DECEMBER EVENT PT 2

[citta]

DECEMBER EVENT PT 2

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→ 12/15 - 12/31 A Persona December...

The year is now winding down, but it only gets busier throughout town as people hustle about paying off debts, mending relationships, and cleaning the clutter out of their homes to have a fresh start to the new year. The staff at the hospital is especially busy rearranging some of the units, seeing as the foundation to the hospital seems to have cracked a day or two before, the entire building at a slight angle where one side has sunk into the ground, with blame placed on the freezing ice breaking apart the ground below the hospital and deeming parts of it unsafe. Rows and rows of potted plants surround the hospital like a miniature garden, while around the marketplace, small potted plants are placed on either side of each shop entrance ward off evil spirits and keep them from entering. In the neighborhoods, white paper strips tied across straw ropes get hung over each house's front door for the same purpose— for the houses without such traditional New Year's decorations, like the Black Cat house and the neighboring clubhouse, the townspeople offer to help supply and put up the traditional decorations so evil spirits will be kept out of the town, and good tidings will be invited in for all in the new year.

It's too bad they do nothing to ward off the Shadows that crawl out of the dungeons at night, the snow and the ice unable to deter the small black blobs that squeeze under doors and invade the buildings during Lockdown. Perhaps the weather is to blame, getting increasingly colder towards the end of the year, but people start to fall ill until most of the townspeople sport masks over their noses and mouths to prevent catching colds. On the 21st, the public bathhouse celebrates the winter solstice by offering a greatly discounted entrance fee, enticing people to enjoy the customary yuzu baths with cut citrus floating in the hot water to draw in good luck and good health, but even this tradition does little for what might be the worst flu season to have hit the town in years. The symptoms are largely the same: it starts with chills and a fever, then heavy sweating and insomnia that makes it impossible to fall asleep, coupled with the deep aches and pains that seem to seep right down into the bones. People are left weak and tired, and while some are lucky to not get any sicker, others take a turn for the worse and lose consciousness completely, rushed over to the hospital where tests are being done to determine what sort of illness this is and what the most effective treatment may be. There is no effective treatment. The people who get sick aren't recovering. Those Persona users who are already in ego death catch the illness easily and do not have the strength to fight it off, falling unconscious and prompting the townspeople taking care of them to send them to the hospital to be better looked after and supported— the last of their days spent as pain-free as possible.

Christmas Eve comes and goes, largely a couple's holiday spent quietly with loved ones, but it's only quiet due to the number of people who had to be hospitalized. Crispy fried chicken and fluffy Christmas sponge cakes topped with strawberries and cream go on sale on Christmas day, but the shelves remain full with the lack of people well enough to celebrate. Fear and suspicion run rampant, talk circulating around town that the gods are angry and they must be appeased, while a smaller but more vocal number of people begin to speak out about disaster having been striking the town almost every month no matter how much they've been praying to the gods. Traditional decorations get torn down in fits of anger and frustration, spiteful townspeople scorning the gods for doing nothing to protect the town, while others try to pacify them, wanting to keep the peace and warning the hellions that these are the exact actions that cause the gods to forsake the town in the first place. There's talk about how the bad weather and waves of illnesses started in the summer, fingers pointed at the strangers that had moved into town since then, and eyes seem to be on the Persona users as they walk through town: quick, furtive glances at times, blatant staring at others. Children are more brazen, tugging at their parents' hands and pointing out the weirdo standing on the roadside talking to cats, or the girl with the large firearm strapped to her back, or the large orange dragon they saw flying towards town from the mountains. The adults shush the children, telling them it's rude to point and that they shouldn't get involved with foreigners, pulling them away from the people who have been living amongst them all these months, now deemed outsiders.

→ 12/28 Happy birthday, Toki

On the 28th, an earthquake rolls across town early in the evening, lasting five minutes with aftershocks being felt throughout the night. When it first hits, the quake takes the power down with it, the entire town plunging into darkness for a solid hour, the emergency generator at the hospital trying to kick in but a fuse blows and catches fire, the explosion small but located in the basement that shakes the building hard enough that it starts collapsing even further, the staff rushing all the patients out of the hospital before the entire building crumbles and burns to the ground. For the next hour, the only light that can be seen is the flames engulfing the hospital building until they finally die down come midnight. Right when the clock strikes twelve, an aftershock hits and causes the fissure at the bottom of the lake to widen, the ice cracking and the water level dropping by several meters as mud and rock get shaken loose and turn the crystal clear water a dark, turbid brown. It triggers an avalanche in the mountains, the peaks opposite the castle on the other side of town crumbling and smothering the forest beneath with rock and snow. Electricians work hard through the night to get the power restored, the power finally coming back on with the rising sun at dawn to shine light on the destruction.

Over the next few days, the townspeople work hard cleaning up around town, inspecting buildings for damages, and trying to get a clinic up and running in the small community center for hospital patients in need of treatment. There weren't many patients to begin with, but many are now unconscious, suffering the chills and pains of what now clearly isn't the flu. Groups of townspeople scavenge the ruins of the hospital for medicine and medical equipment they're able to salvage, while others make their way through the forest to scour the mountainside for herbal medicine. While they're careful to avoid the landslide, rumour starts to circulate amongst the elderly townspeople of a shrine up in the mountains from centuries ago, before an earthquake had hit and buried the passage up to the shrine, leaving it abandoned once travel was determined to be too hazardous. Investigating the landslide, it's soon realized that the rock has fallen to reveal the start of a path carved out of the mountainside, the previous blockade having been knocked loose by the recent earthquake. If the boulders are cleared away and the path is made safe enough to travel, it may be possible to reach the shrine and restore it, but efforts cannot be spared at the moment. The town comes first. The lives and safety of the people come first.

Some of the townspeople continue to pray to the gods, while others lose faith and can only rely on themselves, their knowledge and their labour. No matter how hard they work, resources are scarce and no cure to the illness can be found. The first person to fall unconscious closes their eyes and dies on the 29th. Slipping away from ego death, Kokichi Ouma takes his last breath on the 30th. Ryoji Mochizuki passes away on the 31st. Neither of them ever wakes up again, not here, and not at home.

At midnight on the 31st, the deep, rich tone of the bell slowly ringing at the shrine in the forest can be heard all throughout town, welcoming everybody into the new year.

→ 1/1- 1/2 Best wishes in the coming year

Without a proper shrine in Hirajiro, many of the townspeople visit the town hall on New Year's day, paying respects at a kamidana located inside, standing in front of this private, miniature shrine with bowed heads, thanking the gods for seeing them through another year and praying that the next year will bring good tidings to the town that so desperately needs it. They welcome family members who have travelled all this way in order to visit, all claiming to be from different towns and cities that do not exist in this world where there is only one town, but this time, murmurs in the background voice confusion. Children ask their parents why they never go out to see their family from out of town, or how come they never see airplanes fly overhead or trains run through the mountains, or how do they have seafood if there's no ocean? They are quickly shushed and told not to ask silly questions, but dissatisfaction and resentment build amongst the youth, who are always told to keep their heads down and noses out of people's business, to not talk to strangers and to not play in the woods. Though wary now of the Persona users who frequent the path, several children are seen sneaking into the forest at times, teenagers and young adults soon to follow, and by the second day of the new year, some of the townspeople can be seen staring at the castle, marvelling at its existence, and making their way up the steps to the shrine, all while wondering to themselves how long these places have been here, right under their noses.

The number of people who are aware of the shrine in the forest barely number several dozen out of the hundreds of other townspeople, but they sweep the snow off the steps and clean up the shrine, burning incense and leaving offerings to this new god with no name, asking it to help save the town now that they can no longer trust the old gods to do so. At the center of the shrine grounds, a young man stands by a large metal box, asking people to return their old omamoris to be burnt and to buy a new one for the new year, gesturing to a small table next to him filled with omamoris of different colours, a black crow stitched in each corner and gold embroidery denoting what each charm grants blessings for: good health, wealth, relationships, etc. Alongside the omamoris, another box rests on the same table that contains omikujis, with a small tree standing behind the table for people to tie the paper fortune to if they draw one with bad luck.

Every single paper fortune reads bad luck.

For these two days, Minato and Souji can be seen at the shrine wearing men's kimono, standing off to the side and talking quietly with one another, feeding the crows, greeting the Persona users, and handing them New Year's envelope of money if they haven't stopped by to pick them up yet. Have they made their New Year's resolutions yet? If they're willing to share, both Attendants are curious about hearing them; said out loud, one becomes accountable for such promises, and if they are able to keep their resolutions... well. The first month is always the hardest. The Attendants just give a small tired smile and say that they will revisit the resolutions upon completing the final dungeon. Make them good ones.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ Starting from this point forward, permadeath will be an option for characters dropped from the game, alongside the ego death state. For players with previously dropped characters who would like them to permanently dead, please contact the mods so an official list may be kept on the taken page. Note that characters who undergo permadeath may not be apped back into the game, and ICly will not be sent home. More information about the change in death mechanics will be revealed as the plot progresses.
⬥ The shrine in the mountains will be accessible on 1/3 when the new dungeon log goes up. More information will be given at that time.
⬥ At the shrine in the forest, characters have the option of returning their Persona omamori and purchasing a new one. Please respond to the toplevel below with their decision. Responses are due by 1/3, and more information about the consequences will be given at that time.
⬥ Characters also have the option of making a New Year's resolution and telling the Attendants by reporting it to the toplevel below. What will the mods do with these? Haha! It's a mystery.
⬥ As of 12/11, the music on the Velvet Room has changed in hopes that the characters stop fucking up in 2020. Ganba, friends.

Comments

[yokeye]

i. 12/17 - until it gets sold

[Much like Kido's mansion, Toki's childhood home of somewhat lesser grandeur has also appeared near the edge of town. Toki won't notice it himself, but anyone who enters may find at least something in the house bearing his surname. Credit card statements, business contracts, etc. Nothing will have Toki's given name on it, and if any information on the family is found in desk drawers or the like, there will be no evidence of Toki's existence; the only child mentioned has the name Ginshu. The rooms are furnished sparsely, with elaborately carved wood pieces and placed as if they were backdrops for magazine photos. On the third floor is one door with a latch above the doorknob. There's a padlock in the side of it, but unlocked and the door can easily be opened. Inside, the room has plain metal bed, a small round window high up on the wall, and a pull-light with an uncovered light bulb.]


ii. wildcard
Forward dating is dangerous, so I'll throw any starters under this toplevel eventually. Toki may have a birthday party, but everything goes to shit that day, so who knows... As of the 16th, Toki is blind and may be found wandering around with Joroko, trying to acclimate himself to the town if the citizens aren't too blatantly hostile to Persona users.

i

[parhellia]

[ Ala is here to 1) explore, and 2) pilfer shiny things. Everything is unlocked and nobody but Persona users can see her since it's still early enough in the month, so she just marches straight in the front doors.

Pretty. Not a lot of furniture. She cups her hands on either side of her mouth—- ]

HELLO~!!

[ and listens to her voice echo in the large, empty parlor. ]

[yokeye]

[Off from the parlor, Ala will find a large galley kitchen, with a butler's pantry and a formal dining room. If she looks in the kitchen drawers, she will find silver utensils to pilfer. In the dining room buffet cabinet, there's antique hand-painted tableware and a pink tea set, with gold inlaid cherry blossoms. The butler's pantry is empty.]

[parhellia]

[ There are so many shiny things, holy shit. She carefully empties out all the drawers and lays things out on the dining room table, because unlike Kano, she doesn't have infinite pockets and is a little more picky with what she puts in her pockets. The knives get set aside because they're not pretty ornate knives, but the tea set is very cute and she sets that down on top of one of the chair and then slides it back under the table so nobody else will see it. There's a good chance she'll forget about it too, but she can always come back.

She takes the tea kettle, fills it up with ice using Bufu, and then sets it on top of the stove without turning it on, and then leaves to check out the adjacent room. ]

[yokeye]

[The next room appears to be a living room or a sitting room. Overstuffed velvet chairs with intricate carved wooden feet. There is no television, nor a piano, nothing to indicate what this room was actually used for. An empty marble fireplace is across from the chairs. On top of the mantel is a gold statue of some sort. If she examines it, she will see it has been presented to Touya Rikugou from a real estate conglomerate, for an excellent sales record.]

[parhellia]

[ There is a very very strong urge to light the fireplace, but she doesn't want to burn down the building until after she's gone through every single room. The statue catches her attention because it has a name— it's Toki's family, and familial bonds are weird. They're permanent bonds regardless of substance, in contrast to something like Persona bonds which have to be built up until they're unbreakable. If it's something that can fit in her pocket, she takes it with her, and then looks for any stairs up. ]

[yokeye]

[It's likely small enough to fit in a pocket, though the base will stick out. Back in the parlour, there are two separate staircases. A grand one in middle of the room, leading up to a hallway landing. The second staircase is behind a door to the right, and is more narrow and completely closed off. It's a servants' passage.]

[parhellia]

[ Into her pocket it goes, then. Of the two staircases, Ala gravitates to the one on the side, because small hidden places are fun and she and Kano had a good time finding these sorts of places around town too. She opens the door and slips inside, holding a very very small Agi flame in her palm for light to see how far it goes before she's stopped, and if she can get past it. ]

[yokeye]

[There will be a small landing in front of the door to the second floor. To the left of that, the stairs continue up to the third floor, ending in another landing. There is nothing on the stairs to find.]

ii, 12/18

[overstrain]

[ Assuming the mansion just kinda stays there after Ala's visit. Terry has been going on for a walk despite being sick, because he can't handle all the cats in his house that worsen his allergies. He has a medical mask on to cover his nose and mouth and well dressed for the winter, but...

Whose mansion is this? It looks like Kotengu just gave someone a mansion like he did with Kido's because he hasn't seen this here and it really stands out. Instead of pinpointing to save time, he walks into it, because curiosity wins him over.

...

He comes back later that day and writes down what he wants to say to Orien. Upon reading this, Orien goes to find Toki... wherever he may be. ]

[yokeye]

[Toki can be found by the kotatsu, attempting to knit by touch. It's not going well. But he's trying to occupy his time while Rei sleeps. She'd gotten sick directly after they came back from the woods that morning. He has a capped thermos of hot chocolate instead of a cup, in case one of the cats knocks it over.]

[overstrain]

[ Perfect. The kotatsu is warm and Orien also wants to stay by the warm table. He coils up in the corner of the table. ]

Toki, can I have a word with you?

[yokeye]

Orien!

[One of his knitting needles clatters to the top of the kotatsu. He just picks it back up once he finds it.]

Yes! About what?

[overstrain]

[ Oh. Oops. ]

I'm sorry for scaring you. Terry let me know that he found a mansion. Apparently it belonged to you... or your family. He found your [ ahem ] former surname on the documents in there.

[yokeye]

[Toki frowns, because he isn't aware of Kido's mansion, so this seems very strange.]

... Can't it be one of the townspeople's?

[He'd never seen a mansion in Hirajiro, though.]

[overstrain]

The architecture in town is rather old fashioned and there were no mansions before Kido's. Kido had one as well, and we are thinking of selling it to gain money. Terry had went around and confirmed that it had a connection with you, so we are deeming you the owner of the property. What would you like to do with it?

[yokeye]

[Kido had one? Terry's old house came, and maybe more have too. If it's really "his", then...]

You can have it.

[Toki goes back to his knitting.]

wildcard - 12/18

[flowerclips]

[ Rei really should be in bed and resting, but during one of her many awakenings from her naps, she remembered something that she forgot to ask Toki on the day of the picnic. Sure, she can ask it at a later date but this is important. She wants to ask before she forgets again and it's not like she can fall back asleep when everything hurts. So, wrapping a blanket around her, she wobbles out of her room and into the living room. ]

Toki...?

[ She will walk at the pace of a snail until she finds him, hopefully not while he's burning down the house. ]

[yokeye]

[Luckily, Toki is at the kotatsu and not trying to cook at the moment. When he hears Rei, he's immediately getting up, and stumbling over three cats in his haste to find her.]

You should be resting!

[flowerclips]

[ Rei will walk slightly faster at the pace of a turtle so she can go on over to Toki and try to stop him from tripping over a cat and breaking his head on the corner or something. ]

It's okay, I can't fall back asleep...

[ She'll reach out to take Toki's hand with her own while still holding onto the blanket around her. Her hand is hot and clammy. ]

And I wanted to talk to you.

[yokeye]

[Toki squeezes her hand, even if it's gross and he'll probably get sick too.]

Okay, but at least sit on the couch. I'll make you soup later!

[He waits until they've made it to the couch before asking:]

What did you want to talk about?

[flowerclips]

[ The couch sounds like a good idea. She feels like she might collapse if she stayed up standing for another minute. Once there, she will curl up with her legs and feet up the couch and lean against Toki. He is probably going to get sick too if he doesn't push her off. ]

Umm, I wanted to know what your "fetishes" are.

[ Thanks, 45. ]

[yokeye]

[It's a sacrifice Toki will make for having her close. He wraps one arm around her and the blanket. Then he freezes at her question with a soft squeak.]

F-fetishes!?

[She got out of bed for this conversation? Oh my god.]

Well... I... um... I like... I like...

[He can feel his face getting hot and maybe Rei is closing her eyes and won't see it. He can't lie to her, though.]

I like maid dresses!

[flowerclips]

[ Rei is, luckily, dizzy and loopy enough that she wouldn't really notice Toki's face going red. Even if she did, she might just assume that he's hot because she's transferring her fever heat over to him. ]

Oh, that's good. I have a maid outfit from work that I can wear for you.

[ She says very casually because she just assumes that fetish means it's something you like, but not in a sexual way... ]

[yokeye]

Um, the next- next time we...?

[He can't finish the question, and he's feeling flushed and sweaty all over now.]

Do you have any? Fetishes?