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DECEMBER EVENT PT 2
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.
no subject
Rio... what if- what if you can't get her back?
[He doesn't know what Rio's relationship with her Persona is like, but it seems like she's saying goodbye to a friend with the hope it won't be forever.]
no subject
[Her voice is firm, if solemn as she continues to comfort Zashiki Warashi.Even if that's quite a difference to begin with.]
no subject
But... you're sure you want to do this?
[He's hesitant, because he doesn't mean to be trying to influence her one way or the other. Only knowing he wouldn't be able to do this himself. He doesn't want Rio to have regrets.]
no subject
It's not like I want to destroy my ability to bring her out. But I know - and she must know, too--
We can't keep relying on power from someone who wants us dead. It's possible he wants us to use our Personas as a crutch to support ourselves - what are we supposed to do if he suddenly takes that crutch away from us?
Or, worse- takes the crutch for himself to use against us?
no subject
We wouldn't make it very far without the Personas. I get it. I just-
[He doesn't finish the thought. He's being too sentimental and knows. It's Rio's last question that really makes him think.]
Do you think the Kotengu's... learning things about us through them? So he can... kill us easier when it's time?
no subject
The Attendants have information on all of our Personas. Every last skill and power.
Once he's free, is it really that hard to imagine the Kotengu could have access to that, too? We're just foot soldiers. He gave us the strength to accomplish what needed to be done to free him.
I have no doubt he can take it away and kill us for his own amusement if he so wished.
no subject
[Toki has only been to talk to the Attendants twice, and the second time he just got drunk and sang with the cats and Minato. He was only peripherally aware of the compendium, and not present for the earlier meetings.]
One thing I don't understand. If he has this much power, why did he need us to begin with? He could take anyone from any world... why us?
no subject
We found a bunch of old and beaten omamori. I doubt we're the first ones he's ever summoned to help him. We're just the ones who made it the furthest so far.
[Zashiki Warashi, meanwhile, is completely silent. Head bowed.]
no subject
[There's something holding the Kotengu back from being able to free himself, despite his seemingly immense power.]
So... at least some of us should stop using the omamoris to see if that makes a difference.
no subject
[She wraps her arms around Zashiki Warashi in a hug, looking over the surprised Persona to Toki.]
We're both sad that I won't be able to see her anymore. But... we both know we can't stand the thought of enabling someone to kill us, either.
[Zashiki Warashi goes still for a moment before returning the hug, nodding. Yeah...
Anyone who rejects them... who decides they aren't allowed to live...
They should suffer for their callousness.]
no subject
[It's Joroko who speaks first, because she can observe the nuances better than Toki. She doesn't want to leave either, but the concern of being manipulated by the Kotengu is real. If Rio and Zashiki Warashi are willing to make sacrifices to test the hold of the Kotengu, she supports it.
Toki does get it too, and it's a necessary thing to help everyone. If something good comes of this, they'll know if they're capable of handling things without the Kotengu's influence.]
I hope everything works out.
no subject
[Zashiki Warashi gives a sniffle, wiping away tears with her kimono sleeve before looking up at Toki and Joroko and forcing a grin. Yeah...
They'll keep trying. Both of them are too stubborn to back down so easily.]