2025-11-17: Show Me
- Log: Show Me
- Cast: Rin Sasaki, Myunghon Yeo
- Where: Cardboard Dragon, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru City
- OOC Date: November 17, 2025
- IC Date: Sunday, August 12, 2012 (Late Night)
- Summary: Rin delivers the activated Thread to the Rumormonger who first spoke to her of the supernatural, Myunghon Yeo. They discuss some shared concerns over young people putting themselves in mortal peril, before Rin finally asks for definitive proof of the strange, dangerous world that has invaded /her/ world. She is deeply affected by what she is shown.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon is at the Cardboard Dragon long after store hours, but they've been experiencing a series of unsettling events culminating in a customer
that, while polite on the surface, exuded a terrible sense that they were in peril just being around them. It's left them terribly shaken, and while they're trying to go about their business as normally as they can, when Rin enters through the fire escape, she'll find them terribly jumpy like they're not certain who's about to enter. You never know when it's a serial killer in play!
"O-oh..." Myunghon remembers to breathe after several seconds, looking at the clipboard that they're holding like they're expecting it to be a warding shield or -- or something. "Sasaki-san, good evening," they stammer out, setting the clipboard at the counter. They're dressed in a white ruffle-blouse with a ribbon tie today, with a brown A-line skirt with inverted pleats, leggings, and their white coat is draped over their shoulders.
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
The door swings open with altogether far too much force, as if Rin did not know if it would actually open or if she would have to bang on it to be given access, and closes again with some degree of irritation and also slightly too much force. She is wearing a flowing black skirt, a silky, deep burgundy top, black heels, and an assortment of jewelry.
"This cannot be the intended entrance," she mutters sharply. Rin is facing the door as she closes it, and only after turns to look for Myunghon, words already on her lips. "Yeo-san, I need your he-" There's a deep tension in her voice, her face, her body language, but the words die abruptly as she takes stock on Myunghon. This is a far cry from the completely in-control, almost bombastic rumormonger she met here originally.
"Is something wrong?" she asks, frowning.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon doesn't even realise how tense they are until Rin asks if something is wrong. They blink a few times, shrinking into their shoulders lightly, fingers curling as if they wish they still had that clipboard to cling onto. "N-no, it is merely..." they first blurt out, gesturing towards the couches. "There was a customer earlier that I felt... very unsafe around," is perhaps the incredible understatement of meeting Tatsuya Sudou, Joker Killer, in your very own store-home. "Nothing happened to me, I just... am merely on eggshells."
They force themself to take a breath, and then plasters a soft, gentle smile on, to try to look reassuring. "Please, how may I help you, Sasaki-san? You yourself look quite distressed..."
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
Rin hesitates for a moment at the entrance now. She seems less confident in making requests upon seeing the state that Myunghon is in, but her options also remain extremely limited. The rumormonger's words and attempt and reassurance are least enough for her to stop lingering at the threshhold, but she glances back at the door first. "Should this still be unlocked, then?" she asks with a note of concern in her voice, as if now worried herself this individual will return while she is here.
Her heels click softly on the floor as she steps over to a counterspace nearest to Myunghon so that she can set her handbag on it. "Is this something that happens often?" she asks further, quietly, as she reaches into the bag and pulls out a printed ultrasound image, probably taken around 9 weeks. She turns around and hands it to Myunghon. Her voice remains quiet and muted. "I went to the -- Eye today," she begins, as if using the term laid out by Hazuki was a little easier in the moment. "I think -- something changed. But I am not one of you, and it was a very faint sensation."
Rin cycles a slow, deep breath. It has been a long day. "Is that something you can confirm? That it -- worked?"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"Ah-- yes, that would be prudent, wouldn't it," Myunghon murmurs, perhaps feeling foolish about not locking the door -- they twist the bolt and has it shut, before turning towards Rin as she procures the ultrasound as she asks if this happens often.
"More... often than I'd like it to," Myunghon does admit honestly, feeling rather vulnerable at that. "But my situation is also... perilous, you might say. There are at least a few police officers that are rather... violent with me just because of who I-- am."
They don't exactly elucidate further on what the 'am' is, but the fact that they're using a Korean name is one that comes to mind, for starters. Besides, the image is procured, and Myunghon does pause as they take hold of the image with some grace.
"You are... you are correct, Sasaki-san. I can feel it," Myunghon does admit, as they tune into their senses -- it registers upon the tip of their tongue, a sensation that it's been met where it should have been brought and will now serve as a Thread. "Thank you. ... I apologise again for what happened last time. But now, we should be able to enter the 'Atelier' and rescue your husband from the Homunculus."
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
Aside from the knowledge of the supernatural that Rin has had to contend with, Myunghon's words are a reminder of one of her original impression of the Carboard Dragon and how far it is from the world she knows and understands. In her world, the police have never been anything other than a trusted bulwark against danger and crime, a critical component in the safety and security enjoyed by (most) in Japan, even in the largest cities.
And so it's written openly in her face that Myunghon's admission startles and perhaps slightly confuses her, before settling into understanding a moment later -- she is not so sheltered as to not make at least some of the connection when it is presented. "Then, again, I am -- very grateful for your aid while you have so many of your own troubles."
Rin almost seems a little surprised when Myunghon confirms her faint impression of what occurred with the image, as if she expected to be told that, no, it was simply a product of her imagination. And yet...
"Yeo-san," she begins, trembling slightly when Myunghon confirms they can now enter the Atelier and rescue her husband. That they are closer now to the end of this nightmare. But she can't shake the image of Hazuki speaking about people almost dying. It almost seems too much to ask of anyone, but especially... "Is it -- truly necessary for someone so young to put themselves in mortal peril?"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
There's a soft nod, perhaps an implicit moment of gratitude at Rin's understanding, since Myunghon seems loathe to spell it out themself at times. "It is what the Cardboard Dragon is here for," they do assure. "While this may be at times a rougher neighbourhood than we'd like, we do try our best to look out for each other here.
Rin has a concern that, frankly, Myunghon does share. Is it necessary that someone so young have to put themselves in peril?
"Sasaki-san... to be quite honest, if I were to be in a position to influence it, I do feel the same way," Myunghon does express. "But... unfortunately, this -- 'awakening' -- is not something any of us chose. That so many young people have been placed in a situation where they are aware is -- a byproduct of the violence and danger that we do face. A lot of us awaken under extreme duress. Abuse, physical trauma, life-or-death situations... it isn't exactly something anyone chooses."
They pick away at a bit of their white hair in contemplation, placing the image of the ultrasound down on the coffee table gently. "... I've resolved to try to support them as best as I can, since that is what I can do." A soft sigh, and a weak, almost sorrowful sigh. "If it makes you feel any better, I've requested that Uchida-san and Hazuki reach out for our other allies. The last venture into an Atelier took many hands -- and I'm not about to allow anyone to bear the burden alone."
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
Rin listens silently. She is no happier to hear that there are more young people involved in such perils. But she also can't truly forget how fervantly Hazuki first declared that she would help, that she couldn't stand aside and not do something with the power that she held. The intervening time may have faded the exact words in her memory, but the impression certainly remains. And she has received significantly more context since then -- even if very little of that context has sounded terribly positive to her ears.
And as much as it troubles her now to sit on the sidelines and implicitly ask others to risk themselves for herself and her husband -- would she really make a different choice if she was sitting on the other side of the situation? At that age, with the power to affect the world in ways others could not even perceive, it's hard not to think that she would have been just as persistent.
"I understand," she says finally, quietly, not quite looking at Myunghon. The situations they describe as instruments of awakening are also almost (but not entirely, especially now) removed from her experience of the world. "It's good, at least, that you are able to support them. I am -- sorry, that I have to ask this of any of you." But of course, she has no choice. And she has no capacity to assist beyond the minor steps already done.
"But..." And now she looks up, suddenly, that familiar spark of intensity as she makes direct eye-contact. "Uchida-san said there is an hour of time every night that is unperceived by the...Unawakened. Is that correct?"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"Of what small consolation it may be, Sasaki-san..." Myunghon does speak up. "I do know a number of them do find strength in this. To be awakened to such a burden is heavy in certain lights... but I have heard them say that it made them feel that they can make a difference in a world that didn't much care for them."
And they're one of them. 23 isn't that far off from being a teen, once, in the grand scheme of things. Myunghon may carry an older, almost wise counsel to their demeanor, but they're terrifyingly young in a lot of instances.
"And to respect that desire... is, I think, healthier for their mindset, as they grow. Because you and I both know that is a perilous time to be, in your teens."
Myunghon does nod as Rin says it's at least good they can support them -- but apologises again. "It's of no concern -- to be quite honest, that you've brought the Thread to the Eye is of great importance already. I must thank you for that, Sasaki-san. I can only hope we can resolve this as swiftly as we're able to."
But Rin asks about the Dark Hour, making eye contact -- and Myunghon has to ready themself to not flinch away, intense as Rin's gazes can be. "... yes. We call it the 'Dark Hour' -- it's a mortifying time, when the moon becomes unbearably bright, when everything is cast with a sickly green pallor... and everyone unawakened hides, unaware, behind a coffin."
A longer pause, and they share: "When I first awakened, I was nigh-mortally wounded." Is that why they're covered in bandages all the time? "I was brought to a hospital and... I experienced that hour on my own, without guidance. I laid there in my emergency ward bed and... saw rows upon rows of coffins of my fellow wardmates, and thought I'd gone quite mad."
The Rumourmonger leans back on the couch to say: "That I can at least explain these most troubling elements to someone freshly exposed to the supernatural is... only paying it forward, I imagine."
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
"Yes," is Rin's quiet response to the idea that it is likely healthier to respect that desire, especially in light of what a perilous time that age is. "...I would be hard-pressed to disagree." She is not so far removed from that time that she cannot remember, even only grappling with entirely mundane matters, how much of a fight it could be to have her voice heard and her decisions respected. Including decisions that she could look back upon even now and determine to have been entirely correct, despite the pressure to choose otherwise.
Not that any of that changed overnight upon becoming an adult, either.
Rin does not break the eye-contact as Myunghon first describes the nature of the Dark Hour, almost as if keen to determine as if they will say anything to contradict what she has already been told. She does glance away as they go on to describe their first experience with the Dark Hour, and how they were nigh-mortally wounded right before. It is yet another reminder of the violence and danger that seems intextricably connected to this supernatural aspect of reality that has been presented to her, and their description of this hidden hour is far more evocative than than the description she previously received.
'I thought I'd gone quite mad.'
"Then...perhaps you will understand my request," Rin says, cycling a slow breath. "All of this," a vague wave of her manicured hand for emphasis. "So far all of this to me has been...a single direct encounter with something that I am certain was not my husband, wearing his face." She grasps her hands together tightly in her lap to prevent them from trembling, but it does nothing to stop the moments of trembling that overtake her entire body. Recalling that night will perhaps never be anything but painful and extremely distressing. "And a secondary brush, later."
"The rest has been -- feelings and impressions and...a great deal of words taken entirely on faith, of a world that is imperceptible to me." She pauses for a time here before she can find the capacity to continue. "After Hiroki died, after I very nearly died myself, I was not the most...stable," she admits. Her voice takes on a deeply pleading tone here. "Please, Yeo-san. I need something more tangible so that I know that I am not simply losing touch with reality."
"Show me," she insists, her voice regaining strength and making eye-contact again. "I understand that you cannot directly, but if there is an entire hour that exists with which most of the world does not interact but you do -- it should be trivial to demonstrate, yes? Objects moved a visible distance, you standing on the other side of the building. As you and Uchida-san have both told it to me, from my perspective, it would happen instantaneously -- a clear demonstration. Is that not so?"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon does feel a little more at comfort, when Rin agrees -- it's something that weighs rather heavily on their mind, having been exposed to so many teens who're literally fighting life-or-death battles -- dying ones too. They're not an omnipotent creator -- they can't change how their reality's been pulled under all their rugs... they can only start a community that can care for them.
But they regard Rin's request with gravity. Because they do recognise what it is that she feels -- that nagging doubt like nothing is quite real, like everything's just them slipping away from the physical realm. How she has to take everything on faith, after encountering a /thing/ that she was certain isn't her husband. The way Rin trembles and recalls that night, her body language, does make them quietly tuck in themself, because they recognise those signs as some of their own.
"... very well, Sasaki-san," Myunghon answers, after a moment of rumination. "We are actually lucky. I can give you a simpler demonstration. The reason I chose this building is because, in part, this shop exists on a patch of supernatural ground that allows me to manifest my Persona. However..."
The Rumourmonger taps their chin gently. "From experiences in demonstrating this to other unawakened people in the past, a common reaction they have is that their mind will actively try to defend itself from what it perceives to be 'illogical' -- you may find it quite mentally burdensome. You will want to steel yourself."
With that disclaimer -- warning -- in mind, Myunghon does close their one remaining eye, lowers their head, and then...
"/Kudlak./"
A tremendous surge of power rises from within the Rumourmonger, welling up in columns of Blue energy. Already, the sensation is intense and unnatural -- but then something more tremendous happens; Myunghon's white coat seems to shift and flow around their person as if it were an agitated body of water, something living, something more... and some kind of /shadow/ rises from within the white fabric, matte-black in contrast, something humanoid and yet not. It has silver hair and the hints of as if it were an aristocrat from the 17th century, with the jabot on its collar...
But it has no face. Kudlak has a matte-black face, with only two gleaming crimson eyes.
And then-- with a gesture of their hand, the shadow blends, black-and-white, like the yin and yang, into their coat, and it stretches out as if it were some kind of ribbon-like tendril -- and fetches one of the cups of tea at the kitchenette, some ten metres away. It pulls the cup and saucer back... and then, still only using that ribbon, their hands still placed at their lap, Myunghon takes a sip of tea, then sets it down on the coffee table.
Then the Persona disappears, and that overwhelming sensation suddenly pops, as if one's ear has been freed from building pressure from elevation difference.
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
Myunghon provides further information not directly stated, at least partially answering one of Rin's unasked questions in passing. If 'supernatural ground' is required to manifest their Persona, then it follows that there are mundane locations that do not allow such a manifestation. Of course it also raises more silent questions in turn. If this location is a place where Myunghon can manifest a power that can fight monsters, why were they so unnerved by a -- she assumes -- potentially-violent customer?
Does it only work against monsters?
Rin banishes this question for another time when Myunghon presents the warning. It is difficult to know entirely how to prepare herself when she can only guess at what form the demonstration will take or what the mental reaction might entail. But as best as she can, she tries to steady herself, to sweep away the distractions and worries and focus her attention entirely down to whatever is about to happen.
Her pulse quickens with anticipation and only the slightest amount of dread. She gasps as the surge of power begins suddenly, coupled with columns of blue energy. Eyes wide, desperately sucking down her next several breaths as if she might otherwise not be able to breathe at all. An unpreventable deep-body shaking that rattles the bones. A terrible weight on her chest and the unavoidable feeling that this isn't something she should be observing at all. Her expression contorts with discomfort. She digs the manicured nails of each hand into and down the other arm, as if the sharp pain provides a measure of focus.
Because beneath the obvious tension and discomfort and mental strain, there is something else unmistakable glittering in her eyes. In her face. In the way she leans forward. In the way she does not once look away from the awesome display, nor even so much as blink, staring as if it is the most wondrous thing she has ever seen.
She is enraptured.
"Thank you, Yeo-san," she breathes quietly, a full minute after the display has ended.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
There certainly are inferences to be made. Perhaps whoever this customer is is even more powerful, enough to be able to deter Myunghon. Perhaps fighting back, even in self-defence, carries with it attention that would be deeply unpleasant and they have to wait until the last moment when their hand has been forced. And clearly, in other situations, like with the police officer, they didn't have that choice...
It's muddy ground, all of this. Becoming empowered is not a license for invulnerability, very clearly.
Myunghon does themself let out a sigh, because it is somewhat taxing to manifest their Persona for an extended amount of time -- combat tends to have them be in quick bursts -- but they wanted to do so, because a brief glimpse is most easily explained away as a trick of the light, a misunderstanding, an illusion.
But Rin's reaction to all this is not something they'll soon forget. The awe and vigor that's within her, like she's on the cusp of pushing through all the defences her mind's conjuring to try to protect herself and emerge into another world... they wonder if they had a similar reaction, the first time Demons were beset on them.
"Unfortunately..." Myunghon does point out, as if they know a certain question can't be far behind, "I do not know of a way to safely awaken someone to this power. The enemies we have do sometimes force people to awaken -- at great cost to their psyche and well-being. It damages them forever..." A pause. "But I hope... that demonstration can comfort you in some small way, Sasaki-san."
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
In the comparative 'quiet' that follows, Myunghon anticipates and answers Rin's questions before she can ask them, or even entirely piece her thoughts back together sufficiently to even formulate them. "I see," she says softly. The direct, blunt statement that they have enemies with access to the same power, and that they are willing to inflict great damage upon people to force an awakening, is certainly a little unnerving.
Rin lets out a slow breath and glances down at her arms, skin turning red from her own long, angry scratches. "It would be nice, one day, I think, to hear about something -- positive and pleasant from all this," she says with a slightly ironic, rueful tone that suggests she at this point does not believe such a thing exists. "Say, a supernatural cure for cancer." Beat. "Or that the Prime Minister and his entire cabinet have been eaten by some terrible creature, never to be seen again." Her voice is airy enough here that one might assume it's still ironic.
But then again, perhaps not.
Rin sobers again and slowly exhales before rising to her feet. "It did, Yeo-san. Very much. It has been growing -- difficult, of late, to keep faith in what I first experienced." She has, after all, effectively abandoned her home and her husband to sleep in a series of small boxes that Tokyo calls a hotel room. She frowns. "To not think that I had simply lost my mind and needed to return home. Be medicated; possibly committed. Thank you, again."
She shakes off the thought and starts to head for the door. A bit of that shining rapture glitters again in her eyes as she stops and turns back to Myunghon. "And, more than that. If this is a world not open to me, I am still -- deeply grateful for the chance to witness such a thing with my own eyes."