wave through that rising bridge of clowns courtesy of Pernelle and Arqa, the heat of it BAKING at the Homunculus' skin, burning at the tailcoats of their jacket as they are bowled backwards across their increasingly shrinking makeshift tower of bodies.

''Ahem, as I do believe the gamers say... get pwned, noob-chan!''

"Who -- even says that -- anymore--!!"

Sadly -- the Homunculus' criticisms about the most eldest of internet memes is lost within the flames, proving that if nothing else,

Pernelle truly has pwned that noob-chan.

A static roar. A gloved hand punches through the heat.

And that is when Saika -vaults- over the heap of clown bodies courtesy of the creature to -SNAG- onto the Homunculus' neck.

She keeps moving. The Homunculus tries to resist, feet digging in.

And even as it attempts to--

It can see it.

It can FEEL it.

The way Roger turns from some strange anomaly into some STRANGER anomaly, leaving the Homunculus crying out in dismayed bursts of static, "WHAT -- ARE YOU--?!" even as Saika's legs find their neck.

It can see - it can FEEL - the way the Navigators coordinate the others, one for either side of that Cocoon.

As Ririka makes a rhythm game out of the guiding notes of her music.

As Fuuka aligns her mind to direct the other side to attack in perfect sync to that rhythm.

As Umie empowers them all with the bloodthirsty power of revolution, even as the Homunculus lets out incoherent invective to her taunts.

As Koh fights from the ground, attacking cognitive creation after cognitive creation, smashing through clowns on unicycles, lions and their tamers, flame-spitting monstrosities; at one point, an entire, (cognitively) sentient strength-testing machine tries to just up and drop on him as the creations get stranger and stranger, only to be rent asunder as the weight of the thing hits the bell with a triumphant CLANG.

He keeps the others safe, while--

On one side...

Needles impale into thick, metaphysical threads. With the ignition of Kunimitsu's purple flames, string after string of connective fiber burn towards thin lines and snap.

Ririka's stones smash into burning threads already weakened by Reiya's opening salvo, snapping yet more still.

The Cognitive Coat of Myunghon Yeo forges the massive jaws of Kudlak, snapping away at -both- sides of the Cocoon, chewing away thread after thread.

And on the other side...

Minato leads the charge, a well-placed Seal Bomb bursting with kinetic force to send cord after cord snapping as the tensile force is shredded into so much nothing.

Yukari follows after, wind blades building on that weakness, Garula after Garulla snapping thread after thread.

The mighty sword of Quixote, Persona of Ixquic, Magical Guardian of JUSTICE, swings forward in a titanic slash, CARVING down what Myunghon, Yukari and Minato do not reach until all that is left are threadbare vestiges on both sides--

''''I'm Roger, and I'm bringing the A-Game with everyone else here!!''''

''''Nakata-kun! I'm sorry!''''

Between ball and bat, water and light, Hazuki Nakao and the freshly awakened once-Humor Roger launch dual, synchronized assaults on the remaining threads holding that Cocoon aloft. Light flares.

...

...

In a sea of scarlet, Taro Nakata drifts, curled in on himself in a fetal position. He can hear them. All of them. So many voices he doesn't know. Speaking... on behalf of him?

... Why?

Why...

The compulsion to shut them all out is so strong. It takes so much effort just to keep his eyes open. Isn't all life like this? So much effort. And for what?

To be ridiculed again?

To be dismissed again?

To be used as a prop again?

To have people decide his life again?

Why should he...

''Nakata-kun! I'm sorry!''

Behind glasses, Taro Nakata blinks once. Nakao. She said she was his friend. She never even asked. She probably just liked how easy it was to beat him, over and over. Shut your eyes, Nakata. Just let something better take over. Just--

''I shouldn't have been so pushy and declared myself your friend! I never really knew you... and I insisted I did! You were hurting inside and I only made it worse...! I don't care if you never forgive me, if you want nothing to do with me, because...''

let it

''You still deserve to live! You deserve a chance to shine! You're a human being, through and through, and I'm going to make sure you see tomorrow...''

END

''UNLIKE THIS FAKER!''

"NO!"

Taro's eyes fling wide.

"I want to live!"

His hand reaches out.

"Nakao-san--!!"

...

...

In the Big Top,

the last two threads snap at once,

"Nakao-san!!"

It happens so fast. The moment those last threads snap, ALL the threads start to recede. In Saika's grasp, the Homunculus lets out an agonized sound, and suddenly goes limp. With all her momentum, she simply RAGDOLLS the thing, sending it hurtling to SMASH into the rent fairgrounds and rebound once before rolling and coming to a seemingly lifeless, inert stop...

All around it, the grounds of the Carnival start to split open as massive THREADS of corded fabric RIP out of the ground before rapidly shriveling away, as if like an unseen infestation being suddenly revealed as it dies.

The Cocoon shakes, QUIVERS in a strangely fluid way.

And from the center of that would-be tightrope now undone, a hand PUSHES through the mass of fabric just as it all BURSTS apart.

"I want to live!!"

And in mid-air, Taro Nakata - the REAL Taro Nakata, does the one thing that could save a life in free fall:

He reaches out.

</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Yukari says she doesn't get it. Hazuki just sighs, smiling. "You don't need to! It's for me to get."

And then, it all happens at once.

The threads snap. The grounds are shaking. The cocoon is opening.

Hazuki instinctively knows what to do. As she sees that hand destroying the fabric, she moves forward to reach out, grab Taro by the hand, and pull with all her strength.

If she can get him down safely, she will. She'll apologize again, where he can respond, later. For now...

"Nakata-kun! If you want to live, then you'll live! We'll live! That's my promise to you!"

She'd rather herself die than let him die, in this moment.

But she doesn't think either will have to happen, and so she makes a promise to that extent.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> Roger cheers in earnest as he joins the fray alongside the rest on equal... ish... footing. Even if the existential state of a ''Shadow'' having a ''Persona'' is beyond bizarre and worrisome for some - for good reason - his conduct throughout to this point should cast little doubt in the heat of the moment:

This stranger to humanity is a friend, and wants to play, as someone.

The other Humors - if he even truly still ''is'' one of their number - hardly seem to acknowledge or react to him in the span of time presented. The cocoon that houses the true Taro Nakata - one who was close to oblivion - is seen to freedom in the caring hands of the friend who did not give up on him.

Roger gives a cheer, pumped fist, and a little circular dance as he watches the fairgrounds start to evaporate from under the Homonculus' hold... and that dance slows down, moment by moment, watching it all disappear. As he said to everyone when asked, looking up - it feels weird to look up, somehow - this Atelier already felt strange and wrong. He pinned it on the Homonculus, which made sense.

For the reasserted shape and landscape of Taro Nakata's Atelier that should be inevitable, he should feel like... he knows what to expect.

...he's full of doubts, concerns, worries, second-guesses, and anxieties, even in a seeming moment of triumph. (it's very strange and foreign a sensation. thinking is hard. being someone is... something.)

He snorts the once, pig-like, even in the more human-like guise of his Transmutation, coming to grips with how to express these complicated thoughts... but will he have the time to do so, in the moment?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
The Homunculus snarls in static, insisting that it will exist, it will exist, it will exist!!

And that's why that pity crosses Yanagi's eyes.

As wretched a creature as a Homunculus is... who can fault it the will and desire to live?

"You won't," Yanagi replies, shaking her head slowly. "No matter how much you wish to live a life of your own... your wish will never come true. You poor, pathetic creature, undesired by all that is... Do you understand why? Why you will not have this life, no matter how desperately you crave it?"

She stretches out a hand as if towards it--but not truly. Not while it's getting washed through with nuclear flame, not while Saika is seizing hold of its neck, not while every last thread strangling the Cocoon is severed in turn until Roger and Hazuki release it.

Certainly not while the true Taro Nakata rips a hand through the strange fabric and reaches out. Not while Hazuki reaches out in turn.

Yanagi levels her hand towards ''that'', as if to put it on display.

"''That'' is why. If that makes no sense to you, then know this:

"You will come to an end before you were ever truly born... without ever understanding why you failed."

Yanagi layers her hand atop her other hand, on the handle of her gun-cane. This time, though, she looks at her dear friends. "Saika... Pernelle... it's about time, isn't it?" She smiles fondly. "Let's bring Tsumugi back something special. <3"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
Yanagi's jazz-hands across her face and Yukari seems a little stunned by the flippancy of the gesture, "... Get serious." How can people take life or death conflicts ''so unseriously''. "...It's not some surprise birthday party..."

"... Sure, alright." Yukari replies to Hazuki, remembering the times she heard Junpei practicing 'cool lines'. Maybe it's like that? Either way, the logic doesn't make sense to her.

Though the conversation perhaps matters little in the grand scheme of things, it does provide one thing, as they all work to sever the cocoon threads.

And as they break, the cocoon flares.

She doesn't know Taro Nakata, she doesn't know anything about him other than what she was told. She only met him with a Homunculus wearing him like a creepy skin puppet.

But... the others do reach out to him, and- the real Taro Nakata bursts free, "Wait... it's not his..."

Shadow? She was trying to say, but she's not certain what's going on, how is the real him even ''here''?

Hazuki takes their hand. And she finds herself surprised, because - it was so desperate, that she was sure there was no way for them to win.

And, they managed to prove her wrong. It doesn't mean she thinks her logic was wrong? But - irrational confidence, irrational belief...

... perhaps they are what saved the day.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Saika's thumbs-up is indeed inspiring, a superstar in the midst of all the action, wearing the very words that inspire her upon her coat as she continues to get physical as, much like the rest of the Peacock Silk, she's quick to remind: sometimes... the rules are just there for your benefit.

Don't worry, Saika, that'll leave a lasting impression on Myunghon.

Pernelle reveals that he has a command of Gamer Lingo, much more than Myunghon can fake with their '1-ups' and 'continues'. "P-poowned...?" they momentarily stammer. You're at risk of becoming another Sassy-san at this rate, Myunghon.

SIDEQUEST UNLOCKED: Learn Gamer Lingo from Pernelle

But.... should you?

Much like the last time they were in battle, Yanagi spares a moment where their eye(s) meet. But Yanagi is seemingly psychic! She's treated to a cute moment where Myunghon dead pauses for two seconds, before remarking, with just a bit of bashfulness, "I-- I was not thinking anything of the sort. Settle? I'm rather pleased to see you, and am charmed by all your powers, Yanagi."

But Yanagi's words to the Homunculus isn't lost on them either. The concept of them railing against something that... ''shouldn't exist.''

...

Those words have a certain gravity soft belied by her levity, but Merry doesn't have time to dwell upon this at present. Because Katsuya does insist that, yes, a Homunculus can be charged with identity fraud, and will in fact be having them take responsibility for it!

The Navigators organise the group to correctly strike at the right time, and Umie's chosen support as her choice this time -- a choice well spent, as Kudlak's very ribbons feel that much more powerful and bloody, as is befitting the legend of the vampire, under her will.

But as their attacks work in tandem, in concordance to Ririka's rhythm and Fuuka's seeming prescience, there's a moment in which the sounds of battle are washed out, all, that they find themself distracted by something they didn't think they'd be distracted by.

The topic of the Other that shouldn't exist is a common and extremely loaded one in media. Often manifesting as something like a demon or a youma, some silly little villain-caricature that's there for the magical girl to beat up, to entertain children for exactly 23 minutes plus an op and ed, and commercials, to something as deeply unpleasant as an author's barely veiled thoughts about who should live when and where.

It's one thing when it's in the realm of fiction.

It's another thing when, at the cusp of success, Myunghon is now just thinking, more than a Palace Ruler, which is someone's Shadow that will safely be absorbed back into the being it distorted from, more than the Shadows of Tartarus, which seem more like creatures of mindless instinct, more than the Demons of Sumaru, which they ''do'' acknowledge and barter with on a regular basis and thus understand them to have a place to exist in the world...

...

Who is this? What is this?

I will exist.
It shouldn't exist.
I will exist.
It shouldn't exist.
I will ''exist.''

They're so distracted by this they almost don't acknowledge Taro Nakata's desire to leave, to reach out, Hazuki's own imploration that if he wants to live -- then they'll live. That's her promise to him... it's a good thing that they're not being actively attacked at the moment, but their eye is cast upon Yanagi's form again.

The thing that shouldn't exist.

Yanagi pushes it further, bringing to words what they're silently having a miniature panic attack about. No matter how they wish to live a life of their own... their wish will never come true. A poor, pathetic creature, undesired by all... why? Yanagi answers why they won't ever have that life:

Because of Taro Nakata. The true Nakata, reaching for Roger and Hazuki.

It will come to an end before it was ever truly born... without understanding why it failed.

... then what was it???????

Then, just like that, Yanagi sweetly cheers for bringing Tsumugi back something special.

...

Myunghon allows themself a cold, terrified, timorous tremble of their body for a moment, then they let Merry force the the feeling pass, because they're still conducting combat at present. They're still on guard -- these spaces have a tendency to collapse, for starters, and they're not certain they're out of risk yet...
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
<poem>
Teamwork. It's the only way to bring this battle to a close, and Reiya will do his part.

...But Yanagi's words to the Homunculus sit ill with Reiya. What is a creature that can never truly exist? What is a creature that can only take from others...?

"Did it choose to be this way?" Reiya wonders. "Or is this all it oculd ever be?"

A Shadow. A creature of pain. But at the same time... Roger.

Reiya looks to Hazuki and Taro. "A promise kept..."

"...My duty was to eradicate you," he says to the Homunculus, turning towards it. If it cannot exist...

"But I will watch your end. I will observe it."

"...If you can be nothing else, you will be a memory."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
Pernelle lands on a single claw, bringing the other down and sweeping both wings out as his train lowers horizontal to the floor.

"It is as she says," Pernelle asserts to the Homunculus as he rises back up to look at the Homunculus, in the wake of Yanagi's words. He has his own pity in heart and in his eyes. "Take pride in the moment you fought to break the shell of your egg... Or do not, if you acted without true pride at all."

This judgment of his own given, he turns to Yanagi. Pernelle half spreads his wings from his body and taps his clawed feet up and down in his habitual tippy-taps.

"Quite so! Do you think they'll notice if I have a little taste first...?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
<poem>
The Homunculus... will never have been born, and Minato regards it, with his cool blue eyes.

"Sayonara," he bids it adieu.

But the cocoon unravels by Taro's own hand, and Minato watches, as Hazuki grasps his hand and guides him to safety.

"To live is the fullest essence of humanity," Minato says, as he steps up to them, though his eyes are on Taro. "I'd like to get to know you, Nakata-kun. So..."

So, live, is the implicit end of that sentence.

But Taro's the one who needs to finish it.

He will stay close to Taro, now he's broken free; he will help Hazuki defend him. Though... there doesn't seem to be anything left to defend him ''from,'' now.

"Congratulations," he says, to Roger. And to Yanagi, Pernelle, and Saika, he looks to them, and says: "Thank you."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ririka is releived to hear that both she and Fuuka have come to the same conclusion about the Cocoon. Now, more than ever, she says, and Ririka nods. ''Right!''

It's handy, that they can both combine and split their efforts, and both of them guiding one side comes naturally.

She appreciates Koh keeping an eye on those of them not rising--literally--to the challenge of attacking the threads, though. She's rather a bit distracted, after all.

Everyone attacks, threads snap, and Ririka keeps playing until--Taro declares he wants to ''live''. And with that, the Homunculus ragdolls, and Ririka stills her hands for a moment, letting them drop to her sides as the light from her holographic keyboard fades.

"Whew..." She starts to rub her wrists, stretching out the fingers. Hazuki reaches for Taro, and Ririka watches. She hopes Taro will feel better after this ordeal.

She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly as she listens to Yanagi's words. "Bring back something nice...?" she mutters to herself. Somehow she doesn't think they mean more clown skins. (Which are ''still'' a weird thing to ahve.)

But she watches the Homunculus, too. That desperate will to live... makes something ache a little. She once thought she couldn't go on... and some days she still isn't sure she can, even if she's trying. Is it cruel to deny that for someone else? She stays silent with her thoughts.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
Hearing Yanagi talk mad (and wholly justified) mess to the Homunculus brings a smile to Saika's face. It's not like it takes a lot for it to come back even as fiery incineration bursts through clowns, filling the air with the curiously grease-painty smell.

But she keeps moving. As she flies she looks back the way she came. She can see Roger but the vision makes no sense to her, not in the flashing instants that occupy her life. Others are moving. Threads tear, bite, bombed, snapped, a mighty sword smashing down on one side, water and light on the other.

And something snaps.
And something else snaps.
And the Homunculus goes from present to past tense as Saika looks down

And Saika doesn't really like it, but she can feel her mouth splitting in an enormous grin, wide enough to be slightly painful. A satisfaction that can't be beat.

After this Saika hits the ground. She has no reason to keep the Homunculus but she's kind of stuck with them for about a 180 degree rotation before the creature comes loose, unspooling apart. 720 more degrees of rotation later, Saika pushes herself to her elbows.

"Welcome back, Nakata," Saika says -- not shouts -- and she smiles, somewhat more normally.

And after that, Saika gets up and walks a few steps over, towards the others, even as the world starts to unspool around them. "You know," she answers Reiya, "I understand where that question's comin from, and it does you credit." She walks past the purple-eyed boy, giving him a brief clap on the shoulder -- unless he dodges. "Don't let 'em get to you."

Saika smiles then at Pernelle and Yanagi as they come closer. "I guess Hazuki over there lived up to her brag, huh? Pretty awesome. Yeah, let's get it over with."

It is perhaps notable that Saika has put herself between Yanagi and Pernelle and the body of the others, but that's the kind of thing *Reiya* might notice -- because she has nothing ill to say, just a smile and a brief thump of her chest at Minato. "Thank *you*. I'm not gonna say it wasn't hard... but phew! Havin' this much support makes everything easier. You guys should come by Shimokita sometime, I like the cut on your --" Saika seems to not want to commit to a word so she sort of makes a back-and-forth gesture. (Their outfits. She can probably tell the quality. Possibly a lot about the quality.)

Another grin from the stitched-face woman, and she turns to walk with the others. More quietly, only to them, she says: "Gets harder to keep track, though... would'a sucked if those clowns came from both sides. Uuugh, my shoulder's aching already..."

("And I heard your question, Pern, and I'm pretty sure the answer is 'yes they would')

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
''Can'' you charge a Homunculus with identity fraud? Is there a court in Japan, or in the entire world, who would or could hear that case?

Perhaps, the logistics of such a claim don't matter in the moment. Perhaps, what matters most is the way that the Homunculus's attention is grabbed and pulled towards him, towards others to call it and its designs out and undermine its pride and sense of control. It leaves the Cocoon bared to the sights of the other Navigators and to the attacks from others who are here gathered.

Even if. The Homunculus tries its level best to defend itself.
Or the idea of 'itself' as a concept, at that.

"If you desire an identity, then create one of your own!" Katsuya declares as the Cocoon shudders under the onslaught. "To resort to theft of another's-- civil society cannot tolerate such a thing!"

...is this really a matter of what 'civil society' wants, though...

Yet, there, the Cocoon shudders, trembles, and ''rips'' apart. The Homunculus goes limp like a puppet with its strings cut. Here the real Taro Nakata tumbles free.

"Nakata-san!"

Hazuki, though, is already surging to grab his hand.

Is it-- can it be over?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
<poem>
Koh watches the gathered Persona users tear into the threads, and then the result of Hazuki's heartfelt efforts.

Taro Nakata is free and the Homunculus, no matter how much it wanted to live, will not. Maybe it never even had a chance.

But, isn't that just the way it goes?

A breathless, hacking laugh escapes the boy's lips. More relief than any genuine amusement at the events unfolded.

"Guess we won, huh?" Nobody's dead, that's what's important.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> 'Saika... Pernelle... it's about time, isn't it? Let's bring Tsumugi back something special. <3'
'Quite so! Do you think they'll notice if I have a little taste first...?'

Umie's cheshire cat smile disappears, in the blink in an eye.

As adrenaline seeps out, the garden in Umie's heart lies still, and like weeds, paranoia sprouts and blooms.

It's a covered path a certain creature walks down with soft footfalls, sweet and deceptive as the scent of almond.

'You think it'll be that easy, Umie-chan?'

Mai-chan's words could be one of her many veiled insults/encouragements, never fully leaning towards one side or another.

Here, they just encourage doubt. "... We don't know all the rules here, do we..."

Reiya's oath to watch the Homunculus's end is noted, his visit fresh in Umie's mind.

Saika, the other part of Peacock Silk, stills Umie's suspicion of them, but her paranoia still stalks, eager for another focus.

"...." Umie hunches down, like a nervous spring ever pulling tighter.

It's tradition, after all: if death will not be accepted peacefully by a samurai, then someone has to come in and bring it to an end for them.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
Hazuki takes Taro's hand. It's clear from his face he really isn't sure what's happening - frankly, he isn't even sure this is Hazuki, given how she looks, and yet...

... when they finally land safely, the bespectacled boy just... smiles an exhausted smile.

Minato says he'd like to know him. ''Him''. Taro blinks. "Um. I w-would, too. I -- I think."

But thinking is getting more difficult; it's hard to process just everything he's seeing, and yet so much of it feels so... familiar. He can't for the life of him say why; he can only focus on Hazuki's promise, as whatever strength he managed to summon up fades, and he slumps forward with a heavy exhale.

"Good... I'll... keep you to that..."

He doesn't know if this is a dream or not. But it feels...

... good. To know people want to know him. To know someone really sees him.

To know people who really care.

...
...

The Cocoon is destroyed. Taro Nakata is freed. And his Homunculus--

"no. no. no. no."

... is still here.

He's there, still wearing his face; dragged back up from his inert position, he is kneeling on the grounds of the Big Top arena as his cognitive creations dissolve all around him. The Other Shadow is bent over, face completely overshadowed and gloved hands planted on the ground.

No. Not planted.

"it's mine. it's mine. it's mine."

Clawing at it. Scraping fingers against hard earth, even as Yanagi, Pernelle and Reiya address him, until his gloves split at the seams. Until he's dragging bloody furrows into the cognitive earth.

"IT'S MINE!"

Anyone who has had encounters with a human's Shadow knows there is one thing consistent across all of them: those bright, almost ''glowing'' yellow eyes. It's been true of every Palace Ruler. Any Shadow encountered in Mementos. And it was true of Taro's Homunculus, too.

But as the former, false ringmaster of the carnival whips around to face them, face now fully painted up in exceedingly fresh clown makeup, with wide eyes unhinged in fury--

They aren't yellow.

"GIVE IT BACK TO ME."

They're a blazing scarlet.

"I deserve this life. ME. I deserve it! Why should he have it and not me?! That pathetic alsoran deserves to wriggle through life like a milksop worm, accomplishing nothing?! I'M the one that ends here?! Just some SAD MEMORY for you all to hold until your brains rot away?! I won't accept that! I should have the life he could never have!"

His arms wrap around his trembling body. Those glowing scarlet eyes have shrunk to pinpricks as he violently grinds his teeth.

And looks up.

The Flegmats in the audience, now freed from the Homunculus' influence, shrink backwards, as if sensing some horrific force on the horizon. Some of them turn. Start to flee.

"I. WILL. Have. It."

Too late.

It's surreal, the way the Homunculus' borrowed body moves. The way its mouth widens suddenly and cartoonishly like a snake unhinging its jaw. The way it inhales...

... and the sheer, sudden suction force of it creates a vortex within the Big Top. The fabric of the tent walls ripple and bend inward towards the Homunculus' inhale. Those gathered will have to fight to not be drawn in -- but they'll manage.

The Flegmats, all of them flinging from the bleachers through the air towards that waiting, open mouth... are not so lucky.

With one singularly harrowing gulp, the Homunculus swallows them all. Those red eyes blaze.

"Even if I have to tear him apart."

And everything goes pitch black. Nothing, absolutely nothing is visible --

save for the Thing wearing Taro's face, visible only as a silhouette in saturated scarlet.

i am the other self

A silhouette that distorts. Distends. Shifts. Joints bending in ways they shouldn't. Body bulging in violent expansion.

Until it ''b u r s t s''.

Light suddenly returns to the Big Top as a concealing red mist gushes outward from the epicenter of that explosion. And within the haze...

the you that should be

Something emerges.

Large. Monolithic, even. That's the first impression as that towering and ungainly-looking silhouette pierces through the dissipating fog of scarlet. It seems to almost... teeter into being, the sheer weight of it swaying ''forward'' before tipping ''backward'', as if struggling with its own weight.

The reason for this soon becomes clear as that strange, blocky form emerges from the haze. It isn't a creature, per se: it's a vehicle. It looks like a tremendous palanquin or litter, fashioned out of arcade machines:

The base of it, from which the support rods extend, is a large flat horizontal arcade machine, sculpted in pure royal whites and golds.

And the 'cabin' of that litter? A classic arcade tower colored in aggressive neon green and pink, the garish colors almost evocative of old, 90s aesethetics. The screen of it occasionally flashes between scenes of what looks like samples of Night Parade fights, except distorted and somehow unsettling to look at directly. On the corner of the machine, the Homunculus' top hat hangs.

Like a proper palanquin it, of course, has guards: to anyone familiar with Night Parade, they look almost immediately familiar. Kaguya-hime. Master Koto. Nukekubi. Bakeduo-Neko, even. And more besides -- all of them looking almost like... real people, cosplaying the characters. People from -- Shujin? Anyone familiar might be able to identify them as the bullies in Taro Nakata's life.

They're all there... except for two characters in specific:

The first: Kappa. He's there -- in fact, there are -many- Kappas. Not amongst the guards -- but carrying the Arcade Palanquin, countless scaly-green, beaked, shell-bearing, sad-looking Kappas struggling and straining to support the overbearing weight of the machine carriage, all of them wearing rounded glasses.

All of them looking ''exactly'' like Taro Nakata.

And the last?

i am

She sits on the top of the arcade tower, leaned back and one foot planted, knee-bent on the top of the tower, lounging in all her glacial splendor like royal on the throne made for her. Pale skin. Blue lips. Eyes closed. Long black hair. An outfit in purple and black, with gray jeans and high-heeled sneakers.

Yuki-Offa. Yet like the others, her facial features are more reminiscent of someone else: ... Hazuki?

This is...

<pre>
i am the other self
u r
n Nanghaithya e
i the v
t Discontent e
e s
fles rehto eht ma i
</pre>

homunculus

TO BE CONCLUDED...

</poem>

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

2025-10-31: Let Your Self Be Free I

2025-11-05T22:20:12Z

Jean: Created page with " *'''Log: Let Your Self Be Free I''' *'''Cast:''' Roger, Hazuki Nakao, Minato Arisato, Reiya Aomori, Myunghon Yeo, Yukari Takeba, Umie Akabane, Katsuya Suou, Ririka Kawase, Fuuka Yamagishi, Akari Hoshi, Koh Katsuhiro, Saika Kikuchi, Pernelle, Yanagi Nagisa, GM'd by Tsumugi Kujaku *'''Where:''' Taro Nakata's Atelier *'''OOC Date:''' October 31, 2025 *'''IC Date:''' August 03, 2012 *'''Summary''': ''Hazuki Nakao,..."

*'''Log: Let Your Self Be Free I'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Roger]], [[Hazuki Nakao]], [[Minato Arisato]], [[Reiya Aomori]], [[Myunghon Yeo]], [[Yukari Takeba]], [[Umie Akabane]], [[Katsuya Suou]], [[Ririka Kawase]], [[Fuuka Yamagishi]], [[Akari Hoshi]], [[Koh Katsuhiro]], [[Saika Kikuchi]], [[Pernelle]], [[Yanagi Nagisa]], GM'd by Tsumugi Kujaku
*'''Where:''' Taro Nakata's Atelier
*'''OOC Date:''' October 31, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' August 03, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Hazuki Nakao, her allies, and all the interested parties intent on solving the mystery of the Atelier arrive at the Big Top, intent on freeing Taro Nakata from the Thing that possesses him before it is too late. But how do you possibly stand against such a creature in a space that has become almost irrevocably warped into its seat of power...?''

----

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
BEFORE

Welcome, friends, to the Big Top!

"Aha! Look, everyone!"

You're expected.

"Our ''special guests'' have arrived."

It's pitch black inside, when everyone has finally properly prepared to enter the Big Top of Taro Nakata's Atelier. Within the utter darkness, though, there is a distinct feeling: ''you are not alone.''

And then that voice comes. A light ignites.

And within the pitch black, the spotlight shines for the man at the top of the hill, and him alone.

Illuminated by that lone, searingly bright light, Taro Nakata's Homunculus sits, dressed in the red-white pinstripe three piece ensemble of a ringmaster, his top hat skewed at a jaunty angle, the sash on it reading in simple English, 'AIM FOR THE TOP!' Ringmaster's baton settled in his lap, he is perched with prim arrogance on what looks almost like... a large Schiffli bobbin positioned horizontally in the air high above, its threads spooling outward to suspend it at one end of the Big Top to the other like an extremely avant garde tight rope.

From here, the Homunculus looks at his guests, a rictus grin on his face. The last time Hazuki saw the Homunculus, that clown makeup on his face looked like it was in the process of... ''melting'' off him. Before, it seemed like it was almost half-melted off.

Now, it looks almost entirely gone, save for a few, dribbling vestiges.

The Homunculus opens his eyes, that bright, glowing yellow of his gaze focusing on the Persona-Users even within the plunging dark of the tent. As if on cue, another spotlight ignites over them all, to shards of framing light in the dark. His head tips up, grandiosely.

"You're a little late, but not to worry."

A gloved hand lifts, thumb to middle finger.

"The audience is always eager to see someone try and fail!"

*snap*

And then the ''whole tent'' just ''alights'', revealing the great arena of the big top and the throngs of bleachers that encircle it, stuffed to the brim with a captive audience of Flegmat Humors, cheering and jeering for the latest unfortunate freak show to stumble into the Big Top...

... as one by one, cognitive beasts, clowns and circus freaks come into being in swelling bursts of pustulent, bruising black.

The Homunculus' grin widens.

"So... shall we begin the show?"

NOW

Things are not going well.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf6swWyqT2s

It's not really a matter of strength or skill. The cognitive creatures that the Homunculus arrays against everyone aren't particularly strong -- certainly not stronger than the Melanc Humors that had been guarding the Big Top. They're dispatched easily enough.

The problem is...

"Again!"
"Again!"
"Again!"
"Again!!!"

Every time they destroy one of those cognitive creations, it's instantly replaced by another, with no end in sight.

Attrition is the name of the game. Warped, distorted strong Men and Sword Swallowers attack relentlessly, and every time one is destroyed, a gaggle of masked clowns burst into being just behind their dissolving bodies, giggling and spring-spronging into the fray; every time the clowns are taken out, a fire-eater is suddenly there, spraying the ground floor of the Big Top with flames.

And more and more, and more, of countless shapes and varieties. As if there was no end to them. The solution should be obvious:

Destroy the Homunculus. Take them out at the source.

And yet any time someone -tries- to even -reach- that Homunculus on its bobbin throne, it ''instantly'' repels them with the sweep of a baton or the casting of some powerful magic or simply a shockingly powerful insult, knocking them back into the show.

Monstrous, gangly lions have begun to prowl out of the shadows as the Homunculus cackles above, bouncing on his bobbin and planting gloved hands on knees as he leans forward in delight.

"You see, you see?! There's only room for one at the top of the hill! Everyone else--"

Lions spring, soon joined by clowns, strong men and other so-called freaks to the excited cheers of the crowd.

"--is just the fodder at the bottom!!"

Just how are they meant to win when the enemy decides the rules--?

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem>
From behind those who gathered, a show already unfolds around them as a number of local Sanguin Humors appear. The cavalry, as it were. Aware of the Homonculus' presence, and without enough of the hijacked Melanc Humors to stop them, they flood into the show. The ticket machine repairman, the soggy dunk tank occupant with a mouth on them, the ride operators, the rigged shooting game host, and others of their ilk shout the reflected vestiges of Taro Nakata's interests and desires as Coleric Humors flood in.

No one has anything to fear about being surrounded, in the moment, as the Coleric Humors are directed around the gathered to directly engage the Homonculus' forces. A moment of hope, from the rallying cry of Hazuki's call of arrival and will that the gathered aren't going anywhere?

"We're here at last!" Roger, the most familiar of all, that pig-like Sanguin Humor, pumps a fist. "Your terrible games are boring and not fun for anyone! It's game over, and you're out of credaaaaaah--!!"

He is cut off by no less than a trio of slinking Coleric Humors trampling him. Another Sanguin Humor shoves him aside to a protesting series of squeals of both surprise and also distress.

"Even now...?" Roger protests, anger and dismay giving way to disbelief - and not just because of the exclusion by what should be his peers within the Atelier.

It is because the cavalry is quickly being routed by the Homonculus' influence. Coleric Humors dissipate back into the shadowy mists and disperse as they are defeated by the Homonculus' own loyal. Even one of the present natural Melanc Humors that were under the Homonculus' sway are not spared in the carnage, the Homonclus' need for them effectively at end at the cusp of overtaking Taro Nakata once and for all.

Roger can only watch as exaggerated tears fly in horror, and yet, somehow, with clarity on what exactly is happening. "Oh no...! The Homonculus is about to fully take their place! I... I can't even recognize what those are!"

Whatever the cognitions the Homonculus has created, it is clear that after a point, it's the Homonculus ripping and warping this length of the fabric of reality to their whims to something unrecognizable and... unnatural. Something that should not, and cannot, be.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>THEN:

They're running out of time. Hazuki Nakao has sent the text to those she knows are involved: it's time to drop everything and save Taro Nakata.

As the Persona Users enter the Big Top, she leads the pack, clad in her full transmutation garb, orange and ash grey hair visually muddying her true appearance along with her golden eyes shining so brightly. Her wing pauldron guards her arm, as a gilded baseball bat with an infinity symbol on it rests against her opposite shoulder.

The pitch black darkness doesn't scare her. Right now, nothing scares her. But as the light ignites, Hazuki's shouting out. She doesn't know if he can hear her, but...

"Nakata-kun! We're here! We're not going anywhere!"

She let him down. She was pushy, clingy, selfish, and didn't notice his pain simply because she didn't ''know'' him. But to let that kill him, to let that be his last grasp of life... that's not okay. Even if he never forgives her...

He deserves a chance to shine brightly as another star in the sky.

The Homunculus is terrifying. He addresses them, so cocky, so confident.

The bat is swung into a point, straight at the Homunculus. There is no fear on her face, even if it exists in her heart. Just a determined glare. She might lose. She might die. They might both die. But as she told SEES, the priority is to save Nakata-kun.

She can't stand by and let him fade away.

"You've done enough. I, Hazuki Nakao, will strike you down!"

NOW:

Another clown tramples towards her. The bat swings out, smashing it away, as Janus floats ahead, the two-faced Persona having enhanced her attack power and speed already. It's not enough.

Janus fires another blast of light at a strongman, burning into it with the brightness of the sun. It's not enough.

At one point, she charges the Homunculus himself, and is thrown bodily backwards, sliding onto her heel and gritting her teeth.

"Coward! Face us yourself!"

The lions come out. Hazuki's getting worn down. A battle of attrition, for sure.

But she's not giving up, as she cocks her head to Roger. He can't fight. He's just a Sanguin Humor, a little pig who wants to try.

...but she's going to speak to him nonetheless.

"Don't give up, Roger! We're all connected here! As long as we stick together, we'll get a perfect clear!"

Even if, right now, it's mostly an attempt to reassure herself, too.
</poem>
GAME: Hazuki Nakao sets her Transmutation desc!

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
<poem>
When the enemy decides the rules...

"Takeba-san, left flank," Minato calls out, with that same calm nature which made him the leader to begin with. "I'll call their attention." An archer like her struggles when the enemies are crowding her out; that's why he's standing in front of her. His own weariness is a thing which isn't clearly conveyed in his manner; just a little sag of his shoulders here, a little extra puff of exertion there. "Katsuhiro-kun, keep them off-balance," he advises, in his next breath.

He will get them through this. That's the image he has to project -- no matter what 'this' is.

Minato once again makes an attempt to leap up to meet the Homunculus, only for a downright ''incisive'' comment on his ''emo hair'' to send him tumbling all the way back down.

"Kawase-san," he says, without missing a beat as he stands again, "analyse the harmonic frequencies of his vocal assault." Did he put himself on the line to get dunked on JUST so their melodic Navigator could get another voice sample?! "Yamagishi-san, I know it's a lot to ask, but I need you to continue evaluating this new wave for weaknesses."

Minato is kind of a weird guy, but...

But Orpheus appears to strum his lyre and shower healing magics onto Hazuki -- the war-notes of ''Cadenza'' -- and it's clear he's used to helping others access their strengths. "Focus your attacks on the enemies with weak defenses, Kumamoto-san," he advises, to Moriko.

"Aomori-kun," he calls to Reiya, as he looks sharply to him and the camera snaps that way, too, "you're up."

(Of course he can Baton Pass! The fight has been going on for ''ages.'')

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
<poem>
Reiya Aomori is not uncomfortable in darkness, alone or not. But the light comes soon enough.

The ringmaster... And the show.

Reiya drops into a crouching combat stance, three needles in his right hand as he sways to be ready.

But...

More than once, Reiya tries it. He tries it directly, leaping up towards the Homunculus and somersaulting forward--only to be ''blasted'' back with the light of flame.

He sneaks up, coming around the edge while the others keep the Shadows busy--only for the spotlight to ignite upon him.

Again, and again...

Minato sets him up. Reiya rises from where he'd stood, heedless of his own fatigue. "Yes!" He answers, and summons his Persona with a shot of the Evoker to rain needles down upon some of the Shadows.

"Nakao-san!" he calls, looking to her in some concern--but sees her reaching out to Roger...

He ''sprints'' across the battlefield, to skid to a stop beside Hazuki.

"Roger-san," he says.

"...If there is something you can do..."

"Otherwise, this game may be about to end..."

He grits his teeth. "But Nakao-san, I ''will'' see you a way through!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
The Cardboard Dragon are here, in answer to Hazuki Nakao's text.

Myunghon Yeo, Rumourmonger Merry, is of course draped in their resplendent black Cognitive Coat, surrounded by the rest of the team that they trust explicitly with their life. It's time for a turnabout big top, as they enter the Big Top itself...

It's pitch black. They aren't alone. Myunghon is on guard, and then a light ignites.

It's Showtime.

So, this is a Homunculus... the way in which his dress embodies the struggles within is clear enough to see -- but that Schiffli bobbin... that must be the cocoon, then? Their objective. The way that clown makeup is melting off nigh resembles the way in which the sands from an hourglass tell them: They're almost out of time.

"Our objective is clear, then. Subdue the Homunculus and free Taro Nakata from his Cocoon!"

There's a wince as the Coleric Humours start to trample on Roger, and the Rumourmonger is swift to take action to defend him, the Cognitive Coat creating a lattice of cutting ribbons as they say, "Leave him alone."

AND THEN

"... ngh," Myunghon grunts as the Cognitive Coat ribbons rend and warp through Strong Men, one coming far too close for comfort as they find themself surrounded -- and boosts up into the air in a graceful moonsault all aided by the might of the shifting, flowing Coat. "Suou-san, Akabane-san, we must regroup," they call to their allies.

"Plan C is of no use to us anymore. We must reconsider our strategy. Akabane-san, any thoughts?" Myunghon inquires to the other devious mind of the Cardboard Dragon. Culling the herd of Humours has no visible effect, and yet aiming for the ringmaster also has them repelled by a powerful barrier (as Myunghon themself has observed, blasted away by a SICK BURN that they had to use some Y Burn on.) They thrust their coat forward to analyse samples, tasting desperation and a single-minded, heady desire for triumph at the cost of all else...

"Suou-san, Piercing and Fire attacks both shall work on these Shadows, yet--"

Then that same Strong Man seizes Myunghon and throws them onto the other side of the top and they crash against the floor, rolling painfully before landing onto a thud. They groan and grasp at that chest, which is still throbbing hard from the battle with Hiroto and Tsurugi in the abandoned warehouse in Konan. Yet, they still rise to their feet, with difficulty.

Roger falls into despair with exaggerated tears, as he claims that the Homunculus is about to achieve its goal -- they would fail. Hazuki shouts her encouragements to the Shadow-pig.

"Yes. Hazuki is right. We aren't defeated yet. This is yet another ordeal in which we need to find the thread to lace through the eye of the needle...!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
BEFORE

Tickets. So many weird challenges to obtain ''tickets''. And she's not even certain they were really required in the first place?

This place is infuriating. Even moreso when it's pitch black inside the Big Top, as she clutches her Evoker, with it pressed against her forehead. She stays in place, eyes trying to sweep around to pick anything out of the darkness... when-!

'Our ''special guests'' have arrived.'

Her lips close together. She can hear him, but she can't see him. And things you can't see are always the most frightening, even if they're speaking words she can comprehend.

And then, light!

Yukari's no longer afraid per se, but she is pretty ''bewildered''. "Uhhhh..." She doesn't know enough about Homunculi to know if this will be like Kaneshiro, or otherwise. "What are you going to do? Put on a show for-" Rictus Grin, "-us..." It steals all that sassiness from her, to see it, the only thing that seems static amongst the dribbling paint. "Ew-eugh!" She recoils a step back.

'The audience is always eager to see someone try and fail!'

"... What's with this!?"

NOW

"This is hopeless! He's just replacing them as soon as we beat them!"

Yet, as Minato calls out to her, "Got it!" And she starts darting left, bow drawn, letting their leader make space for her. The bow is smoothly drawn, and lowered in a vertical position, before more arrows sprout from one of the sword-swallowers harassing Minato.

But she too is feeling the wear and tear from this battle of attrition.

"Should we fall back?" She asks him, as she draws another arrow and tries to send it at the throne, the Homunculus instantly shattering the arrow with a sweeping flourish of his baton. "Katsuhiro-san, to your right!" She warns, as she's delayed on covering him by her attempt to shoot at the Ringmaster.

The rules...

Something darkens upon her expression, as she thinks of those rules. One at the top of the hill, everyone else fodder for the bottom. An attempt to control time - her father, in her belief that he was fodder for that ambition.

Roger and Hazuki arrive, Roger, in tears. She's still not sure what to think of that weird pig thing. Hazuki? "Is that...?" She seems surprised, then something a little crestfallen appears in her eyes. This is why she didn't want her to come. "... it's done now." She says, something in her voice hardening.

What she tells Roger is inspirational, but it's not about 'sticking together' she thinks about. She focuses on that thought she had before.

"Gotta be brave." She whispers to herself, at that realization, "Io!" With a pull of a trigger, ephemeral glass shatters out of the back of her head like skull fragments, and the Persona appears, blasting a springing lion and a strong man back with the Magaru spell.

"... You're at the top? Don't make me laugh. If I'm the fodder, then why are you so ugly that I can barely stand to look at you?"

Maybe provocation isn't the right way to go, but either way... it's done now. She might as well try to give Nakao an opening... because if they're not retreating, the only way out is to win, by saving their friend.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Umie Akabane has a general rulebook for how she navigates supernatural spaces, regardless of what they are:

Rule 1: Do not be seen.
Rule 3: Do not be expected.
Rule 9: Every lock is simply a barrier.
Rule 11: If the rules are set up just to force you down, make your own.
Rule 13: _Failure is *not* an option._ (Because it means death, or, potentially, a fate worse than death.)

'Oh my, I do love seeing you keep trying the same thing over and over and over...'

Umie is one of many who try to directly try to subdue the Homunculus, suddenly in the air behind the Homunculus Ringmaster in mid-spin, bifurcated blade in one hand and a metal coin ring clasped in the other. Her intent is not to *kill*, as she's unsure of the consequences, but, as she found out the first time she attempted this stunt--

"Grt--!" --you can't half-ass your approach.

So there goes Umie, yet again, knocked like a ball by a burst of magic, rocketing over to land neatly in the hands of a warped strongman, who in turn tosses her in the air in an impressive throw aimed towards the hungry waiting jaws of a monstrous lion.

Red-nailed hands land, palms down, against each row of the lion's viciously sharp teeth, as Umie's mouth silently mutters a mantra of 'shitshitshitshitshit' as she gazes down into a seeming chasm of a throat paradoxically lion-shaped, yet wide enough to swallow her whole. She bends her legs, adding onto it with a similar (shaky) bend of her elbows, attempting to produce the momentum needed by kicking and straightening them both. The coat's back falling over the back of her head is not helping much here, now is the two weights behind each end of the shoge.

"Hup!" But land on her feet Umie does, springing back a few steps. Then, hunching down, she casts her gaze about, looking for some shadow or another to hide in.

There are none, of course. This is a circus, and a proper show needs proper lighting.

'... It's like having my own cute little clown~'

That's... not a bad idea, Umie thinks, to Mai-chan's sweetly whispered words in her mind. Not the clown part, but... "... That's it!" Anyone close to the short young woman may be perplexed as to what Umie is responding to, though, in the rush of things, it may not even matter.

"... Katsuya-san! Merry-san! If this is all a stage... Maybe we need to appeal to the crowd? Everyone loves an underdog, so...!" (That may just be you, Umie.)

Like many of Umie's strange experimental ideas, it may be boom or bust.

There's just one problem: unlike the showmanship she displayed earlier, the actual *thought* of grabbing an unseen crowd's attention... For some reason, it's scarier than directly grabbing the Old Maid's attention, or some other opponent that she can see and percieve herself.

'... Afraid of the spotlight again, Umie-chan?'

And this weakness has someone being *extra* chatty tonight.

'All those eyes, seeing you, perceiving you, changing their perception of you, changing you?'

Umie *had* a mask. It's not there anymore, lost somewhere between the second attempt, or was it the third attempt?

'Though I suppose you don't have to worry about it if you're dead~'

She tries to dig into the pockets of her jacket. She had a spare, she know she does, somewhere... "They can't see who I am..." she hisses, under her breath.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
He had come when Umie had called him. There had been a development with the Atelier, a phenomenon about which it seemed even veteran Persona-users knew very little about, beyond the basics of how to enter on. That is, beyond the apparent nature of the 'Homunculus' and its threat to the holder of the Atelier.
She'd wanted him along.

It was just days ago that someone had made a disturbing post onto the Darkside BBS. That person had recounted a tale that, if true, had some unsettling support for the fact of the Homunculus's 'self'.

But... now it's possible to enter the Big Top at the heart of the Atelier. What in the world does this mean? He could speculate, but speculation is useless at this state--

BEFORE

"I can't see anything...?"

Still, he wouldn't have expected complete and total darkness within. He's read about the perfect darkness found in the depths of caves, but this--

Even with sunglasses, when there is, shockingly, that one point of brilliant light, Katsuya squints at the Homunculus, the master of the Circus. It's a hideous sight.
And around them, too, there is light. He takes a quick look around, drawing his own conclusions about the supernatural realm in which they now stand. "If this is a circus, then there should be an audience," he states, pointing at the Ringmaster Homunculus. Surely, they aren't the 'guests'.

Ah.

"I think... that I understand. If they are the audience, then we are--"

NOW

When you're not the one who controls the show or the viewer, then you're the participant.
Whether you like it not.

But for each Melanc Humor they dispatch, there's another taking its place. It's attrition writ plain. "At this rate...!" Katsuya declares, aiming his firearm towards the ground in the wake of the Sisyphian task of felling another sword-swallower Melanc. They'll run out of resources or stamina before they can make a dent in the horde. If... even that is possible.

"Appeal to the crowd... The Homunculus seems to believe there is only room for one to stand out, while the rest are 'faceless'. Is it just being exceptional that matters? As it stands, it can't be touched!" he wonders aloud, snapping up his gun to draw a bead on one of those Melanc lions. "Or--"

Do they need to appeal to the Homunculus's logic, or do they need to disprove it? Which one is correct? What are the 'rules' here?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
BEFORE

Hazuki had sent out the call, and Ririka was here with SEES to respond. Apparently time was running out, so they had to act. Ririka just hoped they were ready for what came next.

She was nervous. Scared, even. She tried to swallow it down, to set her jaw and to draw from that well of confidence she used when she was on stage performing. It wasn't endless, but hopefully it would carry her through this fight.

She's dressed in her new SEES uniform--it looks, at a glance, like the regular Gekkoukan uniform, with some important differences. Her jacket has a purple ribbon instead of red, a red SEES arm band and shoulder plate on one arm and a metal plate on the other. She has a pair of gloves and boots with metal bands, and a belt with both a holster for her Evoker and a scabbard for her katana.

She draws up short when the Homunculus comes into view, fighting a shiver. "... ''that's'' it," she mutters to her fellow SEES members. "... that feels like what I felt at the arcade."

But Shadows are summoned to start the show, and Ririka pulls out her Evoker and puts it to her head. She closes her eyes for just a moment, her grip tightening in the instant before she pulls the trigger. "... Amphion!"

A stone man manifests in blue flame and shattering glass, clutching a golden lyre. "I'll support everyone the best I can!"

NOW

Minato puts himself in a position to be attacked, and calls on her for analysis. "R-right!" She's got a pair of headphones on her head, courtesy of Amphion, and she clutches at them with one hand while playing something rapidly on an invisible keyboard in front of her. "... I can't find a way to counter it! It's too strong!"

She's flagging. She's been using every trick she could to boost everyone's defenses, to rap them up in melodies to continually mnd wounds and restore stamina, and even sharing her own energy directly with others in need.

And she's starting to run out. "Arisato-san, we need a new plan."

A short-lived cavalry attempt arrives, spearheaded by Roger, the friendly (?) Shadow they met before. "Roger!" It feels weird to be concerned for a Shadow, but she is. "Hang in there! Amphion, Rakukaja!" Earthly energy flows up to embrace Roger and fortify his defenses.

he knows the place best. He's their best insight into what's going on.
Aigis has arrived from Historia: The White Chronicle.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>Fuuka Yamagishi knows what it's like to be trapped in a hostile, supernatural environment against your will. Whether trapped in Tartarus or within one's own mind, it eats away at you, leaving you with nothing but your fears and insecurities...

For Taro, right now, it may be even more literal than it was for her. That's why she wants to help him - even though she doesn't know him. SEES had said they would do what they can... but it feels personal, too. She wants to prove she can help people in the way she was helped.

And that's what brings her here today. The last time she was here, it was just for reconnaissance... but today, she's ready for a fight - and so, she's dressed this time in full combat uniform. It's largely reminiscent of the Gekkoukan winter uniform, but a few changes have been made - the sleeves of her turtleneck are fitted more closely around her arm, rather than widening out with dangling tassels. The simple club armband has been replaced with a sleeker, longer one, covering her upper arm and shoulder. Accompanying this is a black, hooded shoulder cape, with zippers on each side. Resting over her ears is a set of silver headphones bearing a gold SEES label, to better keep in touch with her team even in the middle of supernatural conflict.

...And right now, they're all in the middle of a fight - one that has been going on for quite a while, by this point, as every time they seem to be making headway against the flood of Shadows, more seem to appear.

Fuuka stands behind her allies. Lucia surrounds her, arms outstretched wide as her globe protects her. But a crack is beginning to form on its surface, the metal forming the eye ring growing tarnished and worn through exhaustion.

"More enemies coming in...!" Fuuka announces. "They just keep coming... Is there no end to them? There has to be something we're missing..."

Fuuka closes her eyes, breathes in, and exhales. She tries to relax and focus. Fortunately, Minato's voice cuts through the din of battle. She nods, her gaze sharpening once more.

"Understood, Arisato-san." Fuuka replies. She turns her eyes onto the enemy once more. "There are multiple weaknesses... Let them pinpoint them for you, everyone."

One advantage, however slight, of having so many foes is that there's no shortage of targets. She relays the information she has to everyone, allowing them to pick their own with a bit more insight.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>The Legendary Magical Warrior Ixquic, returned from the depths of eternity (because it's easier for Akari to pronounce than perpetuity) has been here with Hazuki the whole way. She braved the Atelier with her on the first trip, and she was off like a shot as soon as she knew tonight was the night. She was eager for an adventure after her (extremely) lackluster showing on her exams; they may just be middle school exams, but...

But THAT is a problem for NOT NOW.

"You foul demon that hides in the darkness, concealing your true face behind another's..."

"It is I, the Legendary Magical Warrior Ixquic, who has come to help! You, who have taken another's place, an echo of corruption... I'm going to kick your butt!" When the lights come on, Ixquic is already posing, holding her gigantic golden sword - now with a tassel of ribbons tied to the hilt - and pointing the tip directly at the Homonculus. All the gold on her outfit - bracers, belt, the sides of her helmet - is polished, and she gleams, her red cape billowing despite the lack of obvious wind.

It's like she was made for the spotlight.

NOW

Ixquic is feeling significantly less spotlight-positive.

Ixquic's general strategy is to hit hard, take out her target, and move on. She has momentum on her side with the gigantic sword and her motorcycle-centauride Persona, Quixote. Well, she can take out as many as she likes, but it *doesn't matter*. She's tried to get into the Homonculus twice, once by running and once in a leap off Quixote's ... back? saddle?

Either way, she has managed to get thrown once by said Homonculus for her trouble (the other time a Strongman grabbed her out of the air so she didn't get there at all; when he threw her she nearly hit the SEES team but stuck her sword into the ground and spun around it three times, drilling a divot in the floor with the angled tip, before she got her feet under her).

Even Akari, bottomless well of energy that she is, is struggling...

But she has another idea.

"Hazuki-chan!" Ixquic calls, waving her arms. One of the arms is still holding her gigantic golden sword so it looks vaguely threatening, though she manages to turn the backswing into using the flat like a shield to take a stray shot.

"This isn't working! We just need to get there, right...? To knock him off?" She's starting to get an idea... "We need an opening! I have a plan though! It's genius! But it needs you too!"

But 'get an opening' is harder than it seems...
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
<poem>
THEN

"Oh," Koh says, once light burns away the darkness of the big top and he's blinked away the afterimage burnt into his eyes.

"Better put on a show, then." His lips cut into a smile that carries more confidence than he feels.

NOW

False bravado has given way to exhaustion, both physical and spiritual. The needlessly stylish SEES combat uniform that Koh just recently received is already in need of repair, but the bright patch remains at least untouched.

Minato's request is met with a, "No problem!" despite there being very many problems. Koh twists out of the way of a flung bowling pin at Yukari's warning, flashing his teammate a quick raise of hand in thanks before his evoker fires again.

Dancing behind him, reveling in the melee, his Persona gleefully siphons his remaining reserves into another malignant wall of vapors.

The next few Shadows that breach close enough to SEES formation will at least do so unsteadily, as likely to tear into each other as the two navigators.

"A little low!" He calls in warning, though it's clear by the heavy breathing and sagging posture.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
''Coward! Face us yourself!''

The answer to that taunt is bald-faced, contemptible laughter, seeming to almost distort at times like a strained, old digital note. It's a fact that Ririka, tuned and so focused on such things, can tell:

Just like the Homunculus itself, it doesn't sound - for FEEL - natural. Like natural noise being replicated and blasted through an old speaker.

"Oh please! Why would I bother with trash? You're the entertainment! So -- ENTERTAIN ME."

And entertained the Homunculus seems, throughout all their attempts to reach him -- throughout all their struggles against his seemingly limitless creations. The Flegmats seem to respond to his amusement, cheering and clapping in increasingly higher volumes the more and more exhausted the Persona-Users who have rallied with Hazuki become.

Reiya continues with increasingly canny methods to try to reach the Thing wearing Nakata's face directly -- and yet every time, it seems to have a new way to repel him, even as he puts those vaunted talents for moving in the shadows to use.

The others: Minato, Myunghon, Umie, Hazuki -- they all experience a similar fate.

And every time, the Flegmats call out,

"Again!" "Again!" "Again!!"

As if demanding they continue to try, and fall flat.

Like this entire world lived to see them struggle and fail.

Not that anyone here is going down without a fight. Between Myunghon, Ririka and Fuuka, they are managing to keep a lock on the vulnerabilities of the encroaching cognitions: the rapid-fire of Yukari's bow pierces through the Strongmen attacking Minato -- and one additional lion, attempting to pounce in from behind.

Katsuya's efforts and trusty firearm takes out another sword swallower before it can brandish its blade against him.

The flames of a fire-spitter buffet wildly against Ixquic's massive sword, the heat broiling against cognitive metal that refuses to yield against the onslaught.

Koh's Persona all but sings in the chaos, ripping through approaching cognitions, at one point destroying one before it's even fully spawned out of its bruising blotch of befouled, cognitive energies.

Minato's healing helps to power and bolster Hazuki, the supportive magics that the natural-born leader of SEES wields helping to keep them all in the fight a little bit longer.

But the more they fight that fight, the more it might feel like there's only one possible end. The cognitions simply keep coming, fueled by the Homunculus' increasingly iron-fisted grip on this space. Myunghon is right -- a change of strategy is necessary. A direct approach simply isn't working. But then what can they do?

Appeal to the crowds? Work within the Homunculus' rules? ...

Above, the Homunculus leans forward, its yellow-eyed stare focusing on Roger with a faint frown.

"... Annoying," he mumbles beneath his breath, a thick, greasy driblet of paint dropping off the tip of his nose. "Annoying. Annoying. What are you..."

But, suddenly--

''... You're at the top? Don't make me laugh. If I'm the fodder, then why are you so ugly that I can barely stand to look at you?''

"... What?"

-- he finds himself distracted from his reverie.

Yellow eyes glide towards Yukari, the exact second she spits out that insult. That gaze narrows, as lips almost free of a clown's ruddy red paint pull into a tight frown.

"Who are you?" he asks, his voice a crackled snarl. "WHO ARE YOU? ''I'm'' ugly? You're NOTHING. You think you can laugh at me??"

That seems to have gotten his attention.

The Flegmats hush in reaction. His gaze darts to them for a moment, and frustration becomes apparent on his features. Maybe it is like Umie says -- maybe turning the crowds against him ''will'' work, if only for the sake of his ego. The others' ideas about distracting him - Ixquic's idea about ''unseating'' him - might just be on the right track. But--

"... You can't stand to look at me, huh? Fine. Fine. FINE. Let's make this the last time you have to, then."

The Thing Wearing Taro Nakata's Face sighs, head slumping into a gloved and waiting palm, fingers squishing a paint-grease smeared cheek as the unrightful ringleader of this captive carnival stares on at the chaos in with a bland, half-lidded stare.

"This isn't fun anymore." it states flatly, to the audience? To itself? Perhaps only one of those answers truly matters. "So let's just end it here, shall we? What a shame, Nakao. All that tough talk, and in the end, you're just like the rest of them. A small, inconsequential loser."

The Homunculus sighs. It lifts its free, gloved hand up, thumb pointed sideways.

"But let's be fair about it. The people will get their say. So, ''people''!"

The Flegmats in the audience all fall silent. As if just -- ''waiting''.

"Should we put an end to these little losers?!"

"KILL THEM!"
"Kill them!"
"KILL THEM!"
"kill them!"
"KILL THEM!"
"kIlL tHeM!"
"do a flip"

"KILL THEM!!"

"Well."

The Homunculus leans forward, yellow eyes widening with inhuman delight. A grin of cartoonish proportion grows on its scarcely-painted lips, spreading almost to the very corners of its eyes, pearly white teeth far too wide and far too pointed.

"You heard 'em."

Its gloved hand tips down. It swipes its cane, flips to a standing position on that bobbin, and swings that cane downward.

As, just above, a TREMENDOUS circle cannon seems to just ''unmeld'' from the tent top, fuse lighting in preparation to deliver the coup de grace upon all gathered.

"Guess that PERFECT CLEAR is just out of reach, Nakao! YOU LOSE--!"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
"Here comes a new challenger, mother****!"

INSERT MUSIC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrUuKehpGuQ - NOT FOR CHILD

This interruption comes from someone who is hauling ass from the front of the big top. A late arrival? Covering a flank unannounced? A dramatic hang-back? Something of all of these?

Either way, Saika Kikuchi is on the scene. Many have seen her, but perhaps this is the first time she has been seen *clearly*. Saika is running, sort of; but it's more like a leaping, skipping motion, momentum as well as some power in her legs meaning that she leaps *over* people on her way forwards.

It puts one in a great position to read some of the things on the back of that long white yankii coat she has on. Flowery kanji that doesn't *exactly* suit what's being expressed, block-printed in vivid, glossy black. One in particular stands out as her leaping bounds move from covering ground to rising in height:

'Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I
can make you so wretched the light of day will be hateful to you.'

As Saika's skipping motion bursts past the ragged, bloody edge of those assembled's conflict with the terrifying power of the Homunculus, she vaults up - planting a foot *on top of the Homunculus's head* on her way upwards. As she rises, she turns round, legs spreading halfway-apart like scissors to grasp around the gaping barrel of that deadly cannon.

Like an acrobat, one hooks over - Saika reaches up to lash her arm to the cross-barred ankle with the chain she carries wrapped around one hand and wrist. And after that:

"hrrrrrr--"

The cannon sinks slightly out of true from the additional 10X pounds of Saika it's sprouted. There is a subtle groaning.

"Come ON--"

The groaning isn't coming from Saika.

"-- Frankenstein's-- ''Monster,''" Saika grunts, and the shadowy form of the Monster of legend appears, although curiously enough, he's inverted, just like Saika. His eyes cross over Hazuki's and Minato's in particularly, it seems, before that groaning sound rises to a shriek.

The barrel of the cannon is bent. Slightly 'squished', bent six degrees or so from true. Saika exhales hugely. She looks satisfied, momentarily calm.

Her eyes open. A moment later she is throwing the legendary Double Deuce at the Homunculus with both hands, *still dangling from the cannon*, her tongue hanging out of her mouth as she cackles like a harpy. "Kahahaa!! Nice show-piece, but I guess it's PRETTY USELESS NOW, HUH!?"

The cackling continues for several seconds.

After that Saika's head turns to look at the assembled. Her hands go to rest on her hips. Her hair and the long end of the chain dangle. She does not seem concerned.

"Man! That piggy was working his tenderloins off, and it's a pretty good thing he was, given what I'm seein' up here. There were like eight thousand Flegmats in here! Round of applause to all of you!" Her head turns around, looking over the group. "You know what, save that for when we win." Saika leans forwards (upwards) like a monkey, hugging the barrel with one arm as she transfers her weight from a leg-lock to an arm lock around the barrel, talking over her shoulder. "Pernelle! Yanagi! Tell 'em what's up!"

"Back to work," she says, as she lets go to fall feet-first at the Homunculus's head. As she does, she lets out that damn LAUGH again.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
"And if you would so kindly turn your attention to our left -- oh, no, my mistake, your other left -- you will see..."

A peacock soars onto the battlefield after Saika, his wingspan catching the light in shimmering iridescence. Ah, but Pernelle is not ''merely'' a peacock, and here in the Atelier, everyone can see him for what he is: a peacock ''in stylish clothing''. Admire him in his beautiful indigo vest. Adore him in his fluffy neck scarf and orange-tinted glasses. Appreciate his trendishly tattered tricorne, adorned with his own feather.

"... none other than splendid, splendiferous me!"

Every one of Pernelle's movements is more cartoonishly articulate in their range and expressiveness. He lands upon his footclaw with a graceful twirl to pivot toward a group of enemies. This bird can fight, and fight he does, steel glinting within his wings and train feathers. He opens that train -- eye spots actually ''blinking'' -- like it were spring loaded, cutting into a nearby masked clown for him to follow up with a one-two slice of the feather blades hidden in his wings with all the fluidity and elegance of a dance.

"Anqa, darling!" he calls, flourishing a deep bow as a sparkling butterfly passes by his vision. He snaps his long neck out, chomping down upon it fierce with his beak to ''devour'' as the space above him shatters into the form of a beautifully stitched, golden doll of a bird, like him her body's silhouette, but unlike him in her falcon's head. Pernelle sweeps into her, wing to wing, and Persona and User dance together before Anqa lowers Pernelle in a deep dip, her gemstone eyes set upon the enemies before them.

The seams of her head explode open, revealing the darkness within her plush skull as Mafrei bursts out and into group of sword swallowers with all the brilliance of fireworks.

"Ha HA!" Pernelle laughs joyously as he dispatches his foes. "Delightful fun!" He spins to face the others with such enthusiasm he nearly falls over before righting his balance. "But do you see? All style and not a dash of substance! This battle, my friends...

"... is a ''charade!''"

A creature that squawks loudly enough to wake the neighborhood at 2am shows the advantage to his sonorous voice as it carries over the din of battle. These are the moments that truly count. Who needs sleep in the hours before dawn when Pernelle is here in your moment of need?

"Your target is not the Homunculus, it is the cage of silk he would call his throne!" Pernelle cries. "That is where the genuine article slumbers, captured by his counterfeit!"

Pernelle sweeps out his wing, pointing to the bobbin that the Homunculus bounces upon, its threads spreading out as the tightropes of the Big Top.

"You must aim for the Cocoon!"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
And behind Saika and Pernelle is Yanagi, the support for her own group and therefore the logical back row resident. Where Saika runs and ''leaps'' on into the fray, and Pernelle flies in in grand style, Yanagi walks leisurely along, her walking cane supporting her every step.

Like Saika, Pernelle, and Hazuki, she doesn't look like she usually does, though her face is recognizably her own. Her pale skin is still pale, but her ashen hair is now a brilliant sunset pink, hot and vibrant and shaded in the dark lavender of twilight. Her lead eyes are peacock green, bright and shimmering with hints of deep blue. Her outfit is rather like a magical girl costume, with a wrap around her waist, a skirt shorter in front than in back, enveloped by a stained glass-like coat that hoop around her reinforced thigh-high boots. With each step she takes, that long hair of hers seems to undulate like the sea, waves upon waves cresting in her wake, a circlet on her brow and glittering with jewels on her temples.

She looks upon the circus with calm--from the Homunculus that would be Taro Nakata and his clown make-up that is very nearly gone, to Hazuki and her pig Shadow friend, to members of SEES and members of Cardboard Dragon and more, to the relentless hordes of Shadows that replace themselves as soon as they're felled.

It's clear that they can't sustain this, whatever plans they try to pull off. But that's all right. Yanagi waves jauntily at Saika when she encourages her and Pernelle to follow up--but then settles her attention on the Homunculus and smiles sweetly.

"Oh, my! You're almost there. Just a little more and you get to be 'Taro Nakata,'" she calls to it. She tilts her head, both hands settling on the head of her polished cane. "Or rather... Just a little more, and you ''would have gotten'' to be 'Taro Nakata.' After all, doesn't the audience love it best when the one who seems to be on top... takes a sudden, dramatic fall?"

A butterfly of light materializes before her, fluttering across her path. Yanagi raises her cane--and it becomes apparent that the inside is hollow, a muzzle that flashes when she pulls the trigger. The butterfly shatters just as she lilts, "Giselle!"

A ghostly ballerina bride with catheter needles for arms and legs materializes behind Yanagi, spinning an endless, graceful pirouette. As she remains en pointe, tiny origami angels materialize around ''her''... then vanish, only to reappear around the Homunculus, tittering as they float and sway and vanish and reappear like motes of golden dust in the darkness. They can do no harm, but they are ''quite'' annoying--and so sure to draw the Ringmaster's attention.

The Homunculus isn't the only one approached by these little paper angels. Hazuki and everyone else has one each materialize in front of them too. They unfold out of their angel form into a crumpled but flattened piece of animation paper, which frames the Ringmaster... and then pans down to the strange Schiffli bobbin on which he is perched. The thing that Pernelle just spoke of, to which he'd just pointed. It glows briefly red, before the animation cel fades.

''This'' is what they must target: the Cocoon in which the true Taro Nakata is trapped.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem>
'Don't give up, Roger! We're all connected here! As long as we stick together, we'll get a perfect clear!'

'Roger-san,' '...If there is something you can do...' 'Otherwise, this game may be about to end...'

'Yes. Hazuki is right. We aren't defeated yet. This is yet another ordeal in which we need to find the thread to lace through the eye of the needle...!'

'Hang in there! Amphion, Rakukaja!'

Roger snorts pathetically as he tries to sit up. He's been turned into a spectator without realizing (albeit one with a cushy Rakukaja buff). On on eside, the failing Humors defending what is left of the Atelier that could conceivably belong to 'Taro Nakata' and not 'the Homonculus, which is that ringmaster monstrosity.' All of them have treated him like he was an outsider, not a fellow Humor and denizen of an Atelier. On the other side, the many strange, but fun, friends who have all gathered with their amazing powers of Persona. The way SEES plays as a team is remarkable (even scary). The flashy, cool, confident ones with their own daring strategems...

"Eeee..." Roger sniffs. "I really don't know... I..." He looks up to Hazuki. "If anyone can get that 'perfect clear,' then..." If anyone. If any... one. He presses his fingers inward as he peers down. He feels like all he can do is watch, somehow surrounded by the Flegmat Humors that have warped to the Homonculus' will even though he is not ''in'' the stands.

He's... not getting to play.

"Aaah!" Roger squeals and stuffs his hands into his face, starting to panic-dance back and forth, side-to-side, as the Homonculus points that enormous cannon down at them, but then---

Here comes a new challenger, mother**** indeed, with the cannon undone... and Pernelle's keen eye for the cocoon'd guy... and the distracting teasing and marking of what the Homonculus is protecting...

Even with Saika's praise of all of his efforts, Roger continues to look downcast as what remains of the Shadow hordes that appear to reflect the real Taro Nakata's psyche continue to throw themselves into the thick of it.

"But... what can I do now? I'm not..." He gets drowned out over the sound of a familiar Sanguin Humor who fulfilled the role of a ticket machine repair specialist screaming bloody murder about tickets as the opposing Shadow hordes obscure him.

What (incidental) support the Atelier itself is attempting to leverage, Roger has no hand in - and never did, as far as anyone knows.

"Hazuki-chan... everyone... this is what separates us, isn't it..."

They have their true target, and he still can't play.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>The SEES crew is doing their best. The Cardboard Dragon is doing their best. Roger is doing his best.

What is Hazuki doing?

She's scared. But she shouldn't be - that's just vestiges of the mask she wears, telling her it's okay to be scared.

But inside, she knows she shouldn't be. Because as Reiya vows to see her through...

"Don't worry, Aomori-san. I'm gonna end this... without losing a single life."

Reiya and Yukari, as well as any others paying close attention to Hazuki, may realize this isn't just adrenaline high, or reluctant confidence, or a coping mechanism.

It's a certain sense of *surety*, a combat high that comes only from someone who feels like they were born for this. Someone freeing herself from all shackles, piercing the darkness that veils her with the light of a thousand stars.

A sense of mania that only comes from someone who this is a natural environment for. It's nothing like that gloomy girl who apologizes and is nervous on every word.

Ixquic's words cause her to snap those golden eyes over. "Okay, Ixquic-senpai! Let's set it up!"

Yes, she calls the middle schooler senpai.

But, as they push, the Homunculus Taro gets *angry* at Yukari. He gets bored. He tells Hazuki her perfect clear is out of reach, as that cannon prepares to kill them all.

She's defiant, til the last. She's still showing a determined face, as she starts stepping towards that cannon, prepared to try and defuse the brunt of it with her bat. It's insane. But if they're going to die if they do nothing...

And then comes FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER WITH A STEEL CHAIR!!!

Peacock Silk's appearance and the destruction of the cannon gets Hazuki shouting out. "Kikuchi-san! Nagisa-san! Pernelle-san! Not a moment too late! Thank you!"

it was ABSOLUTELY almost too late are you kidding

As Pernelle declares the charade and Giselle frames that bobbin for them, showing it in red as the target, Hazuki's turning towards the one person she personally brought here.

"Ixquic-senpai! We need to get to that cocoon!" She's rushing towards Ixquic, preparing a team-action, as...

"ELIGOR!"

Janus fades out, and in fades a demonic spear knight in red armor, riding a black horse. He has two horns.

Hazuki Nakao truly was a Wild Card.

"Make it count!"

Eligor casts an attack-boosting spell on Hazuki and Ixquic, energy washing over them and preparing her for her future assault!

"Nakata-kun! I'm coming for you, just hold on a little longer!"

And as Roger looks downcast, Hazuki's turning back to him, a grin on her face.

"Come on! If you can't be Player One... be Player Two! I believe in you, Roger! This is your home... it's time to save it!"

It sounded cooler in her head, but for a gamer, it's inspiring nonetheless. The message is clear: either way, you can still play.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Umie does have a plan -- cognitively, if this is all a stage, and they are but actors upon it... then are they playing the incorrect role? Katsuya himself seems to be struggling with what approach in cognitive logic they must take. There's no time to hesitate, however. They do understand the implicit weakness in Umie's own plan -- Umie would prefer to be in the *shadows*, to nto be seen. Even now, she's struggling to find her mask--

"I'll cover you, Akabane-san." They listen to Katsuya's logic. "It is all a zero-sum game to him. Only either a winner, or a loser," they remark. "But what Akabane-san says is true in that there must exist a logic in which how the 'winner' is determined. If we can pull upon that thread like the earth from underneath him, then this cognitive superiority may very well be disproved."

They saw it, after all, with Kaneshiro -- he was seemingly invincible until his money ran out.

But -- it's Yukari's taunt that seems to have wormed its way into the Homunculus' skin. Perhaps it is as Umie says. Unseating him, as Akari says. But the Homunculus is now more enraged, still wielding the power in this cognitive big top, and it stirs the audience, the frenzy, into a bloodlust as they chant for their deaths.

Myunghon recognises the threat of the cannon moments after it manifests, and they raise the ribbons of their Coat to prepare Trafuri once more. "I'm calling a retreat. Takeba-kun, SEES, can you evacuate?! We can't afford to remain here--"

But then--

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!

Myunghon's eye widen as they exclaim, "Saika?!"

This time, Saika's draped in a long white coat that has various yojijukugo imprinted upon it. No, it's not quite -- they remember that passage from... the Mary Shelley novel?

And as if confirming that, Saika's call is for the Monster itself -- appearing, as if from myth, from fiction, as it just about goes and up and tangles the cannon until it's naught but a decoration. The show isn't over, though, because Saika calls for Pernelle -- for Yanagi --

Their heart skips a bit.

Does that mean ''they'' are here too?

Ah. And how splendiferous indeed Pernelle is, iridescent in clothing adorned just for him, right from the vest to the tricorne hat! Pernelle, too, summons a Persona -- Myunghon had been wondering all this time if the Peacock is awakened -- and Anqa rises, as if in dance between two birds, and the two work in tandem to make nuclear fission happen.

This is how the world ends: when fowl play is involved.

Pernelle's advice is salient -- aim not for the Homunculus... but the Cocoon.

But Saika graced a third woman for entry -- and of course, Myunghon does watch with rapt attention; it's Yanagi Nagisa, walking in leisurely grace, but like how they'd chatted about colour, what was once ashen hair is now vibrant, sunset pink and lavender, eyes peacock green, her outfit magical and transmutative and wondrous. It is breathtaking.

"Yanagi...!"

Yanagi taunts the Homunculus dramatically, speaking of the dramatic fall that awaits Taro Nakata -- and Yanagi, too, manifests a Persona from... that flash... is that a-- Before Myunghon can wonder if that is some kind of custom-made Evoker, their attention is drawn to the repeated motifs of the butterfly, and the ghostly ballerina that pirouettes behind her.

Is... Tsumugi not here, then?

... they're not ...pining... or anything.

Hazuki has an insistence that she'll ''end'' this, without losing a single life. There's something within her words that reminds them of how they become, as Rumourmonger Merry -- it's not an adrenaline high, or reluctant confidence, or a coping mechanism... it's the surety that is seeded within her the way it was seeded in them. The certainty of what it is they must do in life--

Much like how Rumourmonger Merry must replace their flesh and blood with light and Hope.

Roger is struggling further, swallowed by that self-doubt as the Shadow hordes seem to threaten to drown him. Myunghon is finding it difficult to care and look for everyone else and they're relying on Hazuki for Roger's safety too. They think of how Roger couches everything in entertainment and play...

"Your Game is nowhere close to Over, Roger! Are you satisfied with this outcome without even picking 'Continue'?! If you are out of 100-yen coins, then I shall lend you more change!"

The Rumourmonger dramatically flips a coin across the battlefield, which lands at Roger's front. It's a Mon coin, Myunghon's precious, used to pay for ferriage across the Sanzu river.

A dangerous grin is on Merry's face as they look to roger. "My life shall be the 1-Up to let you continue!"

"... the plan hasn't changed -- we're shifting..." Merry rings the coccoon with their index finger and thumb, as Yanagi's little beautiful origami angel points out, that Revolutionary smirk on their face. "There," as Pernelle pointed out as well.

"Suou-san, Akabane-san, I'd like you to prepare the strongest force that you can muster when we do. I'll empower you!"

And then the Rumourmonger does just that, as Kudlak rises from within the vast, inky blackness of their form -- and Trafuri fires off, and the three of them are teleported across the battlefield in short order, at a more opportune angle to aim for the Schiffli bobbin, the Cocoon... empowered by... CRIME!

Can you charge a Homunculus with identity fraud, Katsuya Suou?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
<poem>
Yukari's the one who draws the Homunculus's ire, eventually, and Minato regards her affirmatively for it. It doesn't matter to him that they've decided it's time for them to die -- she found the key trigger to move this creature to its next stage.

He doesn't malign her for that -- he regards her highly. Now... how to ''survive'' the next stage... that part is his job.

Except -- the trick is -- Fools never act alone...!! And so, in a flurry of style...!

Orpheus, floating behind Minato, regards Saika -- just as Frankenstein's Monster beholds ''him.'' The cannon is bent, and...

"Cool," Minato decides, with a stern nod.

Cool, as well: the peacock soaring in. "... he can fight," Minato notes, with his usual dull expression. Surely he is impressed on the ''inside,'' though, for he was moved to ''speak'' on it.

"You, too..." He regards Yanagi with recognition. "They helped us, when the Emperor and Empress attacked," he explains, to the others. "This woman, and her peacock friend. They helped give me the strength to withstand the Full Moon Shadows."

Minato, leader of SEES... is vouching for them!!

But Roger is struggling, and Minato turns to that Shadow who has a mind of its own, that anomaly in his universe. "If there is nothing more you can do in this game," he suggests, "start another. No one game lasts forever... but the soul of a gamer endures."

Hazuki, meanwhile, summons another Persona from the sea of her soul, and Minato nods, firmly, once. "That's it."

With that, he turns -- and fires his Evoker against his skull, unflinching. "Naga!" He invokes, as a slithering snake-man rises up behind him to inflame the fighting spirits of SEES. "Katsuhiro-kun, addle the enemies so no one interferes. Takeba-san, I need you to revitalise our forces. Kawase-san, Yamagishi-san, can you work together to find the best way to break that cocoon? Aomori-kun, follow their directives with a direct assault."

He's not shaken in the slightest...!

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
<poem>
'Without losing a single life.'

Reiya is not so sure, but he knows she'll try--at the cost of her own, if need be. That's part of why he ''must'' be here.

And... Maybe Yukari's insults are the way to go. Reiya can respect her sharp tongue--it's a skill he simply doesn't have... and his own skills seem not to be doing the trick. No matter how stealthy his approach, it isn't enough. Even his ability to cloak his Resonance isn't sufficient.

But the audience...

Reiya is not one to appeal to the crowd; as it happens, it seems this challenge requires the ''opposite'' of his skillset. He isn't a performer for the stage; he's the technician who makes them shine.

But just as Reiya tries to find a way to do just that--The cannon. "Tch," Reiya says. "We're not here for your 'fun'!" he shouts, defiant, the least composed he has been seen to be thus far.

The cannon is ready... until, thanks to Saika and Frankenstein's Monster, it isn't. Reiya blinks at the double deuce. He blinks at Pernelle approaching. No substance?

And Yanagi. Yanagi, again, but different indeed. Reiya recognizes her...

"...So this is the question I should've asked," Reiya reflects, looking over Yanagi's form and the Cocoon as it has been revealed, staring at the little paper angel.

"I should've realized," Reiya reflects. "To protect your most precious vulnerability..."

"Provide another target, instead. Basic."

But Roger... Roger doesn't know what to do. Reiya looks at him. Is there anything a Shadow can do? ...Hazuki seems to believe in him. And after all...

It is his home. And yet...

"The game isn't over after all," he comments.

Minato vouches for them, and Reiya might too. ...The soul of a gamer, though...

Hm.

"Direct assault," Reiya repeats. "On it, Leader."

Reiya starts upward, weaving around obstacles so that he can get in position to attack.

"On your signal!" he calls to Kawase and Yamagishi, pulling three needles into his hand again and preparing to throw them on his way forward.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
Nakao shows surety, and Yukari seems bewildered by it, given the desperation inherent in the situation. "... How can you be so confident? That's your friend up there."

That got it's attention. She quakes inwardly, some part of her, but the Homunculus' worldview is so repulsive that she manages to steel herself, and say, "... You're too pathetic to even laugh at."

His talk is frantic, it promises violence, it promises loss - it promises that at the end of the day Nakao won't have a friend any longer.

He asks the crowd.

The raucous chorus of 'kill them' is met with a cannon's appearance, and a fuse being lit- even as Myunghon calls for retreat, "What's the call, leader?" She asks Minato.

And then- "An acrobat!?" As she worries now suddenly they'll have targets coming from above! But, instead, the cannon sinks as the figure-

"Wait she's a Persona User?" She seems taken aback, as they're saved by some weird cackling Persona User. "Uh, thanks?" Before 'our left-' Yukari looks left- then Yukari looks her ''other left''- "Make up your mind?"

And a Peacock!? "Wait... He's wearing... clothes now!?" Anqa, darling! "And he has a PERSONA?"

Just imagine if you will that conversation with Mitsuru Kirijo not long before, when she asked about Shadows, now with the addendum of a Peacock wielding a Persona.

She has the feeling that Mitsuru would only stare at her like she was a crazy person.

'a charade' "What do you mean?" 'You must aim for the Cocoon!' "And how do you even know that!?"

Another Persona User makes their instance, and for some reason, "Wait - they're ''all'' from that weird boutique?"

And then Hazuki shows a Persona and- it's different from the one she came in with, "Really? Does she have the same power as the Arisatos?" She says, sounding shocked by the thought of it.

Like 'her'???

She didn't want to bring her here at all- and now... that surety. Will it be like when Minato took up her Evoker?

That insecurity creeps in again, and a need for it not to go that way, and as Minato calls for her to revitalize all of them, taking her out of such self-pitying thoughts.

She pops a soul drop in her mouth, before putting the Evoker to her head, and pulling the trigger, "Right!" And as Io arrives, suddenly a wave of healing washes over all of SEES, from a Mediarama spell, "... You don't need to worry about me pulling my weight."

No one was of course, she says that more to herself, as she that wave of healing brings them up and makes it clear they're ready for round two.

"Let us know once you've given the Cocoon a good hard look Fuuka...!" She calls out, after Minato and Reiya, "... I want to be really sure before we start taking battle strategy from a talking bird."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Koh calls that he's a little low, and Ririka glances over to him. "Katsuhiro-san! I've got you! Amphion!" The Persona strums his lyre, and the enchanted melody carries with it a fresh little bit of strength. It's not much, but... she's been doling out what she can for a while now.

The Homunculus laughs, and Ririka listens carefully, hand on her headphone to help her sort through the sounds of the rowdy crowd. Like an old speaker... does it mean something besides the obvious? She's not sure.

And of course she can't fail to hear the angry shouting that Yukari prompts. "Well you got his attention," Ririka murmurs. She hopes Yukari had a plan to go with that.

But the thing wearing Taro's face leaves it up to the crowd, and she doesn't need Navigator-aided hearing to hear the judgement. "Craaaaap," she mutters as that large cannon manifests.

But someone new emerges, and Ririka whips around to see Saiaka bounding, and then she plants a foot on the Homunuclus and goes for the cannon, all she can do is stare, mouth agape. "What the--"

Round of applause. "Um..." Ririka blinks, and then glances over to see Pernelle. "Wait, ''Pernelle''?" She's looking dubious at his claim of 'fun', but she does direct her attention to the Cocoon. And Yanagi emphasizes the point, by summoning butterflies that unfold and guide their attention.

She doesn't have answers for Roger, but Hazuki's surety... Ririka takes a deep breath, lets fresh air fill her lungs and sets her jaw as Minato issues orders. "On it! Let's do this, Yamagishi-san!"

Ririka reaches out, and at her fingertips piano keys made of light spring into existence as she starts to play a fast-paced tune. She's listening to how the sound bounces off of the Cocoon, looking for weaknesses, reaching out to Fuuka to share the information she's getting in real time.

She's too busy with that to make an appeal to Taro directly, but... some here might recognize the tune she's playing: it's an up-tempo version of the stage music for Kappa, Taro's best Night Parade fighter.

"Almost there, Aomori-san! Stand by...!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
Again, and again. And again.

If it weren't a cognitive space, he would have exhausted his bullets by now. "If it were possible to prove that the world is not a zero-sum as it thinks," he articulates, gazing up at the Homunculus, "then, maybe... But is it as simple as that? Will it listen? If we can undermine its logic in some way, and play its rules against it--"

He snipes another sword-swallower Melanc as it closes near. "--How the 'winner' is determined? Is that it? But, do we know how?" he asks of Myunghon.

That may be the question of the moment.

Alas, it's also a moment that is quickly slipping from their grasp. "--We're out of time," Katsuya says, his gaze on that cannon overhead. His glance turns sharply Myunghon's way. "Yet, if we retreat here, Nakata-san may not be able to hold out much longer! Surely--"

But in this moment, they are not alone. One among their number is someone that Katsuya knows on sight.

"--Saika-san?" ...He's on first-name basis with her? (Admittedly, it's the only name for her he knows.)

Yanagi. Where has he heard that name before? And is that-- surely it's not. Even though Saika calls ''him'' by name.

"There is... no mistaking that personality," he admits aloud to himself as Pernelle makes his own arrival and explains the truth of the tableau before them. Katsuya's gaze lands squarely upon the thing which the Homunculus rests upon. "That thing is... a cocoon?! Has it been shaped by the Atelier, or--"

Now is not the time for such things, though. Shaking his head, he's just in time to turn his head towards Myunghon and say, "Then we must--" as they declare that the strategy has shifted, and the spell takes them

right across

the battlefield.

He's obviously taken by surprise, his initial sudden movement suggesting he's not entirely sure where he is in relation to the Homunculus at first. "Right there?!" he calls out, his gaze tracing a path towards the bobbin upon which the Homunculus perches. As much force as possible. Then he knows what he needs to do. Touching his fingertips to the bridge of his glasses, Katsuya calls out, "Helios! Come forth!"

The felinoid shape that rises behind him trails blue flame, ascending but a short distance before its shots ring out, one after another, and aimed for that bobbin alone. If what they're saying is right, then this should decide it. But, what if they're mistaken?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>Yukari's words seem to catch the Homunculus's attention. Fuuka can feel it as the Flegmats fall silent. It's ominous.

"Something's coming...!" She gasps - and as the Humors call for their deaths, the Homunculus calls upon something. It's... a cannon. Fuuka's eyes open wide.

"That's just not fair...!" She gasps. "I'll - try to think of a countermeasure, but-"

Fortunately, she won't have to. Suddenly, they receive unexpected help - the employees of Peacock Silk are here.

"It's you...!" Fuuka observes. She recognizes Yanagi and Pernelle, from the night of her rescue - Saika, however, is a new face. She certainly knows how to make a good first impression, though - the cannon is squished!

More Humors are dispersed... and important information is dispensed.

"The Cocoon..." Fuuka repeats. Her attention turns toward the paper angel that appears in front of her. The bobbin the Ringmaster is perched on... She looks up at it. Their true target was hiding in plain sight all along.

"...I understand! Thank you!" Fuuka calls out. Their target is set, and Minato gives the next order. Reiya and Yukari are counting on her

"Yes. I'm beginning analysis of the Cocoon now, everyone. Let's work together, Kawase-san!"

She focuses her attention on it, as if she could pierce it through with her eyes - to look through it layer by layer, to get a better understanding of it on a spiritual level.

"Tell me... What are you? What secrets do you hide? How can we save the soul hidden within you...?" She murmurs. Ririka establishes a link - and Fuuka meets her on the other end of it. What information she gathers is passed to her in turn. From the outside, it might be as if the communication happened instantaneously - if they notice it happening it all, as they do their best to reach a consensus.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>Ixquic has been trying to keep an eye on the people she knows - Umie, Roger, Yukari, Myunghon, among others - but she has been mostly sticking with Hazuki -

Well, scratch that. She has mostly been trying to fight and then *returning* to Hazuki. They're a team, if not as experienced as SEES, as unified as the Cardboard Dragon. Hazuki is the only person who knows even part of the true secret of Ixquic...

Ixquic lets out a little whining sound - quiet, easy to miss - when her planted sword functions as a shield; it's certainly broad enough, but while the sword remains intact, Ixquic can still feel the heat radiating from it. If she didn't have gloves on she would probably regret hefting it again, but she does.

"You can't just end it like that!" Ixquic calls, with the (lack of) clarity of youth, as he threatens a cannon: "That's not *winning*!" Sorry, Ixquic, while this may have worked on some of the Shadows, it certainly isn't going to work on the Homonculus. What can she even do against a cannon? If she was up there she could hit it, but even with Quixote she can't get there in time - Quixote can jump but she can't fly -

Because Ixquic has her full helmet on, her expression is impossible to read. But the way she angles her head to look at Saika implies she is staring. They even have... "Peacock Silk!" she blurts out. "You're here!! At the last moment, a hero comes, dressed in finery...!"

She looks from Saika, to Pernelle (who she doesn't actually recognize at first) to Yanagi to the little scrap of paper. Bringing her sword up, she points again, thrusting it forward. "All right! I, Ixquic, will stand firm against the darkness!"

Ixquic spares a glance for Roger, nodding as much to herself as him. "They're right! Listen to Hazuki-chan! We're all together here. You don't have to play alone!" Ixquic is less of a video gamer, but that doesn't mean she knows nothing, and with the others supporting him.

She has her own role to play.

Ixquic's original plan was to try to slam the Taro-Homonculus off his throne. But with this new information... she can change the plan. And it'll work just as well... maybe better. "Right! It's time for the last charge! To stake it all on this single blow! QUIXOTE!"

The centauride-motorcycle appears... and stays, this time, revving her engine loudly as Ixquic literally swings herself up. She slides as far forward on the seat as she can as she pops a wheelie (!) and tears out, Quixote leaving a trail of sparkling light behind her as Ixquic accelerates.

She swerves dangerously to one side, reaching out with the hand that's not holding the sword - for Hazuki.

"Hup!"

Ixquic is a lot stronger than she looks - a lot stronger than most middle schoolers. Maybe it's because of Quixote's aid; she certainly doesn't seem that strong normally, despite her size. But she boosts Hazuki up onto the seat behind her without slowing down. Quixote's engine changes pitch slightly...

...but keeps accelerating.

"Hold on!" Ixquic calls, over the noise. "I'm going to pass by it on the left! Swing to the right! I can't, I need to steer!" Ixquic CAN swing off Quixote - she's done it before - but she'd probably elbow Hazuki right off the seat, so best not to try.

And, ultimately, Taro is Hazuki's friend. It feels *right*. Yes, Akari thinks, a warrior fighting for someone who claims to hate them, to bring them back to the side of righteousness! A fire burns in her that isn't JUST the Tarukaja...

"One! Two! Three!"

Ixquic ramps off a Strongman cognition, Quixote leaving a short-lived trail of light now in the air instead of along the ground. Ixquic does not use her sword - but at the last moment, she swerves Quixote, adding force and impact to whatever Hazuki chooses to do and causing that light to *shear* off in a cutting line!
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
<poem>
Koh flashes a quick grin when Ririka passes over a little more juice. It doesn't last long, though.

"Takeba-san! I think you made him mad!"

The cannon is a problem. Koh can staunch wounds, but that's so far been predicated on he and his allies remaining in a whole piece. "Uh, Aristao-san, everyone"

But Saika's daring acrobatics save the day before the grand show is brought to a premature end.

"Haa. Awesome."

Peacock Silk arrives to bring a brief reprieve! The bird calls to aim for the Cocoon, and the paper angels reinforce the message. They seem to know what they're doing. Minato says so too and Koh believes it.

"Arcade's not closed yet, Roger-san."

Koh gets to work, revitalized. "Hey, Aomori-san! Good luck!" As Reiya makes his ascent Koh provides aid; clouds of toxic smoke explode to deter pursuit, not as immediately deadly as Yukari's bow but still a potent deterrent.

To SEES leader he calls, "I can take over when when Kawase-san and Yamagishi-san are ready!" The Wild Card will be able to do more real damage on offense than Koh, no doubt.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> Umie isn't the only 'shinobi' here; Reiya's tactics are following along similar lines. And someone Marked in the way Umie is would find themselves all too eager to fall into the pattern of trying and failing, over and over, while something watches-- _perceives_, even -- with growing amusement.

To keep trying would be the natural fate for someone destined to fail.

Is this what they call a 'flow state'?

Time for a new game.

If Saika's loud disregard for the Ringmaster's show of superior firepower isn't bolstering enough, or Pernelle's stylish avian self pointing out the trick-- "_You have got to be fucking kidding me_," Umie mutters below her breath --or Yanagi's soft (and yet savage) words pointing out one trope an audience would certainly love--

If there's something that could bolster a scared Umie, it's the fear of something feeling equally small and vulnerable. Scared, even.

Tutor-sensei hears your fear and is going to respond, Roger. You will not be separated from your friend.

A clown? A performer? An acrobat? Nope. The worst way to disrupt a show was there all along: be Yukari Takeba! .... or not. Umie Akabane is not Yukari Takeba, but she can *certainly* be _Umie Akabane_. "Meh... I attended a circus not too long ago, and it was worlds more exciting than this." She turns over her hand, examining her nails. "Food, attendants, mystery, danger, even a tent where you got your fortune told. It was scarily good." Her other hand swings the metal ring to and fro, like a metronome.

"So I'll take a page from that place and tell you your fortune," Umie says, her lips splitting open in a curved grin. "You'll succeed in freeing yourself. A new life unfolds in front of you, full of possibility." She taps a finger to her chin. "Ah, wait, no, that's the fortune for * Taro Nakata*, not a _Ringmaster_. <My mistake.>" Umie raises one of her half-garbed hands overhead as Badb appears overhead a burst of blue light, the split halves of the white being's shawl fluttering out in an impossible gust of rushing wind. "Yeah, my bad, yours is completely different."

"You got a rough night ahead of y--"

And she's suddenly shifted to another point entirely, courtesy of Myunghon.

"--ou... shit." Umie palms her face.

Of course her timing was off.

Thankfully, she has some help. Red brown eyes focus as one of Yanagi's origami angels floats by her, Umie barely getting a moment to wonder at its construction before it unfolds into an animation cel, framing the bobbin.

"... should've just shot the thing instead of making a damn production out of it," Umie grumbles, summoning Badb once more, which lets out a shattering shriek of dark energy at the
same time as Helios' shots.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
"YOU--"

''Here comes a new challenger, mother****!''

"--LOSE--?!"

The damning order of the Homunculus claiming Taro Nakata's life becomes less an authoritative declaration ringing with finality, and more a surprised and unsettled squawk as ''uninvited guests'' show up at HIS Atelier. Surprise manages to take him for a brief, rare moment -- Saika, in that familiar white garb, leaps on and -past- him before taking dramatic hold of that cannon.

"You can't--" he begins, bluster giving way towards a taunting tone -- before with the power of the Creature of Frankensteins' mad works at her beck and call --

a loud shrieking SCREAM of metal heralds the truth: that she does what the Homunculus was sure would be a hilariously suicidal attempt --

she bends that cannon barrel, seconds before firing.

Soon enough, nuclear flames are washing the grounds, incinerating several sword-swallowers as they still, mindlessly, try to charge their targets. Peacock Silk's dramatic entrance brings a hush to the crowds of Flegmats ringing the audience. They look almost uncertain -- as if the Homunculus' hold on them has been shaken if only briefly in its surprise.

They are silent. The fuse on the cannon, despite the barrel being bent, continues to burn down.

And as Saika lunges off that large, cognitive apparatus of destruction?

As that cannonball ignites and then ''backfires'' creating a dramatic, rolling SHOCKWAVE of an explosion that becomes her backdrop as it ripples throughout the carnival?

The Flegmats all suddenly cheer, applause ringing throughout as Saika comes at the Homunculus, feet-first.

Maybe it's like Umie suggested - like that taunt Yanagi assailed against them -

The people yearn for a show. And what's a bigger show than the fall of the one at the top?

And perhaps Saika is prepared to give just that--

"Back to NOTHING. NOTHING!"

*tap*

A baton touches the soles of her boots.

"NOTHING!!"

And her entire momentum just -stops-.

"You think you can stunt on me?! Steal my spotlight!? NO!"

The baton swipes DOWN.

"BACK TO THE BOTTOM!"

And suddenly, flying out of the sky --

*HONK HONK*

-- an entire ''clown car'' stuffed to the brim with clowns all holding cartoon bombs just FLIES out of the sky to ramrod into Saika, to send them BOTH crashing groundwards with a harrowingly cartoonish explosion.

And there the Homunculus stands on top of its bobbin throne - no, on top of the COCOON, the prison in which the true Taro Nakata resides - its eyes wide, its pupils beady, its top hat slumped forward as

"SHUT UP!"

the cheers of the Flegmats ''instantly'' cease.

"So what. So what? So WHAT! So what that you have reinforcements now?! You're all the same! Unremarkable! Insignificant! Look at you! All you can do is babysit that-- that--"

The baton swings, pointing directly at Roger.

"--''pathetic'', ''sad'' slab of a mistake! It shouldn't even exist! And you think trying to make it ''feel better'' will do anything?! The world doesn't care about rejects like you! It'll grind you up and spit you out and no one will remember your names! Just like Nakao! Just like that -stupid pig-! But not me."

It leans forward, yellow eyes bulging. Distracted, it does not notice Katsuya and Umie being shunted across space below it.

"The world will remember MY name, even if I have to MAKE it! Because I'm--"

''Helios! Come forth!''

"--number ONE--?!"

Helios, in all its feline glory, manifests. Babd summons forth, hot on its heels. Screams ripple into the Cocoon; shot after shot rings out, and hits the thing, dead center. It wobbles in place, threads fraying; and though it doesn't quite ''break''--

--the Homunculus stops dead in its tracks as it lurches forward on its throne.

"what -- no! Stop that!"

And suddenly it's just -there-, wheeling around, LUNGING at Katsuya and Umie's Personas.

"STOP TOUCHING THAT."

It grips Helios within a strangling grasp of its gloved fingers, disheveled bangs draping over circular glasses as it tries to HURL the Persona groundwards. The Homunculus hits the arena grounds with a CRASH of impact. The assault might not have been a complete success, but it accomplishes two, critical things:

it proves that what Pernelle and Yanagi are saying is true -- the Cocoon IS the key.

And...

"I'm DONE with this show!"

... it takes the Homunculus off the perch it had been guarding that very Cocoon over, and onto the ground below.

And as Ririka and Fuuka pour their attention onto the Cocoon, they'll see it too. That Cocoon -- it's a supernatural space, encased in some kind of strange, cognitive material that makes up the bobbin-like form itself. And within --

They'll sense it. A Shadow. A real Shadow. No, not just that--

The ''real'' Taro Nakata, too.

A fact made all too clear for Ririka as the Kappa's theme plays, and the Cocoon -reacts-. The Flegmats all hush again, like they're uncertain - like they're not sure what to follow, or who to root for.

They just need to search a little more, and--

--and there!

Fuuka and Ririka will be able to see it:

The threads attaching the Cocoon to the Big Top on either side of it. ''That's'' where its weakest.

They need to be severed at the same time!

On the ground, unaware of what the Navigators are doing, the Homunculus sneers, wiping its face -- the dregs of clown makeup not wiping ''off'', but seeming ''thicker'' now, more ''there'', like they were building up in direct response to that reaction of the Cocoon to Ririka's Persona.

"You brats. 'That's not how games are played,'" the Thing Calling Itself Taro mock-whines. "This is EXACTLY how games are played! 'A rough night'? Your prophecy is garbage. Garbage! GARBAGE! I'll be the ''real'' Taro Nakata soon! ''I'm'' the one who decides what the future holds! The ones at the top decide the rules! Decide who wins! And I'm--"

It looks down, towards the ground it stands on.

"--I'm--"

And up, towards where the bobbin hangs in its tightrope position. Unguarded.

With Ixquic fast on the approach, preparing something immense.

"--I'm-- no! No--!!"

It springs, surprise and fury and -- ''fear'' on its face. Cognitions rally, clowns piling on top of each other to create a huge hill of bodies for the Homunculus to race up, towards Ixquic.

Its baton swings back, ready to summon something evermore heinous--

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> 'Come on! If you can't be Player One... be Player Two! I believe in you, Roger! This is your home... it's time to save it!' Roger muses over just how much of the place felt wrong the moment he was acutely aware there was a loose Homonculus.

A coin is flipped across the battlefield, following Rumormonger Merry's declaration that the Shadow's Game is nowhere close to Over. Is he satisfied with this outcome without even picking 'Continue'? He receives that Mon coin, that 1-Up.

'If there is nothing more you can do in this game, start another. No one game lasts forever... but the soul of a gamer endures.' Roger has to wonder... what other games are there left to play, now?

'The game isn't over after all.' Roger snorts, playfully exaggerated puffs of steam escaping his nostrils.

'They're right! Listen to Hazuki-chan! we're all together here. You don't have to play alone!' Right now, he is standing alone - not in the stands, not allowed to join the rest of the Humors that should include ''him'' on their team, and he lacks a Persona like Hazuki-chan and her friends.

'Arcade's not closed yet, Roger-san.' Somehow, this feels more apt to him in the moment than the carnival he calls home.

"Rrrr...! Nakata, here I come...!" Roger dives back into the fray, and... well.

It goes as well as one might expect. Let's save some paragraphs here, for expediency - it ends with Roger being ejected ham over hock, bouncing against the ground and wall like a gnarly tennis ball serve by the collective wall of violence.

'--''pathetic'', ''sad'' slab of a mistake! It shouldn't even exist! And you think trying to make it ''feel better'' will do anything?! The world doesn't care about rejects like you! It'll grind you up and spit you out and no one will remember your names! Just like Nakao! Just like that -stupid pig-! But not me.'

"Ooooh..." Roger grunts out, splayed out on his belly as he suffers the most recent round of lumps in his ineffectual efforts to participate - to be - as if the whole of what were going on were a game he was simply not invited, not able, to play - even if the others seem to want it (and do).

He's a Sanguin Humor. He should be a reflection of the desires and wants of the Atelier's true owner, and yet he cannot will the Coleric Humors present. The other Sanguin Humors - though not holding their ground that well - don't even acknowledge him among them.

"Why can't I play..." Roger whines, squeals, and rolls up to a seated position with little tears going down his eyes. "Now, of all times... I want to play..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

That means Nakata still does too, despite being at the cusp of full consumption and destruction, right? He still wants to play.

He wants to play!

Somewhere in this big top show gone pear-shaped, the air shimmers and distorts around him. Fabric surrounds, entraps, obscures - cocoon-like. He squeals the once in surprise and shock as the helpful (or at least, well-meaning) Sanguin Humor - a mere Shadow - looks to be the next victim of the darker forces of a corrupted Atelier. How easy would it be for the likes of Roger to be dispersed into the cognitive aether of this supernatural space? He's not a human. Just a reflective facet of this environment, with hardly the substance of a human being.

It may already have happened...
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem>
INSIDE THE COCOON

It's dark in there. Lonesome, distant. Sensations of sound, sight, smell, and touch are murky at best. It's a void suitable for Shadows to disappear into, their existence and capacity for perpetuity as an entity not... easy, or simple, to gauge.

The one sense that they have feels foreign, heavy, uncomfortable.

Thought. Like an anchoring point. A tether. A chain? A prison? A thing, holding them. Is it stopping him - them? - it? - from going where a Shadow is supposed to go? A cage?

...A handhold?

"I."

I, I, I. This is a haunting sentiment, not to have it heard, but to have it originate from this point. I. I...

I want. Want. Want. I want. I want want want.

Play. Want. I. Play I want play play I play want I want.

I want to play.

This sentiment echoes to no audience, no applause, no criticism. The void seems too vast for this sentiment... but also, too small, too tight. Too constricting. Like a space that isn't meant, specifically, to be filled.

I want to play. The sentiment persists, as if a flailing morass of instinct and desire were clawing violently at a picture. A form. A need. A goal.

I want to play... with everyone. With everyone. With everyone. I want to play with everyone as...

Someone. To play with.

This entity can be. This entity...

Reaches, a now familiar-looking hand with a sense of object permanence towards something that wasn't quite a void, at closer look. Because this entity...

Is.

A vivid tapestry of colors seemingly unreachable, unrecognizeable, prior, forms inside one's undeniable, unalienable being.

I AM THOU
THOU ART I
A GREAT CHANGE BECKONS... DECLARE YOURSELF AS COMPETITOR TO THE WORLD WHOSE HEARTS CHALLENGE YOU...
I AM KAMAPUA'A... HE WHO PURSUES HIS DESIRED PLACE WITH OTHERS...

BGM Shift: Trails of Cold Steel IV - Burning Throb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pulPN_-3y1s
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem>
BACK OUTSIDE THE COCOON

This entity... "Roger." Their name is Roger. His name is Roger. Human or Shadow, that is who he is, and he wants to play with everyone as someone.

The cocoon's make latches around him, defining his shape - his existence - his very ''being'' that is ''here''. Roger's shape whirls to something... significantly more humanoid, if eccentric (to put it charitably). Heavy-set, an upturned nose, highly expressive eyebrows that any artist would simplify as carets. His shadowy self's chrome-silver eyes seem to have some flecks of orange-gold in there. He has a noticeable underbite, giving him a large chin. His body's flesh color takes on a cartoonishly bright reddish hue, as if reminiscent of the limited color palettes of ancient electric arcade games. His hair is a short black with, strange as it may seem, reddish reflective highlights in the way jet black hair would normally show light against it as blue.

The swirling fabric parts to reveal a vibrant red and black shirt of erratic patterns and mild orange-gold accents - more accurately, a sports jersey - with the name 'ROGER' printed in reflective eye-catching silver. (His number, if any, is not seen in this shot.) It cuts off around the elbows. His hands are adorned in bright white gloves. His shorts are a match in color, terminating above his knees - his legs seem a little small for the weight they're supporting - into black socks with red and orange-gold stripes. They end in cartoonish-looking white and red cleats that are also on the verge of being too small to pass for being worn by human(-like?) feet.

Fabric continues to part as a lengthy white towel drapes across his shoulders, bars of red, orange, black, and silver, as a silver-hued whistle dangles on a chain from around his neck. Finally, the fabric parts around what he soon holds in his hands - an entire tennis racquet, slightly oversized, in his right... and an equally over-large tennis ball held in his left.

"I'm not playing your game any more...!" Roger declares - that is his voice! - as he points the tennis racquet towards the Homonculus. "Now the ball's in our court instead!"

Behind him is something unmistakable based on the blue aura emergent around them - a Persona. A stout(er) masculine figure of brilliant black and yellow hues, spines flowing vertically up their back and scalp flowering with kukui leaves. A blue helmet, terminating in a sharp point between their eyes. Their blood red face would be seen as handsome, even with a pig-like snout and strong elongated chin. They wear a short-sleeved outfit marked with yellow stripes above the waist, and black and blue from the waist down - all exposed skin blood red, legs terminating in hooves.

Roger throws the tennis ball up, as a phantasmal blue butterfly finds a momentary perch on its ascent before the racquet ''smashes'' it into dispersing sapphire blue motes, and the Persona moves in turn - Kamapua'a - as a Wonderful Aques-empowered wave of water envelops the tennis ball sent careening towards one of Taro Nakata's imprisoning cocoon's weakest points - going for a killer shot on the rebound if deflected or deterred.

Not out of the duty of being a Sanguin Humor - but as a teammate of those who have come together to save him from this unwanted guest that has long overstayed their welcome in this Atelier.

"I'm Roger, and I'm bringing the A-Game with everyone else here!!" He declares with a big, piggish blunt-toothed grin. (Only mildly less disturbing than his native Shadow shape's own smile. Mildly.)
</poem>

AS: Roger has readied for combat as Kamapua'a! He is now fully healed!

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Yukari asks how Hazuki can be so confident, as she mounts Ixquic's Persona.

"Because he's my friend... that's why I'm confident! If I wasn't... then that'd be giving up on him on the spot! Instead, I'll believe with my whole heart that I can do anything!"

"Because we're a constellation of stars, and even a single one going dim... I can't abide it!"

Hazuki points that bat towards the Homunculus as Akari rides forth, Quixote pulling them along. Then, she readies for a swing...

She's ignoring the Homunculus as it comes forth, even if she doesn't want to. She has to trust Ixquic will make it through, and she'll hit that thread!

While this is happening, Roger awakens, and Hazuki catches that flash of cocoon, that flash of light.

"Roger..."

She smiles, so genuinely, so strongly, that it shows her confidence was not misplaced.

"Roger! We're all going to play... right now, this is our game!"

As Roger goes for the thread, Hazuki's going for the other one with Ixquic.

"Nakata-kun! I'm sorry!"

She readies for the swing.

"I shouldn't have been so pushy and declared myself your friend! I never really knew you... and I insisted I did! You were hurting inside and I only made it worse...! I don't care if you never forgive me, if you want nothing to do with me, because..."

A wide grin, right as she closes in. Janus suddenly manifests to the side, channeling light into her own bat.

"You still deserve to live! You deserve a chance to shine! You're a human being, through and through, and I'm going to make sure you see tomorrow..."

"UNLIKE THIS FAKER!"

The bat goes to *smash* into that bobbin thread, light suffusing out like a powerful supernova, explosive in all its impact.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Katsuya does provide the very essence of the issue with retreat: if they flee, then Taro Nakata is doomed. ... that Myunghon made that call does mean something -- whether or not that is reasonable or not, Myunghon saw a need to ensure that they survived to see another day, because the Revolutionary can only become legacy not in obscurity, but in the lime of the light. Perhaps that selfishness is what embodies Kudlak within them, the creature of the night, an ill omen in the society they are born.

Their decisions killed Akira Hayashi, after all.

But this time, Hazuki gets her wish -- no one has to die. Katsuya pours as much force upon the bobblin with fire and gunfire alike, all the while the questions hang upon them -- what if they are mistaken?

...

Then Rumourmonger Merry will bear that mistake too.

That Ixquic is here isn't lost on Merry either -- but she seems to be supporting Hazuki at the moment, and it's better that people work with at least one buddy they trust. And it turns out her plan involves... motorcycles! If only Merry had a motorcycle, they'd... probably just be found flat on the ground, completely dead. Yes, they never renewed their motor license for the loss of an eye. Katsuya would be mad at them for driving without.

Umie isn't quite ready for the shift, and Myunghon does think they could do with smome more practice if they're going to make this a regular thing -- but fortunately, with Yanagi's help, she's able to still pull it off. "Danger?" Myunghon does aside to Umie, having missed the whole fiasco with Thelaire's circus.

"It's having an effect...!" Myunghon calls, as the Homunculus is clearly quite annoyed at both Helios and Badb's advances upon the Cocoon. SEES is doing their own investigation, and if they can attract its attention long enough, together, they can all work this miracle.

But the Homunculus is full of wrath, and Myunghon is ready to heal and sustain Katsuya and Umie as they bear the worst of the assault. Ixquic's assault brings fear upon its face, even as Cognitions pile for her --

"Tsk...! Ixquic, get out of there--!!"

But the surprises don't end there. The words they're providing to the Shadow-Pig seem to have spurred something within him, and he shouts his desire to dive back and-- even if he's batted back over and over again, he still laments his inability to play... come on... come on!

Play! Play your heart out!

Within this space, it's a Friday night, your parents don't care if you stay up all night long, and you have a 2-litre bottle of soda and a large Bomino's pizza, Roger!!

And then it--

Happens.

''Roger.''

The identity is asserted. He's not playing the Homunculus' game anymore -- in manifestation, Roger, too, obtains a rsplendent outfit, cartoonish and fun, as is his wont, sporty and trendy, brandishing a tennis racquet in reflection of Hazuki's baseball bat. And his persona is... awe-inspiring, the very essence of the Hog-Child of Hawaiian mythology, washing the tennis ball back with aw ave of water!

"Now that's the kind of game I'd pay to see," Merry calls out.

Hazuki pours her heart out -- and her metaphor is that of a constellation of stars, and that even one of them going dim would break the whole chain. She implores for Taro Nakata, the real one, the one trapped within the cocoon...

"The variables for our plan are all known. We can save Taro Nakata... we only need to execute upon it! Akabane-san, Suou-san, I'll support us once more!"

Merry makes a graceful gesture with their arm, extended upon the Cognitive Coat in a column of rich blue as Kudlak lurches forward in the form of two massive maws each stretching out to carve away where the tendrils are weakest, leaving open vulnerabilities for their allies to exploit.

"Kudlak... CONSUME!!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
<poem>
It shouldn't even exist... it certainly shouldn't have a Persona. The thing is -- Minato hears the Homunculus, and -- he can appreciate the perspective where it's ''right.'' Shadows shouldn't talk; shouldn't want to play games. Roger, by all accounts, is an anomaly to his experience.

... even so. "Roger-kun has something to say," Minato replies, smoothly, recognising him as a fellow young man in the process. "We can at least do him the courtesy of listening."

And as someone to ''play with'' emanates... a Persona manifests.

"A Shadow with a Persona," Minato marvels.

"... all right."

With a stern nod, and heeding the advice of his Navigators, he calls out to SEES: "Let's back Nakao-san and Roger-kun up! Split up and follow them both in!"

''He'' will follow ''Hazuki'' up, as Naga slithers towards the bobbin-thread, a Seal Bomb piercing into the cord at his full power.

What Hazuki has to say to the boy inside there... is something only she can say, after all.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
<poem>
Stand by... Reiya continues moving for the Cocoon, and he does recognize the music. He sees what she's doing, he thinks. The officer over there is already fighting again. He'll work on Ririka and Fuuka's information.

But a friend... Reiya thinks that Hazuki is too ambitious--that there's no way she can have everything she wants. But it's nice to see her try. "Good luck," he tells her. "I hope that you achieve all you wish."

...Hope. It's a good thing to have, in a battle like this.

"Go with it, Takeba-san!" Reiya suggests. "The girl's information," Yanagi, "Has checked out so far!"

Pernelle... Don't worry about it.

But Roger? Roger shows...

"A Shadow with a Persona?" Reiya says in wonder. "How is this possible?"

He wants to play...

"...Very well. I will not be left behind!"

He hears Hazuki speaking, and he agrees with some. "...All of the people here deserve to live," he says. "To live free of such monsters as this!"

"And I will see it done!"

Minato gives out his orders; Reiya falls in line next to Roger, despite the fact that he's a Shadow. "Persona!"

Kunimitsu appears, and Reiya throws his needles. They ignite in purple flame, darkness suffusing his attacks as he throws again, and again, and again.

Straight for that thread.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
("What can I say," Saika answers Ixquic airily as she had passed her by, giving her a grin in the way. "We took our time!")

Saika's praise for that fine swine who put his bacon on the line cannot be reupped. Some things can only happen once. Also, she's begun her attack run. It's a high enough fall that she's probably descending towards the Homunculus, accelerating under the pull of Earth's yellow sun (or something) all the while.

She doesn't look up, but when Myunghon calls her name, Saika does bring her chain-wrapped hand up to throw a big finger-- no, a big thumb! A big thumbs *up*, don't worry--

At this point, the cannon explodes.

Saika does not change her expression but the sudden burst of flame right above/beside her, and a moment later:

And is stopped.

Perched involuntarily on that Baton, Saika looks down at the Homunculus. "Look," she begins, before an entire clown car full of exploding bombs held by soon-to-be-exploding clowns smashes into Saika. "BARF!!!" she vocalizes, before smashing into the ground.

* C H O O M ! *

Afterwards, Saika is sprawled on the ground, head thrown back, contorted in that same way as a Gothic-era engraving intended to communicate the Torment of the Sorrow of the Horror of the Pain of something. She is also lightly caked in soot.

"Pain in the ass... Ugh," Saika continues, heaving herself up to one elbow and standing upright with some initial difficulty -- stiffness at least. "Why'd'ya even have to do a thing --" But then a few things happen in quick succession. Something becomes clear. The Homunculus speaks - others are moving. An increasingly deep clownstack is thrown forwards, the Homunculus heading towards that -- legendary warrior? (I can't judge, Saika tells herself, by way of reminder.)

But that little piggy - what's up with him? Saika can see him struggling. Her eyes turn away then... and towards the Homunculus whom she addresses in a loud voice. "HEY! Are you complainin' you get this kind of competition? Cuz a lot of these games ain't open ended, you know! Rules are just a structure! Sometimes they keep you in..."

At this point Saika's broken back into the same loping, leaping pace she'd had before, each smash of her leg like displacing weights, leaving divots in the sawdust and clown-giblet flooring. Closing, closing, running upwards; another crouch and Saika throws herself forwards.

"And sometimes--"

("Monster!" The great shadow looms again, smashing one fist with an explosive PWAP into the clownheap Saika seeks to ascend in a single great leap; this seems to help Saika start twisting, hips turning... another scissor-leg move?)

"-- You jump off 'em!!!"

(Nice, thinks Saika. That sounded tight as *hell.*)

As she says this, Saika's legs come around and when they are more or less on either side of the Homunculus's neck, they snap shut. Suddenly anchored to the Homunculus, Saika keeps flying with hurtling momentum. Something's got to give.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
How delightful a battle these woken ones rage! Hazuki in her optimistic defiance continues. Pernelle watches her with a particular curious eye before turning to witness the others in their skills and moxie. Ah! Even precious Myunghon? He promised So-young a bit of worry on their behalf, did he not?

Pernelle shall watch their flank, swooping in with Anqa screaming out fiery bursts while he tosses bladed feathers at the clowns that dare close in on the left, and any jokers approaching from the right! Twirling past Yukari with his Persona, because of course the bird has a Persona, he gives her a wink.

"My knowledge is as vast as my beauty!" he explains, explaining nothing. Anqa disperses, leaving Pernelle to drop from his next dip and roll upright, where he waves the tips of his feathers like fingers at Katsuya. "Fancy meeting you here, detective-chan."

As Minato vouches for him and Fuuka recognizes him, Pernelle lowers a deep a bow toward them both, wing outstretched. "You still stand, passionate ones! May the flames of your souls burn through this battle and to the next!"

Ririka's surprise receives a simpler response, but one brighter with Pernelle's blinding enthusiasm than most others like it were his favorite thing to say in all the world: "Me!"

Yanagi points the fighters true, and Pernelle laughs delightedly, interrupted by gigglefits which is just more laughter while the fake Taro Nakata, the thing wearing his face, gets more and more discombobulated by the events to follow. He takes off his glasses with a wing, wiping under his eye with the other. "Ah, it never gets old."

But then something...
truly
beautiful
...begins to happen.

"Bravest boar!" Pernelle calls to Roger. "She is she, I am I, and you, Roger dodger, have found the youest you! Go forth! Your job is done... now... have your ''fun!''"

Pernelle shall have his.

While the threads are left in the care of these intrepid heroes, Pernelle spreads his wings and launches into the air with a single flap of them, turning into a corkscrew spin. "PER - SO - NA~!" he sing-songs, and once again Anqa breaks forth beside him, two birds rising in an aerial dance, grabbing each other's clawed feet. Pernelle twists and ''swings'' Anqa even higher -- level with the Homunculus as she explodes at every seam into a dizzying display of brilliant, iridescent flames like firework-missiles in a dazzling display to give Saika as much of an opening as possible.

"Ahem, as I do believe the gamers say... get pwned, noob-chan!"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
"That..." Yukari says, to Nakao's description of why they're so confident including the metaphor of a constellation of stars, as she starts, then stops, then continues, "... really doesn't make any sense?"

In Yukari's world, the idea of failure, death, just looms too large to be confident.

Whereas Pernelle twirls past her with a... "Did that Peacock just wink at me?" Yukari says, astounded. Hoping he's not going to be hitting on her too, "Uhhhh... okay?" She says, to Reiya's idea to just go with it, based on Yanagi being credible.

The thing that is wearing Taro Nakata's face, it begins to break down, as it loses it's sense of control over everything. "You think we're the brats when you're throwing a tantrum...? ...Honestly. Where's all that big talk now?"

His way of ''being'' continues to rub her the wrong way.

She's still readying herself, after healing SEES, before asking Minato, "What's your call?" And then- Roger, is he really putting down the poor pig?

She still thinks the pig is... weird, but he was nice enough, and he did help them. And then the pig-!

"Roger! Hey! Stay back. Let us handle this!"

And the way the Shadow ridicules, belittles him, "Leave him alone! You have no place calling ''him'' pathetic when you're acting like this yourself!"

And Roger, he's not... he's not moving, he's whimpering. All of a sudden, the Cocoon latches onto him, and- "Wait- hat's it doing to him?"

Her mouth hangs open as the transformation happens and in the aftermath, "Excuse me? Roger has a ''Persona'' too? What is even going on anymore!? This is too weird!"

And then - Minato gives his orders, "Right...!" For Yukari's part, it's more simplistic, towards the same thread that Minato is working on.

An Evoker to the head, and Garula, after Garula. Consecutive spells of slicing winds assaulting from that direction.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
'I'm gonna end this... without losing a single life,' Hazuki swears.

Yanagi tilts her head her way. "Oh?" Her gaze lingers for a moment... and then she smiles. "A 'single life,' hmm..." She raises a hand to wave to her as she shouts her gratitude for their arrival. "We simply couldn't miss this!"

And likewise... she couldn't miss how Hazuki would handle this battle. Sure enough, she calls forth another Persona, like a few certain others Yanagi knows, and she watches, enraptured, as Eligor casts his strengthening magic on Hazuki and Ixquic. Yet another one...!

She isn't the only Wild Card here, either. Yanagi smiles warmly at Minato when he recognizes her--though she then blinks in surprise when he also vouches for her and Pernelle. "Oh! We didn't do anything of the sort..." She smiles anew. "But I'm happy to know you think so!"

It'll make him and SEES more pliable in the future if they've already decided they can trust them. Likewise Reiya, to whom she chuckles as he realizes what she'd been hinting at before. "That's right. You can consider this one on the house!" To Fuuka, she echoes back an effusive, "It's us!" She and Ririka are working together well, too...!

Her vivid gaze settles on Myunghon, and she smiles for them too. That look of wonder is quite splendid, but... "No, they aren't here today," she tells them conversationally, almost as if reading their mind--but no; it's simply a good guess based on their previous conversations. "You'll simply have to settle for us."

Yukari remarks/questions in shock about Peacock Silk and its employees' true nature. Yanagi jazz-hands one-handed across her face. "Surprise~!"

So many of them are encouraging Roger the Sanguin Shadow, even as they change their focus to fire upon the Cocoon. As they do, Yanagi settles her attention on Roger for a moment, colored lips pursed thoughtfully. Having never been one for video games, most of the theming is lost on her, but it's clear that it's tailored to him. Is it enough? When she'd first encountered Roger, she'd paid him little mind, but he immediately made it clear that he's no ordinary Shadow. Will he surprise her again?

However, the Homunculus is not content to just sit back and let everyone counter him. Explosions rock the Big Top, and Saika is clowned on by a clown car, a fact that gets Yanagi to gasp in concern for a moment--but Saika's much tougher than that, and she soon smiles again as her dear friend drags herself back upright.

For her part, Yanagi remains on her feet, thanks to the impeccable balance of the Persona behind her; it gives her something to balance against, where she might have otherwise fallen. The Homunculus leaps down from its bobbin throne at Katsuya and Umie, snarling about how insignificant they all and in particular Roger are. One invective in particular, though, makes her burst out laughing in tandem with Pernelle.

"Ahahahahah--oh, my, forgive me, but I couldn't help but laugh," she wheezes, wiping away a tear. Pernelle leaves his mirth at that, but she adds, "It's too funny, the concept of you railing against something--" She flicks her finger to one side, smiling sweetly. "--that ''shouldn't exist''."

Hazuki's Awakening had been the first Yanagi had been privileged to witness. It's no less marvelous the second time as she witnesses Roger's. She raises a hand to her crowned brow, eyes wide as countless threads cocoon around ''him'', then part as fabric to reveal his glorious Transmutation. "Oh my!" she gasps, eyes sparkling. Her smile brims with welcome as she enthuses, "Welcome to the game, Roger!!"

She, she gets it. She gets the joke.

For all her taunting, though... her brilliant eyes take on a brief pity as the tides turn against the Homunculus.

She gets the joke... including the punchline.

As the others aim to cut down the threads connecting the Cocoon to the rest of the Atelier, Yanagi rests her hand on her chest. Behind her, Giselle continues to spin, guiding and summoning and calling back the little origami angels that spirit about on her--their--behalf. The Homunculus is in a rage, charging, racing, out to inflict terrible violence on everyone here--

A delicate snow begins to fall. One flake, two, four, eight--and then rapidly onwards, until a blizzard hails down on the Ringmaster to freeze its joints and slow it down long enough for Saika to scissor her legs around its neck and Pernelle to hurl Anqa forth in a fireworks display of flame. It isn't time yet to take it out... but they'll need to keep it busy until it's time for the true battle.

"Come now," Yanagi calls, delicate voice rising along with her hand. "You who should not exist--may you see red!"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
He might be right. If they run, they might doom the young man whose atelier this is. On the other hand, if they stay, they could all die and it might amount to the same but worse. Which option is the right one to take?

Except, it never quite comes to that.

There's another way presented to them, right in the nick of time. Katsuya will wonder about that, later on. In the moment, there's no time to think otherwise.

Well, except to wilt slightly at 'detective-chan', that is.

Translocated across the field (does... teleportation actually exist??) he manifests his Persona to have at the Homunculus' cocoon. Helios in all his finery unleases shot after shot at the fragile thing. Perhaps they ''are'' mistaken. But it's too late to second-guess things. They need to act, and take responsibility for their actions--

A grimace crosses his face as Helios is seized bodily; dashed to the ground, it vanishes in a circulating flare of blue flame. Recovering from that strike, Katsuya jabs one finger towards the being, and tells it this:

"Homunculus! Stealing another's identity is a serious crime! Are you prepared to take responsibility!?"

You know, speaking of 'taking responsibility' and all. Better he keep its attention towards him, and open the floor to the others!

"We're on the right track!" he calls to the others. "Attack the Cocoon, there!" Another point of the finger!
Though it will be those with the Personas best suited to see it precisely ''where'' it's the weakest.

But then, Roger -- that Sanguin Humor, that Shadow, the one who had guided them through the outer limits of the Atelier, is simply swept aside and engulfed into the stuff of the Cocoon. "Wait, what's happening--"

Katsuya will get his answer, a scant few moments from now. Humans, he knows, can have Personas. He has scant little experience with the fact that other beings can have them as well. "He-- has a Persona!" he remarks, once the transformation -- the affirmed identity -- is completed.

"Then-- in that case, let us work together!"
He is pragmatic about such things in the end.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ririka and Fuuka have talked about how their experiences with Navigator powers varied from each other. But this might be the first time they've worked on something in tandem like this, and it's interesting getting Fuuka's version of the data she's gathering within the link like this.

"Got it, Katsuhiro-san!" Ririka calls to her fellow teammate.

But Saika's curb (homunculus) stomping is cut suddenly short, and the Homunuclus grows irate, calling them out for protecting Roger. A mistake. A reject that the world doesn't care about. "''HEY''!" snaps Ririka. "Don't project your own issues on Roger! I'd rather hang with a guy that just wants to have fun over a guy ready to put others down!"

But she quiets down a moment later as the picture inside becomes clear. A supernatural space, a Shadow--and a ''person''.

''Yamagishi-san, so you see it?'' She thinks to Fuuka. ''That's him, isn't it? And those threads...''

She hears the reaction of the crowd, too, the way they react to her song. "Amphion," she utters out loud, shifting her song on the fly as her Persona joins in on his lire. Holographic strings spring to life at the Persona's touch, providing a fast, up-tempo accompaniment to her piano-playing.

Suddenly her thoughts are shared with everyone present. ''We need to sever the strings holding up that Cocoon. Both sides, at the same time. You can use my song to gauge the timing.'' Congrats, she just added a new game to the mix: a rhythm mini-game.

But she keeps playing even as her attention is drawn to something startling. "An Awakening...?" She glances over her shoulder to behold Roger's new form--and his new Pesona--as both emerge. "I think we got room for one more," she says with a small grin. She's hoping this is a good omen, even if it's weird and inexplicable in the moment. "Roger-kun, here--" She shares about the weak points with him, too.

She keeps playing, fingers flying across imaginary keys as she keeps her theme up to try and keep swaying the audience, but as the others go in to attack, she does have something to add. "Amphion," she says quickly. "Magnara!"

A few strums and stones lift from the ground around Amphion before flying off to make contact with the threads.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
<poem>It's certainly a fascinating experience on Fuuka's end, too. She's used to working with and testing audio equipment... but the data she receives from Ririka is like nothing she's seen before. It's remarkable, seeing - hearing? - things the way she does.

''I do.'' Fuuka confirms to Ririka. ''Yes... He needs our help. Now, more than ever.''

What is the nature of the Cocoon? See can see it, its weakness laid bare - and together, they come to the conclusion.

"...I see. Everyone! The Cocoon's weaknesses are the threads on either side! They all need to be severed at once!" Fuuka calls out, as Ririka does the same through the link.

...But another Cocoon begins to form here today. This time, around Roger.

"...What's this feeling...?" Fuuka gasps, surprised. And Roger emerges from his cocoon, changed - and Awakened.

"Roger-san... You have a Persona, too? That' s incredible...!" She gasps. He is a Shadow - and yet, he has a Persona.

How is it possible? She has so many question... But right now, they have a pressing matter.

Her attention turns back to the Cocoon that remains.

Ririka leads one group with a rhythm game.

"I'll take the other side." Fuuka says. She focuses. She hears the rhythm of Ririka's song. They need to act in unison. And she waits until the right moment, for -

"Now, everyone...!"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
<poem>Akari isn't sure what she expected from Roger, but that is not it. She's never seen anyone come into their power with a Persona before, and she's only sorry that she does not have the attention to spare for it now.

"It's fine!" she calls back at Myunghon. "The Legendary Warrior Ixquic can handle anything! He gave me the spotlight when I came in," though they all had the spotlight, "so I'm going to steal it! A legendary warrior, aiding a new hero - more than one new hero! We'll save him - together...!"

Steering Quixote seems like it would be easy but it's actually surprisingly challenging. It takes a lot of Ixquic's focus to keep on task. And speaking of that, a hill of bodies appears in front of Ixquic.

Ixquic's response is to grin in response - slightly mad behind her helmet, not that it shows, as in a situation like this she is absolutely going to wear the whole helmet with the faceguard.

A normal person might back off. A slightly less normal but still determined person might swerve. Ixquic does neither of those. She instead raises the front wheel of Quixote and -

- drives -

- STRAIGHT UP.

So Hazuki ends up not only having a clear shot, but having a clear shot in *midair* as Quixote makes an improbable leap, slamming down with a bounce enough to nearly knock Ixquic off of her seat as they land with a loud whoop of excitement.

And at the end, even though she said she wouldn't, Ixquic raises her sword again.

"Quixote!" she calls, and Quixote raises HER sword, bringing it down in a tremendous slash!
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> 'STOP TOUCHING THAT.'

"Sorry, I think I heard 'keep touching'," Umie retorts right back with a snicker, all fear gone.

That viciously heady bragging is cut off when Umie recognizes Katsuya's Persona being snagged; her own moving alongside her as Umie dodges back, allowing hers to escape the same fate. "Katsuya-san!"

'Homunculus! Stealing another's identity is a serious crime!' If Katsuya was going to say anything, let it be that. He's definitely okay, if he's going to talk like that.

But where is Roger? Umie's gaze flicks around, but doesn't see him, just another Cocoon--

Umie's senses, while not as developed as the Navigators here, still catches that signal of something new coming into the battle; a 'shadow' with a Persona. "Maybe we're using the wrong terms here?" she mutters, below her breath. He doesn't *seem* at all like a Shadow.

Meanwhile, the Homunculus has moved from his perch, and the Badb in Umie has her zeroed in on this exposed weakness in the unprotected bobbin.

"Oopsie~" Umie taunts, eyelids lowering halfway. "So whose prophecies are garbage? Not mine. The stars are in Orange-san's favor." Orange-san being... Hazuki?? "I'll be calling your end before long, Ring-lea-der-san!" Yanagi's not alone in commenting from the sides of the battle; it may as well be one of Umie's favorite pasttimes, as long as she's not being the one focused on. (Not unless she wants it to be.)

Yamagishi-- where Umie's journey to insert herself into this world theoretically began, points to the best point and time to strike.

Given her position, Umie opts for support.

"The end's come for you! Bloody Revolution!"

Those who are aiming towards the threads will find the spirit of bloodshed and war sharpening their strikes, strengthening their heavier attacks, or making their magic attacks just that much more threatening.

All in the name of excessive violence, of course.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
<poem>
The sudden shift of resonance, the sharp tug in his gut, even among the chaos draws Koh's eyes to the cocoon, mouth opening in surprise as the Shadow he knows as a carnival mascot is swallowed up.

And then he's back!

Animals and Shadows with Personas? What's next!?

But there's no time to dwell further on it when Fuuka and Ririka call out their findings and Minato gives orders.

But there's time for this: "Welcome back, Roger-san!"

They attack! Most of SEES, anyway, the threads reach heights best left to magical attackers or those like Reiya, Akari, Saika, and Pernelle. Creatures unburdened by things like gravity.

But he's not useless. Madness follows in Minato's wake. Clowns now unicycling under the influence smash and pile into each other in a heap, which might provide convenient stepping stones. "Got you covered!" And anything that draws too close to the three spellcaster soon finds a knife embedded into it.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
''It's too funny, the concept of you railing against something''

''that -shouldn't exist-.''

Clawing its way up its every-growing tower of interlinking clowns, the Thing Calling Itself Taro snarls out something in an incomprehensible scatter of what sounds like ''''frustrated static'''' at the barbs Yanagi digs into its ever-fragile ego.

''Homunculus! Stealing another's identity is a serious crime! Are you prepared to take responsibility!?''

"No. N-no. No. This identity is mine. What crime is there in taking something that's being wasted? You're wrong. You're wrong. You're both wrong! I will exist," it huffs as it lunges across clown after clown, stomping on heads, using them as springboards for its own personal glory in the ascent towards Ixquic.

"I will exist."

"I will exist."

"I WILL EXIST!"

Closer and closer, it chases. The clowns all reach towards Ixquic. The Homunculus raises its baton in preparation--

--and then--

--it begins--

--to... slow...--

"What? What--" it begins, until it realizes: it's ''cold''. Frost builds up rapidly around it as snowflakes drift, a few at first rapidly becoming a blizzard unto itself. It freezes at its joints; makes excess, cognitive moisture cling at its heels, fusing to its clown-linked ascent.

"No--!"

Clowns swipe the air futiley near Ixquic as she rises, barely missing Quixote as she ferries her magical mistress and Hazuki Nakao straight up into the air to clear the path for Hazuki's shot.

The Homunculus' frustration grows. Frost snaps and shatters. It won't hold the thing for long--

But it doesn't need to, as nuclear flame washes down like a tidal wave through that rising bridge of clowns courtesy of Pernelle and Arqa, the heat of it BAKING at the Homunculus' skin, burning at the tailcoats of their jacket as they are bowled backwards across their increasingly shrinking makeshift tower of bodies.

''Ahem, as I do believe the gamers say... get pwned, noob-chan!''

"Who -- even says that -- anymore--!!"

Sadly -- the Homunculus' criticisms about the most eldest of internet memes is lost within the flames, proving that if nothing else,

Pernelle truly has pwned that noob-chan.

A static roar. A gloved hand punches through the heat.

And that is when Saika -vaults- over the heap of clown bodies courtesy of the creature to -SNAG- onto the Homunculus' neck.

She keeps moving. The Homunculus tries to resist, feet digging in.

And even as it attempts to--

It can see it.

It can FEEL it.

The way Roger turns from some strange anomaly into some STRANGER anomaly, leaving the Homunculus crying out in dismayed bursts of static, "WHAT -- ARE YOU--?!" even as Saika's legs find their neck.

It can see - it can FEEL - the way the Navigators coordinate the others, one for either side of that Cocoon.

As Ririka makes a rhythm game out of the guiding notes of her music.

As Fuuka aligns her mind to direct the other side to attack in perfect sync to that rhythm.

As Umie empowers them all with the bloodthirsty power of revolution, even as the Homunculus lets out incoherent invective to her taunts.

As Koh fights from the ground, attacking cognitive creation after cognitive creation, smashing through clowns on unicycles, lions and their tamers, flame-spitting monstrosities; at one point, an entire, (cognitively) sentient strength-testing machine tries to just up and drop on him as the creations get stranger and stranger, only to be rent asunder as the weight of the thing hits the bell with a triumphant CLANG.

He keeps the others safe, while--

On one side...

Needles impale into thick, metaphysical threads. With the ignition of Kunimitsu's purple flames, string after string of connective fiber burn towards thin lines and snap.

Ririka's stones smash into burning threads already weakened by Reiya's opening salvo, snapping yet more still.

The Cognitive Coat of Myunghon Yeo forges the massive jaws of Kudlak, snapping away at -both- sides of the Cocoon, chewing away thread after thread.

And on the other side...

Minato leads the charge, a well-placed Seal Bomb bursting with kinetic force to send cord after cord snapping as the tensile force is shredded into so much nothing.

Yukari follows after, wind blades building on that weakness, Garula after Garulla snapping thread after thread.

The mighty sword of Quixote, Persona of Ixquic, Magical Guardian of JUSTICE, swings forward in a titanic slash, CARVING down what Myunghon, Yukari and Minato do not reach until all that is left are threadbare vestiges on both sides--

''''I'm Roger, and I'm bringing the A-Game with everyone else here!!''''

''''Nakata-kun! I'm sorry!''''

Between ball and bat, water and light, Hazuki Nakao and the freshly awakened once-Humor Roger launch dual, synchronized assaults on the remaining threads holding that Cocoon aloft. Light flares.

...

...

In a sea of scarlet, Taro Nakata drifts, curled in on himself in a fetal position. He can hear them. All of them. So many voices he doesn't know. Speaking... on behalf of him?

... Why?

Why...

The compulsion to shut them all out is so strong. It takes so much effort just to keep his eyes open. Isn't all life like this? So much effort. And for what?

To be ridiculed again?

To be dismissed again?

To be used as a prop again?

To have people decide his life again?

Why should he...

''Nakata-kun! I'm sorry!''

Behind glasses, Taro Nakata blinks once. Nakao. She said she was his friend. She never even asked. She probably just liked how easy it was to beat him, over and over. Shut your eyes, Nakata. Just let something better take over. Just--

''I shouldn't have been so pushy and declared myself your friend! I never really knew you... and I insisted I did! You were hurting inside and I only made it worse...! I don't care if you never forgive me, if you want nothing to do with me, because...''

let it

''You still deserve to live! You deserve a chance to shine! You're a human being, through and through, and I'm going to make sure you see tomorrow...''

END

''UNLIKE THIS FAKER!''

"NO!"

Taro's eyes fling wide.

"I want to live!"

His hand reaches out.

"Nakao-san--!!"

...

...

In the Big Top,

the last two threads snap at once,

"Nakao-san!!"

It happens so fast. The moment those last threads snap, ALL the threads start to recede. In Saika's grasp, the Homunculus lets out an agonized sound, and suddenly goes limp. With all her momentum, she simply RAGDOLLS the thing, sending it hurtling to SMASH into the rent fairgrounds and rebound once before rolling and coming to a seemingly lifeless, inert stop...

All around it, the grounds of the Carnival start to split open as massive THREADS of corded fabric RIP out of the ground before rapidly shriveling away, as if like an unseen infestation being suddenly revealed as it dies.

The Cocoon shakes, QUIVERS in a strangely fluid way.

And from the center of that would-be tightrope now undone, a hand PUSHES through the mass of fabric just as it all BURSTS apart.

"I want to live!!"

And in mid-air, Taro Nakata - the REAL Taro Nakata, does the one thing that could save a life in free fall:

He reaches out.

</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
<poem>Yukari says she doesn't get it. Hazuki just sighs, smiling. "You don't need to! It's for me to get."

And then, it all happens at once.

The threads snap. The grounds are shaking. The cocoon is opening.

Hazuki instinctively knows what to do. As she sees that hand destroying the fabric, she moves forward to reach out, grab Taro by the hand, and pull with all her strength.

If she can get him down safely, she will. She'll apologize again, where he can respond, later. For now...

"Nakata-kun! If you want to live, then you'll live! We'll live! That's my promise to you!"

She'd rather herself die than let him die, in this moment.

But she doesn't think either will have to happen, and so she makes a promise to that extent.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
<poem> Roger cheers in earnest as he joins the fray alongside the rest on equal... ish... footing. Even if the existential state of a ''Shadow'' having a ''Persona'' is beyond bizarre and worrisome for some - for good reason - his conduct throughout to this point should cast little doubt in the heat of the moment:

This stranger to humanity is a friend, and wants to play, as someone.

The other Humors - if he even truly still ''is'' one of their number - hardly seem to acknowledge or react to him in the span of time presented. The cocoon that houses the true Taro Nakata - one who was close to oblivion - is seen to freedom in the caring hands of the friend who did not give up on him.

Roger gives a cheer, pumped fist, and a little circular dance as he watches the fairgrounds start to evaporate from under the Homonculus' hold... and that dance slows down, moment by moment, watching it all disappear. As he said to everyone when asked, looking up - it feels weird to look up, somehow - this Atelier already felt strange and wrong. He pinned it on the Homonculus, which made sense.

For the reasserted shape and landscape of Taro Nakata's Atelier that should be inevitable, he should feel like... he knows what to expect.

...he's full of doubts, concerns, worries, second-guesses, and anxieties, even in a seeming moment of triumph. (it's very strange and foreign a sensation. thinking is hard. being someone is... something.)

He snorts the once, pig-like, even in the more human-like guise of his Transmutation, coming to grips with how to express these complicated thoughts... but will he have the time to do so, in the moment?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
The Homunculus snarls in static, insisting that it will exist, it will exist, it will exist!!

And that's why that pity crosses Yanagi's eyes.

As wretched a creature as a Homunculus is... who can fault it the will and desire to live?

"You won't," Yanagi replies, shaking her head slowly. "No matter how much you wish to live a life of your own... your wish will never come true. You poor, pathetic creature, undesired by all that is... Do you understand why? Why you will not have this life, no matter how desperately you crave it?"

She stretches out a hand as if towards it--but not truly. Not while it's getting washed through with nuclear flame, not while Saika is seizing hold of its neck, not while every last thread strangling the Cocoon is severed in turn until Roger and Hazuki release it.

Certainly not while the true Taro Nakata rips a hand through the strange fabric and reaches out. Not while Hazuki reaches out in turn.

Yanagi levels her hand towards ''that'', as if to put it on display.

"''That'' is why. If that makes no sense to you, then know this:

"You will come to an end before you were ever truly born... without ever understanding why you failed."

Yanagi layers her hand atop her other hand, on the handle of her gun-cane. This time, though, she looks at her dear friends. "Saika... Pernelle... it's about time, isn't it?" She smiles fondly. "Let's bring Tsumugi back something special. <3"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
Yanagi's jazz-hands across her face and Yukari seems a little stunned by the flippancy of the gesture, "... Get serious." How can people take life or death conflicts ''so unseriously''. "...It's not some surprise birthday party..."

"... Sure, alright." Yukari replies to Hazuki, remembering the times she heard Junpei practicing 'cool lines'. Maybe it's like that? Either way, the logic doesn't make sense to her.

Though the conversation perhaps matters little in the grand scheme of things, it does provide one thing, as they all work to sever the cocoon threads.

And as they break, the cocoon flares.

She doesn't know Taro Nakata, she doesn't know anything about him other than what she was told. She only met him with a Homunculus wearing him like a creepy skin puppet.

But... the others do reach out to him, and- the real Taro Nakata bursts free, "Wait... it's not his..."

Shadow? She was trying to say, but she's not certain what's going on, how is the real him even ''here''?

Hazuki takes their hand. And she finds herself surprised, because - it was so desperate, that she was sure there was no way for them to win.

And, they managed to prove her wrong. It doesn't mean she thinks her logic was wrong? But - irrational confidence, irrational belief...

... perhaps they are what saved the day.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
Saika's thumbs-up is indeed inspiring, a superstar in the midst of all the action, wearing the very words that inspire her upon her coat as she continues to get physical as, much like the rest of the Peacock Silk, she's quick to remind: sometimes... the rules are just there for your benefit.

Don't worry, Saika, that'll leave a lasting impression on Myunghon.

Pernelle reveals that he has a command of Gamer Lingo, much more than Myunghon can fake with their '1-ups' and 'continues'. "P-poowned...?" they momentarily stammer. You're at risk of becoming another Sassy-san at this rate, Myunghon.

SIDEQUEST UNLOCKED: Learn Gamer Lingo from Pernelle

But.... should you?

Much like the last time they were in battle, Yanagi spares a moment where their eye(s) meet. But Yanagi is seemingly psychic! She's treated to a cute moment where Myunghon dead pauses for two seconds, before remarking, with just a bit of bashfulness, "I-- I was not thinking anything of the sort. Settle? I'm rather pleased to see you, and am charmed by all your powers, Yanagi."

But Yanagi's words to the Homunculus isn't lost on them either. The concept of them railing against something that... ''shouldn't exist.''

...

Those words have a certain gravity soft belied by her levity, but Merry doesn't have time to dwell upon this at present. Because Katsuya does insist that, yes, a Homunculus can be charged with identity fraud, and will in fact be having them take responsibility for it!

The Navigators organise the group to correctly strike at the right time, and Umie's chosen support as her choice this time -- a choice well spent, as Kudlak's very ribbons feel that much more powerful and bloody, as is befitting the legend of the vampire, under her will.

But as their attacks work in tandem, in concordance to Ririka's rhythm and Fuuka's seeming prescience, there's a moment in which the sounds of battle are washed out, all, that they find themself distracted by something they didn't think they'd be distracted by.

The topic of the Other that shouldn't exist is a common and extremely loaded one in media. Often manifesting as something like a demon or a youma, some silly little villain-caricature that's there for the magical girl to beat up, to entertain children for exactly 23 minutes plus an op and ed, and commercials, to something as deeply unpleasant as an author's barely veiled thoughts about who should live when and where.

It's one thing when it's in the realm of fiction.

It's another thing when, at the cusp of success, Myunghon is now just thinking, more than a Palace Ruler, which is someone's Shadow that will safely be absorbed back into the being it distorted from, more than the Shadows of Tartarus, which seem more like creatures of mindless instinct, more than the Demons of Sumaru, which they ''do'' acknowledge and barter with on a regular basis and thus understand them to have a place to exist in the world...

...

Who is this? What is this?

I will exist.
It shouldn't exist.
I will exist.
It shouldn't exist.
I will ''exist.''

They're so distracted by this they almost don't acknowledge Taro Nakata's desire to leave, to reach out, Hazuki's own imploration that if he wants to live -- then they'll live. That's her promise to him... it's a good thing that they're not being actively attacked at the moment, but their eye is cast upon Yanagi's form again.

The thing that shouldn't exist.

Yanagi pushes it further, bringing to words what they're silently having a miniature panic attack about. No matter how they wish to live a life of their own... their wish will never come true. A poor, pathetic creature, undesired by all... why? Yanagi answers why they won't ever have that life:

Because of Taro Nakata. The true Nakata, reaching for Roger and Hazuki.

It will come to an end before it was ever truly born... without understanding why it failed.

... then what was it???????

Then, just like that, Yanagi sweetly cheers for bringing Tsumugi back something special.

...

Myunghon allows themself a cold, terrified, timorous tremble of their body for a moment, then they let Merry force the the feeling pass, because they're still conducting combat at present. They're still on guard -- these spaces have a tendency to collapse, for starters, and they're not certain they're out of risk yet...
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
<poem>
Teamwork. It's the only way to bring this battle to a close, and Reiya will do his part.

...But Yanagi's words to the Homunculus sit ill with Reiya. What is a creature that can never truly exist? What is a creature that can only take from others...?

"Did it choose to be this way?" Reiya wonders. "Or is this all it oculd ever be?"

A Shadow. A creature of pain. But at the same time... Roger.

Reiya looks to Hazuki and Taro. "A promise kept..."

"...My duty was to eradicate you," he says to the Homunculus, turning towards it. If it cannot exist...

"But I will watch your end. I will observe it."

"...If you can be nothing else, you will be a memory."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
Pernelle lands on a single claw, bringing the other down and sweeping both wings out as his train lowers horizontal to the floor.

"It is as she says," Pernelle asserts to the Homunculus as he rises back up to look at the Homunculus, in the wake of Yanagi's words. He has his own pity in heart and in his eyes. "Take pride in the moment you fought to break the shell of your egg... Or do not, if you acted without true pride at all."

This judgment of his own given, he turns to Yanagi. Pernelle half spreads his wings from his body and taps his clawed feet up and down in his habitual tippy-taps.

"Quite so! Do you think they'll notice if I have a little taste first...?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
<poem>
The Homunculus... will never have been born, and Minato regards it, with his cool blue eyes.

"Sayonara," he bids it adieu.

But the cocoon unravels by Taro's own hand, and Minato watches, as Hazuki grasps his hand and guides him to safety.

"To live is the fullest essence of humanity," Minato says, as he steps up to them, though his eyes are on Taro. "I'd like to get to know you, Nakata-kun. So..."

So, live, is the implicit end of that sentence.

But Taro's the one who needs to finish it.

He will stay close to Taro, now he's broken free; he will help Hazuki defend him. Though... there doesn't seem to be anything left to defend him ''from,'' now.

"Congratulations," he says, to Roger. And to Yanagi, Pernelle, and Saika, he looks to them, and says: "Thank you."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ririka is releived to hear that both she and Fuuka have come to the same conclusion about the Cocoon. Now, more than ever, she says, and Ririka nods. ''Right!''

It's handy, that they can both combine and split their efforts, and both of them guiding one side comes naturally.

She appreciates Koh keeping an eye on those of them not rising--literally--to the challenge of attacking the threads, though. She's rather a bit distracted, after all.

Everyone attacks, threads snap, and Ririka keeps playing until--Taro declares he wants to ''live''. And with that, the Homunculus ragdolls, and Ririka stills her hands for a moment, letting them drop to her sides as the light from her holographic keyboard fades.

"Whew..." She starts to rub her wrists, stretching out the fingers. Hazuki reaches for Taro, and Ririka watches. She hopes Taro will feel better after this ordeal.

She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly as she listens to Yanagi's words. "Bring back something nice...?" she mutters to herself. Somehow she doesn't think they mean more clown skins. (Which are ''still'' a weird thing to ahve.)

But she watches the Homunculus, too. That desperate will to live... makes something ache a little. She once thought she couldn't go on... and some days she still isn't sure she can, even if she's trying. Is it cruel to deny that for someone else? She stays silent with her thoughts.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
Hearing Yanagi talk mad (and wholly justified) mess to the Homunculus brings a smile to Saika's face. It's not like it takes a lot for it to come back even as fiery incineration bursts through clowns, filling the air with the curiously grease-painty smell.

But she keeps moving. As she flies she looks back the way she came. She can see Roger but the vision makes no sense to her, not in the flashing instants that occupy her life. Others are moving. Threads tear, bite, bombed, snapped, a mighty sword smashing down on one side, water and light on the other.

And something snaps.
And something else snaps.
And the Homunculus goes from present to past tense as Saika looks down

And Saika doesn't really like it, but she can feel her mouth splitting in an enormous grin, wide enough to be slightly painful. A satisfaction that can't be beat.

After this Saika hits the ground. She has no reason to keep the Homunculus but she's kind of stuck with them for about a 180 degree rotation before the creature comes loose, unspooling apart. 720 more degrees of rotation later, Saika pushes herself to her elbows.

"Welcome back, Nakata," Saika says -- not shouts -- and she smiles, somewhat more normally.

And after that, Saika gets up and walks a few steps over, towards the others, even as the world starts to unspool around them. "You know," she answers Reiya, "I understand where that question's comin from, and it does you credit." She walks past the purple-eyed boy, giving him a brief clap on the shoulder -- unless he dodges. "Don't let 'em get to you."

Saika smiles then at Pernelle and Yanagi as they come closer. "I guess Hazuki over there lived up to her brag, huh? Pretty awesome. Yeah, let's get it over with."

It is perhaps notable that Saika has put herself between Yanagi and Pernelle and the body of the others, but that's the kind of thing *Reiya* might notice -- because she has nothing ill to say, just a smile and a brief thump of her chest at Minato. "Thank *you*. I'm not gonna say it wasn't hard... but phew! Havin' this much support makes everything easier. You guys should come by Shimokita sometime, I like the cut on your --" Saika seems to not want to commit to a word so she sort of makes a back-and-forth gesture. (Their outfits. She can probably tell the quality. Possibly a lot about the quality.)

Another grin from the stitched-face woman, and she turns to walk with the others. More quietly, only to them, she says: "Gets harder to keep track, though... would'a sucked if those clowns came from both sides. Uuugh, my shoulder's aching already..."

("And I heard your question, Pern, and I'm pretty sure the answer is 'yes they would')

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
''Can'' you charge a Homunculus with identity fraud? Is there a court in Japan, or in the entire world, who would or could hear that case?

Perhaps, the logistics of such a claim don't matter in the moment. Perhaps, what matters most is the way that the Homunculus's attention is grabbed and pulled towards him, towards others to call it and its designs out and undermine its pride and sense of control. It leaves the Cocoon bared to the sights of the other Navigators and to the attacks from others who are here gathered.

Even if. The Homunculus tries its level best to defend itself.
Or the idea of 'itself' as a concept, at that.

"If you desire an identity, then create one of your own!" Katsuya declares as the Cocoon shudders under the onslaught. "To resort to theft of another's-- civil society cannot tolerate such a thing!"

...is this really a matter of what 'civil society' wants, though...

Yet, there, the Cocoon shudders, trembles, and ''rips'' apart. The Homunculus goes limp like a puppet with its strings cut. Here the real Taro Nakata tumbles free.

"Nakata-san!"

Hazuki, though, is already surging to grab his hand.

Is it-- can it be over?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
<poem>
Koh watches the gathered Persona users tear into the threads, and then the result of Hazuki's heartfelt efforts.

Taro Nakata is free and the Homunculus, no matter how much it wanted to live, will not. Maybe it never even had a chance.

But, isn't that just the way it goes?

A breathless, hacking laugh escapes the boy's lips. More relief than any genuine amusement at the events unfolded.

"Guess we won, huh?" Nobody's dead, that's what's important.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem> 'Saika... Pernelle... it's about time, isn't it? Let's bring Tsumugi back something special. <3'
'Quite so! Do you think they'll notice if I have a little taste first...?'

Umie's cheshire cat smile disappears, in the blink in an eye.

As adrenaline seeps out, the garden in Umie's heart lies still, and like weeds, paranoia sprouts and blooms.

It's a covered path a certain creature walks down with soft footfalls, sweet and deceptive as the scent of almond.

'You think it'll be that easy, Umie-chan?'

Mai-chan's words could be one of her many veiled insults/encouragements, never fully leaning towards one side or another.

Here, they just encourage doubt. "... We don't know all the rules here, do we..."

Reiya's oath to watch the Homunculus's end is noted, his visit fresh in Umie's mind.

Saika, the other part of Peacock Silk, stills Umie's suspicion of them, but her paranoia still stalks, eager for another focus.

"...." Umie hunches down, like a nervous spring ever pulling tighter.

It's tradition, after all: if death will not be accepted peacefully by a samurai, then someone has to come in and bring it to an end for them.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
Hazuki takes Taro's hand. It's clear from his face he really isn't sure what's happening - frankly, he isn't even sure this is Hazuki, given how she looks, and yet...

... when they finally land safely, the bespectacled boy just... smiles an exhausted smile.

Minato says he'd like to know him. ''Him''. Taro blinks. "Um. I w-would, too. I -- I think."

But thinking is getting more difficult; it's hard to process just everything he's seeing, and yet so much of it feels so... familiar. He can't for the life of him say why; he can only focus on Hazuki's promise, as whatever strength he managed to summon up fades, and he slumps forward with a heavy exhale.

"Good... I'll... keep you to that..."

He doesn't know if this is a dream or not. But it feels...

... good. To know people want to know him. To know someone really sees him.

To know people who really care.

...
...

The Cocoon is destroyed. Taro Nakata is freed. And his Homunculus--

"no. no. no. no."

... is still here.

He's there, still wearing his face; dragged back up from his inert position, he is kneeling on the grounds of the Big Top arena as his cognitive creations dissolve all around him. The Other Shadow is bent over, face completely overshadowed and gloved hands planted on the ground.

No. Not planted.

"it's mine. it's mine. it's mine."

Clawing at it. Scraping fingers against hard earth, even as Yanagi, Pernelle and Reiya address him, until his gloves split at the seams. Until he's dragging bloody furrows into the cognitive earth.

"IT'S MINE!"

Anyone who has had encounters with a human's Shadow knows there is one thing consistent across all of them: those bright, almost ''glowing'' yellow eyes. It's been true of every Palace Ruler. Any Shadow encountered in Mementos. And it was true of Taro's Homunculus, too.

But as the former, false ringmaster of the carnival whips around to face them, face now fully painted up in exceedingly fresh clown makeup, with wide eyes unhinged in fury--

They aren't yellow.

"GIVE IT BACK TO ME."

They're a blazing scarlet.

"I deserve this life. ME. I deserve it! Why should he have it and not me?! That pathetic alsoran deserves to wriggle through life like a milksop worm, accomplishing nothing?! I'M the one that ends here?! Just some SAD MEMORY for you all to hold until your brains rot away?! I won't accept that! I should have the life he could never have!"

His arms wrap around his trembling body. Those glowing scarlet eyes have shrunk to pinpricks as he violently grinds his teeth.

And looks up.

The Flegmats in the audience, now freed from the Homunculus' influence, shrink backwards, as if sensing some horrific force on the horizon. Some of them turn. Start to flee.

"I. WILL. Have. It."

Too late.

It's surreal, the way the Homunculus' borrowed body moves. The way its mouth widens suddenly and cartoonishly like a snake unhinging its jaw. The way it inhales...

... and the sheer, sudden suction force of it creates a vortex within the Big Top. The fabric of the tent walls ripple and bend inward towards the Homunculus' inhale. Those gathered will have to fight to not be drawn in -- but they'll manage.

The Flegmats, all of them flinging from the bleachers through the air towards that waiting, open mouth... are not so lucky.

With one singularly harrowing gulp, the Homunculus swallows them all. Those red eyes blaze.

"Even if I have to tear him apart."

And everything goes pitch black. Nothing, absolutely nothing is visible --

save for the Thing wearing Taro's face, visible only as a silhouette in saturated scarlet.

i am the other self

A silhouette that distorts. Distends. Shifts. Joints bending in ways they shouldn't. Body bulging in violent expansion.

Until it ''b u r s t s''.

Light suddenly returns to the Big Top as a concealing red mist gushes outward from the epicenter of that explosion. And within the haze...

the you that should be

Something emerges.

Large. Monolithic, even. That's the first impression as that towering and ungainly-looking silhouette pierces through the dissipating fog of scarlet. It seems to almost... teeter into being, the sheer weight of it swaying ''forward'' before tipping ''backward'', as if struggling with its own weight.

The reason for this soon becomes clear as that strange, blocky form emerges from the haze. It isn't a creature, per se: it's a vehicle. It looks like a tremendous palanquin or litter, fashioned out of arcade machines:

The base of it, from which the support rods extend, is a large flat horizontal arcade machine, sculpted in pure royal whites and golds.

And the 'cabin' of that litter? A classic arcade tower colored in aggressive neon green and pink, the garish colors almost evocative of old, 90s aesethetics. The screen of it occasionally flashes between scenes of what looks like samples of Night Parade fights, except distorted and somehow unsettling to look at directly. On the corner of the machine, the Homunculus' top hat hangs.

Like a proper palanquin it, of course, has guards: to anyone familiar with Night Parade, they look almost immediately familiar. Kaguya-hime. Master Koto. Nukekubi. Bakeduo-Neko, even. And more besides -- all of them looking almost like... real people, cosplaying the characters. People from -- Shujin? Anyone familiar might be able to identify them as the bullies in Taro Nakata's life.

They're all there... except for two characters in specific:

The first: Kappa. He's there -- in fact, there are -many- Kappas. Not amongst the guards -- but carrying the Arcade Palanquin, countless scaly-green, beaked, shell-bearing, sad-looking Kappas struggling and straining to support the overbearing weight of the machine carriage, all of them wearing rounded glasses.

All of them looking ''exactly'' like Taro Nakata.

And the last?

i am

She sits on the top of the arcade tower, leaned back and one foot planted, knee-bent on the top of the tower, lounging in all her glacial splendor like royal on the throne made for her. Pale skin. Blue lips. Eyes closed. Long black hair. An outfit in purple and black, with gray jeans and high-heeled sneakers.

Yuki-Offa. Yet like the others, her facial features are more reminiscent of someone else: ... Hazuki?

This is...

i am the other self
u r
n Nanghaithya e
i the v
t Discontent e
e s
fles rehto eht ma i

homunculus

TO BE CONCLUDED...

</poem>

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

2025-10-08: Oh. She's Here to TEACH

2025-10-20T05:40:15Z

Jean: Created page with "*'''Log: Oh. She's Here to TEACH''' *'''Cast:''' Suzume Fukura, Mitsuru Kirijo *'''Where:''' Iwatodai Dorms, Iwatodai *'''OOC Date:''' October 08, 2025 *'''IC Date:''' July 23, 2012 *'''Summary''': ''Do you know what break time is? Free real estate for more study time! The alternative? '''Awkward socializing.''''' ---- <Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed. <poem>Monday, July 23. EXAM TIME. That's right: Gekkoukan is in the midst of exam time. Today the se..."

*'''Log: Oh. She's Here to TEACH'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Suzume Fukura]], [[Mitsuru Kirijo]]
*'''Where:''' Iwatodai Dorms, Iwatodai
*'''OOC Date:''' October 08, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' July 23, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Do you know what break time is? Free real estate for more study time! The alternative? '''Awkward socializing.'''''

----

<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
<poem>Monday, July 23.

EXAM TIME.

That's right: Gekkoukan is in the midst of exam time. Today the second years had a big block of social science work; tomorrow is mathematics, among other things.

Suzume is pretty sure she did fine at social science and was pretty hasty about getting back to the dorms afterwards. Math is her worst subject and she really ought to be studying it.

And she did... for a while. Until about fifteen minutes ago, when she stood bolt upright from her desk, declared that she couldn't do it anymore, and left. Since she was leaving her room and nobody else was around, it lacked a lot of the drama such an announcement could have had.

So now she's downstairs in the main part of the dorm. She has brought her math book and notes down but is paying no attention to either of them; it sits, lonely and unopened, on the kitchen table, with a sports magazine sitting on top of it, hiding it from view, a pencil tossed vaguely nearby.

Suzume herself adjourned to the actual kitchen. Is she cooking something? Is she using Shinjiro's precious equipment?

...naw. She's just coming back to the table with an instant cup ramen. Spicy beef, apparently.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
<poem>
Monday, July 23rd.
The First Day of Doom.
COUNTDOWN TO ULTIMATE DOOM: 6 DAYS

It's exam time, the most stressful time of the year for students across Japan. You'd have to be extremely abnormal to actually ''enjoy'' an entire week of exams upon which your future hinges, even if you're ''good'' at it.

Which, of course, is to say: Mitsuru Kirijo is currently in her element.

When Suzume left her things at the kitchen table for the forbidden joy that is a fine cup of instant ramen, there was no one else there. Shockingly, blissfully empty, free of any potential distractions from any number of sources even though a good half of them could probably be traced to Junpei. No; just the blissful silence of an empty room.

By the time she returns, the silence remains.

But it's not empty anymore.

She's there, sitting at the kitchen table, on the opposite end from where Suzume's study materials and sports magazine rest, dressed in a white blouse with a high, ruffled collar, tan riding pants and black boots. There is, frankly, a daunting volume of text books now dominating that side of the table, but she currently has a book on Calculus cracked open, royal red bangs spill over her shoulder as she pours over her texts with monomaniacal focus, jotting down complex equations in rapid time.

Mitsuru Kirijo. Looking at her, one wouldn't get the impression of someone who should - rightly - be stressed out at the staggering amount of work in front of them. No -- she looks alert. Focused. -Energized-.

What manner of creature is she, exactly--?

She doesn't look up as she works, and yet all the same, she notes in that distant voice of hers,

"Ah. Fukura. Hello; I was wondering who else was here."

As if she just -knew-, somehow, despite how entrenched in her studies she looks.

Life is often full of unfair things, such as inveterate multitaskers.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
<poem>Let's be fair: Suzume is perfectly capable of distracting herself with or without Junpei. It is perhaps not a surprise that she gets along pretty well with him most of the time, at least well enough that she occasionally trades manga with him.

Honestly, it's because they're too much alike. Suzume is wearing a Hanshin Tigers baseball T-shirt *right now*, mascot and all, along with her jeans. Mitsuru might have dressed fancily, but Suzume certainly did not.

It being exam time, Suzume was pretty sure ninety percent of SEES was either holed up in their rooms or in their other favourite study locations (she understands some of the cafes are popular, but they always want her to buy something while she's there and she can't afford to keep buying as long as she'd want to stay). Certainly she wasn't expecting Mitsuru to...

...well, to just *be* there.

Suzume's response is to plop back down in her original seat and very deliberately crack apart her pair of chopsticks before she says anything. It's still a little hot for her to eat even though she generally likes it pretty hot, so: "I hope it's not a problem, Kirijo-senpai." Blunt as she usually is, she can be polite-ish when she wants to. "I didn't expect anyone else to come down and... settle in." That's a lot of books she's got.

She eyeballs the calculus textbook, decides she wants no part of it, realizes she is going to have to have a part of it next year even if she hasn't had calculus quite yet, and lets out a mental groan. Of course, more math. She came here to get away from that!

(So why'd she bring her own math text book down? As cover. She actually wanted to read the magazine.)

A moment later, and then the slurp of ramen. It's fine. That's what's supposed to happen. And while instant spicy ramen is not to everyone's taste, it is to Suzume's.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
<poem>
''I didn't expect anyone else to come down and... settle in.''

At first, Mitsuru's only answer is a lone exhale: "Mm." That sort of distant, seemingly aloof noise offered in lieu of an actual answer that just helps contribute to her outsized presence even when just sitting and pouring over her (unhealthily egregious) amount of academia.

And yet--

"... It's not a problem, really. The living area is for everyone. Sometimes I simply like to station myself here or in the dormitory's lobby," she suddenly adds, about five seconds of awkward silence later. "If anyone has questions related to exam materials or wishes assistance with studying, I would rather make sure I am on hand while I take care of my own work. Au cas où."

Cheekbone propped up on her knuckles, Mitsuru continues to look over her notes as Suzume settles in. It's only as that first slurp comes. That dark red gaze turns towards Suzume, brows raising as she peers at that noodle cup.

A second later, her gaze drops once more towards her books with a furrowed brow and a thoughtful "hm."

Is she judging Suzume's instant ramen--??

(the truth: Mitsuru had not experienced ramen until like a week ago and it's mostly just an open question if she even knows what instant ramen is)

Silence reigns like that for several moments longer, before that calm voice cuts in once more right when one might think quiet would be the order of the day:

"How have your studies been going, Fukura?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
<poem>Oh, she's here to *teach*.

Suzume isn't sure what she thinks about that. On one hand, she really could use a hand with her own math work; on the other hand, she doesn't want to actually ask Mitsuru for help, for several reasons.

Not the same reasons as some other students, though. Suzume just doesn't like asking for help. She should be able to do it herself, dammit.

"Wh - " Suzume has a bit of a mouth full and, honestly, it's particularly hard to talk with ramen in your mouth, so she actually swallows it before she tries again. "Ah, hot," she hisses under her breath, before -

She's being judged. She can tell. Is Mitsuru some kind of ramen traditionalist that doesn't approve of the spicy flavours? Suzume's response is to meet Mitsuru's gaze for the few seconds of awkward silence, not quite challenging but not entirely *not*. And then she takes... another slurp of ramen, very deliberately.

Suzume doesn't know French, either, but she's too proud to ask what 'o ka ou' means, which is what she got out of Mitsuru's brief foray into a foreign language. "Huh," she says instead. She supposes she shouldn't be surprised; Mitsuru is some sort of honour student. Top of her class. Her sister spoke about her -

Suzume scowls for no apparent reason, just before Mitsuru asks her the fateful question.

"Fine," is her response. "They're going fine. Mathematics tomorrow, apparently." She's very definitely not looking forward to that, but if she can keep her nervousness out of her voice... She manages to an extent, though there's definitely some tension there that wasn't there before. "Looks like it's the same for third years."

She has no idea, she just saw all the calculus books and assumed.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
<poem>
Is Mitsuru a STRICT, SNOBBISH ramen traditionalist?! Perhaps she goes to hoity toity elite ramen parties where they have ramen taste tests to determine the perfect ramen to be promoted in Japan??

That's what her expression certainly ''suggests''.

THE REALITY: Mitsuru is just quietly satisfied she was -completely correct- about slurping etiquette as Suzume helpfully and deliberately does the deed

She might even ask after the particular recipe Suzume is trying, considering she's so recently been introduced to the wonderful world of ramen (and subsequently be utterly bemused), but her priorities during exam week are phenomenally clear cut. It's a little remarkable, and a lot harrowing, how Mitsuru seems to pare down the outside world and simply focus, relentlessly, on academics, or athletics, or -whatever- task is currently at hand; even now, she seems to barely shift her attention from writing out equation after equation as she talks to Suzume, those moments where her attention fully shifts - like with the slurp of those noodles - few and far between.

But all the same, when Suzume answers her, a small smile touches the corners of her lips.

"Ah, no," she says, after a moment's delay, jotting something down. "English is tomorrow for us. But I'm not particularly concerned about how my performance will be there, so I'd rather take the opportunity to better prepare myself for some more advanced subjects."

It'd be easy to take as a casual brag if it weren't said so simply, so matter-of-factly. Like she really thinks nothing of it; like all of this is just a natural matter of course for her. And for someone who compartmentalizes and plans out their day-to-day as rigorously as she does, maybe it is.

The skrtch-skrtch-skrtch of her fluid pen strokes come to a stop. Suzume might feel the weight of that dark-eyed stare on her again, partially obscured by those royal red bangs, as Mitsuru considers her for a moment.

"... In an extremely general sense, much of mathematics is a matter of pattern recognition," she suddenly asides. "When you can recognize the structure of the formula, your mind can pick up on the steps towards solving it. Repeat those formulae enough, and it can become less a matter of intensive thought, and more a matter of muscle memory. Eventually, you may be able to extrapolate off of that into a broader framework... though in my experience, exams care much less for that."

Is she trying to give Suzume advise? Or just talking in generalities? With Mitsuru, it's hard to say.

"It does help sometimes to see a problem worked out before working through the steps yourself, though of course, everyone's ideal method of learning is different."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
<poem>Suzume assumes that anyone who seems as cultured as Mitsuru wants to present herself as (which rubs Suzume the wrong way but whatever) likes snobby foods. And while ramen isn't *usually* in that category, you can make anything extra fancy with enough money and time.

...look, Suzume is *not* fancy or wealthy. Her family is blue collar; her father works in a factory. She doesn't know shit about having money or, as she seems to think rich people prefer even over having money, showing off that you have money. Even here she's pretty broke a lot of the time; the extra pocket money from Tartarus and Mementos makes a small but significant boost to her spendable budget, even disregarding the fact that she buys medicines and skill cards and armour.

(Well, not lately. She got some perfectly good armour from Tartarus, for certain values of 'perfectly good'.)

She *does* understand focus, though. Maybe not to Mitsuru's level, but she does focus on things pretty hard for a while until she loses interest and moves to the next thing. It's just that math is absolutely not one of those things that she ever had interest in.

While Mitsuru is writing equations, Suzume flips open the magazine. The feature article is an interview with a baseball star and she wants to read it a lot more than she wants to do any more studying for the night...

...though Mitsuru bragging about it (and she does take it as a casual brag) and reminding her about the exams isn't helping. Because the other thing Suzume does is worry. Probably too much; she gets in her own head.

The advice, though - that isn't taken well. Suzume feels like she's being spoken down to, whether or not that's the case; she scowls into her magazine even as she listens and will probably remember it later. "Hn," she less says than makes the noise of, and covers that with some more ramen.

"I guess," is her eventual response, because what else can you even say to it? The worst part is that Mitsuru isn't even wrong; she has nothing she can really get irritated with, aside from the tone. "I'm looking forward to afterwards a whole lot more than the exams, though... I can't wait for them to be done with." Not that she knows, precisely, what Mitsuru has in store for SEES...
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
<poem>
In the end, there's a world's gulf between the circumstances Mitsuru Kirijo and Suzume Fukura were raised in, and it's a fact that, unfortunately, cuts both ways.

For someone who has lived her life in the incredibly narrow lens of her obligations to the Kirijo Group... the world of her peers is a constant mystery for Mitsuru. One she truly has no idea how to engage with. For example...

Mitsuru estimates Suzume to be a person who has a hard time asking for help; she's perhaps not wrong about that, but her approach to try to supply that help in a more indirect way ends up doing her no favors, either. She watches as Suzume buries herself into her magazine, draws up more noodles a touch more loudly.

''I guess.''

Her head tilts to the right for a few seconds.

"Mm," she finally exhales, and her gaze finally drops back down to her own work.

One arm folded on the tabletop, Mitsuru cups the elbow of her opposing arm in her palm as it plucks up her pen and resumes its scribbling.

"I am hopeful the members of SEES will do well on their exams," she says as she works in the wake of Suzume's own musings on the end of exams, as if completely misunderstanding what the second year is trying to say. "It's a critical part of securing a comfortable future for yourself, after the Dark Hour has finally been resolved, after all."

She says that part, too, matter-of-factly, though that's much less a matter of the confidence it seems like, and much more a matter of stubborn defiance. It's not a matter of if they can resolve it. They have to.

She has to.

"... There are admittedly some I'm more concerned about than others, but most seem to be putting their best foot forward." The scritch-scratching of the pen stops, briefly; Mitsuru allows herself a small, almost rueful smile.

"As much as I enjoy pushing myself during exams, however, I am fully aware that I am in the minority," she concedes in the breadth of that smile. "I know how much everyone is looking forward to their break. The Chairman seems to have some ideas of his own on how to celebrate everyone's hard work... perhaps I'll see what I can do, as well, once grades are out."

she says it so warmly so why

why does it sound so ominous

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
<poem>It's true; there's plenty of awkwardness and misunderstandings for everyone.

Honestly, Suzume isn't... entirely unhappy with the advice, but something about the way it was phrased and the attitude behind it put her on edge. Maybe one day she'll thank Mitsuru for it - but don't count on it! The words will come back to her, though.

Even if she only uses them, later, to reinforce anxiety.

And the way Mitsuru follows up doesn't land quite as intended either, though it's closer. Enough that Suzume says, defensively, "I'm doing fine. Don't worry about me." Honestly, Mitsuru probably should, if she's worried about SEES' grades; Suzume's aren't as bad as Junpei's, but she absolutely has been underachieving this year, even before she joined SEES.

She could do better - she *has* done better. But this year's not been her best work, and it's got nothing to do with her extracurricular activity in Tartarus.

"At this rate, even when the Dark Hour's gone, we'll still have to deal with - " and Suzume gestures widely with her (thankfully currently bare) chopsticks. "Sumaru, and Mementos, and Palaces, and all that sort of crap." She's led a group to Mementos, but unfortunately it didn't really teach them anything they didn't already know; certainly she didn't see any signs of a Full Moon Shadow or anything like it, or a Homonculi.

"So we might be at it a little longer," she says, before flipping the page and then going a bit more after her ramen.

God, she thinks. Someone who actually ENJOYS exams. I would have said that was impossible. Her scowl is more for herself than Mitsuru, this time, except -

"Break? I figured we'd just, you know. Have it off," she says, uncertain. "What's the Chairman thinking? Or what are you thinking?"

Because Suzume just *felt* that ominousness (is that a word? well, she felt it). A sinking feeling she doesn't have any logical reason for. Breaks are good, right? So what is she about to be dragged into by the Chairman or Kirijo?
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
<poem>
''I'm doing fine. Don't worry about me.''

"Oh?" wonders Mitsuru. She does not look up from her problem solving. Considering how -frighteningly prepared- and prone to micromanaging the Kirijo heiress is, it's probably the furthest thing from a stretch to say she's well aware of Suzume's grades -- or basically -anyone- in SEES' academic history.

possibly any student in the school, in general

And yet, she continues to work through trigonometric functions, not even so much as looking up as she says:

"If you're feeling confident in your ability, then I won't."

It's a steadfast level of attention on her own work that endures, even as she continues on calmly, "Though keep in mind your work no longer reflects simply on you, but on all of us. That is a part of being a community."

No -- it's only when Suzume brings up the matter of everything -else- awry beyond the Dark Hour that Mitsuru's scarlet lips tug towards a small, pensive frown, and her work stops once more.

"... Yes, that is true," she says within a small sigh. "I suppose some of us will turn our focus elsewhere within the realm of the supernatural, once the Dark Hour is solved. These powers, these things, can be easily abused, as we've already seen in Strega. It must fall to ''someone'' to ensure that the people who cannot defend themselves are defended."

A second passes. "Still, no one here truly asked to be saddled with such a responsibility. When our remit has been completed at last, I certainly won't begrudge anyone who wants to simply..." Her brows furrow mildly. "... take the opportunity to live a well-deserved, normal life."

Normal life. ... What would that even look like?

She shakes her head, banishing the thought. It's not something she needs to concern herself with.

"Your commitment is admirable though, Fukura," she instead notes. "I've been impressed with your work investigating Mementos, thus far."

Even if they haven't really found anything new, whatever it may really be? ... It's still is something they need to keep in their radar.

She seems to leave it at that, however, with that simple compliment. Soon enough, she is shutting that book and placing it on the pile with the rest, her notebook soon following suit.

"Who knows what the Chairman could be thinking?" Mitsuru wonders with mild exasperation as she organizes, shaking her head. "I can never quite pin the man down. But he's made ''repeated'' mentions of something he has been working on for ''all'' of us once exam grades are out, so I imagine we'll find out soon enough."

She stands, here, drawing her pile of texts towards herself. But what about her? What is -she- planning?

"As for me... Hm." She taps her chin, exactly once. "I suppose that will have to depend on how well everyone performs on the exams."

That.

--Really doesn't help for assuaging worries, does it.

"I should prepare for my Dark Hour patrols tonight." As she says this, Mitsuru pushes errant strands of long red hair over her shoulder in a mild hairflip before she scoops up those books. "I'll leave you to your peace and quiet. Enjoy your ramen. It looks quite good." Is she being serious, or--

"And, of course... best of luck on your exams. Bon courage, Fukura."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
<poem>Over the course of Mitsuru's words, Suzume can feel her anxiety rise. People tend to think that she doesn't care what other people think about her, but that's not entirely true. There's some things she doesn't care as much about as some people... but that doesn't mean she doesn't care about anything.

"It'll be fine," she says, as much to convince herself as anything else. It sounds like bravado because it is. She just hopes Mitsuru chooses not to dwell on that too much.

But she's right. It falls to them and people like them to defend people who can't defend themselves... "That's why I'm here," she agrees, meeting Mitsuru's eyes again - she likes to challenge people with her gaze, and while she'll never stare Mitsuru down, it shows her intensity.

It is, in the most literal sense; after all, she was rescued in Mementos by SEES, while she was trying (and failing, without a Persona) to defend another student. One who didn't have the Potential, when she did, using an Evoker that very day, and so he barely remembers it beyond the day he twisted his ankle, and if neither of them talk about exactly *where* he twisted it maybe that's just a coping strategy.

Suzume joined SEES the next day.

But it goes further than that. In this, perhaps she feels responsibility. Especially with Strega, and Mementos, and all the other things they don't really know about. If there's more to find in Mementos, she'll be there... she hopes.

Mitsuru closes up her books, though, and Suzume looks over at them. Sounds like the Chairman didn't even tell Mitsuru, though she's not sure if she entirely believes Mitsuru doesn't know *anything*. Especially if she has plans of her own.

"It's the spicy one," she says quite seriously. About - oh, the ramen. "I always liked the heat. Have a good patrol. Hope no Shadows run into you that you can't handle."

She doesn't speak again until Mitsuru's out and gone, when...

Suzume leans well back in her chair, tilting her head back and back until she's looking up at the ceiling, her hair falling down behind her. "Dead," she groans. "I'm dead if I can't do OK in math after that." If the other students don't get a reward because *she* was the weak link, she'd never hear the end of it - and they'd be right to not let her forget it.

She straightens up, looks at the magazine again, and grudgingly pushes it to one side to reveal her math books.
</poem>

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

2025-10-12: You Can Reject the Game

2025-10-20T05:34:16Z

Jean: Created page with " *'''Log: You Can Reject the Game''' *'''Cast:''' Ichika Kawase, Tsumugi Kujaku *'''Where:''' Peacock Silk, Shimokitazawa, Tokyo *'''OOC Date:''' October 12, 2025 *'''IC Date:''' July 25, 2012 *'''Summary''': ''I want to be free. I've been thinking about what it means, what I have to do to get there... But it's still what I want.'' ---- <Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed. <poem> Another day, another set of finals. Ichika Kawase needed desperately to get O..."

*'''Log: You Can Reject the Game'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Ichika Kawase]], [[Tsumugi Kujaku]]
*'''Where:''' Peacock Silk, Shimokitazawa, Tokyo
*'''OOC Date:''' October 12, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' July 25, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''I want to be free. I've been thinking about what it means, what I have to do to get there... But it's still what I want.''

----

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Another day, another set of finals. Ichika Kawase needed desperately to get Out and think about something other than math and literature for a bit, so she decided to go somewhere she'd been meaning to go: Peacock Silk. It's a bit of a trip from Sumaru, but Ichika can handle it. She's been on the train, then walking. And so, as the afternoon stretches to evening...

She shows up. Ichika is dressed in a black tanktop with a skull on it, a few straps visible at her shoulders, and a short green skirt over thigh-highs that disappear into knee-length boots with a slight heel. She isn't tall enough already, apparently. She has a few bracelets on her wrists, but no earrings; dramatic makeup with black lips and deep eyeshadow and long, bleached hair complete the look.

She's been here once, at its advertised party; now, though, she's on her own.

She sees the 'that way' placard and indeed goes... that way, opening the double doors and stepping inside to look all around.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
The double doors yawn wide, revealing--

Nobody. Absolutely no one.

Nothing is here to keep Ichika Kawase company other than the synhtetic strains of Yellow Magic Orchestra's 1981 album, ''BGM'', piped in through the store's speakers.

This is... not unusual, but it may well be for Ichika. The last time she was here, the store was active, bustling; others - others like her - filled the first floor, and all the store's artisans (including apparently the peacock) were there. Now?

No customers. No employees.

If the lights weren't on, the door not unlocked, and the music still actively playing, one might think it was abandoned. Even considering the fact that the eccentric members of Peacock Silk are rarely in the store all at the same time -- it doesn't seem like there's ''anyone'' here.

Is the store really open--?

Ichika has plenty of time to ruminate on this, and perhaps delve deeper, before the double doors of Peacock Silk's deceptive entrance open wide once more, streaming in the light from the outside world.

"Oh?"

If Ichika turns to look, she'll find them: the extra inches of their gold heeled platform boots sending them cresting over six feet, Tsumugi Kujaku strikes much the same avant garde fashionable sensibilities as they did the day Ichika first came to Peacock Silk. Black seems to be the order of the day, from the black backless button up (buttoned -all- the way up like some kind of token ode to professionalism) they wear, to the black leather of their pants, to those ankle platform boots and even the half-scoop of their gloves. In that sea of monochrome black there's only the occasional notes of color in defiant flashes of gold: the heels, the sharp necktie they wear, the way their eyeshadow mixes gold and black together to the black-gold ombre of their lips and the earrings lining their left ear -- even their gloves are designed to look like they're adorned with gold fingernails.

It's a dramatic package.

All undercut by the way they are currently slurping at the straw of a plastic big gulp cup, filled to the brim with the toxic green excellence of sugar and madness that is melon cream soda.

Topped, of course, with a scoop of icecream and a cheeky little cherry bobbing in that sea of melon as Tsumugi stares at Ichika with distressingly melon green-colored eyes for all of the three seconds it takes for them to finish their long, indulgent sip.

Their head cants rightward.

"Hello."

They say, casual as can be, before continuing their sip.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Nobody's here. Now, a true hardened criminal would take this as an opportunity, but Ichika is ''merely'' your average delinquent so she just sort of stands around uncomfortably for a minute. ...Then another minute. "Uh?" she starts. There's music. ...It's not bad.

She steps inside a little closer, just a little bit, and looks around. "Anybody here...? I had some stuff..."

She has more to offer than violence, this time. But there's no bird to whom she can give it!

But then there is a ''voice'', and light, and Ichika does turn, looking at someone way taller even than she is. ...The bplatform boots help, of course.

She looks at them in a little wonder, because their outfit is really cool. Leather pants! Stunning makeup! Gloves with gold on them!

And--

It's all broken up almost enough to be ''funny'' with the plastic cup. With a cherry and ice cream. Ichika opens her mouth and closes it, looking back curiously at Tsumugi. She doesn't look away, despite eye contact being uncomfortable. Her own red eyes just sort of stay where they are until--

Oh, right.

"Oh hey," Ichika says. "Uh, nice to see you. I was starting to think the place was empty..."

Which would've been a shame, since she came all the way here.

"I dunno if you remember me, but I was here before. At that event."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
''I was starting to think the place was empty...''

Black-gold lips release that straw once more.

"It was," says Tsumugi Kujaku, simply.

"And then you came."

Delivered so calmly, it strikes such a matter-of-fact statement... yet one that still, somehow, feels significant. Like perhaps it was Ichika's arrival that provided the store the motion and life it was lacking before she arrived.

Or maybe it's just as literal as it sounds.

Either way...

"I remember."

It's as they say these two, casual words that Tsumugi starts to move again; the -=CLICK=- of platform heels resound through the superb acoustics of Peacock Silk's shop floor as they make their way towards the back of the room, where the tailor's atelier (not Atelier) awaits.

Ichika, of course, is free to follow. Or not. They don't compel either way -- though similarly, it doesn't stop them from addressing her, voice growing increasingly distant as they move.

"'Leather and danger,'" they say, referring back to the assessment they had made of her the first time she came to Peacock Silk. They make their way to their workstation, setting that cup aside on the surface of that expensive-looking sewing cabinet.

"You offered ten Pyro Jack cards and ten acts of violence against demons to Pernelle. Right?" asks Peacock Silk's purveyor, cracking open their work book. "You might've won with that. Sadly, the other offer was just too irresistible for someone like Pernelle to refuse."

With this, they turn around. Leaning back against the tabletop, gloved hands planted on the surface to either side of them, they consider Ichika with a thoughtful stare.

"So you've come back. What can I do for you?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
It was! That's... fair. Nobody was here until she came. It does feel significant, somehow, and Ichika feels that idea. "...Huh."

Maybe there's cameras or something? Or maybe...

But Tsumugi remembers. That's nice. Ichika straightens a little, because it's good to be remembered. She follows along, not too far behind; her strides are fairly long too, and there, she hears the reminder. She remembers it, of course; Peacock Silk was very memorable to her. "Yeah," she says. "I've learned more about this stuff since then. ...Gotten into a little more danger." Pause. Not so much new leather, though...

The workstation! Ichika doesn't know much about fancy tailoring, but she can tell the quipment is nice. And Tsumugi remembers her offer, too. "...It's cool," Ichika says. "It was kind of funny to watch Takeba win instead. She really didn't know what to do with it."

"Well..." Ichika considers, but she already weighed herself up for this. The only thing sh risks is embarrassment in front of the cool themby, right?

"Two things. The first is work stuff; you said I should make an appointment, and now I have some actual stuff you might be interested in. Some bismuth chunks, hides from a... clown? Stuff like that. From a place called an Atelier."

"....And I wanted to talk about Tsubasa Seki. They're my best friend, and you made a big impression on them."

"...Binder looks real nice, too."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
Who -would- know what to do with the postmodern marvel that is the world's first Pernelle Original? After all--

"People have a hard time seeing the value in the invaluable." Gloved fingers frame the sides of that chilled plastic big cup, leatherwrapped fingerpads catching beads of condensation against their dark surface.

"And all the loose string probably made it difficult for it to hold things."

Abstract wisdom and bland statements of the obvious: balance has been achieved.

Hitching up onto the workstation proper, Tsumugi crosses their legs, one leather-clad knee over the other, as Ichika offers up her motives for coming here. Twofold. One, a statement of the obvious: she's here to do business.

"Ara."

Fingers at the rim of their cup now, the beads of condensation they had collected on their journey upwards now spill inward over the lip, droplets of condensed moisture suspending briefly on that concoction of cream and melon before simply being absorbed into the greater collective. "So you were in Taro Nakata's Atelier," they conclude, the simplicity of the assumption weighed by the feeling that they might well have personal knowledge on the subject.

"Sa-ya can use the bismuth. Saika can use the hides. Or I can condense either down into base cognitive material. Either way... they're useful; we'll take them."

They seem content to leave it at that, then, lifting their cup up toward their lips once more...

"What did you think of it?" they suddenly ask, before they sip.

"The Atelier."

And for Ichika's second motivation...

Something more personal.

"Oh?"

Balance.

Tsumugi finishes that sip of their drink. Their posture shifts, leather creaking as they bring up one leg at the knee, draping their cup-holding arm over it. Vividly green eyes peer at Ichika curiously over the wall of a pale, slender forearm.

"That's good," they say. Of the binder? Of the impression they made? They don't clarify.

"The binder was an expression of their desires. I just gave a face to them that was yearning to be recognized." Eye contact, it seems, is never quite a problem for Tsumugi; their gaze is steady and calm as they peer into Ichika's reds, ultimately only looking away towards the reams of fabric beyond when it seems like they feel like looking elsewhere.

"Tsubasa-kun has a lot of potential. But they don't quite realize it themself yet." In at least one sense, it should be easy to surmise what they're talking about -- the world ''Ichika and Tsumugi'' see, but Tsubasa does not.

Or, well... did not.

As well-informed as Tsumugi seems to be, there's limits to everything. Tsubasa's brand new (cognitive) bag will just have to be a delightful little surprise. On the other hand...

"I haven't seem them in some time now. I hear they were involved with that fire in Aoba."

There are ''other'' things they're aware of.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ichika tilts her head at the comment of value, but she doesn't really get it until... "Oh."

Ichika still doesn't get it.

Business is one thing. Business is good! But... Tsumugi not only recognizes the Atlier, but recognizes the materials enough (is that why?) to know which one it was.

"You know about it," she says. "...I mean, obviously. But like, you ''know'' about it," she repeats, as if that will make her sentence less opaque. "I was though, yeah. Cool. You got it."

"There was a lot of stuff I didn't understand," she admits of the Atelier. "When I heard that Roger guy say Humors, I thought it meant something was supposed to be funny. He was nice, I guess? ...But that's him, not the place."

"It was... weird," she says. "Like some kind of... fantasy world. No, that's not it. Like ''somebody's'' fantasy world. I dunno Nakata, but I feel like I do now, a little, just from seeing his place."

"...It was kind of fun," she admits. "Dangerous, but fun. I guess a carnival is supposed to be?"

She then moves on to... Tsbasa.

Curiosity. Either could be good, but Ichika has no reason to think that there's anything weird there. Instead, she listens. Yearning to be recognized... Ichika doesn't always like eye contact, but as the Thorn Boss, she's learned to keep it. besides; there's something interesting in Tsumugi's eyes anyway, something in their gaze that seems... somewhere.

"That's true," Ichika says. "They don't think they're going anywhere. ...But I think they've got a lot to give."

"...Yeah," Ichika asys, and considers--but Tsumugi knows this stuff. So, "The Joker Killer tried to kill them. ...And then asked them if they wanted to kill their mom instead."

"It was... really fucked up." Pause. "Uh, messed up. Anyway point is, folks fought him off, and they survived..."

"Did you see the news? How the cops tried to pin it on them?"

"...Well, the reason you haven't seem them is probably that they were stuck with the cops for a while. But they're out now. Cleared and all. So maybe they'll be back?"

"...yearning to be recognized, huh?" she then recalls from a moment ago. "Yeah. It was exactly the kind of thing they wanted, too."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
They know about it.

But like, they ''know'' about it.

"I ''know about'' it."

They repeat, in sublime monotone ever-so-subtly emphasized to keep in the theme.

Because the third time's the charm.

Ichika, however, offers them her impressions. That lidded gaze of theirs drops, regarding the vividly green drink in their grasp as the melting ice cream renders it more and more opaque. Their wrist swivels, rotating that melting dessert within its sea of green as Ichika expresses her understandable confusion on the Humors.

"Did you know the amount of bacteria in the human body outnumbers the cells we're made of?" they remark, abruptly. "We're home to trillions of living beings that we need to survive and most of us never even think about them... until something goes wrong." Their wrist flicks. Ice cream sloshes. They lift that straw to their lips.

"That's what Humors are. The little things we don't need to think about, propping up our selves."

They sip again, and listen to the rest of what Ichika has to say. A small smile curves at their painted lips as Ichika talks about how fun, but dangerous, the Atelier was. The gesture seems to expose more of the gold in that ombre that might otherwise be hidden; like a nigh-literal brightening of their features.

"Ateliers reflect the things that provide the shape of what we are. Who we are as individuals. They're beautiful," they say, tone placid yet with a simple sincerity. They consider for a moment; and then that gaze drifts back towards Ichika once more.

"So you met the Sanguin?" they wonder, curiosity tinging their voice. He was nice, Ichika had said. But that was him, not...

"Do you think he belonged there?"

It's a question that barely lasts -- not the least of which because a new subject comes up that Tsumugi is - currently - more interested in. Cup dangling in the claw-cage of their gloved fingers, their brows lift fractionally as Ichika talks about the Joker Killer's offer of revenge for Tsubasa. That he offered to kill their... mother?

"..."

''It was fucked up. Uh, messed up.''

"Mm. Saika told me. 'Holy fuck, Tsumugi! You should've seen it! What the fuck! Everything was on fire! He blew my entire ass up with a card! And? And?? That dickbutt Joker Killer almost killed some kid!? He had some kinda sidekick?! Like this was a comic!? It was fucked! Up!!'"

This recitation - real or paraphrased - still somehow perfectly channels the energy of Saika Kikuchi, all while Tsumugi's expression remains utterly deadpan, flooding the field with expletives.

"... or something like that."

Maybe it's their way of saying there's no need for Ichika to restrain herself in their company; they've probably heard worse.

But the cops, and Tsubasa's situation, are both met in stride; Tsumugi doesn't seem particularly surprised to hear about the Sumaru PD's subtle scapegoating tactics. In fact, their thought on the matter is: "Interesting, isn't it? When someone covers their hand over something and tells you it doesn't exist, doesn't it make you want to know why?"

They lift their cup, snag that straw with between their lips.

"... Doesn't it make you want to tear their hand away?"

But as for Tsubasa...

"Good," they say simply. "They're coming into their own. Not in the way their mother or father defines them, or their friends or teachers, but the way they do. They don't deserve to be caged." By the police? Probably. Yet...

"... But most people can't accept that. They'll try to crush them. Grind them under the heel of their expectations. And if that doesn't work..." That cup falls away, settled back on the tabletop to let beads of condensation slowly trickle unhindered onto the wooden surface.

"... Human beings would rather snuff out a life than risk it becoming something they don't understand."

A second passes. And then Tsumugi asks Ichika:

"What do you think of the Old Maid's offer?"

Not what happened, or Tsubasa's response.

Just the offer itself.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ichika kind of wants some ice cream, now. Just a little bit. She can think about it later.

"Huh?" Ichika starts, and blinks. "...I didn't," she says. It's a weird thought. having all those extra little 'things' inside that she doesn't know about. She's not sure she likes it.

"Huh..." Humors as propping up the 'self'. "Beautiful," she repeats. "...I think I'd get it more if I knew the guy. Like, what he ''wants'' to show people, not just the things I saw about him from the Atelier. I think... I'd have a more complete picture."

The Sanguin? "Yeah," she says. "...He wants to be there," Ichika offers, and that's about all she has. Admittedly, she's more concerned with Tsubasa than this guy she doesn't know.

And that recitation makes Ichika laugh in surprise. "Oh," she says. "OK yeah." She gets it. She's not going to worry about it. And 'Saika' was there, now that she remembers. She didn't get to pay much attention to her, but...

"...Kinda yeah," Ichika admits of how she wants to know ''why''.

"...Yeah." To tear the hand away... She wants to know. But isn't that part of being the reporter she's looking to become?

"Huh..." It's a very meaningful set of words, and Ichika isn't sure she entirely understands them. At the same time... "They deserve to get treated on their own terms," she agres. She thinks she agrees, anyway, hesitation writ on her brow, as if she's delving into waters that arne't home to her.

"You're right about what people do, I guess. They've tried to grind them down really hard."

The offer?

"It..."

She remembers; holy fuck.

"It pissed me off," the Thorn Boss says. "It was totally messed up. Put someone in a life or death situation and then give them this gotcha where they have to follow your thought experiment? ...I don't think he cared either way. He just wanted to turn the screws harder. Make someone uncomfortable, draw them into his... his... Fuck, what's the word? His story, I guess. Make them react on ''his'' terms."

"...And they'd just been telling me... how they don't want their dad dead, you know? So it felt like rubbing it in. I guess the Joker didn't have any way of knowing that, but it still made me mad."

"Playing with someone's life like it's a game... I don't like it. Even aside from the part where the question itself is messed up."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
He wants to be there, Ichika offers. It's all she has, and yet...

"Interesting."

... it seems to be enough to scratch the itch of whatever curiosity Tsumugi might have, for now. Or just deepen it.

But how often are those things one in the same?

They leave it at that, sated for the present time. Moving with the flow of their interest - and focusing on Ichika's priorities - they put the whole of their attention on the Kasugayama gang leader; there's no judgment, no annoyance or exasperation, as Ichika tried to work through what Tsumugi says on the matter of Tsubasa. As if whether she understands or not, whether she chooses to dive in or hesitate on the precipice of the subjects Tsumugi deals in, are all equally valid outcomes.

They accept that hesitation; they smile in subtle approval as she comes to her own conclusions.

Just like her swearing, in this boutique?

Ichika doesn't need to conform to anything or anyone but herself.

For example...

''It pissed me off.''

Ichika lays her feelings bare on that tumultuous - painful - memory. The reprehensible prospect of someone dragged down to the level of a killer. They watch with that same impassive expression that neither seems to suggest agreement or disagreement as the Thorn Boss works her way through that complex tangle of emotions.

And as she talks about how Tsubasa wouldn't have wanted even their dad dead, Peacock Silk's purveyor cants their head in a look of idle curiosity.

They're still silent for a time, in the aftermath. And then...

"Life ''is'' a game, for many."

-=CLICK=-

Those heels ring out on hardwood as Tsumugi slips off that tabletop, hands clasped behind their back.

"They don't call it that. They use more serious words to confuse it. They call them etiquette, decorum. Convention. But it's all the same: they create the system and set the rules and expect you to follow them without explaining what or why. ... But there's no reason to follow the arbitrary rules other people set forth. You can reject them. Whether it's the Joker Killer, the police, or family. The only law you should follow is the one you find value in."

Walking past, they pause beside Ichika, considering her from that side profile.

"I think Tsubasa-kun is starting to understand that. ... I think you do, too. It's not the decision I would have made... but rejecting the Joker Killer's rules even in the face of death has its own value. It's worthy of respect."

And they walk past, back toward the front of the store once more.

"You have an interesting style," they say abruptly as they go. "I'd like to make you something. Tell me: what do you want?"

</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Somehow, when Tsumugi says it's interesting, Ichika actually thinks they believe it.

Mybe she's already been influenced by her friends on this point; she's received ''glowing'' recommendations about them from Myunghon and Tsubasa both, after all. ...But it's the impression she's getting, all the same.

What surprises her is not that she gets a chance to express her feelings; she's smart enough, even if she wouldn't say so, to recognize the pattern that suggests she will. But the response?

It is? Ichika scowls a little--because she knows it's true, but doesn't like it. The way Tsumugi elaborates on what those are, though--rules, rules others set forth, and that makes them a game. "Huh," she vocalizes, becaues its' not immediately intuitive to her. But the rest is. The law she should follow--what she needn't reject--is... what she finds value in.

Ichika's side profile is pretty striking; she stands like someone who's used to being looked at.

Not the decision they would've made, though... Hmm. She looks thoughtfully at Tsumugi. "...Cool."

But--they want to make her something?

"Oh..." What ''does'' she want?

"...A dress," Ichika decides. "Something I can wear places with other stuff. ...It'd be more fun, if I'm getting something from a cool place like this, to have a 'centerpiece' item, right? And then I can decide what message to send with what I wear with it. Like..."

She thinks to explain, but realizes; Tsumugi might already know what she was going to say. Since they'd know how style works. So, instead, "I really like... putting different pieces together," she says instead. "I get stuff from all over. I feel... stronger, when I put them together how I want."

"..." She considers, and then, "...For Persona stuff," she says, "I guess it would be more useful to ask for new armor. But..."

She admits, "The kind of armor I need day to day is pretty different from the armor I need for fighting demons and stuff, though. And I spend more time on the other one. It'd be a shame not to get something I could show off, you know?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
There's a certain cadence to the way Tsumugi talks. That calm deep voice carries towards one subject to the next in a way that doesn't necessarily feel like they're ''controlling'' the conversation so much as they are just...

Following their interests.

And one can either follow with them, or not.

Tsubasa's status - and Ichika's connection to them. Both are things Tsumugi is interested in. The interest they express feels genuine because it is. And yet--

It's just as easily that they abandon the topic altogether in favor of the next thing that strikes their fancy. Is it because of what Ichika said? Or something that they saw in her from that new perspective at her side?

Whatever it is, soon enough they're making their offer and dragging out a big book and cracking it open. On it are... notes. Financials. Orders. A handwritten ledger?

"You make it your own," they say distantly and yet with absolute certainty to Ichika's feelings on mixing and matching as they slump against the counter. "There's power in that. 'A dress shouldn't wear you, you need to wear the dress.' It's no different with an ensemble. You define how the world sees you. Not the other way around."

Tsumugi scratches out details. Ichika's name. Dress. A few additional notes follow after, in short order, even as they speak:

"The fabric will be reinforced with meta-materials; even if your Persona comes with changes to your clothes and personal appearance, it'll keep its benefits. What matters is the will behind the material, not the material itself."

Those striking green eyes, every bit as bright as their sweet melon concoction now lingering alone in their workspace, tilt upward.

"After we take your measurements, bring me the materials from the Atelier. That should work for payment this time. You'll be able to show off, any way you want."

Their head tilts.

"The centerpiece commands attention. It sets the tone of the conversation. Everything else provides the nuance. So... what tone are you striving for, Ichika Kawase?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
A big book! Ichika looks at it, but not really with much certain intent of reading it. It's just a thing that draws her attention. Her attention is drawn next by Tsumugi's words, instead, and the delinquent boss smiles at their response. "Yeah," she says. "You get it."

Meta-materials. "Oh, it works like that?" Ichika wonders. "Cool." She didn't know that about the 'will'. But what was it Tsubasa had said? That models can be 'real' in supernatural space...? Maybe it's like that.

"OK," Ichika answers. "I've got them in my bag, so I can do that." She brought them along. What, was she going to leave them? She thought something might get made, or... something.

But it sets the tone. And what tone...?

"I want to be free," Ichika says easily. "...That's what I want. I've been thinking about what it means, what I have to do to get there... But it's still what I want."
</poem>

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

2025-10-18: Twenty Questions

2025-10-20T05:30:37Z

Jean:

*'''Log: 2025-10-18: Twenty Questions'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Reiko Shimizu]], [[Tsumugi Kujaku]]
*'''Where:''' Peacock Silk, Tokyo
*'''OOC Date:''' October 18, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' July 28, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Reiko goes to Peacock Silk in search of new clothes. Instead, she finds something and someone more than she expected... and something she isn't quite ready for.''

----

<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Reiko stops before Peacock Silk, having heard about it. She heard the clothes here are ''quite'' amazing. And the exterior, with the outline of a peacock and the Art-Nouveau decor, seems promising. She is off-duty today, and she is dressed accordingly. Her hair is down; she looks up, over the rims of her black glasses, at them. She has a light blue dress and a darker blue jacket on over it.

She has a bag over her shoulder. She sucks her breath in, then she nudges the door open -- and steps inside. She glances over the gleam of the wooden floor, the cash register, and all of the clothing on display. The jewels glitter in her eyes, and she looks at the outfits on display.

There's a soft exhale.

Then, a little more nervously, she calls out: "Ah, pardon me! Hello...?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
The world of Peacock Silk unfolds before Reiko Shimizu to the serene piano melody of Erik Satie's Gymnopédie No. 1.

The music piped in through the store floor speakers provides the boutique's an almost melancholic, ephemeral ambiance as she explores. It's a fact that's only heightened by the initial impression that she may well be one of the only people in the store at the moment. The Silk's owners have a reputation for being eclectic: the hours they keep, and who keeps which, seems like a riddle to be solved than a standard to set your watch to. Some days they're all there - even the peacock! Some days, only a precious couple. And some days...

"Ara."

... There's only one.

The voice is low, but silken. It comes just off to Reiko's right: she only needs look to find the source, leaned against a nearby wall, a book labeled ''CANDIDE'' in one hand, supporting that reading arm palm-to-elbow with the other. Their outfit has a high feminine aesthetic to it today, all centered around the long, sleeveless high-necked gown dress they wear. Slit on one side, it starts the deepest, most abyssal black one could imagine at the neck -- but as the dress lowers, that black hue fades towards dark reds, to scarlets, then finally towards a fiery red towards its skirts, as if it was a recreation of a spark in the dark. Over this they wear a black long coat, accented in gold with a scarlet interior.

... The word 'wear', though, is doing a lot of heavy lifting, considering they only -actually wear the coat at one sleeve, leaving the entire coat half-hanging off and leaving their opposing, pale shoulder bare, the whole thing managing to stay draped on them thanks to the not-so-modern miracle of collar clasps.

Lips painted a dark ombre red part as vividly green eyes roll to regard Reiko beyond the brim of trendy black glasses.

They regards her in silence for five whole seconds, before,

"I know you. Don't I?" they wonder, calm but curious.

Do they?

They've certainly never met before now, at least.

And yet, Tsumugi Kujaku sounds so ineffably, nonchalantly certain of it.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Reiko can't quite identify the music. But it sounds familiar, and that gives the sensation like she has been here before -- maybe like one of the games she plays. She heard a little about their reputation, and that she might be lucky she found them when they are open. She looks about, and then she blinks when she hears the voice.

She looks at them -- and then Reiko blinks. She blinks again, and there's a little nervous -- half awkward, half confident, and all flustered -- laugh. She can't help but take in the dress, with its smooth transition of colors. Her own dress feels plain in comparison.

She pats it out at the side, her eyes shifting up from Tsumugi's shoulders to her eyes. Her own green eyes are wide behind her glasses. "W-Well, I'd like to think I'd remember you," Reiko stammers to them, before she gets some composure. "But sometimes I'm accused of being scatterbrained."

She does a quick, polite bow.

"Reiko Shimizu. Um, unless you already knew that," she says. "Wait, even if you did know that, I'm still Reiko Shimizu." She laughs nervously again, the laugh bubbling up. "I like clothes?"

A beat.

"That's why I'm here," she says. "The clothes."

Reiko nods her head, and inside, she dies a little of embarrassment.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
''W-Well, I'd like to think I'd remember you.''

The well-worn spine of French satire snaps shut.

"No... that's not it."

It's sharp, the contrast between Reiko Shimizu's flustered, contradictory laugh and the cool detachment with which Tsumugi Kujaku receives it. It's not a judgmental look they regard Reiko with -- there's nothing inherently good or bad about the way those striking features scarcely shift in the wake of her stammered pronouncement. It's just... distant.

Like someone always just barely out of reach, no matter how far you stretch to cross that uncrossable distance.

In that much, it might be a relief, like all that nervousness just doesn't register to them, even as Reiko quietly dies inside. Instead, the sinuous roll of pale shoulders sees them slipping out of their wall lean as they regard Reiko with that bespectacled green gaze, distant but curious -- interested. In her. Tsumugi's hands clasp behind their back, book held between them, as they approach, the click of gold heels ringing throughout the store.

''Reiko Shimizu.''

Their head cans.

"Ah," they exhale. "Now I remember. You're one of the officers who brought in Junya Kaneshiro, aren't you?"

And the cool veneer of their expression breaks, with the hint of a red smile.

"Ara. Interesting. We have a celebrity in our midst."

It'd be easy to write off as teasing, especially with Reiko in the state she's in. And yet that professed interest seems compellingly sincere, too.

Whether that makes it better or worse for her embarrassment, well--

"What do you like about them?"

--at least she doesn't have to dwell on it -too- long before Tsumugi is smoothly moving on, the click-click-click of their heels sending them brushing past Reiko as they offer up that silken question on the way towards the tailoring work station just beyond, with an unspoken invitation for Reiko to follow - if she wants. They still haven't introduced themself, but, well.

"Clothes."

They have curiosity to sate, first.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Candide snaps shut -- and Reiko's eyes are drifted to it. She blinks at the sudden declaration from Tsumugi, and the flustered look fades a little from Reiko's face. For a moment, as she seems to calm down for a second. At least, until Tsumugi approaches -- with the best of all possible worlds hidden behind their back. That makes Reiko fluster, again, if in a different way.

Even if there is some relief, at the fact that her nervousness hasn't made a fool of her. It takes more than one person to become a fool, after all.

Then, she blinks -- and there's a nod. And a hint of disappointment at the recognition of her role, minor as it was, in apprehending Junya Kaneshiro.

"O-Oh, I don't know about that," she says. "I didn't really ''do'' anything. He turned himself into us. It was... those Phantom Thieves, I suppose."

She isn't sure how they could have done it.

She does fluster again as Tsumigi smiles -- and brushes past her. Reiko pushes her glasses up, sighs a little, and then she turns after them. There's a rustle of her sky blue dress, and she peers after Tsumugi. She considers the question for a second.

"...W-Well..."

For another second, the superficial responses are considered. Then, they're dismissed. And Reiko doesn't stammer, but she speaks softly. "They say the clothes make the person," Reiko says. "And... well, most of the day, I have to wear a uniform. So that's what people see when they see me. Not that I have much choice about what I wear on duty. But... off duty, I like when I can wear something that says who I really am."

She follows them, towards the tailoring station.

"Rather than what I have to be," she finishes. Then, with a bit more of a stammer: "I-If that makes any sense at all."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
I didn't really do anything, Reiko insists.

It was the Phantom Thieves, in the end.

"The spotlight doesn't care who it points at or why," is Tsumugi's calm counter towards that disappointed resignation in the face of just why they recognize her.

"It only cares about what you do when it chooses to shine on you."

Whether Reiko embraces the spotlight, or shies away from it -- Tsumugi Kujaku seems to pass no judgment, either way.

Within their little atelier tucked away in the far corner of the store, Tsumugi sets their book down on their workstation before carrying on towards the reams of fabric just beyond. Silk, cotton, velvet -- and in so many arrays of colors, the selection is positively dizzying. And yet Tsumugi sifts through them like they know each like the back of their hand, even as Reiko offers up the answer to their question.

She could have answered a superficial reason.

That she doesn't, however, earns a brief pause and a look of approval over Tsumugi's shoulder before they return to their work.

Does it make sense? At all?

"Fashion is the means through which we can express ourselves to the world." The words come like a distant echo of Reiko's own -- a reinforcement of her own beliefs, as slender fingers dance an eloquent, confident dance through selections of fabric.

"People see what you wear, and society determines the person you are based on that fact. It's shorthand." They pull one ream half-out -- and then another. Another. And then...

"Fashion is a process of reinforcing the way the world sees you... or becoming how you want to be seen."

... each slides back into their proper place.

Tsumugi turns, then. Leaning against those shelves, fabric frames them like a wreathe of decadent luxury as that bright, intent stare settles on Reiko once more, eye to eye.

"Fashion can be the shackle. Or it can be the punch and hammer that breaks it."

Their head tilts.

"It's just a question of which one you want."

Does Reiko want to reinforce the way the world sees her?

... Or does she want it to see her as she wants to be seen?

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Reiko's eyes blink when she hears their answer to that. A spotlight that shines on her, whether she intended it or not -- and that will shine down on her, regardless of whether she was really the one who brought in Junya Kaneshiro. "That... mm, I suppose you're right. I'm still... getting used to being recognized, I suppose."

She shakes her head. She follows after Tsumugi, and she looks at them -- and all the reams of fabric behind them. Clearly, they are a skilled tailor -- ''and'' they command a large selection.

She nods at the idea of it being shorthand. Her hand comes to the breast of her jacket; where, in a different jacket, her badge as a patrol officer would rest. Clothing is, indeed, a shorthand for what people would expect of her.

And it can be a shackle.

She hesitates. It almost feels like a betrayal, to admit that such clothes could be a shackle. And yet, there's other parts of her. She glances to the side, her green eyes cast down on the ground.

But then she looks back up at them. Her eyes meet Tsugumi's, not quite able to look away.

"I'd rather be seen as... me," she says. "Rather than shackled to who I'm expected to be." Her fingers fall away from where the badge should be, and slip down to her side.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
What does Reiko want?

Hesitation fills the air with silence, its only accompaniment those melancholic strains as Satie transitions nigh-seamlessly into Chopin's ''Nocturnes''. Tsumugi doesn't intrude on that silence; they don't push impatiently for the answer they wish for.

They just watch with quiet curiosity. In interest. In the process. In the answer. In Reiko.

I'd rather be seen as...

For a second time, that suggestion of a smile touches the corners of painstakingly-painted lips.

"Then I can make you that.

"You just need to see the mask that fits you, and take it."

It's a vague, abstract kind of statement... to anyone not in the know. A test, maybe -- but not one that lingers overly long before Tsumugi is moving from the luxurious, confident comfort of their position to approach Reiko once more. Their stride is languid in a way that makes the fiery skirts of their dress dance with every step, the -=CLICK=- of heels spaced few and far within their loping gait. One arm crossed over their stomach, the other elbow-perched upon their palm to better cup their chin, they draw closer towards Reiko's personal space... and then slowly, quietly circle around her with that same, scrutinizing stare, so intense and vivid it's almost as if it's looking right through her into the heart of who she is --

Who she ''could'' be.

"Hm."

They're behind Reiko when that contralto voice murmurs,

"Close your eyes, Reiko-san."

It's a request - command - that comes with casual confidence, coupled with the way they say Reiko's first name so lackadaisically it might as well not be a faux pas, but another recognition.

"I'm going to ask you some questions. I'd like you to answer them as quickly as possible. Don't think; just answer.

"Are you ready?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Reiko doesn't know much classical music -- but the effect, nonetheless, is not dulled by not knowing. It's recognizable; the fact she recognizes the music, but doesn't know it intimately only means she is focused on her thoughts. She looks at Tsumugi, watching the smile across their lips.

"A mask...?" Reiko asks. There is a blink. She hadn't thought of it as a mask. The deeper connotation -- no, that, she doesn't know. She hasn't learned of that world. Her sisters haven't told her about it.

Perhaps that is for the best, or perhaps she simply isn't ready yet.

She watches Tsumugi approach, and she tenses a little with their stride ''sounds'' -- and then tenses more as they begin to circle around, with those perceptive eyes.

And Reiko's own blink. "As quickly as possible?" she asks. Then, she nods. "Right, um--right. I can do that."

She exhales. A couple of seconds pass.

"Ready!"

Last connect was from c-69-138-215-77.hsd1.md.comcast.net on Sat Oct 18 15:04:23 2025.

</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>

She doesn't know the significance of the mask. A soft "Ah," barely audible, escapes Tsumugi's lips. But it's fine.

''As quickly as possible?''

"As quickly as possible."

Not knowing isn't the same as lacking the potential to know.

The words echo at Reiko's back, reinforcing the idea. Tsumugi is more a presence felt than a sight seen, lingering just out of the periphery of Reiko's vision. The sound of their voice; the whisper-soft sound of silk on silk; the weight of their personal space, just beyond Reiko's.

It's a suggestion of presence, a weightlessness of their proximity that helps frames that first question the second Reiko's eyes close, and she announces, at the tail end of an exhale,

''Ready!''

"What's your name?"

There is a delay after that question. A healthy breadth of time in which Reiko -can- mull over a question already answered if she wants to.

"Your favorite color?"

The delay shrinks a little more, a few milliseconds of a moment lost yet still more than enough for Reiko to indulge in thought, despite the premise.

"Your favorite food?"

It shrinks again. And with every successive question

"Your favorite pastime?"

the time between the next

"What animal do you think is cutest?"

shrinks

"Scariest?"

a bit

"Your parents names?"

more

"The most appealing quality in a person?"

until
"The most annoying?"
there's no space at all.
"Do you follow the rules?" "Is there anyone you admire?" "What's your favorite book?" "Was that really your favorite color?" "Do you prefer tea or coffee?" "Do you care what others think of you?"

Until questions come so swiftly there's truly no time to think, and even then, perhaps, no time to answer out loud. Further and further, honing the answers towards a kneejerk reflex until--

"How do you want the world to see Reiko Shimizu?"

That last question comes.

Left to linger, along with its awaited answer.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>

Reiko nods to Tsumugi's instruction. And she closes her eyes, too. She has always been good at following directions -- drilled into her by her parents, then at school, then in the Metropolitan Police Department. She does so here, with this person she has just met. And she feels their presence, ephemeral, even if she doesn't see it.

The questions come.

''What's your name?''

"Reiko Shimizu," she says. It's automatic. And yet--yet, she wonders, afterward. Why did they ask her that? She had already told them.

The questions begin coming more rapidly.

"Blue."
"My sister's chocolate chip cookies."
"Video games, uhm, RPG's--"
"...dogs!"
"Scariest--uh--um--boars?"
"Satsuki and Kenzou Shimizu..."

And faster, until she is giving answers the moment they stop talking -- and leaving Reiko breathless in the response.

"Sincerity."
"And--um--being controlling."
"Always..."
"My older sisters."
"The Stories of Ibis by Hiroshi Yamamoto."

That one comes /immediately/, with a certain passion. Then, it's back to fast replies.

"Maybe a light blue--"
"Tea, most days."
"W-Well yes--"

Her answers are fast, a kneejerk response, so she can't hesitate even when she wants to. But then the last question comes, and Reiko sucks a breath in. She hesitates for a second, but she has been wound up to reply quickly.

"Friendly, and kind, and--and creative," Reiko says. Her voice is quiet, almost a whisper. It trembles when she speaks. "And not... not having to hide who I care for. Or that I care at all. Even when it's inconvenient."
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
There's moments within the tidal wave of inquiries that stand out. Moments where certain questions evoke certain responses that fascinate with the possibilities of why.

''The Stories of Ibis,'' the fire behind that instant claim, for example. The way her answer trails off just so about whether she always follows the rules. The simple fact that she follows -their- instructions at all.

The stammer to her voice as she says she cares what others think of her.

Interesting. She's interesting.

But the one that truly matters--

''Friendly, and kind, and--and creative.''

The one that inspires the tiniest tremor in her voice.

''And not... not having to hide who I care for.''

... Is the one the entire series of questions was meant to answer.

Tsumugi's voice is suffused with an underscore of approval beneath its placid exterior as they whisper,

"You can open your eyes now, Reiko-san."

... and that distant voice is suddenly so close Reiko can feel the warmth of it brush her left cheek.

By the time her eyes open, Tsumugi is once more entering her field of vision as they pull away from their position at her shoulder.

"I can make something for you," they say, simply, their tone once more so utterly disaffected. "We can take care of your measurements now, if you have the time to spare. Once I've started up a draft of the idea, you can decide how you'd like to proceed."

Just like that? Is it because of how she answered those questions?

Because of her position in the police department?

Or because the spotlight's choosing to shine on her now?

It's a question that lingers like it's waiting to be asked, yet Tsumugi doesn't elucidate on their own. They just settle themselves back onto the table of their work station, one long leg crossing over the other, seated like royalty on their throne as they say,

"I'm not sure you'll be ready for it by the time it's finished... but it'll be waiting for you, for when you are."

Their head tilts. Their black brows lift faintly, like a punctuated question.

"Do you want that?"

The only question that matters.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
That whisper brushes against Reiko's ear. That note of approval -- that's something she catches, something that makes her eyes widen a little bit as she hears it. And it makes her smile and makes her heart flutter -- that who she wants to be seems to have won over this mysterious tailor, even if just a little.

She opens her eyes, watching as Tsumugi walks in front of her. She looks at them -- and then blinks, at the shift in tone. "Oh--oh, yes, I have the time to spare," she says, and she flusters again.

Reiko hesitates for a second. "I--um--" She wants to ask so many questions. Why did they decide to do this? Was it something about the questions? Was it something else. "You're... sure? You want to make one, for me?"

She hesitates, though. Tsumugi asks her a question. And she senses a hidden meaning in what they asked -- that Reiko might not be ready for the outfit.

She swallows, then. But, she nods her head. "Yes." Her voice is caught, for a moment. Then, she affirms: "I want that."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
Are they sure?

"Yes," Tsumugi says, without hesitation, without second's thought.

"You fascinate me."

Like they could never be suffered to feel doubt about anything.

Their answer scarcely lingers in the air before they are chasing after that brazenly self-professed interest with that singular, important question, layered with meaning beyond the simplicity of what it says on the surface.

And when the answer comes...

"'Nothing happens if you just dream,'" they recite, a little line from the light novel Reiko so passionately claimed as her favorite. Green eyes hood.

"Good."

And with that, they slip off their perch, the soft -swffff- sound of chasing measurement tape following as they draw it up off the table alongside them.

"Then let's begin."

Ready to measure the framework of the Reiko Shimizu that Reiko Shimizu wants the world to see.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
"O-oh."

Reiko says that without hesitation or a second's thought -- but it's more of an awkward, non-verbal stammer. And her face turns flushed at that, but there is a small nod of her head to them. She glances at Tsumugi.

She breaks into a smile. "You've read it!" she says, energetically, her eyes lighting up. Reiko shifts a little -- but then Tsumugi slips off their seat, and comes forward with the measuring tape. And Reiko reminds herself that she does have something to attend to.

"R-Right, just tell me what you need to me to do."

She holds her arm up for them. She doesn't know if she will be ready for it, still.

But there's only one way to find out.

</poem>

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

2025-10-04: Crash into the Dark Hour

2025-10-20T04:50:53Z

Jean:

*'''Log: Crash into the Dark Hour'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Saika Kikuchi]], [[Katsuya Suou]]
*'''Where:''' Konan - Main
*'''OOC Date:''' October 04, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' July 21, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Saika, deciding to go speak to Katsuya Suou, gets a little bit waylaid. However, she's in luck: in the depths of the Dark Hour, she finds the man in question and pumps him for information about the serial murders case.''

----

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
12:07 PM

"Fwah! What a great lunch for breakfast. I should go see that Katsuya guy today," says Saika Kikuchi to herself as she finishes rinsing off her dishes. "I just have to get all the backlog stuff caught up a little."

4:32 PM

"Godddd what a pain in the aaaaaass," moans Saika Kikuchi as she finishes consolidating and storing a somewhat off-peak shipment of hides and supplies for her working. "But alright, I'm just gonna get dinner ready and then I'm going to hit the road and see Officer Suou!"

7:23 PM

"OKAY," says Saika, as the freshly hung out laundry on the inward-facing balcony is set, at last, to drip. "FUCKING FINALLY. I'm going to hit the road -- what the fuck just broke?"

8:02 PM

"MOTHER OF SHIT! It's already fucking DARK!"

9:11 PM

A checkout counter beeps. "So that's 210, plus you was on pump 3... three liters?"

"Yep," sighs Saika, surrendering her money.

9:58 PM

"Fucking finally," mutters Saika as she turns up the volume on her single-earbud, finally pulling in past the district sign for the Konan Ward. "My ass hurts."

10:20 PM

Saika emerges from a conbini with a fortifying egg salad sandwich. The earbud is replaced and she turns it up, finally exhaling. "NOW I can start finding cops."

10:21 PM - 11:52 PM

Imagine, if you will, a top-down view of the entirety of Konan ward, with a graceful red dotted line travelling throughout, stopping at about seven different kobans, all of which had the late-night crew, if any, somewhat bemused at a punk girl asking about a particular officer. ("It's for an investigation," Saika tells them. "I can't just talk freely about it. I need to find Officer Katsuya Suou!")

11:55 PM

A puttering low-powered motorcycle, the kind of thing you can ride quite a long way but which will get you promptly reduced to donor sauce on the highway, sits impatiently at an intersection directly behind a currently powered-down deko tora, which Saika gazes at wistfully. An ukiyo-e style face that Saika thinks might be J*nichiro Boizumi gazes at her, but thankfully he is cast in shadow.

11:58 PM

The light finally turns. Saika exhales and starts to motor down the long boulevard of the increasingly decrepit industrial district. The dekotora turns right into one of the surviving plants for manufacturing or trans-shipment or some goddamn thing Saika doesn't care about; instead, she opens it up with a little grin on her face. "Finally," Saika says with a widening of the eyes. "I can open it up!"

11:59 PM

Saika opens it up, feeling the familiar press of acceleration as she hangs a left with a completely sick skid and straightens out as she orients towards the road that's supposed to lead five blocks up and land in the middle of a currently-probably-mostly-quiet shopping area which is, by process of elimination, either going to have Suou OR a guy who KNOWS Suou. She feels the motorcycle straighten out as

11:59:59 PM
*tick*

the Dark Hour begins.

The puttering growl of the gasoline engine stops completely.

Saika blinks once, enormously. She looks downwards to see that the headlight is also out, as well as the little pin-lights that let her check the RPMs, current speed, and gas tank status without squinting in the dark.

Saika raises her head. "Huh," she says.

The motorcycle screams silently, the motor completely silent - inertia alone carrying the bike forwards.

The wind whispers past Saika's helmed head. "At least I still had like a half tank," Saika says, philosophically. "Dunno why I didn't think of this. Jeez. Big goof on me."

Saika pumps the brakes.

THEY DO NOTHING

"GAAAAAAAAAAH"

AND THAT'S WHY

A motorcycle just crashed into a small copse of bushes and trees, currently cast in stark darkness by the Dark Hour but still a lot better than pavement. The rider is hurtled forwards, landing in the comfortable-by-comparison surface of a playground sand pit, skidding out and rolling onto her side.

"fuck," groans Saika Kikuchi, and by the time she rears up, she looks... different; clad in defiant garb, and held together by colorful stitching, she pushes herself up and dusts her legs off. "Fuck," Saika continues.

She walks over to look at her motorcycle.

THE HEADLIGHT IS BROKEN

"FFFFFUUUUUCK"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
It is, just as Katsuya had thought it would be, a long night.

There's still the chance that this is merely a case of what schedules could be crafted. Maybe it's to be expected that sometimes, you end up stuck on the night shift for an extended period for no particular reason.
But sometimes, you also get to take a look at recent actions, take into account the alleged corruption of your workplace, the connections of certain shadowy members of the government in local politics, and... and, even the most trusting and upstanding member of the public gets to ''wonder'', just a little bit.

But only a little bit.

He has no particular ire for the Dark Hour in particular, outside the initial shock that it, well, existed at all in the first place. Most people can't get up to commiting crimes because they're also affected. The problem comes when people who are able to sustain themselves in the Dark Hour get up to no good, because what's the plan to stop them, exactly? As far as he knows, outside Akechi, he's the only member of law enforcement with this sort of power. And how does one even cover enough ground in a time when all vehicles and communications grind to a halt?

For those who can stay 'awake' in the Dark Hour, the world is their proverbial oyster -- well, outside the threat of Shadows, that is. And of course, this is a niche that hasn't gone unfilled. There are people who use the Dark Hour to their advantage, and worse, they've allied themselves with the Joker Killer for reasons that Katsuya can't begin to fathom. And there's nothing he can do about it, at least, not if he's so lucky as to happen across a crime in progress.

On nights like these, when he's working, he prefers to take the excuse to patrol rather than stay in the office and catch up on reports (it's not like he can do reports except by hand between 12 and 12:01 AM anyway). At least, outside, there's more that he can do, or potentially prevent, even if in practice it's usually 'quiet' (relatively, please ignore the Shadows slumping around) and 'calm'.

Rubber screams against asphalt.

...Usually quiet.

Something crashes into the bushes over there. A motorcycle-- its rider is thrown free, and rolls in a child's sand pit! Katsuya breaks into a run towards the site of the accident.

...Usually calm.

The rider, clad in an outlandish costume, rises, having a few things to say about her predicament. Fortunately, no children are around to hear them.

Katsuya's a homicide detective. He also hangs out with Ulala, at least in recent months, and it's not like Baofu has particularly 'clean' language, either. This doesn't scandalize him. He still takes a polite minute to regard Saika.

"Are you... alright, miss?" he asks, finally.

Good news! You might have broken the headlight, but you did, in fact, find Sergeant Katsuya Suou! Hooray! (wait does saika know what he looks like)
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
The strange woman looks at her motorcycle.

"You know what," Saika answers him, "I'm really NOT, and I know that's not very cool of me to say but I've had a real god damn asshole of a day and I'm going to break it down for you. OK, so I was going to try to get here by like, ''five'', you know?" Saika says, turning to face the homicide detective.

She raises her hands. "Six at the latest. I was gonna try to find the person I was looking for, have a chat, and probably be home in time to sleep at a regular hour like a *loser*. Instead, I get this late delivery of supplies for my handicrafts job and so, okay, that's fine, at least I HAVE it, but that slows me down."

Saika ticks on her fingers. "Then I had to cook dinner, which, again, is fine, except I'm often the one who has to cook for everyone or at least I *TRY* to have something edible for everyone even though I have dietary restrictions so I know half the time they're going to eat out so they can hog out on meat!"

Another ticking finger. "I get THAT done and then I realize the laundry machine's full! So I have to RUN THAT, and then I have to set everything OUT, and of course it's already like getting near sunset so I know they're going to dry kind of weird but WHATEVER, right, even without the sun it'll get done, but THEN someone I STILL DON'T KNOW WHO knocked over a plate, so I have to clean THAT up, and already it's dark and I'm just getting on the road."

Saika sweeps a hand up. "And after THAT I realize I'm having to go stop by stop to try to FIND the person because do I have his phone number? No. Do I have his description? No! I realize TOO LATE, when I've already RIDDEN out here and burned like two liters of gas JUST GETTING HERE, that I've got NO IDEA where this guy actually works other than," swirl of the hand, "Konan Ward, Sumaru City. UGH!"

Saika looks at the dark skies of the Dark Hour.

Then back down. "So no," she says, "I'm not fine. But at least it can't get any worse."

A pause.

Saika claps her hands together.

"You wouldn't know a guy named Suou, would you? Katsuya Suou?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
He asks if she's okay.

He gets an answer. Oh, boy, does he get an answer! "Is there something that I can do to help--"

She's going to break it down to him, in fact, exactly what sort of day she's had. Exactly. In exacting detail, at that.

"Miss, I, if there's something that I can..."

He might have a hard time getting a word in edgewise.

"That seems... quite difficult to have experienced. Have you--"

It might actually be impossible.

"--Miss--"

There's a thing, though. There's a thing about Katsuya Suou, that makes him uniquely ill-equipped for handling Saika's tirade right now. It goes something like this: swearing for the most part doesn't make him bat an eye, even from a woman. And he likes women -- really, truly. He wants to do right by them, to defend them as needed. But the problem is, at the same time he's trying to make sure that other men don't treat them poorly, isn't he still expecting... women to behave... in a certain...

Perhaps put another: he's mildly terrified of Ulala even if they are allies (and even... good acquaintances?) and unfortunately, Saika is giving him the exact same sort of vibe right now.

You know.

That this is someone who could kick his ass in the worst way possible: verbally.

He's not even the target of this tirade, and he still feels like he's the one under attack...

Katsuya has, to all appearances, drowned under the deluge of Typhoon Saika by the time she concludes her tale of woe and misfortune, stating that at least things can't get worse.

"...Is there... some way that I...?"

Yes, there is, in fact. Slowly, quietly, he lifts a hand to readjust his sunglasses. Does he know someone named 'Katsuya Suou'?

"Actually, I am Katsuya Suou," he says. Then, a little more hesitantly: "You came here... to find me?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
There is no response for Saika for several seconds.

And then a slow smile dawns on her face, a smile that would be better suited for a certain nuclear safety engineer who has just figured out that he can get a donut.

"You ARE Katsuya Suou...? That's great!" Saika says, clapping her hands together. "Congratulations!"

Saika walks towards Katsuya then, her voice lowering. "C'mon, we got like an hour so we have time to chat. This is actually lucky, I guess I was paying my bills for this good luck, but in here we don't have to worry about people overhearing. See, I'm here to ask you... well, sort of join forces with you..."

She raises her hands to gesture. "You know about the 'Joker Killer', right? I heard this was... your case."

"You are such a good listener, I really appreciate that in someone," Saika concludes with a huge breath of air. "Like I mean I guess it's something you can study or practice, right? I bet you kind of like mentally took notes of everything I said, right? I bet you got like, a detective notebook on you. Right?"

Another beat. "You usually seeing this shit, by the way?" Saika asks, gesturing in a sort of general sense to indicate 'the Dark Hour.'

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
Slowly, Saika smiles. It does not, in any way, make Katsuya feel any more at ease. Neither does that declaration of 'Congratulations!', if he's being honest to himself.

Somehow, he's able to keep himself from taking a step back from her as she advances. He's not sure what she's getting at, actually, or even who she is, and she's asking him about--

"Well..." Katsuya hazards, starting to get a somewhat clearer idea of where this is heading, "You could say that. However, I should be clear. I was involved formally with the investigation into the serial killings, but that is no longer the case. ...That being said, I cannot let the circumstances slide. I know for a fact that the Joker Killer is a Persona-user like you and I. I--"

He stops himself, and looks at her again. "You... are a Persona-user, correct, miss...?"

After all he, again, doesn't know her name.

He's a good listener, isn't he. He probably filed all of that down in his head and he'll take notes down later, right. He's got a cool detective notebook, doesn't he. It takes all of Katsuya's willpower to ''not'' fish for his notebook that's in his jacket pocket, because that is how he does it. Just... probably... not about all of that. At some point, he'd found himself wondering if that, experience, was what it was like to die.

"Yes, of... course," he says, coupling it with an uncertain nod, because sometimes the only way out is through.

Does he usually see the Dark Hour?

"When I am on night shift, yes," he replies, which is pretty much the long and short of his usual experience with this particular 'bonus hour' of the day. He looks then at her damaged motorcycle. That's not going to be street legal, if the headlight is out.

"...There is a shop not far from here that you should be able to take it. My younger brother used to go there sometimes, I think." He pauses. "That is, once the Dark Hour has ended."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
Why not feel easy, Katsuya? It's not like Saika looks like she got thrown through a very polite and sharp deli slicer but was mostly put back together in the right way. She didn't *ask* to look like that. Who's the real enemy here? Is it the cops? It has to be the cops.

"You could say that, yeah," Saika agrees, about the Persona User. She puts a hand on her hip and says, with a pooch of her lips to the side that makes one of the stitches on her neck strain a little, "Though that feels so matter of fact, right? Like... it's honestly pretty miraculous stuff but we make it sound like something out of a comic."

She sniffs a little, not at anyone in particular.

"They took you off the case, huh?" Saika says, with something like sympathy. "Were you getting too close to the truth?" She reaches up to sweep a hand through her hair. Her head turns to look back to her motorcycle. "... yeah," she sighs, "probably. I guess I probably can't ride it back without the front headlight, huh?"

"See," Saika says, "I try to obey all the traffic regulations, believe it or not. I know that most of these rules are kind of a compromise, but there's like a network effect, right, with traffic stuff? Like half the safety IS that everyone's following the same rules rather than just flying by the seat of their ass!"

Saika walks over, hups up the motorcycle, and begins to wheel it forwards, soon enough returning to Katsuya. "C'mon, show me where it is, we can chat while we walk."

"So like I was saying... you're probably wondering why I give a shit. I don't claim anything that high minded, but I saw the guy try to burn down this art exhibit in Aoba... can you believe that? Just sort of popping up and... ugh! So though, we're talking about a serial killer? Did you guys have a profile before you got taken off the case?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
He's trying not to stare. Most men might stare at other parts of Saika's body, but his gaze is fixed on her neck and the way that the stitches there... strain. He'd thought (hoped) at first that it was some sort of costume, like the ones that he assumes that the Phantom Thieves are wearing. But it's looking less and less like that's the case and he's not sure what to make of it. Very... good makeup? Very, very good makeup? Maybe? She must be human, though. A demon wouldn't be so...

...so...

"A.... comic?" he repeats, as if uncertain about the direction this has taken, here. "I merely had meant..."

So they took him off the case.

"They did," he admits, and he wonders if maybe he shouldn't be ''saying'' this to someone he doesn't even know the name of. Then again, isn't one of his actual allies in this matter a man of even more dubious intent and means than she is? And that's remained true even ''after'' getting to 'know' Baofu better. "It is... possible," he hedges, as if to underscore the fact that he doesn't know her from Eve, so to speak. "Excuse me, but what did you say your name was?"

She hadn't, actually, but he's just afraid to approach her head-on, as it were.

"That's correct," he says, about the headlight. "It's unsafe, particularly at this time of night. Another driver might not be able to see you coming." Which is more or less the thing she's saying to him, just in another way. Except, he sort of mislikes the way in which she's saying it. "Now, that being said, I don't think it's quite like that. Rather, it's... we are not all of us islands. We must rely upon each other," he tries to explain.

Same thing, different way of saying it.

"Er, do you need a hand with that?" She's got it well in hand, Suou-kun. So instead he walks alongside her as he leads the way, feeling a little bit useless, but only a little bit.

It'll still be a time before the shop is 'open' again, but at least they ''are'' open this late. He'd rather not dwell on the possible reasons why that can be so, in Konan.

"You were there as well? I see..." he says, of her own witnessing of #501's crimes. "Yes, but... the situation had gotten worse prior to that. At first the killings were... merely killings. To be quite honest, we had no way of knowing whether or not they were connected," he explains, trying to put everything into context. "Around the time that the media began to report on the story in earnest, it was as if they had taken a turn. Each subsequent killing became more intricate and cruel. Before it was 'merely' murder. Now... it's more like torture." He shakes his head, glancing up once at a sky smeared in otherworldly green. "We had some likely suspects at first, but we had to exclude them in the end. Airtight alibis, or... the evidence didn't match. If you've seen 'him', however, then you know why he cannot be caught by the police."

Not only can the Joker Killer use a Persona, but he can ''appear'' wherever he needs to be, whenever he's called.

"As the rumor says, if you call your own cellphone, you are able to contact the Joker Killer. He'll kill anyone you name. It's absolutely ridiculous," he says, with a weary sigh, "and yet-- that ''is'' how it works."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
Demons would probably make more sense. Sewn back together or not, Saika has an ineffable *humanity* to her. It's not just the sweat from wearing a shirt while riding her motorcycle and biking around on a humid summer night.

"Mm," she says. "Oh," she says, "call me Saika," before loking back to him and not elaborating. Is that her first name or her last name? Well, it's a given name for sure -- she just gave it to Katsuya! DOHOHO. She rubs the bridge of her nose. "Yeah," she says. "Yeah, I guess it ends up that way more often than you'd think."

"Sure, if you want, but I've got it pretty good," Saika answers. "It's just 50cc, you know? I can't really get assed to go get a license and I ain't got much reason to leave the city." Which may engulf Sumaru as well as Tokyo, as opposed to, what, the Inaba? Excuse us: Inaka.

She sniffs a little. "Yeah," she says. "It was pretty crazy, so... I could tell a bunch of people were there. You see that graffiti person got burned up? That was horrifying. I mean, like, I'm aware I sound like a smartass but I was seriously pissed off. I guess it was a false alarm, but..."

"I don't like it," Saika says, "when I end up feeling that way."

"So!" Saika continues, as the rest of it. She nods along while frowning; information that may disappoint her, may disturb her, but doesn't seem to be shocking her. Her lip curls for a moment. "Yeah," she says. "Even if he didn't have a single fuckin' other advantage than THIS shit," another gesture at 'the Dark Hour generally,' it's already going to look crazy if you were standing right there, right?"

Saika gestures back the way she came. "Like I was ripping past this factory (I was obeying the speed limit) and then I was making kind of a sick left turn to get in here, you know, and that's when it hit... if you were watching me from the roof of the factory, it's going to look like I just disappeared."

She clucks her tongue. "Crazy."

Another pause.

Saika asks, more steadily, more quietly, "How do you know it's how it works?"

</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
Saika? Is that her first or last name?

"Saika-san," he hazards, because what else is he supposed to do here? He may never emotionally recover from this once he does find out otherwise.

"If you are certain," he says, though he studies her for just a moment, there. "Please be certain to obey the laws regarding where you may use your vehicle," he says, and it's almost reflexive. You know, just in case he's preventing some sort of... crime, here.

"Yes," Katsuya answers, and because he's gotten a little bit more of a clue now and isn't flying so blind (even if he doesn't ''get it'' get it), "fortunately, they are alright. For a moment there, I had thought..." That Tsubasa was dead. That he was, once again, too late to prevent a murder. He shakes his head. "We cannot allow this to continue. He must be stopped." So now he's including Saika in this 'bring the killer to justice' element, is he?

Then again--

"I don't think that anyone... cares to feel that way," he says, fidgeting with his glasses. Even now, someone could be making a call. Another person could be about to die, and there wouldn't be much he could do without forewarning or straight up 'luck'.

Perhaps it's better to be lucky than unlucky, in these regards, but he'd rather not need to have to use 'luck' in the first place.

"In the beginning," he says, speaking again about the case, "there were not even any of those 'calling cards' that the news media likes to talk about. Sometimes, I wonder if... are you familiar with 'feedback loops', Saika-san?"

Which is another way to ask, does she know about rumors? Which, she must, at this point.

"Even a Persona's power is limited to supernatural spaces. Unfortunately, it seems there are many such places in this city." He nods, as she remarks on the Dark Hour, and how it would look to an observer (oh thank goodness she was obeying the speed limit) once time resumes and she's no longer where she was. "The Dark Hour alone would allow you to do as you pleased to most people. In fact, as I understand it, there is a group about that does precisely that. Unfortunately, they appear to have allied themselves with the killer, as well, which makes this all even more complicated--"

How does he know that's how it works?

Katsuya stops in his tracks.

"Well, I... we have it on good authority that..." He trails off. The thing is, he hasn't actually tried it himself, has he? His merry little band has proposed making an attempt to do just that to confirm a thing or two, but there's a difference between planning a thing and ''doing'' it.

"Other rumors have worked as dictated, once spread," he explains, "so it stands to reason that one that everyone else speaks of would also work." He's even helped spread a rumor himself! It's why you can now buy guns in a bar.

[VOLITION] In retrospect, it perhaps wasn't such a good idea.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
You only need one name. Now her portrait isn't ?????.

And that is some distinctive hair on Saika lastname, or perhaps Firstname Saika, isn't it?

"'course," Saika says, dipping her head. "That's one of those things that's like, OK, this isn't natural moral law but it lets everyone use it and it doesn't really bite anyone's bag, right, like you're just driving in a polite and friendly manner that lets everyone use the road, and if you don't you get fined a billion yen and a slap on the ass."

what court system is she in

Her lips thin. "Yeah," she says. "You can have virtuous cycles that balance themselves or vicious cycles that don't. Kind of like, I can't remember exactly the word... like if a signal tells something to cool off if it gets too hot, instead of the other way around, telling it to keep getting hotter until it catches fire."

Like an art display.

A few more revolutions of her bike's tires, and Saika comments, "Who's that group you heard of?" but it is... parenthetical. Though Katsuya can probably tell that Saika has gotten a lot more careful, relatively speaking, about just what she is saying at this point. She's frowning, too, but hearing that a guy named 'Joker Killer' has a posse is not a happy thing to hear.

But then...

"Heh," Saika says.

"I wouldn't've judged you if you did it," Saika says. "But I guess if you did it twice... that'd be on you. How would you be to suspect that any of this bullshit is actually true unless you try it for yourself? But I'd hope you'd have done something like named, I dunno, one of those loan shark guys instead of -- oh man," Saika continues, and HERE she's a lot more 'authentic' seeming, "I just realized, this is actually INCREDIBLY good that we're both looking at this guy, because me?"

Saika points at herself. "I've never killed anybody, and you look like you haven't, either."

But then...

"Rumors really do that?" Saika asks. "Can you like... spread a counter-rumor or something? Like say the Joker Killer gave it up and went into a monastery, so now if you call that number it'll come give a blessing? Or is that one of those things that's..."

"A lot more complicated than it seems," Saika concludes, deflating slightly. "Just like every goddamn thing in the universe."

"It just... it seems like it's horrible, you know? Imagine if someone was spreadin' a rumor about you."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
<poem>
Katsuya is not a particularly emotive guy, generally speaking, under normal operating conditions.

Here though: behold! He's fixing Saika with the sort of expression that suggests that the world has somehow... tilted? Or that he's ended up on another planet, for some reason, one in which the laws no longer equal total logic.

"Is that... I do not think that is how it works," he says, as a person who studied law in college and appears to have a negative value for a sense of humor.

"Yes. At times I wonder, if it's something akin to that. The more that the media writes about the killer, the worse the murders become. Is it because of rumors that it's become like this? Or am I overthinking it?" he says, of feedback loops. "All that I know is, the longer this goes on, the worse it gets. If he isn't stopped..."

Then what? Where does this end?

So she doesn't know? Perhaps she's newer at this than he is: an uncommon event, he's found. "You are familiar with 'Darkside of Sumaru'?" he explains. "It is a website with a BBS that is frequented by other Persona-users. Not everyone who poses on there is a Persona-user, of course, and not everything that is posted is true. Yet, it can be useful. And... that's where I first learned about 'them'. They call themselves 'Strega', and it appears they kill, among other things, for hire. That woman who was with him at the park, I think that she is one of them."

But he hasn't tried the rumor for himself. How could he try it?

It almost seems like a fire's been lit under that otherwise stony (at least, when not discomfited) exterior. Vehemently, Katsuya shakes his head. "Of course not-- to risk someone else's life like that, even if I could not be certain...! It was enough to verify that rumors can become true. If the others have worked, then is there any reason why this one wouldn't, also? Saika-san, I cannot-- I ''will'' not trade someone else's life like that... even if they are a terrible sort of person..."

Flames, of course, are destined to die out, and something like a pall hangs over him following as he reflects on what he's just said. 'He won't trade someone else's life', but isn't that what... No, he had told Serizawa himself, he wouldn't let her do it alone. She'd seemed so determined, he'd thought she might try it on her own, but at least this way...
It doesn't make him feel better, though.

"No," he answers Saika. "I haven't killed anyone."

But, can rumors really do that in the first place? He nods. "We did try," he says, "after a fashion. There was the rumor about the Seven Sisters school emblem being able to protect its bearer against the killer. I suppose it has something to do with how interesting or believable it is. We were able to get the emblem rumor to spread because it's similar to other stories about lucky charms or protective talismans. But, a story about him giving it up and retiring... I can't think that the public would find it believable at this stage." He sighs. "It's ridiculous. And yet, with every rumor spread successfully..."

Just imagine, if someone spread a rumor about you.

"Yes," he says quietly. "It, too, if it were believable..."

He stops again, pointing ahead. In the pall of the Dark Hour, shadows (lowercase) seem to crawl erratically against the dimmed shop sign. "Over there. I remember coming here to check after repairs to his motorcycle a year ago," he explains. "Once the Dark Hour ends... it should still be open. This place is involved in something illegal, I'm certain of it, but without any proof, there isn't anything I can do. But no normal business like that is open this late..." He folds his arms over his chest and shakes his head.

And if it's vice, like he suspects it probably is, it's overstepping, anyway.
</poem>

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

2025-10-18: Twenty Questions

2025-10-19T19:41:48Z

Jean:

*'''Log: 2025-10-18: Twenty Questions'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Reiko Shimizu]], [[Tsumugi Kujaku]]
*'''Where:''' Peacock Silver, Tokyo
*'''OOC Date:''' October 18, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' July 28, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Reiko goes to Peacock Silk in search of new clothes. Instead, she finds something and someone more than she expected... and something she isn't quite ready for.''

----

<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Reiko stops before Peacock Silk, having heard about it. She heard the clothes here are ''quite'' amazing. And the exterior, with the outline of a peacock and the Art-Nouveau decor, seems promising. She is off-duty today, and she is dressed accordingly. Her hair is down; she looks up, over the rims of her black glasses, at them. She has a light blue dress and a darker blue jacket on over it.

She has a bag over her shoulder. She sucks her breath in, then she nudges the door open -- and steps inside. She glances over the gleam of the wooden floor, the cash register, and all of the clothing on display. The jewels glitter in her eyes, and she looks at the outfits on display.

There's a soft exhale.

Then, a little more nervously, she calls out: "Ah, pardon me! Hello...?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
The world of Peacock Silk unfolds before Reiko Shimizu to the serene piano melody of Erik Satie's Gymnopédie No. 1.

The music piped in through the store floor speakers provides the boutique's an almost melancholic, ephemeral ambiance as she explores. It's a fact that's only heightened by the initial impression that she may well be one of the only people in the store at the moment. The Silk's owners have a reputation for being eclectic: the hours they keep, and who keeps which, seems like a riddle to be solved than a standard to set your watch to. Some days they're all there - even the peacock! Some days, only a precious couple. And some days...

"Ara."

... There's only one.

The voice is low, but silken. It comes just off to Reiko's right: she only needs look to find the source, leaned against a nearby wall, a book labeled ''CANDIDE'' in one hand, supporting that reading arm palm-to-elbow with the other. Their outfit has a high feminine aesthetic to it today, all centered around the long, sleeveless high-necked gown dress they wear. Slit on one side, it starts the deepest, most abyssal black one could imagine at the neck -- but as the dress lowers, that black hue fades towards dark reds, to scarlets, then finally towards a fiery red towards its skirts, as if it was a recreation of a spark in the dark. Over this they wear a black long coat, accented in gold with a scarlet interior.

... The word 'wear', though, is doing a lot of heavy lifting, considering they only -actually wear the coat at one sleeve, leaving the entire coat half-hanging off and leaving their opposing, pale shoulder bare, the whole thing managing to stay draped on them thanks to the not-so-modern miracle of collar clasps.

Lips painted a dark ombre red part as vividly green eyes roll to regard Reiko beyond the brim of trendy black glasses.

They regards her in silence for five whole seconds, before,

"I know you. Don't I?" they wonder, calm but curious.

Do they?

They've certainly never met before now, at least.

And yet, Tsumugi Kujaku sounds so ineffably, nonchalantly certain of it.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Reiko can't quite identify the music. But it sounds familiar, and that gives the sensation like she has been here before -- maybe like one of the games she plays. She heard a little about their reputation, and that she might be lucky she found them when they are open. She looks about, and then she blinks when she hears the voice.

She looks at them -- and then Reiko blinks. She blinks again, and there's a little nervous -- half awkward, half confident, and all flustered -- laugh. She can't help but take in the dress, with its smooth transition of colors. Her own dress feels plain in comparison.

She pats it out at the side, her eyes shifting up from Tsumugi's shoulders to her eyes. Her own green eyes are wide behind her glasses. "W-Well, I'd like to think I'd remember you," Reiko stammers to them, before she gets some composure. "But sometimes I'm accused of being scatterbrained."

She does a quick, polite bow.

"Reiko Shimizu. Um, unless you already knew that," she says. "Wait, even if you did know that, I'm still Reiko Shimizu." She laughs nervously again, the laugh bubbling up. "I like clothes?"

A beat.

"That's why I'm here," she says. "The clothes."

Reiko nods her head, and inside, she dies a little of embarrassment.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
''W-Well, I'd like to think I'd remember you.''

The well-worn spine of French satire snaps shut.

"No... that's not it."

It's sharp, the contrast between Reiko Shimizu's flustered, contradictory laugh and the cool detachment with which Tsumugi Kujaku receives it. It's not a judgmental look they regard Reiko with -- there's nothing inherently good or bad about the way those striking features scarcely shift in the wake of her stammered pronouncement. It's just... distant.

Like someone always just barely out of reach, no matter how far you stretch to cross that uncrossable distance.

In that much, it might be a relief, like all that nervousness just doesn't register to them, even as Reiko quietly dies inside. Instead, the sinuous roll of pale shoulders sees them slipping out of their wall lean as they regard Reiko with that bespectacled green gaze, distant but curious -- interested. In her. Tsumugi's hands clasp behind their back, book held between them, as they approach, the click of gold heels ringing throughout the store.

''Reiko Shimizu.''

Their head cans.

"Ah," they exhale. "Now I remember. You're one of the officers who brought in Junya Kaneshiro, aren't you?"

And the cool veneer of their expression breaks, with the hint of a red smile.

"Ara. Interesting. We have a celebrity in our midst."

It'd be easy to write off as teasing, especially with Reiko in the state she's in. And yet that professed interest seems compellingly sincere, too.

Whether that makes it better or worse for her embarrassment, well--

"What do you like about them?"

--at least she doesn't have to dwell on it -too- long before Tsumugi is smoothly moving on, the click-click-click of their heels sending them brushing past Reiko as they offer up that silken question on the way towards the tailoring work station just beyond, with an unspoken invitation for Reiko to follow - if she wants. They still haven't introduced themself, but, well.

"Clothes."

They have curiosity to sate, first.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Candide snaps shut -- and Reiko's eyes are drifted to it. She blinks at the sudden declaration from Tsumugi, and the flustered look fades a little from Reiko's face. For a moment, as she seems to calm down for a second. At least, until Tsumugi approaches -- with the best of all possible worlds hidden behind their back. That makes Reiko fluster, again, if in a different way.

Even if there is some relief, at the fact that her nervousness hasn't made a fool of her. It takes more than one person to become a fool, after all.

Then, she blinks -- and there's a nod. And a hint of disappointment at the recognition of her role, minor as it was, in apprehending Junya Kaneshiro.

"O-Oh, I don't know about that," she says. "I didn't really ''do'' anything. He turned himself into us. It was... those Phantom Thieves, I suppose."

She isn't sure how they could have done it.

She does fluster again as Tsumigi smiles -- and brushes past her. Reiko pushes her glasses up, sighs a little, and then she turns after them. There's a rustle of her sky blue dress, and she peers after Tsumugi. She considers the question for a second.

"...W-Well..."

For another second, the superficial responses are considered. Then, they're dismissed. And Reiko doesn't stammer, but she speaks softly. "They say the clothes make the person," Reiko says. "And... well, most of the day, I have to wear a uniform. So that's what people see when they see me. Not that I have much choice about what I wear on duty. But... off duty, I like when I can wear something that says who I really am."

She follows them, towards the tailoring station.

"Rather than what I have to be," she finishes. Then, with a bit more of a stammer: "I-If that makes any sense at all."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
I didn't really do anything, Reiko insists.

It was the Phantom Thieves, in the end.

"The spotlight doesn't care who it points at or why," is Tsumugi's calm counter towards that disappointed resignation in the face of just why they recognize her.

"It only cares about what you do when it chooses to shine on you."

Whether Reiko embraces the spotlight, or shies away from it -- Tsumugi Kujaku seems to pass no judgment, either way.

Within their little atelier tucked away in the far corner of the store, Tsumugi sets their book down on their workstation before carrying on towards the reams of fabric just beyond. Silk, cotton, velvet -- and in so many arrays of colors, the selection is positively dizzying. And yet Tsumugi sifts through them like they know each like the back of their hand, even as Reiko offers up the answer to their question.

She could have answered a superficial reason.

That she doesn't, however, earns a brief pause and a look of approval over Tsumugi's shoulder before they return to their work.

Does it make sense? At all?

"Fashion is expression the means through which we can express ourselves to the world." The words come like a distant echo of Reiko's own -- a reinforcement of her own beliefs, as slender fingers dance an eloquent, confident dance through selections of fabric.

"People see what you wear, and society determines the person you are based on that fact. It's shorthand." They pull one ream half-out -- and then another. Another. And then...

"Fashion is a process of reinforcing the way the world sees you... or becoming how you want to be seen."

... each slides back into their proper place.

Tsumugi turns, then. Leaning against those shelves, fabric frames them like a wreathe of decadent luxury as that bright, intent stare settles on Reiko once more, eye to eye.

"Fashion can be the shackle. Or it can be the punch and hammer that breaks it."

Their head tilts.

"It's just a question of which one you want."

Does Reiko want to reinforce the way the world sees her?

... Or does she want it to see her as she wants to be seen?

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Reiko's eyes blink when she hears their answer to that. A spotlight that shines on her, whether she intended it or not -- and that will shine down on her, regardless of whether she was really the one who brought in Junya Kaneshiro. "That... mm, I suppose you're right. I'm still... getting used to being recognized, I suppose."

She shakes her head. She follows after Tsumugi, and she looks at them -- and all the reams of fabric behind them. Clearly, they are a skilled tailor -- ''and'' they command a large selection.

She nods at the idea of it being shorthand. Her hand comes to the breast of her jacket; where, in a different jacket, her badge as a patrol officer would rest. Clothing is, indeed, a shorthand for what people would expect of her.

And it can be a shackle.

She hesitates. It almost feels like a betrayal, to admit that such clothes could be a shackle. And yet, there's other parts of her. She glances to the side, her green eyes cast down on the ground.

But then she looks back up at them. Her eyes meet Tsugumi's, not quite able to look away.

"I'd rather be seen as... me," she says. "Rather than shackled to who I'm expected to be." Her fingers fall away from where the badge should be, and slip down to her side.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
What does Reiko want?

Hesitation fills the air with silence, its only accompaniment those melancholic strains as Satie transitions nigh-seamlessly into Chopin's ''Nocturnes''. Tsumugi doesn't intrude on that silence; they don't push impatiently for the answer they wish for.

They just watch with quiet curiosity. In interest. In the process. In the answer. In Reiko.

I'd rather be seen as...

For a second time, that suggestion of a smile touches the corners of painstakingly-painted lips.

"Then I can make you that.

"You just need to see the mask that fits you, and take it."

It's a vague, abstract kind of statement... to anyone not in the know. A test, maybe -- but not one that lingers overly long before Tsumugi is moving from the luxurious, confident comfort of their position to approach Reiko once more. Their stride is languid in a way that makes the fiery skirts of their dress dance with every step, the -=CLICK=- of heels spaced few and far within their loping gait. One arm crossed over their stomach, the other elbow-perched upon their palm to better cup their chin, they draw closer towards Reiko's personal space... and then slowly, quietly circle around her with that same, scrutinizing stare, so intense and vivid it's almost as if it's looking right through her into the heart of who she is --

Who she ''could'' be.

"Hm."

They're behind Reiko when that contralto voice murmurs,

"Close your eyes, Reiko-san."

It's a request - command - that comes with casual confidence, coupled with the way they say Reiko's first name so lackadaisically it might as well not be a faux pas, but another recognition.

"I'm going to ask you some questions. I'd like you to answer them as quickly as possible. Don't think; just answer.

"Are you ready?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Reiko doesn't know much classical music -- but the effect, nonetheless, is not dulled by not knowing. It's recognizable; the fact she recognizes the music, but doesn't know it intimately only means she is focused on her thoughts. She looks at Tsumugi, watching the smile across their lips.

"A mask...?" Reiko asks. There is a blink. She hadn't thought of it as a mask. The deeper connotation -- no, that, she doesn't know. She hasn't learned of that world. Her sisters haven't told her about it.

Perhaps that is for the best, or perhaps she simply isn't ready yet.

She watches Tsumugi approach, and she tenses a little with their stride ''sounds'' -- and then tenses more as they begin to circle around, with those perceptive eyes.

And Reiko's own blink. "As quickly as possible?" she asks. Then, she nods. "Right, um--right. I can do that."

She exhales. A couple of seconds pass.

"Ready!"

Last connect was from c-69-138-215-77.hsd1.md.comcast.net on Sat Oct 18 15:04:23 2025.

</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>

She doesn't know the significance of the mask. A soft "Ah," barely audible, escapes Tsumugi's lips. But it's fine.

''As quickly as possible?''

"As quickly as possible."

Not knowing isn't the same as lacking the potential to know.

The words echo at Reiko's back, reinforcing the idea. Tsumugi is more a presence felt than a sight seen, lingering just out of the periphery of Reiko's vision. The sound of their voice; the whisper-soft sound of silk on silk; the weight of their personal space, just beyond Reiko's.

It's a suggestion of presence, a weightlessness of their proximity that helps frames that first question the second Reiko's eyes close, and she announces, at the tail end of an exhale,

''Ready!''

"What's your name?"

There is a delay after that question. A healthy breadth of time in which Reiko -can- mull over a question already answered if she wants to.

"Your favorite color?"

The delay shrinks a little more, a few milliseconds of a moment lost yet still more than enough for Reiko to indulge in thought, despite the premise.

"Your favorite food?"

It shrinks again. And with every successive question

"Your favorite pastime?"

the time between the next

"What animal do you think is cutest?"

shrinks

"Scariest?"

a bit

"Your parents names?"

more

"The most appealing quality in a person?"

until
"The most annoying?"
there's no space at all.
"Do you follow the rules?" "Is there anyone you admire?" "What's your favorite book?" "Was that really your favorite color?" "Do you prefer tea or coffee?" "Do you care what others think of you?"

Until questions come so swiftly there's truly no time to think, and even then, perhaps, no time to answer out loud. Further and further, honing the answers towards a kneejerk reflex until--

"How do you want the world to see Reiko Shimizu?"

That last question comes.

Left to linger, along with its awaited answer.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>

Reiko nods to Tsumugi's instruction. And she closes her eyes, too. She has always been good at following directions -- drilled into her by her parents, then at school, then in the Metropolitan Police Department. She does so here, with this person she has just met. And she feels their presence, ephemeral, even if she doesn't see it.

The questions come.

''What's your name?''

"Reiko Shimizu," she says. It's automatic. And yet--yet, she wonders, afterward. Why did they ask her that? She had already told them.

The questions begin coming more rapidly.

"Blue."
"My sister's chocolate chip cookies."
"Video games, uhm, RPG's--"
"...dogs!"
"Scariest--uh--um--boars?"
"Satsuki and Kenzou Shimizu..."

And faster, until she is giving answers the moment they stop talking -- and leaving Reiko breathless in the response.

"Sincerity."
"And--um--being controlling."
"Always..."
"My older sisters."
"The Stories of Ibis by Hiroshi Yamamoto."

That one comes /immediately/, with a certain passion. Then, it's back to fast replies.

"Maybe a light blue--"
"Tea, most days."
"W-Well yes--"

Her answers are fast, a kneejerk response, so she can't hesitate even when she wants to. But then the last question comes, and Reiko sucks a breath in. She hesitates for a second, but she has been wound up to reply quickly.

"Friendly, and kind, and--and creative," Reiko says. Her voice is quiet, almost a whisper. It trembles when she speaks. "And not... not having to hide who I care for. Or that I care at all. Even when it's inconvenient."
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
There's moments within the tidal wave of inquiries that stand out. Moments where certain questions evoke certain responses that fascinate with the possibilities of why.

''The Stories of Ibis,'' the fire behind that instant claim, for example. The way her answer trails off just so about whether she always follows the rules. The simple fact that she follows -their- instructions at all.

The stammer to her voice as she says she cares what others think of her.

Interesting. She's interesting.

But the one that truly matters--

''Friendly, and kind, and--and creative.''

The one that inspires the tiniest tremor in her voice.

''And not... not having to hide who I care for.''

... Is the one the entire series of questions was meant to answer.

Tsumugi's voice is suffused with an underscore of approval beneath its placid exterior as they whisper,

"You can open your eyes now, Reiko-san."

... and that distant voice is suddenly so close Reiko can feel the warmth of it brush her left cheek.

By the time her eyes open, Tsumugi is once more entering her field of vision as they pull away from their position at her shoulder.

"I can make something for you," they say, simply, their tone once more so utterly disaffected. "We can take care of your measurements now, if you have the time to spare. Once I've started up a draft of the idea, you can decide how you'd like to proceed."

Just like that? Is it because of how she answered those questions?

Because of her position in the police department?

Or because the spotlight's choosing to shine on her now?

It's a question that lingers like it's waiting to be asked, yet Tsumugi doesn't elucidate on their own. They just settle themselves back onto the table of their work station, one long leg crossing over the other, seated like royalty on their throne as they say,

"I'm not sure you'll be ready for it by the time it's finished... but it'll be waiting for you, for when you are."

Their head tilts. Their black brows lift faintly, like a punctuated question.

"Do you want that?"

The only question that matters.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
That whisper brushes against Reiko's ear. That note of approval -- that's something she catches, something that makes her eyes widen a little bit as she hears it. And it makes her smile and makes her heart flutter -- that who she wants to be seems to have won over this mysterious tailor, even if just a little.

She opens her eyes, watching as Tsumugi walks in front of her. She looks at them -- and then blinks, at the shift in tone. "Oh--oh, yes, I have the time to spare," she says, and she flusters again.

Reiko hesitates for a second. "I--um--" She wants to ask so many questions. Why did they decide to do this? Was it something about the questions? Was it something else. "You're... sure? You want to make one, for me?"

She hesitates, though. Tsumugi asks her a question. And she senses a hidden meaning in what they asked -- that Reiko might not be ready for the outfit.

She swallows, then. But, she nods her head. "Yes." Her voice is caught, for a moment. Then, she affirms: "I want that."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
Are they sure?

"Yes," Tsumugi says, without hesitation, without second's thought.

"You fascinate me."

Like they could never be suffered to feel doubt about anything.

Their answer scarcely lingers in the air before they are chasing after that brazenly self-professed interest with that singular, important question, layered with meaning beyond the simplicity of what it says on the surface.

And when the answer comes...

"'Nothing happens if you just dream,'" they recite, a little line from the light novel Reiko so passionately claimed as her favorite. Green eyes hood.

"Good."

And with that, they slip off their perch, the soft -swffff- sound of chasing measurement tape following as they draw it up off the table alongside them.

"Then let's begin."

Ready to measure the framework of the Reiko Shimizu that Reiko Shimizu wants the world to see.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
"O-oh."

Reiko says that without hesitation or a second's thought -- but it's more of an awkward, non-verbal stammer. And her face turns flushed at that, but there is a small nod of her head to them. She glances at Tsumugi.

She breaks into a smile. "You've read it!" she says, energetically, her eyes lighting up. Reiko shifts a little -- but then Tsumugi slips off their seat, and comes forward with the measuring tape. And Reiko reminds herself that she does have something to attend to.

"R-Right, just tell me what you need to me to do."

She holds her arm up for them. She doesn't know if she will be ready for it, still.

But there's only one way to find out.

</poem>

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

2025-10-18: Twenty Questions

2025-10-19T19:36:39Z

Jean:

*'''Log: 2025-10-18: Twenty Questions'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Reiko Shimizu]], [[Tsumugi Kujaku]]
*'''Where:''' Peacock Silver, Tokyo
*'''OOC Date:''' October 18, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' July 28, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Reiko goes to Peacock Silk in search of new clothes. Instead, she finds something and someone more than she expected... and something she isn't quite ready for.''

----

<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Reiko stops before Peacock Silk, having heard about it. She heard the clothes here are ''quite'' amazing. And the exterior, with the outline of a peacock and the Art-Nouveau decor, seems promising. She is off-duty today, and she is dressed accordingly. Her hair is down; she looks up, over the rims of her black glasses, at them. She has a light blue dress and a darker blue jacket on over it.

She has a bag over her shoulder. She sucks her breath in, then she nudges the door open -- and steps inside. She glances over the gleam of the wooden floor, the cash register, and all of the clothing on display. The jewels glitter in her eyes, and she looks at the outfits on display.

There's a soft exhale.

Then, a little more nervously, she calls out: "Ah, pardon me! Hello...?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
The world of Peacock Silk unfolds before Reiko Shimizu to the serene piano melody of Erik Satie's Gymnopédie No. 1.

The music piped in through the store floor speakers provides the boutique's an almost melancholic, ephemeral ambiance as she explores. It's a fact that's only heightened by the initial impression that she may well be one of the only people in the store at the moment. The Silk's owners have a reputation for being eclectic: the hours they keep, and who keeps which, seems like a riddle to be solved than a standard to set your watch to. Some days they're all there - even the peacock! Some days, only a precious couple. And some days...

"Ara."

... There's only one.

The voice is low, but silken. It comes just off to Reiko's right: she only needs look to find the source, leaned against a nearby wall, a book labeled ''CANDIDE'' in one hand, supporting that reading arm palm-to-elbow with the other. Their outfit has a high feminine aesthetic to it today, all centered around the long, sleeveless high-necked gown dress they wear. Slit on one side, it starts the deepest, most abyssal black one could imagine at the neck -- but as the dress lowers, that black hue fades towards dark reds, to scarlets, then finally towards a fiery red towards its skirts, as if it was a recreation of a spark in the dark. Over this they wear a black long coat, accented in gold with a scarlet interior.

... The word 'wear', though, is doing a lot of heavy lifting, considering they only -actually wear the coat at one sleeve, leaving the entire coat half-hanging off and leaving their opposing, pale shoulder bare, the whole thing managing to stay draped on them thanks to the not-so-modern miracle of collar clasps.

Lips painted a dark ombre red part as vividly green eyes roll to regard Reiko beyond the brim of trendy black glasses.

They regards her in silence for five whole seconds, before,

"I know you. Don't I?" they wonder, calm but curious.

Do they?

They've certainly never met before now, at least.

And yet, Tsumugi Kujaku sounds so ineffably, nonchalantly certain of it.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Reiko can't quite identify the music. But it sounds familiar, and that gives the sensation like she has been here before -- maybe like one of the games she plays. She heard a little about their reputation, and that she might be lucky she found them when they are open. She looks about, and then she blinks when she hears the voice.

She looks at them -- and then Reiko blinks. She blinks again, and there's a little nervous -- half awkward, half confident, and all flustered -- laugh. She can't help but take in the dress, with its smooth transition of colors. Her own dress feels plain in comparison.

She pats it out at the side, her eyes shifting up from Tsumugi's shoulders to her eyes. Her own green eyes are wide behind her glasses. "W-Well, I'd like to think I'd remember you," Reiko stammers to them, before she gets some composure. "But sometimes I'm accused of being scatterbrained."

She does a quick, polite bow.

"Reiko Shimizu. Um, unless you already knew that," she says. "Wait, even if you did know that, I'm still Reiko Shimizu." She laughs nervously again, the laugh bubbling up. "I like clothes?"

A beat.

"That's why I'm here," she says. "The clothes."

Reiko nods her head, and inside, she dies a little of embarrassment.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
''W-Well, I'd like to think I'd remember you.''

The well-worn spine of French satire snaps shut.

"No... that's not it."

It's sharp, the contrast between Reiko Shimizu's flustered, contradictory laugh and the cool detachment with which Tsumugi Kujaku receives it. It's not a judgmental look they regard Reiko with -- there's nothing inherently good or bad about the way those striking features scarcely shift in the wake of her stammered pronouncement. It's just... distant.

Like someone always just barely out of reach, no matter how far you stretch to cross that uncrossable distance.

In that much, it might be a relief, like all that nervousness just doesn't register to them, even as Reiko quietly dies inside. Instead, the sinuous roll of pale shoulders sees them slipping out of their wall lean as they regard Reiko with that bespectacled green gaze, distant but curious -- interested. In her. Tsumugi's hands clasp behind their back, book held between them, as they approach, the click of gold heels ringing throughout the store.

''Reiko Shimizu.''

Their head cans.

"Ah," they exhale. "Now I remember. You're one of the officers who brought in Junya Kaneshiro, aren't you?"

And the cool veneer of their expression breaks, with the hint of a red smile.

"Ara. Interesting. We have a celebrity in our midst."

It'd be easy to write off as teasing, especially with Reiko in the state she's in. And yet that professed interest seems compellingly sincere, too.

Whether that makes it better or worse for her embarrassment, well--

"What do you like about them?"

--at least she doesn't have to dwell on it -too- long before Tsumugi is smoothly moving on, the click-click-click of their heels sending them brushing past Reiko as they offer up that silken question on the way towards the tailoring work station just beyond, with an unspoken invitation for Reiko to follow - if she wants. They still haven't introduced themself, but, well.

"Clothes."

They have curiosity to sate, first.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Candide snaps shut -- and Reiko's eyes are drifted to it. She blinks at the sudden declaration from Tsumugi, and the flustered look fades a little from Reiko's face. For a moment, as she seems to calm down for a second. At least, until Tsumugi approaches -- with the best of all possible worlds hidden behind their back. That makes Reiko fluster, again, if in a different way.

Even if there is some relief, at the fact that her nervousness hasn't made a fool of her. It takes more than one person to become a fool, after all.

Then, she blinks -- and there's a nod. And a hint of disappointment at the recognition of her role, minor as it was, in apprehending Junya Kaneshiro.

"O-Oh, I don't know about that," she says. "I didn't really ''do'' anything. He turned himself into us. It was... those Phantom Thieves, I suppose."

She isn't sure how they could have done it.

She does fluster again as Tsumigi smiles -- and brushes past her. Reiko pushes her glasses up, sighs a little, and then she turns after them. There's a rustle of her sky blue dress, and she peers after Tsumugi. She considers the question for a second.

"...W-Well..."

For another second, the superficial responses are considered. Then, they're dismissed. And Reiko doesn't stammer, but she speaks softly. "They say the clothes make the person," Reiko says. "And... well, most of the day, I have to wear a uniform. So that's what people see when they see me. Not that I have much choice about what I wear on duty. But... off duty, I like when I can wear something that says who I really am."

She follows them, towards the tailoring station.

"Rather than what I have to be," she finishes. Then, with a bit more of a stammer: "I-If that makes any sense at all."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
I didn't really do anything, Reiko insists.

It was the Phantom Thieves, in the end.

"The spotlight doesn't care who it points at or why," is Tsumugi's calm counter towards that disappointed resignation in the face of just why they recognize her.

"It only cares about what you do when it chooses to shine on you."

Whether Reiko embraces the spotlight, or shies away from it -- Tsumugi Kujaku seems to pass no judgment, either way.

Within their little atelier tucked away in the far corner of the store, Tsumugi sets their book down on their workstation before carrying on towards the reams of fabric just beyond. Silk, cotton, velvet -- and in so many arrays of colors, the selection is positively dizzying. And yet Tsumugi sifts through them like they know each like the back of their hand, even as Reiko offers up the answer to their question.

She could have answered a superficial reason.

That she doesn't, however, earns a brief pause and a look of approval over Tsumugi's shoulder before they return to their work.

Does it make sense? At all?

"Fashion is expression the means through which we can express ourselves to the world." The words come like a distant echo of Reiko's own -- a reinforcement of her own beliefs, as slender fingers dance an eloquent, confident dance through selections of fabric.

"People see what you wear, and society determines the person you are based on that fact. It's shorthand." They pull one ream half-out -- and then another. Another. And then...

"Fashion is a process of reinforcing the way the world sees you... or becoming how you want to be seen."

... each slides back into their proper place.

Tsumugi turns, then. Leaning against those shelves, fabric frames them like a wreathe of decadent luxury as that bright, intent stare settles on Reiko once more, eye to eye.

"Fashion can be the shackle. Or it can be the punch and hammer that breaks it."

Their head tilts.

"It's just a question of which one you want."

Does Reiko want to reinforce the way the world sees her?

... Or does she want it to see her as she wants to be seen?

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Reiko's eyes blink when she hears their answer to that. A spotlight that shines on her, whether she intended it or not -- and that will shine down on her, regardless of whether she was really the one who brought in Junya Kaneshiro. "That... mm, I suppose you're right. I'm still... getting used to being recognized, I suppose."

She shakes her head. She follows after Tsumugi, and she looks at them -- and all the reams of fabric behind them. Clearly, they are a skilled tailor -- ''and'' they command a large selection.

She nods at the idea of it being shorthand. Her hand comes to the breast of her jacket; where, in a different jacket, her badge as a patrol officer would rest. Clothing is, indeed, a shorthand for what people would expect of her.

And it can be a shackle.

She hesitates. It almost feels like a betrayal, to admit that such clothes could be a shackle. And yet, there's other parts of her. She glances to the side, her green eyes cast down on the ground.

But then she looks back up at them. Her eyes meet Tsugumi's, not quite able to look away.

"I'd rather be seen as... me," she says. "Rather than shackled to who I'm expected to be." Her fingers fall away from where the badge should be, and slip down to her side.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
What does Reiko want?

Hesitation fills the air with silence, its only accompaniment those melancholic strains as Satie transitions nigh-seamlessly into Chopin's ''Nocturnes''. Tsumugi doesn't intrude on that silence; they don't push impatiently for the answer they wish for.

They just watch with quiet curiosity. In interest. In the process. In the answer. In Reiko.

I'd rather be seen as...

For a second time, that suggestion of a smile touches the corners of painstakingly-painted lips.

"Then I can make you that.

"You just need to see the mask that fits you, and take it."

It's a vague, abstract kind of statement... to anyone not in the know. A test, maybe -- but not one that lingers overly long before Tsumugi is moving from the luxurious, confident comfort of their position to approach Reiko once more. Their stride is languid in a way that makes the fiery skirts of their dress dance with every step, the -=CLICK=- of heels spaced few and far within their loping gait. One arm crossed over their stomach, the other elbow-perched upon their palm to better cup their chin, they draw closer towards Reiko's personal space... and then slowly, quietly circle around her with that same, scrutinizing stare, so intense and vivid it's almost as if it's looking right through her into the heart of who she is --

Who she ''could'' be.

"Hm."

They're behind Reiko when that contralto voice murmurs,

"Close your eyes, Reiko-san."

It's a request - command - that comes with casual confidence, coupled with the way they say Reiko's first name so lackadaisically it might as well not be a faux pas, but another recognition.

"I'm going to ask you some questions. I'd like you to answer them as quickly as possible. Don't think; just answer.

"Are you ready?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
Reiko doesn't know much classical music -- but the effect, nonetheless, is not dulled by not knowing. It's recognizable; the fact she recognizes the music, but doesn't know it intimately only means she is focused on her thoughts. She looks at Tsumugi, watching the smile across their lips.

"A mask...?" Reiko asks. There is a blink. She hadn't thought of it as a mask. The deeper connotation -- no, that, she doesn't know. She hasn't learned of that world. Her sisters haven't told her about it.

Perhaps that is for the best, or perhaps she simply isn't ready yet.

She watches Tsumugi approach, and she tenses a little with their stride ''sounds'' -- and then tenses more as they begin to circle around, with those perceptive eyes.

And Reiko's own blink. "As quickly as possible?" she asks. Then, she nods. "Right, um--right. I can do that."

She exhales. A couple of seconds pass.

"Ready!"

Last connect was from c-69-138-215-77.hsd1.md.comcast.net on Sat Oct 18 15:04:23 2025.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>

She doesn't know the significance of the mask. A soft "Ah," barely audible, escapes Tsumugi's lips. But it's fine.

''As quickly as possible?''

"As quickly as possible."

Not knowing isn't the same as lacking the potential to know.

The words echo at Reiko's back, reinforcing the idea. Tsumugi is more a presence felt than a sight seen, lingering just out of the periphery of Reiko's vision. The sound of their voice; the whisper-soft sound of silk on silk; the weight of their personal space, just beyond Reiko's.

It's a suggestion of presence, a weightlessness of their proximity that helps frames that first question the second Reiko's eyes close, and she announces, at the tail end of an exhale,

''Ready!''

"What's your name?"

There is a delay after that question. A healthy breadth of time in which Reiko -can- mull over a question already answered if she wants to.

"Your favorite color?"

The delay shrinks a little more, a few milliseconds of a moment lost yet still more than enough for Reiko to indulge in thought, despite the premise.

"Your favorite food?"

It shrinks again. And with every successive question

"Your favorite pastime?"

the time between the next

"What animal do you think is cutest?"

shrinks

"Scariest?"

a bit

"Your parents names?"

more

"The most appealing quality in a person?"

until
"The most annoying?"
there's no space at all.
"Do you follow the rules?" "Is there anyone you admire?" "What's your favorite book?" "Was that really your favorite color?" "Do you prefer tea or coffee?" "Do you care what others think of you?"

Until questions come so swiftly there's truly no time to think, and even then, perhaps, no time to answer out loud. Further and further, honing the answers towards a kneejerk reflex until--

"How do you want the world to see Reiko Shimizu?"

That last question comes.

Left to linger, along with its awaited answer.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>

Reiko nods to Tsumugi's instruction. And she closes her eyes, too. She has always been good at following directions -- drilled into her by her parents, then at school, then in the Metropolitan Police Department. She does so here, with this person she has just met. And she feels their presence, ephemeral, even if she doesn't see it.

The questions come.

''What's your name?''

"Reiko Shimizu," she says. It's automatic. And yet--yet, she wonders, afterward. Why did they ask her that? She had already told them.

The questions begin coming more rapidly.

"Blue."
"My sister's chocolate chip cookies."
"Video games, uhm, RPG's--"
"...dogs!"
"Scariest--uh--um--boars?"
"Satsuki and Kenzou Shimizu..."

And faster, until she is giving answers the moment they stop talking -- and leaving Reiko breathless in the response.

"Sincerity."
"And--um--being controlling."
"Always..."
"My older sisters."
"The Stories of Ibis by Hiroshi Yamamoto."

That one comes /immediately/, with a certain passion. Then, it's back to fast replies.

"Maybe a light blue--"
"Tea, most days."
"W-Well yes--"

Her answers are fast, a kneejerk response, so she can't hesitate even when she wants to. But then the last question comes, and Reiko sucks a breath in. She hesitates for a second, but she has been wound up to reply quickly.

"Friendly, and kind, and--and creative," Reiko says. Her voice is quiet, almost a whisper. It trembles when she speaks. "And not... not having to hide who I care for. Or that I care at all. Even when it's inconvenient."
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
There's moments within the tidal wave of inquiries that stand out. Moments where certain questions evoke certain responses that fascinate with the possibilities of why.

''The Stories of Ibis,'' the fire behind that instant claim, for example. The way her answer trails off just so about whether she always follows the rules. The simple fact that she follows -their- instructions at all.

The stammer to her voice as she says she cares what others think of her.

Interesting. She's interesting.

But the one that truly matters--

''Friendly, and kind, and--and creative.''

The one that inspires the tiniest tremor in her voice.

''And not... not having to hide who I care for.''

... Is the one the entire series of questions was meant to answer.

Tsumugi's voice is suffused with an underscore of approval beneath its placid exterior as they whisper,

"You can open your eyes now, Reiko-san."

... and that distant voice is suddenly so close Reiko can feel the warmth of it brush her left cheek.

By the time her eyes open, Tsumugi is once more entering her field of vision as they pull away from their position at her shoulder.

"I can make something for you," they say, simply, their tone once more so utterly disaffected. "We can take care of your measurements now, if you have the time to spare. Once I've started up a draft of the idea, you can decide how you'd like to proceed."

Just like that? Is it because of how she answered those questions?

Because of her position in the police department?

Or because the spotlight's choosing to shine on her now?

It's a question that lingers like it's waiting to be asked, yet Tsumugi doesn't elucidate on their own. They just settle themselves back onto the table of their work station, one long leg crossing over the other, seated like royalty on their throne as they say,

"I'm not sure you'll be ready for it by the time it's finished... but it'll be waiting for you, for when you are."

Their head tilts. Their black brows lift faintly, like a punctuated question.

"Do you want that?"

The only question that matters.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
That whisper brushes against Reiko's ear. That note of approval -- that's something she catches, something that makes her eyes widen a little bit as she hears it. And it makes her smile and makes her heart flutter -- that who she wants to be seems to have won over this mysterious tailor, even if just a little.

She opens her eyes, watching as Tsumugi walks in front of her. She looks at them -- and then blinks, at the shift in tone. "Oh--oh, yes, I have the time to spare," she says, and she flusters again.

Reiko hesitates for a second. "I--um--" She wants to ask so many questions. Why did they decide to do this? Was it something about the questions? Was it something else. "You're... sure? You want to make one, for me?"

She hesitates, though. Tsumugi asks her a question. And she senses a hidden meaning in what they asked -- that Reiko might not be ready for the outfit.

She swallows, then. But, she nods her head. "Yes." Her voice is caught, for a moment. Then, she affirms: "I want that."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
Are they sure?

"Yes," Tsumugi says, without hesitation, without second's thought.

"You fascinate me."

Like they could never be suffered to feel doubt about anything.

Their answer scarcely lingers in the air before they are chasing after that brazenly self-professed interest with that singular, important question, layered with meaning beyond the simplicity of what it says on the surface.

And when the answer comes...

"'Nothing happens if you just dream,'" they recite, a little line from the light novel Reiko so passionately claimed as her favorite. Green eyes hood.

"Good."

And with that, they slip off their perch, the soft -swffff- sound of chasing measurement tape following as they draw it up off the table alongside them.

"Then let's begin."

Ready to measure the framework of the Reiko Shimizu that Reiko Shimizu wants the world to see.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
<poem>
"O-oh."

Reiko says that without hesitation or a second's thought -- but it's more of an awkward, non-verbal stammer. And her face turns flushed at that, but there is a small nod of her head to them. She glances at Tsumugi.

She breaks into a smile. "You've read it!" she says, energetically, her eyes lighting up. Reiko shifts a little -- but then Tsumugi slips off their seat, and comes forward with the measuring tape. And Reiko reminds herself that she does have something to attend to.

"R-Right, just tell me what you need to me to do."

She holds her arm up for them. She doesn't know if she will be ready for it, still.

But there's only one way to find out.

</poem>

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

Saika Kikuchi

2025-10-19T05:52:39Z

Jean:

= Logs and Cutscenes =

==Season 1==

===Logs===
{{#dpl:
|category = logs&season 1
|linksto = {{PAGENAME}}
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 1
|rowcolformat=width=50%
|suppresserrors = yes
| addcategories = true
| mode = userformat
| format = ,,\n* [[%PAGE%]],
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki that {{PAGENAME}} participated in.
}}

===Cutscenes===
{{#dpl:
|category = cutscenes&season 1
|linksto = {{PAGENAME}}
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 1
|rowcolformat=width=50%
|suppresserrors = yes
| addcategories = true
| mode = userformat
| format = ,,\n* [[%PAGE%]],
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}}

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Nemesis]]
[[Category:Peacock Silk]]

2025-10-04: Would You Eat a Cognitive Elephant?

2025-10-06T04:22:02Z

Jean:

*'''Log: Would You Eat a Cognitive Elephant?'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Tsumugi Kujaku]], [[Pernelle]], [[Saika Kikuchi]], [[Yanagi Nagisa]]
*'''Where:''' Taro Nakata's Atelier
*'''OOC Date:''' October 04, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' July 21, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Remember! When you are asked to pay for goods and services within an Atelier, ignore it!''

----

AS: Yanagi Nagisa has readied for combat as Giselle! She is now fully healed!

MONAD: A party led by Tsumugi Kujaku has begun the event Taro Nakata's Atelier.

(|====================== Monad - Taro Nakata's Atelier =======================|)
-==== Round 1: Don't Get Lost - Challenge Level 1 =============================-
| Approach Options: Academics or Proficiency |
| Conditions: Skillful - Proficiency Up L1 and Stupor - Academics Down L1 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-

As you enter the Atelier, fading into the carnival with a red sky and a pale
white concrete footing, you'll see many dilapidated tents, attractions, midways,
and more in your line of sight. But with your goal of getting to the Homunculus,
you'll likely beeline straight to the massive tent in the distance, towering
menacingly over all.

When you get there, however, you'll find the tent barred by a big door. A sign
says 'FIVE TICKETS NEEDED'. You're not getting in without those tickets, but
they seem to be given out by the attractions and employees at the carnival.

First, however, you'll have to find a way to navigate the carnival! A handy map
dispenser sits nearby... if you can get it to work, as it's paid. It's unclear
what currency it takes, though, so you might have to try some things... maybe
you could find a way to unlock it instead?
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
Getting into an Atelier is a fairly involved process - if one that becomes rather simple in the broadstrokes, once you've been exposed to it: find an object of significance to the Atelier's owner; bring it to a location of significance to them; 'log on' to the Atelier through your nearest available internet cafe.

Simple, but complicated. Logistically, a headache.

"Ara."

So why not just cheat, instead?

They weren't there before, in Taro Nakata's Atelier. They are there -now-: a tall, slender figure with skin like marble, swept back hair that betrays only the slightest glimmers of red on the undersides of those platinum locks, and eyes a searingly-bright, glowing red, they are dressed in the refined eloquence of a white, three-piece Victorian suit, tailcoat buttoned up and fit so closely one can barely catch the glimpse of the bright scarlet interior; black, scarlet and gold accents mark the suit, perhaps most notably in the cluster of roses that cover their right shoulder like a fanciful epaulet, transitioning from black roses, to white, to yellow, to red, each seeming to shine with a life all their own.

Beatific. Angelic. That's how they look, something impossible and almost unsettlingly perfect, as high heeled shoes click immaculately on the crumbling grounds of the Atelier. They look one way, then the other.

"The Humor isn't here," is their first thought, as if that was the primary thing they cared about in this dismal, horrible place. They almost sound...

"That's a shame."

Disappointed.

But let it not be said Tsumugi Kujaku is not capable of moving on.

It's -precisely- what they do now, making their way past the entrance to the Big Top beyond. They stare up toward the grandiosity of the thing. Towards the sign barring their passage. Scarlet lips part out an exhale. Red eyes drag towards the map dispenser.

"Well then. Let's see what secrets Taro Nakata has."

And with that, they move to the dispenser, and go about looking for a locking mechanism to pick.

No, they didn't even try to pay. Why would they? I mean. Honestly.

"The Sanguin," they note idly to their companions as they work. "Did it seem like it had good survival instinct? What's the likelihood it died?"

This, asked like they were discussing the odds of their underdog baseball team managing to eke out a dark horse victory.

</poem>
MONAD: Tsumugi Kujaku has acted with Proficiency toward Don't Get Lost! Base!

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
A simple process, and one Pernelle has never in his life had to worry about. By extension, neither does Tsumugi or any of their other companions. Pernelle hums to himself, strutting along as they enter the Atelier. Before, he was a peacock. Within, he is still a peacock -- just as Pernelle would have it -- but with a strong degree more flexibility in his movement and expression. He is more ''animated'' here... and also in a fancy little vest with a fancy little hat and fancy little tinted glasses.

His tattered, wide brimmed tricorn and glasses ending in his own sharp beak cut a silhouette reminisce of certain 17th-centurary European physicians. But the insides of that silhouette are still brilliantly colorful, iridescent Pernelle.

"Survival instincts? I should think not!" Pernelle says of the Sanguine Humor. "He has exchanged such a notion for bravery! A fine trade that suits him, and one he seems well equipped to afford. The lad takes his lumps exceptionally well, by my observation."

He straightens up, readjusting his glasses with a pinion as they come across the dispenser.

"Tsumugi!" Pernelle addresses with an official demeanor. Why just Tsumugi...? "As you know," oh no, not an ''as you know'', "You can verify your location by accessing the map. Thanks to Yanagi, we can keep track of where we've explored automatically these days, but some areas have different requirements. Investigate the dispenser ahead of us, if you please."

Tsumugi is already on their way in the middle of his chatter. Why is Pernelle still talking...

"Remember! When you are asked to pay for goods and services within an Atelier, ignore it! You've got five fingers capable providing a delightful discount! A good ''wallop'' may also suffice."

</poem>
MONAD: Pernelle has acted with Tutorial Time toward Don't Get Lost! Specialty!

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
A carnival with no attendees; a dream, a nucleus, a pearl of the soul.

A moment they're absent.

A moment they're there. Saika can feel the familiar, comfortable, almost pleasant tension where her skin goes from being what it looks like to what it actually is - or perhaps what she could be. The wounds are comfortable things. And they're so artfully sealed together.

Cognitive breeze brushes over her long coat. Her tongue tip runs over her upper lip, and --

"RIP," enunciates Saika at the news of No Humor to be found. Her hands come together, fingers threading together as she stretches herself upwards, rocks her head back and forth, and begins to idly spin her chain as they walk. Like it were an old-timey pocket watch or decorative obi weight. It's a whirring sound.

"Huh! Good for him, I guess," Saika answers Pernelle about the Sanguin as they continue walking forwards, and are faced at last with the DISPENSOR. "This place is weird," Saika observes further. "It's like..."

What is it like?

"It seems like one of those old theme parks?" she guesses. But there is wisdom to be shared. The wisdom of the Peacock.

Saika's lip curls. The chain spinning stops, instead getting wrapped around her hand (three times) and her wrist and upper arm. "Lemme see it."

She is absolutely going to beat the shit out of an automatic map dispenser until it gives up the goods.

</poem>
MONAD: Saika Kikuchi has acted with Grace and Force toward Don't Get Lost! Specialty!

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
o/` Cheating is so fun~
o/` Cheating is so fun~
o/` Now it's time to break on in and see what we have done!

They're ready!!

Yanagi arrives in Taro Nakata's Atelier with the rest of Peacock Silk. Like them, she is Transmuted, her once-pale hair now a vibrant shade of sunset pink--hot pink highlighted with the lavender of twilight--and her eyes peacock green, or a brilliant green shaded with deep blue. She's clad in a magical girl-esque dress, similarly colorful with a skirt that's short in front and has a long train in back with an almost stained-glass look, and reinforced thigh-high boots that make it easier for her to walk. She still uses a walking stick, but this is much more obviously Also A Gun than what she uses in the real world.

There's something glorious about it--about her--about all of them. Someone who is here, and present, and ''alive''.

"Oh, do you mean Roger?" Yanagi wonders at Tsumugi, leaning in towards them with a smile. "It ''is'' a shame, but he might be further in!"

But Tsumugi moves on, and so too does Yanagi. Yanagi likewise does not pay for any maps, for her fingers are long and thin and nimble and Pernelle is helpfully tutorializing for all of them, reminding them that paying is for ''suckers''. She leans in close to the dispenser, and retrieves something from the sash around her waist to pick at it... Though with Saika about to beat the shit out of that dispenser, that might be wholly unnecessary.

"He ''is'' very brave," Yanagi chimes in after Pernelle, on the matter of Roger. "I sense him somewhere around here, so he's certainly still alive. I think he'll survive! After all, he has a name now, and names have power!"

She hops up to her feet, successful or not, with an exuberant energy that's only possible in cognitive spaces like this and beams at the others. "I still remember the bit of the Atelier from when we came in here before, so don't worry--I can take us to the entrance with no problem once we're done here!"

After that, it might well get more difficult, but that's later. This is now!
</poem>

MONAD: Yanagi Nagisa has acted with Dowsing Pendulum toward Don't Get Lost! Find and Efficient!

(|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|)
-==== Don't Get Lost - Round 1 ================================================-
Tsumugi Kujaku Proficiency Success
Proficiency Base Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yanagi Nagisa Proficiency Success
Dowsing Pendulum Find and Efficient Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pernelle Academics Success
Tutorial Time Specialty Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saika Kikuchi Proficiency Success
Grace and Force Specialty Fatigue: 0
-============================= Party Conditions: ==============================-
Starting Conditions: Skillful-2 and Stupor-2
Final Conditions: Skillful-1 and Stupor-1
-======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====-
-==== Reach: 1/6 |= | =====================================================-
-==== Loot So Far: ============================================================-
Items: 1, Money: 0, Gear: 1
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
''Tsumugi!''

As they know...

The tutorial begins. And even as Pernelle instructs, Tsumugi - already at work picking the dispenser lock with what looks like sewing needles of all things - is nodding along very agreeably, if a bit noncommittally.

Are they paying attention to this delicious tutorial wisdom, or are they just skipping the dialogue?!

"You can just do things~" they singsong out in an utter deadpan in answer to that ending tip, proving that Tsumugi is the MC who chooses the third option, every time.

There's a soft 'click' that reaches Tsumugi's ears, just as Saika approaches. They glance her way. They nod once, full of dispassionate gravity.

"Give it the magic touch," they instruct, and take one good, long, big step back as Yanagi prepares her dowsing pendulum, just in case.

Whereupon Saika just goes to town on the thing until all that's left is a mangled torn shrieking husk of metal that was once a dispenser and is not a Dadaist tribute to the meaninglessness of violence. At no point during this does Tsumugi mention whether their or Yanagi's lock-picking efforts actually managed to pop the latch beforehand.

They had. But why spoil the magic?

"Congratulations," they offer their chain-wrapped co-founder as they calmly slip a gloved hand into the wreckage to pluck up a map. They look at it for all of like one second, before pointing in some vague direction.

"Oh. I think we go this way."

... are they telling the truth now, or--

"So the Sanguin Humor is brave. And he's a pig..." Tsumugi looks around at the 'old theme park,' as Saika describes it.

"Interesting." A second passes. And then they start to mildly walk on, offering as they go,

"Would you like to bet on whether he makes it out of this alive?"

</poem>
MONAD: Saika Kikuchi has drawn a new Challenge!

(|====================== Monad - Taro Nakata's Atelier =======================|)
-==== Round 2: Fried Dough Ready To Go - Challenge Level 1 ====================-
| Approach Options: Guts or Charm |
| Conditions: Lunchbox - Subtract 1 Fatigue., Shuffle - Draw 1 Minor Arcana., |
| Skillful - Proficiency Up L1, and Stupor - Academics Down L1 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-

As your group travels the carnival, a thin, stick-like Sanguin Humor wearing an
employee's uniform calls out to you, hanging near a tent.

"Fried elephant ears! Free fried elephant ears! Sugar and honey and all that
sickeningly sweet stuff! One ticket for any group who eats an order!"

As you approach, you learn that if you eat them, you'll get the ticket, but they
seem fattening, weird, and possibly supernaturally suspicious. You could stuff
your guts, which could give you food poisoning... or you could convince the
Shadow to give you the ticket anyway without having to eat, somehow. Might have
to let them down gently...
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
"Oh, you know 'em?" Saika asks Yanagi, regarding that name. "Roger... That's a pretty good name. Kind of stands out, but it's easy to say. Roger," Saika repeats. And he's brave! And has a name. AND THEN:

*savage machine beating noises here, helpfully hidden under a cloud of dust*

In the aftermath, the map machine is burst open like a pinata. Saika is picking up hundred-yen coins that probably are imaginary and stuffing them into her pocket just, you know, in case, as well as securing herself a map. There's like two dozen additional maps laying around beyond 'everyone gets one,' so she takes a moment to examine it. Which involves holding it up and squinting. "The big top?" she asks. "Is that why they had to have such a big tent?"

ONWARDS!

"Mmm," Saika says. "I'll put five hundred on the little piggy that could! You want to take the other side of that one?" she asks the others, even as they are faced with succulent smells and a succulent cry of ELEPHANT EARS!

"WHAT?"

DEEP FRIED ELEPHANT EARS!

The group finds themselves in front of a stall with fryers in the back and an unpleasantly thin Sanguin Humor in the front. 'Yes siree we got us the best deep fried elephant ears in the whole gosh-darn fabric of reality! None of that protein or vitamin stuff here, this is hot and crisp fresh goodness, the finest in the world smothered in powdered sugar and honey, and if you're really feeling saucy we've got the sauce -- CHOCOLATE sauce -- and if you're willing to pay a little more - say, are you a group? Great news!'

Saika shakes her head and focuses up.

'If you get an entire group's order... AND you eat it right here, right now... you'll get a ticket!'

"I have a question," says Saika, raising her hand.

'Yes ma'am, what IS your question?'

"No actual elephants in these, right?"

The Sanguin Humor is silent for four seconds. Saika gazes levelly at the Humor. The Humor gazes back. The Sanguin Humor, perhaps, breaks first:

'No ma'am, it's just what they're called, kind of like kitsune udon.'

"That makes sense," Saika agrees. "Slop me up, dough man."

SOON: goodness gracious those things are the size of dinner plates made out of fried dough, can the team manage this?

correction; can Yanagi and Tsumugi manage this

</poem>
MONAD: Saika Kikuchi has acted with I'm A Street Walking Cheetah with a Heart full of Napalm toward Fried Dough Ready To
Go! Specialty!

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
"Theeeeeeme park," Pernelle repeats, feeling the word out in his beak. He twists his head to and fro, squinting in an inspection of the area around them. "I sense neither a theme nor a perk! What of the cherry blossoms? Little bridges over water? ''Rock gardens?'' Yes, very good Saika! Ha HA! ''Destroy it!''"

Much as Pernelle enjoys well executed trickery and finesse, his fondness for violence against reality remains equally strong.

"A fascinating proposition," Pernelle comments of betting on Roger's life. "His nature as a Humor invites not an insignificant amount of mystery... if the Atelier's shape or nature should change in the process, would he cease to exist as he knows himself? Hm. No one ask him that. Quite rude, I think. But I shall place a wager with Saika! The spirited Sanguine suine shall survive!" He pauses, looking to Saika. "Five hundred what?"

His question is interrupted by DEEP FRIED ELEPHANT EARS

Pernelle's train feathers virtually ''explode'' into full display with his shock as he ''races'' up to the stall -- eyespots as wide as his own, pupils dilated to maximum in an eldritch display of hunger. He vibrates, tippy-tapping on his talons while the sale-spiel goes on. But once they are served their plates, Pernelle slams his entire head right into the pile of fried dough.

"''omnomnomnomcrunchchompchewchewchew''"

Charming as his brilliant feather display is, he does not use it to forego the culinary challenge. No. Pernelle raises his head up high with a resounding squawk, kicking the empty plate to the ground so that it shatters:

"ANOTHER!"

</poem>
MONAD: Pernelle has acted with Feather Display toward Fried Dough Ready To Go! Friendliness and Focus!

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
Saika beats the everloving shit out of the map dispenser! Yanagi puts her dowsing pendulum away, rests her walking stick on her hip, and claps for her efforts. "Oooh! Well done!"

Even if Tsumugi did pop the latch beforehand, that level of casual destructive force is always worth applauding!

"Yes! We met him a short while ago." Yanagi pauses, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. She clasps her cheek in one hand. "...Weren't you there too, Saika? Or am I mixing it up in my head..."

She shakes her head and takes her stick back in hand, as well as accepting a copy of the map. "Theme park!" she corrects Pernelle. "It means it is a park with a theme to it! I've never been to one myself," she admits. "I think the theme to this one is... a circus...?" She tilts her head in more confusion. "Wouldn't it just be a circus, in that case...? I'm not sure what the difference is..."

Tsumugi does not name Roger, even after learning his name. This is normal for Tsumugi, and Yanagi pays it little mind beyond the observation itself. The bet gets her attention far more. "Hmm? Hmmm... Does that mean you think he won't?" She brightens as Saika and Pernelle weigh in. "I agree--I also think he will! So if you don't, I'll take you up on that! What do you want to bet, Tsumugi?"

Pernelle has a point: Saika didn't specify five hundred of ''what''. Yanagi giggles at the two all the same. Even she knows what the implication is supposed to be, but it's more fun to watch Saika have to deal with Pernelle's Pernellicity.

There is a stall with a new Sanguin Humor! It is selling ''fried elephant ears''. Saika, fortunately, asks for the group if they have actual elephant ears, and it turns they do not. "Aw," Yanagi vocalizes, disappointed. "I've never had elephant ears before..."

But then, she's also never had--whatever these non-elephant ear elephant ears are either! And when they fry up nice and hot and HUGE, she beholds them with a dropped jaw and sparkling eyes.

"They're ''huge''!" she declares. Pernelle, obviously, is already devouring his, so there's no issue there, but... how is she to finish this whole thing by herself?

''ANOTHER!'' Pernelle demands.

Yanagi looks at Tsumugi and Saika. Then she breaks off a more reasonable portion for herself and hands the rest to him. "Here you go!" she chirps, before chowing down. "Mmm, oh, this ''is'' good!" Nomnomnom!! And never mind if she burns the roof of her mouth. Life's too short to worry about tiny details like that!
</poem>

MONAD: Yanagi Nagisa has acted with Guts toward Fried Dough Ready To Go! Base!

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
As the others ruminate on the meaning of a 'themed park,' Tsumugi seems to be off in their own little world, glowing eyes observing the flow of Flegmat Humors streaming listlessly from one attraction to the next, and pretending not to see giggling Colerics lingering near the fringes around them, as if hesitant to engage on their own.

Their interest seems almost entirely in the Sanguin Humor named Roger (even if they don't see fit to call Roger by name) and the nature of their surroundings. No -- it's only an off-hand remark from Saika that earns Tsumugi's brief, insouciant attention:

"It's a different kind of big top."

And with that, they press on. It's not until they offer that wager, the faint hint of confection and frying dough teasing at their nostrils, that their attention turns back towards Pernelle, Saika, and Yanagi.

"Being brave is interesting," they do concede, though who knows -why- they think that's interesting, "almost as interesting as the fact that he's a pig. But bravery might just mean his life expectancy is that much shorter."

Then again: what is life, to a Shadow? Pernelle's ruminations earn that red-eyed attention for a moment; it drifts towards saika and Yanagi, as they also throw their weight behind Roger.

"Hm," is the sound that slips from their lips before they declare:

"Let's up the ante. A thousand he doesn't last in this Atelier."

A thousand what?

...

Well, that's up to Saika to figure out, now.

The matter of wagers thusly deferred, Tsumugi takes this hot streak of avoiding doing any work straight to the heart of their latest, particular problem. Saika, full of grim gravity, makes sure no elephants were harmed in the making of these pastry-ears. Tsumugi considers a moment.

"Would you eat cognitive elephant?" they ask Saika, genuinely curious.

Don't worry Yanagi; they, too, are disappointed.

But Pernelle is raring to go! Saika is raring to go! Yanagi -- is willing to bravely sacrifice her portion to Pernelle who is STILL RARING TO GO! And Tsumugi--

"You know, they say it's essential for a true cook to taste their product to make a perfect dish..."

There's Tsumugi, off to the side, talking up the very thin Humor in that charming, lazy way of theirs, intent on eventually making the carnival frier eat Tsumugi's -entire portion- for them. They're just following Pernelle's advice to the letter, after all:

''When you are asked to pay for goods and services within an Atelier, ignore it!''

Why make a potential payment of food poisoning when you can just ignore it and get someone else to do it for you?

Of course, they -could- have just given their share to Pernelle --

but they kind of want to see if their most precious advice bird will abide having the possibility of more fatty fried dough stolen from him.

</poem>
MONAD: Tsumugi Kujaku has acted with Devil's Bargain toward Fried Dough Ready To Go! Specialty!

(|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|)
-==== Fried Dough Ready To Go - Round 2 =======================================-
Tsumugi Kujaku Charm Success
Devil's Bargain Specialty Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yanagi Nagisa Guts Success
Guts Base Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pernelle Charm Success
Feather Display Friendliness and Focus Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saika Kikuchi Guts Success
I'm A Street Walking Specialty Fatigue: 0
-============================= Party Conditions: ==============================-
Starting Conditions: Lunchbox-0, Shuffle: Sword-0, Skillful-1, and Stupor-1
Final Conditions:
-======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====-
-==== Reach: 2/6 |== | =====================================================-
-==== Loot So Far: ============================================================-
Items: 1, Money: 0, Gear: 1
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)

MONAD: Pernelle has drawn a new Challenge!

(|====================== Monad - Taro Nakata's Atelier =======================|)
-==== Round 3: Rude Clown Dunk Tank - Challenge Level 2 =======================-
| Approach Options: Understanding or Proficiency |
| Conditions: Stony - Understanding Down L2 and Sublime - Proficiency Up L2 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-

On the midway, there is a large dunk tank filled with red water just sitting
there, with a tiny imp-sized clown-like Sanguin Humor sitting on a tinier seat.
As you pass by, he constantly mocks your skill, especially any failures you've
had elsewhere in the Atelier, laughing all the while.

"Hey! Hey you! With the face! I bet you can't throw a ball straight, can ya?
Haha! You can't do it? I knew it. Gonna just walk on by? Look at these suckers,
everyone!"... or words to that affect.

There's a ticket dispenser nearby... Can you resist his blandishments and get
your ticket without giving in? Or will you manage to peg the small target
that'll dunk him straight into the tank, getting the satisfaction of bullying a
clown?
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
"I mean it could just be a different theme than we're thinkin' of," Saika tells Pernelle on the way over, "but that's just me thinking of like Destinyland, right? I hear that's got like six theme parks in one, and that's before you get to Destinysea--"

MIKEY MOUSE CARES NOT FOR YOUR LORE OF THEME PARKS. MIKEY MOUSE CARES NOT FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT DESIRES. MIKEY MOUSE WILL SHRED YOUR DREAMS FOR BEDDING.

MIKEY MOUSE MUST FEED.

Saika gets equipped with her own elephant ear. She foregoes the chocolate sauce, but she starts to rip off long strips from it and raise them up, letting them dangle into her mouth like the strange flesh of a savage kill - her fingers getting sucked clean afterwards, both for that ~sugar~ and because it's actually kind of hot. "Don't burn your crop," she tells Pernelle, but she is sensitive to such things.

"I guess I was surprised to hear his name *is* Roger," Saika continues, letting her elephant ear shed some thermal energy. "But I mean, we've had a lot going on. That's why it's good we run into these things, you know? It means our stories can stay straight, like in that movie."

NOTE: Saika has not actually seen the film "Rashomon," which is what she's thinking of. However, she *has* read descriptions of it, and she's pretty sure that's like 70% or so as good when you're talking about literature.

Rip and tear - chew and swallow - "Sure," she answers Tsumugi. "You're on. Sometimes bravery's the best way to last longer, you know?" Another funnel cake bite. Munch, munch... munch.

"huh," Saika says.

Munch munch.

"I'd say no," Saika continues. "I don't do it because of some kind of 'this thing's OK, that thing's not OK.' Just because it's a Shadow or something doesn't mean it's not a living thing, you know? You guys react to stuff, right?"

The thin Humor looks over, ambiguous and unsettling mouth open. 'Uh?' says the Humor, just as Tsumugi feeds them a significant fraction of the funnel cake. 'mmmmgph,' is the response from there, followed by munch munch munch --

AND SOON ENOUGH

'Good work, troopers! Welcome to the big leagues... Here's your ticket,' surrenders the Humor, before burping discreetly into the crook of their elbow. Saika grabs it and holds it aloft, shaking it with a victorious mien, before handing it to Tsumugi to go in with the other [Key Items].

"I do feel kind of energized," remarks Saika, as they move along.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
"A circus themed park," Pernelle 'corrects' with Yanagi's help, which he may be failing to wholly absorb. "Hm. Very well! Let us experience this park of themes!" He does not join the conversation on Roger's name. Pernelle does know Roger's name, but was enjoying alliteration too much. And, after all, when it comes to Roger, there are ''rhymes'' he must consider. This is important for reasons that will only ever make sense to Pernelle.

He cranes his head toward Tsumugi at the talk of a 'big top'. Pernelle looks down at his vest and scarf, fluffing them both a bit. Not too big, is it...?

But then ELEPHANT EARS! Glory be! To devour the megafauna of the earth! Mid chomp on his second serving, Pernelle looks up. "Wait, did they say this is not real elephant?" This concern lasts only a second before Pernelle remembers it is delicious anyway, and he continues to scarf it down.

Tsumugi is offering their potion to the Humor, and will Pernelle think this something... STOLEN? Will this become a BRAWL in the middle of the CIRCUS?

"My good creature, have you not even had the pleasure of sampling your own product?" He gasps in shock, glasses popping from his beak before pushed back into place. "Forgive my voracity! This will not stand! Let us correct this injustice at once!" It seems the universe conspires to trigger Pernelle's generosity if it means hoisting food poisoning off on another...

It may be worse, given Pernelle seems immune to paying such a price in the first place. He struts alongside Saika with a deep, cleansing breath. "What a teratical treat! Do your parks of themes and circuses have such delicacies beyond the Atelier? I should like to visit another one day! Ah, but I will not get ahead of myself. There may be other refreshments along these treats, let me see, let me seeeeee~ Ah!"

Pernelle flutters up to a large dunk tank, looking into the water. "Goodness, where are all the fish?"

"My eyes are up here, feather brain!" calls an imp-sized, clowny Sanguine Humor from a seat above the water. Pernelle ruffles with a sudden start, looking up. "Maybe someone with actual arms can throw the ball straight enough to hit that target!" He laughs, looking to the others. "... But I doubt it! Gotta hurry to your own stall for work, wearing those clown suits? Haha!"

Pernelle pauses, staring at this display. He leans his head back to the three with him, lowering his voice in a whisper.

"Not to be rude, but I worry this particular specimen may be suffering from some manner of delusion. Allow me to handle this. Ahem." He clears his throat, addressing the Humor. "Excuse me, my good fellow, are you quite all right over there? Do you require the aid of a medic?" He pauses, noting the creature's size. "... Or a parent and slash or guardian?"

</poem>
MONAD: Pernelle has acted with Encouraging Words toward Rude Clown Dunk Tank! Patra and Efficient!

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
"Hmmm... You do have a point there," Yanagi concedes to Tsumugi of bravery sometimes meaning a shorter life. "But Pernelle is right! He's quite tough. I think his bravery will serve him well. The bigger problem is if he'll continue to exist after the Homunculus is gone, but I don't see why he wouldn't. He'd just go back to normal..." She trails off, blinking into the middle distance. "Oh. I see what you mean now."

Tsumugi offers to up the ante to ''a thousand''. Yanagi considers this for a moment, then nods. "Very well! ''A thousand''." She smiles, even after having acknowledged that maybe Tsumugi is right about all this, and without being asked about it, adds, "It wouldn't be as interesting if either of us was guaranteed to win or lose."

Dough is eaten and/or force-fed! Tickets are acquired! Destinyland is discussed, mostly off-screen! Pernelles are generous of heart and soul! And the world goes on.

"Oh? Yes, that's true," Yanagi says to Saika of the importance of keeping their stories straight. (She may or may not understand. She's read ''In A Grove'' but has not seen ''Rashomon'' either.) Either way, Saika ''definitely'' has a point that Shadows are more than just blobs of nightmare fuel--especially when it comes to Sanguin Shadows. Roger may be a pig, and he may be a Shadow, but he is at least... person-like! Enough for Yanagi to no longer call him an "it," at least.

"Yes, it was a tasty snack!" Yanagi nods sadly to Pernelle to confirm it's not real elephant. "But I would eat a cognitive elephant," she adds, thoughtfully, even though Tsumugi was asking Saika and not her. "I wonder if it would taste the same as a real elephant, or if it would just taste like something I already know? Like chicken!" She makes a face. "That would be ''terribly'' boring..."

A drink would be nice after those elephant ears. The only water around appears to be in a dunk tank--not that Yanagi knows what a dunk tank is. It's not immediately apparent just by looking at that imp-like Shadow, nor listening to their taunting. She peers at it as it mocks not just Pernelle but all of them. She looks over at Pernelle. "Are you sure...?" she murmurs, doubtful.

Still, Yanagi will let Pernelle take point for now. While he attempts to talk to it, she pulls out her dowsing pendulum again and holds it up. Perhaps ''it'' can find some refreshments... ... ... ... no, it's just pointing towards the dunk tank. She looks around, then utters, "Ah! Another dispenser!"

Well, at least their task here is clear! ...They need to beat that thing up again and/or open the lock! (What? Hit the target? What does that have to do with anything?)
</poem>

MONAD: Yanagi Nagisa has acted with Dowsing Pendulum toward Rude Clown Dunk Tank! Find and Efficient!

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
Perhaps Pernelle -could- have started the grandest conflict this Atelier has ever, or would ever see, including the one just on the horizon. Instead?

Instead he combines powers with Tsumugi to become an unstoppable force of persuasion that sees the wisp of a Humor gorging on their own potentially food-poisonous, ferociously fried dough.

And this is why Tsumugi Kujaku loves Pernelle. How can you ever predict so precocious a peacock, except to know that every decision he makes will delight you?

So, with a rare, content smile, Tsumugi leaves the hurp-burping Sanguin Humor behind alongside their first and most steadfast companion. Saika offers out that ticket.

"Destinyland sells whole, smoked turkey legs," they aside to Pernelle as they swipe that conspicuously-sparkling ticket with a casual flourish.

STEAL!!
Big Top Ticket x1!
(X) OK

"The recipe is a trade secret they litigiously safeguard." And doesn't that just make you want to learn it all the more?

Tucked away in their Key Item Storage wherever -that- may be (trade secret), Tsumugi tucks their hands into their pockets as they all proceed onward to the next attraction. "What if it tasted like something the world thought tasted like elephant?" they aside to Yanagi; Saika's answer, of course, is to be expected, and they respect it; but they are still going to talk about eating elephants when Yanagi puts down those intriguing possibilities.

"Then you wouldn't be eating your own expectations, Sa-ya. You'd be eating the world's."

And their misgivings on the world aside...

Wouldn't -that- be a novel experience?

They might muse further -- but there's someone -specifically calling Pernelle out-. Red eyes track lazily towards the clown-like Humor in the dunk tank. They look towards the button. Towards the Humor. Towards Pernelle. Button. Humor. Pernelle.

Silence reigns on their part as Pernelle pities the pitiful peasant. Yanagi indicates that this is, apparently, their target. And it's exactly at that point that Tsumugi steps up next to Pernelle, to aside to their devilishly avian companion,

"There's nothing to be done for it," quite solemnly, if a flat tone could be solemn, which it very well could. "See there, Pernelle?" they point towards the seat the Humor sits on, hovering precariously over that water. "It's stuck. It wanted to sit there, more than anything, but it didn't even realize where it was, and now it can't get down. Its friends likely abandoned it. Look how alone it is." They shake their head.

"They probably don't even know how to operate that device to get free, even if their life depended on it."

Is this an elaborate trick to get the Shadow to dunk itself? ... Or are Pernelle and Tsumugi genuinely concerned about this Humor's wellbeing?

(tsumugi is at best academically concerned)

</poem>

MONAD: Tsumugi Kujaku has acted with Proficiency toward Rude Clown Dunk Tank! Base!
MONAD: Tsumugi Kujaku has cancelled their action.
MONAD: Tsumugi Kujaku has acted with Seamless toward Rude Clown Dunk Tank! Diligence and Patra!

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
"Elephants are smarter than humans anyway," Saika tells Pernelle as they walk. "Eating them would be like triple bad karma." She sucks more honey off of her thumb tip, considering Pernelle's words even as they keep going. "Huh... I dunno. I don't even know what elephant tastes like! I bet they eat them sometimes in like, Thailand or something, so maybe it's a Thai thing. Let's see... they're really big... I mean I don't honestly really know how a lot of meat TASTES, but it'd probably be more like beef... ugh, this is gross to consider."

But before she can get too invested in contemplating the flesh of the noble elephant, Peacock Silk's staff find themselves in the presence of...

A CLOWN.

Saika's eyes narrow, instinctively sensing the killing intent and evil chi coming off of the imp, as it comes off of all clowns. (This is unfair of Saika. Many clowns fight for justice.) Her brow furrows for a moment, even as the topic is raised --

'Awww, are ya sucking your thumb? Widdle baby? Widdle baby stitchy witchy?'

https://youtu.be/XQbhuxiyv5c?si=RCgms2Ea10zgFPyd&t=54

Saika turns to walk over to an adjacent, but not obviously connected, place that's selling small sets of softballs. "Yeah, can I -- oh, awesome, you were ready. Oh. OH so that's it. Yeah," Saika nods. "Yeah, that's about what I was figuring on doing."

Saika walks back and puts the basket down properly, picking up two of the balls with her left hand and one with the right. Left hand cradles them against her chest. But her right hand's shifting into a firm grip.

"What was that you said?" Saika asks the imp, who cackles unpleasantly. 'I SAID,'

and that's when Saika whips the ball directly at the indicated target. SOMETHING kind of went 'thoom' there -- but it's probably because it's like a metal plate. She can't be *mad enough* to get sound barrier violation off of a softball, probably.

</poem>
MONAD: Saika Kikuchi has acted with Grace and Force toward Rude Clown Dunk Tank! Specialty!

(|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|)
-==== Rude Clown Dunk Tank - Round 3 ==========================================-
Tsumugi Kujaku Proficiency Success
Seamless Diligence and Patra Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yanagi Nagisa Proficiency Success
Dowsing Pendulum Find and Efficient Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pernelle Understanding Success
Encouraging Words Patra and Efficient Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saika Kikuchi Proficiency Success
Grace and Force Specialty Fatigue: 0
-============================= Party Conditions: ==============================-
Starting Conditions: Stony-2 and Sublime-2
Final Conditions: Sublime-1
-======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====-
-==== Reach: 3/6 |=== | =====================================================-
-==== Loot So Far: ============================================================-
Items: 2, Money: 1, Gear: 1
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)

MONAD: Yanagi Nagisa has drawn a new Challenge!

(|====================== Monad - Taro Nakata's Atelier =======================|)
-==== Round 4: Dilapidated Rollercoaster - Challenge Level 2 ==================-
| Approach Options: Understanding or Guts |
| Conditions: Bolstering - Guts Up L2, Checkpoint - Cleanse all negative |
| conditions., Stony - Understanding Down L2, and Sublime - Proficiency Up L2 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-

Through your journeys across the carnival, you may have seen a large wooden
rollercoaster hovering over the skyline. As you approach it, you'll see just
what condition it is in: it looks like a deathtrap, with rotted wood and rusty
rails. Nonetheless, you need that ticket, so you'll have to brave your fears and
ride the rocking coaster.

Once you finally make it to the end, however, there'll be a problem. Flegmat
Humors in the shape of twisted passengers that look more akin to deformed beasts
are hovering around the ticket machine, in complete shock and fear from the
coaster. You'll have to either scare them off or convince them to leave on their
own if you want the ticket!
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
Pernelle scoffs, wing to his chest as he beams. "Only humans suffer triple bad karma. Were I to devour an elephant, I would stand to gain its power. Much like that folding fan! Ah, how I miss it... how it is with me always... A complex, bittersweet flavor..."

But there's still the betting. "A thousand what?" Pernelle asks again before he's distracted by the next thing to come along. In this, he may be failing to make a wager. Perhaps the important thing is that he believes in Roger. If only faith meant anything against a Homunculus.

The important thing, as far as Pernelle is concerned, is his belly is full of questionable substances and he is feeling fine and fancy free. No wait Pernelle don't say that, Mikey will come for you --

"Whole! And smoked!" Pernelle cries in delight as Tsumugi tells them of the turkey legs, likely knowing full well they do not have to mask the meat as extraterrestrial for Pernelle's interest to be piqued. "Have you... tasted this flesh? What is it like? I must know!"

Yanagi lets Pernelle deal with the Humor and points the way to the dispenser for more tickets. None of them need to deal with this challenge at all if they can keep their wits about them while being heckled. Meanwhile, Pernelle fails to register that anyone in their right mind could insult any of the four of them.

"What's that on your face?" "Do you refer to my glasses or my beak?" "Oh! I see it now! It's a big fat bunch of UGLY!" "Oh dear, he's suffering from vision impairment!"

Tsumugi points out the seat and how this dunk tank device woks. Pernelle's beak follows their every word, and the peacock becomes increasingly distressed with each new piece of information. "How terribly tragic! Is this true, my diminutive friend? Poor creature! I am certain it cannot be that complicated to operate, if you put your mind to it!"

While he is shouting this useless encouragement, the imp-thing cackles and Saika throws a ball.

Pernelle shuts up at that, head tilted down to watch the Humor plunge into the tank.

...

"Alas, poor fiend. I knew him, Tsumugi."

Then he hops down and continues along his way, his step with no less bounce in it than before.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
"Yes, that's my concern," Yanagi tells Tsumugi. "There's that trope in shows and movies where someone eats something out of the ordinary and they go, 'Tastes like chicken!' If it turned out like that..."

But then they make the point that even if that's so, that would be a chance to taste the world's expectations. Yanagi looks intrigued by the concept. "The whole world... If it's the ''world's'' expectations, then maybe it might be something completely unexpected! There are so many billions of people in the world! And, you know--" She raises a finger, a smile growing on her lips. "Some of them will have actually eaten actual elephant ears! Who knows how that might combine with expectations!"

And never mind the triple bad karma. Yanagi's already dying young; how much worse could it get? She listens in on Saika's speculation on what elephant might taste like with bright eyes-- "Aren't there elephants in India? Maybe they make them into curry!" --at least, until the imp-like Shadow starts to mock all of them. Given enough time, maybe Yanagi would shift from confused to annoyed... but Pernelle cannot be incited to rage when he can simply dismiss the imp's mockery as delusion. Tsumugi further suggests that the Shadow's friends have abandoned them and they can't get down. Saika straight-up takes one of those softballs and CHUCKS it at the target. Yanagi takes a moment to clap anew as the Shadow falls and is submerged.

"Oh, don't worry, Pernelle! He's with his friends now, maybe! How lovely," Yanagi chirps. "Let's move on, then!" Not before claiming one of the tickets, anyway--but she leaves that to Tsumugi. They are, apparently, the unofficial ticket-holder of the group.

It's not long after they move on that they find a certain other attraction. A place like this naturally has rides, and of all rides at a theme park, the most infamous is--

"Ooooh! A roller coaster!! I've always wanted to try one!" Yanagi gasps, eyes sparkling as the group approaches the dubious attraction. Despite its frankly terrible condition, she grabs the hand (wing?) of one of her companions and drags them along in her wake, walking stick tapping out an excited staccato rhythm. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!!"

It is, frankly, hell. The wood groans; the rails sway; an alarming number of support struts are splintered, though thankfully not outright broken. It's a true question of whether the roller coaster will complete its route with all of them still alive and intact by the end.

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

Yanagi, whose hands are raised in the way she's seen people in movies and commercials do, is pretty okay with it either way.
</poem>

MONAD: Yanagi Nagisa has acted with Direct Talk toward Dilapidated Rollercoaster! Automap!

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
The bet has raised to a thousand. But, indeed -- a thousand what?

Tsumugi doesn't answer; they just look towards Saika. She initiated the stakes, after all -- it's only fair she quantify them to her heart's content. Either way...

They feel very confident this Roger won't be allowed to continue on in this Atelier.

But what, indeed, of the mystery of the proprietary poultry? Pernelle demands to know. And Tsumugi's answer is to turn and regard him with a sly half-smile, walking backwards towards their destination as they cock their head owlishly rightwards. How does it taste?

"If you must know," they say,

"you'll have to taste it yourself. Won't you?"

Incoming trip to Destinyland...?!

Well. Maybe not now. Right now is Destituteland, population: one sad(?) deluded(??) Humor in a shoddy dunk tank. Tsumugi knows what's coming, the second it turns its dismal, belittling attentions on Saika. They just continue to watch impassively, noting to Pernelle,

"It's okay." The ball winds up.

"They're getting a helping--"

WHOOSH

Wind buffets platinum hair. Tsumugi's blank expression remains utterly unaffected.

"--hand."

WHAM

SPLOOSH

Tsumugi regards the sinking Humor as Pernelle laments him. Yanagi offers her reassurances to the peacock.

"Well. It's free now," is their compromise on the matter, before they promptly turn and walk off, having finally saved the life of that poor stuck Sanguin. (???????)

Onward they go; another blur of gloved fingers sees yet another ticket secured and tucked away as they round in on--

''Ooooh! A roller coaster!!''

That.

Tsumugi is an ever-calm contrast towards Yanagi's effusive excitement. Hands in their pockets, they glance around them ambivalently -- particularly eyeing the throngs of Flegmats blocking their way. Their head cants.

"Oh. I know this attraction," they suddenly say. "It's the cursed roller coaster." Suddenly, and loudly for all those Flegmats to hear. "They say that whoever rides this roller coaster is doomed to be forced into the Big Top's next fatal side show. Or just die before they even can."

They say this conversationally, just as they lean to the side.

"And if you ride it once, you can never escape."

Their shoulder bumps a support pillar on the overhang pavilion, -just- hard enough to make the rusty, aging structure suddenly shake and tremble precariously.

"Ever."

And, after putting the existential terror of roller coasters firmly into those Flegmat's hearts and (hopefully) sending them scattering, Tsumugi, expression utterly flat, claps their hands together.

"Hm. Well, let's go--"

Before they can calmly make their way towards the roller coaster, though, they find themself -- grabbed and dragged?! Tsumugi is Yanagi's most ambivalent plus one, stumbling along stone-faced until they reach that roller coaster. And once they do--?

Tsumugi doesn't sit. They plant their heeled foot -right- on the front of the coaster car, like Washington crossing the Delaware, arms folded and expression stoic.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~."

What happens when they reach the first loop-de-loop?

Either the most impressive cognitive gymnastics this world has ever seen, or a short drop and a sudden stop, but, well.

This is a world where physical reality need not apply.

So why tie yourself down to the rules of mundanity to feel that giddy thrill only spaces like these can offer?

</poem>
MONAD: Invalid approach.
MONAD: Tsumugi Kujaku has acted with Crime Talk toward Dilapidated Rollercoaster! Focus and Efficient!

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
"No you didn't," Saika tells Pernelle, when he says he knew the Imp.

Saika keeps her other two softballs, because she might need to kill someone with the others. She seems to cheer up from her surly discontent at what the Humor had said unto her as they put some distance. "Wouldn't it average out, though?" Saika asks Yanagi. "Or it might be really like, shocking, like a sour candy."

Intense sour and intense sweet... all in one! She grimaces at the mention of making curry out of elephants, BUT...

ROLLER COASTER TIME.

"Wow, really?" Saika asks Tsumugi, her eyes wide, after they complete the story of just how accursed this particular 'coaster "You're amazing!" Back to Pernelle: "That means it's definitely survivable. If it was the kind of curse that just killed you outright, you wouldn't need to worry about the rest, you know?"

A flake or two of rust, fallen from Tsumugi's encounter, land on her head. She brushes them out, without concern.

SOON ENOUGH

Thanks to both Tsumugi *and* Yanagi being in the front row seat of the rollercoaster, Saika ends up in the back seat. During the rattling bumping roll forwards - the motion leading up to it - she speaks to Pernelle. "What makes all of this amazing is that we're really just using gravity," Saika tells him. "I've only been on a roller coaster, like, twice?"

She leans back a little, rubbing her side for a moment. "But when we're going up hill like that, where you hear all of that rattling and the sound of the engine? It's totally the same kind of thing as my motorcycle, hauling this entire thing up slooooowly click click click click click because you have to get that potential energy stored. It's like charging a battery!"

"Which is sort of messed up to consider," Saika says, as the curve of their destiny approaches. "Because there's like fifteen kilometers down before you get the lowest point on Earth, right? So technically," rattle rattle rattle, "at any time, we could just fall fifteeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHH!!!!!"

Saika, of course, also throws her hands in the air. (She may catch Tsumugi's ankles before that short drop and sudden stop have the time to truly come to pass, if it comes to that. This might get Tsumugi bonked on the rows behind them, but Jack Frost is probably still in line.. you're not going to hurt anyone we care about, maybe just a Flegmat or two.)

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
Pernelle's eyes become big as Tsumugi tells him what he must do if he must know...

He must taste it. Won't he? Will he?

"I will," he whispers, like a promise to the universe. He begins to vibrate again.

But then the Humor is dunked, either left to drown to be with his friends, and in some universes this might be the same thing. Pernelle brings a wing to his chest as he is reassured. "Yes, yes, I am aware of what you speak. The great farm up north with all his friends." Pernelle sniffs dramatically. "Such is the consequences of time's march." Or of Saika's throwing arm.

Saika reminds him he didn't know the clown imp.

"... I didn't!" Pernelle chirps blithely, and that's the end of it.

Upon sight of the roller coaster, Pernelle's train pops up for a brief startle.

"What manner of contraption is this? An inescapable cursed coaster? I have never encountered such a thing! Intriguing!" He bounces -- head perfectly still -- at Saika. "Imagine the tales we could tell to survive such a harrowing experience! Yes, let's go! Let's!" Pernelle, wing in Yanagi's hand, hurries with her to ride the infernal machine.

And go ride it he does, in all its groaning, alarming glory, as if the track were going to give way from under them and kill them all at any moment. Even the rattling at the start as he listens to Saika with his full attention, vibrating more and more with each climb higher and higher. "Yes? A motorcycle? Yes? Fifteen kilometers! At any time -- yes, ye --" Then comes the fall. "-- ESSSSSSSSSSSS?!"

Pernelle is, regrettably, FAR TOO SHORT TO BE ON THIS RIDE. He cannot be contained within the cart properly, and ends up all twisted up in his seat. His wings are not in the air. Instead, it is his talons, sticking straight up as he ends up upside-down in all the looping mess.

Regardless:

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

</poem>
MONAD: Pernelle has acted with Encouraging Words toward Dilapidated Rollercoaster! Patra and Efficient!
MONAD: Saika Kikuchi has acted with I'm A Street Walking Cheetah with a Heart full of Napalm toward Dilapidated
Rollercoaster! Specialty!

(|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|)
-==== Dilapidated Rollercoaster - Round 4 =====================================-
Tsumugi Kujaku Guts Success
Crime Talk Focus and Efficient Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yanagi Nagisa Guts Success
Direct Talk Automap Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pernelle Understanding Success
Encouraging Words Patra and Efficient Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saika Kikuchi Guts Success
I'm A Street Walking Specialty Fatigue: 0
-============================= Party Conditions: ==============================-
Starting Conditions: Bolstering-2, Checkpoint-0, Stony-2, and Sublime-1
Final Conditions: Bolstering-1
-======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====-
-==== Reach: 4/6 |==== | =====================================================-
-==== Loot So Far: ============================================================-
Items: 2, Money: 1, Gear: 1
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)

MONAD: Tsumugi Kujaku has drawn a new Challenge!

(|====================== Monad - Taro Nakata's Atelier =======================|)
-==== Round 5: Crack The Shell - Challenge Level 2 ============================-
| Approach Options: Guts or Academics |
| Conditions: Bolstering - Guts Up L2, Boss - Add 1 Fatigue on failure., and |
| Shuffle - Draw 1 Minor Arcana. |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-

As you return to the big top with your tickets, you find a huge problem,
especially if you have Navigator senses and can detect it early. One of the
Melanc Humors in the form of a large clown, corrupted guardians of the Nakata
Carnival, has taken position outside the tent, unwilling to let you through. He
takes the form of a large plastic toy, with a hard exterior that defends him
from many blows... you'll either have to figure out a way to pierce it with your
booksmarts, or brave forward and take him out in a battle of endurance.
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
Wouldn't it all just average out?

"Who knows? But I do hope it'll be something shocking!" Yanagi tells Saika.

Tsumugi takes some time to observe the Flegmat Humors, then instill in them the fear of God, or maybe just this particular roller coaster. Their deadpan delivery of the coaster's curse successfully has them quaking in their... well, ''boots'' is not quite accurate, but they're shaking all the same. They have been primed and readied by Tsumugi's artful wordsmithing, and terror of the Big Top's next fatal show suffuses their very beings.

Then of course Yanagi grabs Tsumugi by the hand and Pernelle by the wing, and together they go, with Saika in their wake, to actually ''ride'' the cursed contraption. As if to round out Tsumugi's terrorweaving, Saika explains the science behind a roller coaster and how it works, as if this is a place in which science could actually apply. But it helps add some depth and nuance to the experience, which is important when Pernelle is riding upside down and Tsumugi has one heeled boot on the front car.

Somehow, all of them end up not falling out of their cars to their grisly demise, and the coaster itself shakes and shudders and drops even more flakes of rust, but somehow does ''not'' collapse. What's more, by the time the roller coaster has finished its loop and returned back to base, there are no Flegmats in the way of the next dispenser. ''None''. They are free and clear to proceed at their own pace.

Which is good, because Yanagi is quite breathless as they're all leaving together, clutching one of Tsumugi's arms for balance and also just because she wants to for a while.

"That was so much fun! I really thought I was going to die!" Yanagi gasps, thin but booted legs trembling as they all go. She means every word. The terror of the view from the front car is sublime. Over her shoulder, she asks, "Saika, Pernelle, how was it for you two?"

As they progress further towards their goal, tickets all in hand, though, Yanagi's trembling good cheer fades, evening out as she raises her chin and looks towards an unknown point ahead.

"A Melanc Humor is blocking the way into the Big Top," she notes. "It's in the form of a toy... a clown toy. It's got a hard exterior that will be able to soak a lot of blows, so it'll be difficult to get past straightforwardly... but not impossible. It'd probably be faster to find a way to sneak around it, though." She looks at the others, but in particular Tsumugi, the leader. "What should we do?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
The loop comes, and all the roller coaster track's a-tremble! Does Tsumugi fall? Does Saika catch them by the ankles?!

-- Yes and no.

Yes, they fall. Yes, Saika catches them.

But it's by the forearm, not the ankle, as they twist with inhuman grace mid-freefall. And as the car starts to right itself?

Tsumugi uses Saika's grip as an anchor point to swing back, forward, back, forward --

and release into an acrobatic and inexplicable flip that should see them smacking into railing until they become bloody plaster but ''instead'' sees them falling -precisely- into their seat next to Yanagi, guardrail snapping down over their waist as they bounce exactly one (1) time with the impact.

Their expression is still as impassive as ever as the roller coaster screeches to a spark-spitting stop back at the start once more.

"Electrifying."

Isn't it?

They stand smoothly, Yanagi clutched to their arm; they give her the balance she needs as they step off the roller coaster; even help her off it with a small, daring smile.

"Yes," they say simply, "you could have."

Said like it's the most wonderful thing in the world.

They detour with Yanagi at the dispenser. Take the last of their tickets. And then they leave with the other members of Peacock Silk, rapping that support column with their knuckles one last time before they go. The lightest little touch.

The roller coaster entry pavilion shudders. Shudders become shrieks. Shrieks become a shattering crunch as the entire thing falls apart and collapses on top of the rollercoaster tracks, sending the entire rusty monstrosity wobbling and then literally falling apart like a prolonged domino effect lesson in cognitive neglect.

Tsumugi doesn't look back as the whole thing falls apart in a way that very well could have had them all on it.

They're sure it'll all get nicely slapped back together again soon enough anyway.

As the roller coaster dust settles behind them, though, Yanagi slows. She looks ahead. And Tsumugi follows her gaze.

A Melanc Humor.

"So this Atelier wants to just serve them up to us?" they wonder idly. It -would- be faster just to sneak in, wouldn't it? Yet... Red eyes hood as they lift their hand to their collar, unbuttoning the first button of their shirt with their first decisive steps.

Fight, or flight?

"We're going. It'll be better for us to resolve this now," they note to Yanagi.

"Besides... why not see how far we can push our luck?"

What is stronger? Taro Nakata's self-loathing, or their desires?

Why try to avoid the answer to that question?

So, Tsumugi strides up toward that clown-like Shadow, their expression calm as they size the thing up. They head tilts.

Their eyes glow an even more intense shade of red as a cerulean butterfly floats past their field of vision.

"Hello," they offer the Melanc, dipping into a low, graceful bow. Their head remains turned up, eyes affixed on the thing.

"Let's dance a duet. Just you and me."

And as they rise, their left hand snaps upwards. Fingers catch something just above that butterfly -- a shimmer of blue like a loose string on the glowing thing. They pull once, smoothly.

And the entire butterfly rapidly unravels like a piece of clothing undone by a stray thread, all that cerulean energy igniting, blooming, taking shape--

--into a -massive- porcelain automaton of a Victorian man, his eyes hidden, his exquisitely crafted clockwork body encased in an all-concealing case of glass and metal. It lifts its cane with a cog-clicking groan. SMASHES it down.

And a rush of red seethes outward suddenly, inflicting that Melanc with an all-consuming, seething rage -- focused entirely on Tsumugi.

The Melanc rushes. And Tsumugi starts to try to quite literally ''dance'' with the Shadow, every dip and pirouette keeping them -just- out of reach of the swipes of the maddened creature -- to keep it distracted, to keep it -vulnerable- for the others to find a way past that tough, toy hide.

They don't know how long they can manage to stay just out of step in this delightful, deadly dance, but.

Isn't that part of the fun?

</poem>
MONAD: Tsumugi Kujaku has acted with Crime Talk toward Crack The Shell! Focus and Efficient!
MONAD: Yanagi Nagisa has acted with Direct Talk toward Crack The Shell! Automap!

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.
<poem>
Saika's smiling, as she anchors Tsumugi, and as they get back where they belong. But then it's over. So many delightful things are like that.

After the coaster pulls into the station, Saika fist pumps the air. "We made it!" she says, reaching over without comment to grasp Pernelle by his drumsticks and hoist him up, flip him around, and set him back down without saying anything. Given his scale -- especially in an Atelier -- it may be faster than trying to wiggle about and manage that tail.

(that tail, tho)

As she walks, Saika remains within arm's reach of Yanagi. It's silent, she doesn't reach out, but maybe it's just subliminal at this point. Be there to grab onto if necessary. "Right?" Saika tells her. "It was crazy. That's part of the fun, you ARE really falling!" Her hand comes up to trace it. "But the ''car'' has you..."

"Or at least," her eyes cut to Tsumugi, "that's the idea~."

Maybe you can break all kinds of preconceptions.

She answers Yanagi, too. "Mmm. It was sick as hell," Saika says, with a tone of considered judgment. "Possibly ''too'' sick. I don't think I'd wanna go again, but you got that thrill of acceleration, that sensation of being completely out of control..!"

But soon enough they are confronted with another clown. "Ugh!" says Saika, gritting her teeth. "I hate these stupid things. It's like all the worst parts of a kabuki actor and a western dancer in one single image... and now we've got to deal with a FAKE one!"

Tsumugi's already spinning off into the dance; Saika sweeps her bangs back with one hand and exhales with annoyance. Not so much at Tsumugi as because of the fact that. Well. It is in fact a giant clown toy. She glares at the thing with hatred, which eases *just* a tiny bit as she follows along with the thing's motion...

"I don't think it's actually made of plastic -- I mean no shit BUT I mean that I think I see that that SEAM," and here Saika raises up one hand to point, "is more like a SCAR! Look up there, near where it's... ear or whatever it is, is! There's like this red point, it's fleshy! There's probably some kinda injury there that it had to heal, or maybe it just itches. Either way..."

Saika un-spools her chain with a counterclockwise rotation of her arm before saying, "I know where I'm aiming!!" And she runs inwards, speeding up to leap even as Tsumugi draws the creature out into a posture that turns that ear-itch-spot JUST so to face them. And she helps the Melanc, yes she does: She snaps the chain forwards with a metallic CRACK to scour that spot.

(What Saika did not take into account, or left out to spare Yanagi, was that there's another possibility: it could be a *boil*. Hopefully not, true believers!)

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
<poem>
After leaving the coaster, Pernelle toddles and teeters about, talons gone criss-crossed with every step as he loses the ability to maneuver in straight lines. (Except for his head. That, miraculously, remains perfectly level no matter how much his neck and body undulate.) "That was... that was..." He can scarcely find his words to respond to Yanagi with. "Inspiring! Invigorating! ''Intoxicating!''"

Pernelle totters directly into a post.

Thankfully, Saika is there to grab him up and hoist him around. "Wheeeeeeeeee~!!" Somewhere in his heart, he may still be on that coaster, and he's back to toddling once she sets him back down. Even as the whole coaster collapses behind them, he does not flinch. Cool birds don't look at collapsing coasters, even if they walk like a drunk man.

But soon: the Melanc Humor.

Tsumugi, their leader, declares they shall do battle, and they take center stage to keep the sturdy Humor's attention.

Pernelle flaps up, hovering above the group at optimal tutorial height, and inexplicably hanging in the air in a way hummingbirds can, but peacocks cannot -- but Pernelle is a cognitive mascot peacock. As established, physical reality need not apply. "Tsumugi!" he says, in that announcer-voice fashion. "Do you remember when I explained weaknesses and resistances while fighting Humors? Unfortunately, sometimes a Humor will be invulnerable to all damage types until its shield can be destroyed or circumvented. There's usually a clue if you look closely at its body. However..."

He lands upon the ground to flourish a deep, sweeping bow in a 'ladies first' fashion as Saika leaps in.

"... Nothing is immune to Saika."

When Pernelle rises from his bow, a butterfly lazily passes in front of him. He snaps it up with his beak, crushing it into glittering powder before swallowing. A golden doll of a bird with prismatic stitching manifests from the wing dust. She shudders, seams breaking open as something shadowy writhes and ''screams'' from within, fire rushing outward to explode into the Humor with his own overwhelming force to follow up Saika's strike.

</poem>
MONAD: Pernelle has acted with Tutorial Time toward Crack The Shell! Specialty!

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
<poem>
It ''is'' electrifying. Yanagi giggles, leaning her head on Tsumugi's shoulder for a moment. It takes only a short time before she regains enough strength to be able to walk on her own--if with the aid of her stick--but she takes pleasure in the moments where Tsumugi aids her and even helps her off the coaster. Saika ends up not needing to offer her extra support--but it is good to have it ready to go, without being forced on her or called into attention.

"We did!" she enthuses to Saika. When she looks enbywards, and when Pernelle weighs in on the experience, she nods to each in turn emphatically. "Yes, Tsumugi was so cool! <3 I'd heard roller coasters were thrill rides, but it didn't measure up at all to the actual experience...! --Ah." That's her reacting to Pernelle walking into a post.

Tsumugi *pings* the structure. It falls apart in a grand collapse. Yanagi takes a moment to watch as it all comes tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down. There's a certain beauty to the destruction, and she captures it in her heart. Cool birds may not look at collapsing coasters, but Yanagi will never refuse an experience. Not anymore.

But then there is another clown. Yanagi's Navigator senses let her clock onto it early, helping the others lock in a strategy... such as it is. She smiles at Tsumugi's proposed direct approach. "I agree," she says, and stretches out a hand. A cerulean butterfly floats by, and lovingly, carefully, she raises her hand to crush it within her palm. Blue light shatters from beneath her fingers, and at her back, a giant woman materializes, veiled, crowned, with bows at her back and needles for limbs. She pirouettes in place, little origami angels dancing around and with her, sending the information she collects to Yanagi.

"Pernelle is right, of course," Yanagi says conversationally, projecting her voice psychically to her companions. "And Saika's already spotted it--that scar tissue behind its ear. Once we tear that open, its defenses should drop and leave it vulnerable." She raises a hand to hand on the needle-arm of her Persona with a smile. "Well then--shall we?"

Giselle dances, and in her Dance of Bravery there is a power. That power transfers to Tsumugi, to Saika, to Pernelle, strengthening each of them and lending more force to their blows to destroy the Melanc that much more efficiently.
</poem>

MONAD: Saika Kikuchi has acted with Take a Look - It's In A Book toward Crack The Shell! Smarts and Patra!

(|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|)
-==== Crack The Shell - Round 5 ===============================================-
Tsumugi Kujaku Guts Success
Crime Talk Focus and Efficient Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yanagi Nagisa Guts Success
Direct Talk Automap Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pernelle Academics Success
Tutorial Time Specialty Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saika Kikuchi Academics Success
Take a Look - It's I Smarts and Patra Fatigue: 0
-============================= Party Conditions: ==============================-
Starting Conditions: Bolstering-1, Boss-0, and Shuffle: Coin-0
Final Conditions:
-======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====-
-==== Reach: 6/6 |=====| =====================================================-
-==== Loot So Far: ============================================================-
Items: 3, Money: 1, Gear: 2
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)

(|====================== Monad - Taro Nakata's Atelier =======================|)
-==== Round 6: Treasure Trove - Challenge Level 1 =============================-
| Approach Options: None |
| Conditions: Revelation - The best result. |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-

Once inside the big top waiting area after your success at the carnival,, a
Sanguin Humor employee shows up with a cache of treasures, having decided you're
a lucky winner. Containing supernatural pyrite, carnival glass, bismuth
crystals, and clownskin hides, you can likely make this into something very
special with the right craftsman... perhaps Peacock Silk can do something for
you?

Either way, you're ready to face the Homunculus... once the show starts. If it
hasn't, you might be able to save your tickets for later, though if you plan on
coming back for a full expedition, you'll need to replace them then.

Final Loot: 3 Items, 1 boxes of Money, and 2 Pieces of Gear!
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
<poem>
Swipe. Pound. Crash.

Every time the Melanc attacks, its distorted, unearthly laughter fills the carnival grounds so profoundly the literal ground beneath them all quakes.

Every time the Melanc attacks, Tsumugi manages to be just out of reach: bending back below the swipe of a fist; spinning eloquently around the rotation of a swing; touching one massive, oversaturated claw of a hand to confidently guide its momentum -away- from them.

Every time they tempt fate with a growing smile...

... and every time a little, metallic glint fills the air one after the other, the vague suggestion of something thin slicing across otherwise empty space.

Giselle's dance fills them with power; Yanagi's information fills them with knowledge.

Pernelle's well-catalogued wisdom lets them know precisely the gimmick they are wrestling with now...

... and Saika's raw, hellacious strength proves one thing undeniable true:

''Nothing is immune to Saika.''

It happens when the Melanc strikes ground on its bottom, bouncing impossibly high into the air. It twists, comes crashing down --

--and suddenly stops, exactly one inch from belly-flopping Tsumugi Kujaku into oblivion.

Around it?

A spider's web of monofilaments, the metallic glint of those countless spooling wires tracing straight back towards Tsumugi's right hand.

Pressed against scarlet lips to blow that Melanc Humor a farewell kiss.

"Ciao, bella," they coo.

"Thanks for the dance."

SHUNK

A second later, Saika Kikuchi's chain PUNCTURES that weak point, right behind the ear, finding that moment in the brief span the Melanc is seized. The crack fissures, widens--

and Pernelle flitting above fills the opening and everything else within with fire, chasing down Saika's chain and pouring into every nook and cranny of the Melanc.

Its Clown-like features shudder. Bulge. Distend.

And if it isn't plastic, it certainly -melts- like one as it explodes into a ball of flames, Shadowstuff drooling into the ground as Tsumugi unceremoniously snaps their wires back, letting it collapse to the ground.

The Sanguin Humor is rushing past shortly thereafter, giddily hopping over the miserable molten mess of Melanc and hitting the ground with a slide to shove a suitcase directly into their collective faces, with a jubilant, helium-pitched,

"CONGRATULATIONS~!"

as it pops open the case and like three different full-own clown hides come popping out like a can of snakes.

Tsumugi completely ignores all of this and turns to Saika, pointedly. They're satisfied. They really have only one question remaining today.

"A thousand what?"

</poem>

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