FEBRUARY EVENT PT 1

[citta]

FEBRUARY EVENT PT 1

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ 2/2 Infodump

Three weeks have passed in the outside world since everybody had first entered the dungeons, and they exit to find themselves back in Hirajiro. It's quiet, late at night, streets dry around both the house and the clubhouse as they all trudge on home. For the rest of the night, everybody is encouraged to sleep, waking up to breakfast and in the late afternoon on the 2nd, an official team meeting is called. This time, there is no enforcement for people to come or stay, and food will be served after the bulk of the discussion is dealt with. Those who care will take things seriously, and those who don't are free to walk away.

To start, each team shares what went on in each respective dungeon.

(click to expand details) From the castle dungeon:
⬥ Room 1: The team finds Rio's, Yamato's, and Kido's omamoris that had been returned to the shrine back on New Years, and allows them to burn.
⬥ Room 2: In a war between Hirajiro and a neighboring town, Terry kills a hundred of the other town's soldiers with a single arrow and saves Hirajiro.
⬥ Room 3: In the aftermath of the war, the townspeople praise the Kotengu for saving them. They say he came to power half a year ago and can strengthen people and bring them back from the dead. In the offertory box in the forest shrine, Cyrus, Sasuke, and Jiro find a scrap of paper.
⬥ Room 4: In the aftermath of the war, Terry, Rei, and Yamato fight through a horde of zombies: the townspeople that Terry killed with his arrows who have been brought back to life- but wrong.
⬥ Room 5: In the aftermath of the war, Minato, Nero, and Red help out the remains of the town that attacked Hirajiro. These townspeople blame themselves for attacking and underestimating the Kotengu's strength. Red falls into ego death.
⬥ Room 6: In a war between the Kotengu and Daitengu, Hirajiro has been destroyed by active earthquakes and rockslides triggered by the Daitengu after the townspeople decide to side with the Kotengu. The team gathers up the remaining townspeople and bring them to safety at the shrine, where the Kotengu spirits everybody away to safety. Cyrus falls into ego death. Sasuke receives a second scrap of paper.
⬥ Final Room: In the boss' chamber, the team is met with the ghosts of all their old teammates lost to ego death and permadeath. Minato fully remembers and explains his contract: he and Souji became Attendants to help their Guests defeat the Daitengu and free to Kotengu, after which the Kotengu will use his powers to bring their team back from death. The Kotengu has the ability to bring people back from the dead and has been doing so for the Persona users. The Daitengu have the ability to shatter people's souls, which is the reason why there are Persona users who permadied and did not revive, and will not reincarnate. To restore these souls, the Attendants planned to use the Kotengu's power to access the Sea of Souls. Sasuke receives a third scrap of paper.
(click to expand details) From the shrine dungeon:
⬥ Room 1: In the main hub, the team meets the ghost of a young human boy who runs away and seals half the doors. In the first room, everybody meets doppelgangers of each person in the team, but defeat them and find a fourth scrap of paper in Souji's doppelganger's bag.
⬥ Room 2: In modern-day Hirajiro, the townspeople turn against the Persona users and burn down the clubhouse. Jiro and Ala fight through the crowd of townspeople who attack them with torches and farming tools and chase the two until they escape into the forest.
⬥ Room 3: During the Kotengu's rise in power, the lake is polluted and turned into a dumping ground for scrap metal and other trash, and only a small handful of people remain who argue against industrialization and the destruction of nature. The townspeople attack and drive away 45, Kido, and the few people who dare to disagree with the Kotengu.
⬥ Room 4: During the Kotengu's rise in power, students learn about weaponsmithing and war tactics instead of the usual subjects like math and science. Souji and Iris meet the boy from the hub. He introduces himself as Hiroto, and agrees to lower the barrier in the main hub.
⬥ Room 5: During the Kotengu's rise in power, the forest around Hirajiro is being cut down to light iron furnaces for smithing weapons. The forest animals are displaced from their homes, and take refuge in the beginnings of the Kotengu's castle, where Akira, Rio, and Wei Wuxian find a fifth scrap of paper.
⬥ Room 6: In modern-day Hirajiro, the team lives out their daily lives believing they are natives to the town, until they pick up on the discrepancies such as the isolation of the town. With brainwashing from the Daitengu, this is the idyllic life they could have, if they choose it over reality.
⬥ Final Room: The team meets Miyamoto-no-Yamazaki, who reveals he was originally human and went by the name Hiroto. Daitengu can be born as a Daitengu, as in the case of the previous three Daitengu, or they can be born as a human and turn into one, as in Hiroto's case. In the middle of the discussion, Jiro goes into anaphylactic shock and Hiroto sends everybody out of the dungeon, saying that every time one of them dies and is revived, their soul becomes more and more corrupted. He will reopen the dungeon on the 3rd for the whole team to come back. Jiro falls into ego death.

For the sake of refreshing everybody's memories, Akira and Kido then go over everything they have learned about this world and how it's time to make a decision for how to bring everything to an end.

The Kotengu and Daitengu vied for power in the past, with the Daitengu being guardians of nature and peace and the Kotengu bringing war and advancement. The Kotengu was sealed away but has the power to bring in people from other worlds and make them Persona users. The last group include Minato and Souji, whose entire team was killed except for Minato: he was saved by the Kotengu, and signed a contract promising to lead the new Persona users to kill the Daitengu and free the Kotengu. In return, he and Souji were made into Attendants, and upon completion of the contract, the Kotengu will restore their team's shattered souls and bring them back to life.

Supported by multiple sources, the ofuda door in the castle is their way home. Both teams have been gathering up torn parts of the same ofuda, with five pieces out of six in their possession, and one more piece will complete the last ofuda needed to go home. All the ofudas, complete and incomplete, are given to Akira for safekeeping. As the Kotengu controls the passage, they may be able to open the door and leave without fighting, while the Kotengu is busy fighting the last Daitengu. If they stay and fight the Kotengu as originally planned, however, they must be aware that 1) the Kotengu may be able to seal the omamori he created, and 2) each time somebody is brought back to life by the Kotengu, he corrupts their souls. In the past, Souji and the rest of his team were able to summon their Personas without a medium like Minato's team required, and Souji promises to help figure out the mechanics so they no longer require the omamori. As for the second point... there's already been too many casualties, and it's unclear what corruption means, only that it terrified Hiroto.

Along with whether to kill the Kotengu (somehow) or forge a deal with him, they must decide on what to do with the last Daitengu. If they kill Hiroto, it's hinted that the Daitengu will never truly disappear from the world because humans with high spiritual energy may turn into Daitengu. Souta, the grandson of the occult shop owners, is a prime candidate for this, and the town may never be free of a Daitengu's influence. For those who want to stay in Hirajiro when everything is over, the world may retain its prison system and constantly try to boot any remaining Persona users out unless Hiroto or another Daitengu can rework the system.

And then there's the Sea of Souls, the possibility of bringing everybody back to life— Mondo and Hibiki and Naoya and all the dozens upon dozens of people who were dragged into this war against their will. Shattered souls, corrupted souls, they could all be saved. All this time, ever since they arrived here in the summer, the team battled for their lives and their freedom against the Daitengu and the Kotengu, pledging to kill the fucking birds and forge their own paths. But they need the Kotengu to go home. They need the Daitengu to stay in Hirajiro. It isn't so easy to drop the convictions they've poured so much into already. What shall they do?

Tomorrow, they speak with Hiroto, and make their first decision of whether to work together, or make a stand and fight.

→ 2/3 - 2/29 Around Town

Outside of the hidden hour, life goes on... Bundled up in coats and scarves, the townspeople flock outside for much of the month, catching up with each other and going shopping together, turning to the Persona users with warm smiles and exclamations that they're glad to see everybody recovered from their illnesses too— they've all been gone for weeks, after all, presumably stuck at home with the sniffles. The patients in the clinic have all started to recover over the past few weeks, with a little garden of medicinal plants started beside the community center now that there is no danger of frost, and construction is already underway to rebuild the hospital building.

For Setsubun on the 3rd, little bags of roasted soybeans and samples of ginger sake for the adults are given out in the marketplace, and at the mountain shrine, priests pass out sweets and small toys and envelopes of money to those who make the trek to the peak. Young men wearing nothing but loincloths parade around the lake before plunging into the freezing water for "purification." Tiny daruma with blank eyes are sold to grant wishes— daruma are so weird: you give the doll the gift of sight by painting in just one eye, write your wish down on its back, and then withhold filling in the other eye until the doll grants your wish through some mystical power. The townspeople believe in this sort of stuff, okay. But none of the townspeople seem to be able to see summoned Personas anymore, and when asked or shown anything out of the ordinary, the townspeople laugh and say you're silly, turning their attention back to the festivities. In the evening, a bonfire is raised by the lakefront with a stage set up next to it for musical performances, historical reenactments and dramas, and dancing all through the night until morning comes with the arrival of spring.

And sure enough, by morning, the snow has all melted, the sun shining brightly in a clear blue sky, though the air is crisp and the nights still get cold. Several townspeople have been hard at work building rowboats, which can be rented to paddle out into the lake, the water so clear one can see several meters into the depths where schools of freshwater fish now swim about, and birds can be seen floating on the surface until a boat comes too close and scares them away. At the community center, a soup kitchen has been set up by a group of volunteers, with hot stews and freshly baked bread served in a large room filled wall to wall with tables and benches, the townspeople enjoying lunches and dinners together with donations going towards the hospital and covering the costs of patients so no one needs to worry about affording treatment. The illness has abated and winter has ended, hope alight on each person's face.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ A lot of the information detailed in the infodump has been repeated ad nauseam over the course of the game, but is presented here for summary and completion, and so all characters will fully understand the situation and can make an informed decision about the ending. The team meeting does not have to the played out unless people are interested or have something they want to discuss.
⬥ The encounter with Hiroto on 2/3 will be threaded out in the toplevel below. Whether Hiroto lives or dies will be determined by the characters volunteering to talk to him, and they will receive the last ofuda piece from him regardless of their decision.
⬥ The townspeople have reverted back to their previously oblivious state regarding Personas or anything supernatural.
⬥ This month, the full moon occurs on 2/8 - 2/10, when Personas are stronger but more difficult to control. This is an optional mechanic.

Comments

[overstrain]

[ It's so easy to see that happen... Terry sighs and scratches Minato's scalp a little with his fingertips. Here's that scalp massage you hate. ]

You always want to sleep... you don't want to talk or anything?

[compendiem]

[ No... Instead of leaning away, Minato leans further, until Terry's forced to hold up his entire weight or let him fall and flop onto his lap. ]

Not... really. No. I'm not in some emotional turmoil over anything.

[ He's never had to talk. All his time making social links, he was the listener, felt good about his role as a listener, and Souji rarely ever forces him to talk about anything— and Minato is very good at changing the subject when the time does come to talk. ]

If I had something to talk about, I'd go to you or Souji, though. [ ... ] Probably Souji.

[overstrain]

[ He doesn't mind Minato leaning in further, but he doesn't stop him from falling off his side and landing on his lap. It's easier to pet him like this too, so this is fine. ]

Souji's right here, so that makes sense. The one time when you made effort to come to me was at three in the morning and left right away after telling me stuff.

[ He turns Minato to the side and gets out a silver earpick from his pocket. ]

[compendiem]

[ Minato grabs Terry's wrist to intercept that earpick, because where do you think you're stabbing that, mister?? ]

I needed to tell somebody right away or I'd forget... Everybody else was asleep, so I came to you. Also I was hungry.

[ 45 was probably right there in the Velvet Room, but Minato didn't want to bother her. Anybody else would have been mad at him for barging into their rooms at three in the morning, so it had to be Terry. ]

[overstrain]

[ "If you love me, you'll let me do this" would be something Terry would say jokingly, but he's a little scared of the consequences of saying it. So it'll remain unsaid. Terry tries to wiggle his wrist out of Minato's hold though. ]

You had a bunch of other people... but I guess this is what our relationship is.

[ Friends who don't really care about bothering each other--the earpick just goes to his other hand because he has two and he has Minato lying down on his side. ]

[compendiem]

[ Would Minato willingly go deaf for the sake of love? We'll never find out, but he does reach out and grab Terry's other wrist so both of them are trapped in his grasp. ]

I don't. Nobody else cares but you.

[ About a lot of things. Important things, little things, even Minato himself, it feels like sometimes. ]

[overstrain]

[ Terry thinks there are a ton of people who would have appreciated the information, but not at three in the morning. It's a little sad hearing that from Minato and he doesn't bother getting his hands out of his grip on both wrists. At least the earpick stays in one of his hands this time. ]

People are info-hungry, so you really could have told anyone...

[ Oh well. Terry won't push it any further. ]

I stopped gathering information though. So if there's still a point in gathering them, it won't have to be me.

[ Though he feels like it's almost the end. Does it even matter at this point? Terry doesn't think it does. He looks down at Minato and shakes his leg a little to bounce Minato's head a little. This is kinda fun... ]

[compendiem]

[ Those people will just have to submit for plot clues if they want anything more from Minato, who makes a mental note to bother Terry more at three in the morning, because here he is with a headache and Terry is bouncing his head. ]

You basically know everything you need to, now. If I forget to say anything later, it's 'cause you're rattling it out of my skull.

[ He does sort of a half sit-up to get his head out of the way, but it's too difficult to maintain, so he lets his head drop again, pulling Terry's hands down so both of theirs can rest on top of Minato's stomach. ]

...But this is it. You guys have the key, and you can leave whenever. I still need to get my senpai back, but that's my own business.

[overstrain]

[ It may be his business that hinges with the other people's business, but maybe that doesn't matter to Minato, seeing his conviction in the dungeon and all. Terry isn't here to persuade him otherwise and stops shaking his leg. It was fun while it lasted. ]

I guess they'll be available to leave if they're still alive by then.

[ Even to Terry, it's a little... yeah. The group does not have a good track record. ]

[compendiem]

[ It's his business... The ideal end for Minato is for the Kotengu to send him and/or Souji into the Sea of Souls, and then the rest of them can kill the Kotengu if that's what they want to do— he has no delusions of surviving the Sea and leaving unscathed, and given his connection with the Kotengu, he suspects he'll be more of a danger to everybody else if he does stay and participate in their fight.

He's died so many times, in past lives, he's practically the Kotengu's puppet at this point. ]

Just them, huh?

[ He reaches up, tips of his fingers brushing Terry's cheek, almost as if caressing his face. And then they curl and he pokes Terry on the side of the face. ]

If they die, I'll bring them back. If I can't, I'll guide their souls. Thanatos... Death... a part of me will always be in the Sea of Souls making sure everybody's taken care of. ...What's going to happen to you?

[ Mister demigod clone with no soul? ]

[overstrain]

I dunno.

[ He doesn't mind the face touching because he doesn't think anything of it. Terry thinks a little about it. ]

If I die, that's that. You can't bring something back when it's gone, and not merely being shoved into the sea. It feels surreal sometimes to think that I can actually die when I usually handle things like getting pierced through my gut, blasted with Megidolaons, and other incidents that might as well get me killed if I was a normal person.

[ But then his body is like HEY YOU NEED TO DRINK SOME BLOOD ]

[compendiem]

It's funny.

[ He pulls his hand back, letting it drop on his stomach before rolling over onto his side so he's staring at the back of the couch instead of up at Terry. ]

Humans are reborn— their souls are reborn, and they're always improving, in every life that they life, even if they don't remember past lives. But gods disappear... [ That's it for them. Even if they aren't killed, if nobody is left to believe or remember a god, they disappear, and so many of those strange and powerful creatures made into Personas are only so because they're remembered by humans; humans give them their shape, their power, their existence. ]

You're sorta a god... like... thing. Maybe one day, long after you're gone, you'll be deified and reborn into the Sea of Souls... Would you hate that?

[overstrain]

[ Terry makes a face at that because he was already deified back home. He doesn't want to experience that again and be sucked out of resting in peace of nonexistence just to be someone's Persona. ]

I'd hate it a lot. I don't know how that works since I don't have a soul, and when I die, I'm gone forever. People don't want to die because they have so much they want to do. I'm done with that. I'm fine with going after my family is gone.

[compendiem]

[ Yeah, he thought so. Too bad Kido's adopting Hiroto who will also never die unless somebody attacks and kills him, so he, Terry, and Orien are just going to have to live forever no matter what. ]

It won't really be you... Personas are more like ideas. Like how gods were usually created by people... What they believe that being is like, is how they get their powers. It's why the Daitengu and Kotengu are strong. It's why Belphegor's sitting on a toilet instead of a throne.

[ Will a Terry Persona be a cruel and ruthless demon, or a kind and benevolent god? It's up to the people who remember him. It doesn't matter at all. Terry will be long gone by then, so he won't care. ]

If there'e going to be a final battle, I'll be there for it. Otherwise... come say bye to me before we part ways, alright?

[overstrain]

[ People were always split about Terry being their savior of harbinger of ruin, so he wonders briefly on how that would go if it came to it. As long as he doesn't have to be here to see it, he thinks that will be fine.

He wiggles his wrists out of Minato's hands and mindlessly plays with Minato's hair, running his fingers through the strands. ]

Yeah. I'll be sure to.

[ He smiles a little and continues to pat Minato's head as if trying to lull him to sleep. ]

[compendiem]

[ Maybe he'll be two Personas, like Lucifer and Satan. It doesn't matter. Terry will be dead, and Minato will also be locked into one final role where he can finally let go of everything and embrace unconsciousness. His happy ending. Make amends with his senpai, ensure Souji will go back to Nanako, say goodbye to his one friend, and then die.

It would be a nice end to his journey. ]

Mm. Night, Terrence.

[ He lets his eyes slide closed, and body relax on Terry's lap. ]

The second leg of my journey was interesting, 'cause of you. I'm grateful for that. ...I really do love you.

[overstrain]

[ That would be an ideal ending. If Terry knew, he would hope for it too. He'd miss Minato when they part, because he was an important part of his journey here too.

Terry sighs, looking exasperated for a split second before wryly smiling. His face does turn slightly red, even though the declaration of love came from Minyato "million girlfriends and souji" Nyarisato. Maybe this guy will get some chocolate on Valentine's day from Souji. If anything, Terry will give chocolate to everyone. ]

Call me Terry...

[ He laughs a little and continues to run his fingers through Minato's hair. ]

Sweet dreams, Minato.

[ Still, it's nice to be loved. ]