2026-10-07: Welcome To The Team
- Log: Welcome To The Team
- Cast: Hana Fukami, Maya Amano, Shinobu Shimizu, Katsuya Suou
- Where: Aoba Way
- OOC Date: October 07, 2026
- IC Date: January 20, 2013
- Summary: Hana is called upon so that Team Whoop-ass can check in on her; she's not only fine, she wants to join them! ...But Katsuya still has doubts about the name.
(|================================= Aoba Way =================================|)
-=================================================== Sumaru City/Aoba Ward ====-
Ample shopping can be found at the stores that dot Aoba Way, but not just the
normal kind. Aside from a door to the Velvet Room for Persona Users, one can
hear and spread all kinds of rumors at Kuzunoha Detective Agency. At the
internet cafe Double Slash, one can surf on the web to find some of those very
rumors *and* munch on various snacks served at the back bar by an apathetic
teenage boy. The blue carpeting and wall-to-wall aquariums lend the place a
relaxing atmosphere.
The bar Parabellum has a more noir vibe, with a mostly wooden interior, brown
leather seats, green glass lamps, and brick pillars along the walls. The elderly
barkeeper offers a number of unique mixed drinks, all named after weapons...
which might be a clever cover for the fact that, according to rumor, he sells
*real* weapons. The fashion boutique Rosa Candida offers the latest in trends
and (per rumor) armor, its decor stark yet stylish, with clothes and bags alike
on display for customers along the walls and on a central table. A pair of
changing rooms are naturally available; to use them, just get the permission of
the saleswoman in red first.
Etheria offers spa treatments to the weary among bright lamps, stained glass
windows, off-white decor, and an esthetician with a giant blue crystal crown.
The name of the place fuses "ether" and "materia," and the treatments are
effective: those who use this spa walk away feeling refreshed in mind and body.
And, of course, it's not Sumaru City without a local Satomi Tadashi Pharmacy
branch. This one looks the same as all the others: aisles and walls laden with
medicine of all kinds, overseen from the back counter where magazines are
available by one of seven identical sisters. Satomi Sister #1 runs this one; an
English-language piano version of the store's theme plays here. "Always in the
side of those who fight: our local... drug store~ o/`"
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
Given how many of the proposed group lives in Sumaru: when Hana got the check-in, she insisted on going there, instead of everyone else coming out to her part of Tokyo. So it is that tonight in the early evening there's a bar with her name on it. Parabellum! Hana may or may not be the first to arrive--in fact, she almost certainly isn't. But the table they're going to assemble at is in the corner, a booth with a green lamp and beautiful wood.
The bartender will accept orders, of course, for on the way over; there's a server to bring them.
...And there's guns! They aren't out atm.
Hana arrives, her pink coat a little cold to the touch after all the January chill outside. But she's fine; she has more fire in her eyes than she used to.
"Hello, everyone! I hope I'm not late!"
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"Over here, Hana-san!" Maya waves furiously at her new friend in the media. Sure, they all agreed to meet at this table in particular, but that doesn't stop Maya from flagging her down.
In front of her is a beer, half-consumed. Has she been sitting here for awhile? Maybe!
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
The bar Parabellum always makes for a good meeting place. Shinobu agreed when the idea was raised - and when Hana arrives, she's already seated at the corner booth. Her own winter coat has already been removed and set aside, and she has a Double Action in front of her.
...The drink, of course.
Maya's enthusiam draws Shinobu's attention and she looks up. Sure enough, Hana is here. One hand raises in a brief, casual wave.
"Hey, Fukami." Shinobu greets. It's a notable shift, to the same casual(some might say too casual), friendly form of address she usually uses.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
It's a good place to meet, yes...
...even if you're not particularly given to drinking all that much alcohol. But let it never be said that Katsuya is anti-social or something like that: he, too, has ordered a beer, even if at a glance it looks like it's been barely touched so far.
(It's because the taste is bitter and too-herbal, to his palate...)
"Ah, there she is," he remarks to his companions tonight, straightening in his seat as he spots Hana. "Fukami-san, thank you for coming. I hope it was not too far?"
It shouldn't have been, even from Tokyo on the train.
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
"Maya-san!" Hana waves, and smiles brightly.
Hana quickly has a cocktail in hand. What is it? It's fruity and themed after guns! That's all that really matters. "Shimizu-san!" And of course, "Suou-san. Thanks for inviting me!"
"No, it wasn't too far at all. I actually have some family in Sumaru, so I'm used to making the trip."
She sits down with her drink, and smiles. Then, more seriously, "...So you should know that I remember what happened," she says first. "With the Producer. The fake one, in that place."
"...And so I want to thank you all for helping me. I don't think I'd be who I am now, if you hadn't."
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"Don't worry about it," Maya says, waving her hand from side-to-side in front of her, as if urging Hana to perish the thought. "Helping people is just part of what Team Whoop-Ass does!" Maya gives a playful wink.
If Hana hasn't heard the team name from anyone else thusfar, she knows it now!
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
Shinobu nods to Katsuya as he points out Hana's arrival, too. She looks to her as he asks his question, and nods and smiles back as Hana greets her in turn.
Hana takes her seat, and explains that she remembers what happened - and thanks them, too. Shinobu already knows that much, but she nods.
"How've you been handling it so far?" Shinobu asks. She nods as Hana thanks them - and an approving smirk crosses her face as Maya says not to worry about... and airs the team name.
Of course Shinobu would approve of that name.
"Yeah, it's all good. ...Still, glad we were able to do something." Shinobu agrees.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
As far as he was aware, all went well. He'd been forced to take some time to rest after an unfortunate encounter with a grey-haired young man, but all considering... he's chagrined to admit that even that could have gone worse than it had. Fortunately, he'd been able to walk away, which is what mattered--
And Shinobu and the others had been able to help Hana through the rest of it. Even if he shouldn't be too upset (he did help open a path to the Producer) it's still galling that he'd absent the rest.
"Ah, I see. That's good, I wouldn't have wanted to pull you away," he says. "No, if anything, I should apologize for not being able to help more," he continues when Hana thanks them, glancing once at Maya as she answers Hana in turn.
.... ......
He's keeping a straight face, barely. Dismay threatens to break over the horizon.
"That is... well..." he hazards, the name apparently something more contentious for him. But it is what they're called, whatever he thinks about it, and, well... considering it was Amano's situation that brought them together, it seems impolite to ask her to rename it, and...
[EMPATHY]: And no one else minds it but you.
And there's that part of it, yes.
"Yes, er... how have things been since then?" Katsuya asks, eager to get away from the subject of the name.
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
Maya says the name, and Hana blinks in surprise once--as if she might be scandalized--and then laughs merrily. "You did whoop some ass," she recalls. Shinobu even confirms it's a real name. She can answer in a moment how she's been handling it. Instead, first, she smiles at Katsuya. "You did more than you think. I'm not sure I could've stood up for myself without your advice and support. Not just you, no... But yours mattered." She sets her free hand on the table, by her drink.
And then, she watches Katsuya curiously. ...Does he have opinions on the name...?
"I've been well," she says. "I took the matter to the 'real' Producer--I realized..."
"He can't blackmail me about my history when I have over him the labor laws he violated firing me over what happened. ...In the end, all I had to do was stand up to him. And he folded." With a grin, Hana leans back into her seat a moment. "It felt amazing."
"Other than that, I'm having a great time. The new apartment with everyone is great," she doesn't quite feel up to announcing 'partners plural' yet to this crowd--maybe get to know them a little better before dropping that one. ...Even if they might already be able to guess.
"And..."
"In the future, I want to help back. Keep it under your hat--but I was fighting with the group, back there. As 'Snow'."
"But that's all business. In personal matters, I just..."
"I just feel better. More able to stand up for myself."
She lifts her drink to take a sip.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
Now it's time for Maya to blink in surprise. "You were Snow?!" There's no reason for her to lie about it, so she accepts it easily. As Hana lifts the drink to her lips, Maya lifts her glass to tap it against Hana's in a toast.
"Welcome to the team!" she says cheerily. That's all it takes! Team Whoop-Ass accepts all!
"We'll have to bring you up to speed on everything that's been going on sometime!" But not tonight -- tonight's for drinks!
Now Maya takes a sip of her beer.
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
Shinobu grins as the name gets a laugh from Hana. She looks toward Katsuya as he apologizes - but Hana assures him that his advice still helped.
As for what happened with the Producer... Shinobu may have heard it already, but it's no less good to hear the second time.
"Hell yeah." She encourages. As for the apartment, Shinobu nods. "Glad to hear it's still goin' well. Tell 'em all I said hi when you get back?"
Hana has one more big piece of information to drop, too - she confirms to them that she was Snow. Shinobu doesn't look surprised. But she feels better - more able to stand up for herself.
"Glad to hear it." Shinobu offers her a smile. "It's a good feeling, right?"
Maya raises her glass, welcoming Hana to the team - and Shinobu raises hers, too.
"I'll drink to that." She agrees.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
For just a moment, Katsuya feels true terror that the name they have has horrified someone else.
Then Hana laughs and he gets to feel a different sort of emotion, the quiet wonder if he's the only one who feels at all embarrassed by the name of their little group.
(The answer is yes. It's definitely yes.)
Hana tells him that he did something more than engage the Producer directly. He'd helped her get the courage to engage him, herself. "Is that so... then, I am happy to have helped," he tells her, as serious as ever. He nods, when she confirms he wasn't the only one -- but of course not, Shinobu talked to her then, too, as well, and certainly, others did in their own time. "Thank you," he says, because she says his mattered, and that also matters, in its own way.
It's almost as if he's too happy to not talk about the name anymore...
"So you spoke with the actual Producer? What was the result?"
She tells him exactly that.
In the end, with her courage and the power of the law behind her, he'd folded.
"I see... then, that's good," he confirms, going so far as to smile. "It's good to you were able to use the law against him. That's how it's meant to be used..." Katsuya muses. "Not to oppress, or harm the people who have little already, but..." He just doesn't see it so much, anymore.
And that's that-- well, except for one more thing, something that might have had slightly more impact, perhaps, if he had been there, but--
But only a little bit. Katsuya, after all, knows exactly what she means when she says that.
She was fighting as 'Snow'. "Then, you have...?" he hazards, only to shake his head. "No, I understand. So that was sufficient to..."
He trails out, glancing at Maya and Shinobu in turn as they themselves react to the news.
But, welcome to the team...? "So you--" he starts, looking at Maya and then over at Hana. Just like that? He shakes his head, but smiles. "...Well, I have no objection. The more of us working together, the better, I think."
The others raise their glasses. Katsuya glances between the two of them once more and belatedly lifts his own.
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
Hana does not say 'ass' very often. Perhaps that will change, now...
"You're welcome," she says to Katsuya, sicne she's already thanked him. And the result--
"Right. ...The law's not always on my side," she admits. "You all know why." The law doesn't agree with her 'lifestyle', for one. "...But where it can be, it's good. It gives me more hope that, while there's things we have to do yet, maybe society can come around, too."
"I do," Hana says. "'Persona'. ...Most people don't realize it's me, and I'd like to keep it that way. As a public figure, the New World Order could cause a lot of trouble for me if they knew who I was."
Maya is surprised! Hana beams. "It's a secret, of course," she says. "But if I want to be invited along next time someone's in trouble like i was, I can't exactly have you unable to reach me, right?"
She smiles. "Thank you," she says to Maya. "Sometime, definitely. But I don't mind focusing on drinks for now!"
She grins at Shinobu. "I will!" she says. Tell them, that is. "It's a great feeling."
"I'm glad you all feel that way," she says of working together. "Because I didn't want to go it on my own." Which suggests she'd be pursuing this path either way.
So she raises her glass, too--!
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
Their glasses clink and Maya smiles; she's always glad to have another friend on the team. And the team has expanded quite a lot since their early days hunting the Joker Killer. All that felt like a lifetime ago now, though it hadn't been more than a half-year, but so much had happened and she had met so many people that it felt like an entire lifetime had been squeezed tightly into those six months.
"It's best if we stick together," Maya agrees, looking over at Shinobu and Katsuya before turning her gaze back over to Hana. "There's a lot of good Persona-users out there, but there's plenty of bad ones, too."
And a lot more out there that was bad than just Persona-users!
"But your secret's safe with us," Maya says, raising a finger to her lips. "Right?" She smiles over at Shinobu and Katsuya.
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
Shinobu looks toward Katsuya as he expresses relief. The way the law is meant to be used... If more people thought that way, things would be a lot better. But Hana has hope.
"...Yeah. I hope so, too." Shinobu agrees. She has her own reason for feeling that way, and some of them might be able to guess.
"It's for the best." Shinobu agrees, as Hana says she'd like to keep her identity a secret. "They already know us, so it's too late on our end... but the fewer people they know, the better."
She smirks, then nods her agreement to Maya.
"Yeah. Things are easier when someone's got your back." She agrees. And as for her secret... "Definitely."
She does grin, though, as Hana assures her that she'll tell the others she said hi.
"Cool." She replies, and nods. "Glad to hear it."
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Katsuya meanwhile gives the impression of a man whose world would end if the word 'ass' ever passed his lips (even if he has had to speak the name of their group before (he didn't like it)).
No, indeed, he's given to think, as she explains her situation a little bit further. The 'law' doesn't like it when people like her exist, and one might assume that someone like him would therefore agree with what the law says. But there's one thing more.
"Laws are written by people," he tells her, itself from the expression on his face suggesting it's somewhat more confession than he'd like. "Therefore, they're imperfect... there are situations and circumstances that cannot be accounted for as they are written. And, the bias of people is reflected in law." He shakes his head, though. "That... being said, the purpose of the law is meant to bring justice to society. Any failure to do so is only human... and as humans, it's our duty to ensure that that the law is corrected. That it becomes what it's mean to be..."
It's a sentiment out of step with his (former?) colleagues, with much of society at large. But he can't help it. It's how he feels, when all is said and done: there's the law as it stands, and the law as it ought to be.
Whether that's any comfort to anyone else, though, is another thing altogether.
"...That is true," he reflects, perhaps thinking on his current work situation (about which Maya and Shinobu at least know) when Hana remarks that her anonymity will keep her safe. "As Shimizu-san says, it will be helpful as far as our investigations go, as well. I have to be careful with what I'm doing..." Unfortunately, the rest of them have no such recourse. But so it goes.
"Yes, I agree," he tells Maya, nodding. "It was... I suppose I was startled," he explains. "But it makes sense to me. We'll need all the help that we can get with this... we've hit a dead end as it stands..."
He turns to Hana, his own glass still in his hand. "...The rest of this, it isn't easy, of course, but..." Katsuya explains, gesturing with his free hand, "Not everyone has this sort of power. Furthermore, we cannot let them do as they wish," he opines. Even if they're in danger because of what they're doing, the consequences of letting the NWO harm this city and others through inaction is unacceptable to him. And the others, too, no doubt.
Maya smiles at him. Not just him: he's not a naive schoolboy. But he still, looking right at her, hesitates for just that fraction of a second as he lowers his glass after that toast, and--
This is when Katsuya's cellphone rings. Setting down his beer and turning away from the table, he asks, rising from his seat, "Hello? Who is this?"
He's silent after that for a time: whatever he's just heard has stopped him in his tracks.
"Are you-- you're serious? How do you..." he says, lowering his voice. "I see... if what you're saying is true..."
He stands there a moment more before lowering his phone from his ear and turning towards the others.
"...It's someone who knows that I'm still investigating the Joker cases," he says to the table at last, his voice hushed. "He wants to meet to talk about them at Aoba Park, tomorrow. He claims to have information. ...That's all he said."
It feels like it could be a trap, almost, but there was something about that man's voice.