2026-10-04: Buchineko
- Log: 2026-10-04 Buchineko
- Cast: Morgana (NPCed by Ren Amamiya), Tsubasa Seki
- Where: Shibuya Station - Buchiko Exit
- OOC Date: October 04, 2026
- IC Date: January 19, 2013
- Summary: Tsubasa and Morgana meet by chance in Shibuya. Tsubasa does their best to convince him to cajole him with food and convince him to come back, but he's not there yet. He's at least reassured by how they're not mad at him either. They also talk about how and why Morgana might be in cat form in the first place, and discuss what Ruin's role in it might be.
<Pose Tracker> Morgana has posed.
Evening has fallen over Tokyo this Saturday, though it remains as bright as ever. Morgana's parted ways with Mementos and possibly his current Mementos partner too, and it's been a tiring endeavor--not just physically, but mentally and spiritually too. That Palace they discovered--he boasted to Hibari and Ren that he and Kasumi were going to find and steal its Treasure before The Phantoms did, but can they actually do that with just the two of them? Are The Phantoms even trying to go after it? Or is this rivalry all in Morgana's head--something he's pushing all on his own? And if it is, what does that mean...?
For now, after heals have been exchanged, Morgana opts not to head back to Kichijoji but to prowl the night for a little longer. He can return to Kasumi's place whenever he wants. No hanging around someone all day, waiting for something interesting to happen! And when the interesting something does happen, it's usually got nothing to do with him! No sirree, Morgana's his own man! And because he's his own man... because he's his own man...
...he feels so incredibly...
...lonely.
He finds himself sitting at the base of the Buchiko statue and looking up at the monument to the loyal dog. Morgana's no more a dog than he is a cat, but he does feel a kinship with the small and furry. It's hard not to, when you've got that shape and you live life with a close perspective.
"Buchiko never left his master's side, though. That's why he got a statue made of him," Morgana mumbles to himself, tail twitching. "Nobody's going to make a statue of me..."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa, meanwhile, has penty of reasons to the trip out here, now and then. First, to Yongen-Jaya -- they had to get Dr. Takumi a blood test, which of course she had to tell them needed to be fasting, so they had to come back here now the next day and go through the whole half-day of school not eating shit before shipping out here to get that done... and THEN she gave them shit about NOT HAVING DRUNK ENOUGH WATER! Then they'd caught up with Ren for curry, before going to bother Ryuji with burgers at Big Bang, and now they've got a takoyaki boat they're munching on as they stroll back down to the station and they're about satiated after having had to deprive themself all day.
Almost. Kinda. That hunger never really goes away, y'know, gnawing in your gut, demanding more than the person next to you.
But there, at the statue of Buchiko, there's...
"Oh, shit," Tsubasa says, that takoyaki stick hanging half-out of their teeth like one of those smokes the Death Boss would absolutely kill them if they lit up. In their grey and pink hoodie, it's almost possible to overlook that shock of cyan and blond hair on their head -- almost.
Tsubasa stands there for a second, and then scrambles, running up the rest of the way to Buchiko, shoving a tourist who hasn't got the memo about it being nighttime out of the way in the process. "Yo! Morgana!"
Oh shit think fast think fast -- "Wait up! I got takoyaki! You like that shit, right?!"
He likes sushi, but hey, takoyaki goes well with sushi...
<Pose Tracker> Morgana has posed.
Ren was happy to serve Tsubasa up some curry and talk--both about Tsubasa's ongoing medical treatments with The Phantoms' unofficial (because is anything official when it comes to them?) backstreet doctor and really anything else Tsubasa would want to chat about. (They also make sure to serve Tsubasa plenty of water.)
For their part, where it comes to Morgana, they've been holding up all right. (At least, they say so.) They're worried about him, but knowing he's with Yoshizawa and having spoken to him--at least a little--and heard from others who have, they know that this is something Morgana needs to deal with himself. Besides which, as they admitted to Tsubasa, he had a point about being resentful that Ren hasn't held up their end of the bargain. They haven't been working on trying to help Morgana get his human form and memories back. They honestly don't know what they can do about that, though. Further depths of Mementos have yet to open to The Phantoms, and while there is a Palace for all of them to work on soon (something else important for Ren and Tsubasa to discuss), there's no guarantee that it would lead to any new clues. Maybe The Phantoms need to do something flashy to register in the public's consciousness more and prompt deeper layers of Mementos to open...?
Tsubasa might be thinking of Ren's musings when they spot Morgana near the Buchiko statue. He whirls around when he hears their voice, and his immediate assumption is that they've got a bone to pick with him. He blew up at both of their datemates, and Ichika was understanding but Tsubasa's a lot more hotheaded, right? So he's prepared to spring into the bushes when--
'Wait up! I got takoyaki! You like that shit, right?!'
"I like sushi!" he retorts hotly, turning to face them. "You think because it's got carbs and octopus that it's the same?!"
...but if Tsubasa's approaching him like that, does that mean they're not mad after all...? Maybe he should stick around a minute longer...
(And so Tsubasa's cunning split-second last-second plan goes off without a hitch??)
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa is so jazzed about the hormones, man.
About Morgana? Less jazzed. They've been so busy thinking about the New World Order, they haven't really been thinking about how to dig deeper into Mementos at all...
"Yeah -- well -- shut up, man, that's what I got!" Tsubasa's hotheadedness at least extends to not having the right thing to say in this situation, but they at least finish up with: "You want some, or what?!"
So... maybe they're not mad.
They finish jogging up, and take a seat on the statue, and put the boat -- with four remaining takoyakis, how ominous -- on the brickwork beside them, closer to Morgana.
"Ugh, this has gotta look so weird," they grumble, as they glance aside to the tourists gawking at the weird teenager trying to ply a much-meowing cat with snacks. Raising their voice, they snap: "Take a picture, asshole, it'll last longer!!"
That at least moves those people on, even if a few more people are staring, now.
"... anyway," they grumble, rubbing at the back of their neck. "Heard you was kind've an asshole back there... but it weren't jus' you, neither. Ichika ain't dyin' mad 'bout it, so... look, man, do you gotta ice us all out like that? I know you ain't no cat... but figurin' out what's up with that's, like..."
They sigh, looking up to the sky. "... I dunno. Maybe it's 'bout those laboratories these fucks apparently got runnin'. Like th' one they sent me mom through. Maybe they like... did some freaky fuckin' experiment to you an'... I dunno, you escaped? So... maybe if we figure more 'bout that... might know more 'bout ya."
Is it too much to hope for that the object of their obsession is the solution to all their problems?
<Pose Tracker> Morgana has posed.
"F-fine. If you insist," Morgana replies haughtily (or as haughtily as he can muster right now), tail whipping once or twice. Which means he jumps up onto the statue, parks his butt on the bricks, and leans his nose down to sniff said takoyaki...
They are getting stares, and in typical Tsubasa fashion, they tell the gawkers off. Morgana stifles a smile. Seeing them yell at those guys but still be friendly to him makes him feel a little better.
He doesn't need to stifle it much longer. He stares down at the snacks when Tsubasa brings up the fight. "Yeah... She and I talked about it. I'm sure you heard," he replies, looking away.
Does he need to ice them all out? He hesitates. Doesn't he? ...Does he? Everyone seems so forgiving so far... knowing Ren, they wouldn't hold a grudge either... ahh, but Ryuji definitely hates him, and Morgana still hasn't worked up the nerve to talk to Lady Ann... and while he has made up his mind that he will talk to her, the matter of Ryuji's...
His thoughts skid when Tsubasa suggests that maybe the NWO's labs have something to do with it. Tsubasa's way more on topic with the issue Morgana quit the team over than Morgana himself is. At the same time, while he lacks the musculature to make a face in this form, his whiskers do bristle. It does sound to him like Tsubasa's trying to make the object of their obsession into the solution to all their problems.
At the same time, is that so wrong of them? The NWO has been at the heart of so many of their problems. If they were at the heart of all of them, at least they could consolidate it. Morgana heaves a sigh as he hangs his head.
"That'd be nice, wouldn't it? Then we could work on trying to find your mom at the same time," he replies. He looks back at the takoyaki. He did theorize with Kasumi that Ruin, the one in the black mask, might be connected to him somehow--at least, back when he was human. If he's the NWO's man-- "It's not impossible," he concludes reluctantly.
He pauses. Then, affecting casualness, he wonders, "...What're the others saying about me, anyway?"
He bites one of the takoyaki then as an excuse to have his mouth occupied. Even with the winter cold having taken off some of the steam, it'll take him some time to actually eat any meaningful portion of it. Hot hot hot!!
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa, at least, wasn't involved in the fight; they don't have the kind of heated beef with Morgana that the others might. It helps that they heard it from Ichika first...
"... freaky thought, tho', right?" They wonder, and while they're wondering it they're flipping off a man who's stopped to stare at the weird kid talking to a cat. ("Keep walkin', jackass!") That's one way to have a secure conversation in public...
"'Cuz, like..." It does take them a second to finish their thought, though, attending to the curious tourists in the same breath. "... it'd mean you came from those fucks. Uh, dunno if it helps, but... I have that kinda thought sometimes, too. Y'know, me father an' all... feels like every couple months or so I figure out another thing I knew's actually fucked. Like... I'm a different kinda guy. Even Haru-chan ain't as quick to rip a guy's head off an' shit violence down his throat. Had people don't believe I got somethin' against killin', how quick I am to crush 'em..."
They shrug, folding their arms, one leg coming up to press a heel against the brickwork as the other dangles. "... Ichika says it's complicated," they surmise, a moment later. "Ren-chan, y'know... they're worried 'bout you, but they don't wanna crowd ya none. Like, we was talkin' 'bout it, was why I was thinkin' what was goin' -- oi, dude, you good?" Tsubasa has just noticed, having been busy brooding darkly, that Morgana is struggling with the hot takoyaki.
Man, pay more attention to other people, Tsubasa!!
<Pose Tracker> Morgana has posed.
Indeed, Morgana and Tsubasa have always gotten along well. Morgana has a tendency to judge people based on his first impression of them, and his first impression of Tsubasa involved them positively adoring him, who they believed was a cat at the time because they weren't Awakened. Morgana's self-image issues aside, no animal lover could be bad!
"You do?" Morgana blinks up at Tsubasa. "Think you're an experiment, I mean? ...Wouldn't you know, though?" He falls silent as they go into their father and how they continually learn and re-learn that everything they know is a lie. It's true that when it comes to violence, Tsubasa's on a different level from the rest of them... and sure, if they were targeted for a psychotic breakdown like the team suspects... but surely that's not the same thing?
Then he asks his question and almost screws himself out of hearing the answer by eating a still-too-hot Takoyaki. He ends up tearing away a small bit of hot dough and choking it down. "I'm fine, I'm fine," he insists, raising a paw to his face, partly to wave at his tongue, partly to hide it from Tsubasa, entirely out of embarrassment. He thus distracts from his distraction by prompting, "Y-you were saying?"
It wasn't what he was hoping to hear about, but... Ren's been thinking about him?
(Morgana's been quite the contrarian tonight. Maybe it's just as well Tsubasa's not good at paying attention to other people.)
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Uh, nah, nothin' like that," Tsubasa shakes their head. And they're rounding down a lot when they go on: "My childhood was, like -- normal -- 'cept for th' Black Mask testin' shit out on me, I guess. Jus' -- me father's part of that whole shit, y'know? Gets along real well with 'em these days. If I hadn't fucked off outta his house... I'd a got tangled up with 'em too, right? Right alongside him..."
They've gotta wonder how many of the things they think are true about the world are things which make someone a good candidate for fucking the world up in a secret shadow government. ... what if the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree, after all?
But on an entirely different topic: Ren.
"Uh, jus'... we was tryin' to figure out how we'd figure out shit or fuck," they shrug, with one more look to Morgana to make sure he's not kitty choking (is there such a thing as a cat Heimlich maneuver??? They know there's no such thing as a bird Heimlich manuever, it can really hurt 'em...) before they sling an arm over their knee and look out over the crowd again with that scowl that tells the curious to move along. "Like, our one lead's Mementos, but you was the guy what told me gettin' a shovel wouldn't work for shit."
LISTEN, TSUBASA HAS INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS TO MODERN PROBLEMS.
"So I was thinkin'... y'know, what if we got other leads? What if we jus' ain't thought 'bout it th' right way? Fuck, man, out in Kuzunoha most a me work's jus' goin' through shit people put in their reports for any asshole to read, hopin' no one cross-references for shit an' realises their shady shit is fuckin' public... so... I dunno."
They shrug a shoulder, with a grunt. "Maybe it's nothin'."
Or maybe they have the facts already, and no one's just bothered to put them together yet.
<Pose Tracker> Morgana has posed.
"Oh... I get what you mean now." In fact, now that Tsubasa puts it like that, Morgana's got a horrible feeling that they might've ended up not so different from their mom. Tsubasa's dad doesn't respect them as an X-gender, and he sees them as a 'girl,' which means...
He shakes his head. That's not how it's turned out, and it's no point in dwelling on what-ifs. "You're a way better person than your dad," he says firmly. "Maybe in another world, that might've happened, but that's not the world we live in now. You've got Ichika and Ren and everybody to help keep your head high, so you'd never end up like that now."
He is indeed not kitty choking; if anything, he just needs to wait a little longer for the takoyaki to cool off. At least with its golden brown exterior pierced, that'll happen that much faster.
It is true what Tsubasa says, though, and Morgana heaves another sigh. He did know of course there's only so much that Ren and the others can do, but... "I did... talk to Yoshizawa some about it... and I was wondering if maybe, back when I was human, I might've ran afoul of Ruin. You know, since he's at least as involved in the Metaverse as I've been," Morgana admits reluctantly. "I don't know if he would or even could've cursed me instead of killing me, but if there was an opportunity to shove me into something else that could, he'd definitely take it, right? He's easily that twisted." He looks away. "I don't know either. It's all just guesswork."
Guesswork, and a recurring nightmare that he just doesn't want to think about. There's no way he could actually be a Shadow. There just isn't.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Yeah, even odds it was Tsubasa getting bullied into doing what it took to get rid of one of Hanzou's problems.
"I hope so," they say, of being better person. "Sometimes, I ain't so sure... eh, but you're right. Ichika's good... Ren-kun's good, too. They'll keep me head on straight." The fact that Tsubasa is keeping a mental tally of what honourific they just used for Ren so they can alternate them properly kind of gives lie to the idea that they're just a selfish jerk, but of course, Tsubasa doesn't see it that way...
It's remarkable how much easier the squishy insides of takoyaki are to handle when they've been exposed to the open air. ... that's not a metaphor, or anything. Quit looking at them like that!
(Well, that kind of glowering expression is what they toss out into the street to keep people moving on...)
"Hm... it's possible," Tsubasa says, thoughtfully, tapping a hand against their bent knee, foot pulled up onto the ledge. "Akechi-san was sayin' how that Ruin fuck mighta been testin' shit out when he gave me that Breakdown... since I was an early case, an' all. If he coulda been testin' shit out on me, why not you, too...?"
<Pose Tracker> Morgana has posed.
"Huh. Didn't you just call them Ren-chan? Why call them Ren-kun all of a sudden?" Morgana wonders, not to obliquely highlight Tsubasa's thoughtfulness, but out of genuine confusion for the change. Maybe that will underscore it that much more--but then again, maybe not. It's hard to think well of yourself when you're down. (Morgana knows that well too.)
...Though, if Tsubasa's going to think they're just a selfish jerk after all, at least they get to be intimidating to the people who'd be gawking at their conversation. "Maybe we should move this somewhere else," Morgana finally thinks to say. "It must get tiring for you."
Whether Tsubasa takes him up on that or not, Morgana stares out into the night. He doesn't mention it as Tsubasa speaks, but Ren had been convinced for a while that Akechi is Ruin. Ultimately, they let go of that theory--but not because of evidence, but rather because they fell in love and decided to trust him. His tail twitches. Something to keep in the back of his mind, maybe. Right now, he focuses on the hypothesis itself.
"Yeah... I'm not sure exactly when I lost my form or my memories, but it can't have been that much longer before I met Ren and Ryuji," he says, thinking seriously. "He'd have already been active for two years by then--" and he's closing in on three years, it's horrifying to consider, "--but he can't know everything. He talked about Futaba like he could just barge into the inner sanctum of her Palace whenever he wanted, but he never did do that, did he? He had to've been bluffing. So he'd still have plenty to test out...!"
But that still doesn't answer any questions, and Morgana knows from personal experience that: "...but if he did know something, there's no way he'd just tell us, and we can't exactly beat the answers out of him either... Dammit! Every way I turn, it's just another dead end!!"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"'Cuz they use both," Tsubasa says, with a shrug.
But Morgana suggests shifting location, and they take the opportunity to look to them, and ask: "... you wanna come back with me? I was gon' drop by th' cafe..." They weren't, but Morgana doesn't have to know that.
It's fair to say that Tsubasa would be much less supportive of Ren's new relationship if they knew they thought he was Ruin, too.
"April 2010... that's when Ruin fucked me up," they inform Morgana, a touch flatly. "So more likely 'n not it's three years already... unless you reckon I was th' first. As for what he can do... he got on a fuckin' blimp in th' air an' then got out without any fuckin' problems." And Akechi climbed out of the flames of the building when they reached the ground... so there's no way, in Tsubasa's mind, that one would be the other.
Their scowl deepens, as they shrug, again. "... dunno, man. Got no answers for ya. But I reckon we look into those labs... that's my thinkin'. Ruin's a dead end, but if he's pullin' experiment shit, it's gotta be for some shitcase scientist or somethin'. Yeah?"
<Pose Tracker> Morgana has posed.
'Cuz they use both, Tsubasa says. Morgana absorbs this. Okay, fair enough. But when they ask if he wants to come back with them--
"Not to Leblanc," Morgana says quickly, more than a little defensive. "I'm working with Yoshizawa now."
Does that mean that he can't meet up with Ren at Leblanc? Well... at the very least, it would feel like he was coming crawling back. That's just too humiliating to bear--even if it was an invitation Tsubasa gave, rather than Morgana's own idea. Before he does that, he wants to prove to everyone that he is competent, he is useful, and they should all regret ever sidelining him!!
So, wherever the two go, it's likelier than not a nearby alleyway rather than any cafe. Morgana will let have Tsubasa have the untouched takoyaki too. He's having enough trouble with just the one.
Morgana's tail flicks at the timeline and the reminder of the blimp. The emergence of Akechi from a burning building while Ruin was on a blimp would seem like concrete evidence to him that the two weren't the same, but it's been a while, and Morgana wasn't there. He only knows what he read over Ren's shoulder.
"..." His tail flicks again at Tsubasa's suggestion. "Aren't the labs a dead end too? We don't know where any of them are," he points out. "Trying to get answers out of that Groom person didn't work any better than with Ruin, either." He gets to his feet. "You might be right about all this, Tsubasa. But it still doesn't sound to me like working with you all again is going to get me what I want." He turns away. "...Thanks anyway for thinking it through with me. I... appreciate it."
Despite talking and moving like he's about to leave, he doesn't actually leave yet.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Hey..." Tsubasa starts, before they pause, shaking their head. "... sure, dude. You do you."
It's still a hair too far for them to go crawling to Morgana and expressing how worried they are about them making their own way with barely any help, too.
... even though they've clearly been wracking their brain about it all.
They drum their fingers against their knee, as Morgana points out the multiple dead ends. "I mean, yeah, but..." But aren't they trying to figure it out?!
... that's the kind of defence they can't bring themself to issue, though, when they hear Morgana talk about what he wants. "Gettin' what you want... I gotta respect that," they grunt, as they push off of Buchiko too. "If you're hungry, you're hungry... eat what you want."
They grab the rest of their takoyaki boat, at that. (Minus the ball Morgana's working on.) "Guess I'll see ya when I see ya," they shrug, as they amble off towards the stairs of the train station.
Would Ichika know what to say here to convince him...?
... maybe, but Tsubasa's never been as good with this kinda thing.