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JOKER / Akira Kurusu ([personal profile] infiltrationtools) wrote in [community profile] cetana2020-01-01 12:34 pm

[OPEN] 1/1: Personal Shadow Event

SHAPESHIFTER

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PART ONE: REAL WORLD

    On the morning of January 1st, someone wakes up in Akira Kurusu’s bed. It’s not Akira Kurusu. It looks exactly like him, talks with his voice, reads as him at a cellular and spiritual level on any supernatural or mundane tests. But it’s not Akira Kurusu.

    During the daytime of the 1st and 2nd, he calls in sick to whatever work obligations he may have that day, and then leaves. On the first day he heads into town, making a point to avoid any other Persona-users he sees. There is definitely some picking fights with villagers who offend him, which is not unusual for Akira as of late, and the NPCs will complain to each other and the Persona-users about that awful boy with the glasses. On the second day, he will instead fuck off willingly into the ice-cold wilderness, looking around the mountains.

    Things get worse during Lockdown. Both nights, the Nasty Crimeboy can be found skulking around town during Lockdown instead of in the dungeons like usual. He’s deliberately being stealthy and covering his tracks, even though the only people who are here to see him are a bunch of children who collectively share three brain cells, and Rio. On the first night he breaks into shops and takes their inventory, ostensibly for the purpose of obtaining things he needs that the villagers refuse to sell to him. Seamsters are missing a few winter garments, blacksmiths are down a pair of very high quality daggers and a sword, and the one gun shop in town is missing some of its stock of ammo — some for handguns, but some for other kinds too, so it’s not immediately apparent who took them. If someone checks Akira’s car in the Velvet Room after Lockdown, however, they will find the stolen goods hidden in various spots there.

    Sometimes he gets in… other places. On the second night, both the mayor’s house and the police station are broken into. The mayor’s house is almost comedically simple to enter, because he has very little in the way of home security, and what he does have is completely useless during a Lockdown where he’s not physically there. Either way, the Crimeboy mostly takes any cash he can find from the mayor as well as valuables that could be inconspicuously sold to the shady folks who peddle phosphorus.

    The station is unfortunately better protected, so eventually the Crimeboy realizes he has little option but brute force — so he locates the police chief’s office from the outside, and uses Mara to smash a hole in that wall. (The crash can be heard by any Persona-using prisoners who happen to be in the station at this time.) The next morning, the chief’s office looks like a tornado came through it. All cash and valuables either stolen or destroyed, all locked drawers or containers picked open, and so on. The chief’s desk has had everything knocked off of it onto the floor, and the word ROTTEN is carved deeply into the top of the wooden desk.

    After Lockdown on the morning of January 3rd, the boy is nowhere to be seen or detected. You start to think that maybe something is wrong.


PART TWO: METAVERSE

    School dungeon, third floor.

    The entire floor is still on fire, but now there’s a new reason — lightning bolts. There is no rain; they just come down from the smoking skies. They strike environment, Persona-user, and Shadow alike, and become more and more frequent as you approach the palace. Some of the Shadows and FOEs are now on fire, having been struck by the bolts; their HP is lower, but their Attack is higher, and every hit has a chance of additional Fire damage. Any semblance of order that the FOEs may have had is gone, and they are now running around and attacking indiscriminately.

    KOPPA TENGU
    Type
    Shadow
    Resists
    Wind
    Weak
    Dark
    These Tengu-based Shadows will flee once they see any sight of danger, including (especially) the lighting bolts. This means they tend to stay at the start of the floor, where the bolts are less common. They will fly high into the air and blow people away by conjuring large gusts of wind with their wings. They don't have a lot of attacks and their defense is low, so they are easy enough to defeat, assuming that they don't fly away first.

    Curiously enough, none of the other Shadows or F.O.E.s pay them much attention...

    A Tengu mask and a blank scroll can be collected as loot.


    CHIMERA
    Type
    F.O.E.
    Null
    Fire, Light
    Weak
    None
    Larger than any other Shadow, these F.O.E.s act as guards of the dungeon. While the Shadows are the disposable troops that wander the area and simply attack whomever they see, the F.O.E.s specifically seek out intruders and attack with the sole purpose of killing them. They lurk throughout the dungeons, using their many eyes and noses to track down Persona users and charge without hesitation when they spot one. Also, they are on fire.

    Their physical strength is tremendous and a single swipe of their mighty paws or talons will surely knock out anyone who hasn’t been keeping up with their training. They are unaffected by fire or light-based attacks and they have no weaknesses. If a Chimera is on fire, its HP is not reduced at all, but its Attack is still higher and there’s still a chance of burn if it hits you. You might be strong enough to take them on, but these things are no joke…


    Even from a distance, it becomes obvious that the palace is also on fire. Lightning strikes this building more than anywhere else. The gates around the palace have transformed, each stake now looking like the ribcage bone of some giant creature curling out from the ground. The gate itself hangs open and unattended.

    There’s smoke pouring out of the palace windows, and the tallest tower has fallen off, lying in a blazing heap in the courtyard below. Investigating this tower will take you to the empty boss room where the Daitengu used to be, but there’s nothing of note there. The front entrance of the palace itself is clearly where you need to go; forget about sneaking in the side, because the front doors have transformed into an accursed portal, the strange obsidian-like material creeping into the stone walls like a virus.

    Upon entering, the interior of the palace has changed drastically, and there’s nowhere to go but down. There is only one spiral path apart from a straight drop down the middle; it’s a very long one that leaves you in an indefensible position, and hiding in the darkness, the tobi tengu are all waiting to ambush you from land and air. Sometimes if you look over you can see their eyes staring from within a spinal column.

    TOBI TENGU
    Type
    Shadow
    Resists
    Light, Wind
    Weak
    Ice
    Although they are solidary creatures, this Shadow is accomplanied by smaller versions of itself. It strays away from the other packs of Shadows and spends its company with a minimum of one to a maximum of three mini-versions, flying around the lower depths of the dungeon.

    It doesn't attack characters directly. Instead, it uses its mini-versions to cast a wide range of status ailments that either causes team members to fight among themselves or hinders their progress, such as sleep, confusion, charm, or rage. After you are incapacitated, it will rush in with Dark-based attacks, but as soon as you are able to snap out of your afflictions, it will retreat and send its minions to immobilize you and your team once more.

    A Tengu mask and magical healing leaves can be collected as loot. The masks they wear and drop are different than normal, but Crow’s is by far the most common.


    If you can make it past all the birdfolk and ominous skeleton imagery, you’ll reach the bottom, where that awful orange glow comes from. It’s a vague approximation of Tokyo, where the sky is searing orange and all of the buildings are built out of that same black and red-veined obsidian material. There are giant bones sticking out of the ground and snaking through buildings, reaching up into the sky, some of them even taller than the full size skyscrapers around them. Somewhere in this hellhole, if you search for long enough, you’ll find a boy in a long black coat…


PART THREE: NOTES

    ⬥ ICly, this dungeon appears on January 1st, and one way or the other the event will conclude by the 5th, though of course you can backtag and fit things into this span of time.
    ⬥ There are certain conditions that must be achieved for this event's good ending. Failing to meet these conditions will not result in Akira's ego-death; rather, it will result in Joker becoming a permanent fixture of the game.
    ⬥ Since Joker and Akira share a body, any damage Joker sustains will of course affect Akira long-term as well. Killing Joker is not recommended.
    ⬥ The Nasty Crimeboy will be evasive and try to get out of all conversations with others as quickly as possible, but if you would like to speak to him, let me know and we can set up a toplevel.
    ⬥ Ganba, everyone.

toybombs: ([Sigh] now that I would)

[personal profile] toybombs 2020-01-02 06:53 am (UTC)(link)
Why would you need to do that...?

[But she draws her gun properly once more, hurrying behind Ala!]

[personal profile] parhellia 2020-01-02 07:04 am (UTC)(link)
Um... I'm making a necklace out of the gemstones, so I'm trying to kill as many Shadows as I can to get them.

[ If she leaves them behind, somebody else is going to take everything, so it'll all be a waste.

The two of them will have to do their best to avoid the tengu here, because Ala's got nothing that'll stop ailments, just drain curse that allows her to take all the damage and heal herself up with it, snapping her out of whatever status effect she was just in. It's super annoying, but not dangerous. This stupid spiral path is probably the worst part of it, dizzying as it is and if one's not careful, they'll stumble and fall straight down into the hole below. ]


Is it okay to fly now? You're not scared of flying, right?
toybombs: ([Angy] Fight fire with fire)

[personal profile] toybombs 2020-01-02 07:11 am (UTC)(link)
[Yeah, the spiral path sucks, she's already over it.]

Flying is fine, let's just get this over with!
reveilation: (022)

[personal profile] reveilation 2020-01-02 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ Kido is very close to screaming all the time, this is true. She sort of feels it right now, trying to work out in her mind what Joker is saying. She's sure seen a lot of times when Akira was pressured. Back when the town was flooded and talking to him when Red was still in ego death, in the Halloween mansion in front of everybody's gravestones, in the bathhouse during karaoke talking about family, even in her own Shadow dungeon both times he had to deal with her.

All those situations, trying so hard not to let go and scream, and handing them over to Joker? ]


...I still don't get it. So if one day, he and I have a fight again and he's pissed off and doesn't want to deal with me, he has you deal with me in his place? And you insult me and put me down and that's supposed to make things better?

[personal profile] parhellia 2020-01-02 07:17 am (UTC)(link)
[ She'll leave the tengus to Rio and her gun, then, while she poofs into black smoke and then back to the dragon form from before, letting her wings and back stretch out for a moment before settling again so Rio can get on and hang onto whatever she can find before Ala speeds off down the pit and out into the Tokyo wasteland. ]
toybombs: ([Surprise] Because of you)

[personal profile] toybombs 2020-01-02 07:39 am (UTC)(link)
[She'll hang on tight, only daring to look up again once they're in... Some kind of Tokyo, at least.]

-What's this supposed to be?

[She can understand a destroyed Tokyo, but this is its own beast in its strange and twisted nature.]
not_that_sasuke: ([Unsure] closely and start)

[personal profile] not_that_sasuke 2020-01-02 08:00 am (UTC)(link)
[He does listen, and by the end of it...

He gives a small nod, exhaling slowly. Because when you have all that anger and nowhere for it to go, it just builds, and builds, and builds...
]

...Yeah. It's not the same, but... I get it.

[He was never actually strong enough to take anything out on anyone, though.]

...Taking it out on other stuff doesn't help?

[personal profile] yokeye 2020-01-02 02:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[Toki starts to scream, not knowing how far the fall will be, but it's cut off just as it starts with only a two foot drop. Beautiful is an unexpected description of a dungeon when things are usually on fire and full of monsters. Toki stands up and summons Joroko to look the place over for him.]

"It's... interesting."

[When Toki gets the approximation of imagery from Joroko, which is more of a psychic description than an accurate representation, he can't tell it's Tokyo. Bones coming out of buildings and light like the glow of fires.]

Is he here?

[Do they have to wander the streets of a hell city now? Oh my god, he should have gone home.]
not_that_sasuke: ([Unsure] next stop.”)

[personal profile] not_that_sasuke 2020-01-02 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[A... really stupid one.]

Sorry. I don't know what to do about it, either.

[He's not exactly a beacon of being well-adjusted either. The most he could ever get were moments of victorious pettiness in the midst of fights he still lost.]

But... he shouldn't have to rely on his Shadow to deal with things he can't, either.

He shouldn't have to carry the world on his shoulders.

[personal profile] overstrain 2020-01-02 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Terry watches the change happen in front of him. It's Akira with his not-gold eyes, but there seems to be something off with Akira's reaction. Every single Shadow he encountered seemed to have a different criteria, and this is no different, but he can't think of a reason why the Shadow would just retreat and send Akira out like this. He only ever heard of it, but he wonders if this is what it's like to deal with multiple personalities in a single person. ]

Go on. Keep screaming at me like you were going to.
laconism: (pic#13548822)

[personal profile] laconism 2020-01-02 03:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[If Joker is insulting Red and his sweater in some kind of attempt to rile him up, it's not working. He doesn't even deign that with a response, focusing on the other thing he said instead. Akira's watching them? From where...?

Before he can start to look around, Espeon meows and lifts a paw, pointing it straight at Joker. Hmm.]


...So, you're still inside his body and he's aware of what's going on? Did he allow you to take over?

[personal profile] reveilation 2020-01-02 04:00 pm (UTC)(link)
You're all he's got? I can't believe this. How much you're just like me.

[ And it's really bad to be like her, somebody infinitly proud and headstrong, stubborn to a fault, with a terrible temper that's too quick to flare up. Somebody who had created a dungeon herself with the belief that she's the only person she's got, so fuck everybody else, except Akira thinks he can have it both ways. ]

He was the one who asked me and my Shadow to give other people a chance again, to find bonds that won't break so I won't have to be scared of people anymore. He said he would stand by me, and I thought... him as one of those bonds. Did he never even consider the other way around?

[ Even something as simple as being friends. She's not a close friend like Red, nor somebody strong and reliable enough to stand tall as the leader to Akira's vice leader when so many times she thinks it should be the other way around. But at the very very very least, she'd like to have been somebody he considers a friend, a person who maybe cannot fix every wrong in the world, but somebody he can turn to to feel safe for a time, and to never feel like he's got nobody in the world but him and himself. ]

[personal profile] parhellia 2020-01-02 04:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Fire and monsters are beautiful, when you're like Ala who comes from a realm where terrifying creatures are the norm along with darkness and isolation so that any source of light is something she finds herself gravitating towards, skipping out onto the street with her hands clasped behind her back and looking left and right and up at the sky above their heads before turning on her heels again to address Toki. ]

No clue!

[ Akira's not here in plain sight, anyways, but neither is any other Shadow as far as she can tell. ]

Why don't we split up and look around for a bit? It seems safe enough here, and if you need me, just call my name and maybe I'll show up right at your side.

[personal profile] yokeye 2020-01-02 04:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[Maybe she'll show up. Toki caught that. But this is fine. Joroko chooses a direction at random, much like Toki prefers to, and they'll wander around the city. Joroko is at least not going to deliberately lead Toki into danger anymore. If they find nothing of interest in fifteen minutes, she'll start climbing the buildings for an aerial view.]

[personal profile] parhellia 2020-01-02 04:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Rio's let off once Ala finds a clearing, and she stretches out her wings and back once more before turning into smoke and then a person again. She's got no idea about this place, never having been to Tokyo to recognize any of it, and dungeons are just like this. Spooky and breathtaking. They're pretty great. ]

No clue. Looks safe enough, though. What do you think? Split up or stay together?

[personal profile] parhellia 2020-01-02 04:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Maybe she'll be caught in the middle of something and won't show up; she didn't want to promise either way, seeing as she'd given her omamori to Wei Wuxian who hasn't used it yet and she summons herself whenever she wants. If she can't hear Toki, they're both out of luck.

Ala turns into a dragon and takes off into the air, does a little figure eight in the air before lazily drifting in and out around the buildings looking for Akira, gravitating slightly to the bones but taking her time with it.

Nothing in fifteen, twenty minutes... and then she spots him, and poofs into black smoke so she can reappear by Joroko, immediately wrapping her arms around one of Joroko's legs so she doesn't fall because oh boy this is high up. ]


...I found him!

[personal profile] yokeye 2020-01-02 04:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[Joroko startles at sudden appearance, and weight, of Ala. She loses her footing for a moment, and then they're dangling by a web. Luckily, Joroko left Toki down on the street.]

Where?

[She gets her hold back on the building, and starts climbing down.]

[personal profile] overstrain 2020-01-02 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Akira isn't screaming, and the moment when Akira did come back out, Terry felt himself calmer than before. He doesn't scream either. He gets those reasons, because putting himself in that perspective, he'd probably do the same. If it was Terrence who did that, who's clearly the stronger one, Terry would have done the same, no matter how futile it seemed. He was always the weaker one back home--the bottom feeder, until he was sick of it and wanted power. He got it. It didn't change anything. What a waste. ]

You don't think this world is worth it to you anymore?

[ Because that sure sounds real familiar. Terry looks over at Akira evenly as if to convey that, how their situations are flipped now. ]
reveilation: (100)

[personal profile] reveilation 2020-01-02 05:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She's been trying really hard not to be like that, reaching out and placing her trust in people and all that resulted was Rei's Shadow lashing out at her and the townspeople turning their backs on her and her feeling more alone than ever because the closer she is to people, the larger their problems seem and the less she can help and it all feels so futile and useless and all she can do is grit her teeth and let Joker vent and not have a solution for him. ]

You can keep fighting that battle but still have allies so you're not fighting it alone, because those problems aren't just yours. The world sucks— it feels like everything conspires against you and the moment you find any sort of happiness, it's torn away from you and none of it's fair- you're never strong enough and no matter what you do, people will find a way to scorn you and put you down, and—

[ and she's started shouting, voice pitched and thick and she runs a sleeve over her eyes to wipe away any tears before they start but all that does is break the dam. ]

...And people keep dying, and I can't do anything about it. None of us are enough, not alone. You can't protect Akira all on your own, not from everything. But I still have faith we can make it through this. We're at rock bottom. Either we claw our way up, or this is our grave.

[ That's where her hope comes from: she has no choice but to hope, because if she doesn't believe everybody will be able to get out of this and escape, the only other choice is to roll over and die. ]

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