2026-09-30: A Red Flower Blossoms
- Log: 2026-09-30 Red Flowers Blossoming
- Cast: Makoto Niijima, Yusuke Kitagawa, Yoko Hirano, Katsuya Suou, Yanagi Nagisa
- Where: Shinichi Nagisa's Atelier
- OOC Date: September 30, 2026
- IC Date: January 17, 2013
- Summary: Queen and Fox attempt to infiltrate Shinichi's Atelier for recon. Yoko attempts to meet her senpai's friend. Katsuya attempts to keep Yoko safe. Nobody quite succeeds. Yoko's resentment boils over.
MONAD: A party led by Makoto Niijima has begun the event Shinichi's Atelier: Cinvat Mikage-Cho. (|============= Monad - Shinichi's Atelier: Cinvat Mikage-Cho ==============|)
(|============================================================= Monad 1.2 ====|)
-==== Round 1 - Challenge Level 2 ===========================================-
| Card: In These Halls, Terror |
| Approach Options: Academics or Proficiency |
| Conditions: Ineptitude - Proficiency Down L2, Shuffle - Draw 1 Minor |
| Arcana., and Stupor - Academics Down L1 |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjYxvF-J7Fo
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
You appear in what looks like a darkened school hallway. Shine some light on
a bulletin board though and you can see that this is actually Our Lady of
the Holy Stoat Middle School, in the town of Mikage-Cho.
But it looks like it's been abandoned for months. The only light on down the
hallway flickers pathetically every so often, the classroom doors won't
open, and even if forced open, one runs into a great barricade of debris
behind each of them.
With whispers and whimpers behind them, shushes and calls for quiet. One may
see why in short order. Flegmat Humors wander these halls, mumbling, their
forms taking the shape of huge sickly Oni with unkempt purple manes,
dragging clubs behind them. Dog-headed ones half their size flanking them.
They look like demons- demons from that time, but warped, as if to fit some
half-remembered watercolor of them.
If you listen to their mumbles long enough, you may pick out the words for
'Filial Piety' and 'Divine Punishment' at least, as they wander the
labyrinthine halls, eyes glassy. If one enters their field of vision, then
they freeze, then begin to charge, screaming expletives and swinging their
clubs wildly.
In order to get past them, you must expertly navigate these halls through
the occasionally posted, confusing floor plans, keeping out of sight.
Of course, you could just fight them, but that'd be an exhausting slog, and
energy you can't afford to expend here at the beginning.
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.2 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
Makoto Niijima has been under a lot of stress lately. More than usual, even. Morgana is missing, something about Ren's new relationship with Akechi is eating at her and most relevant to today, Makoto is currently the second name on a homunculus stalkers hitlist.
She's doing great.
That's possibly why she suggested the group meet at the net cafe in Iwatodai instead of entering the Atelier separately- Port Island is nowhere near the school and outside of Shinichi's stalking grounds, it's close for Yusuke and hardly out of the way for Ryuji, Ichika lives nearby just in case...
She's still looking over her shoulder every so often, despite having succesfully avoided the Homunculus so far. "We go in one at a time," she says to Yusuke- Ryuji has experience with Ateliers before, at least. "Just... click on the link the cursor is on."
Makoto steps into the rented booth, accessing the Atelier network and then, just as suddenly, the net cafe booth is open and ready for the next entrant. It's certainly not the sort of place that can comfortably hold three, after all.
-=-=-
Queen immediately regrets being the first one in. She's only going to be alone for a few seconds but it's dark. Cold. Abandoned. Haunted.
And full of whispering. Awful, constant whispers.
When Skull and Fox arrive, they may be surprised that Queen- of all people- is shaking, a hand pressed up against the wall she's crept up against. The armour of her heart is helping, but she's definitely not on her A game.
She relaxes- just a little- when she sees her teammates. "It... looks like a maze." She manages, after a moment. "We're going to have to work our way through- and avoid those shadows. I'm not sure what to expect going forward, we should treat this like an infiltration. Fox, can you take point? Skull and I will watch your back."
...Which would be fine, if they were the only ones entering today.
MONAD: Makoto Niijima has acted with Study Guide toward In These Halls, Terror! Smarts and Patra!
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
After Makoto vanishes in front of them, Yusuke blinks, then glances to Ryuji. After a long moment, he shrugs, and leans in to click on the hyperlink --
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Fox regards Queen carefully from under his kitsune mask, then steps closer. "We're with you," he reminds her, gloves creaking as he squeezes his fists tight. The whispering needles under even his stoic facade, but he does his best to maintain his composure.
"It's unsettling," he remarks, "but we'll have to do our best."
Moving to take up a position at the nearest corner, he frowns. "A maze formed of classrooms and corridors. Many foes. Without Mona or Oracle, I do not like our odds in a protracted fight. We'll have to be very careful."
<Pose Tracker> Yoko Hirano has posed.
'Curiosity killed the cat.'
Maybe that's true. Yoko has heard it many times, after all. Yoko has heard a lot of things, although she always sees more than she hears. Today, though, she'd only seen normal things. Like Kitagawa-senpai meeting a girl in another school's uniform at a net cafe. Is she an artist too? (It does not occur to Yoko that maybe it's a date because she's pretty sure Senpai isn't interested in girls except as models. Or anybody, except as models. Yoko is working from very limited information.)
She'd like to meet that girl, if she's an artist. Yoko turns away from the wandering skeleton she'd been following to follow Yusuke and Makoto, instead.
Maybe she should leave them alone. It's not too late, she can always just... leave...
Wait, aren't those booths... kind of too small for two people?! Is it a party booth? ...Do they have those? ...They left the door open... but there's nobody inside...
They were here, right? Her eyes rest on the monitor...
------
Another pair of shoes touches down inside of the Atelier's haunted halls. It's a girl in a Gekkoukan uniform, untidy hair black as ink and wide eyes green as acid. "??"
"Oh. A haunted school again," murmurs the decidedly un-transformed first year Yoko Hirano. At least she's quiet??? And quick to glance at Queen and Fox before... not acknowledging them or anything?! Just shuffling into a shadowy spot to observe the oni?!
MONAD: Yoko Hirano has acted with Satisfaction Brought It Back toward In These Halls, Terror! Smarts and Patra! MONAD: Yusuke Kitagawa has acted with Painter's Precision toward In These Halls, Terror! Specialty!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Tracking down the routine of one girl is a lot harder than it might seem, even for a cop. Especially for a cop who isn't supposed to be acting as a cop right now (they meant it when they put him on suspension). After the encounter with the grey-haired young operative, though...
Mostly, he supposes, he wants to make sure she's alright. It's not something he can speak to her parents about. He can't really even explain it to her. Maybe, with the others he can work to keep her safe, but...
As much as he knows that the well-being of one person isn't his priority right now with everything that's happening, it just feels wrong to let this go.
No, it's more that for some inexplicable reason he can't just let this go. It's almost as if he 'knows her', somehow. But that's ridiculous, they hadn't met before last year.
Maybe it's just his free-floating brotherly instinct clashing with his sense of duty. That, at least, makes sense.
Dressed for the weather even as he steps into the net cafe, he wears a deep tan overcoat atop a wine-red sweater and dark slacks, a grey scarf looped loosely around his neck. Glancing this way and that, he catches sight of the girl's tell-tale choice in fashion disappear into a booth. A passerby had seen her enter into here; fortunately, he hadn't been too late. Now, to ask her if she's--
She's not here. Instead, the familiar website on the screen tells him exactly what's just happened. His heart sinking into his stomach, Katsuya doesn't even hesitate.
----
...So, the rumor was true. Another Atelier had formed! He's been far too busy to check in on that, but--
But he's not the only one here, even accounting for Yoko.
"Hira--"
This is when he falls silent, noting the passage and tension of the wandering Flegmats. This isn't good.
Pressing up against a nearby wall, Katsuya pauses, watching the passage of the figures. There's too many of them to fight head-on. Between the Phantom Thieves and himself, they might be able to persevere, but... it doesn't take a genius to realize that could end badly. Especially with Yoko right there. ...And she's continuing on. Calling out to her might draw the Flegmats' attention. This is bad. He'll have to proceed with caution, and hope the Thieves aren't acting foolishly. Have they realized they have a stowaway?
[PERCEPTION/]: Are those floor plans posted here?
So they are. They don't seem to be particular plain, though, Katsuya considers.
[LOGIC/]: Puzzling out the symbols on here will take a moment, but as they say, haste makes waste.
There's nothing else for it but to take it thoughtfully.
MONAD: Katsuya Suou has acted with Academics toward In These Halls, Terror! Base!
(|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== In These Halls, Terror - Round 1 ======================================- Katsuya Suou Academics Success Academics Base Fatigue: 0 Morale: 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yusuke Kitagawa Proficiency Success Painter's Precision Specialty Fatigue: 0 Morale: 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Makoto Niijima Academics Success Study Guide Smarts and Patra Fatigue: 0 Morale: 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yoko Hirano Academics Failure Satisfaction Brought Smarts and Patra Fatigue: 2 Morale: 0 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Ineptitude-2, Shuffle: Wand-0, and Stupor-2 Final Conditions: -====================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 1/6 |= | ===================================================- (|=========================================================== Monad 1.2 ====|)
MONAD: Yoko Hirano has drawn a new Challenge! (|============= Monad - Shinichi's Atelier: Cinvat Mikage-Cho ==============|)
(|============================================================= Monad 1.2 ====|)
-==== Round 2 - Challenge Level 2 ===========================================-
| Card: The Future Promise I Walked By, Missing |
| Approach Options: Academics or Charm |
| Conditions: Bothersome - Charm Down L1 and Stupor - Academics Down L1 |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
Once out of the school, a little origami angel-spirit floats towards you to
get your attention. Those familiar will recognize it as a part of Peacock
Silk Navigator Yanagi Nagisa's Persona, Giselle. Once it has your attention,
it floats away, appearing and disappearing, to guide you in a certain
direction.
Soon enough, it brings you to Yanagi herself, resplendent in her
brilliantly-colored Transmutation with her rainbow skirts, sunset pink hair,
and peacock green eyes. She smiles at you as her needle-limbed Persona
pirouettes behind her, and points towards a particularly thick patch of fog.
"Over there is St. Hermelin High School. Use it for a secret passage to the
core of this Atelier," she tells you.
So you go... but the fog doesn't lighten any. In fact, it gets only thicker
and colder... until...
"HEE-HO!" "HEE-HO!" "HEE-HOHOHO, WE GOT 'EM NOW, BOYS!"
Several misshapen Jack Frost Humors leap up to surround your group and
freeze the ground beneath your feet solid!! The slick footing makes it near
impossible to fight back effectively as they swoop in to attack--but the
suddenness also means it's not an even freeze. If you can identify a solid
enough launching point, maybe you can use the ice in your favor to make a
hasty getaway. Otherwise, maybe you can (ahem) /snow/ these Frosts by
complimenting them on how sneaky their ambush was?
Either way, afterwards, one of those little origami spirits floats down
before you and unfolds into animation paper that displays the following
message:
/Sorry, the high school was a lie. Good luck! <3/
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.2 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
One might argue entering an atelier with only a light party would be reckless, maybe Katsuya is right.
Unfortunately, Queen meant it when she said she was watching Fox's back while he took point. She hears a voice mention a haunted school and another cut off shout. It's almost like she's hypervigilant for some reason.
Which means there are now two more people to worry about and one of them... Is she even a Persona user? At least she *has* seen Detective Suou before- even if there are some. Complex emotions there, Queen IS the Thief most positively disposed to cops.
(She's not sure if Akechi doesn't count as a cop, or if he's just the exception to the rule for Joker.)
"...We're not alone," she whispers to Fox, indicating Katsuya and Yoko to him. Two extra persona users might be a boon- assuming Katsuya doesn't try to arrest them.
She waits for the misshapen humours to pass, before she suddenly moves from one corner to the other in that swift, almost uncatchable way that the Thieves can. She leans out to peek ahead, then gives Fox the all clear to move.
"You can follow us your make your own way out, your choice." She hisses to the other two- but if they choose to follow Queen she won't abandon them.
But that doesn't mean there might not be a close call or two, especially for Yoko- and Fox the one best positioned to help. Artists have to look out for each other.
No, it's not until they're out of the School that Queen stops- and breathes, the trembling easing off now that they're outside. It's still dark, and foggy... but at least it's not haunted outside. Right...?
It's then she looks at Yoko and Katsuya, her black leathers blending into the dark.
"Alright, are you here to try and arrest us, Detective Suou? Because as far as my knowledge extends, nothing in the Criminal Code states that what we're doing right now is illegal. And if you're hoping to follow us around and catch us in some kind of act, you're out of luck. If you want to stop a stalker and a killer, though, maybe we can call a truce."
She pauses, eyes looking over Yoko- she has some idea of members of SEES, but she doesn't have one of their evokers, or the armband, or the uniform armour...
She blinks.
And then her eyes turn back to Katsuya, angrily. "Did you bring a civilian in here!? Into a place like this!?"
Of course she's assuming it's Katsuya's fault, he's the adult.
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
Whatever lecture and/or argument is about to break out is interrupted when a folded paper Christmas ornament of an angel bobs into view in front of Yoko and the others, then shivers and quivers until it gets their attention. Once they've zeroed in, it bobs away, fading out and into view, pausing every so often to make sure they can keep up. Before long, there is a short but brilliantly colorful figure, and behind her, a pirouetting Persona...
"Yoko, you made it!" Yanagi tells the young high schooler brightly. She looks over at Katsuya, Queen, and Fox thoughtfully; she doesn't know the Phantom Thieves, but she does know the cop. "I must say, this isn't who I thought you would have escort you in here. I suppose Tsumugi and the others must be busy with Kikuno, though." She looks back at Yoko with a cheery smile. "Be sure to awaken while you're here! Here, I'll give you a bit of help."
She points with her non-cane-holding hand towards a particularly thick patch of fog. "St. Hermelin High School is that way. If you cut through it, you'll find a shortcut to the core of this Atelier." She leans towards Yoko with an exaggerated, merry wink. "Don't get into too much danger~!"
Then she waves to Katsuya and the others. "Make sure she gets through it alive~! I think she'll be just fascinating as a Persona User!"
...
...
...
When, at the end of this entire rumpus, another one of those origami angels appears before them and unfolds into a certain message, who will be surprised and who will have gone I knew it?
<Pose Tracker> Yoko Hirano has posed.
Yoko would be much easier to track down if her favorite activities weren't 'wandering around wherever she pleases with unknown rhyme, reason, or range' and 'disappearing into the art room for hours'!! She doesn't hear Katsuya's voice, she's so focused on watching the oni. There's a pattern, isn't there? If she watches long enough, won't she discern it? Her fingers twist her bag's strap over and over between them--
A single high-pitched note startles out of her when a very solid, very real hand clasps her shoulder and pulls her into cover. That's not supposed to happen, figments aren't able to touch her, not for real. Her eyes are as round as dinnerplates when she looks again at Fox's hand on her arm, then the rest of him and Queen.
"...You've got the wrong idea," she frowns suddenly, tilting her head up to meet the biker girl's visored eyes. "But if you're real, then that means Officer Suou is too. ...probably," Yoko admits that last bit a little more quietly. But it's good that he's here too. They'll definitely get out of here all right now.
Once they've made their way out of the school, though... following the curious little paper angels... "Aa-- Yanagi-chan," she blurts out. She looks like a fairy, or a muse...! Radiant and beautiful and welcoming in the exact opposite way as her Persona. "It was an accident. I just wanted to talk to Senpai. But I found another haunted school instead. I wanted to awaken with everybody else..."
But that invigorating invitation... was a lie?! The ground underneath her loafers freezes over, and Yoko's instinct is to freeze. In place!! Her breath huffing out as clouds in the frosty air, and ice crystals climbing her socks! But they'd been able to talk to some of the demons in the last haunted school, so...!
"Oh no," she warbles, keeping her feet very still. "You tricked us!"
...yeah she's on the back foot here.
MONAD: Yoko Hirano has acted with Wax Poetic toward The Future Promise I Walked By, Missing! Friendliness and Focus!
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
Fox moves much like Queen does, but to different vantage points. It's a long-practiced strategy for maneuvering through cognitive spaces - usually each Thief covers another's six and 'leapfrogs' positions. In this case, though, Fox moves first consistently, understanding Queen's reluctance to lead the charge in this case.
The arrival of other explorers of this grim Atelier gives him pause as Queen brings Yoko to his attention. "Hirano-san!?" he hisses in alarm, and recalibrates his scouting to keep his kouhai in his watch as well. She seems to not have noticed them, but it's unclear if that's by accident or if she is deliberately ignoring them. Regardless, that places her in much more danger.
By the time they get out, Queen's fear has turned to anger directed at Katsuya, and Fox almost lays a hand on her shoulder to calm her. Fortunately, a vision of iridescent grace descends upon them with a playful greeting to the - fairly obviously - un-Awakened girl, and Fox watches her in awe.
"What magnificent coordination," he mutters, as Yanagi saunters off into the mists. And she seemed so at home in this space...
... Perhaps her unworried posture ought to have been more worthy of concern, he considers as the hee-horde surrounds them. The ground freezes under their feet, and he carefully slides himself closer to Yoko. "Stay close," he murmurs to the younger Gekkoukan student, reaching up to his mask in readiness, grey eyes flicking around the scene to track their enemies. He himself is not particularly concerned by the elemental dangers the Jacks Frost present, more their numbers. Best to bypass them completely.
Blue flame flickers across his mask as he tugs at it, a flash of light hiding his features. With the sound of a taiko drum, the fog in the air congeals with ink, hues shifting and blending until a spectral figure of a ronin wreathed in that same fire forms, towering over himself and Yoko. Goemon drops his gigantic pipe from his mouth, resting its head on the ground.
"Hold on," Fox mutters to Yoko, and steps backwards so his boots rest upon the pipe, crouching to center their weight. Tensing, Goemon issues a mighty heave, in an attempt to fling them both to safety!
MONAD: Yusuke Kitagawa has acted with Artistic Wisdom toward The Future Promise I Walked By, Missing! Focus and Diligence!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
He can make his own way out or follow them, the one in the leather jacket (Queen, of course) hisses at him).
Katsuya shakes his head, mute as if in an attempt to avoid drawing the attention of the Flegmats. If he says too much here...
And he's going to have to say a lot to get his point across. It will have to wait until they get further in, which, unfortunately, also means that Yoko is going to be in more danger. Perhaps there's some way he can sneak back out again once they've sorted it all out.
But what does she mean by 'real'?
"Hirano-san," he says on the way out, "this may be difficult to believe, but this is all very real." They need to leave before this gets more dangerous, and then he can report this to the rest of his group, and then--
Of course, Queen makes her case to him before he can get that far.
Katsuya's immediate reaction is, apparently, to be taken aback.
"Arrest? No, even though you--" Makoto goes on, explaining how there's nothing in the criminal code that's explicitly illegal right now. "--Well, no, entering a place like this isn't... and I hadn't come here with any intent to," he continues, shaking his head, "arrest or follow you, or anything of the sort. I'm here because Hirano-san--"
He doesn't get a chance to explain himself, not immediately.
"--Brought her in here?" he stammers, stunned, glancing between her and Fox.
[AUTHORITY]: You need to say something to her now. Something that will reassert yourself as the authority figure here.
[AUTHORITY: 2]
[LOW: 40%]
AUTHORITY: 2d6 (5) + 2 -1 = 6 vs. Formidable (13)
-1 Not technically a cop right now
FAILURE
""No, of course I didn't..." Katsuya says, still flat-footed.
DAMAGED MORALE: -1
Fortunately, such shame is not to last too long, for here is an oddity, bobbing and weaving through the fog. It leads them on a small but merry chase, until they find... Yanagi! He remembers her. She's that bright young woman from that store. Peacock Silk, wasn't it? He met a few of the other members again at a later date, one under unusual circumstances, and then later still at that Atelier, but... "Why are you here?" he asks, looking perhaps as befuddled as the others. "Does that mean that Peacock Silk is involved in this one as well?"
But she indicates where they can go, and tells Katsuya that...
"What are you talking about? Of course she can't-- she's only a child!" More child than the others here, in his estimate. "Hirano-san, we must get out of here--"
This is, alas, not going to work as well as he'd like.
However he slices the situation.
"Ah," he says, balanced carefully somewhere between mild surprise at the betrayal at all (he's just trusting like that) and the utter lack thereof (...considering Yanagi's Yanagi). "So... that is the sort of person she is..."
More pressingly, though, there is the matter of the Jack Frosts.
"Did she put you up to this?" he asks aloud of the demons. He's run into these before, unfortunately, and their strength is exactly his weakness. It would be better for him not to fight them. "Surely, this is a waste of your talents!" he calls out, knowing well that they'll be particularly interested in targetting Yoko and that dissuading them otherwise may be difficult. "That ambush was, er, far too skillful for the likes of us!"
MONAD: Katsuya Suou has acted with Rehabilitate toward The Future Promise I Walked By, Missing! Friendliness and Diligence!
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
It's almost like the Niijima Sisters have many things in common. Being able to bulldoze people is one of them when- but Fox seems to know who Yoko is, and he adds her to the routine. And Yoko... doesn't seem to think they're real at all...?
The good news is, Fox is also there to help calm Queen down- especially given her anger is as much an outlet for her fear as anything else. She's doing a better job of it, but that tremble is still there, when Fox puts his hand on her shoulder she flinches a little- but not as pronounced as what happened on entering Futaba and Sojiro's house. And Yoko at least seems to say it's not Katsuya's fault. "...So you followed someone in here?" ...Great. She wasn't careful enough- or, well, Yusuke wasn't but it's her fault. And then, like a switch flipping, Queen turns to be on Katsuya's side??? "The Detective is right, these places are dangerous... We might have to change plans and focus on finding an exit..."
...She doesn't like that idea. She doesn't like the idea of running into Shinichi again. He's dangerous, and she's physically outmatched. And every day at school remains a risk- keeping to the 3rd Years Floors has helped with that.
But Queen gets to be embarrassed now, and possibly do more Morale damage. "Ah- you were coming after her to help her? ...Sorry."
And then, frankly, Queen is wowed by the sudden appearance of a very beautiful, radiant woman appearing from the fog. Even Queen is stunned, and it's a good thing her mask hides most of her blush.
And then Yanagi talks about Yoko awakening...? Like it was a plan. "Hang on, you want to awaken? You can't just force that sort of thing! ...Can you?" Oh no Queen is totally out of her depth and so she's looking to Katsuya and Fox for knowledge she doesn't have. They're also given a shortcut- and no one is going to complain about that. Yoko seems to trust her- even if Katsuya seems wary. "...It's our best lead right now. Thank you for your help."
Katsuya calls Yoko a child, and Makoto frowns. "...I'm pretty sure age doesn't determine whether someone can use a Persona..." But she still doesn't like the idea of someone walking into danger hoping to get powers. "But it's not something you should chase after- you don't know how high risk these are. And the Homunculus might be able to find out who you are- and he already has a hit list."
...Maybe it's too much protesting, which is why she's suddenly surrounded by Jack Frosts- and, surprisingly, Queen lets out a cry of surprise and stumbles back. Fox is moving already which leaves Makoto and Katsuya to... talk their way out?
"...R-right, a skillful ambush! You know, I bet if you did it again, it would fool us again! Right, Detective?" ...oh no. Oh no.
Makoto has to charm the Jack Frosts. Whatever calm, cool image Queen had might be getting devastated right now. "In fact, I bet you could have an even bigger effect if you changed up your hiding spots a little, like... approaching from there, and there... and if you let us approach from the other side, it'll be an even better ambush."
She nudges Katsuya with an elbow, after laying out... an honestly pretty good ambush strategy. She's not the Phantoms advisor for no reason. "Isn't that right, Detective?"
MONAD: Makoto Niijima has acted with Study Guide toward The Future Promise I Walked By, Missing! Smarts and Patra!
(|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== The Future Promise I Walked By, Missing - Round 2 =====================- Katsuya Suou Charm Success Rehabilitate Friendliness and Diligence Fatigue: 0 Morale: 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yusuke Kitagawa Academics Success Artistic Wisdom Focus and Diligence Fatigue: 0 Morale: 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Makoto Niijima Academics Success Study Guide Smarts and Patra Fatigue: 0 Morale: 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yoko Hirano Charm Success Wax Poetic Friendliness and Focus Fatigue: 2 Morale: 2 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Bothersome-2 and Stupor-2 Final Conditions: Bothersome-1 -====================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 2/6 |== | ===================================================- (|=========================================================== Monad 1.2 ====|)
MONAD: Katsuya Suou has drawn a new Challenge! (|============= Monad - Shinichi's Atelier: Cinvat Mikage-Cho ==============|)
(|============================================================= Monad 1.2 ====|)
-==== Round 3 - Challenge Level 2 ===========================================-
| Card: With Self-Doubt Greater than Desire, I Falter |
| Approach Options: Guts or Understanding |
| Conditions: Bothersome - Charm Down L1, Checkpoint - Cleanse all negative |
| conditions., Chest - Add 2 Item/Money/Gear., Hard - Understanding Down L1, |
| and Terrifying - Guts Down L2 |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
While traveling the cognitive Mikage-Cho, you pass through the Atelier's
version of the Joy Street Mall. The exterior is dilapidated, and within,
most of the stores have been looted and burned out. Around you, you hear
/something/ scurrying about--harried footfalls that race away as you
approach--and slow, languid /thump/. /thump/. /thump/s.
The reason why is clear before soon: several warped Nurse Melancs with long,
crooked limbs, faces engulfed by a mouth of sharp, chattering teeth, and
wielding wicked-looking syringes wander the mall with relentless
inevitability, hunting down Sanguins and dragging them off. Though the
Sanguins do their best to scurry to safety before they're caught, some have
bloated legs and can only crawl. These ones have long, wavy hair, too...
Those familiar with Ateliers know that Melancs and Sanguins are Humor
Shadows, natural residents of these cognitive worlds. While Sanguins are the
antibodies of an Atelier and can be convinced to help Persona Users fight
back against the invading Homunculus, Melancs have been fully taken over by
the supernatural invader and act as its lieutenants. The fact that these
Melancs are /hunting down/ Sanguins is a very bad sign--especially since
even one is a mid-boss fight in its own right.
You can either put everything on the line to fight off the Melancs to
protect the Sanguins, or you can play it safe and catch up to the Sanguins
first and kindly guide them to safety in the Yin & Yang Convenience Store,
one of the only mostly-intact stores left. The grateful Sanguins will reward
you with precious healing items either way, but if you lose or get caught,
the Melancs might carry /you/ off instead.
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.2 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Yoko Hirano has posed.
This is very real, Officer Suou assures her. Words that she's heard from several mouths, in several settings. None of them as unbelievable as this. "I know that now..." The way the two costumed figures move was another point in favor of them being figments. That kind of dash, weaving so fluidly... it could never be real. Humans don't move like that, of course. Yoko knows that. It's too cool.
'She's just a child.' And that rankles, even if it's true. She wants it to be true, right? A normal girl! Not a...
The taller one slides closer to her to protect her again, gathering her against his side-- there is a familiar woodblock clap, a drumbeat! Ink and brilliant color! Style and intent! Pro: she's too dazzled by Goemon to shriek about being yeeted.
"HEE-HEE-HO! That's right, we're the COOLEST!" boasts one of the Frosts, puffing out his round lack-of-a-chest. "Real frosty guys!" adds another. "Who? The rainbow lady? Snow way!!" "Good one!"
They're so proud of themselves! The Frosts are plenty happy to listen to Makoto's advice as long as everybody is buttering them up to avoid a battle. "Oh-HO, so if I went over there, and Jack went over there, and Jack went over there...?"
They break to try the new formation, and now would be a great time to GO GO GO GO!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Just like that, Queen's on his side. It's a little bewildering, Katsuya must admit, but he'll take it. "--Yes," he says, suddenly recovering his balance here. "We must retreat and make sure that Hirano-san can leave here safely." It was one thing in Kasugayama: that had threats, but their collective presence had sufficed. But that had still been a real place, if marked by the supernatural. Here, by contrast...
...here there be lions, as the Romans would have put it. He doesn't know whose Atelier this is, let alone what threats could lie ahead. In a fully supernatural space, anything could happen, and a 'regular person' is in great danger.
But did Yoko come in here on purpose, or did Yanagi lure her in (did they both plan on it happening like this)?
He knows that Yoko is close to awakening. A nudge will do it. But.
"Well, no," he agrees, as Queen picks at his statement. He's just not used to women doing this (he's not good at standing up to women in general, honestly). "As it stands, though, she is younger than the rest of you. I don't think... I can't help what someone has ended up involved with," he attempts to argue, "and, of course, I appreciate the expertise," he glances again at her and Fox here, "--assuming, that is, it's applied towards just causes," he adds, shaking his head. "Nevertheless, this isn't..."
He trails off, staring at Queen. "A... hit list?"
Whose Atelier is this, anyway?
Of course, then there comes the situation with the ambush that Yanagi has sent them right into and the Jack Frosts and how readily they can get out of this mess. Queen gives them a better suggestion.
Katsuya looks appalled.
And then gets nudged by Queen. He's not that thick.
"Er, yes, but please try not to-- that is, that should be a good ambush..."
Hopefully, he hasn't caused a major problem for someone else. But he has to think about Yoko here: there's nothing else for it.
Fortunately, the Jack Frosts are more than pleased to oblige.
"Well, I suppose we should see if we can find a way out. There should be a shortcut here somewhere," he muses, glancing off towards the distant streets. "Perhaps, it might be more likely over there? I think that is the commercial district, though I'm not familiar with Mikage-cho's street layout," he admits.
It's not particularly promising when they do get there. Then, there is a strange sound.
A strange horrible sound, if one is to be more accurate.
Its source soon comes into view, whether the group wants it or not. The things are barely recognizable as nurses: only their tattered and twisted uniforms serve to highlight what they are. They're Melancs, he realizes, whispering to Fox and Queen (though Yoko will be able to pick up on it), "Those are dangerous. Do you see their bodies? As I recall, these are Melancs, and they're quite dangerous." He pauses, squinting. "They're hunting something. What is..."
He moves in closer only to freeze in his tracks as one of those nurses snatches up a figure with bloated legs but long, pale, wavy hair.
Not only is that a bad sign for this Atelier (as he recalls, having learned some details from Roger last year), but isn't that hair...? Aren't they...?
Another Sanguin is caught. It shrieks, before it's silenced in the Melanc's 'tender' embrace.
"Enough! Abduction is a crime!" He glances back at Yoko, and even this is a bark of an order: "Hirano-san! Stay where you are!"
Like she can't do anything but get in the way.
Even if they remind him of Yanagi somehow, some primal part of him can't just stand by, and some other primal part of him just has to wade into the thick of it. Touching his fingers to his sunglasses, he roars, counter entirely to his more measured approach from before. "Persona!"
Helios' flame makes his intention here crystal-clear.
MONAD: Katsuya Suou has acted with You're Under Arrest! toward With Self-Doubt Greater than Desire, I Falter! Specialty!
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
Queen is on the side of good sense and responsibility like ninety percent of the time! And she has tended to jump to wrong conclusions in the past. "It's not like we get a choice in awakening," Makoto says, in response to Katsuya. "But it's not something you should do just to see if you can, either!" She shoots quickly to Yoko who... isn't listening because presumably Yusuke is doing the coolest jump he can.
"Shinichi Nagisa," Queen says- because, honestly, it's better that they know now that they're here. "The Homunculus possessing him has been making advances towards and assaulting women, usually other students at his school. Apparently he has a collection of knives and a list of students he's planning to kill." Queen's voice is flat, a forced dispassion. Trying to step away from the fact that a boy at her school wants to kill her and she couldn't stop him there.
She hates it.
Getting past the Jack Frosts is, thankfully, easily done. "...If we're lucky they'll forget where we were. I'm more worried about another Persona user sending us into an ambush..." Peacock Silk, huh?
Katsuya gives her a reason to ask questions of her own. "...Mikage-cho?" She's not particularly familiar with the ward. "Is that what this Atelier is based on?" She frowns... It's honestly not what she expected. She thought it would be more... well, sexualized, based on the Homunculus' attitude toward women.
Joy Street Mall, however, definitely feels haunted. For some reason, the occasional barely flickering fluorescent light makes things worse, not better. Neither do the footsteps.
It might be easier for Fox to tell that Queen is on edge again, her eyes darting around, wide.
Afraid.
And then the horrifying sound echoes out, and it pushes Queen over the edge, letting out a screech as she grabs for someone-
For Katsuya, by chance. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, don't haunt me, I'm sorry, Sis... help..."
The cool strategist of the Phantom Thieves is suddenly not cool at all- she's panicking and terrifying and may need a shock to bring her back to reality.
How a child calling for her big sister will affect Katsuya, who can say?
For better or worse though, Katsuya explaining the monsters and help from others will get her to focus again. It's easier as Queen. Queen can fight back against darkness like this.
"...Th-they look like..."
Katsuya moves first, and orders the Melancs to halt. And Queen reaches for her mask, and tears it away. "JOHANNA!"
She leaps into the air, and her Persona arrives at speed, the motorcycle like persona skidding so Makoto can land perfectly. The good thing about fight or flight is sometimes it triggers to fight. "Fox- keep Hirano-san safe! I'm going on the offensive!"
Queen pumps the Accelerator, and Johanna lights up, nuclear flame spewing from her exhaust as she hurls herself into the fray, Johanna's green flame meeting Helios' red- ideally to leave the nurse melancs little more than a pile of ash.
MONAD: Makoto Niijima has acted with Black Belt Talk toward With Self-Doubt Greater than Desire, I Falter! Bravery and Empathy!
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
Fox glances over to Queen as they watch the Melanc humours hunting the eerily-familiar Sanguins. "Well... If that's bad, we ought to step in."
His mask flares with flame again, and he thrusts out an open hand. "Goemon! CUT THEM DOWN!"
This is a moment where the courage of those who subsist on radish tops makes itself known.
Staining into existence again, the towering ronin figure enters a ready stance wielding his massive kiseru like a katana as Fox matches the pose and begins to charge towards the Melanc humours. The two - Thief and Persona - move in sync, blade and pipe flashing in a series of elegant arcs, before Fox turns his back on the Humours and slowly sheathes his blade. With the click of tsuba meeting saya, black ichor sprays from the humours he struck, and they stagger backwards.
MONAD: Yusuke Kitagawa has acted with Snacking Arts toward With Self-Doubt Greater than Desire, I Falter! Amrita!
<Pose Tracker> Yoko Hirano has posed.
"I didn't follow anybody in here. I thought I saw Senpai but he..." and here her chain of logic skips a link or two, because the Will of Rebellion is more powerful than Yoko's half-Awakened senses, "But he disappeared. I didn't mean to be here, so don't--"
Don't treat me like I did it on purpose. I can't help that I'm going to ruin everything.
Yoko's mouth thins as Katsuya and Queen both admonish her, gaze tilted towards the ground. "I said I didn't mean to come here," she mumbles, but the present danger is more pressing than Yoko's old familiar resentment. They do need to get out of here, she knows! She wanted to figure this Persona thing out with Peacock Silk, who treated her as a potential colleague instead of a helpless child. Who were delighted that she could see their true selves, not upset with her. Who invited her to share their secret, rather than demanding that she stay out.
The empty mall is creepy, and the others are spooked, and then... and then she sees what was in here with them, maybe all along. She's no fan of syringes herself, but Yoko is very good at pretending she doesn't see anything. It's ingrained reflex at this point, and she just grits her teeth as the cowering Sanguin is snatched up. They'll have to pass on by, even if...
But the others don't. Officer Suou and Queen and Fox, they can stop the Nurse Melanc. They don't have to be afraid -- or stay afraid. Why can't Yoko be like that too?! "Don't you ever think about how scary it is for me?" she hears herself asking, although she doesn't expect them to listen. "To see things like this all the time and not be able to protect myself? How is that fair? Why do you get to decide that for me?!"
Her fingernails dig into the palms of her hands as she clenches them into fists at her sides. "I know about all this scary stuff and I can't even tell anybody about it and I always feel scared because it could get me!" She stomps a foot for lack of anything else she can do. "I'm already part of whatever's going on and, and I know it's dangerous, I've known! But if a boy has a hit list he should be stopped, and if I'm going to ruin everything by being here anyway then fine!"
The words are pouring out of her. "I just want to be able to do something instead of waiting for whatever awful thing is going to happen!"
And the Fabric of Reality hears her, and answers.
The petal-soft sound of silk fluttering, the rasp of brocade against itself. Several bands of brightly-painted silk, each thirteen inches across and endlessly long, unspool and gather around her, wrapping around and around and around into a formless shape, a riot of unspeakable colors.
I am thou, thou art I!
Preening our whiskers, dancing at midnight!
I am the yokai cat, Bakeneko!
A rumbling sound and a rush of heat. A reddish-yellow glow like embers begins to smolder between the overlaps of fabric, before they're rent open from within and Yoko bursts free, tottering on blackened, misshapen feet.
Her Gekkoukan uniform is gone, replaced by a florid kimono in wa-lolita style. A bright crimson obi in an elaborate, artful knot, an abbreviated box-pleated skirt that bares her legs for running. Yoko wipes at her teary face with her kosode sleeves, tail lashing furiously behind her and triangular ears airplaning so hard they nearly disappear into the wavy mess of her loose hair.
The rumble grows and grows. And between Yoko and the Nurse Melanc appears a housecat the size of a Great Dane that rares up on its hind legs, a cloth slipping off of its head. A wall of flame rolls in from the walls themselves, engulfing the Shadow in poisoned fire!
https://i.postimg.cc/022LXxG6/bakeneko_yoko.png
MONAD: Yoko Hirano has acted with Guts toward With Self-Doubt Greater than Desire, I Falter! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Shinichi Nagisa. "I see..." Katsuya mulls. Not a name he knows, and, unfortunately, it could be the case that there's more than one person who shares 'that name'. More alarming, though is that Queen clarifies further what she'd alluded to before: that the person he's become is outright a menace to society. "...What?" The look on Katsuya's face -- shock, disbelief, horror -- says it all. "So that's how far a Homunculus will go?"
And yet, a part of him also thinks, that's... deeply human behavior. Not that he thinks that the real person was necessarily like this. Rather, it's more the thought that the darkness that coils in the heart of man is not an unknown monster.
But that, alas, is a consideration that will have to wait until they're on the other side of this.
"Yes," he answers her, on the subject of Mikage-cho. "At least, that is my understanding. I haven't been there, but from the pictures I've seen..." There are certain landmarks that are the same, even if he has to account for the presence of demons and a distorted city and sky. "Did Nagisa-san live in Mikage-cho at one point?" It's the most logical thing he can think to ask.
Before logic flies out the window.
And Queen grabs onto him, spotting the same thing that he just has. She babbles like a frightened child, and he's most plainly reminded that under that mask and behind that Persona is someone who is probably still essentially a child...
She calls out for her sister. Her older sister, if he's any judge, as an older sibling himself.
Where is Tatsuya right now? Is he eating properly?
Though he's tensed under her grasp, he doesn't try to shake her off or touch her. "It's all right, miss," he says, before he tries to explain further the metaphysics (at least as far as he's learned). That is, until there's one acute stressor here that he can't ignore anymore.
His flame is joined with another flame soon enough. He's not the only one to think like this--
And flame is joined by twinned blades, as Fox and his own Persona converge on the Melanc.
Katsuya drops back, sparing a glance for Yoko as he goes for his gun. It'd be foolish think this is enough. "Hirano-san, stay--"
A cat, though, isn't particularly noted to 'stay'.
She, in this moment, rails at him and Queen alike. "But-- you can't," he starts to say, shaking his head even as he turns a glance back at the monstrosity and the two Phantom Thieves before his attention returns to Yoko. "You shouldn't have to get involved in any of this-- Hirano-san!"
She's had it, you see.
And she would most like to Change. Herself, her circumstances.
The world, too, if she can have it.
And so, even as his eyes are on her, Yoko Changes.
"Is that--"
It's like the rest of the people of Peacock Silk, he thinks, reflecting on her appearance as she draws out her Persona.
It's also a cat, drawing flame after it as it hurtles at the Melanc.
Yoko, too, has become a bit of a cat, he realizes. So... so it can change that much about someone...
He's at a loss as he looks at her, as the Melanc is burned for the third time over.
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
'I thought I saw Senpai', Yoko says, and Fox's eyes flicker behind his mask. Not for the first time, he appreciates how his cognitive armour helps him maintain his stoic mien in such terrifying spaces, so that he can keep something of a poker face when his secret identity is at stake.
There will probably be a stern reprimand in his future from Makoto.
There's more to it, though - faced with the worry of people equipped and armoured for an Atelier, Yoko's frustrations are boiling over. As they rush in to push the Melancs back, she begins to vent - entirely fairly - and Fox has to step back to watch her.
Ah.
The way the space around them reacts to her... it's different, but it feels familiar. That moment of transformation and catharsis approaches...
... and it is spectacular.
As the light of Yoko's transformation dies down, and Bakeneko manifests to blast the Melancs in a tide of bilious flame, Fox smirks widely.
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
"They will. And they don't care what happens to their hosts bod in the process." Queen doesn't particularly want to remember how helpless she felt when she faced Shinichi in the real world- the sickening sound of it dislocating his shoulder to escape her grip.
Queen frowns. "...But why are the Melancs so similar to normal shadows, then?" It's another question Queen will have to be curious about later. Katsuya does his best to help at least.
But then she hears Yoko start to yell, and Queen wants to refute her points. Why wouldn't she be worried about someone without powers in a Monad? After all, she arrogantly thought she could have held her own against a shadow without one the first time she was taken into Kaneshiro's palace.
But when everying boils over, even Queen's attention is taken by the way the Fabric of Reality answers Yoko's call, and her eyes widen, Johanna skidding to a halt. A cocoon of silk giving way to a Persona user with... cat feet? And a tail...?
"N-no way... a bakeneko?"
...Well she definitely can't call Morgana that anymore.
Either way, it's an awe inspiring awakening to behold, even for one with as little aesthetic appreciation as Makoto.
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
Yoko is enrobed in cloth within the Atelier, and soon bursts forth Transmutated. Her Persona bounds forth to bring flame down on the Melancs. She may be disappointed that she couldn't have come here with Peacock Silk, the people who believed in and supported her. She may be disappointed in how Yanagi had deceived her earlier. But...
A little origami angel-spirit floats down and around until it bobs up against Yoko's cheek, then shakes and shimmies with delight. It unfolds into crumbled animation paper and projects a single, simple message:
"Congratulations! <3"
It came later than Yanagi had attempted to encourage her to do, but only a little later. It's still good!
Then it refolds itself, vanishes-and-reappears about a foot back, shimmies again, and then vanishes for real.
(|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== With Self-Doubt Greater than Desire, I Falter - Round 3 ===============- Katsuya Suou Guts Success You're Under Arrest! Specialty Fatigue: 0 Morale: 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yusuke Kitagawa Guts Failure Snacking Arts Amrita Fatigue: 2 Morale: 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Makoto Niijima Guts Success Black Belt Talk Bravery and Empathy Fatigue: 0 Morale: 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yoko Hirano Guts Success Guts Base Fatigue: 2 Morale: 3 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Bothersome-1, Checkpoint-0, Chest-0, Hard-2, and Terrifying-2 Final Conditions: Hard-1 and Terrifying-1 -====================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 3/6 |=== | ===================================================- -==== Loot So Far: ==========================================================- Items: 0, Money: 0, Gear: 2 (|=========================================================== Monad 1.2 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
The Melanc is burned, and burned, and burned again. Blades cleave into its dark flesh and lock down the monstrosity while the fires serve to see it undone. Perhaps another time, there will be an answer for the logic of Melanc versus the other Humors. Today, though...
Katsuya, holstering his firearm, is silent a moment as he regards Yoko.
"Are you... feeling alright, Hirano-san? We can keep looking for the exit. Or..."
He glances ahead, at the place where the Melanc had been.
Or, they can continue, at least for now, and carve open a path for later.
MONAD: Yusuke Kitagawa has drawn a new Challenge! (|============= Monad - Shinichi's Atelier: Cinvat Mikage-Cho ==============|)
(|============================================================= Monad 1.2 ====|)
-==== Round 4 - Challenge Level 3 ===========================================-
| Card: When Faced With What I'd Done, I Ran |
| Approach Options: Proficiency or Guts |
| Conditions: Clumsy - Proficiency Down L1, Curse - -1 to Group Roll (Per |
| Character), Hard - Understanding Down L1, Terrifying - Guts Down L2, and |
| Terrifying - Guts Down L2 |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
Eventually you come to a towering hospital, shrouded in mist. A single
window on the third floor flickers with a glowing shade of crimson,
eternally lit in the night.
The hospital lobby looks welcoming, but perhaps a side entrance would be the
best approach.
Pushing through a half-cracked door, it begins to creak behind you. And who
should you see then, but the Homunculus, in a ball cap and faded coat, with
a hood draped over its top.
Right before he casually brings up an arm, and pulls the fire alarm, tearing
it out of the wall as he does so, letting it dangle on so many wires.
A horrendous ringing overhead occurs, as an announcement on the loudspeaker
cries out: "CODE RED! FIRST FLOOR HALL!" And countless howls answer it.
He then turns and begins to walk away, any attempt to come after him cut off
by countless doors bursting open.
Melanc Humors dressed as Orderlies in padded armor, wielding sticks the size
of people, numerous Coleric Humor Zombies swarm your way.
You can try to fight them all, but it will be an enormous slog with that
alarm still going off. Or you could always try to disable the alarm- or if
not that, then finding a place to hide until it's over.
The choice is yours
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.2 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
Exploring this Atelier is very unlike a Palace, Fox thinks as they push through the Melanc horde. Where a Palace is a singular location coalesced around a warping desire, everything themed around the Ruler's perception and the Treasure that gives that desire form, this Atelier seems to be composed of distinct locations linked by thematic phenomena.
Is it emotional resonance, he wonders? Places that are important to the Host, that the Homunculus is parasitising?
His thougthful reverie as they step into the hospital is interrupted by the shrill peals of the fire alarm, and his head shoots up to glimpse the homunculus vanishing around a corner - and doors in every wing slamming open to disgorge a horde upon them.
He takes a look at the ruins of the wires trailing from the fire alarm, and grits his teeth, blade already in hand. "Queen, cover me while I try and disable the alarm!"
With that, he slips into the shadows, trying to aim a deft slash of his blade at the cable sending the alarm signal...
MONAD: Yusuke Kitagawa has acted with Painter's Precision toward When Faced With What I'd Done, I Ran! Specialty! <Pose Tracker> Yoko Hirano has posed.
She finishes wiping her face, and pats down the front of her clothing. Just like they'd told her. It hadn't happened quite how Yoko had wanted it to, and she's still redfaced from her feelings getting the better of her, but she feels... better. No longer quite so helpless, even if she can feel her energy dipping. But she was warned about that, too, so it isn't as disorienting as if it were a surprise.
The little paper angel that pats her cheek and congratulates her lifts Yoko's spirits a bit, despite Yanagi's earlier apparent deception. She'll show Yanagi-chan when Yoko finds her next.
But does she want to leave or continue on? After a moment, prudence wins out. "If we find an exit, we should take it..." the implication being that they might not find one, and have to keep going regardless of their desires.
As they go on, Yoko fidgets with her clothes a little. The back bow is heavier than it should be, isn't it...?
"...the window," she mumbles, looking up at the one warm-lit window high above the ground floor. "The light's different there." Should they go there? Maybe that's where an exit could be. It seems as possible as any other place...
And despite having Awakened minutes ago and having Phenomenal Cognitive Power (itty bitty kitty committee), Yoko startles at the sound of the alarm blaring. POOF!!! And hugs the wall, the throngs of orderly Melancs threatening to send the last dregs of her determination down the drain. Was that a tiny whimper? Surely not.
But while Yoko stays still and silent, fabric rustles. And with a quiet 'tink', a translucent red rabbit sculpture wiggles out of her obi tie and to the floor. It moves like... well not quite like a real rabbit. But despite the lack of joints it's hopping just fine somehow, and strikes its foot several times against the tiles with a high pitched crystalline sound to get the Melancs attention. Bunny decoy!! Catch it if you can!
Yoko, meanwhile, stares after it with enormous eyes. Is it allowed to do that.
MONAD: Yoko Hirano has acted with All Dolled Up toward When Faced With What I'd Done, I Ran! Diligence and Patra!
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
Katsuya takes charge of checking on Yoko, so Queen focuses on the Sanguin humours- and Fox, checking if he needs healing and applying a Diarama if needed. Escorting the humours to the safety of a convenience store is fairly easy once the Melanc is down- but is that a gun rack behind the counter? Surely not...
"Summoning your Persona for the first time can take it out of you," Queen says, quickly. "If you don't think you can push on, now's the time to find an exit." Queen frowns. "...That said, I think we might not have much of a choice at this point. After that ambush and now this, I think we'd be fighting through just as much to get back out the way we came."
Looking up at the hospital, Queen feels another shiver. She doesn't like hospitals much, either. They were sterile, loud, unpleasant places. And they were the beginning of the end for her family being normal. Yoko points out a window- and Queen blinks. "Alright."
Still, as they enter- Queen might be the first to notice that. The cap, the coat, the hood...
"...That's him. The Homunculus." Queen's voice drops to a whisper as she ducks into cover. The good news is that she's not alone this time. The bad news is that it's still another thing to play on her increasingly frayed nerves. She got lucky, escaping into Mementos. There's no escaping here. "We should-"
And then the alarm explodes, and Queen lets out a fatigued grimace, as the Melancs and Colerics start swarming- and Queen's eyes go wide with terror again.
Thankfully, Fox gives her an order before she can give into panic again. "R-right!"
Queen pops out of cover, pistol manifesting in her hands. The science fiction looking gun gives off a chill of ice. "Stay back!" She shouts, as if it would help, before she starts firing precisely and carefully, despite the cowboyish nature of her firing style. The two move like a well oiled machine.
"Why would a hospital even *have* zombies?" Queen complains, under the noise of gunfire. "Does Nagisa-kun watch too many horror movies?"
Still, she has a task to do, and other Persona users to work with. That need to be responsible is keeping her focused right now.
MONAD: Makoto Niijima has acted with Responsibility toward When Faced With What I'd Done, I Ran! Diligence and Efficient!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
He's silent, at first, when Yoko answers him. If they do, she says, and he understands at least this. "Yes," he says in response. "If we do..."
There might be nothing else but to continue on.
There are, as it happens, a few moments where it might be possible to call things 'peaceful'. As peaceful as it gets in a place like this, a distorted memory of a city that had been afflicted by some mysterious happening in the recent past. By now, Katsuya knows better than to trust any sense of peace in a supernatural space. It's possible there might be respite to be had.
It's also possible that it's the calm before the storm.
They reach the hospital, and already, he's slipped his hand inside his jacket as his gaze fixes on the figure in the cap, coat, and hood. He knows it before Queen even says as much.
[DECOR]: That's not a person. That's not even a cognition.
[HALF LIGHT]: Shoot it! Do it!
He's not fast enough to react more than that in the moment when the Homunculus rips the alarm out of the wall.
And after that, there's no room to react quite like that at all. It tripped the alarm, and now--
"Take care of the alarm! We'll handle them!" he assures Fox. He, instead of drawing his gun, brandishes his badge of all things.
"I am an officer of the law! Disperse, at once!"
...He's not actually supposed to be working as an officer right now, and these are zombies which aren't known for their law-abiding habits. Still, in a cognitive space...? Stranger things have happened.
Such as that rabbit sculpture that goes walking on by through the horde. Katsuya watches it go in abject silence. "..."
MONAD: Katsuya Suou has acted with You're Under Arrest! toward When Faced With What I'd Done, I Ran! Specialty!
(|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== When Faced With What I'd Done, I Ran - Round 4 ========================- Katsuya Suou Guts Success You're Under Arrest! Specialty Fatigue: 0 Morale: 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yusuke Kitagawa Proficiency Success Painter's Precision Specialty Fatigue: 2 Morale: 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Makoto Niijima Proficiency Failure Responsibility Diligence and Efficient Fatigue: 2 Morale: 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yoko Hirano Proficiency Failure All Dolled Up Diligence and Patra Fatigue: 4 Morale: 3 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Clumsy-2, Curse-0, Hard-1, Terrifying-1, and Terrifying-2 Final Conditions: Terrifying-1 -====================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 4/6 |==== | ===================================================- -==== Loot So Far: ==========================================================- Items: 0, Money: 0, Gear: 2 (|=========================================================== Monad 1.2 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
The Melancs, in their undead guise, swarm. Yoko's bright bunny statuette is, somehow, lost in the throng, its hopeful ruby shimmer vanishing around a corner and leaving behind an even deeper sense of unease as none of the creatures in the Atelier seem to pay it any regard.
The ambient dread and the press of hostiles does not only thwart that; for all Makoto's desperado prowess, her trigger finger shakes and her aim is not as precise as she'd like, winging and grazing most of her targets to little ill effect.
In the end, it's Katsuya who steps up, brandishing his badge with such confidence despite his being on the outs with his own force, that stymies the onrushing horde. His will carries his voice, echoing even over the clamour of the alarm - and Fox, in the shadows, seizes this moment of confusion to strike. There is the flash of a glossy black blade in the dark, and the alarm is silenced before Katsuya has finished his command to 'Disperse'!
With the sound calling them to action gone, and such a powerful will before them, the Melancs, shuffling awkwardly and uncoordinated, do as they are commanded.
Fox emerges from the gloom, sheathing his blade and nodding to Katsuya, then addressing Yoko. "... It suits you," he says, taking in her new attire. "Well-observed, about the window. Hopefully, if we can find that room..."
MONAD: Makoto Niijima has drawn a new Challenge! (|============= Monad - Shinichi's Atelier: Cinvat Mikage-Cho ==============|)
Yoko, meanwhile, stares after it with enormous eyes. Is it allowed to do that.
-==== Round 5 - Challenge Level 3 ===========================================-
| Card: Before the Apathy of the World, I Shudder |
| Approach Options: Proficiency or Charm |
| Conditions: Annoying - Charm Down L2, Boss - Add 1 Fatigue on failure., |
| Ineptitude - Proficiency Down L2, and Terrifying - Guts Down L2 |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
The elevator is out of order, forcing one to use the stairs to get up to the
third floor.
Once in the hallway, you can see the crimson glow of room 302 peering
through the cracks of the door.
Unfortunately, there's a Melanc Humor in the hallway, nearly three meters
tall, long spindly arms, holding a clipboard, and wearing a white coat- as
it stands over a Faceless Sanguine Nurse, still twitching upon the floor.
Upon his face is a perpetual, tired, apathetic look. "Time of Death, Fifteen
Thirty Two." As he casts Mudoon, and the Sanguine Nurse erupts, becoming a
pool of shapeless Ichor.
He then turns towards your group.
"So sad. So heart-breaking. I need to go on break... but I shouldn't. It's
so busy right now. So many patients are dying who need me to call them. So
little time. So little time."
He then moves forward, creeping on far too long legs, as his eyes glint with
the barest sliver of malice behind their sorrow, "Time of death, Fifteen
Thirty Three." And begins to cast Mudoon at one of you.
A direct fight is extremely dangerous, but unavoidable it would seem. Or is
it? There may be hope in convincing this Melanc Humor to go on break rather
than continue 'working'.
Of course, if you do fight it, it's not so much a matter of powering
through, as avoiding the dangerous Mudoon spell, cast repeatedly long enough
to score a decisive blow.
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.2 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
It's certainly not Queen's best showing- but Katsuya is capable of covering for her. It's very much needed.
"...It can't be much longer, can it?" Queen asks, sounding extremely worn out. She wasn't expecting somewhere exactly pleasant, but she was expecting more of a police procedural than a horror movie. She could have probably dealt with that better. She hopes she could have.
Even Yoko's rabbit gets little comment, but she does let out a little breath of relief when they're through everything. "...Thanks," she says, to the other three Persona users, once they're moving up.
Unfortunately, up means the final guardian- a Doctor. Of sorts.
"...what kind of doctor is this?" Queen mutters, from the cover of the corner. "They're supposed to help people, not-"
She does not go unnoticed, and the Mudoon comes for her, at the front of the group and she dives out of cover as not to instantly collapse from the murderous spell. "Hold on-" Queen shouts, standing in front of the horrific Doctor of Death now- her eyes looking to the ichorous puddle that was another familiarly shaped Sanguin.
"You need to stop this- don't doctors swear to do no harm? Isn't this just harming your patients? You're supposed to take care of people, not... 'take care' of them!"
It's misguided, but perhaps a plaintive cry to the doctor's duty of care might get through to him. Otherwise Queen is going to be trying to outdodge mudoons for a while yet.
MONAD: Makoto Niijima has acted with Responsibility toward Before the Apathy of the World, I Shudder! Diligence and Efficient!
<Pose Tracker> Yoko Hirano has posed.
Resin Rabbit is allowed to do whatever it wants, possibly forever... It comes back to Yoko after the Humours disperse, settling at her feet. She scoops it up immediately, holding it securely against her chest as if that will keep it from wandering away again.
Yoko had to learn to use a vacuum pot to make a resin statue this large without any air bubbles! It was a lot of effort!!
"...Good job," she tells them all sincerely. Apparently she's done with outbursts now, and back to her more usual slightly stilted manner of speaking. "And thank you," is said to Fox in particular. It's not an outfit she would have chosen to fight in, but Yoko likes the brightness, the rightness of it. It's easy to move in despite the obi... the stiffened, layered fabric reminds her of a chestplate somehow.
Further up, however...
Yoko makes another uncomfortable noise when the 'doctor' decides time of death. Decides, not observes! Another Sanguin Humour is killed. Yoko doesn't have enough experience to wonder why the Sanguin Humours bear so much resemblance to Yanagi, if the Homunculus is parasitizing Shinichi Nagisa. And to be fair, everybody is a little preoccupied with trying not to be killed along with them.
She skitters away from the spell despite not being its target - yet - and puts the rabbit down on the floor again to free her clawed, ink(?)-blackened hands. On its own again, Yoko's creation bounds across the hallway, kicks off of a wall, and rams its heavy body into the back of the doctor's knee!
MONAD: Yoko Hirano has acted with All Dolled Up toward Before the Apathy of the World, I Shudder! Diligence and Patra!
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
At the top of the stairs, Fox ducks into cover at the sight of the doctor-like Melanc, watching grimly as it pronounces its execution of the Sanguin.
They are watching a psyche devour itself, piece by piece... It makes his blood run cold.
Then the Humour turns its baleful attention to them, at that terrible shrieking skull flies towards them, blast after blast.
Queen throws herself aside, and Yoko deploys her rabbit statuette - he remembers a conversation he had with her months back about resin statue-making and smiles despite the severity of the situation - and he calls forth Goemon once more, who takes a deep pull from his pipe and then exhales a cloud of freezing mist, coating the floor of the hallway and making it difficult for the Humour to draw an accurate bead on them - as he makes a crouching lunge to slide down the hallway, ready to lean away from the Mudoon blasts and, at the right moment, cut.
MONAD: Yusuke Kitagawa has acted with Proficiency toward Before the Apathy of the World, I Shudder! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
As long as they persevere, that's sufficient, to Katsuya's thinking.
Perhaps it's his whole-hearted belief in the law that does it. Maybe justice really is on his side. The horde parts before him like the sea and then, as ordered... disperses. With care, Katsuya looks over his own badge for a moment in silence, and then quietly tucks it away. Right now, he isn't an officer, in the eyes of the law of the city, but... a lawman's heart still beats in his chest.
With the alarm silenced and no hint of additional Humors come to harry their passage onwards, Katsuya turns back to the others. "We should be able to proceed from here. ...You saw a window before?"
He'd been so distracted by the Homunculus that he hadn't seen it. "If we can get up to it, then... perhaps we can find a way out." Or find something at least, something more than further horrors.
Speaking of further horrors!
"That's... another Melanc," Katsuya remarks, peering at the figure in the hallway ahead. "After fighting so many of them, is it wise to fight another..." he muses to himself. So far, the 'doctor' hasn't seen them yet, his attention fixed on...
"..." Katsuya exhales. He scarcely needs to say it as the doctor decides the time of death: one can see him thinking it. 'That's a crime'.
And then it turns towards them, marking their passage at last.
They could fight it, sure enough. But is that really a wise approach, even if this one is certainly guilty at least of malpractice, if not outright murder? "See if you can find another way," he remarks to Fox, his gaze traveling towards Yoko. "You, too, Hirano-san. I think..." he says, watching as Queen makes up her mind.
"Indeed, it isn't too late to change your ways. What you have been doing is a grave offense, but it's still possible for you to reform," he tells the dark doctor, spreading his hands as he tries to talk to him. "The same cut that kills can be used to cure. Or have you forgotten your oath as a doctor?"
MONAD: Katsuya Suou has acted with Rehabilitate toward Before the Apathy of the World, I Shudder! Friendliness and Diligence! (|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== Before the Apathy of the World, I Shudder - Round 5 ===================- Katsuya Suou Charm Success Rehabilitate Friendliness and Diligence Fatigue: 1 Morale: 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yusuke Kitagawa Proficiency Success Proficiency Base Fatigue: 3 Morale: 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Makoto Niijima Proficiency Success Responsibility Diligence and Efficient Fatigue: 3 Morale: 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yoko Hirano Proficiency Success All Dolled Up Diligence and Patra Fatigue: 5 Morale: 5 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Annoying-2, Boss-0, Ineptitude-2, and Terrifying-1 Final Conditions: Ineptitude-1 -====================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 6/6 |=====| ===================================================- -==== Loot So Far: ==========================================================- Items: 0, Money: 0, Gear: 2 (|=========================================================== Monad 1.2 ====|) (|============= Monad - Shinichi's Atelier: Cinvat Mikage-Cho ==============|)
She skitters away from the spell despite not being its target - yet - and puts the rabbit down on the floor again to free her clawed, ink(?)-blackened hands. On its own again, Yoko's creation bounds across the hallway, kicks off of a wall, and rams its heavy body into the back of the doctor's knee!
-==== Round 6 - Challenge Level 1 ===========================================-
| Card: To Move Forward is to Accept the Weight |
| Approach Options: None |
| Conditions: Revelation - The best result. |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
The door knob of Room 302 is warm. A little too warm. Enough to make one
hesitate in worry that there's a fire behind it.
But as it opens, the red is revealed to be countless Higanbana, Red Spider
Lily flowers, lining the floor, the walls, the ceiling of a far too large
room. The walls move as if a sky full of clouds in animation, behind shadowy
bars and crimson blossoms.
In the middle of the room is a hospital bed, with a cocoon whose webbing is
stretched to encircle the bed from so many sides, like a restraint to keep
it there. A monitor floats in space above it, several wires connected to the
Cocoon, with an EKG tracing of beeps that are coming far, too slowly.
There isn't much time left.
A Sanguine Humor lays upon the floor, dying, a crimson blossom clutched in
her hand. Reaching towards you, she offers it, before expiring herself, as
crimson blossoms grow over her, consuming her in a rapid decay.
The Blossom itself will never decay, and has a faint shine to it that would
make any botanist in reality think it's fake, but it can be used for potent
cognitive alchemy to create equipment associated with Death or Rebirth, it's
always either red or white in color. So too can they be traded to the Velvet
Room and Time Castle for a set of powerful Skill Cards related to Light or
Dark.
The room itself shifts, vision narrowing. Now the room itself pulses out of
synch with the electronic beeps on the monitor, quickening. Like a predator
ready for the kill.
The Homunculus is here. Even if you can't see him.
Final Loot: 2 Pieces of Gear! That could be... Gear: Alchemy Weapon or Gear:
Death Accessory!
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.2 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
Fox and Yoko both go on a physical offensive- while Katsuya and Makoto apply the dual ideals of Duty and Responsibility. The dual approach 'Admonishment' has been unlocked!
For a moment, it seems like the Doctor is going to keep on with his work- especially after coming under physical attack- but instead he turns away. "Patients are uncooperative, two WW, one OAP, one FLK. Hopefully you will be more cooperative after I return from break."
With that, he turns and walks off, leaving the group free to do what they need to do.
"Let's move." Queen says, leading by example and moving towards what is hopefully the light Yoko saw.
Which leads them to a door that's all too hot.
"...I think this is it," Queen says, laying her gloved hand on the handle and pushing the door open with a slight wince. Inside... is another dying Sanguin, flower in her hand, and the cocoon on the bed. Queen kneels down, to check on the Sanguin-
Who is suddenly consumed by crimson blossoms, dying suddenly- and potentially, beautifully. Queen doesn't care for it though, stumbling back.
"...This is the heart, right? And that means... that's Nagisa-kun. The real one." She stares at the cocoon for a few moments longer, stepping away from the bloom that has fallen on the floor for one of the others to pick up. "...We can't do anything for him now, can we?" Queen asks, quietly-
When the presence of the Homonculus overwhelms her senses. It's here. It's watching.
"We need to go. Now. Right now. We're in no state for this fight."
...At least the way out from the core is close- and there's a beautiful flower for anyone who wants to take it. Queen's not eager to be carrying a death blossom herself.