2026-03-11: The Freedom of Choice
- Log: The Freedom of Choice
- Cast: Tatsuya Sudou, Tatsuzou Sudou (As played by Penguin Sniper) and a Special Guest
- Where: The Nichirinmaru, Sumaru City
- OOC Date: March 11, 2026
- IC Date: October 08, 2012
- Summary: Tatsuya Sudou decides to have a long-awaited talk with his Father...
<Pose Tracker> Silver Penguin has posed.
The diet is going back into legislative session soon, which means tonight is the night for the Silver Lion, Tatsuzou Sudou, to leave the Nichirinmaru - their ocean liner base to head back to Tokyo.
The Shrine Hall where Gozen rests is sealed by two men in the garb of a Shrine Priest, as an honor guard of Tenchu soldier elites in berets and blue uniforms that call to mind the Imperial Army flank him. Others stand at attention and salute him.
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They will be doing so for a long time. Tatsuzou Sudou is the picture of a frail old man that needs a cane, walking deliberately. Most whisper that he's never fallen in front of them. Some of the bolder soldiers wonder if perhaps today will be the day they see it.
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There are four men with assault rifles surrounding him, at the ready to engage any threat at a moment's notice. Another two are standing at attention, hands away from their guns.
Even if they're not Persona Users, this is an incredible gamble to go after one of the leaders of the New World Order, even for one with powers like Sudou's.
However, this is the only time he'll be wide open for ages. In Tokyo, the powers of Rumors will avail him very little. No, it has to be here, in Sumaru City's bay, and it has to be tonight as he makes his way to the Nichirinmaru's Heliport.
<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.
Tatsuya Sudou, the cub of the Silver Lion, had been planning this meeting for ages. Which is to say he talked it up, constantly out talked the hype and only now was realizing he only had step 1 of the plan solved. Show up. Now he would have to do the rest of the planning on the fly.
A few important things are noticed, the first is that old pops is keeping his mummy all sealed away. Terribly rude to seal away ones mummy. The second thing is that the grumpy emo brat wearing all black who liked to shoot him was no where that Sudou could see. Nor were any of the others who were sent to kill him recently. Seems they didn't listen, shame on them.
The only other thing he had planned was to put the dock and the area of the bay into a supernatural pocket so he could operate at full power. As the tapping of his father's cane begins an echo appears on the third set.
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From the other end is Tatsuya Sudou himself, using the recent Claymore he acquired as the cane walking towards the group. He does not have four assault men only a pair of hell hounds, how Sudou got the hell hounds to help him out again is anyones guess.
Sudou stares forwards, "Hello, father. Did you miss me?"
<Pose Tracker> Silver Penguin has posed.
Tatsuya Sudou's cane stops for only a single moment, as a second tapping introduces a note of disharmony, and then begins anew. The moment he appears with the Hellhounds, is the same moment that all four of the men suddenly take a formation, with said rifles at the ready.
"Protect the Silver Lion!"
"He's got Demons. I'm calling for backup."
Tatsuya Sudou asks his Father a question. And his Father continues to walk, even as the two other saluting men join up.
"This is your only warning! Put down the ordnance slowly and get those hands where I can see them!"
"You would have to be my son, to have the right to call me Father." Tatsuzou Sudou remarks, as he continues walking away at the same pace, completely unhurried, "And you are no son of mine, merely a curse who happens to share my blood."
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"Tenchu... Once you're finished with him, send in our rawest recruits to have this deck mopped."
The implicit order there. 'Kill him.' All of them begin to open fire, as muzzle flashes begin to obscure vision, like strobing lights flickering, the echo of gunfire ringing against the bulkheads.
<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.
"Oooh dad~" Sudou chimes, " there's the cold shoulder that mom fell for. " Stepping forward as the hellshounds growl, and Sudou smiles, "Oh is it curses you want to speak about? Then let me show you mine." The Joker Persona rises forth from Sudou's shadow and gives a bow. When it rises up the Joker persona has a flourish of knives in each of it's hands ready to go when things start to fly. Sudou however just keeps walking forward, "What do you think of my curse. My friends say it is the next big thing."
Shadow stepping behind his father he looks at the boat that they disembarked from and whistles, "That thing sure is nice. It must cost like four times the amount it costs to cover up an ex son's crimes or is five times? Sorry pops I lost my sense for guessing the value of things." Sudou stares at it for a moment longer, "You know, I know a girl with buns of steel that would probably want to kill me a little less if I blew that thing up. Still if I wanted to be a hero I would have worn a cape, and a top hat."
Hefting up the Claymore on to his shoulder Sudou turns to the one that spoke to him, "You want me to put down my ordnance huh? Well ok. " Sudou smiles and gives the giant claymore a fancy spin and then stabs it into the ground as fire erupts from under neath the one that told him to put things down.
This of course starts a chain reaction, the hellhounds attack, the Joker persona attacks, and Sudou with the claymore being lifted up he walks towards his father.
"Come on, dad. Lets really open up, and put our heart out there for each other." Raising the sword he adds, "Let me help you find it!" The sword comes down to cleave his father in half.
<Pose Tracker> Silver Penguin has posed.
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Even the invocation of Tatsuzou's wife doesn't cause him to slow down. Nor does he turn to watch as the Joker Persona appears. They do fire at the Hellhounds, and the Persona. The Joker Persona is pock marked, with shards flying off. The Hellhounds are unscathed.
The younger teleports behind him.
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An explosion from the Claymore finishes off the other soldiers as only one has the wherewithal to scream before even that is smothered. The Elder does not slow down, nor even look.
The Hellhounds though are currently wrestling a strange creature that just appear, more cloak and mask than anything. The first Hellhound becomes a desiccated husk at the hands of it when it is blue, while the other has all of his skin ripped cleanly off when it shifts to be red in hue.
Whatever these creatures are though, they seem to ignore either the Elder, and the younger Sudou.
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The younger raises his blade, as if to cleave him in half. He has all the strength in the world to do so. This is a frail old man, his back is turned.
Unfortunately, that blade never reaches him. There's a glint from the cane in his hand, and Sudou finds himself slashed from his waist almost cleanly up to his neck with a speed that doesn't suit a 'frail old man'. The cut is more than just 'shallow' but not deep enough to be fatal on his own. The straight down cleaving blow missed the old man completely. The Father looks into the eyes of his son for the first time.
He is not some frail old man. It is a gambit for all to underestimate him. Even his own son. He stands straighter, stronger. The blade has only narrowly missed him.
"Are you quite finished? This is the tantrum of a sniveling brat. You are my blood, so I took responsibility for your indulgences. But I will never acknowledge the sickness of spirit within you. Do you think a twisted creature of childish impulse like yourself could ever be a threat to a man like me?"
He is wide open now. And Sudou knows the threat, certainly. His father is strong for a person, deceptively quick, but he's shown no sign of wielding the powers of the Persona. That deception is no longer going to save the Elder Sudou, should the Younger attack him again.
"Are you going to cry again, as I discipline you for the last time?"
<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.
Sudou charges in and swings for the fences, and whiffs. The sheer insanity that he missed is what delays his understanding of being cut. In fact it is not till he raises his hand to touch the wetness under the neck before he notices the blood and then looks down. The persona rushes to it's user and then points and laughs at Sudou for getting cut by an old man.
Sudou glares at the persona and uses healing magic to stop the bleeding, and if that doesn't work there is always fire magic. Staring at the old man who suddenly isn't looking like an old man in front of him and young Sudou's face is twisting up and his dad ask the killing question, "NO! I'm not gonna cry... I have a bit of your sword in the eye but ...but... but I am the one with all the power so I am gonna kill you and be done with you. " Sudou gives a whistle for the hellhounds and then looks over at the two not living hellhounds and Sudou frowns while paling a little.
Sudou brushes himself off, "That's fine. Totally fine. Pops always said if I want something done right I better do it myself, which given how this guy is built makes me think he was just being lazy sending all those assassins. "
Sudou doesn't make the same mistake twice of going with the sword, obviously the answer is magic. A wave of heat to help keep the good soldiers down while launching a ball of fire at pops, " Feel the heat old man!"
<Pose Tracker> Silver Penguin has posed.
His father is wide open, and Sudou's flames, as they erupt obscure his vision of him. Certainly he's about to be a crispy critter.
Only, when the flames die...
There is a man in sunglasses who is standing just in front of his Father. He takes a single step forward, and reaches out to grasp Sudou's blade with his bare hands. His grip is like a Vice, try as the Joker might, he can't move his sword even a millimeter.
Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9tlqukSn5U
The Old Man, doesn't even blink, like he fully expected this. "I trust you have this well in hand, Shinjo?"
"You can be on your way."
Tatsuzou Sudou turns, sheathes his blade, still stained in his son's blood, takes out a handkerchief and wipes it clean before sheathing it in his cane.
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What's even more maddening is that the Old Maid realizes now that his Father doesn't need the cane at all. He's using it now as a gesture of contempt. That even though he got so close as to nearly murder him if not for this man's intervention, his son still remains nothing more than a stain on the family name to him.
A waste of time and money.
Still holding onto the Old Maid's blade, Sudou may realize in short order. For the first time in such a long time, the Voices are quiet. No more than that. They're not there. Call out to them, and they do not respond.
Because...
"Isn't there somewhere else you're supposed to be, false Joker?" His opposite hand, reaches up, and takes off his sunglasses, with a sickening smile on his face, jagged lines descending from void pits as black as pitch, staring at him. "You've racked yourself upon the Wheel of Fortune, reverse son. You cannot so easily shirk what destiny has allotted you."
... the Voices, are right in front of him.
"What he has allotted to you."
Try as he might, he cannot summon his Persona, cannot break free, cannot call on any of his powers. He is but a young man in the grip of something ancient, and far bigger than him.
Even the body he's currently dwelling within, is bigger than him.
"The flames of expiation. The only way you may become King once more is for them to remember 'The Other Side.'"
<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.
Sudou grins and is about to tell his dead to rest in hell but then the smoke clears and the old man is still there. A man in glasses has appeared to be his father's savior. That's fine though, just another body to cut through. All he needed to do was to raise his sword, and yet the sword would not raise. It was being held by this new player.
Sudou glares at the man, and his own father going forward as if this is all over. "Oh no you don't! I am going to blow you both to hell. PERSONA!" Sudou looks up over his shoulder to the Joker persona, and the Joker persona is no where. That's not a good sign. Still he can just ...well nothing. So he looks for advice, and gets another 404 error. For this very moment Sudou is alone.
Sudou has shown many expressions on his face, but this is the only time he shows fear, as he is utterly alone and worse, he can feel the presence of everything that he has believed defined him standing in front of him. He looks up at the man and can't even form words.
At no point since the Joker Killer has appeared has he ever been so defeated. He has nothing to do but cow to that which is before him.
<Pose Tracker> Silver Penguin has posed.
'PERSONA!'
The man in front of him smiles, his expression almost patient as a sort of maliciousness tugs at the edge of his lips.
"You can try again, if you'd like."
It's almost like he's daring him to do it.
"We all have our roles on 'This Side'. This is my own. If it makes your decision easier-" He leans forward to whisper into his ear, "-your Father will be consigned to a fate worse than being burned alive in the flames of the son, if you leave him to me. For now, he must live."
He lets go of him, taking a step back. "And should you succeed in what you must do, returning this world to 'The Other Side'. I will give unto you dominion over him as the King of the Leonine Heavens."
In the distance, there is a sound of a helicopter revving up.
"Should you continue towards him, Oh False Joker. You may yet reach him in time." Alarms are beginning to blare, footsteps can be heard pounding on metal in the distance.
Light erupts from his feet, a gout of crimson flames, and two Personas appear. One is a fractured effigy of a Golden Buddha, completely with halo, tentacles swarming out of the cracks, insectoid like segments along a strange exoskeleton, and blue eyes.
The Other, is the Joker. Sudou's Joker. Mask off again, grinning at him with Tatsuya Suou's face.
"But it will be without the Exalted One at your side. The Wheel of Fortune turns yet again and I offer you..." The man, unfolds his sunglasses and puts them back on over the void pits that are his eyes, as he smirks at him.
"... The Freedom of Choice."
<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.
Sudou watches and listens to probably the first person he has listened to, in a very long time. At the same time it feels like he is listening to his best friend all the same. The freedom of choice is put in front of Sudou and he looks at the Persona wearing Suou's face. If only the other one was so nice to him.
Sudou hefts his sword up and rests it on his shoulders, the blade traveling along the back of his own neck. " King of Leonine Heavens. " Sudou glances down the path the old man walks, towards the siren and the sound of a helicopter. Then he smiles. " It's good to be the King."
Decision made, Sudou calms himself and lets his dad walk away. Yeah, totally his victory today and he got job security to.
"To the other side we go." Sudou steps back and waits for the presence of the Joker and more importantly his get out of jail free powers to return. Waiting for a moment Sudou can't help but look at the man while not cowering in fear, his eyes focusing on the sunglasses for the moment. He decides the paper bag was much cooler before he begins to trudge to the nearest blindspot so he can disappear but interruptible if needed.
<Pose Tracker> Silver Penguin has posed.
Hisataka Shinjo adjusts his sunglasses, still smirking. "The choice is made."
The Joker, his Powers, they all return right on time. Unusually, the Joker just floats over from Shinjo, right into Sudou himself, like it was a living - independent thing.
Definitely not anything to dwell upon.
"Do give my regards to his son, when you see him next."
He means Jun of course, after all, Nyarlathotep put in a great deal of effort raising that boy- only for that boy to waste it all on the transience of 'This Side'.
By the time the soldiers arrive, Shinjo is gone.