2025-07-29: It's Some Kind of Magic
- Log: It's a Some Kind of Magic
- Cast: Myunghon Yeo, Mio Kazama
- Where: A Car
- OOC Date: July 28, 2025
- IC Date: June 17, 2012
- Summary: Myunghon remembers it's easier to FIND PALACES on CARS.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
aight so it turns out that acting cool and nonchalant and being like 'we're gonna Palace this guy' makes you sound like absolute hot shit, EXCEPT
You gotta find out where the Palace is. And as Myunghon Yeo found out the other day, doing this ON FOOT kinda sucks-ass, which is why after a full day of clocking 30,000 steps they've given up and called their Uber so they can try to find the magical empty lot in the Tokyo Greater Metropolitan Area where they feel like they're gonna throw up.
It's your turn, middle-finger nun. Lavish me with the sweet deets of the NSX.
<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
Myunghon's step counter is looking red hot, #1, trending on Bwitter, but that doesn't bring them any closer to finding the object they've so brazenly declared they're going to invade along with the rest of the Persona Fun Gang. So it's teamwork time.
Mio is easy to get ahold of in the evening, since she isn't pulling any shifts at random convenience stores or ramen-delivery joints. It doesn't take long before the telltale throaty whine of a sports-tuned engine tickles Myunghon's ears, and a familiar chariot of glossy black is putting along in first gear not far away. It has flip-up headlights, so you KNOW that is the literal coolest shit ever made.
At the wheel is a lilac-haired young lady, her long locks pulled back into a bun sticking out of a black ball-cap. She's wearing a white track jacket, but it's unmistakably her. She spies Myunghon and toots the horn. Toot!
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon sounds half-dead as they slip in and... they... you know, they're still doing the thing with their god-ankles where they're just squatting on Mio's passenger seat, but turning yourself into the morph ball and still being strapped in is kind of an unpleasant experience, but they're somehow managing to deal. This is illegal somehow, isn't it? Katsuya's going to yell at you again.
As they drive down Yumezaki as it comes alive at night, their eye goldfishes and reflects the reflection of lights and neon signs zooming on by. "Okay, Kazama-kun. So the deal with a Palace is that you have about a half-kilometre radius where your senses will tell you something's *off*. Problem is, Tokyo's huge. Fortunately, I have a list of likely places this guy haunts, so you run the fare metre, we check it off, and I'll throw in dinner to start too."
Myunghon surely you aren't insinuating this sexy black ride has anything as pedestrian as a fare metre.
<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
Mio has one arm resting against the window, though it's still rolled up and the air conditioning is turned on. As ever, the car is spotless, and is probably cleaned before -and- after every trip. "Uh-huh." she echoes, one eye on the road. A quick glance into the rear-vision mirror and then she changes lanes, smoothly. The car has a warm burble of a noise, but since nobody's racing, it's quiet and relaxing rather than angry and aggressive.
"How 'off' do you mean? I don't think I've got the strongest radar, if you know what I mean, but..." she asks, following up with one more question. "Where's the first place? We'll just go street by street and hope the traffic ain't too bad."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"I can't say. I think only Black Cat-san and I sensed the distortion last time, so there's levels of sensitivity. I happened to luck out on the lottery. The last Palace I sensed, it was at about... mmmn." Myunghon's thumb is on the corner of their lips again. "Like if you just drank a capful of Dettol and your stomach's not having it?"
Myunghon don't consume any amount of Dettol.
They're back onto their list, which they unfold. "This one's unlikely, but we'll cross it off the list. 3-Chome, 7-Ban..." Blah blah blah. They go on a little cruise off the arteries of Yumezaki, and before long, Myunghon's crossed off some locations off the list. Absolutely no fruit.
"... what's the story behind the car, by the way, Kazama-kun?"
<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
"Hmm~m..." Mio muses thoughtfully again as she thinks about her eccentric new companion's methods, mood, and now their apparent sensitivity to this strange world. She pokes the stereo with a gloved finger, and it lights up to indicate it's playing from a CD. Poppy, sugary beats fill the interior soon after. Showa era pop stuff. City pop stuff. Ooh, yeah.
"Do you have a stomach problem? I think my doc would slap me if I went drinking antiseptic." the young woman snickers, turning the corner. Passing streetlights cast amber and shadow over the car interior as they go. And go, they do. They canvas the streets with mathematical precision, but nobody's picking up anything! It's like... it's like there's nothing magical out there at all!
Curses.
When we rejoin conversation, Mio is wearing her baseball cap backwards. There's an S embroidered on the back, but not like, The Cool S. A slightly gothic S with angel wings coming off of it. She takes a pull from a can of coffee, listening to Myunghon's question. "Oh, the car." Mio nods, then gives a thumbs up. "I like fast cars and my mom always talked about buying this model when I was young. You can make a lotta money if you know how to get people 'n things around quickly." her eyes are full of stars now. "I've got a motorbike, too!"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"I'm trying to describe nausea," Myunghon answers in turn, staring at the stereo for a moment like an animal cornered, before settling down as they become satisfied that the sugary 4/4 beat isn't going to, in fact, kill them through their blood sugar. This was going to be a long night of absolutely no results, but there's something nice about sitting in a car and seeing the scenery go by. Or is it the somewhat depraved pleasure of knowing they're in the middle of the road, a place that they're not supposed to be?
"Hmmn. So it's family owned?" Myunghon wonders. "It's true that your services have been exceptionally useful. I was expecting to exit Gekkoukan bleeding badly, but it turns out half the school there is awakened." Was that sarcasm? This person isn't capable of sarcasm, surely.
"Let's get out of Yumezaki. Kaneshiro's not Sumaru-based, so we'll have to take the keihin to Tokyo proper. Did you eat yet? I'll treat you to a meal on the way. I have a feeling it'll be a long night."
<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
"No... it's not family-owned," Mio clarifies a point about the car, casually. A wistful smile warms her lips. "Mom's producer kept talking her out of buying sports cars and stuff when she was in her prime, but she always had posters up. I guess it rubbed off on me, y'know?" the conversation is accentuated by the soft click-clack of the turning indicator as Myunghon suggests they leave Yumezaki behind.
Mention of taking the highway puts a little grin on that oft-innocent face. "I had an onigiri before I picked you up, but a real meal sounds good. Didja learn anything useful on your Gekkoukan trip, in the end? I had my hands full just trying to keep from getting knocked around."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
There's an askance glance at the smile, as Myunghon lets Mio clarify. "Hmm..." So, it's like fulfilling a dream of her mom's that she never pursued. There's something kind of romantic about that, but Myunghon isn't really what you'd call a romantic. When they pull onto the onramp, and start to leave Sumaru behind, their eye is on the city. Beautiful Sumaru, coming alive as the sun goes down, when its most wicked and beautiful corners become known...
"There's a hell tower called Tartarus that appears during the Dark Hour. You saw it waiting outside," Myunghon begins, sounding no more serious than if they were talking about groceries for lunch tomorrow. "It plays by its own rules, so you can't count on your experiences in Sumaru alone. There were also these massive Shadows..."
A longer pause, and then a look of distaste. "I wonder what they taste like. I forgot. I did taste the tower, though."
<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
There's a skeptical twist to Mio's features at that description of Tartarus, but perhaps that's more reflex than anything. "Ha~a? Is that something to do with the school? Maybe that's why there's so many people who can see the freaky side of the world there..." she muses, finding comfort in putting her foot down as the car gleefully gobbles up the asphalt of the freeway. Not that they launch forward, mind you, but there *is* a speed limit to zip up to.
"What's a tower taste like?" is her next question. "I guess if it's made of Hell, prob'ly nothing good, huh."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"No idea. We'll be coming back sometime to do our own investigation, but we'll need more manpower to do that," Myunghon is already off on their own little world regarding it, already spiderwebbing out into a billion little threads. "It's undeniable it's related to the Dark Hour. But maybe not exclusively. It's a high-priority point of interest, nonetheless. All the rumourmongers want more info about it, so it's a goldmine of intel to exchange with the community." And in turn, broaden their reach to other topics.
They're jostling more as the car speeds up, because seatbelts aren't designed for people who turn into cocoons of bone and flesh. "... longing. Regret. Isolation," they murmur, but it doesn't really sound like them. "What foods do you like, Kazama-kun?"
<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.
Not to worry, Yeo-san! Mio is trained to deliver the ramen up and down Mt. Akagi without spilling a drop of broth from the cup! And they're not exactly charging from lane to lane, here, so it's a pretty easy ride from here-on out.
"Hmm~... I wonder what kinda secrets are locked up in there. I haven't been figuring much out lately..." Mio's cheek leans against her hand as she shifts her weight in the bucket seat. It's true, she hasn't made much headway on her goal, but then, dismantling the structures of power happens one brick at a time!!
She doesn't pick up on what Myonghun is talking about for a moment, but then, doesn't press them about the odd little murmur. "Oh, food? I like yakitori deeesu~. And Italian food." a pause. "I guess family restaurants are pretty good for me, we used to eat at them a lot on the road. What about you?"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"It can't be a priority for me. I don't think *capitalism* is at the top of Tartarus," Myunghon ruminates on the nature of the hell tower. "Mementos is more of a priority for me, because it's much more clearly woven into the fabric of society. No, Tartarus feels like the byproduct of capitalism, a cold, dark lonely place where people who've had everything stolen from them go..." They're not super sure about this theory. Maybe they're just projecting about being split up from the group so effortlessly.
But the topic soon switches from Tartarus to yakitori, but in a sense, isn't Tartarus a giant yakitori skewer? Without even missing a beat, they deflect the topic of what food they like as they go: "Okay, there's a Johnny's on the way to our next destination. We can stop there."
Johnny's... it's got some kind of magic.