2026-04-02: In Memory Of
- Log: 2026-04-02 In Memory Of
- Cast: Maki Sonomura, Jun Kashihara, Akari Hoshi
- Where: Across Sumaru
- OOC Date: April 02, 2026
- IC Date: Saturday, October 21, 2012
- Summary: Maki is investigating some new rumors on behalf of the Kuzunoha Detective Agency about the 'Purple Mirror.' Jun and Ixquic run across her and join in.
MONAD: A party led by Maki Sonomura has begun the event Wanted! Rumor Demon: The Purple Mirror. (|============= Monad - Wanted! Rumor Demon: The Purple Mirror =============|)
| 12h per 24h |
-==== Round 1: Stellar Memory - Challenge Level 1 ===========================-
| Approach Options: Academics or Understanding |
| Conditions: Educational - Academics Up L1 and Hard - Understanding Down L1 |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
The nature of the Purple Mirror's curse primarily affects younger people,
and the prestigious Seven Sisters High School students and their families
are the most anxious of all.
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS619evEUPI Seven Sisters Academy -
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment (PSP))
News of the story has spread like wildfire among the student body, and no
matter who you might ask, you'll find someone willing to talk whether that's
asking a student studying in the library, visiting the Occult Studies club,
or finding gaggle of gossiping seniors. There are several ways to lend an
ear, and these include interviewing people to get a better sense of the
Rumor or listening to their concerns and try to alleviate their fears.
... Either way, this means you've taken on the burden of knowledge, too ...
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura has posed.
Maki Sonomura has heard about this curse from some students she knows--a few patients especially exzpressing their worries about it. She does know a number of people at Sevens, after all. But...
She's gotten some tips from the Kuzunoha Detective Agency, too. So she's decided to investigate. Maki stands out; she's fashionable, and striking somehow, especialy to Persona-users but not only them.
So how to get people talking? Well...
Interviews! She can relate the subject to rumors in art, and so get people engaged. That's where she's likely to run into Jun and Ixquic, anyway.
"...Can you tell me what the idea makes you feel?" she wonders. "I'll see if I can sketch something..."
MONAD: Maki Sonomura has acted with Art Talk toward Stellar Memory! Automap!
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
After staying late on Saturday to make up Tuesday's exams, Jun Kashihara has finally finished midterms. It's been an exhausting week--and the tests were honestly the least grueling part of them. He's looking forward to resting and relaxing on Sunday...
But first, he heads to Seven Sisters to drop off dinner for his father, who'll be staying late to grade exams. It's there in the teacher's lounge that he overhears the rumors--a pair of teachers complaining that some students are more focused on those than on their tests...
"Ah, the Purple Mirror's curse. It's a fascinating story, isn't it?" Mr. Kashihara remarks to his son, smiling. "Ten years ago, I wouldn't have hesitated to dive into research on it. A young woman with a mole on her cheek came by earlier to look into it, actually. Isn't that funny? I suppose it's the nature of youth to want to think rumors are more than just rumors."
Jun smiles back at his father, but there's a certain nervous tension there.
So as Maki is interviewing those Sevens students, it comes to pass that a beautiful young man in a Kasugayama uniform--no flower on the breast pocket, right now--slips into the room. He looks over her shoulder at the sketches, then looks at the group.
"Pardon me for intruding, but... are you discussing the rumors of the curse of the Purple Mirror? Could you please tell me more about that?"
Maybe he's worrying for nothing, but it feels like this is something that happens because Mercury is in retrograde...
MONAD: That Approach doesn't match the challenge! MONAD: Jun Kashihara has acted with Academics toward Stellar Memory! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
Akari Hoshi has survived another set of exams!
Somehow!
She has no idea how well she did. She had her mental state kind of derailed by the events at the Aerospace Museum, though when she told her teachers and her parents that she'd been on her way to it when it BURNED DOWN and had gotten tangled up in the evacuation they were willing to cut her at least a little slack. She hoped.
(She wasn't admitting where she'd actually been, or what she'd done - they wouldn't understand, and then she'd have to explain even more. But 'I was keeping track of some panicky elementary students' - that went over a lot better. She doesn't want to talk about it. She barely wants to THINK about it. She still doesn't know what she feels... or what she should do. But that's a different issue.)
Akari desperately wants to do something, anything, other than wait for her grades. Without being able to use her workspace - her parents were still forbidding it to her, though she intended to bring it up if she'd shown any improvement - that meant it was time for Ixquic to do something. She's being much happier as Ixquic than Akari these days.
Ixquic is unsurprisingly hooked into the rumour life and she is young enough to have heard about the Purple Mirror anyway. And that's why the Occult Club has a visitor.
Ixquic showed up AS Ixquic. Helmet and cloak and all. She isn't really supposed to be in Seven Sisters High School (she's from the middle school) but it's not the first time. The Occult Club likes her because she sometimes brings rumours, and she's tall enough that she could pass for a high schooler anyway. A very, very eccentric high schooler. Maybe she's from Drama Club...?
"I heard that sometimes you can see it in the water fountain," one of them passes on to Ixquic - among other things, though it's what stood out - and Ixquic of course runs off to go look at the water fountain.
Which is when she tears past Jun, does a double-take, literally runs backwards along the path she'd taken, and follows him into a room. Still walking backwards... at least until she bumps into the door and has to turn around to open it.
"I heard that!" she declares. "The Occult Club was right! You can find out things from the water fountain!"
Ixquic this is not the water fountain.
MONAD: Akari Hoshi has acted with Understanding toward Stellar Memory! Base!
(|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== Stellar Memory - Round 1 ==============================================- Maki Sonomura Academics Success Art Talk Automap Fatigue: 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jun Kashihara Academics Success Academics Base Fatigue: 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Akari Hoshi Understanding Success Understanding Base Fatigue: 0 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Educational-2 and Hard-2 Final Conditions: Educational-1 and Hard-1 -====================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 1/6 |= | ===================================================- (|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura has posed.
Maki is getting some decent information about how people feel about it, which is largely anxiety--and a little bit of information on what it is. But she's about to get more.
The young woman with the mole on her cheek is indeed Maki Sonomura--and she smiles when Jun addresses her. "I can't say much," she says, "Because I'm still learning. But a lot of people are very worried about it--especially the seniors around here. It's..."
Ixquic is here. Maki tilts her head--and then, "Is that what they're saying?" she asks. This is... not the water fountain, no.
"Sounds like a start to me."
A beat, "So," she says, eyeing the two of them, "What do you say we pool our ideas a little and look into it together?"
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
As Jun enters, Ixquic races past, goes in reverse, and follows him in. He stares to see her. Something about her feels... different... and anyway, it's just downright strange to see a Persona User out in broad daylight... He genuinely doesn't know how to handle this, so he lets her follow him in. He knows she's a good kid, at least...
And she offers some new information. The water fountain, huh... "Sources of water do traditionally see people congregate. Where people gather, so too does information," he offers, looking from Ixquic to Maki.
It sounds like she doesn't know much more either--but she suggests they pool their efforts and look into it together. Jun nods in agreement. "That seems wise. I know I'd feel safer that way, too."
He looks back at the masked girl. "Ixquic, wasn't it? I hope we can work well together. I'm Jun Kashihara--my father works here, and I just finished bringing him dinner," he adds, for Maki's benefit as well, to explain why a Cuss High student is here at Sevens.
MONAD: Akari Hoshi has drawn a new Challenge! (|============= Monad - Wanted! Rumor Demon: The Purple Mirror =============|)
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
-==== Round 2: Forget Me Not - Challenge Level 2 ============================-
| Approach Options: Understanding or Proficiency |
| Conditions: Educational - Academics Up L1, Hard - Understanding Down L1, |
| Heartening - Guts Up L1, and Kind - Understanding Up L2 |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
In the language of flowers, there are some specimens which represent the
memory of an event or person: lilies, chrysanthemums, hyacinths, myosotis,
orchids, marigolds, gladioli ... the list goes on. There could be something
worth exploring in that idea, so a trip to the local florist in Lotus Plaza
seems appropriate.
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zsg01CVh2M Map I - Persona 2 Eternal
Punishment (PSX))
"Hey hey HEY /HEY/, you can't just waltz in here and -- " Not to worry, the
florist doesn't seem to be admonishing /you/, but he's flummoxed by a Demon
which has wandered into the store and staunchly refuses to leave: a Slime
with a seemingly insatiable curiosity. It, too, seems to be facing a
memory-related dilemma as it stares mournfully at the selection of flowers
as it undulates and squishes and squashes between its default amorphous
state and a variety of forms resembling other Demons. "Feels like a parta
me's missing, /bloop/. Can't remember my old shape, /blorp/ ... what was I?"
The florist gives an exasperated sigh and turns your way. "Look, it's
harmless enough, but can you help me out and get this guy out of here?
There's one flower that'd be perfect, but around here it only grows on Mt.
Iwato, and I don't want to make the hike up there."
... for a moment, one of the Slime's forms looks suspiciously like a hand
mirror. Arranging the perfect flower bouquet for its desires might just
satisfy both the florist and the Slime and solidify the Demon's shape into
the form of an even more helpful hint.
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
Something about Ixquic definitely feels different, but on the other hand, the outfit is pretty unmistakable. The major difference is that her helmet visor is slightly less opaque (enough to tell she has light-coloured eyes), and she's not carrying around her sword.
This is because she got yelled at the last time she brought it into school. It doesn't really matter - in supernatural space, she's armed anyway. But this was *supposed* to be just an investigation...
"Oh, I mean, they sent me there, but I ran into you on the way!" Ixquic nods to herself. "And you brought me here, so now we are three! And if we're all looking into IT..." You can practically hear the emphasis. "...then we should work together, for sure! It can't get all of us at once!"
There's hope in that, at least.
She draws herself up to her full height, which is pretty substantial actually; she's pretty tall and rangy. "I am the great warrior Ixquic! And I remember you," she says, to Jun. "From the Museum..." She trails off, because she does not want to get into that right now, either. "...but people like us have to stick together, too."
"Another thing the Occult Club told me is that it's all about memory, right? You have to remember it - or, uh, not remember it, to be safe," Ixquic corrects herself. "And so maybe we should go somewhere where you remember things? Or... about remembering things? Or people? People who are gone..."
She isn't going to be the one to bring up a flower shop. That doesn't occur to her. But in this group it will surely occur to *someone*, and when they get there -
"Hey hey! You can't just walk in here and - " The florist isn't even paying attention to the group, though the bell rings when the door opens so she must know there's someone here. That's because there's a Slime! This is Sumaru, after all. Sometimes demons show up.
This one isn't causing problems, though. Or, at least, it's not attacking. Just kind of blorping around a little. Or a lot. Ixquic squints at it, then crouches down nearby as the florist asks the others, "Look, it's not really dangerous, but... can you help get it out of here?"
Ixquic, for her part, has poked the slime. "Hee hee!" She thinks it's funny. The slime mostly wiggles when poked. "Don't worry, Slime-kun! I, Ixquic, will help! Well, and Ixquic's friends. Maybe you're an ancient warrior too?"
MONAD: Akari Hoshi has acted with Understanding toward Forget Me Not! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura has posed.
Maki is not so sure it can't Get Them together, but she is pretty sure that between the three of them it won't do so without their notice. So that's good enough. She smiles at Ixquic. "Ixquic! I'll remember that." A beat, "I'm Maki Sonomura," she introduces herself to Ixquic and Jun. "I'm not especially mighty, but I am pretty good at sensing things like this."
"It's nice to meet you both!"
Onward they go. Memory... and... Hmmm.
"Flower shops," Maki decides, though Jun may well beat her to it. "You give flowers to remember things. Congratulations, consolation... Death and birth. Flowers are there for all of it."
But there is the florist, and there is... a Slime.
The slime... is pokeable.
"If you want to remember something," Maki says, "it's important not to try to force it. It sounds ironic, right? But the harder you try, the more it'll slip away. Instead, try to focus on something close to it--something you can remember..."
"If part of you is missing, then tell me what isn't missing. How do you feel?"
MONAD: Maki Sonomura has acted with Counseling toward Forget Me Not! Escape and Empathy!
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
"Oh! I see," Jun says when Ixquic clarifies her meaning. She had clearly been on her way to something; that makes sense. He smiles when she asserts IT can't get them if they're all together. Her spirit is reassuring.
That smile fades. at the talk of remembering and not remembering. That's... a sore subject for him of late. Could the Purple Mirror be related to the Other Side--and to Tatsuya? If that's the case, maybe he should go home now.
On the other hand... if it means he might run into Tatsuya again... He might accept that they'll never be together, but it would be reassuring to know he's doing all right.
"I have an idea on that front," he says. Maki suggests a flower shop, and he nods to her. Maki Sonomura... He'll remember that name. "Precisely. I know one in particular that's close to here..."
The three of them head to the florist in Lotus Plaza. Jun stops and stares at the Slime as it sadly pines for flowers to remind it of its true form. It's... almost cute. Is he going mad? He feels like he's going mad.
He shakes his head. "We'll do what we can," he reassures the florist. A flower on Mt. Iwato... He thinks he knows what they mean, but they're right, this is not the time for that. As Ixquic and Maki talk to the Slime, Jun tells the florist, "Please, allow me."
He'll take a few moments to gather flowers for a small bouquet. Before long, he presents it to the Slime: edelweiss for precious memories, kalanchoe for lots of little memories, red spider lily for sad memories, and Madagascar periwinkle for happy memories.
"Memories may be beautiful, and they may be painful... They may be deeply important, or a mere trifle. But they're a part of all of us, aren't they?" Jun tells the Slime gently as he holds it out. "Perhaps this will help guide you to the proper memory you seek for yourself."
MONAD: Invalid approach. MONAD: Jun Kashihara has acted with Say It With Flowers toward Forget Me Not! Empathy and Focus!
(|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== Forget Me Not - Round 2 ===============================================- Maki Sonomura Understanding Success Counseling Escape and Empathy Fatigue: 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jun Kashihara Understanding Success Say It With Flowers Empathy and Focus Fatigue: 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Akari Hoshi Understanding Failure Understanding Base Fatigue: 0 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Educational-1, Hard-1, Heartening-2, and Kind-2 Final Conditions: Heartening-1 and Kind-1 -====================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 2/6 |== | ===================================================- (|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
MONAD: Maki Sonomura has drawn a new Challenge! (|============= Monad - Wanted! Rumor Demon: The Purple Mirror =============|)
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
-==== Round 3: Do You Remember How to Forget? - Challenge Level 3 ===========-
| Approach Options: Proficiency or Guts |
| Conditions: Checkpoint - Cleanse all negative conditions., Fairy - |
| Subtract 1 Fatigue on success., Heartening - Guts Up L1, Kind - |
| Understanding Up L2, and Reaper - Add 1 Fatigue. |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
(BGM: https://youtu.be/N4eLpDva31w Alaya Shrine - Persona 2 Innocent Sin
(PSP))
Rengedai Ward, overall, is a mixture of historical and modern aesthetics.
Away from the bustling shopping centers of Lotus Plaza, along the trail to
Mt. Iwato lies Alaya Shrine. In order to reach the caves beyond where the
Demon itself is said to exist, passage through here is necessary.
Persona-users who pass through here experience the emotion of sadness and
the pain of grief, seemingly detached from any association of recorded
history and memory. For the first few moments, to remain at this checkpoint
along the road to your destination is only to feel, not to know. To remain
beyond that is to feel the itch of the dangerous temptation to remember. In
other words, maybe you should run.
In your mind lies a vast graveyard of already-forgotten thoughts. You have
done it at least once before -- it might even be that you have done it so
many times that the act comes naturally. To will yourself to intentionally
forget, however, now seems to be an impossible task. Despite that, the
simple fact remains: come hell or high water, you /must/ remember how to
forget, even if you have to strain yourself to do so.
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
Ixquic has some very complicated feelings about memory that she is currently burying. They're right next to her feelings about Sudou and a hanging airplane. She's going to have to process them sometime, but... apparently not now.
The Slime is still trying to remember about itself. Maki's tips actually give it an idea, though it's a little slow in coming. It can't quite make it, though the shapes it makes are a little more complicated. Something quadruped. "It's almost there..."
*poke poke*
Okay, so Ixquic's contribution is not so helpful. "It looks kind of like a dog..." In vague shape, maybe.
It's Jun's flowers that are the breakthrough. Edelweiss and kalanchoe, red spider lily and MAdagascar periwinkle - the Slime wouldn't know any of them by names, but being presented with a bouquet does actually guide it.
"I remember! I was Hunhau," the Slime (?) says, changing shape entirely: a dog-shaped being with two lightning-bolt tails. "I was from Mount Iwato, blorp - " Okay it's still at least a little bit a slime. " - and that's where I'll return! Thank you! Maybe there's something there for you to remember, too? It feels that way..."
The demon makes its way out. Ixquic rises, looking after it. "Well!" she says, brightly. "I guess we have a new goal!" Because it's not like she has any other ideas.
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Jun's eyes widen in wonder as the Slime turns into an adorably round-faced Hunhau and thanks the three of them for their help. "You're welcome," he says graciously, because what else can you say?
But... Mt. Iwato... He glances at the florist. That's where that same flower is...
There's a disquieting feeling in his chest, but he can't quite pin it down. Maybe there's a reason for that. "Maybe I ought to leave this to the two of you..." he says slowly. "There's things I must not remember..."
But then he looks at Ixquic. It feels irresponsible to leave a kid to go on by herself, even if she is being escorted by an adult. "...All right. Let's keep going."
~ * ~
Alaya Shrine... Jun can't remember the last time he's ever been here. Has he... ever been here? That disquieting feeling in his chest is only growing stronger the closer they get. An elderly woman is sweeping the grounds, but she pays them no mind as the three of them enter the shrine and discover a passage to a cave network within.
At the mouth of that cave network, there is a sense that something precious lies within--something that's been forgotten. Even without that, a great sadness overwhelms Jun, attached to seemingly nothing, and tears streak from his eyes like shooting stars as he sobs into one hand. Alaya Shrine... This is the original building. It has never been burned down.
Grief stabs him clean through his chest.
Why?
Why does he feel this way? It feels like there's something incredibly important just beyond his reach, but if he stretched his fingers out the tiniest bit more, he'd be able to grasp it--
--and maybe even--
--he could be the Jun that Tatsuya loves--
"NO!" he screams, clutching his head with both arms, eyes wild and frantic. "I promised! I won't break my promise!! ARGEIPHONTES, HELP ME!!"
The three of them are just close enough to the caves within that this space, just inside Alaya Shrine, counts as supernatural. In a vortex of striated light, a gold-suited man with a black X on his chest arises over Jun. The bolts on his armor crack open to reveal sleepy green eyes, and he waves a spaceship-headed caduceus over himself and his User, prompting the bolt-eyes to shut again.
The dream will stay a dream... the aspect of Hermes intones, just before he vanishes. Jun, now on his hands and knees, weeps openly as he rests his forehead on the cool wooden floor.
But the savage, desperate itch of nigh remembrance has gone. For now.
MONAD: Jun Kashihara has acted with Guts toward Do You Remember How to Forget?! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura has posed.
Maki has a few complex feelings on memory, too--but in this case, for a patient, rather than for herself just now.
The bouquet does the trick, and Maki smiles. "You're welcome," she says. "Good work!" she tells Jun. "...But hmm... Something for us to remember there, too...?"
A new goal. "That works for me."
But something...? "You...?" Maki looks at Jun, and is thoughtful. There's something about him. Something... important.
"Just be careful," she offers.
And there, at the shrine, Maki stops short as she feels it. So much sadness; so much loss. "...What happened here?' she murmurs. But Jun concerns her much more in the moment. "Kashihara-kun--"
he screams, and he calls forth his Persona to keep his promise. The bolt eyes shut...
"Let's get out of here," Maki suggests. "Ixquic, can you help me?" She certainly can't help Jun out of here alone; she's too small for that.
"Something he must not remember..."
Is there something she, too, shouldn't remember...?"
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
"I'm always careful," Ixquic lies, even though it isn't even meant for her.
Unlike Jun, Ixquic is absolutely sure she has never been to Alaya Shrine. Why would she? She's not much of a shrine-goer, and she's never followed up about the superstition about the pools and caverns.
The Rumourmongers don't talk about it. Unlike most of the rumours she's heard, she's not sure if she believes it - which is perhaps a surprise from someone who believes nearly anything she hears. She's always been following more *active* rumours, or demons, to have ever been.
So she mostly looks around curiously. She's keeping an eye out for other demons, because if the Slime - sorry, the Hunhau - is from here, surely there are others? Maybe even whatever jumps out of a mirror! Or, if it's water, the pools...
Lost in thought, Jun's reaction - the tears - surprises her. "Jun-san?" she asks, uncertain, before he summons his Persona, Argeiphontes. "What's wrong?" Something's not right - Ixquic whirls as if looking for a threat.
She doesn't see one. She doesn't see anything here but them.
"I can help!" Ixquic confirms with Maki. Ixquic may be young; at first it's easy to assume she's a high schooler but she seems younger than that, the longer you hang around with her. But she's tall (taller than Maki) and she's, if not really particularly strong for her size, energetic and willing to push herself.
What did he remember? she thinks to herself. What isn't he supposed to remember...? Her own mind drifts, though she pushes it aside, just like before. She can't - or she can, but she doesn't want to -
Why is this so complicated??
MONAD: Akari Hoshi has acted with High Energy toward Do You Remember How to Forget?! Patra and Efficient! MONAD: Maki Sonomura has acted with Guts toward Do You Remember How to Forget?! Base!
(|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== Do You Remember How to Forget? - Round 3 ==============================- Maki Sonomura Guts Failure Guts Base Fatigue: 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jun Kashihara Guts Failure Guts Base Fatigue: 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Akari Hoshi Guts Success High Energy Patra and Efficient Fatigue: 0 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Checkpoint-0, Fairy-0, Heartening-1, Kind-1, and Reaper-0 Final Conditions: -================================================= Party Result: Failure ====- -==== Reach: 2/6 |== | ===================================================- (|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
It takes a moment, but Jun's weeping soon tapers off. He sinks onto his haunches as he leans back. "I-I'm sorry. That was unseemly of me," he murmurs, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket. He cleans his face and takes his time doing so; it gives him more time to get himself under control. "I don't know what came over me.
"And I plan to keep it that way."
Still, he accepts Maki and Ixquic's help onto his feet. He doesn't say what's wrong, but then, he can't now. He stumbles, but soon regains his footing. A few deep breaths later, and he squares his shoulders.
He really should just run away. That's what Tatsuya would tell him to do if he were here, no doubt. Maki even suggests they get out of here too. It would be easy to take her up on that.
"...Let's keep going. Whatever memories the Purple Mirror may inspire, I want to be certain they remain sealed away." He brushes his bangs to one side with a shaking hand. "I won't be caught off-guard like that again."
He might be fronting a bit, but he really does stand by the spirit of his words.
[OOC] Jun Kashihara says, "blu-ray Purple Mirror"
MONAD: Maki Sonomura has drawn a new Challenge! (|============= Monad - Wanted! Rumor Demon: The Purple Mirror =============|)
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
-==== Round 4: One Curse for Another - Challenge Level 2 ====================-
| Approach Options: Guts or Proficiency |
| Conditions: Scary - Guts Down L1 and Skillful - Proficiency Up L1 |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
A number of Demons reside in the dimly-lit caverns of Mt. Iwato, and one
way or the other, your group talks or cuts their way through, mostly without
issue. In front of one cavern's passageway, you can see some celestial
body's light stream down from an opening above in the caverns to where it
sparkles on the surface of a reflection pool below. Your destination lies
just ahead, except ...
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVkaYZqoR0s Boss Battle - Persona 2
Eternal Punishment (PSX))
One formidable foe blocks your passage, a mighty Demon who refuses to be
talked down and wishes to demonstrate its might. It stomps the ground and
causes the caverns to shake as it dances in pride and its gravelly voice
yells more than it sings, "Kabandha! Kabandha! Strong! Kabandha! Great!
Kabandha!"
While its coloration is normally different, /this/ Kabandha is a hulking
four-legged creature with dark-red beady eyes, a mouth lined with rows of
flat herbivorous teeth, pale-white skin and a long alizarin crimson shock of
hair. Perhaps that has something to do with its unusual temperament, too. To
find a way past it, show it your own greatness, whether it's in your resolve
or your ability!
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura has posed.
Ixquic helps. Maki is appreciative of that, though she has realized how young Ixquic must be, even through the mask. There's no obvious threat, but...
Jun calls it unseemly. "I don't know," Maki says. "But... If that's your wish, then we'll leave it at that."
But Jun suggests... they keep going, and Maki nods. "All right," she says. "But since we're in a supernatural space now..."
"Let me look ahead."
Maki's senses can keep them from being surprised by most of the demons; her Navigation abilities are quite potent. They still have to deal with a few, and mostly, she's willing to talk.
But....
"He's strong to water and ice, but his weakness is fire! ...Physical attacks will also do fine, Ixquic; he has the ability to reflect magic!"
Maki's Persona is elegant, almsot ethereal even more than most; she calls it without trouble.
"I'll back you up, so let's do our best!"
Maki, for her part, has fire spells. She also has an actual handgun.
Don't worry about it.
MONAD: Maki Sonomura has acted with Proficiency toward One Curse for Another! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
"Sealed memories..."
Ixquic pauses. For a long moment, she doesn't speak - and then she blurts out, almost all at once, "It's like, you should remember something, when you see something, and you *can't*, and it's all wrong because that thing definitely never happened! It's like a dream. Except it's real..."
Ixquic has never tried to put her thoughts together on the topic. It really is just blurting things out, without a chance to put things in any sort of a logical order.
She never felt that it was sealed. But when she heard her own voice coming from the Zero, and then later, when Sudou spoke to her, she did feel like she couldn't remember that she really should, and at the same time, that she shouldn't think about it too much... "...right? It's like that?"
"...I understand..."
Ixquic doesn't have Maki's supernatural senses, but she's not unobservant either. Just... observant in a more normal way. She's used to following demons around. She's tried to get photos a few times, though they never seem to work out very well.
So she's hard to ambush, at least. "Take that, demon!!" Ixquic, in a supernatural space, *can* call her sword, apparently, or at least a cognitive version of it. Golden and shiny and big enough that she really ought to swing it with both hands; the weight pulls her around as much as she swings it around. "If it reflects magic, than I'll handle it!"
She certainly isn't the sword to turn away from a threat like that. "I, Ixquic, will protect you!"
MONAD: Akari Hoshi has acted with High Energy toward One Curse for Another! Patra and Efficient!
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
"Thank you, Sonomura-san," Jun tells Maki graciously. That grace breaks when Ixquic blurts out about her own experiences, and he stares at her, startled. "Ixquic... you too...?"
For a moment, his beautiful features are troubled. Then he shakes his head. "...We should save that topic for another time. For now, I can only advise you that you should leave that feeling alone as best you can. Something terrible will happen if you do remember."
Jun doesn't mind talking over fighting either, especially once Maki makes it clear that's a possibility. He finds her abilities fascinating; he knows of a couple of other Navigator-type Persona Users, but he hasn't really spoken to Fuuka or Ririka about their abilities directly. He doesn't ask Maki either, contenting himself to watching her sense the demons ahead.
Until, of course, they reach the Kabandha at the end of the cave network, whose dancing makes the rock walls shake. Maki warns him and Ixquic that the Kabandha can reflect magic, and Jun nods. He has neither fire nor water magic, so...
"In that case, I'll back you up too, Ixquic. We'll see how he likes a taste of his own medicine." Light coruscates around him as he once again summons his Persona. "Argeiphontes! Tetrakarn!"
The helmeted Persona arises and casts a spell on Ixquic to reflect physical attacks. Jun will continue to cast support and healing spells on the three of them until the demon finally falls.
He doesn't have a handgun, or a giant sword, or indeed any weapon right now, having left his lilac behind on the zeppelin with Sudou's body. Hopefully he doesn't get too exhausted relying on his Persona like this.
MONAD: Jun Kashihara has acted with Proficiency toward One Curse for Another! Base!
(|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== One Curse for Another - Round 4 =======================================- Maki Sonomura Proficiency Failure Proficiency Base Fatigue: 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jun Kashihara Proficiency Failure Proficiency Base Fatigue: 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Akari Hoshi Guts Success High Energy Patra and Efficient Fatigue: 0 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Scary-2 and Skillful-2 Final Conditions: Skillful-1 -================================================= Party Result: Failure ====- -==== Reach: 2/6 |== | ===================================================- (|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura has posed.
"..."
Memory... Maki is thoughtful about that one. Some of these things do sound familiar to her--and she's experienced a bit of deja vu, too. Is it so common...?
"You're welcome," she settles on telling Jun. "And I think you're right."
About saving it for another time. But something terrible...?
Maki is troubled. But the battle is enough to focus on in short order. Maki doesn't have much in the way of healing; instead, the bang-bang report of her handgun is her offense in this take.
If not for Ixquic's powerful blows, Tetrakarn might do the trick on its own--but it doesn't, as it happens, the three of them bringing down the demon.
But he doesn't die. Instead he says, "...Hmmm. You are great enough to be worthy of passing through..."
Maki bows. "We did our best."
But next ahead is...
MONAD: Akari Hoshi has drawn a new Challenge! (|============= Monad - Wanted! Rumor Demon: The Purple Mirror =============|)
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
-==== Round 5: Pooling Thoughts - Challenge Level 3 =========================-
| Approach Options: Academics or Understanding |
| Conditions: Boss - Add 1 Fatigue on failure., Chest - Add 2 |
| Item/Money/Gear., Curse - -1 to Group Roll (Per Character), and Skillful - |
| Proficiency Up L1 |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKA4vyE7PiY Reminiscence (Sorrowful)
- Persona 2 Eternal Punishment (PSX))
There! In one of the reflecting pools, the image of the woman of the Purple
Mirror reveals herself. The problem is that she's insubstantial and you're
unable to affect her: she smiles confidently with the knowledge that all
you're able to do at this moment is simply observe and keep her in your
memory.
... Or so she thinks. Surely by now you must have come across some manner of
method to dispel the curse. You may lack the means to end the affair right
here, right now, but you may be able to peer into the pool -- past her and
into /yourself/, if there's any weight to the old stories about this
mountain -- and learn how to rid Sumaru City of her curse, once and for all.
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
Something terrible will happen if she remembers...
On one hand, Ixquic hates being told what to do. But on the other hand, she always feels at her worst when she thinks about it too hard. She may not be in quite the same position as Jun - she never made a promise - but it always seems to end up with her asking herself hard questions she isn't comfortable thinking about.
And if Jun is someone like her... is *he* reincarnated, too? That's what she used to think it was proof of. That's why Ixquic is...
"I'll give you my contact information," Ixquic says, surprisingly polite about it. Of course, Jun may be surprised that that consists of an email address (ixquic1@gmail.com - she is SO MAD she didn't get it without the number) and a link on the Darkside of Sumaru, which may itself be an education for him. "But later!"
Ixquic hits like a truck. That sword is not for show and backed up by Quixote, who has a sword and lance of their own, she is perfectly capable of fighting something immune to magic - honestly, she'd struggle if it was the opposite!
Eventually they get through it to the pools, and Ixquic's eyes widen. "They were right all along! It is the water...!" Ixquic had no idea how right the Occult Club would be. She looks proud, behind her mask, hands on her hips as she laughs...
...which doesn't do anything to the Purple Mirror woman. Nor does Ixquic's first attempt at poking the pool (she uses her sword and not her fingers); the water quivers and then settles, as water does, and the image on it wavers and shakes and then settles right along with it.
Ixquic looks frustrated. "Maybe if we put more flowers in it? The memory flowers - wait, you DON'T want to remember. Um. The... opposite of the memory flowers? Didn't the florist say there was a perfect flower on the mountain...?"
MONAD: Akari Hoshi has acted with Understanding toward Pooling Thoughts! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
"All right. I'll reach out to you later," Jun tells Ixquic, accepting her contact info and saving it in his phone. Maki seems to have thoughts on the matter, judging by that thoughtful look--but she doesn't weigh in, so Jun only gives her a thoughtful look back and doesn't invite her to join any future conversation. Yet.
Demons are such strange, fascinating creatures... Jun wouldn't expect one that'd been causing such a ruckus to be so accepting of his loss. When the Kabandha lets the three of them pass, he bows in gratitude, then hurries on with Maki and Ixquic.
They reach a reflecting pool, and a ghostly woman appears above it, smiling smugly at the three of them. Jun peers at her. Nothing about her feels familiar, which is a good thing, but seeing her now means burning her in his memory...
But now that they've come this far, he's remembered something else: the legends of Mt. Iwato and the reflecting pools within. That's something he is allowed to remember: "Looking into the reflecting pool will supposedly show you visions."
Ixquic suggests offering flowers. The florist did talk about one that blooms on Mt. Iwato, but... Jun shakes his head. "We aren't going to see that flower in these caves where there's no sunlight. I'm not sure, but... she's like a spirit--like something that appears in a dream. If that's the case, then perhaps I..."
Slowly, Jun steps towards the pool and gazes into it. He's been studying dream symbolism for some time now, ever since he started getting those feelings of deja vu and having nightmares he couldn't clearly recall the morning after. If the pool shows him a dream or vision to interpret, then through that interpretation, perhaps he can glean some information on how to deal with the Purple Mirror's curse.
MONAD: Jun Kashihara has acted with Dream Talk toward Pooling Thoughts! Smarts and Efficient!
<Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura has posed.
Contact info! That's good and important. Maki doesn't offer hers yet, but she may after all this. Instead... Well, they're past the demon, and--
The water.
"...Hm." Maki considers the ghostly woman, and her obvious pleasure in their memory.
"They say ghosts--which you might be--are drawn from souls who have unfinished business in life. That this something left-undone is enough to hold them to the world after their death."
"I'm not so sure if it's true... because we all carry things undone. Everyone has regrets... Things they wish they'd done or not done."
"Precious memories that may be wounds as much as anything, but are still held close all the same."
"No," she says, "We won't spot that flower here, but..."
Maki steps forward.
"...We all carry the 'self' that we see in the mirror. What does my 'self' want to tell me today...?"
She also looks into the water.
MONAD: Maki Sonomura has acted with Counseling toward Pooling Thoughts! Escape and Empathy! (|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== Pooling Thoughts - Round 5 ============================================- Maki Sonomura Understanding Success Counseling Escape and Empathy Fatigue: 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jun Kashihara Academics Success Dream Talk Smarts and Efficient Fatigue: 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Akari Hoshi Understanding Failure Understanding Base Fatigue: 1 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Boss-0, Chest-0, Curse-0, and Skillful-1 Final Conditions: -================================================= Party Result: Failure ====- -==== Reach: 2/6 |== | ===================================================- -==== Loot So Far: ==========================================================- Items: 1, Money: 0, Gear: 1 (|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|) (|============= Monad - Wanted! Rumor Demon: The Purple Mirror =============|)
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
-==== Round 6: Upon Reflection - Challenge Level 1 ==========================-
| Approach Options: None |
| Conditions: Revelation - The best result. |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
Staring into the reflection pool reveals the answer within yourself,
refracted by the arduous journey which led you here. This is the ritual
which surfaces to your mind: paint the rim of the pool purple, then toss a
bouquet of flowers in the water. This will give the Demon substantial form.
The question still remains: what do you do after that?
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im-IexvNHZg Reminiscence (Bring Back
Memories) - Persona 2 Eternal Punishment (PSX))
Perhaps you might have been overthinking this, or perhaps you've had your
suspicions all this time. Either way, you have learned enough to form a
solid conclusion, elegant in its simplicity. Recalling the circumstances in
which the owner of the Purple Mirror died causes you to realize that this is
a cautionary tale aimed at young people on the cusp of adulthood. It urges
them to learn from the example of the mirror's owner and do the opposite.
There is no true curse, and the true mechanism behind the misfortune is
one's obsession and preoccupation over old memories.
It is not Sumaru City which needs to forget this tale. No, this all
originates from one person: it is the mirror's owner who needs to forget her
own tale and move on from spreading her grudge. Drawing her into this world
and giving her solid form will surely provoke her fury, but once exhausted,
she can be convinced and taught this lesson. Finally, then, both she and
Sumaru City can be free of the curse of the Purple Mirror.
This much information is enough for an initial monetary reward, plus a
substantial bonus in the form of a gift or two from the Kuzunoha Detective
Agency's clients who are happy to hear of such an effective solution. It was
a worthwhile trip overall, and perhaps you've collected or learned something
or formed a bond which will remain even after the memory fades.
Final Loot: 1 Item and 1 Pieces of Gear!
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
It feels a little weird giving her contact information out. Akari generally doesn't - but Ixquic can get away with it. It's not like she gave him her phone number! (Deliberately. Only a few people have THAT. It makes her parents' questions less awkward.)
"Oh, I guess this is underground," Ixquic agrees. There aren't going to be flowers here, unless there's weird underground flowers that don't need a lot of light. And she's pretty sure those are called mushrooms.
Ixquic is not the right kind of introspective, really, to get as much out of the pool - or maybe she's just not in the right state of mind, having been turning away from dealing with her own emotional issues right now, and her own regrets. So perhaps she's a little slow on the uptake compared to the other two.
"If everybody has unfinished business - well, I guess that makes sense, there's always something more you want to do." Ixquic taps her finger against her chin, looking thoughtful. She kind of wants to trade out for her hat. "I guess it's less having unfinished business and more... being stuck on it? Then you'd be a ghost!"
As for laying her to rest: "I saw in a movie they had ghost traps, but I don't think those actually exist. Maybe if we made the pool more like the mirror - " And that's the flash of insight. "THEN we could bring back the bouquet!" She really is stuck on that, but Jun left an impression. And, honestly, it's not the wrong one. Paint the pool, throw the flowers to let the ghost remember...
"We should tell the detective agency," Ixquic eventually decides. "And then we can deal with the ghost! Though, maybe not right away," she adds, hastily. "I have, uh, a meeting. To go to. Tonight."
She didn't forget about In Unizone!
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Maki really is something else. Jun's quietly impressed when she addresses the spirit of the Purple Mirror directly and talks to her like a person, with compassion and respect. He hadn't tried that; he skipped straight to seeking a vision.
In all fairness, a vision does come to him. There is no curse; the curse is simply people obsessing over their own memories. It feels like a targeted chastisement, really. But in this vision, they paint a violet ring around the pool and toss in a bouquet...
He blinks back to reality in time for Ixquic to suggest essentially this by sheer coincidence. "...Yes," he says. "I agree. Once we do that..."
He gazes back at the spirit. But Ixquic also says she's got a meeting for late today, and Jun nods. "All right. I'll do some research into an appropriate bouquet, in that case--take a look around Mt. Iwato to see if I can find those flowers."
They may or may not be in season, but unseasonably blooming flowers is hardly the strangest thing that could happen right now. He nods to Maki and continues, "But yes, for now, let's head to Aoba Ward and let the Kuzunoha Detective Agency know what we've discovered."
<Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura has posed.
Mushrooms are also pretty great.
"Right," Maki agrees with Ixquic when she mentions being stuck on it. "...Memories can be good... but they can be a trap, too. Sometimes, you just have to let go."
"That's the only way you can change."
She sounds almost wistful as she says this; it may be personal. But...
"Hmm. That's a good set of idea," she says.
"Oh, I'm sure they need time to prepare anyway," Maki says of the detective agency. "And that's smart, too. You really do have a lot of knowledge of flowers, don't you?" Maki asks of Jun.
"Right. Let's go! ...It'll be nice to drop in on her with some info of my own, for once..."
Of course she knows Tamaki!