2025-07-19: Scary Stories to Tell in the Gym
- Log: 25 07 19 - Scary Stories to Tell in the Gym
- Cast: Minako Arisato, Hitomi Mandai, Suzume Fukura, Yukari Takeba
- Where: Gekkoukan High School, Tartarus
- OOC Date: July 19, 2025
- IC Date: June 15, 2012
- Summary: The other of SEES's teams infiltrates Gekkoukan High School to search for Fuuka Yamagishi. Is there enough of them to count as an invasion?
(|================== Monad - Mission: Sneak Into Gekkoukan! ==================|)
-==== Round 1: Midnight Madness - Challenge Level 2 ===========================-
| Approach Options: Proficiency or Charm |
| Conditions: Annoying - Charm Down L2 and Ineptitude - Proficiency Down L2 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
For your own reasons, you've decided to sneak into Gekkoukan /before/ the Dark
Hour strikes, tonight. Whether you're searching for Fuuka Yamagishi, or just
trying to uncover the secrets of the mysterious tower which the school
transforms into every night -- you need to be in Gekkoukan before the Dark Hour
begins. Your first problem, then, is /entering./
Breaking and entering is one route in -- but what kind of high schooler can bust
open a lock? If you thought ahead, you might have just unlocked a door before
the day ended, making it /look/ like you're a master lockpick. Another method
lies in the sercurity guards lazily plodding around the school -- if you can
/convince/ one of them that you left something super-mega-important at school,
they might unlock the way for you, /if/ they don't just throw you out. You'll
need to lose the guards if you sneak in that way, though! And then, of course,
there are even stranger methods of entry -- like finding a supply closet and
just hiding there until everyone's gone. Whatever method you use, just make sure
you're in position by the time midnight ends...
(|============================================================= Monad 1.0 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
The mission to enter Gekkoukan High -- and then Tartarus -- has began.
SEES split into two teams for this. They had a few too many to easily sneak in as a large cluster. Thus, they've arrived at the school at night. They've managed to go around the back -- and slipped over the wall into the courtyard, and towards the side entrance to the main school building.
Minako looks back at the others and nods seriously. "I talked to Junpei-kun. He had an idea, but I have..." She points at the security guard, who is starting to nod off. "...a plan! We just need to sweet talk him and we can sneak right by. So... who wants to say they forgot their homework?"
Minako beams, cheerfully, at the others.
MONAD: Minako Arisato has acted with Kindling Warmth toward Midnight Madness! Patra and Focus! <Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
There is a threshold where it goes from 'infiltration' to 'invasion,' and if they had eight or nine people together, it might be getting nearer to the latter.
Hitomi purses her lips for a moment, as she looks at the guard. She tilts her head back. She doesn't answer Minako after long moments, and then her eyes turn back to her. She answers her, quietly.
"If he doesn't go for it... try to stall and I can go for the keys. Do you think we all ought to come together? We could say it's a club thing... that's a good reason for a few of us to be together." Hitomi is notably not volunteering for Operation: Lie to an Adult.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume...
...is back in her uniform, as Minako suggested. Complete with SEES armband, though she's taken it off and shoved it in her pocket until they're actually in Tartarus, just because if someone sees her with it she doesn't want to explain why she's got it.
She also has her backpack, which contains:
- one pair of tonfa, fresh-ish from Mementos
- a collection of Ace-style bandages, plus a few actual bandages and antiseptic, even though Suzume does not know first aid
- painkillers (one half-empty bottle of Tylenol and one emulgel for sore muscles)
- a liter bottle of Gatorade (orange)
- two granola bars (one with chocolate chips)
- one BauerBar (guaranteed to keep you going for 24 hours!)
- a slightly squashed melonpan
- a few other small odds and ends that Suzume either threw in or forgot to take out of the bag
Needless to say it's looking a little full.
"Nobody will believe if I say I'm looking for my homework," Suzume says, flatly. "I've got a better idea. I set it up earlier. C'mon." She doesn't go towards the door.
She goes toward a window, some distance off, and starts to fiddle around with it. She jammed a tensor bandage clip in the latch earlier today, so it's more a question of if she can pop it open from the outside using a hook (the hook is made out of a paper clip).
It works on HER window; she's snuck in at home that way before. How hard can it be? It's not like the windows aren't big enough here to climb in...
MONAD: Hitomi Mandai has acted with Youthful Fun With Card Games toward Midnight Madness! Diligence and Efficient! MONAD: Suzume Fukura has acted with Sports Talk toward Midnight Madness! Diligence and Focus!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Things are awkward lately, but Yukari is here for the mission.
"'He had an idea'? I'm almost afraid to ask..." She grouses, before Minako indicates a plan. "Oh yeah, what's the plan?"
And the plan is! "Huh... well, alright. It is kinda late even for that but... pretty sure I can pull it off..."
Suzume says 'Let's go' and Yukari says "Hey wait a second! Hold up!" She hisses quietly, before passing over her Quiver, Bow, and Evoker to the others, "I'll handle the distraction part."
...before strolling up to the security guard, "Hey there. Sorry to bother you-"
Carding her fingers through the side of her brown hair, as if she were a little shy, showing off her nails - and the stud earrings she's wearing.
"...And I know it's late and all but... I left behind the draft for my big Japanese Lit term paper while cleaning up after Archery Club today. Now... I know that's no excuse but..."
She flashes a smile, taking on the begging tone of someone desperate for a favor, "... could you please make a little exception to the rules, just this once? I promise, it'll be the only time."
Yukari's pretty sure that even without begging too much she can distract them long enough for Suzume to get to the window.
MONAD: Yukari Takeba has acted with Mall Trawl toward Midnight Madness! Empathy and Friendliness! <Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
"Saying it's a club thing is a good idea," Minako says to Suzume. She nods her head once, and then she glances sideways at Suzume. She blinks a little -- it looks like she packed quite a bit -- and her own school uniform isn't so well outfitted.
But, it's best to be prepared. Then, she blinks. "Wait, Fukura-chan, what--"
She blinks. Suzume prepared to break into the school. And Yukari--
Minako whirls her head, looks at her, and blinks. They have two plans going at once. She wonders if this makes her the worst leader or the best leader. She settles on 'best,' for now.
The security guard looks at Yukari, then blinks. "Well..." He sighs. "Okay. But hurry, okay? No one is supposed to be here after midnight, and w're leaving at five 'til."
He opens the door for her -- and turns his back on Suzume's window, as he talks to Yukari. It opens. Minako's eyes widen -- she nods at Suzume and Hitomi. "Go, go, go!" she hisses.
Fortunately, the window they enter from leads into the hall that the door leads inside; Yukari enters just as Minako lands, having taken up the rear. She says, after that, if still whispering: "Good job, everyone. So far, so good!"
MONAD: Suzume Fukura has drawn a new Challenge!
(|================== Monad - Mission: Sneak Into Gekkoukan! ==================|)
-==== Round 2: Full Moon Rising - Challenge Level 3 ===========================-
| Approach Options: Proficiency or Academics |
| Conditions: Annoying - Charm Down L2, Clumsy - Proficiency Down L1, |
| Ineptitude - Proficiency Down L2, and Stupor - Academics Down L1 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
The hour hits twelve, and the hour hidden behind twelve begins. A full moon
rises above Tartarus... and you don't pass through the entrance hall of
Tartarus, tonight. As the Dark Hour dawns, you will find yourself thrown into
one of the upper levels of a Block you haven't seen before, far above anywhere
you've previously travelled. Even if you made a habit of exploring Thebel,
before this -- the environment here is entirely different. Arqa Block is almost
/organic,/ with its glowing spines slung across the walls and the strange,
frightening masks laid into the walls. The floor appears like sand, bloodstains
splattered over it, and tentacles lift to reveal your path forward. Everything
here is bathed in sick magenta and purple... aside from the green glow of the
stairs, and the occasional green window facing out.
More to the point: you've been separated from anyone you came in here with.
Though finding your allies is extremely pressing, you'll find, as you fight your
way through your first floor of this strange new area of Tartarus, that no one
you came here with is nearby. You'll need to be fast and quiet to sneak past all
these Shadows, or use your brain to think of some way to get an advantage --
because right now, you're alone.
(|============================================================= Monad 1.0 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Honestly, getting through the window is the most awkward part for Suzume, with her overloaded backpack. She dusts herself off on the inside - and closes the window, once everybody who is going to use it is through.
"Told you it would work," Suzume says, smugly. "I planned ahead." She shoulders the backpack, as if to prove it. "I thought I mentioned it though." She did not. "What was Iori's idea, anyway?"
It's dark inside. One of the things Suzume didn't bring was a flashlight and she's not going to start turning on all the lights. She can feel her heart pumping - she's excited, or tense, or both. "Let's get closer to the gym," she says, looking over at Minako for confirmation. "That's where she went in, right...?"
Getting toward the gym isn't... too bad, aside from the darkness. Suzume eventually relents and pulls out her phone just to get *any* light from the screen so she doesn't walk into a wall. Even if she is tense the whole way there.
She shoves the phone back in her pocket once it shows 11:59. "Just a minute," she says. Which means she pulls her tonfa out, getting her backpack back on her back, and -
space shifts -
Suzume is now in Tartarus. So is everyone else, but, critically, she is not in Tartarus with them. And this is her first time ever seeing Tartarus up this high; she's been shown the lobby but she hadn't gone in any further, certainly not to anything organic. It reminds her, and not in a good way, of the twisty layout of the tracks in Mementos, with the bloody splatters...
Suzume stomps on her left foot with her right heel. It makes her wince, but it also snaps her back. "Okay. Okay. Just gotta find someone else..." But how? Maybe she can at least treat it like a maze, so she doesn't get lost, following the left-hand rule... At least then she can get back. She pulls out one of the granola bars and sets it down so she can mark her original spot.
(If she never comes back to pick it up, who knows where that granola bar is going to end up? Maybe a Shadow will eat it.)
MONAD: Suzume Fukura has acted with Random Knowledge toward Full Moon Rising! Patra and Smarts!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yukari feigns being effusively grateful, "Oh thank you! Thank you so much!" She even makes a bow, "I promise, I'll be out of your hair as soon as possible."
And then walks right in, "I locked up today so I have the keys - I'll be right back."
You see~ It's not two plans Minako. It's one plan. And you came up with it! Yukari distracts and... well, all of you do the rest.
When she links up, she takes back her stuff, "There, it all worked out finnnneee, just like I said."
She's trying not to reveal she's more than a little anxious, being at the school at night, after all of Junpei's ghost stories but...
... maybe someone can tell.
"Well he made it sound like on accident that he was gonna blow up a door but... pretttyyyy sure he just put his foot in his mouth." She indicates towards Suzume...
After they make it where they're supposed to go, Yukari says, "Okay everyone stay close together because-"
The hour strikes Twelve, the world shifts and...
... Yukari wakes up on the ground, inside Tartarus, groaning. Before her eyes flare open, looking around, and, "EEEK!" Coming face to face with a giant Mask.
Backing up quickly, her breath quickens as she looks one way, then another... "Oh- no! It actually happened!" Heart pounding, she pulls herself upright, and tries to orient.
She's at least a little familiar with the imagery, but that doesn't make it any easier, especially alone.
"Okay calm down. Don't panic. You knew this could happen... just... avoid the Shadows, and hope we didn't get too separated."
Yukari's heart pounds, as she moves carefully in a manner that almost borders on paranoia. After all, she's in the middle of a horror movie, alone.
And then when the coast is clear, every so often... she delicately launches an arrow down a passageway where she's not going, listening to the clatter in the distance.
Then waits. And waits... and waits some more behind a corner, trying her best not to panic, before moving when she sees the shadows respond to the distraction...
"Come on... someone be nearby. Please..."
She keeps trying to ward off the thought that the tarp Hitomi brought might be for her too.
"... Please. I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die... I don't wanna..."
MONAD: Yukari Takeba has acted with Suspicion toward Full Moon Rising! Focus and Patra!
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
Hitomi has a tote bag of her own, though most of it is occupied with a tarp and a folded linen bedsheet from the linen closet at the dorms. Hopefully, that won't be necessary. And Yukari opts to take the risk and bring the security guard's attention to somewhere else!
gogogogogogo and THROUGH!
"I suppose that was the easy part," Hitomi mutters, producing her phone from one pocket to check the time. "We don't have long."
And soon enough... Tick.
Shift.
Turn.
And... she's alone. "... Takeba? Fukura? Arisato?" she says, repeating it once after looking around. Her pulse is quickening. Spines and masks. The floor is sand, splattered with blood.
"Fuck," says Hitomi. ~curse words~.
She folds her arms, tugging the tote back close to her body. "Alright," she mutters to herself. "Tartarus sucks but it has a logic. It's laid out. There are paths and there are places to go. They have to be somewhere and if I'm alive in an hour we'll just end up elsewhere and everything will be fine. Yamagishi isn't going to rot much if we have to come back tomorrow. Okay." She takes a deep breath, forces it out. And then --
She goes.
Hitomi follows a simple strategy. She gets a wall on her left side and she keeps it there, even when other chambers and passages suggest she should not. After two minutes, she puts a hand in the hip pouch where her dice are. They are a comfort to toy with. The click-clack. It's controlled.
She hums tunelessly to herself, so she doesn't have to hear herself think.
MONAD: Hitomi Mandai has acted with It's Time For Some Game Theory toward Full Moon Rising! Smarts and Patra!
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
Minako looks at Yukari. There is just a hint of tension in her expression -- but then she makes the effort to smile at her. The smile comes easy. "Good work, Takeba-chan," she says.
Then she glances sideways at Suzume.
"Yeah," Minako says. "The gym is where she went in. So if we get there, it should get us close..." She hopes. She doesn't actually know that; anuthing could happen.
She follows after Suzume, checking her naginata -- it's over her back, with a cloth wrap around the blade like it might be a lacrosse stick or a hockey stick -- and then she pauses. She hears Suzume say 'just a minute.'
And then the Dark Hour sets in.
She sucks a sharp breath in, as she finds herself on unfamiliar footing. Thebel Block's organic material is unlike Arqa's smoother floors and walls. It is still labyrinthine, and Minako starts to look around. Her jaw sets.
"Damn it," she says. "Damn it, damn it--" And she stops whispering and vents her frustration, loudly: "DAMN IT!"
It echoes. Then, she sees something shift ahead -- a Shadow, sliding out of the shadows. She already lost them. What Yukari warned her about is happening. She turns, dashing away -- and she glances side to side.
Find the others. And the best way to find them is to give them something to see and hear, even if it's dangerous for her. Minako whirls around, facing the Shadow that comes towards her. She draws her Evoker, barrel against the side of her head. She squeezes the trigger.
Blue light and glass explode out the side of her head, lighting up Thebel's twisting tunnels a little -- and then a lot, as her voice cries out:
"LINOS!"
And blue-white nuclear flame explodes across the Shadow, sending brilliant streamers of light every which way, like a flare for the others to see.
She hopes.
MONAD: Minako Arisato has acted with Proficiency toward Full Moon Rising! Base! MONAD: Hitomi Mandai has drawn a new Challenge! <Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume is more freaked out than she wants to admit. In this one moment she might have some sympathy for Yukari...
...but she isn't with her, so we'll never know!
Two of them have the idea to follow the left wall. This is great except it means that Hitomi and Suzume are unlikely to find each other quickly, as they both trace movement in the same direction; it's like one's following the other. So they're not the two that run into each other first.
Suzume rounds a corner - and almost gets hit by an arrow.
It wasn't that close, really. She wasn't in much danger (well, not from that anyway); it's just that it hit the wall just as she started to step around that corner, and it draws a startled yelp from Suzume that sounds suspiciously like a cut-off scream as she ducks back around the corner. "It's me, it's me!" she calls, before sticking her head around the corner again as if expecting Yukari to shoot it.
...
"I didn't think I'd be happy to find you in here," Suzume admits. "I thought if we were all near the gym we'd at least show up in the same... room, or hallway, or whatever! Let's never come up this way again." She looks around, finally trotting over toward Yukari. "..."
She feels vaguely like she should thank Yukari - that or admit that she really didn't know what she was getting into, that Yukari was right - but she doesn't. She can't bring herself to go *that* far. She can take care of herself, she thinks, even if she really didn't like being alone up here in Tartarus. Fortunately, there is a distraction: "Hey, was that an explosion?"
It was. Hitomi can see it, the nuclear blast from Minako; Suzume and Yukari can only hear it at a distance. By the time the three of them arrive, the reason for Minako's delay is obvious: she, unfortunately, had to fight a Shadow, and while it wasn't a *powerful* Shadow, she ended up fighting it alone (and, eventually, with Hitomi, if she hustled).
By this point, Suzume is approaching what must be her normal adrenaline-fueled energy levels: higher than the usually slouchy, sullen teen has been in the dorms. "About time," she says, clonking her tonfa together. "Can we just... explore as a group now?"
That's Suzume-speak for 'I am glad I found all of you alive and healthy', by the way.
(|================== Monad - Mission: Sneak Into Gekkoukan! ==================|)
-==== Round 3: Where Am I? - Challenge Level 2 ================================-
| Approach Options: Guts or Understanding |
| Conditions: Clumsy - Proficiency Down L1, Hard - Understanding Down L1, |
| Scary - Guts Down L1, and Stupor - Academics Down L1 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
"Where am I? Why am I here?"
A voice may echo through your head, faintly, as you make your way alone through
Tartarus -- it will be much easier to hear for those with strong Resonance like
Navigators, but even extremely /capable/ Navigators will realise they no right
of reply to the voice they're hearing.
Whether by following that voice, or just by climbing Tartarus, you'll be able to
find... /part/ of your party. Another loner or two converges on your location,
each of you trying to find each other, and it's surely a huge relief. But what
about the others? Your best clue might be heading towards the sound of those
faint whispers -- maybe your friends are hearing it, too. At least now, you're
better able to face down the Shadows which want to block your path. Merciless
Mayas and Muttering Tiaras stand in your path as you move forward -- one a
formless puddle of a Shadow wearing a mask and grasping with its arms, and the
other floating in the air, its head twisted into the shape of tiara as shadowy
fabric flutters beneath it.
(Note: It is suggested that you split your party into groups of 2 and 3, or
equivalent, to answer this Challenge.)
(|============================================================= Monad 1.0 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
THOOM! "That's probably one of them," Hitomi muses. *HUSTLE*
Soon enough, she's found Minako -- "Hey! I'm so sorry, wow. Uh, here, we have like seven drinks and I don't think Yamagishi's going to need all of them." Score one slightly lukewarm Pocari Sweat!
Soon enough, everyone else is together, and Hitomi gives everyone a smile. "Yeah," she says, "I think we should, even if I suppose that's not very space and time efficient, like, comparatively, haha, I'm just nervous, ignore me..."
FORWARD!
The group is able to travel with no interruption other than one rather weak Shadow who is easily dispatched without too much effort. The only real problem is...
"Do you see anything from Yamagishi? Like, at all?" Hitomi just says abruptly after approximately five right turns through the cryptic hallways that seem to go nowhere. Being in a group is better, but they already, quite likely, don't have any idea how to get BACK to the others... trusting perhaps in Mitsuru-sempai to find their lost asses if they're in trouble. Hitomi turns around...
It happened, very likely, during the moment when everyone was NOT looking in a direction where they could see everyone else. A cluster of four girls who are deliberately staying close together meant that it took a while to happen. But when Hitomi looks back towards where Suzume and Yukari had been, she sees instead...
A wall.
"When the FUCK did this get here?" Hitomi says, raising her voice. She raises a fist and smacks it against the ribbed wall, and gets nothing for her trouble but a surprising rebound and a sudden step back. "... s-sorry, this is just... ugh. I guess we just only have so much luck to go around, huh?" she says, looking towards Minako.
There's several silent seconds. Hitomi, inwardly, is considering how to propose something. (Her feelings? No -- but she is considering, quite seriously, if she and Minako should link hands. On the other hand, would that mean that when they got separated one of them would...)
where am I?
Hitomi's head turns slightly. "You hear that?" she says, whispers herself almost. She's sweating now, with worry. Wiping off her forehead with her forearm, she sucks in a deep breath.
And then... she holds out a hand to Minako.
"If we run into Shadows," she says, "or if I start falling... let go. Okay? But..."
why am I here?
"... I think we're falling behind. Do you think you can run?"
And if Minako takes that outstretched hand (of friendship, friends), Hitomi *will* start running towards the incredibly loose, basically-hemispherical direction the sound seems to be coming from.
MONAD: Hitomi Mandai has acted with Raise -- All In toward Where Am I?! Bravery and Focus!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yukari does turn quickly, with her bow at the ready and arrow nocked but-
Doesn't fire.
"... I'm just happy to find anyone else still alive."
She admits to Suzume in that moment of solidarity perhaps, lowering her bow and letting the tension go on the string.
Yukari, doesn't in fact go 'I told you so' or anything. They're on a mission right now. They have a goal. "Okay good." Just... need a moment, "Whew... heart's beating a little fast."
She's ordinarily too proud to admit she's scared, but right now she's jut relieved that she's alive and they're alive too. Which is when the explosion happens. "Yeah. Come on! That's gotta be them. Though... careful. We won't do them any favors if we accidentally lead more Shadows to them."
It's not even calling Suzume out, the warning is more for herself too.
When they come upon Hitomi and Minako... "Oh thank goodness-! You're all okay! Ahaha... wow. What a start. This operation already feels like a mess... but it can only go up from here right?"
Yukari may spend some extra time using Io to heal wounds... but... "No sign of her yet. Unless... you saw something?"
She turns to Suzume, and when she turns back, "What!? Where'd they go!? That's NEVER happened before!" She freaks out some, before calms down, "Then again, there's nothing normal about this operation."
where am I?
"... What was that!?" Yukari says in an instantly renewed panic. "You hear that too right?" She says to Suzume, "It sounded like it was in my head..."
why am I here?
"Again!" She squeaks, high pitched, "Oh no. No... no no... why now!?" She breathes rapidly for a moment, sweat starting to drip off of her chin, "Okay... Okay - um... we're just gonna stay close, and link up to the others. Just... keep that Evoker ready."
There's no such thing as ghosts
There's no such thing as ghosts
There's no such thing as ghosts
Things you can't see are always scarier for her. Just like that voice.
MONAD: Yukari Takeba has acted with Guts toward Where Am I?! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
Minako is breathing heavily -- and there's a gash in the side of her uniform, where the Shadow got her. It lies at her feet -- a puddle of inky darkness. She wipes at her brow, and then she looks at Suzume. She takes a second to collect herself.
"Good idea," she says. "I'm really glad to see all of you. That was scarier than I want to admit."
Even if she did just admit it.
"I'm glad to see you too," she says to Yukari. "We're... well, we're all here. That's the important thing. Stick close, everyone!"
She looks at Hitomi -- and she quickly shakes her head. "Don't worry about it. I haven't seen anything from her, but--but she has to be here. Somewhere." She hopes quietly, as she says that aloud.
Minako walks along, staying near the front with Hitomi. With her naginata, it makes her a natural fit for the front line. When Hitomi turns, though, Minako's eyes widen a bit. "This place is confusing," she says. "It's okay to be frustrated."
She exhales. "We--"
She hears a voice. She looks at Hitomi, then she nods. She hears it. Silently, she takes Hitomi's hand.
She hears the voice again.
"I'm with you," she says. "And I can run. Maybe--maybe that voice is her. Maybe she's ahead..."
The memory of that night on a bridge comes back to her. Of climbing free of a car, bloodied; of asking why she survived, and why someone else had to--
She stops that thought. If they can just get to Fuuka, then it will all be worth it. Minako starts to run with Hitomi, holding on tighter to her hand.
"...Just hold on, Yamagishi-san."
MONAD: Minako Arisato has acted with Rushing In toward Where Am I?! Bravery and Focus! <Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume, like Yukari, has a bit too much pride to admit when she's wrong, or that she might be showing a vulnerability. Especially in *front* of Yukari, who told Suzume she didn't know what she's getting into.
Suzume needs to show her she's worth having here. Which means looking at her best.
"Yeah..." Her heart is a little fast, too. In her case Suzume doesn't mind the adrenaline but she *does* mind some of the rest of it. At least they're all together now...
Like Minako, with her tonfa Suzume makes sense to keep near the front. So she does, taking the opposide side as Minako. Suzume may not have Tartarus experience but she's watched movies, played games; she knows how important it is to keep a formation with the melee people up front. Except -
A wall.
"...it doesn't normally shift, but - " This place *is* creepy. Suzume gets goosebumps. Her impromptu mapping (well, keeping to the left-hand rule) doesn't work if the walls move! They might never find their way back.
'where am I?'
Yukari might have panicked out loud, but Suzume straightened bolt upright. She absolutely heard it too. "It came from..."
'why am I here?'
Suzume can't tell which way it came from. It sounded like it came from everywhere or nowhere. Echoes? Or... She picks up on Yukari's tension, and while normally she might roll her eyes, she can't really blame her for it in *here*. "...okay," she says, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, through her nose.
It's just like a haunted house, Suzume tells herself. A haunted house that can kill you, but... She can do this. She can do this. She can do this.
She's not sure she can do this.
Suzume grips the handle of her right tonfa tighter, her knuckles whitening. She fought in Mementos, when she couldn't even fight back. Now she can. She just has to remember that. She's not helpless. She's never going to let herself be helpless; she's not the one that needs to be saved.
"Okay," she repeats, as she begins to walk. She hasn't drawn her Evoker, but... it's ready, too.
MONAD: Suzume Fukura has acted with Dare toward Where Am I?! Specialty! MONAD: Yukari Takeba has drawn a new Challenge!
(|================== Monad - Mission: Sneak Into Gekkoukan! ==================|)
-==== Round 4: Please Answer Me - Challenge Level 3 ===========================-
| Approach Options: Academics or Proficiency |
| Conditions: Boss - Add 1 Fatigue on failure., Box - Add 1 Item/Money/Gear., |
| Clumsy - Proficiency Down L1, Hard - Understanding Down L1, Scary - Guts |
| Down L1, and Stupor - Academics Down L1 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
"Please, answer me..."
There's that voice again -- growing a little louder, a little easier to hear
even if you're not the most Resonant Persona-user out there. Here, on the third
floor of this mysterious purple-tinged Arqa Block, you'll come across something
that will surely help you -- a glittering rare treasure chest lying in your
path. There's just one problem...
... the Shadow patrolling in front of it is wreathed in strange red flames. It's
clearly a more formidable enemy than the ones you've been facing, and you still
haven't found all your friends! Facing it in your current state would be
incredibly risky, but whatever you might claim from that chest might be key to
your survival. You'll need to be quick enough to dart in while its back is
turned -- or clever enough to think up a distraction. Getting caught out in a
fight would /definitely/ suck.
How will each group solve this problem, split up as they are?
(|============================================================= Monad 1.0 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
For Minako and Hitomi, it's a run. They can move fast. What does Hitomi see, behind her eyes, behind her mind? What's on her face, which is in a contortion of determination, with a strange hint of some kind of glimmer in her eyes?
She remembers a thrill, a joy, and a horrible disappointment. Blood, terror, and revelation. Something pouring a thick defiling liquid on something gorgeous, something pure, something in her heart. Scrape it away. Will it shine? Is it ruined?
She keeps going.
Hitomi doesn't answer Minako.
For Yukari and Suzume, it may be difficult. Tenser. More fearful. Instead of running ahead, they take it with caution. Routine... a ritual of preparedness. Rituals can be a guard, a fence, a prescription. They have a bad reputation, but they're there for a reason.
But the good news is that... they got lucky. No Shadows stand in their way, at least not in a way that can't be avoided with a little tacking of the route of the run or an adjustment in the path of their journey. No deep obstacles. No cthonic and maddening puzzles.
No corpses! Not even the near occasion of corpses. Unless you want to read those masks in the wall as being *death* masks, of course, but don't get too morbid about it.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Both groups move.
The hallways have shifted, creepily, glowing veins across woven tentacles, and wet ground that occasionally pools red at their footsteps...
Like what they're stepping on is alive.
That isn't to say there's nothing of help! There's a chest, glinting... but...!
"Stop." Yukari whispers softly to Suzume, ever so softly. Because the Shadow... maybe Suzume blinks, and she'll feel it now.
The red aura of resonance. That feeling in the pit of your gut that screams 'danger' 'danger' danger'.
The Shadow - the predator. And they, the prey. It's strange mask blue pooling out of black ichor, more amorphous than the strange misshapen Shadows in Mementos.
-=-=-
Hitomi and Minako find an even better haul. A white chest, with bars, and two red dots where Minako might place Twilight Fragments from prior operations to open it.
One problem. In the corner of the room with the chest, and they'll see a Snake, woven greedily around a heart. Eyes glinting...
She'll remember this from their exploration. Lustful Snakes.
If you engage them, they will charm someone over and over and over.
Which... they could fathom taking it on if they had someone or multiple someones who could deal with that.
But what now?
-=-=-
"That's definitely one of those big ones..." Yukari whispers to Suzume... "And... if you look beyond? I think I see our way up."
Please, answer me
She stifles another sound, clapping her hand over her mouth, shaking, she takes a breath. Breathing, she takes a moment, "We can't fight that... not right now. So here's what we'll do. I'm gonna do something that's gonna seem a little... weird."
As she pulls out this strange looking old style Talisman from one of her pockets, "You get the chest, and then run alright? It'll be fine! Just... just run fast alright?"
Yukari steps out into the open, and then, "Hey you! Ugly!" The Steel Gigas turns towards her, and roars, tromping towards her as it forms a Colossal creature with metallic plating around its limbs.
Which is when she then throws a Talisman!
And a thunderbolt zaps down, which if it hits will momentarily stagger it to a knee... for all of, you know - a few seconds!
Then she keeps running.
Where's Arisato-chan when you need her?
I always prefer it when she uses those...!
MONAD: Yukari Takeba has acted with Mean Girl toward Please Answer Me! Specialty!
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
Minako keeps running. But she slows to a stop -- her feet skidding over the uneven surface of Thebel Block -- and she lifts a hand. Her eyes dart from the white chest, to the Lustful Snakes. Her lips tense, into a frown.
"The chest has something good," she says. "Almost certainly. But those things--"
She jabs a finger at the snakes. "...They might charm us. It'd be a disaster with just us," she says. "It--"
'Please, answer me.'
Her breath catches, and she turns her head. She looks at Hitomi, then she nods. "We should slip past. With the two of us, I don't like our odds. And we need to get to Yamagishi."
MONAD: Minako Arisato has acted with Academics toward Please Answer Me! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
"Oh, hey," Hitomi says as she sees the treasure. "Should we try to pick it up?" It's quiet, but it's... nice. They can't run forever. It's a distraction from their possibly imminent -- nope, there's the Snake.
She grunts at the sight of it.
Something voices in the distance. Her cheeks puff out. Hitomi looks at the Snakes. Her hand slides back into her dice pouch. Click clack, clack click.
She has that weird look in her face again, staring at the snake... but then she takes a deep, deep, DEEP breath... and blows it out rather explosively, sagging as she does. "Yeah," she says, "you're right." Straightening up, she looks at the chest for a few steps, but -- finally -- turns away.
"... But if we do come back this way, after we find Fukura and Takeba..." Hitomi adds.
MONAD: Hitomi Mandai has acted with It's Time For Some Game Theory toward Please Answer Me! Smarts and Patra! <Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
The squishy hallways are *definitely* reminding Suzume of Mementos, and not in a good way. The strange growths along the side of the tracks, or under the pillars in the areas meant for walking...
Suzume stops when she's asked to, without even arguing about it. Because - she *can* feel the resonance. She hadn't ever felt it before she met Shinjiro, and since then she's felt it a couple times, but this is different. Her Persona is that of a great hunter - and it knows when something is hunting *her*.
She rotates her tonfa back, resting it along her arm, more of a defensive positioning than an offensive one. "I might be able to sneak past," she hisses, keeping her voice low. But she doesn't know how to get Yukari across if she can't sneak herself.
'Please, answer me'
Suzume flinches again. Then: "Wait," she says, holding up one finger. "Is that - I think we're going the right way after all!" She seems more energetic. And why?
Well, Suzume is in Fuuka's class. She (and Hitomi) have heard her before, if only rarely - she's not friends with Fuuka and they don't talk but she's heard her answer questions before. And the placeless voice is faintly familiar...
"So let's go," she agrees, but looks Yukari over again. Something weird? She almost argues about taking orders - Yukari can't tell her what to do - but she is the senpai here, and so Suzume gives a grudging nod. It *is* weird, though. "Wait, you want to stop for the treasure - "
More than that. She wants to *fight it* for the treasure, or at least knock it down.
Suzume is off like a shot as soon as Yukari gets the Gigas' attention. For someone who's as small as she is, Suzume is *fast* in a sprint. It looks practiced...
...but Suzume is actually a little out of practice. She did track more, before, but she hasn't on a running team since middle school. She feels a twinge and ignores it, pushing through as she nearly slams into the chest, popping it open with the butt end of her tonfa.
She just shoves whatever's inside on top of her bag - she'll look at it later, though that poor squashed melonpan is now getting extra squashed - and runs the rest of the way, slowing down only slightly to scramble toward the stairs without tripping on them.
"You run faster than I thought," she calls to Yukari. "Figured - you'd stick to kyudo. No running there!"
MONAD: Suzume Fukura has acted with Sports Talk toward Please Answer Me! Diligence and Focus! <Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
It's a good call! It's the absolutely correct call unless there's something that allows for instant Fuuka Recovery inside! But leaving the treasure behind... it absolutely hurts.
And Oh...
... as they try to slip by the Lustful Snake comes at them anyway!
30 Marin Karins later!
ALL ON HITOMI!
EVERY SINGLE ONE!
Minako FINALLY brings it down WITHOUT hurting her teammate who keeps rolling SNAKE EYES damnit, because OF COURSE SHE DOES!
It may be a little exhausting, thankfully the chest has...
You received 1x Chewing Soul
She's gonna need that, probably.
Yep. The way she sees it... it's on the way.
Indeed, she is still running, and before long Suzume and her hear the Gigas up and tromping after them on footsteps that shake even the strange organic ground.
But eventually the footsteps slow - and then they don't hear them anymore.
As she leans against the wall, taking a breather, "Uh well... that was the case... until I joined SEES."
She looks at Suzume, and shrugs her shoulders, "I guess a few months of exploring this place? You learn to run pretty fast..."
...
"... also there was that whole runaway monorail thing too." She looks away at that, "I think I got like a whole week's worth of training that night alone, thanks to Stupei running around everywhere trying to prove himself."
She straightens up, and then looks at her, long and hard, "But hey, good work. You got it."
Inside the chest was...
You received 1x Dis-Charm
"That's definitely gonna come in handy if we run into one of those horrible snakes again."
MONAD: Minako Arisato has drawn a new Challenge!
(|================== Monad - Mission: Sneak Into Gekkoukan! ==================|)
-==== Round 5: Is Someone There? - Challenge Level 2 ==========================-
| Approach Options: Academics or Understanding |
| Conditions: Bless - +1 to Group Roll (Per Character), Clumsy - Proficiency |
| Down L1, Hard - Understanding Down L1, Stupor - Academics Down L1, and |
| Stupor - Academics Down L1 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
This time, when you climb another floor, both of your groups are able to reunite
with each other. Thank goodness! With everyone reunited, you'll have a much
easier time fighting even the more difficult enemies in Arqa Block. It's still a
challenge, but now, at least, you don't have to worry about whether your friends
are hurt out here.
You'll get a moment to breathe, thanks to your combined strength. An arched
window shows the vista outside of Tartarus -- and the Full Moon which hangs in
the sky. Perhaps the cycles of the moon mean something, to you... or perhaps
it's just some eerie imagery, as far as you're concerned. But not only is this a
moment to collect your thoughts -- it's a moment for you all to compare notes on
that voice you've been hearing. Pressingly, you hear her /again,/ as indistinct
as ever: "Is someone there?"
Whoever it is, she sounds like she needs help. Before you do anything else, you
have to keep climbing until you find her.
(|============================================================= Monad 1.0 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
"Mandai-chan!"
"Mandai-chan!"
"MANDAI-CHAN!"
It takes awhile before the Snake is gone. It dissolves into shadowstuff at her feet -- and Minako leans against her naginata, breathing hard. But the white chest, at least, has a Chewing Soul.
"Dibs," she tells Hitomi. "Are you okay?"
In short order, they get moving. And as they come up the stairs, they find another set of stairs leading down -- and these lead to a platform. The second set is being ascended by Suzume and Yukari.
"Ah!" Minako exclaims. "There you two are! This place is scary. Let's try to stay together."
She turns -- and she walks along. Minako leads the way again, and as she does, she hears the voice again: 'Is someone there?' Her brow furrows, before she looks back at everyone. "We have to keep moving. Maybe... maybe we're not too late."
She needs to not be too late.
Minako steps into the next room. She pauses, though, as she gets a good look at the arched window. Outside, they can see Tatsumi Port Island -- all shaded in green -- and the huge, looming full moon. Minako looks at it...
...and her eyes narrow. "Mm, Takeba-chan," she says. "The... night with the monorail. Wasn't there also a full moon in Dark Hour?"
She feels herself growing cold inside, then. She needs to hurry. If Yamagishi is dead, then--
She doesn't let herself think that. Instead, Minako smiles.
MONAD: Minako Arisato has acted with A Smile for Every Situation toward Is Someone There?! Specialty! <Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
AFTER THE BATTLE WITH THE SNAKES
Hitomi is on her knees, face red in her face. She's slid her fingers up so her glasses are on the outside. "... No hard feelings, right?"
DURING THE BATTLE
Hitomi, surrounded by questionable pink hearts, says, "Fade me!" and threw the dice! Think fast!
BUT HERE AND NOW:
"y-yeah -- I think so. Just... ugh. I'm sorry," she concludes, getting up and brushing her greaves off. And then, forwards. And then, upwar-- no, downwards. "Ugh," Hitomi comments, but she usually says that if it seems like they're going backwards for reasons other than 'we're done here.'
And then:
"Fukuraaaaa Takebaaaaaaa," Hitomi draws out, deliberately playing up the slightly annoying habit she actually has. "I'm so glad to see both of you. Oof. Did you --" But probably neither of them found Yamagishi already. Instead... The window.
Hitomi looks out, at the Moon.
"... It's like a vampire castle, or something, when you see it like this," she concludes, before -- frowning, and looking towards Yukari. Then back to Minako. "... If that's really her, and she's TALKING," Hitomi concludes, looking upside. "Ugh, I'm going to fall over --" But she hits a good trot, heading after the way Minako went!
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Once they're out of sight, Suzume takes a moment to crouch down and swing her backpack to the floor so she can look into it. A Dis-Charm... "Guess I'll hold onto it," she says, having not seen the snakes at all yet. "Since I've got the bag. Where'd you get the talisman?" She wants one.
She straightens a moment later, most of the way anyway; she is back to slouching a little bit. "Next time we come to Tartarus," she says, "I need to find something else to wear. I don't care if Arisato-chan," so she means Minako and not Minato, "thinks it's a good idea. I'm wearing my gym clothes. Or something." She drops back for a moment, tugging about halfway up her too-big shirt to make it sit right again with a faint wince. "You're lucky. Mandai-chan said that you guys got... customized uniforms, or something. I don't have one yet."
She's just got her Evoker on a belt holster, and the red armband, and that's the only differences.
"There you are!" Suzume says, almost in sync with Minako, as she releases her shirt and reshoulders the backpack. "Where did you guys go? All we found was a wall..." She really is relieved to see them again.
Maybe they're not too late...
"I don't think we are," Suzume says, suddenly. "The voice... I think it might be her. I've heard her a few times in class. I don't know how we can HEAR her, but unless Tartarus is haunted..."
Sorry, Yukari. She doesn't know.
"...then we might be hearing her. Maybe the air vents? Does Tartarus *have* vents...? It has air... If we find any I'm *not* crawling in them. You can't actually do that anyway, that's just a movies thing."
Suzume looks out the window when Minako draws her attention to it. She knew it was bright, but... full moon? "Hey, it's not a full moon today. It's like half." Yesterday was half, actually; today it starts waning. But that's only the full moon outside of the Dark Hour, of course...
MONAD: Suzume Fukura has acted with Random Knowledge toward Is Someone There?! Patra and Smarts! MONAD: Hitomi Mandai has acted with Academics toward Is Someone There?! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Oh. You find them in chests around here? I don't really know how it works just - they do. You can just kinda tell after a while what one does versus another."
She explains as best she can the mechanics of Tartarus loot to Suzume, but it's still kind of a learn as they go situation.
"Well - it's not a bad idea, coming in gym clothes. Our first operations I was just in my uniform. It's fine if - you gotta watch it sometimes with the guys."
Yukari says sincerely, "If you've gotta climb, make them do it first. For me though... this is just what I'm comfortable moving around in."
Thankfully, before long, they link up-! "What happened!? I just turned around and the two of you were gone!" Evoker comes out, Healing spells happen.
Then Minako notes the Moon, "Huh? Well... now that I think about it... yeah. It was really big and bright that night..." You can see the moment her thoughts grind to a halt, "... too. You don't think?!"
Fear grips her, as they hear the voice, they run, "Wait - hold it!"
Yukari says to the group, trying to call for them to slow down, "Remember, those girls heard voices too before they were found passed out in front of the school! If the Full Moon really is connected- then even if you think it's Yamagishi-san... be careful. It could be a trick from the Shadows."
She warns, "I want her to be okay as much as the rest of you, promise - but if we fall into a trap then there's no chance of saving her."
MONAD: Yukari Takeba has acted with Suspicion toward Is Someone There?! Focus and Patra!
(|================== Monad - Mission: Sneak Into Gekkoukan! ==================|)
-==== Round 6: Who's There? - Challenge Level 2 ===============================-
| Approach Options: Charm or Understanding |
| Conditions: Revelation - The best result. |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
Climbing another set of Arqa stairs, you realise something special about this
floor -- there's another of those Treasure Chests, in a path off to the side.
You manage to snag it on your way through, earning yourselves a nice chunk of
extra yen for your trouble.
Before you can run into too much extra trouble, though, you hear a voice...
which sounds much more /embodied/ than it did before. "Who's there? Are you...
human?"
That voice calls you to all the /other/ people who ascended Tartarus today, as
each group converges on the siren's song they've been following. A girl steps
out from behind a strange rocklike formation -- it's Fuuka Yamagishi, scared and
unsure. You might not know the people you've just run into, but you're /all/
trapped in Tartarus, right now, and there's strength in numbers. Together, you
find a teleporter to take Fuuka back to the entrance.
Whether you came in here to save her or not -- you can surely call this mission
a success.
(This Monad leads directly into Battle Royale! See the scenepost for more
details.)
Final Loot: 2 Pieces of Gear!
(|============================================================= Monad 1.0 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
"It... we should be careful," Minako says. "I don't know what it means, but I don't know if I believe in coincidences in here." She swallows, and she looks ready to start rushing ahead. But when Yukari speaks...
She slows down. She looks at Yukari -- then she nods. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right," she says. "It could be a trick. Everyone, be careful!"
They forge ahead, climbing up the stairs. They do find another treasure chest -- and some more money, too -- and they hear a voice. A voice that sounds closer.
Minako gasps, as she sees Fuuka step out -- and the other people who are coming up, too. Her eyes widen. "That's her...!"
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume looks Yukari over.
"Maybe if you didn't wear your skirt that short you'd have less of a problem," Suzume replies, because sometimes (okay, regularly) her mouth gets ahead of her brain. She did not think before she spoke. Again.
Then she realizes what she's said and, because she's Suzume, attempts to simply push through it despite realizing she's just fucked up and put her foot in her mouth: "I mean, I'd want to wear shorts under it or something. ...but guys don't give me much of a problem. Not twice anyway." She doesn't ball a fist because she's already holding the tonfa, but, well. It's implied. Gossip says she's dating Jiro, but the way she's acting...
(Also, does she even know how to dress? Her uniform is rumpled and not fit very well, the backpack is slung casually over one shoulder, her hair is more than a little messy and wild... though that might just be being in Tartarus.)
But fortunately Tartarus does not depend on Suzume's fashion sense. Ahead they go, though the tone is once again awkward between Yukari and Suzume, from Suzume's perspective. She doesn't try to start anything else but she also doesn't seem inclined to apologize.
It could be a trick, but -
It isn't.
"Yamagishi!" she calls. "It's Fukura, from class!" That's all she's going to be able to say for now, though. It's not like they're alone here anymore...
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Yeah and if I had fifty yen for every time Ekoda-sensei said that and now - you too. I'd have as much money as the Kirijo group." She says, tersely to Suzume's comment on her skirt...
After that, she's not exactly inclined to say her fashion has always been for her... not the boys.
"You can think you want about it on your own time. We're on an operation right now."
There's something a little stormy about that, but also scared and trying to focus. Despite being belligerent, she really doesn't want to argue in these circumstances.
"It sounds like you're dressing that way because you're afraid of what everyone else will think." Yukari says after a while, "That's... kinda sad, actually."
She doesn't mean it as pathetic certainly - just, sad.
... but it's very easy to take it the other way.
Fortunately, the misunderstandings end (FOR NOW) when they link up and...
"I don't believe it..." Yukari says, not in a tone of skepticism, but being utterly caught flat-footed by Fuuka Yamagishi just being alive and well after so long in Tartarus.
"... she's alive!"
Maybe she still means everything she said about this operation. On how dangerous it was. How she doesn't believe certain people should come - about all the stupid risks that come with it, the unknowns...
... but maybe it was worth it despite all that.