2025-12-28: Sojiro's Awakening

• Log: Sojiro's Awakening
• Cast: Yua Ooshiro, Sojiro Sakura, Ulala Serizawa, Maya Amano, Ayame Watanabe, Masao Inaba, Tamaki Uchida, Katsuya Suou, Eriko Kirishima
• Where: Yumezaki - Side-Streets
• OOC Date: 2025-12-28
• IC Date: Sat, Sept 01 2012
• Summary: Ayame arranges a meeting between Sojiro and Team Whoop-Ass, but Yua, unbeknownst to her, has had her phone bugged for a while now... and today, she's called on to give them the fright of their life. Rather than getting scared away, though, Sojiro steals her Evoker -- much to her distress -- and uses it to Awaken his own Persona, Merlin, showing his new allies his resolve to fight in the process. Team Whoop-Ass are deeply worried about the forces the NWO is apparently unwillingly employing... but all they can do for 'Yumi', right now, is to let her go after Gretchen finally shatters.
• Content warning: Drug use

---

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

        WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 08 2012

        Yua's just gotten back from London, and already, she has a mission...

        ... a mission that leads her to visiting a friend of hers, alike in purpose.

        It's too soon to tell Ayame about the pregnancy, but she is still overjoyed to see her, to tell her all about her partner's exploits and their adventures in London. She assures her she has exciting news, but she'll need a little while longer to reveal it, and that may well give the game away... and explain why Yua seems to be carrying even more nervous energy than usual.

        But, no -- that doesn't come out until Ayame steps away to visit the water closet, leaving her phone on the coffee table as she goes.

        Para-Mind showed Yua how to do this -- how to bug a phone -- but still her hands tremble, as she goes through the motions. He said that one installed on a phone directly would be far less easy to detect than mere malware. She is sure she will break it, and her offence will be obvious; equally is she sure she has committed a grave transgression against a woman she counts as a dear friend.

        Did they call them back this early not only to utilise Miho, but Yua, as well...?

        It takes only a few short moments, the longest couple of minutes in Yua's life. When Ayame emerges back out and finds Yua's hand stretching across the table, she pretends that she was taking another biscuit. She doesn't have to pretend about how tasty it is, just...

        ... Yua really doesn't think she deserves it.

        AND AS IT GOES...

        ... that trangression pays dividends, informing the Order on Ayame's movements.

        UNTIL THIS PRESENT DAY

        Para-Mind rings Yua, as she's pulling a tray of cupcakes from the oven.

        "Yo, babe!" He's bombastic, even over the phone. "How's it hanging! Tech support, here --"

        "Please state your business, sir," Yua's voice is far more flat.

        "Looks like your target's arranging a nice little meeting at the bar with the other target," he does, mercifully, get to the point. "Plus a few more catches! They'll be gathering up at a bar in Yumezaki at six..."

        "Thank you for the update, sir," Yua informs him, primly, as she places a covering over her cupcakes to let them cool.

        "Oh, no, see -- the brill thing 'bout this?" Para-Mind doesn't bother waiting for her to guess. "This time, bossman says you're gonna go crash the party, give them a good reason to rethink their life choices."

        "... I understand," Yua sighs. "I'll get ready."

        Click.

        Yua calls Eiko in, with an apologetic bow. "I'm sorry to put more on your plate, but can you take care of the rest of these cupcakes...? And... see to dinner, please? I'll be... out."

        "Of course, Ooshiro-san," she says, sympathetic.

        She knows not to ask too many questions.

        With one more phone call -- to let Miho know she might be back later than her, when she gets home from work -- Yua makes ready for the evening. Her armour, her cartridges, her... drugs.

        AND THIS PRESENT EVENING

        Bar Trance is located through a series of twisting back-alleys and mostly-legal entertainment establishments (no gambling here, officers, just good old-fashioned pachinko!); it's the perfect location to disappear into for a serious conversation, with its shady corners and dark, atmospheric lighting.

        It's a little after six -- enough time for some introductory statements, certainly -- when a bride all dressed in grey slips through those side-streets, into a darkened pachinko bar, a twisting street or two away from Bar Trance. She is dressed strangely, to be sure; what kind of bride needs a heavy combat vest over her gown, let alone gloves up to her elbows or combat boots? It's hard to tell just who she might be, though; a half-dozen fascinators and wedding veils, one white as driven snow in contrast to her greys, veil her face and her long, dark teal hair. Her skin, between vest and glove, is tawny; her lips, visible beneath her fascinators, are painted deep garnet red.

        She excuses herself to the bathroom. She draws the tourniquet; the drug must flood deep into her, not to suppress her Persona but the three pupils at her veiled eye.

        ... her Mark, which was never on her hand at all, despite the fabric decoration hiding it away whenever she goes to visit Ayame.

        OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ER7tTyTpQA Ego Likeness - Seance

        The feeling which creeps into those twisting streets is not the screaming, horrific wrongness of the Mark which Persona Users know, though. Rather, the men glued to the glitz of their pachinko machines outside have a sinking realisation that their luck has turned; a terrible feeling spreads, amongst those in the buildings around them, that they've forgotten something important, all a sudden. That something is -- off, yet no one can quite put a finger on how, like they've wandered too far and can't quite find their ways back...

        Yua -- no, in this dress she is Yumi -- pulls her eyepatch back, beneath her veils, as the space becomes Supernatural despite its best efforts. Those veils fall back over her face, as she coughs, rakishly, blood splattering her dark gloves and the light grey of her dress. "Not safe," she groans, as she grasps the side of the stall, pushes herself standing -- only for her legs to give out beneath her, sending her crashing back down onto the closed toilet seat. "You're... not safe..." Blood splatters the front of the door, as she grasps at the hook, trying to get herself upright again. "Nowhere! Nowhere is safe!"

        She stumbles out of the parlour, looking to all the world like a woman who loves the needle far too much; that tourniquet's still trailing, around her upper arm. Once she's out in the street, she is free to press her Evoker -- a heavy, weighted thing, six-chambered, a Revolver rather than any type of sleek pistol -- to her Chaos Eye, cushioned by those veils, staring down the barrel with sight beyond sight as she invokes: "Gretchen."

        As that massive white-clad woman appears in the twisting street, clad in dozens upon dozens of jewels with a mask across her face, she encircles her arms -- jail bars driven through them -- around Yumi. "You cannot hide," she says, as another housewife looking for her husband after work sees the blood splattered across Yumi's dress, and not quite the massive hulking creature around her, though certainly some part of that housewife's heart knows she's in terrible danger. She shrieks, and runs down the street, only to find that she doesn't know the way out; even though that woman's found her way to this pachinko bar dozens of times before, woe betide their family, now each twisting turn feels as foreign as deep woods -- and she's never once left the city.

        The walls blacken, as if with soot or old blood; the glitz of Yumezaki dims, all at once, as the side-streets are plunged into Gretchen's darkness. No-where is safe for Unawakened patrons to hide, as those buildings they could hide in become gripped with a kind of creeping terror which drives everyone from them, to flee, to get away. Most of them, she allows out of her maze... but one normal man cannot flee so easily.

        Luckily, Sojiro's not alone. Now they realise that the environment around them is twisting, it's only a matter of time before the Persona-Users, at least, realise the truth: the danger is in a particular location, increasing towards a centre...

        A danger to the body -- to the bodies of every normal man and woman trapped here in these twisting alleyways -- a danger that can kill.

        It is a danger already disturbed, and now...

        "Your sins have been measured and judged," the Bride in the cage of her Persona intones, as Team Whoop-Ass round the corner to find her. "For your curiosity shall you be punished. Bemoan the cat his wretched fate! Yumi, the Bride -- shall I take your eyes to renew your innocence? Hush, see no evil..."

        Darkness rises, around them, leeching their health with sick, chthonic air -- but for Ayame, who will find Gretchen's face turning towards her, as that Bride orients on her just the same. "Tell me the truth!" She demands -- and coughs, again, more blood splattering at the front of her dress.

        "Open, open, open, open, open up, open up, open up, more and more and more and more..."


 AS: Yua Ooshiro has readied for combat as Gretchen! She is now fully healed! Ready for 8 opponents!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Dark skill Stagnant Air on Eriko Kirishima! 3 Hits!
 AS: You still have 7 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Dark skill Stagnant Air on Katsuya Suou! 3 Hits!
 AS: You still have 6 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Dark skill Stagnant Air on Masao Inaba! 3 Hits!
 AS: You still have 5 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Dark skill Stagnant Air on Maya Amano! 3 Hits!
 AS: You still have 4 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Dark skill Stagnant Air on Tamaki Uchida! 3 Hits!
 AS: You still have 3 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Dark skill Stagnant Air on Ulala Serizawa! 3 Hits!
 AS: You still have 2 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Almighty skill Possession on Ayame Watanabe!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro takes 60 damage from Stress!
 AS: Ruin: Yua Ooshiro gains 1 Limit!
 AS: You still have 1 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro's turn has ended.
 AS: Take! Ayame Watanabe takes 0 Almighty damage from Yua Ooshiro's Possession.
 AS: Yua Ooshiro's Strength Scan! Ayame Watanabe resists Dark!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro's Weakness Scan! Ayame Watanabe is weak against Fire!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro's Support Scan! Ayame Watanabe has passive skills Apt Pupil, Dark Amp, Dark Riposte, Regenerate 1, and Slash Boost!
 AS: Block Best! Ulala Serizawa takes 18 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air.
 AS: Block Worst! Ulala Serizawa takes 57 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Neutral! Ulala Serizawa takes 42 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air. Critical Hit!
 AS: Avoid Best! Maya Amano takes 21 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air. Critical Hit!
 AS: Avoid Best! Maya Amano takes 15 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air.
 AS: Avoid Worst! Maya Amano takes 52 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air.
 AS: Avoid Best! Masao Inaba takes 14 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air.
 AS: Avoid Neutral! Masao Inaba takes 31 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air.
 AS: Avoid Worst! Masao Inaba takes 67 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Worst! Tamaki Uchida takes 39 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air.
 AS: Block Worst! Tamaki Uchida takes 39 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air.
 AS: Block Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 26 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air. Critical Hit!
 AS: Avoid Worst! Eriko Kirishima takes 83 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air. Critical Hit! Weak!
 AS: Avoid Neutral! Eriko Kirishima takes 42 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air. Weak!
 AS: Avoid Neutral! Eriko Kirishima takes 60 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air. Critical Hit! Weak!
 AS: Block Best! Katsuya Suou takes 26 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Neutral! Katsuya Suou takes 40 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Best! Katsuya Suou takes 26 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air. Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Sojiro Sakura has posed.

         The old man had worked to get the cafe back into routine. Finally was back to running out of curry just in time for closing, and the coffee having already been pre-ground before the doors could be locked. He even has those he is supposed to be guardian of talking to him and the sarcastic responses have reached a level of normality.

         Tonight though was Sojiro's first time attending a book club that he has no intention of remaining a member of for long. Sojiro is surely certain that everyone of those people who he met in his cafe the other day are going to appear as missing people for the next year. Still they had good intentions, and he couldn't back down when they all started invoking protecting family and friends, so he resolved to help them. At least as much as his shaky resolve would let him. He kept having horrible nightmarish dreams about getting involved and not just returning to his hole to hide away from things. A deep breath is given as he walks towards his destination.

         The intent was to meet at a bar in the area, he had a friend that would let them use the back room and wouldn't ask questions. Stopping for a moment Sojiro lights a cigarette and takes the moment to catch his proverbial breath. That is when he sees a lady dressed as a bride walking down the street and rambling rambles that only those who can ramble could unravel. This isn't anything new to Sojiro, he lives down the street from that quack doctor after all. For the moment he doesn't even give the yelling woman a second thought.

         That is when the feeling as if someone has walked on his grave sets in and Sojiro instinctively grabs his wrist as he feels an echo of his nightmares. As the walls turn black Sojiro's first reaction is to reach out and touch it , as if questioning his reality before he looks around trying to figure out what is happening. Fear and panic sets in as he reaches into his jacket and swears to himself. After everything that had happened, he left his gun at the cafe. This was meant to be a peaceful meeting and now whatever is happening is well happening. All he can do is switch hands and a small karambit knife is drawn as he readies himself for whatever nightmare fuel.

         Nightmare fuel indeed, as the air itself becomes the enemy of Sojiro and causes the smoker to regret smoking as he coughs and hacks trying to catch his breath. His head raises up to stare at the bride talking about punishing people for curiosity and his heart rate triples and more anxiety and panic. He turns to look behind him to run but it's not the same as it was a moment ago, he tries to duck down an alley and comes out even closer to the bride. He rotates the knife in his hand to try to calm himself before he looks at the bride and makes a direct charge with the blade. If she was the cause, there was a certain way to end it. The mess could be cleaned up later.

<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.

Bar Trance means Ulala already has a drink in hand, because she comes early to get a drink every time. She's not expecting an attack; why would she?

She's knocking it back when the world turns odd, that feeling of the Mark washing over her. She rapidly sets the glass on the table, rising as she sobers up as much as she can in an instant, luckily having only had the one drink.

"Shit."

She lets the others lead, though she's near the front, her bandaged hands prepared to do violence.

And when they reach the Bride, she's frustrated, a grimace on her face.

"It's you! Fuck!" Ulala calls out, taking a boxing stance as that sickly air bashes against her guard, causing her to grimace and cough and sputter. She positions herself towards the front, being melee, and throws out a flurry of fast blows, knowing she's more likely to guard than melee strike back, based on their last fight.

"Sakura-san! Stay behind us! She's dangerous." she calls out as he approaches, but she can't reposition enough to reach him.

Shit. He's charging! "No!"

 AS: Weapon! Ulala Serizawa has used the Strike skill Furious Flurry on Yua Ooshiro! 3 Hits!
 AS: Aggression: Ulala Serizawa gains 1 Limit!
 AS: Ulala Serizawa's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.

        There's one thing Maya has been firm on ever since she awakened -- that like it or not, her responsibility as a Persona-user is to protect others.

        Maya never fancied herself a hero. As a kid, she wanted to be a sailor soldier, but as she grew, so did her sense of reality; this was not a world where talking cats introduced you to your newly-awakened powers.

        But over the course of the past few months, her sense of reality had shifted again. Magic, mysterious powers, bad guys in need of defeating -- all these things were actually real. Maybe somewhere, there were talking cats out there introducing teenagers to the fledgling powers, after all.

        Maya was mulling over how much things had changed over a drink when things suddenly changed. She set her drink down and ran out with the others, unholstering her guns in the process.

        What was that thing?

        And what was in the air? "Sakura-san!" she shouts, covering her mouth and nose with her forearm. It was, after all, her responsibility to protect him. And a little foul air wasn't going to stop her!

        "Maia!"
 AS: Persona! Maya Amano has used the Recovery skill Media on Eriko Kirishima, Katsuya Suou, Tamaki Uchida, and Ulala Serizawa!
 AS: Support: Maya Amano gains 1 Limit!
 AS: Maya Amano's turn has ended.
 AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 88 Recovery healing from Maya Amano's Media.
 AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 93 Recovery healing from Maya Amano's Media.
 AS: Take! Ulala Serizawa takes 88 Recovery healing from Maya Amano's Media.
 AS: Take! Eriko Kirishima takes 88 Recovery healing from Maya Amano's Media.

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.

Ayame was unaware that day of Yua's bugging her phone. She still is... for now. But not much longer, maybe.

Ayame elected not to go to the usual favored bar in Aoba tonight because they sell guns there and she doesn't want to give Sojiro any further ideas. Conveniently, he knew a place in Yumezaki... For now, though--

"So," Ayame says, "I--"

Not safe. Ayame feels the heart-stopping Resonance of the Mark's activation. ...And then the chaos of what happens next draws Ayame out. "Oh, no," Ayame says. "What on earth--?"

Ayame rushes out. She goes for the center of the disturbance as best she can, which sends her to see--

"Sakura-san!"

She has the same idea as Ulala, it would seem. But since she can't stop him...

Instead, she's stopped, by that strange scrutiny. Ayame finds Gretchen indeed turns towards her. Tell the truth. "The truth...?" A sharp pain wracks her, and she grits her teeth against it--but she has felt pain before, and this time, she can overcome it. She narrows her eyes. "The truth," she says, "Is that I won't allow you to hurt him!"

She is wrapped in the darkness, though, enshrouded by certainty and Order, at the same time that fire so easily alights the fabric of Fate...

But Ayame calls forth, "Atropos!"

Her Persona emerges, tall in an ankle-length dress and hooded cloak. Her medallion of the wheel gleams; her sharp golden eyes shine. And her heavy jewelry hangs in the air, as--

She puts forth one hand, and darkness erupts from about the Bride, from three directions casting hooks and blades.

Then Ayame pulls a sword out of her purse and starts forward. "Sakura-san!"
 AS: Persona! Ayame Watanabe has used the Dark skill Multi-Eiha on Yua Ooshiro! 3 Hits!
 AS: Ruin: Ayame Watanabe gains 1 Limit!
 AS: Ayame Watanabe regains 8 HP from Regenerate!
 AS: Ayame Watanabe's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.

        Even in this dark corner, Tamaki finds herself quiet among the crowd. Trying to keep everything straight in her head is a challenge. That's why she's been organizing her office bookshelf's case files so meticulously over the last few days, obscured through mnemonics that she hopes only make sense to her. While she would normally enjoy the drinks and atmosphere in other circumstances, she feels the need to remain sober when discussing this particular subject matter.

        A strange feeling washes over Tamaki, like being held above a funnel while watching water run through it. Everything else filters around her, escapes past her, flows through her. The rest of the herd flees, but she's the slowest in the pack.

        Tamaki first narrows her eyes at the approaching Yumi, then widens them in recognition. It's not quite the same level of panic that she had demonstrated at seeing her that one night during the Dark Hour, also in Yumezaki. Still, Tamaki realizes the danger coming their way.

        She hurriedly taps Eriko on the shoulder and whispers to those gathered, "Psst! Hey! Hey hey heyyyy, look alive. We've got incoming," then dips her head as she bends down to fumble with the zipper of her sports bag and retrieve her practice sabre. She's been caught flat-footed, and she gets battle-ready slower than she'd like, her haste making her all the more clumsy.

        She stands at the ready, her blade lowered and held at her side: she has no intent to strike yet, but it's there on display. Her breathing is ragged at first, but she soon steadies herself by mentally walking herself down a series of well-trodden trails of thoughts, the danger serving to sharpen her senses rather than dull them.

        Tamaki gives Yumi a plaintive smile. "It isn't curiosity that drives me, I'm afraid -- I've simply seen too much, and instead I fear that the greater sin would be to look away."

        Funny that Yumi mentions cats -- there's a folk belief about them and the number of lives they have. Tamaki reaches her hand to grasp at her necklace of coins and exclaims, "You want the truth? I have nothing to hide! Persona!" to bring forth Arianrhod amidst a flicker of blue.

        The wing-armored goddess cuts a circle in the air, and the transparent image of a full moon appears. It rolls through, colliding with her own allies: Sojiro (absolutely Sojiro first), Eriko, herself, then Maya. They may not be able to flee, they may not be able to find shelter, but here, she quietly issues a counterpoint to Yumi's claim that they can't hide: they can take some measure of refuge in plain sight. As it passes through each of them, they feel some measure of security and safety return to them.

 AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Recovery skill Silver Wheel on Sojiro Sakura, Eriko Kirishima, Tamaki Uchida, and Maya Amano!
 AS: Insight: Tamaki Uchida gains 1 Limit!
 AS: Tamaki Uchida's turn has ended.
 AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 0 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Silver Wheel.
 AS: Eclipse added!
 AS: Take! Maya Amano takes 0 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Silver Wheel.
 AS: Eclipse added!
 AS: Take! Eriko Kirishima takes 0 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Silver Wheel.
 AS: Eclipse added!

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

        Yumezaki's 'main draw' is not particularly Katsuya's sort of thing to go and do. A lot of the pachinko operations here are only technically legal: everyone knows that while you can exchange your winnings for prizes, you can easily go right next door and trade those for actual cash. And that's not getting into the other places around here. Nightclubs are not the sort of place he'd be found hanging around in willingly.

        Didn't someone say they saw his brother hanging about at one of the clubs, 'Zodiac', or something? Surely they're not serving liquor if they have minors around. Still, he's not sure at all where his brother got that from...

        But they're here because whatever their vices, they don't sell guns at any of the bars in Yumezaki... yet. This is one front on which Katsuya worries about tempting fate regarding.

        Things start off relatively normally for a meeting like this. And then--

        "What... what was that? That feeling--"

        --they very much weren't.

        "Please remain calm! Proceed in an orderly fashion away from the-- the accident!" he yells, making his way towards the heart of the disturbance with Ayame. "Sakura-san, wait!" It would be one thing if he had a way to describe what it is that they're facing. It's another when he's dealing only with the mass of screaming people and the rush away from...

        "...It's her," he says, staring for a long moment at Yumi the Bride. "That woman, from the incident at Ebisu Beach! Be careful, she isn't in her right mind--"

        As Yua demonstrates. Darkness rises and Katsuya throws up an arm as if to ward off this sickly, soul-sucking gust of air that washes over them. "Amano-kun, thank you!" The spell that comes from Maya soon after is a welcome relief, soothing over the parts of his body that feel scoured by her magic. "What is this about?! Is it 'us' you're after? There is no need to involve civilians!" he shouts at the veiled woman, throwing his left arm wide as if to underscore that sentiment.

        She's made her intent plain and so he doesn't hesitate: touching his fingers to his sunglasses, he calls out Helios: "Persona!"

        Hovering at his side, the well-dressed feline Persona produces flame from each of its hands. One after the other, it hurls them for 'Yumi'.
 AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Fire skill Double Agi on Yua Ooshiro! 2 Hits!
 AS: Katsuya Suou's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.

        Masao Inaba's about - actually, no, he's running late because of some of the usual bullshit life throws at him. He's almost about.
 
         "Friggin'," he looks at his cellphone. Bar Trance, yes, this way. A part of him wonders if he's going to run into a dear old classmate every time he walks by a (mostly) legitimate gaming parlor, owing to peculiar habits said friend had in times of crisis. (Which is to say, he gambled. And got a lot of sweet weapons and gear out of it, somehow.)
 
         Guess what? 'Almost' is good enough to get caught in that awful, sinking feeling to his Resonance. "Ah shit, ah shit, ah shit--"
 
         He's running headlong through the Stagnant Air, in a hurry. It is rare for someone to willingly charge into the maze of Gretchen for the sake of anyone, but Masao Inaba's Persona is that of a trailblazer, Ogun - even if Masao's yelling can be heard long before he himself catches up within Bar Trace and their own safeguards as to where to keep a man of the hour.
 
         The man looks like he might've seen a ghost, the way his eyes have widened. The Stagnant Air very nearly kept him from rejoining friends he was meant to meet with here tonight. It doesn't take him long to recognize a frightful figure from that time on the beach in the Persona-prison that is Gretchen.
 
         "Hey! Get away from 'em!" The street artist calls as he moves to join the others by their side, a fancy diamond-studded axe - some prize he grabbed from a wedding hall of a Palace - moving to swing the unwieldy thing in one hand only somewhat convincingly that he can heft that thing like this.
 
         There's a lot to parse - especially with Ayame and that guy they're trying to protect - but right now this is a problem best addressed with a horrible gaudy diamond-studded axe to a Gretchen-cage. He'll have another moment soon to parse the latest horrific scene of a distressed, entrapped woman using gut-wrenching means.
 
         "Sorry I'm late!" He punctuates at the end of it.
 AS: Weapon! Masao Inaba has used the Slash skill Melee - Axe on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Aggression: Masao Inaba gains 1 Limit!
 AS: Masao Inaba's turn has ended.

 AS: Block Neutral! Yua Ooshiro takes 17 Strike damage from Ulala Serizawa's Furious Flurry.
 AS: Block Best! Yua Ooshiro takes 9 Strike damage from Ulala Serizawa's Furious Flurry.
 AS: Block Best! Yua Ooshiro takes 9 Strike damage from Ulala Serizawa's Furious Flurry.
 AS: Nerve Up! Yua Ooshiro's SP +8!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 22 Dark damage from Ayame Watanabe's Multi-Eiha.
 AS: Blast added!
 AS: Block Neutral! Yua Ooshiro takes 19 Dark damage from Ayame Watanabe's Multi-Eiha.
 AS: Blast added!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 58 Dark damage from Ayame Watanabe's Multi-Eiha. Critical Hit!
 AS: Blast added!
 AS: Mind Up! Yua Ooshiro's SP +8!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 40 Fire damage from Katsuya Suou's Double Agi.
 AS: Haze added!
 AS: Block Best! Yua Ooshiro takes 22 Fire damage from Katsuya Suou's Double Agi.
 AS: Haze added!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 131 Slash damage from Masao Inaba's Melee - Axe. Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.

        Bar Trance is close to home for Eriko- though that may become a very uncomfortable thought shortly. It's not the sort of bar that models tend to hang out at, or at least that they tell people they hang out. Still, she's lived in Yumezaki for a long time, and knows the area well. Enough to easily navigate while avoiding the sort of alleys one could easily get cornered in or blocked off. Another thing she had to learn by experience. It means Eriko is just in time to the meeting, apparently beating the guest of the hour.

        She notably isn't drinking, just having gotten a soda water with some lime in it.

        And then the world shifts, and Eriko feels the grip of the supernatural take hold. "...It seems someone else is joining us." Eriko says, reaching for her own sword hiding sports bag, as she joins those rushing out to face what is out there- but even as she steps out, Eriko can already tell something.

        She doesn't know where she is. She knows that Bar Trance is where she stepped out of but the space is... wrong. More wrong than is typical of these spaces.

        Still, it's Tamaki that brings her focus back on the incoming threat- just as the stagnant air washes over her and Eriko lets out a cry of pain. Nike does not thrive in darkness, and she doesn't even have the chance to summon her Persona before she feels it break, and she falls to the ground choking on darkness.

        Fortunately, Maya's healing and Tamaki's shielding wash over her, and Eriko is able to stand again. She can answer Maya's question- "Gretchen," Eriko manages to squeak out, using her favourite way of giving herself control over situations she can't. "A woman desired by a doctor who made a deal with The Devil, who uses the deal to ruin her life and drive her into his arms- but she refuses him, choosing to die in faith rather than accept the devil's help." Eriko seems almost... joyous at the Persona that is, presently, attempting to entrap and kill them.

        Fortunately, the cavalry is coming. "Mark! Good timing!" She calls in English, as she finally gets back to her feet. "Mr Sakura, your knife won't help you here. You need something like this. Nike!"

        Eriko salutes with her epee, and her the Goddess of Victory, a fusion of woman and jet, appears above her to surge forward- and what follows is a trio of lights descending upon the Bride, their enemy of the moment.

        "Now now, you have to let us know what truth it is you're seeking before we can even consider acquiescing."
 AS: Persona! Eriko Kirishima has used the Light skill Holy Light on Yua Ooshiro! 3 Hits!
 AS: Pressure: Eriko Kirishima gains 1 Limit!
 AS: Eriko Kirishima's turn has ended.


 AS: Block Best! Yua Ooshiro takes 36 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Holy Light. Critical Hit! Weak!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 39 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Holy Light. Weak!
 AS: Block Best! Yua Ooshiro takes 25 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Holy Light. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

        Sojiro has a knife, and he knows how to use it.

        And Yumi --

        Yumi screams, covering her face, as if he were the most frightening thing here. "Aahhh-!!"

        ... but that's not the really interesting thing.

        No: more interesting is the way Gretchen moves, despite Yumi clearly freezing up in fear over being approached so directly, to clasp her jail-bar arms around her User. Being of two minds about a subject is one thing -- but how many Personas take actions their Users are too frightened to take?

        Sojiro's knife clashes against those bars with futility, and it is when he connects with something which shouldn't be there that he might realise:

        Something is there.

        There is a massive woman all in white, jail bars driven through her arms like some sick parody of wings, and she's protecting her.

        "Ahh--!!" She yelps, just the same, as Ulala and Masao repeat history, coming at him with fist and with axe. Gretchen's cage stands strong against their physical assault, though she's clearly frightened by the forwardness.

        "You, and you," Yumi confirms, to Ulala, as she gets a hold of herself and looks over them both. "You, who do not fear the earth beneath your feet... you will I crush!" She did scan their strengths, back during that first battle... "You will know my suffering!"

        "And you..." Oh, Maya! She grieves; would that she did not stand here, this day, to rend her efforts asunder. She is a good woman, with a good heart, as she heals the Persona-Users around her. She takes her Evoker into her hand again, and takes a cartridge from a pouch on the belt on her vest -- a pouch she leaves open, her madness leaving her thoughtless. "Load Kouha Cartridge," she intones, as she slips the cartridge into her revolver, snaps it shut -- and brings it up to her left eye again. "Firing." Red flames blaze from her skull, where that gun must have fired -- though the red which shatters out behind her isn't blood. Rather, golden light shines in the jewels of Gretchen's finery, and she lifts a hand, directing a ray of light down into her space!

        Yumi takes the truth of Ayame into herself. The scent of flowers is a thing so normalised as to be almost not there at all -- when was the last time you noticed your own smell? There is so much which oughtn't-be-noticed to her; heels which are far lower than they could be; the close fit of clothing which soothes the skin. Sight which blurs, but not enough to fuss over; and there, there, it is worsened by degrees by the warping of heat in the air. Hers is cutting-enquiry, into herself, into the world; and there can be no curiosity left in the chaotic devastation of fire. No -- in this woman -- the darkness is perfectly-placed, effort seeming effortless -- and never-ending.

        It is unpleasant; with that scrutiny comes the threat of punishment should she retreat into herself, should she fail to externalise her force. The depths of her are sighted; to them she will know no retreat.

        The darkness floods Gretchen's cage just the same -- and scores true; Yumi is a chthonic creature, but darkness is a mere bridesmaid attending her. "An ill omen falls upon you," she curses Ayame, though her heart aches.

        "Look away or perish," she advises Tamaki, in turn. "But you... you will tell me the truth." Gretchen's face turns to her, now, as Yumi prepares to be gripped by the essence of Tamaki's existence just the same.

        "So do they go," she turns to Katsuya, in turn. The fire scours against her jail bars; still Gretchen holds firm. "The foxholes frighten them. They will find no shelter whence our battle comes. To other places, go, and find peace; with them, I've no quarrel. Ah, but you... you. Once again you fall upon our altar, sacrificial lamb... meddle you with this band? So your gravestone is written. Forgive me." Again Gretchen lifts her hand, gesturing to Katsuya; a dozen gemstones tumble down into his space, in her own interpretation of magna.

        Gretchen and Yumi turn to Eriko, in unison, when she invokes the story of Faust. "Had I stayed in my dungeon," she says, "all my sins weighed and accounted... ahh!"

        Yumi realises the consequence of the Light, though, again, it's Gretchen who closes her arms around her -- protecting her from direct blows from the heavens, though her skirt is well ruffled by the Holy Light. What Gretchen fears most... it isn't the Devil, but the wrath of God, isn't it?

        "And of her sins," Yumi cries out, one hand still grasping her Evoker as the other lashes out, "the drowning--!!"

        The wave of water which collapses over Eriko is just that, though the sensation is illusory; the water orbs around her, and then fades, leaving only misery in two forms.

        But to cast that spell, Gretchen has to open her arms again, leaving Yumi unprotected by her cage...

 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Almighty skill Shared Suffering on Masao Inaba!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro takes 30 damage from Stress!
 AS: Ruin: Yua Ooshiro gains 1 Limit!
 AS: You still have 7 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Almighty skill Shared Suffering on Ulala Serizawa!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro takes 30 damage from Stress!
 AS: You still have 6 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Light skill Kouha on Maya Amano!
 AS: You still have 5 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Almighty skill The Doomed Bride on Ayame Watanabe!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro takes 60 damage from Stress!
 AS: You still have 4 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Almighty skill Possession on Tamaki Uchida!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro takes 60 damage from Stress!
 AS: You still have 3 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Earth skill Magna on Katsuya Suou!
 AS: You still have 2 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Water skill Ripping Wave on Eriko Kirishima!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro takes 30 damage from Stress!
 AS: You still have 1 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro: Blast removed!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro's turn has ended.
 AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 0 Almighty damage from Yua Ooshiro's Possession.
 AS: Pain added!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro's Strength Scan! Tamaki Uchida resists Light!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro's Weakness Scan! Tamaki Uchida is weak against Water!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro's Support Scan! Tamaki Uchida has passive skills Ailment Boost, Explode Boost, Light Boost, Recovery Boost, Skill Card Affinity, and Spotlight!
 AS: Take! Ayame Watanabe takes 0 Almighty damage from Yua Ooshiro's The Doomed Bride.
 AS: Omen and Sick added!

<Pose Tracker> Sojiro Sakura has posed.

        Sojiro hears all those that cry out for him to stop, it is right behind the pounding of his heart beat and the rushing of blood. It is when his blade is stopped by nothing that is suddenly something does he realize that something is wrong. Looking toward Eriko he is very confused as he is told his knife won't work. Then the earth moves and he flung back with a groan. He is too old for this.

         "I don't know what that is!" Sojiro shouts to Eriko, having no idea what a Nike is. However he does see something he could use and it is in the bride hands...as she shoots herself in the head. Sojiro watches wondering if the fight is over and no, it appears somehow shooting herself gave the other woman laser beams.

         Sojiro is starting to wonder if someone laced his cigarette with something. That is the obvious answer, still the important thing to note is that the woman in white is holding something Sojiro could use. Sojiro was regretting leaving his gun at home, so he would just ask the nice lady for hers. So despite everyone warning and waving Sojiro off from rushing the woman the first time, he does it again, this time going for the Bride's evoker.

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

        This time, Yumi has bigger things occupying her mind -- Eriko's reminder of Gretchen's myth consumes her. She doesn't realise until too late that Sojiro's trying again...

        ... and Gretchen is too incensed by her evocation to do what Yumi is too distracted to command of her.

        Sojiro tackles Yumi, then -- and she scatters to the ground, her fall cushioned by Gretchen's skirts. "Ahhhh--!" She screams, scrabbling back; she does not realise, in her fear, that she has dropped the revolver-like Evoker she held, nor several of those cartridges she previously loaded into it.

        And so Sojiro has a few precious moments to gather them up and get out of reach of those massive, jail-winged arms, before Gretchen closes her cage around Yumi...

        ... who, only as her cell locks, realises her mistake. "My... my connection!" She cries, scrabbling at the ground where her Evoker once laid. "Gretchen! Gretchen! Only through the Evoker can she heed me! No! No, she is like me, we must go together! Give it back!" Yumi scrambles to her feet, rattling at Gretchen's bars. "GIVE IT BACK!"

        But Gretchen, already Evoked, knows what Yumi needs facing so many foes more than she does; she keeps her arms tightly closed around Yumi, locking her away from Sojiro and the Evoker he's stolen. And how will Yumi reach her, when this battle concludes? That is not her problem; or, more accurately, that is not a problem a thing such as her would even process.

<Pose Tracker> Sojiro Sakura has posed.

        The two (three?) people fall to the ground and Sojiro does not have a persona's skirts to cushion his fall. He didn't remember the ground being so hard in the past but he refuses to stop moving. If he stops he is going to fail so many people. Scrambling to his knees he chases the evoker and the cartridges as he grabs it and rolls away before the cage of the persona slams down. He grabs his hat as he scrambles back.

         Sojiro can feel the difference of the gun in his hand and the weight is all wrong. The woman, she had used it... well he stares at the gun unsure on what to do. Looking up at Gretchen for a moment as he takes in rapid breaths still not sure what he is doing, only knowing that monkey see, monkey do doesn't always work out for the monkey. With a deep breath he presses the gun to his eye, just as the Bride had done and winces heavily. There is a moment he accepts his fate on whatever is to come next and pulls the trigger...

         From behind Sojiro smoke rises from his body, taking on a humanoid form as a blue cloak wraps around the form, the smoke taking on the shape of a white beard and white hair. A blue wizard hat adorns the figure as the smoke like hair hides the lack of facial features. A wooden staff in one hand and a crystal orb in another , floats above and behind Sojiro who si turning to look at what happens.

         A gruff voice speaks from the persona. "All your life Sojiro Sakura, the ambition of amoral adults has brought suffering to the weak, you were one of them once, but now you seek to atone, and protect those who would suffer. Together, let Merlin the wise and Sojiro Sakura use our strength and wisdom to shelter the lost... and greet their tormentors with the wrath of a millennium of wisdom and power!"

         The personified merlin raises his staff and using the same spell Gretchen had earlier, unleashes a beam of light at Gretchen and the Bride.


 AS: Take! Sojiro Sakura takes 0 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Silver Wheel.
 AS: Eclipse added!
 AS: Persona! Sojiro Sakura has used the Light skill Kouha on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Sojiro Sakura's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.

"Bring it on!" Ulala calls out to Yua, as that suffering comes forth in the form of a curse that weakens her to Earth... and then Sojiro tackles her not once, not twice, and goes for the Evoker. As he actually gets it away, Ulala's breath hitches...

And then something comes to form. Merlin the Wise, shooting a blast of light straight at Yua! As he does this, Ulala's taking advantage. "Callisto!"

In a flash of blue, the shoe-faced shibari-tied woman appears, trying to poison Yua with a blast of green fog.

She then follows it up by leaping forward, moving to try and kick into Gretchen not once, not twice, but in three distinct hits, trying to trample through those bars that are sure not to break even so.

"Hell yeah, Sakura-san!"
 AS: Ulala Serizawa spends Limit on Exploit! Ulala Serizawa can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Persona! Ulala Serizawa has used the Almighty skill Poisma on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Persona! Ulala Serizawa has used the Strike skill Kill Rush on Yua Ooshiro! 3 Hits!
 AS: Ulala Serizawa's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.

        "No problem!" Maya shouts back at Katsuya over the din of combat. Somehow, her voice manages to keep its cheery ring, even in the midst of battle. "Better late than never, Mark!"

        Hopefully they won't need the extra help, but Maya will never say no to another helping hand.

        Maya's eyes move across the battlefield, trying to gauge how badly the others are hit by their corresponding attacks. When she finally turns to direct her attention back to the enemy, she sees --

        "Sakura-san! You're a Persona-user, too?!"

        He didn't know what a Persona-user was a moment ago, so... this has to be his first time! "Here, have a hand! Maia!"
 AS: Avoid Best! Maya Amano takes 16 Light damage from Yua Ooshiro's Kouha. Critical Hit! Resist!
 AS: Haze added!

 AS: Persona! Maya Amano has used the Almighty skill Marakukaja on Ayame Watanabe, Masao Inaba, Sojiro Sakura, and Maya Amano!
 AS: Support: Maya Amano gains 1 Limit!
 AS: Maya Amano's turn has ended.

 AS: Take! Ayame Watanabe takes 0 Almighty damage from Maya Amano's Marakukaja.
 AS: Def_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.

Her suffering? Katsuya claims this woman isn't in her right mind, and that seems... accurate, to Ayame. But her strange Evoker is worse. And the strange omen she mentions--Ayame suddenly feels sick with worry, certain some important doom is upon her. "W-what?"

Mark made it; that's good. She can fight with him this time. And Eriko, too. The ones from back then...

"If you're suffering so much, why are you doing this?" Ayame wonders of Yumi. And indeed, she is clearly hurting herself as she does this. Ayame looks uncokmfortable, her lips pressing together for more than hjust her queasiness.

"...Atropos," she intones, "Go!"

She can't bring herself to attack with her sword; instead, Atropos tries to soothe and quiet--unfortunately, her quiet is that of the grave. Sleep threatens to overtake Yua in the moment...

And then Sojiro just outright tackles her. "Oh--oh dear," Ayame starts, stepping back. Yumi seems quite distressed... but in short order--

"Sakura-san!" Ayame exclaims. "You--" Well, at least they won't ahve to convince him too hard of Personas now. She smiles. "Let's work together!"
 AS: Persona! Ayame Watanabe has used the Almighty skill Dormina on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Ruin: Ayame Watanabe gains 1 Limit!
 AS: Ayame Watanabe: Loses 8 SP and TP from Sick!
 AS: Ayame Watanabe regains 8 HP from Regenerate!
 AS: Ayame Watanabe's turn has ended.

 AS: Take! Masao Inaba takes 0 Almighty damage from Maya Amano's Marakukaja.
 AS: Def_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.

        "Better late 'n never, right," he asides to Eriko knowing he's probably going to get yelled at for not making sense of the directions to the bar some time sooner, but that's as much levity and banter he's got when Gretchen and their captive Persona-user makes their intent clear.
 
         The ground under Masao's feet feels unsteady even if there is no material change in elevation or any presence of seismic reverberation as if - indeed - he is now a little more aware of the earth beneath his feet.
 
         There's a weight there being impressed. A suffering, Masao feels - and he's on his seat moments later, like there wasn't something to catch or hold him - he shakes his head, nah, that's not true, but that moment of weakness makes it feel like the ground under him is just not there to support him--
 
         But it neatly puts him out of the way as the guy they're trying to protect summons a Persona outright - and light shines past him onto Gretchen, as Masao takes the moment to whistle.
 
         "That's a Persona," Masao states the obvious, as he staggers back up. He has a laugh, despite still feeling the dreariness of trying to charge through all that Stagnant Air getting here. There's a fortifying feeling as Maya's Persona moves to protect him, a momentary thumbs up with a free hand.
 
         "All right. Let's get funky...!"
 
         He holds an arm up as a blue column of light surrounds him. A thin image of Ogun appears, stretching out to their regular proportions as he does a little shimmy as a gout of flame blazes ahead in front of him towards Gretchen.
 
         "...Whatever's goin' on with you," he shifts his weight to stay upright, "it's not gonna get better draggin' everyone down into it...!"
 AS: Persona! Masao Inaba has used the Fire skill Maragi on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Masao Inaba's turn has ended.
 AS: Ayame Watanabe spends Limit on Shift! Sojiro Sakura can use another Weak skill this round!

 AS: Mind Up! Yua Ooshiro's SP +8!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 103 Light damage from Sojiro Sakura's Kouha. Critical Hit! Weak!
 AS: Haze added!
 AS: There's nothing in your queue by that number or attacker.
 AS: Take! Yua Ooshiro takes 0 Almighty damage from Ulala Serizawa's Poisma.
 AS: Poison added!
 AS: Nerve Up! Yua Ooshiro's SP +8!
 AS: Take! Yua Ooshiro takes 0 Almighty damage from Ayame Watanabe's Dormina.
 AS: Exhaust and Sick added! Poison removed! Explosion! 75 damage!
 AS: Block Best! Yua Ooshiro takes 14 Strike damage from Ulala Serizawa's Kill Rush.
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 42 Strike damage from Ulala Serizawa's Kill Rush.
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 42 Strike damage from Ulala Serizawa's Kill Rush.
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 52 Fire damage from Masao Inaba's Maragi.
 AS: Haze added!

<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.

        "The term you want is fashionably late!" Eriko's not berating him, though, instead sending a smile to her friend. "Besides, your timing is perfect for today!"

        The wave crashes over Eriko, and she is surrounded by a sphere of water that seems to permeate her soul, weakening her and leaving her hurting in a different way to the crushing darkness that Yua threw over all of them. It lingers, that twofold misery, leaving Eriko hard pressed to fight back. "My... you seem to have plenty of misery to spare, don't you."

        The Persona and her wielder turn as one, recognizing the story- and apparently dwelling in it. That's a first for Eriko- even if she admittedly believed she had been chosen by God when she first awakened. But the line between Persona and Wielder being so thin.... that's unusual. Concerning, even-

        But more concerning is when Sojiro moves to attack the Bride again, in the moment of confusion brought by Yumi and Gretchen's reaction- and puts her gun to his own head!? "Mr Sakura, don't-"

        And then, for the first time in a long time, Eriko witnesses an awakening. "Oh my!" Eriko says, witnessing the emergence of perhaps the archetypical wizard. "The court wizard of Camelot himself..."

        There seems to be some appreciation for the fact that this should be much easier to get Mr Sakura on board with things, and Eriko can't help but agree. "Ah, I see you found what you needed, Mr Sakura. This rather evens the odds a touch. Perhaps you'd like a boost?"

        She lifts her sword to her face, and starts chanting, or perhaps... praying. "May victory, that merry virgin, born of noble line, attend us with her favour all our days!"

        Nike, above Eriko, circles the battlefield at speed, and her winds wash over the battlefield- in particular, Sojiro, Ulala, Tamaki and Ayame find the winds of victory at their backs, Eriko excluding herself from the blessing. Today, she'll play the priestess.

        "Detective Suou, perhaps you and your Sun God could help too? This is Mr Sakura's first battle, after all. A helping hand or two might be appreciated." She flashes Katsuya a winning smile, carried by the joy of this weird situation. It's much realer than her normal smile, the joy could almost be infectious.

        (On the other hand, Katsuya might be the hardest person in the world to manage a baton pass from a pretty girl smiling at him.)

 AS: Persona! Eriko Kirishima has used the Almighty skill Victory Blessing on Sojiro Sakura, Tamaki Uchida, Ayame Watanabe, and Ulala Serizawa!
 AS: Eriko Kirishima takes 90 damage from Pain!
 AS: Pressure: Eriko Kirishima gains 1 Limit!
 AS: Eriko Kirishima's turn has ended.
 AS: Eriko Kirishima spends Limit on Shift! Katsuya Suou can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Take! Ayame Watanabe takes 0 Almighty damage from Eriko Kirishima's Victory Blessing.
 AS: Atk_Up and Spd_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.

        Hey, so it turns out that it's actually a bit difficult for Tamaki to do her breathing exercises for focus as the air goes stale. Her initial bravado collapses into the delayed reaction of a wheezing fit, and she doubles over once her lungs can't take it anymore.

        "Hoogh -- ! Someone -- " hack, cough " -- protect him!" She refrains from saying his name, but she hopes her meaning is clear: Sojiro.

        It's then that Maya spreads her recovery magic over those affected, Tamaki included. Tamaki inhales deeply, appreciating the return of oxygen to her body, then gives Maya a nod of thanks in return. "Good looking out, Amano-san."

        She perks an eyebrow up at Katsuya. "So you've also run into her before, too? We can trade details later."

        She cheers at Mark as he comes in swinging! -- then her face freezes at the sight of that axe, and the lower part of her eyelid twitches. He kept that thing? Moments later, hearing the impact from his swing causes her to rethink her initial trepidation. -- actually, good call bringing it. Shows me for underestimating Inaba-san's eye for craftsmanship.

        It doesn't escape Tamaki's notice that Eriko maintains her composure as she elaborates on Gretchen's story.

        It's her first time seeing Ulala, Maya, and Ayame in action as Persona-users. She watches each of them keenly, taking mental notes on their approaches and particular talents. Ulala charges in first thing, always ready with her fists, and she's faster than Tamaki. Maya's gifts seem to include healing, though she may have more past that. Ayame -- is the housewife packing a goddamn shortsword?!

        It's her first time seeing Sojiro in action at all, and he was even faster than Ulala. Brave, but lacking the protection of a Persona in this context, foolhardy. She did try to explain at Café LeBlanc several days ago.

        That is to say, he lacked a Persona until mere moments ago. Not knowing any better herself what happens to someone 'normal' who uses an Evoker (he's not normal, Tamaki, you out of anyone here knows why he likely has the Potential), she stammers out to try and stop him, "H-hey, wait, you don't know what'll happen if you -- "

        After the form of Merlin emerges, she blinks in wide-eyed and stunned mostly-silence, only emitting a quiet,

        "Oh."

        Merlin's mention of stopping certain 'amoral adults' causes a grin to tug at the corners of her mouth. She rubs the back of her neck. "... We can explain more in full later."

        -----

        'But you... you will tell me the truth.' Like Tamaki had said, she has nothing to hide and invited this herself.

        She had meant it in the more general sense, oblivious to the way that Yumi had meant it with Gretchen's sight. Yumi tries to prepare herself for what's to come, but could she have ever seen this sight coming?

        (BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWNkqfn5oh4 In This Moment - The Fighter)

        No matter the occasion, Tamaki constantly wears that necklace of coins -- rokumonsen, as per Buddhist funerary custom. Left buried with the newly-deceased, those six coins represent the fee paid to the ferryman of the Sanzu River in order to cross over to the other side.

        All at once, Yumi experiences the sensation of meeting death at the hands of Demons a thousand times over. Mauled, trampled, gored, frozen, burned, bisected, beheaded, just to name at least a few entries from the list.

        It was not by Tamaki's own strength that she was able to get back up again each time. She and the others were trapped in a hell of someone else's making, and he had considered permanent physical death too good for the likes of them. No, he aimed to break their spirits, Tamaki's included. In that realm so long ago, those present suffered ego death in the place of true physical death.

        Each time she and her companion died, they dreamed they were waiting for the ferryman at the bank of the river to the afterlife -- Sanzu, Styx, Cocytus, or something else, it isn't exactly clear. Each time, they were denied passage and were told to turn back. Each time, they returned to the land of the living with a new guardian spirit accompanying them, that of a Persona.

        Each time she was shattered, she was then subsequently remade. She didn't always have Arianrhod -- at first, she and her partner were as defenseless as Sojiro. Her first Persona was shapeless, formless, an abstract ghost of a shape, but it was there, better than nothing. With each death, the shape became more and more well-defined, angelic and divine, a beacon that burns bright, even in the face of being quenched.

        By the end of it all, the Tamaki Uchida who had finally emerged from that ordeal was completely unrecognizable from the one who had gone in. Death was no escape back then, and this taught her that the only way forward was through.

        This is the lesson that she's carried forward with her.

        (There is still the creeping sense that she had avoided what's due to her, that she had somehow cheated. She knows that she can't avoid the ferryman forever. She's planning on prolonging that meeting as long as she can, however.)

        (Not that Yumi knows any ferrymen, right?)

        -----

        That's who stands before Yumi now. Tamaki was perfectly content to keep a low profile as a stagehand and let the others shine in the spotlight. Just days earlier, Tamaki had expressed to Maya how she understood, on some level, Sojiro's desire to shed his old life and start a new one in relative safety and obscurity.
        
        But Yumi has now brought them both into harsher focus. Bereft of the softer supportive tools of her trade, Tamaki's previous plaintive smile has turned to the same stubborn defiance she had exhibited in the visions granted to her by Gretchen. Normally, her sunny demeanor contrasts with Arianrhod's imperious countenance, but now? Now, they match.

        Eriko's chant for victory hones Tamaki's focus and Arianrhod's blade. "Well said, Kirishima-san."

        Tamaki echoes Yumi's previous words back to her: "Shall I take your eyes to renew your innocence?" Arianrhod's blade shines with multicolored blinding light as she moves forward to strike, then she plunges her blade into the ground, causing beams of light to spring forth from the ground beneath.

 AS: Tamaki Uchida spends Limit on Exploit! Tamaki Uchida can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 0 Almighty damage from Eriko Kirishima's Victory Blessing.
 AS: Atk_Up and Spd_Up added!
 AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Slash skill Glittering Blade on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Tamaki Uchida takes 90 damage from Pain!
 AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Light skill Hama on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Tamaki Uchida's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

        He nods, at what Tamaki has to say. "Yes. We can talk about that later! First, we must survive this!" That way there will be a later.

        "That's--" he starts and stops, shocked by the statement (and the manner in which she makes the statement) that while she won't chase after the fleeing civilians, she's at the same time promising them no safety should they remain about. But as for him...

        "And, what would you have me do? Turn my gaze away?"

        And if he doesn't, what's the alternative here? To... be killed? In the moment, 'Yumi's' attempt comes in the form of a rain of gemstones, falling in a pelting shower as he shields himself with his arm and Helios' presence. While he feels as if he's gone largely unscathed, there's the strangest sensation, like he's had his shadow half-nailed to the ground, or something as absurd as that. He can still move, but...

        "'Gretchen'?" Katsuya echoes, glancing at Eriko. "From 'Faust'? I have not read it, but I am familiar with the idea behind it! So that is the nature of her Persona? But..."
        He may be taken aback to an extent by the clear fascination and joy Eriko has taken in naming the form of their opponent's other self.

        Sojiro's knife just isn't enough. He needs something like Eriko's Nike. "But-- he is not...!" Katsuya protests, shaking his head.
        It's a protestation that may be in vain.

        Sojiro, after all, in search of a weapon has lunged for Yumi's Evoker. "Wait, don't touch--" he shouts in vain, reaching out an arm as if he could cross the too-far distance. There's a tussle between the two of them, a fleeting struggle over the Persona-summoning implement. What happens if a civilian is shot with one of those, he half-wonders, moving to try to intervene. But Sojiro wins and backs away, holding the implement in his hand, and in his own way, he gets his answer.

        "You-- Sakura-san!"

        So, this is how it works with someone who uses an Evoker, he just distantly realizes.

        "--We'll explain later!" he calls out then, readjusting to the change in circumstance as best he can. "We must deter her first!" Deter, not kill. He hopes that it can be done like that.

        But even as he says that, he can't hold back just because he doesn't want to kill-- not if he wants to protect the rest of them. "Get back," he cautions the others, before drawing his sidearm and taking a shot at the cage-shaped Persona.

        Perhaps he and his sun god, though, speaking of Personas and their roles, could help out and this coupled with the smile she flashes at him seems to take him by some sort of surprise: he straight up stalls out for a moment. "Er-- that is," he stays, then gestures at Sojiro. "Helios! Lend him your aid!" Shimmering light descends around Sojiro, helping to shield him from harm.

 AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Almighty skill Rakukaja on Sojiro Sakura!
 AS: Katsuya Suou's turn has ended.
 AS: Take! Sojiro Sakura takes 0 Almighty damage from Katsuya Suou's Rakukaja.
 AS: Def_Up added!
 AS: Weapon! Katsuya Suou has used the Pierce skill Handgun - Shot on Yua Ooshiro! 2 Hits!
 AS: Defense: Katsuya Suou gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Take! Sojiro Sakura takes 0 Almighty damage from Maya Amano's Marakukaja.
 AS: Def_Up added!
 AS: Take! Sojiro Sakura takes 0 Almighty damage from Eriko Kirishima's Victory Blessing.
 AS: Atk_Up and Spd_Up added!

 AS: Take! Sojiro Sakura takes 0 Almighty damage from Maya Amano's Marakukaja.
 AS: Def_Up added!
 AS: Take! Sojiro Sakura takes 0 Almighty damage from Eriko Kirishima's Victory Blessing.
 AS: Atk_Up and Spd_Up added!
 AS: Block Best! Yua Ooshiro takes 31 Slash damage from Tamaki Uchida's Glittering Blade. Critical Hit!
 AS: Haze added!
 AS: Block Best! Yua Ooshiro takes 103 Light damage from Tamaki Uchida's Hama. Weak!
 AS: Exhaust added! Haze and Sick removed!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 42 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Handgun - Shot.
 AS: Block Neutral! Yua Ooshiro takes 36 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Handgun - Shot. Critical Hit!
 AS: Tamaki Uchida spends Limit on Help Up! removed from Eriko Kirishima!

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

        "He... he has a Persona?!" Yumi gasps, as Merlin rises up behind Sojiro. "He has Evoked his Persona?! He..."

        She looks down, her grasp on the bars loosening, in her grief. "He saw his own mortality, then... and with both hands he grasped it... this have I wrought upon him."

        The light of Kouha shines upon Gretchen, then, hairline cracks spidering through some of those gems which adorn her -- though she manages to persist through Heaven's wrath. Gretchen weathers Ulala's assault, just the same... though her poison drips at her lovely frock, and Yumi claps a hand to her mouth as she backs up. "Oh... urgh... I feel ill again... what a miserable feeling... but there is ill tidings through your veins just the same!" A big jewel -- a diamond! -- crashes from the sky into Ulala's space, now.

        Dormina suggests she lay down, but of course there's a peril to laying down when one is gripped by sickness that Ayame would know all too well -- the warring priorities all but exploding upon Gretchen. No -- literally exploding! That hulking Persona takes a step -- does she have legs, or just a very mobile skirt? -- to the side, though she manages to right herself.

        "I... must," she settles on, looking to Ayame. "For better is it to suffer than to die. It is not by my hand you are damned... yet from my hand shall you receive retribution. Black Mother, hide your face!" Another of those massive jewels falls -- on Ayame, this time.

        "Your aid... is too much," she adds, turning to Maya and Maia. "Be locked away!" Gretchen gestures to her, and a cage of black shadow erupts from above, around her -- and then collapsing into her before it fades. She's physically unbound, but the effects it leaves behind may well make her feel less able to move freely...

        ... but it's strange. Yumi told her that her aid is too much, but then she cursed her to be punished if she didn't aid them...?

        Masao gets funky, and Maragi courses down across Gretchen's cage, fluttering at her skirts. "No," she confirms, plainly. "'Better' is not where you will be, nor I. This is not where we dwell, for the worse. This world for the worse! Damn it to men in suits, the Powers that Be which would risk all they have for an impossible dream! Ah, but I speak overmuch; won't you dance with me?" She twirls, and Gretchen waves her arms, briefly, in another invitation to dance. It's different than it was before -- she's gotten stronger...!

        It is strange that Yumi would be so taken in by the story, though -- and strange that she leaves that point of separation between herself and her Persona. 'Like me', she says; does she not realise her Persona is her? "Victory? There can be no victory! Not for you, not for me! This grim tableau was decided long prior! Neither your effort nor mine shall shift the scales from the weight they bear! Come, now -- BEAR IT!" And that great stone falls, again, upon her.

        "WAS IT KEPT!" Yumi yelled, in haggard disbelief, when Tamaki asked whether Masao kept his axe; apparently, she's met it before.

        When she takes Tamaki into herself, though -- she faces her death again, as surely as she was given her own escape from Hell. She feels as a marionette, tossed back and forth on the tides of Fate; alone she is helpless.

        (she has come here alone)

        And so she understands -- she UNDERSTANDS -- hers the light of illumination, of perspective cast over a dozen-hundred lives, and Yumi staggers to the side, as her own Resonance slips from her control. Before, it would have been difficult to tell she was a Persona-User at all, if not for the horrors she's clearly wrought. Now, they feel it, though the method of feeling depends on their senses: no matter the form, it is the feeling of chthonic binding, an underground dungeon long locked away. Perhaps it is that scent of 'Stagnant Air'; perhaps it is the disease of stillwater, collecting to perish slow. Perhaps the crushing earth -- or the sound of a key turning, never to turn again.

        It is a key which she cannot unturn; a clue she cannot take back, though she gathers herself and suppresses her Resonance as she realises how she is horrified.

        It is all the more vital, now, she never let it slip in her day to day life...

        Gretchen weathers that light, though her gems crack a little further; her bars hold fast, to abjure that blade. "Mine were long since carved!" She snaps back to Tamaki, sharply. "Drown!"

        She turns her gaze to Katsuya, eye still burning red behind those veils, as his handgun fires into Gretchen's skirts. "Turn your gaze away! Live another day! Mine the task to deter you from these fruitless aims -- less you would wish the killers come?! I am not the worst of us! Greater horrors still await!" Katsuya's managed to get a motive out of her, at least -- they want to scare them away from what they're investigating. Unfortunately, he gets a massive gem falling into his space, too.

        It's as they always say, isn't it, Maya? When someone sends lawyers after you, you know you've got a legitimate story.

        "And you -- and you -- and you!" She turns, angrily, to Sojiro. "Thief! Defiler! You would take from me the only woman who understands my imprisonment completely?! You are a fool! I am all that centres her, she all that centres me! Give it back! GIVE IT BACK! All curses beneath the earth upon you, thief! THIEF!"

        Her invectives ring true: those drowning waters rip about him, only to be replaced by the stagnant air of a dark place locked away, only to be replaced by a shower of tiny gems. "Who are you, who would take her from me?! TELL ME THE TRUTH!"

        And so she will know him, too... even as more of those awful coughs wrack her body.

 AS: Yua Ooshiro spends Limit on Break!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Earth skill Magnara on Ulala Serizawa!
 AS: Ruin: Yua Ooshiro gains 1 Limit!
 AS: You still have 7 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Earth skill Magnara on Ayame Watanabe!
 AS: You still have 6 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Dark skill Chthonic Cage on Maya Amano!
 AS: You still have 5 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Almighty skill Dance With Me on Masao Inaba!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro takes 60 damage from Stress!
 AS: You still have 4 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Earth skill Magnara on Eriko Kirishima!
 AS: You still have 3 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Water skill Bruising Wave on Tamaki Uchida!
 AS: You still have 2 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Earth skill Magnara on Katsuya Suou!
 AS: You still have 1 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro spends Limit on Exploit! Yua Ooshiro can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro spends Limit on Exploit! Yua Ooshiro can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro spends Limit on Exploit! Yua Ooshiro can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Earth skill Magna on Sojiro Sakura!
 AS: You still have 1 regular actions and 2 bonus Weak action!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Dark skill Stagnant Air on Sojiro Sakura! 3 Hits!
 AS: You still have 1 regular actions and 1 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Water skill Ripping Wave on Sojiro Sakura!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro takes 30 damage from Stress!
 AS: You still have 1 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
 AS: Persona! Yua Ooshiro has used the Almighty skill Possession on Sojiro Sakura!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro takes 60 damage from Stress!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro: Break removed!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro's turn has ended. It's time for an All-Out Attack!
 AS: Avoid Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 17 Water damage from Yua Ooshiro's Bruising Wave. Critical Hit! Eclipsed!
 AS: Eclipse removed!
 AS: Break! Tamaki Uchida can take another Weak action this round!
 AS: Counter Worst! Ayame Watanabe takes 151 Earth damage from Yua Ooshiro's Magnara.
 AS: COUNTER! Yua Ooshiro takes 72 Dark damage in return for her attack!
 AS: Break! Ayame Watanabe can take another Weak action this round!
 AS: Avoid Neutral! Maya Amano takes 148 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Chthonic Cage. Critical Hit!
 AS: Break! Maya Amano can take another Weak action this round!
 AS: Take! Ulala Serizawa takes 0 Almighty damage from Eriko Kirishima's Victory Blessing.
 AS: Atk_Up and Spd_Up added!
 AS: Take! Maya Amano takes 0 Almighty damage from Maya Amano's Marakukaja.
 AS: Def_Up added!
 AS: Block Best! Ulala Serizawa takes 35 Earth damage from Yua Ooshiro's Magnara. Resist!
 AS: Bind added!
 AS: Break! Ulala Serizawa can take another Weak action this round!
[OOC] Maya Amano says, "whoops would have been helpful to have done before now lol"
 AS: Block Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 123 Earth damage from Yua Ooshiro's Magnara.
 AS: Bind added!
 AS: Break! Katsuya Suou can take another Weak action this round!
 AS: Take! Masao Inaba takes 0 Almighty damage from Yua Ooshiro's Dance With Me.
 AS: Bomb and Recovery_Wall added!
 AS: Break! Masao Inaba can take another Weak action this round!
 AS: Avoid Worst! Sojiro Sakura takes 57 Earth damage from Yua Ooshiro's Magna. Eclipsed!
 AS: Eclipse removed!
 AS: Break! Sojiro Sakura can take another Weak action this round!
 AS: Block Worst! Sojiro Sakura takes 35 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air.
 AS: Break! Sojiro Sakura can take another Weak action this round!
 AS: Block Best! Sojiro Sakura takes 12 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air.
 AS: Break! Sojiro Sakura can take another Weak action this round!
 AS: Block Worst! Sojiro Sakura takes 35 Dark damage from Yua Ooshiro's Stagnant Air.
 AS: Break! Sojiro Sakura can take another Weak action this round!
 AS: Take! Sojiro Sakura takes 0 Water damage from Yua Ooshiro's Ripping Wave.
 AS: Bomb and Sick added! Spd_Up removed!
 AS: Break! Sojiro Sakura can take another Weak action this round!
 AS: Take! Sojiro Sakura takes 0 Almighty damage from Yua Ooshiro's Possession.
 AS: Yua Ooshiro's Strength Scan! Sojiro Sakura resists Elec!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro's Weakness Scan! Sojiro Sakura is weak against Earth!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro's Support Scan! Sojiro Sakura has passive skills Ailment Boost, Jamming, Nerve Shield, and Quick Weapon!
 AS: Break! Sojiro Sakura can take another Weak action this round!
 AS: Avoid Neutral! Eriko Kirishima takes 97 Earth damage from Yua Ooshiro's Magnara.
 AS: Bind added!
 AS: Break! Eriko Kirishima can take another Weak action this round!

<Pose Tracker> Sojiro Sakura has posed.

         For this very moment the magic of the others flows through Sojiro and he feels like his younger self. It is an amazing feeling and if this is what having one of these persona things is like he could get use to it.

         This is a good thing as his soul is looked upon by the Bride and the sadness that is hidden in his heart walled with a need to protect those that are important to him is something she would truly feel. On top of having started smoking since he was younger than Ren. The cold water freezes his bones, and the rocks hurt. They hurt a lot, just because he feels better his body is not that young and rocks hurt. He is going to be a big bruise tomorrow. As for the air, all he can really do is work to breathe through it.

         Sojiro looks at the lady as she shouts that he is a thief and he simply resteadies his ground and stands his ground. He tips his hat to hide his face, "Who am I? I am just an old man." With less hesitation then before Sojiro fires rapidly into himself the evoker bullets, providing multiple rounds of Kouha for Merlin to use. Merlin takes the magic and raises his staff, launching a large ball of light towards the Bride only for it to burst like a bubble when it gets near her, exploding into a blinding light.

         Merlin watches his new partner and frowns, this one would need as much guidance as any of the children he wishes to guide. This 40,ish, youth seems to know nothing of magic, and will need some guidance of his own. For now Merlin simply gestures to something else on the ground, another bullet.

         Sojiro, using the cover of the blinding light, dives forward and grabs the bullet reloading quickly. As he turns he pulls the trigger. For a moment nothing happens, Sojiro looks at Merlin before Merlin casts down his staff towards Sojiro.

         Sojiro takes the staff from his persona and it shifts and changes magically, becoming a bolt action rifle as he spins it towards the Bride. " May you forgive me for this. " The trigger is pulled and a bullet of lightning erupts from the rifle to strike the Bride, the rifle quickly magically returning to being Merlin's staff once again.
 AS: Persona! Sojiro Sakura has used the Light skill Flash Bang! on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Persona! Theurgy! Sojiro Sakura has used the Elec skill Ohnyalei: Lighting shot on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Sojiro Sakura: Loses 8 SP and TP from Sick!
 AS: Sojiro Sakura's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.

The jewel comes for Ulala, who pulls up her block and guards against it, even as she's thrown backwards, sliding on her heels to maintain balance. Eriko's buff washes over her. "Thanks!" she calls out to her.

As Sojiro's powerful shot is fired, Ulala's grinning. They can win this!

She rushes inwards, calling out Callisto again. A blast of darkness is lobbed at Gretchen, before Ulala pulls her fist back, striking with two ugly haymakers, trying to smash straight through and hopefully help drive her off or, preferably but more unlikely, knock her out.

"You think the horror movie shit will end once she's out?" she calls out to her allies.
 AS: Persona! Ulala Serizawa has used the Dark skill Eiha on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Weapon! Ulala Serizawa has used the Strike skill Serizawa Haymaker on Yua Ooshiro! 2 Hits!
 AS: Aggression: Ulala Serizawa gains 1 Limit!
 AS: Ulala Serizawa's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.

        The cage crumples around Maya and she feels as if her entire body is being crushed with it. She winces through gritted teeth, determined not to cry out.

        But even despite the pain being inflicted upon her -- upon all of them -- Maya can't help but feel sorry for their opponent. There's something so sad about the way she is lashing out. What kind of pain could she have endured to act like this?

        Maya can't let her empathy stop her, though. She's already done enough damage to her friends -- and to the entire area.

        "I'm sorry I have to do this! Maia!"
 AS: Persona! Theurgy! Maya Amano has used the Almighty skill Omni-Dimension on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Maya Amano: Fast Heal! Haze removed!
 AS: Maya Amano's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.

In point of fact: yes, the housewife has a shortsword. It looks vaguely Greek; she might've picked it because it resembled something her Persona might use. Or maybe she just liked it. Either way, Ayame has it, as surely as Mark has his axe. "That's right!" she follows up mark's statement about 'better'. Elly, though, speaks her prayer--

Ayame turns and smiles at her, briefly. She speaks the language! At least, well enough. "Thank you!"

She feels safer now... except for that creeping sense of dread that remains.

'But I must' does not feel good, either. "So you're being threatened?" Ayame works out. "You--"

Ayame throws out her hand, and her Persona emits a blast of shadow towards the rock; it fails to stop the stone, but goes on to suffuse Yua's Persona. A grim tableau...

Greater horrors await...

As Sojiro finds more resolve (and explosions), Ulala has a fair question. "I think if we can drive her off it will stop, yes!"

She feels much like Maya does here, though. There is something sad about this opponent...

"Sorry," Ayame says, apologetic. "But I can't be stopped here. I hope they don't punish you too harshly..."

Ayem breathes, and summons her Persona again. This time, Atropos wields her shears, cutting at Gretchen even as darkness starts to suffuse the area around her once more.

"Sakura-san, you may experience a certain drop in a few moments--"

But Yumi's curse descends upon Ayame, whose eyes suddenly widen as, out of nowhere, a heavy weight seems to descend upon her; she wobbles on her feet and falls to one knee.

 AS: Ayame Watanabe spends Limit on Psych!
 AS: Persona! Ayame Watanabe has used the Slash skill Fatal End on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Persona! Ayame Watanabe has used the Dark skill Maeiha on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Ruin: Ayame Watanabe gains 1 Limit!
 AS: Ayame Watanabe: Loses 8 SP and TP from Sick! Omen and Psych removed! Omen: 120 damage!
 AS: Ayame Watanabe regains 8 HP from Regenerate!
 AS: Ayame Watanabe's turn has ended.

 AS: Mind Up! Yua Ooshiro's SP +8!
 AS: Nerve Up! Yua Ooshiro's SP +8!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 91 Light damage from Sojiro Sakura's Flash Bang!. Critical Hit! Weak!
 AS: Haze and Paralyze added!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 241 Elec damage from Sojiro Sakura's Ohnyalei: Lighting shot. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 62 Dark damage from Ulala Serizawa's Eiha.
 AS: Blast added! Paralyze removed! Explosion! 75 damage!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 80 Strike damage from Ulala Serizawa's Serizawa Haymaker.
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 100 Strike damage from Ulala Serizawa's Serizawa Haymaker. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 181 Almighty damage from Maya Amano's Omni-Dimension.
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 217 Slash damage from Ayame Watanabe's Fatal End. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 99 Dark damage from Ayame Watanabe's Maeiha.
 AS: Blast added! Exhaust and Haze removed!

<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.

        There is an invitation to dance, and Masao's free hand is taken by some force. His steps with them are light, delicate, and not quite his own as he's an enraptured audience for the wielder of Gretchen (...who is being wielded by Gretchen?).
 
         "Whoa," is all he can utter out as he is strung along. She has captured his movement, his direction, his everything--
 
         "I don't know what the hell you're on about... men in suits," no, that sounds a little too close to something familiar that should never be the case again, but where he might be dancing to Yumi's invitation...
 
         "For all the bullshit this world's got, it's ours," Masao asserts his mouth, and with it, what will guides him into being, like metaphorically taking the reins of a chariot, "and I'm makin' my own way through it...!"
 
         But he can't break free until Sojiro calls upon Merlin's power in one great burst of emotion and decisive action, at which point Masao staggers free of that dance in a pained tumble - and is blissfully unaware about what the offensive thing was that was kept. (it's his axe. that axe is gaudy ugly. it's tough, but it's a souvenir of a rotten place and an even more rotten person)
 
         "...Thanks, old man," he asides to Sojiro when he brings himself up. With that, a mischievous snicker (a very loud 'heh heh hehhhh') as that blue column returns, and with it Ogun.
 
         Both gaudy diamond-studded axe of Masao and the spear of Ogun rise up, and then strike down in a slashing motion in tandem. The actions of Persona and User desync here, another shimmy from Ogun as gravitic force resonates to both help Masao lift his axe up out of the ground and also just give Gretchen another case of the floating purple orbs with emanating yellow energy rings.
 
         There's a pained sense that comes from the decisive separation from someone who might have extended a hand in dance in a way to communicate the world they see and their desire as to what to do to it - and that sting feels just as familiar as when a dear friend had to confront the world of their own making and what it did to the world that is.
 
         "...Whatever this is..." He can't put it into words, in the downswing of that sharp pain of disconnection. This is someone suffering in ways eerily familiar, and he wants to show her the way out of it.
 
         But in this space, 'where' isn't all that clear, is it.
 AS: Masao Inaba spends Limit on Psych!
 AS: Tandem! Masao Inaba has used the Slash skill Flurry Stab on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Aggression: Masao Inaba gains 1 Limit!
 AS: Persona! Masao Inaba has used the Earth skill Magry on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Masao Inaba: Psych removed!
 AS: Masao Inaba's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.

        Tamaki blinks in Yumi's direction as she asks if Masao's axe was 'kept.' "Uh -- " Yumi's meaning eludes her, but to her knowledge, it's from Kamiya's Palace. Maybe she met a different axe wielded by the same Masao?

        'Drown!' There it is, the very waters she feels calling for her, angry that she's managed to evade them for as long as she has. It's true, she has one foot in a watery grave --

        -- but the earlier image of the moon reappears. Arianrhod's epithet, the Silver Wheel, so named for the vessel she uses to carry the dead to the afterlife beyond the moon. ... and perhaps in Tamaki's case, it's made several return trips.

        Below Yumi, in the pool of water formed from her earlier attack aimed at Tamaki, briefly reflects the image of the full moon, exposing her further to the light.

        Tamaki gives a low whistle as Sojiro casts a variation of Sticks to AKs. "That's stylish, I must admit."

        Having already demonstrated her own prowess when brought out of hiding through the light of Gretchen's scrutiny, and now that Sojiro is no longer as vulnerable as he was moments ago, Tamaki adjusts her jacket collar as slinks away into the back row, fading back into the pages of history she had come from. She retrieves a binder from her sports bag and holds it in her off-hand.

        Tamaki's own reply to Yumi regarding her eyes being 'carved' is, in turn, gentle. "... in a sense, so were mine."

        Yumi shouts to Katsuya to turn his gaze away, lest 'the killers come.' Tamaki starts to smile at that, having found something amusing in that phrasing -- though it just as quickly fades. She's not so easily deterred, but she must consider the safety of the others, as well. If it were just herself, this would be easier ...

        Arianrhod's flashing blade cuts twice in the air and forms a golden X which speeds towards Yumi, leaving a trail of light behind as it goes. The tail end of the trail continues to the binder which Tamaki had just now pulled out, highlighting passages in notes she had previously taken.

        The battle's already won, but may become a small informational advantage is in support of the overall war.

 AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Almighty skill Light Break on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Light skill Cross-Reference on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Insight: Tamaki Uchida gains 1 Limit!
 AS: Tamaki Uchida's turn has ended.
 AS: Tamaki Uchida spends Limit on Shift! Eriko Kirishima can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Katsuya Suou spends Limit on Shift! Eriko Kirishima can use another Weak skill this round!

<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.

        "Ah, you know it, Detective?" Eriko smiles again at Katsuya's recognition, it's always fun to see someone who recognizes some of the classics. "Maybe you, I and Tamaki should form a book club!" It is an earnest fascination, to be sure- but also a coping method. Elly has always felt so much more comfortable with the supernatural aspects than she does some of the human cruelty she has seen-

        But for some reason, something seems off with Yumi and Gretchen, like she's struggling- and her own health failing. What kind of manifestation of a persona is this?

        She doesn't have much room to think about it, however, as the barrage of rocks come for her, and Eriko and Nike are battered back, Eriko stumbling and Nike's flight disrupted.

        "It is noble to face one's judgment- but Gretchen's time is long past, and her sins absolved." Eriko says, calmly. "She redeemed herself in The Lord's eyes with her sacrifice, there is no need to continue to suffer." Eriko, for some reason, looks serious. If the barrier between Persona and Wielder is so thin... Well. Maybe she can offer up a second distraction. "You are no cloistered nun, are you, simply pious and penitent. You cannot simply sit and suffer and wait to be absolved a second time. 'For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead'."

        Maybe it will stun her, maybe it won't. Scripture isn't always a solution, but Gretchen may understand if Yumi won't- especially as Eriko struggles to understand what Yumi is saying.

        But she sees the opening Tamaki has provided, and smiles. "Well, that's a useful opening! Nike! Mafui!" She starts, as Eriko returns the sickening favour, before continuing! "Kouha! Holy Light! Hama!" A trio of spells of light follow in rapid succession, first a spear of light heading for Yua, then three sudden flares, and finally a red pillar, covered in seals, emerging from the ground to encase the caged woman in a second cage, and ideally shatter with divine light, as Nike's thrilling air show is completed.

        "I think it's time you let us leave, don't you? Mr Sakura has found his salvation and strength. Gretchen's role is rather done in this piece, don't you think?"

 AS: Persona! Eriko Kirishima has used the Almighty skill Mafui on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Persona! Eriko Kirishima has used the Light skill Kouha on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Persona! Eriko Kirishima has used the Light skill Holy Light on Yua Ooshiro! 3 Hits!
 AS: Persona! Eriko Kirishima has used the Light skill Hama on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Eriko Kirishima: Eclipse removed!
 AS: Eriko Kirishima's turn has ended.


 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 212 Slash damage from Masao Inaba's Flurry Stab.
 AS: Take! Yua Ooshiro takes 0 Almighty damage from Tamaki Uchida's Light Break.
 AS: Light_Break added!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 54 Earth damage from Masao Inaba's Magry. Resist!
 AS: Paralyze added! Blast removed! Explosion! 75 damage!
 AS: There's nothing in your queue by that number or attacker.

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

        That remark from Eriko -- the one where she doesn't smile at him in a way that makes him flustered -- gives Katsuya pause for a different reason. "A... a book club? --Shouldn't we talk about this at another time?" And this is why you're a square, Katsuya.

        It's not a bad idea, though, is it...

        "Amano-kun!" For an instant, it looks as if Maya has been herself flung into a cage, but then it's as if it had never been. "Are you alright? What was that?!" Why's he getting all upset about what's happened to her though, Ulala's right there!

        Look away. Live, instead. "I--" Katsuya starts and stops, staring at Yumi and Gretchen both. "Even if it means greater danger... I cannot do that! To do so is to abandon anyone else targeted by him!" Or the ones who may well be pulling the strings in the shadows. But what she's saying is informative as much as it is somewhat harrowing: if they survive this, and perhaps annihilation today is not actually the intent meant despite how he had read the situation, then the ones who sent her will send others. They'll send those who will wipe them out.

        He has time enough to contemplate this when an enormous gemstone catches in the light and slams right into him. Staggering back, he drops to one knee, having momentarily lost his balance. Rising, he steadies himself. "I am alright!" he calls, glancing over at the others as if to confirm that they are at least mostly in the same boat. Sojiro, for being a new Persona-user, seems to be doing well: is it instinct? Or is it the 'Cognitive Psience' research that was mentioned that allows him to adapt himself so well to these circumstances so quickly and with such skill?

        "She's not well--" he starts, remarking on Yumi as she dissolves into a hacking cough, and he doesn't just mean mentally. "If we push our advantage here, perhaps we can force her to retreat!" It would be better if they were able to fall back and regroup themselves, he thinks. There's a lot to discuss with just what's transpired so far, let alone the other obvious lingering questions. Of course, first they have to stop this before anyone else can be caught up in it, and then they have to... ...get out of here, actually.

        It's just occured to Katsuya that they can't file a police report about this...

        "Kirishima-kun! Follow my lead! Helios!" he directs his feline 'Sun God' Persona, gesturing ahead of himself as he takes careful aim upon Gretchen. Helios, too, now brandishes an antique pistol, spreading out at a distance from Katsuya. "Your warnings are well-taken, miss!" he tells Yumi, a gun pointed directly at her Persona, "but as a defender of this city, I cannot heed them! Now--!"

        He doesn't hesitate any longer. The shot cracks out, answered by a round from his own Persona. He gestures, at last, for Gretchen and towards the sky. "Go!" From the heavens, lightning cracks down as if it were the final statement on the matter.
 AS: Katsuya Suou spends Limit on Exploit! Katsuya Suou can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Take! Yua Ooshiro takes 0 Almighty damage from Eriko Kirishima's Mafui.
 AS: Sick added!
 AS: Weapon! Katsuya Suou has used the Pierce skill Tactical Rebuke on Yua Ooshiro! 2 Hits!
 AS: Defense: Katsuya Suou gains 1 Limit!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 116 Light damage from Tamaki Uchida's Cross-Reference. Critical Hit! Weak!
 AS: Tamaki Uchida's Weakness Scan! Yua Ooshiro is weak against Light!
 AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Pierce skill Single Shot on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 56 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Kouha. Weak!
 AS: Haze added!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 33 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Holy Light. Weak!
 AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Elec skill Zio on Yua Ooshiro!
 AS: Katsuya Suou: Fast Heal! Bind removed!
 AS: Katsuya Suou's turn has ended.
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 46 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Holy Light. Critical Hit! Weak!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 33 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Holy Light. Weak!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 111 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Hama. Weak!
 AS: Exhaust added!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 67 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Tactical Rebuke.
 AS: Yua Ooshiro is unable to continue fighting!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 67 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Tactical Rebuke.
 AS: Yua Ooshiro is unable to continue fighting!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 68 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Single Shot.
 AS: Yua Ooshiro is unable to continue fighting!
 AS: Block Worst! Yua Ooshiro takes 48 Elec damage from Katsuya Suou's Zio.
 AS: Paralyze added!
 AS: Yua Ooshiro is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

        Yumi is old, as she knows Sojiro. She is someone who dreads to sleep upon the hard ground, knowing she'll feel it the next day, though the arthritis inflaming her joints and stiffness she's simply not limber enough to work out cannot and will not stop her. But she is not someone who years to lie upon the ground and rest, now; no, she feels the electric tingle of power in her muscles, power she could use to protect people she has had to claw to safety, hand over agonising hand... using every dirty trick at her disposal.

        "Of course we share that likeness," she answers him, grim, "when you stole my Evoker from me." What could she mean...?

        Gretchen can but weather the waves of Kouha, as her gems crack all the more. Her bars bend, under the force of Ulala's haymaker; one, two, and three break inwards from the sheer FORCE of her blows, restricting the space she can move in there, though Gretchen's somehow able to keep defending her. Behind them, Yumi watches, her mouth set in a grim line. "My curses follow with me," she promises. "Light will dawn again in Yumezaki when I am done." Could she regret the damage she's doing to the area, just as Maya's thinking...?

        "Do not apologise," she warns Maya, as Omni-Dimension crushes in at her from all sides. "If you have the strength to bear your rebellion -- knock me down! No other path is left to you! What I provide, you cannot abide, and with you I cannot hide. With my full strength must I come -- withstand me if you can!" But it is not only Maya being called to withstand, here... Omni-Dimension sucks several of those gems into an abyss of Maya's own making, though still she stands. What does it mean, that she has lost those glittering diamonds? ... oh, she is already lost.

        "It is mine to answer to my masters," Yumi shakes her head, turning to Ayame. "And my threat in my bones. What Powers you disturb are greater still than a mother," another sin to add to Yumi's towering pile, "and all your sins are known. Tell me not what you will do tomorrow, and nothing can I say today -- an impossible riddle, yet we blame you still!"

        (She can't apologise for what she's done.)

        The weight of Yua's doom falls upon Ayame, but the weight of Atropos falls upon Gretchen, as her shears shred her beautiful frock about her arms. Her Persona is still sturdy enough to protect her from the darkness, but...

        Who is wielder, who is wielded? It is far more an open question with Yumi than with some; she is moved by so much, so much of it by her own making. "I've no place in either world," she says, bitterly. "One way or another weighs my sins too great." Masao is someone who has shattered this cage before; he will know from bitter experience how hard Yumi must be holding on, to withstand so much, from so many more of them. "Gretchen!" She cries, in frank distress, as spear and axe come down again -- "Gretchen! Gretchen, don't go!"

        Yumi has, indeed, not met the diamond-decorated axe of Kamiya's Palace before... which suggests something quite dire: does she not recognise the difference between one weapon and the next? She wields none in her hands; bears nothing, now her Evoker is gone. So, too, the protection of Tamaki's Silver Wheel escaped her; she is baffled, when she is saved. "Do not blind the seers," she warns Tamaki, grim. "Else the men behind them will consume them whole. To see this world and the spirits beyond it is the barest edge of my safety. Curse me not to the haruspex's readings!"

        That safety must be a smaller and smaller ledge, though, under Arainrhod's illumination, a thing a woman beloved by secrets loves no more than God's wrath. She can see the way some of those gems crack and tremble, under the Light; she is weak to it. Taking down notes on the things Yumi's saying here may well prove fruitful, too -- mad as they are, is she really just speaking nonsense...?

        "My works...? My works! Sin and solace! Shelter am I, and support, yet they know not the rot beneath my roots! I fled my punishment, and she will never be absolved! She'll never forgive me for that... you'll never forgive me for that! My works, my works -- grim as they must! I've faith still to hold!" She's raving; she cannot possibly know to tell Gretchen to defend her from that barrage of Holiness, again and again and again and again and again. She is sickened; she is sick. Reality agrees with her.

        "You are a good man... why must you be a good man?! Again I will come," Yua cries, looking to Katsuya, "and again! Think of yourself, I beseech you! Oh..." That gun levels at Gretchen, and he fires, cracking shining diamond. Down cracks the lightning of Zio --

        -- and perhaps she could have withstood it --

        -- if not for Merlin, standing true.

        "You... loaded a Theurgy cartridge..." She realises, her horror numb, as she looks up at Sojiro. It is information that will serve him well, when he seeks his power in the future. Now?

        Now, those titanic forces come down in a bolt from the blue, crashing into Gretchen -- as finally, finally, despite all her desperation, the Persona shatters. "No! NO!" Yumi screams, as she turns, grasping for nothing. "GRETCHEN! Gretchen, don't leave me! I'll weather it! I'll weather it, just return to me! Return to me, GRETCHEN! For you for you, I've faith I'll keep hold! I see, I see, all things they come to --"

        "-- to --"

        She staggers, and catches herself on the alley wall as she coughs, again; her face is veiled, but the tears in her eyes are audible. Without that massive Persona at her back, it's clear she's quite small -- perhaps five feet, without the extra poof of those veils -- and she looks no more capable of a fight than any small woman they might meet, trembling and sweating and rasping for breath.

        She fumbles for a syringe, and forces it into her arm, with a ragged gasp. "Why did they not send... my Groom... my Knight... I am but a Bride, what am I to do...?"

        Yumi straightens, and concludes: "... nothing. Pray, do not follow. Where I walk, you mustn't tread."

        She is walking away, though. Whatever she did to achieve this power... it can't have been worth it.

        (It might not have been her call.)