2025-10-30: The Scene of the Crime
- Log: The Scene of the Crime
- Cast: Tsubasa Seki, Yukari Takeba
- Where: Konan Warehouse - Abandoned Warehouse
- OOC Date: 2025-10-30
- IC Date: Thurs Aug 02 2012
- Summary: Phoenix and Yukari run into each other while going back to check out the scene of the Ferryman's crimes, discussing the situation... after a few misunderstandings.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tuesday night saw a horrific crime happen here, at an abandoned warehouse in Konan. Two days later, and Tsubasa can't settle down on Thursday night; they couldn't really reassure Myunghon or So-young, back then, but they also couldn't really reassure themself.
(They're doing better than the adults(?!), maybe, because they had the Boss to cry on, but...)
Luckily, Tsubasa knows something about the supernatural anatomy of the day. And so...
24:01
... as the sky grows green and wretched, above the warehouse, Phoenix is a splash of colour slinking in. There's no movement, inside here, and they're free to creep forward. They go to the far wall, and place a gloved hand -- no prints left here! -- on the shelving unit they dented, when the Ferryman flung them back.
"Man," they reflect, scowling. "No wonder me back's killin' me."
And their voice is a stark violation of the stillness, here.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
It's Summer Break. S.E.E.S. is still doing it's work. But not tonight. Tonight she took the train to Sumaru City, with only one transfer in Tokyo.
It's a warm summer night in Konan... or at least it was. She's changed into her pink cardigan now. The Dark Hour is always too cold for her.
It's a slow walk inside the warehouse. She's not in any rush. She doesn't seriously expect anyone to come back to the scene of the crime.
Who would do that?
A door creaks open, even during the Dark Hour, and Yukari approaches...
... the dried blood on the ground, the chalk outline already dashed away by the crime scene investigators that came here.
And she's got something in her hand.
A white Chrysanthemum.
"I think... white's my least favorite color..." She says quietly, before putting it down. The dried blood looks more fresh, in the gleam of the Dark Hour.
"... but I don't know what else to get you."
Yukari doesn't watch the news. The way they casually cite 'x number of people died' or a name of such and such. She can't stand that.
You can't just casually talk about a person's death like that - you shouldn't. Indeed she barely knows the guy, so it's like hearing his name being read on the news.
Still, she's here.
She doesn't notice Phoenix at first until she hears the more distant voice, "Huh!?" She looks up, startled, before fumbling for her Evoker.
"Who's there!" She asks, more firmly now.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Yukari fumbles for her FUCKING GUN! and Phoenix recognises that threat, their sword appearing in their hands nigh automatically. It kind of lends a lie to the way they cry out: "Cool it, man! I ain't here to brawl or nothin'!"
THEN WHY DO YOU HAVE A SWORD, PHOENIX?!
They get kind of stuck waving one hand in the air while the other holds their sword's hilt up, which is, if nothing else, a terrible position to attack from.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yukari already has the gun to her forehead as Tsubasa makes a sword just appear.
"Rightttt. Then why do you have a sword drawn?"
Yukari asks in what may look like the weirdest standoff to Tsubasa ever.
After all it looks like this girl is about to off herself, and Tsubasa is the one telling her she has so much to live for.
But she keeps it right there anyway, waiting on an answer?
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"WHY ARE YOU FRONTIN' LIKE YA GONNA SHOOT YERSELF?!" Tsubasa yells, sounding, if anything, deeply freaked out. Apparently, they were so wrapped up in fighting the Ferryman that they didn't see how she summons. "Holy shit, dude! What the fuck?! I dunno how to turn the sword off when someone's got a gun, dude, lay off, jus' put it down, I ain't gon' do ya like that, seriously it ain't like -- I get it's a lot, dude, but just put it down--!!"
Phoenix is, if anything, deeply freaked out by how Yukari is apparently one finger-twitch away from doubling the corpsiness of this warehouse. (If only Tsubasa knew about the average corpse quotient of a Konan warehouse.)
There's just one problem with that...
... it's the Dark Hour, and not every Shadow is hanging out at Tartarus.
Skitter, skitter, a Laughing Table's legs clatter against the warehouse floor. Phoenix turns, and what is visible of their face is gaping in astonishment. "A fuckin'... table?" They look back to Yukari, jerking their thumb back to it. "I ain't, like, seein' shit... right?"
While they're distracted by that, of course, a Bestial Wheel is zooming on in behind them.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Huh!?" It's Phoenix's volume that perhaps takes her off guard more than anything else.
Before Yukari sighs and lowers it, "It's not a gun. It's an evoker. It's how I summon my Persona."
Before she looks sideways, "This always happens... first Officer Suou, now you. Great. Everyone's first impression is that I'm crazy because they had to make Evokers into guns."
Thanks Kirijo.
"No- that's a kind of Shadow that comes out during the Dark Hour." A beat, "It's weak to fire if- well you do have that."
And as if to demonstrate, she puts the Evoker back to her head, and pulls the trigger.
And what's upsetting is that out of the other sides of her head, shards of ephemeral glass seem to fly out like they're skull fragments, before Io rises, and a gust of wind slams into it with a Garu spell.
She doesn't see the Bestial Wheel either, but you know...
Her Persona is out now, so Io might soon enough.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Man, like I believe that! I know a gun when I see it!!" Phoenix has only ever seen the one real gun. "Look, I ain't clearin' out so you can do whatever the fuck you were gonna --"
TABLE!!
"Looks fuckin' stupid," Phoenix sasses the table, only for it to Zio them for their insolence. "OW WHAT THE FUCK -- WAIT DON'T FUCK --" Yukari proceeds to SHOOT HERSELF IN THE HEAD --
And blue light and glass shatter out and her weird monster appears to blowdry the table and the table kind of flips over and then Phoenix gets slammed in the back by a giant wheel and goes ass-over-teakettle.
"AIGHT," they push themself up, and -- just so Yukari doesn't feel alone in 'horrific ways to summon your weird monster dude' -- rips their mask off of their face in a shower of blood and blue flames. "Izbushka na Kur'ih Nozhkah--!!"
A massive chicken-legged hut appears, and from the skulls on its bone-skirt 'fence' it sets the area alight in an Uncontrolled Burn...
... which eats at the Table, the Wheel, and them.
"Ow fuck!" They yelp, consumed by flames for a moment, and they just promptly fall over again. Did they... hit their own weakness... with their own fire attack...?
... at least the Laughing Table was burned to a crisp...
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yukari maybe looks a little scandalized by all the F bombs but doesn't comment. And then Phoenix rips their mask off and-
"Did you just... with your own flames?"
Yukari gives them an odd look, "What kind of Persona do you even have that doesn't resist it's own spells?"
The laughing table is down at least, and Yukari sighs in relief, "Well at least it was a really weak one... we face dozens of those every time we go to-"
And then a Bestial Wheel tries to Bash into her from behind, as she notices it at the last second and Io interposes!
The Wheel deflects off into a spin, before wheeling around and- "Io!" ... Getting blown over sideways from it's weakness.
Which will make it easy prey for Tsubasa, probably, despite having been knocked on their ass.
"You can finish it off, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Dude, I ain't like, put in a form requestin' a weird psychic monster what made sense!" Phoenix, who cannot perceive the vast expanse beyond the fourth wall, yells in response to Yukari's confusion over Izbushka's resistances.
They manage to pick themself up, at least, in time to see Yukari blow the Bestial Wheel over, and --
"Rrrraaarrrgghhh!!"
Charges up, plants their foot, HEFTS their sword up over their hip and shoulder -- and down into the Shadow, alongside a few inches of the concrete beneath it.
No more Shadow!
"No duh," Phoenix answers her, as if they're not panting a little after that.
"Okay, so... guess I believe you on the gun not bein' a gun... right, yeah, I did see that before," they realise, a touch belatedly. (Being fair, they were being murdered at the time.) "... man, that's fucked up, tho'." They just kind of -- let their sword stay planted in the concrete as they let go of it to turn to her, instead. "Don't that freak you out, man? Like... ain't ya worried that kinda practice is makin' it real easy if you ever wanna do it for real? Like -- ain't tryna be an asshole here, jus' -- ya said someone made 'em for ya, right, seems a bit like... suss, ey?"
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"They usually just do!" Yukari shouts back, because that's true in SEES at least, she doesn't know about these weird masked people! "I guess because you're a... Phantom Thief or something, yours might not?"
Phoenix fortunately does manage to finish it off, easy as you please, before...
"Well I'd hope so?"
After all she did just prove it, before they ask a startling question? "... Wow, that's pretty heavy to just come out of nowhere."
She retorts, mildly, before... actually thinking about it. "But it's not as if you're wrong. I wouldn't ever want to pick up a real gun."
She hates this one enough. She hates what it represents. That it's become easier and easier to pick it up and pull the trigger means that it would be easier to take a life.
And that is the scariest thought.
"They said it's about... facing your fear of death or something."
Is all she says about the Kirijo Group, she's not going to give up her distrust without... thinking it through.
"Also geez... do you have to sound like a boy's locker room all the time?" She's definitely talking about all the F-Bombs. "Though I'm pretty sure I hear way fewer any time I pass it by..."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Hey fuck off, I ain't no Phantom Thief!" Phoenix lobbies back, angrily. Even though they have the mask and everything!!
They fold their arms, scowling as their gloved fingers tap on their arm. "Fucked up shit to get you facin'," they grumble. "Dunno if they settin' ya up to kill some other guy or yourself, but... I dunno, man, you got someone on your side with that shit?"
For all their swears, they seem to be -- concerned about her! At least in the sense of being an Evoker-user. Also, incredibly paranoid, but maybe that doesn't ring too false to Yukari.
... they won't go so far as to offer her help with it themself, though. Not their circus, not their monkeys. But they can at least check to see if she's got someone.
Their sceptical look doesn't carry very well behind their mask, though the tug of their lip at least partially carries it, when she gets all huffy about their fuck words. "I ain't a girl, that's why," they insist, scowling. "Ain't a boy, neither, but rather hang out wit' them... look, call me Phoenix," they offer a name, at least, with a shrug of their shoulder.
"I jus'... came out here to try an' get shit straight. Y'know? Fuckin'... fucked up shit. I don't, like..." Phoenix shakes their head, bitterly. "I don't get it, man."
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Hey-! It's not my fault you put on getup that makes you look just like them!"
Yukari has no idea that it's not in fact a costume they don't put on by choice every night.
"... Not... really some guy or anything? I was kind of here on my own. Our group mostly just fights Shadows, like the two we just killed." She offers hesitantly, "I'm mostly getting involved here just because... I don't want to take anyone's word for how things are. But... I guess that depends on what you mean by 'got someone'?"
She hopes it doesn't mean some boyfriend to protect her or something, but if she had to say she had friends...
... well, can she really call them all that?
However, Tsubasa answers with 'I aint a girl,.' "Huh!? You're not-' 'Ain't a boy, neither, but rather hang out wit' them'
"Sooooo like a Tomboy, or something?" Yukari asks, not actually seeming to understand. There's only two options, right?
"But uh, Phoenix. Okay. That definitely convinces me you're not dressing up like a Phantom Thief."
She remarks, since the Phantom Thieves all used code names when she encountered them. But as different as the two are, Yukari looks away and-
"I don't get it either." She says, softly, because this is in one way, that they're the same.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"... Uhhhh... they didn't, change your heart or something... right?" Yukari asks, because she doesn't get it, but if they did change Tsubasa's heart they're wondering if they might have messed up the process?
"Uh, well yeah, I guess that's right. Though it's not like I can't stand on my own two feet or anything."
Phoenix however shouts they aren't no girl, and Yukari recoils, "X-Gender? Is that some Chromosome thing?" She says, genuinely confused. She's had the same amount of genetics as any other Japanese students.
...
...
...
"I don't really get it? It doesn't sound like the kind of thing people can opt out of?" Yukari does sound genuinely bewildered, like she doesn't quite connect the difference even between gender and sex, despite her Tomboy example, "But... uhhh okay?"
She doesn't really want to upset them more, even if they're being really confusing. But what they say next about that.
"Well I thought about finding a way to send them to his sister but that's so... impersonal."
She answers quietly, "I think it'd bother me too much to do that like it's just, the end of it. I didn't even know the guy but... it just wouldn't feel right to me."
And - in the same way, Tsubasa says they couldn't just sleep on it, "Yeah, me neither." Before she looks Tsubasa's way and, "That's... well, better that she have some place to stay, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Ugh," Phoenix rubs at their mask some more. "Nah, I reckon... they gave me a Psychotic Breakdown, man. Like -- same shit, jus' not dressed up to look pretty an' relatable? Not that I got no proof, right now..."
Technically, they reckon that because someone told them, but they ain't gonna rat Akechi out.
"It's cool," Phoenix shrugs. "I ain't sayin' ya ain't tough. Jus' saw that, anyway." She blew that wheel right over!!
Yukari starts invoking intersex people, though, and Tsubasa shakes their head, though they at least shift back on their heel too to give her a little more space. "No, man, like -- I mean, actually, yeah, sometimes? But it ain't jus' that, it's like -- look, there's some people what ain't the gender they were born with, an' of those people, some of 'em ain't goin' from chick to dude or dude to chick, some are goin' to 'X', like, not applicable, not otherwise specified, whatever. Anyway, point is, I want dudes to call me 'they' insteada 'he' when they're talkin' 'bout me. That land?"
They're clearly very personally invested in this, but they are... TRYING THEIR BEST... to give a good tutorial on how transgender issues work. They're even making some effort to keep their voice level, even if Phoenix's level voice is gruff as a smoker.
"Yeah... ain't the end a it for her," Phoenix agrees, on Hinata, quietly. "Lookin' over ya shoulder all the time... even doin' it for a little while wrecked me. But I ain't... in no position what can help, y'nkow?"
Their tabi sandals scuff the ground, as they kick at it, hands going to their hips. "Fuck, man... ain't like I ain't beat a guy's ass, but that were different, y'know? Jus'... straight killin' a guy... it ain't right, man. Fuck did that salaryman think he were, arbiter of who gets the chance to try somethin' else or not?"
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"How do they give you a Psychotic Breakdown? That's just something that happens to people at random, right?"
Yukari asks, clueless about the possibility that it can be anything other than a mental health problem.
"Aha, yeah... I'm pretty alright I guess." It does feel good to get the praise, as she cards her hand through her hair, but uh...
... it doesn't feel as good as it could, knowing how weak those Shadows are.
Tsubasa though makes a valiant effort to try and educate Yukari, and Yukari looks at them with a look that's difficult to read.
Though the reality is she's going right now ??? ??? ???
Then how do you date or get married?
Is this some kind of anti-marriage movement?
Well it's not like I want to get married either...
But still, I wouldn't just say I'm not a girl but a they or something?
Yukari exhales a breath like 'Why me. This is too much?' "I guess? Okay sure. I'll call you they if... that's what you want?"
She doesn't look like she quite gets it at all, but at least she's not arguing 'obviously you're really a girl' or something.
Yukari does look away, "Well I don't know how extensive this group looking for her is... I've only seen them attack people in Sumaru City. So maybe they can just, hang out in the country or something?"
That's probably wishful thinking, but it is true that someone like that is less likely to catch the eye of big powerful weirdos in the big city by going out there.
"... I guess I don't know. I don't understand people like that. And I guess, part of me is afraid to even try? Like it... might change something."
Yukari looks towards the spot where that man died, "... I don't know. Maybe that's just childish of me. After all, they wouldn't hold back trying to kill us."
Will they one day force the issue? That's why she tried with Nico at least, because the thought they might kill each other without knowing anything about them?
That felt too sad.
"I dunno. It feels like when Persona Users fight, it's always a zero sum game."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Nah, man. Someone does it to ya. An' it's gotta be them, right? Ain't no one else goin' 'round messin' with people's heads..." Phoenix has no idea that their paranoia is only one paranoia in the room, but hey: they think it's logical.
But Yukari -- for all her ??? -- eventually gets it enough. "Cool," Phoenix nods. "Thanks, uh..." Yukari didn't give her name, so they have no idea what to call her!! But the gratitude might carry, anyway.
"Maybe," they scowl, when Yukari supposes Hinata can hide out in the country... though they sound a little sceptical.
"... little bit a you gets in a little bit a them," they shrug. "Sucks, man. 'Specially if you dunno whether you got in their heads like they got in yours. But I get the feelin'... I can't ignore this kinda thing even if I wanted to. Uh... family shit," they explain, a touch evasively. "Maybe. I dunno. Anyway. Either way, it's like... I can't do nothin', but it ain't like I'm the delicate type, neither, y'know? Swing that thing," they jab a foot towards their massive greatsword, "I'm wreckin' the ground."
Which they have! Look at that giant gash in the concrete!
"I ain't, like... done this too long. Still dunno, like... like the guy I came in back then, he passed out, yeah? I was so freaked out, man, called an ambulance an' everythin'... but they jus' kicked us out later that night tellin' us to sleep it off. Like... even though that guy all but fuckin' drowned us... just got some bruises or whatever. But even tho' it's like that, normal dudes can, like, get killed like it's nothin'? It's... so much, dude. Like, what the fuck."
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Huh!? I mean-..." Yukari trails off. "... well that does make some sense I guess." She says, as if thoughtful. But, as much as she's opposed to the Phantom Thieves, they don't seem like bad people?
She rather liked them, actually.
But she also doesn't know them, and she's going to be the last person to defend them and say 'I think maybe they aren't doing that.
"Oh ah- Takeba. Yukari Takeba. I'm a Second Year at Gekkoukan High on Tatsumi Port Island." It seems other Persona Users don't have to hide who they are. This is complicated!
"Ah." 'Family shit'. That bugs her. Family does get into her head, but they get into her head because they're absent. She'd really like family stuff to get into her head because... they're present.
But... as she's about to talk more about her... the mindset of killers, her mind shifts to a different thought that pops in, "Wait do you mean your family is involved in this?" She says, as if surprised. She thought it was just random cop killers! ... With strange Evokers and... Salarymen... okay yeah it's more than random cop killers.
"Well... I guess it suits you pretty well? Reminds me of Aragaki-senpai, a little."
But they mention what happened and... "Uh, yeah... actually... be careful with that. If you get injured when your Persona can't come out, there's barely anything healing can do? But while you're in a space like this... it's really difficult to do any real damage to you."
Yukari confides as she rubs an arm. "I... had that problem recently. A cop gave someone I knew a bad head injury and well, I only managed because we were so close to the Dark Hour. But even then it took her weeks to recover."
She normally wouldn't confide this, but she doesn't want this Phoenix to die because she withheld information, and they're brand new.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
'... huh'
"Uh?" Yukari sounds, as if wondering what that was about, but doesn't press further.
"You mean you think your Dad is involved with those killers!?" Yukari says, as if astounded by it. "That..." She trails off... remembering the weird Salaryman's appearance, "... that makes sense, I guess."
Though it also disturbs the hell out of her, what the heck!?
"Any chance he... is that guy?" Yukari asks, as if wondering now that they mention it.
"Yeah, he is... though..." She worries that-, "Ah don't worry about it."
She offers her OWN TUTORIAL! And Phoenix... "For the most part. Though even when it's out it doesn't mean you can't take real injuries... if something hits you badly enough."
She rubs her arm, thinking of Minato standing up to those two Shadows, to protect Fuuka and Natsuki. "... I've seen people come really close to dying." She says bluntly, "And if your Persona 'breaks'. Sure you can resummon it almost right away, but it hurts and you're pretty vulnerable during that."
Before Yukari tries to pronounce that aloud, "Isbushkahna wha... now?"
Well Ninjas are real. "Oh yeah I know that, that guy's organization even has them?" What?! "Yeah. Also we have one in my group."
SHE DOES!? "He thinks he's pretty good about hiding it but he's kinda not?"
Well at least she isn't calling Reiya out directly.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Heard a ya," Phoenix shrugs. "Ran ya mouth off to my friend, but with how shocked ya were 'bout genders... basically thinkin' I ain't got enough beef to start shit here." Beat. "This ain't the venue for that kinda beef, anyhow. Feels... weird. Too high-stakes. Y'know?"
So they'd prefer to make her eat the curb in real life, which they've just ESTABLISHED does MORE damage?!
Listen, Phoenix is still working out how this whole magic bullshit fits into their life, okay.
They bite at their lip, when Yukari asks if their father is the Ferryman. "That ain't him," they say, though they're evidently disturbed by the idea, even with the mask covering their face. "He... likes gettin' other people to do his dirty work. Tho'... that guy's prolly got kids a his own," they realise, putting the Ferryman's salaryman appearance beside their own father. "Could be they're in trouble, too... tho' they prolly don't know nothin'." With a hiss of air through their teeth, they add: "I dunno if I even know nothin', an' I had to dig it all up meself."
Despite their tough appearance, a new side quest unlocks in Phoenix's heart: go save the Ferryman's kids. Because a guy who goes out to do murders has got to be a terrible dad, right?
"If ya Persona breaks!?" Phoenix exclaims, deeply concerned. "Okay, but like, resummonins' gotta mean it ain't like, broke broke... okay, cool."
There's a beat of a pause, and then, in inexplicably flawless Russian: "Izbushka na Kur'ih Nozhkah. That's my Persona, man. Don't ask me how I can say that, it's probably like, magic or some shit."
But Yukari has heard about ninjas. "What, you're supposed to hide this shit?" Phoenix asks, with that apparently being news to them. "Huh. Well, guess I was gonna, anyway. Hopefully your guy ain't as much of a jerk as the one I met."
Phoenix steps over, then, to wrench their sword back out of the ground. "... but I, nnh, oughta get movin'," they say, with a touch of exertion as they yank it out. "Dark Hour can't be lastin' too much longer... y'know."
Those weirdos in masks really don't want to use their real names! Even though Phoenix is still obviously not a Phantom Thief. Hate 'em!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Uhhhh?" Yukari hears 'my friend' and her mind is just 'do you know how little that narrows it down?' "Iiiiii have no idea who you're even talking about? And I mean, I know what gender is..."
It's just that she knew it mostly just by 'Tomboy' or 'Bishounen' or different presentations within a sex.
She didn't know that you could change it beyond your sex though or just, opt out? That's still something she doesn't know what to think on.
"And besides I wouldn't want to fight you anyway? I'm not someone who just picks fights... just because to settle my problems?"
It doesn't sound like she's scared or anything, it's more a genuine discomfort, like - yeah she can get physical with boys that mouth off, but she doesn't intend to fight them. That's more like punishment.
'That ain't him,' but... Phoenix certainly doesn't sound sure. "Well... alright. But like, maybe be careful? These people don't care about who they kill and where they do it."
If their father is involved, then Yukari's not sure he'll have qualms even then.
"Yeah it comes back?" Before... flawless Russian accent, "Uhhhhh, yeah but I can't suddenly speak Greek? What gives?"
Did she get short changed by her Persona only having two letters and two syllables? Great.
"Well, they do."
A beat.
"Try to do at least. But it's kinda hard to hide it when you're like, throwing Kunai and disappearing and running all over like you're in some popular ninja anime."
Elsewhere, Reiya probably takes a few morale damage.
"Ohhhh, yeah... well. I guess, see you later?"
And when they're gone?
"Are they really not a Phantom Thief?" Yukari asks aloud, but eventually shakes her head and walks away, but then stops...
... and her eyes linger on the dried bloodstain for a little longer, and the flower she left, before departing.
His sister, might turn out just like her.
But she tries her hardest not to think about it.