2025-09-23: Forgotten People
- Log: Forgotten People
- Cast: Myunghon Yeo, Ichika Kawase
- Where: Cardboard Dragon, Hirasaka Ward
- OOC Date: September 23, 2025
- IC Date: July 15, 2012
- Summary: Ichika visits the Cardboard Dragon after the disastrous first trip to Eiji's Palace.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
> I've got some updates for our little Buckingham visit next month
> Got a nice itinerary to go with it and everything
Such are the texts from Rumourmonger Merry to Ichika -- she knows ahead of time that they use 'Buckingham', as in, 'Buckingham Palace' as a code for when they want to discuss Palaces. Sometimes it's a different Palace! But they kind of like Buckingham because they like imagining it's all made out of ham.
The Cardboard Dragon's actually got customers today because it is in fact a Sunday. Gumiho's currently manning the store for Myunghon, but when Ichika arrives, being the Thorn Boss as she is, the younger blue-haired girl inevitably gasps and points--
"Aaaah!!"
Myunghon looks up gently to remind, "Gumiho."
Gumiho pauses, and then pouts to fold her arms and go, "I--I wasn't gonna start anything! I was just gonna say-- I'm a master at stretching and warming up now!!" Hoo haaa hoo! Just look at her stretch those arms!
"Mm, mm," Myunghon nods encouragingly.
Myunghon definitely looks... well, Ichika saw them with the sling on their arm during the first Palace infiltration, but something's definitely happened to them since their first meeting and then -- and given Ichika's got the rundown of Hirasaka, it probably wouldn't have been hard to hear that they were actually violently attacked near midnight by a cop. That same person that they confided to Ichika was... a problem to them.
Still, they look like they're on the mend... somewhat, and there's a gentle smile for Ichika as they look to Gumiho. "I need to speak with Kawase-kun, would you mind looking after the store for us?"
"Y-yeah, no problem, boss!" A pause. "Not Thorn Boss though. I'll never be my own Boss if I don't look after number one!"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
> Are you still going?
Ichika is curious about that. She... well, she wasn't planning to go again for a while. But, now that Ichika's here, she sees Gumiho and Myunghon both. Gasp! Point! Ichika lifts an eyebrow at Gumiho.
"Cool," Ichika says. "Stretching and warming up is a good start."
But Ichika manages not to laugh at Gumiho; instead, she looks to Myunghon, and notices... Something is different. She heard about the attack, but...
"Cool," Ichika says to Gumiho. "That's right. You gotta look after your crew, but you can't neglect yourself, either."
Then Ichika walks the rest of the way up to Myunghon. "...You doing OK?" she asks quietly.
"Stuff was rough, but..."
Not just her stuff.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Gumiho is a short enough shortstack that in these shots with Myunghon (175cm) and Ichika (180cm), she's basically always threatened to get swallowed by the bottom of the camera frame like she has to tiptoe to be seen. "K-kgh! I-- I didn't need that advice from you, Thorn Boss... I'll pave my way to Bosshood my own way!" She's totally writing that down after, though.
Myunghon does very softly nod, before gesturing to say, "We could speak here, I have ways... or we could go outside. The diner is usually not too busy, even on a Sunday."
It's definitely been a very rough couple of weeks -- they turn towards a particular cabinet at their side of the store and pulls out a nondescript manila envelope. "I've still been going," is Myunghon's answer to Ichika's text earlier. "Just so we can be more prepared the next time."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Shortstack...
"OK," Ichika says. "But you'd better not come at me half-ass, either." Ichika nods firmly to Gumiho. And then... Hmmm.
"...Outside's OK if that works for you," Ichika says. "I don't mind. Night air can be nice."
But the envelope... Hmm. Ichika looks at it, and then, "Yeah? ...I guess that's good, but... I don't know when I'm going back."
"I'm not strong enough. Not in a fight, and not... in the heart. I'm just a liability there right now."
"So I'm going to get stronger before I go back."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Gumiho makes a little bit of a face as Ichika encourages her to not come at the Thorn Boss half-assed, but in turn... Ichika expresses some of her uncertainties! That she's not good enough in a fight. Not good enough in the heart. Just a liability there now.
"H-hey, uh... I don't know what's going on between you and boss, but, hearin' you say something like that..." Gumiho pauses. "That's not the Thorn Boss I wanna beat...! The Thorn Boss that's so-- you know--" Oh no, she's about to say it.
"... cool."
She folds her arms and huffs as she starts back to the store and customers. "When I beat you -- and that's when, not if! I want my cool rival at her strongest and greatest, you know? L-like, take care of yourself."
... well, Gumiho's definitely gone and assumed she's Ichika's rival, despite how trivial it is for Ichika to stop Gumiho cold in a challenge. There hasn't been one where she's survived more than three seconds! The power of her special ability is truly powerful.
Myunghon can't help but have a smile on their face, then gestures and steps outside towards the fire escape. They climb up towards the third floor, so they can have a better view of Hirasaka.
"I can't... say I particularly blame you. I still freshly remember how paralysed I felt at what I experienced in there as well. What he-- the Shadow said to me, to Shinobu-ssi," Myunghon admits softly. They hold the folder up gently. "But... I've been resisting, in my own way, since then too."
If Ichika takes it, she finds a number of floor plans of the areas that they've largely explored -- with annotations and marks as to what they've found. There's a note about the lobby having been destroyed, but it's been repaired now, and how there's a powerful Cognition that caused it...
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Hearing her say something like that...?
"Heh," Ichika says. "You're right," she says. "I better shape uback up, huh?" Gumiho walks off, but Ichika smiles faintly as she goes. ...She really does have a special ability.
Ichika walks out on the fire escape though, climbs up, takes a look out on Hirasaka.
It's nice. And the folder... She takes it. "Yeah, he was... even worse than I remember him. Mask off, I guess."
Resisting. Ichika looks it over with some surprise. "Huh," she says. "You really have been looking..."
"I um, i had some stuff for you too. From there. That my friend got while we were there."
"I'll grab you that before I go. But I..."
"I ran into the real one," Ichika says. "A while before... we went into the Palace. And I just... I just froze. I was so scared that I'd go back..."
"But I couldn't, now. Hearing what he really thought..."
Ichika looks out over the city. "It hurt," she admits. "But I guess I'm... freer, now."
"If I can just stay that way..."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Hirasaka's not the most picturesque block -- the angry spiderweb of power lines, withered buildings that haven't been washed for decades, and the cracked infrastructure all contest to that, but... it's home. It's home for Myunghon, no matter what else.
Mask off. Myunghon does pause, but quietly and diligently listens as Ichika works through some of her feelings through it. But Ichika ran into... the real Eiji. Before they all went to the Palace. She nearly thought she'd go back... and Myunghon knows too much to know how abuse works to question why that'd be the case.
But in a way, the Shadow freed her of that notion.
"... we've only been to one Palace before -- Kaneshiro's. And though he was a hateful man, that kind of racism isn't really new or intimate," Myunghon does admit.
But if only Ichika can stay that way...
"I was... assaulted, by that... person who was a problem," Myunghon admits in turn, perhaps their own attempt to try to share sympathy through the commonality that linked them together in the first place. Tsumugi's words don't quite "I genuinely thought I'd die, that night... we'd just come out of Mementos, and it's a reminder the physical world doesn't care about how tired the supernatural's made you."
They tremble gently as they say, "It'd be difficult enough already if it was just that, but I know what I felt from him..." They feel like they're going to be sick, but they stop.
"... which is to say -- if it's too difficult... then I'm not about to say you need to solve every problem yourself. That's what I'd like to encourage, here in our little community of Persona-Users in Hirasaka. To be able to lean on others when you need it -- I'm working on trying to get in contact with the Phantom Thieves of Hearts -- the ones with the most knowledge of how to challenge these spaces at the moment."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
It's something Ichika has come to appreciate, too. Hirasaka, for better and worse, has embraced her when Rengedai shut her out. ...It's not her parents' home, but it's a special place for her, all the same.
Abuse is like that. But Ichika at least is sure, now. Knowing what she does...
Ichika nods. "I see. ...Still, it sucks." Racism. Myunghon has to deal with a lot of that, Ichika's sure...
But that person--
Ichika looks to Myunghon in some alarm. She remembers that commonality. "Oh..."
"I'm sorry," Ichika says. "That's... really hard."
But... Mm.
"Yeah," Ichika says. But I almost got everyone hurt worse. ...I need... to be stronger than that. If I'm not that strong with a Persona, that's fine--I can fix that by practicing. But if my heart isn't strong enough... I don't know what to do about that."
The Phantom Thieves...
"I'm thinking about that," Ichika admits. "Thinking about contacting them. They'd know more than I do about... all this."
"...But whether I can reach them or not, you guys helped me a lot. You were willing to go with me, even if it turned out bad. ...So what i'm trying to say is..."
"Thanks."
"...And I'm glad you didn't die."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
It is remarkably hard, and Myunghon knows Ichika knows what it's like. They still can't properly wrap their head around the idea of someone who both wants to use and harm them like they're no better than a disposable napkin. They might never will, since it's too horrifying at times for them to grasp.
Myunghon doesn't immediately answer, since Ichika has more to express. Not being strong with a Persona isn't a problem -- and Myunghon would agree. There's ways to improve that. They're all still learning. Very few people could claim to have mastery over their Persona, and those people probably have really, really difficult lives in different ways, like being thought to be MEGASATAN.
But the heart...
"... I was admitted to the emergency ward after that attack. People knew I loathed hospitals, but there was no other choice -- I was going to die, if I didn't get treated," Myunghon confesses. "And being there was horrifying enough still that I..." A pause. Tsumugi convinced them... but how much of that nudge really was theirs? The thought had already come to them ahead of time.
Myunghon lets out a shaky little breath, then further confesses: "Wounded and confused, I went to Mementos to... to try to cause a Mental Shutdown in him. Because frozen in fear as I was, my heart was vulnerable and weak enough I was convinced that was the only way I could be safe. But the others... they came for me, the constants in my chaotic life, and they pulled me back from making a mistake I could never take back."
They let out a weak little breath in turn, then has a gentle smile for Ichika.
"I know it'll be different for everyone, but for me, at least, my heart was made stronger by listening to those I'd let come close around me."
But Ichika has thanks for them as well -- not just them, but the Cardboard Dragon crew.
"It's no problem... and we'd go again with you," Myunghon affirms.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
It's an awful thing to even try to understand.
but Ichika listens, and she will on day meet this MEGASATAN, but not today. She already met the other one.
"...Mm." Ichika nods. "Yeah." She doesn't know why Myunghon hates hospitals, but she can accept that they do. It's fair enough. Ichika doesn't exactly love them. "I see..."
"I'd be tempted, too," Ichika admits. "Knowing how that works now... I mean, I don't know enough about Mementos to do it, but..."
"I'm glad you didn't, though. It sounds like it would've been really bad for you."
Listening...
"Mm. That's..."
"That's been true for me too," Ichika says. "I do feel stronger than I was, anyway. ...And my friends have told me not to blame myself."
"...I appreciate that," she says. "I'm not going back for a while. But when I'm ready, maybe..."
She looks out over Hirasaka again. "...It's been hard lately," she admits. "I've had to make some choices. Figure out what I wanted."
"...I had to turn down a really great guy, because... I finally understood that if I just let him swoop in and rescue me, I'd never... stand on my own."
She looks back to Myunghon. "Well, it goes both ways. Tell me if I can help, OK? ...We're all forgotten people, out here. We should stick together."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"... to be quite honest, if no one had come to stop me, I would have just died somewhere along the way to the Shadows," Myunghon firmly expresses. "Even a prepared Persona-User should think twice about venturing into Mementos alone for very long... let alone someone who was critically injured and barely aware of their surroundings."
So indeed, it would've been very bad for them -- and even if they succeded...
Well, it's not the first time they've killed, but they never want to forget the feeling. If they let themself do it again, it might become very easy to pluck away at lives, one at a time, like they're fruit on the vine.
But Ichika also finds some source of strength in surrounding herself in people. "Yes... I'd also say the same thing, regarding blame." There were a few other Persona-Users they're not super familiar with. The young man who carried her out. And she needs to get in touch with Hibari again.
Ichika says she's not going back for a while -- but when ready... maybe...
"... at that time, I'll back you up with strategy and information, just as Rumourmonger Merry should," Myunghon tries to have some confidence, because their life has been nothing but a lack of confidence, so much so that they can still taste the cigar ashes their mother forced into them.
She's had to make some choices... figure out what she wanted. Myunghon wonders what that might've been, but Ichika continues -- she had to turn down a really great guy, because she understood that if she just let him swoop in and rescue her... she'd never stand on her own.
That in turn makes Myunghon ponder hard. In truth, their life's been so chaotic that it's been... nice, to be swept in and rescued. They do crave someone strong and protecting that can make them not feel so alone and fragile. Should they feel ashamed about that? Is that what mother is trying to tell them, in her own, cruel, sadistic way? A wallflower that can be acted on without consequence...
...
"Absolutely. I can teach you more about Mementos sometimes, as a start; there's a lot we still don't understand about it, and there's useful information and materials you can gather from it as well."
Ichika's reflection of how they're all forgotten people here, and that they should stick together has Myunghon genuinely smiling.
"Many people here feel the same way. That's part of why I love this community."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Oh." That's different. Ichika looks to Myunghon like she's been doused in cold water. "Yeah, that's... I'm really glad they came for you, then."
"Right," Ichika says. "...I know that's how it is. That it's not a failing to get upset when something horrible happens. But knowing and knowing are different, right?"
"...Thanks," Ichika says. She smiles back. "I appreciate it. You're... really reliable. There's not a lot of adults you can go to with stuff like this. ...My parents do their best, but what are they going to say about Mementos and Shadows?"
Of course, Ichika likes being rescued, too. If she didn't, it wouldn't have been a hard decision.
"Thanks," Ichika says. "I appreciate that."
IChika smiles back. "...Yeah. It's kinda like... Kasugayama doesn't 'feel' like the kind of place you can have dreams, but..."
"Maybe we can anyway. ...It feels like that here in general."
A pause. "Oh, but, I had some stuff for you... Some names and some companies? It might help you learn more about what.. Eiji is doing."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
There is a difference between knowing and knowing. Myunghon absolutely can sense the emphasis, there, and gently nods. "I know I've needed the lecture time and again," the Rumourmonger admits easily.
Ichika calls them reliable! You could almost see the rosiness in their pale cheeks as they lean against the railing, letting the wind blow over their white hair. "... you're welcome. Two years ago, I didn't really have anyone to turn to for some of this stuff... so I'm just trying to pay it back to those who I did eventually find who could guide me." Because it's extra hard when you're still a teen and you're obligated to your parents and they absolutely don't understand what's going on with you.
Kasugayama doesn't 'feel' like a place you can have dreams, but...
"... it just gets me fired up. I want to prove to those people who say Kasugayama and Hirasaka is a dumping ground that they're wrong."
But Ichika has names and companies! Myunghon raises an eyebrow, and moves to turn towards her fully. "I see... yes, I'm already in the process of looking at other corporate dealings, so I can easily work these into what I'm doing. And sometimes, a clue you find in the physical world can be a clue in the Palace. I'll let you know if I find anything, Kawase-kun."
Then they sneeze, gently.
"... if I caught a cold in July, I'll truly be the fool," they chuckle. "I should see how Gumiho's doing. Do you want me to see you off?"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Yeah." Ichika thinks Myunghon gets it, anyway. But she's glad that she has them around; she isn't quite as latched-on as Tsubasa seems to be, but... Talking to Myunghon has helped her feel better tonight, anyway. "Two years with this stuff... That's crazy to think about." Pay it back. "That's a cool approach, though."
"Yeah?" Ichika asks. Fired up. "...That's cool. I like that."
"OK, cool. It's from papers in the Palace. I was thinking... even if I'm not ready to go back to the Palace, you do stuff like this, so giving it to you... means I'm not just punting it off."
"Thanks." A pause. "Oh!"
"Oh, yeah," Ichika says, "Totally. But that's fine. Thanks for talking to me, Yeo-san."
"...Next time maybe I'll actually buy something," she says, a little chagrined. "Take care, OK?"