cetana | [open] i don't have a clever title like haki's but whatever

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[open] i don't have a clever title like haki's but whatever

i. 7/17 (bgm)
[ How did this happen...

Kido loves cats. She really does. But she does not like this one specific cat chasing after her with a knife in its mouth and unrelentingly following her for the past four blocks. Is this karma for not stopping on the street to give it head scratches?? ]

Ugh, stop it!

[ She turns on her heels to confront the cat, stomping her feet on the ground in an effort to scare it into dropping the knife or running away, but all the cat does is prance closer and make stabby moves at her ankles. ]

Drop it right now, cat! You're going to trip and hurt yourself and—

[ slice up her ankles, cool cool cool ]

ii. 7/18-7/21
[ Anywhere around town or the outskirts near the forest or the lake, maybe you're out here enjoying some quiet and alone time watching the crows fly overhead, and then all of the sudden something falls from the sky and it's not quiet and alone anymore and Kido appears out of thin air holding her head and screaming at the sky.

This just sort of happens throughout the next couple of days, an unusual number of crows circling the town and Kido suddenly appearing where there definitely was nobody standing there before, trying to fend off things falling from the sky. Some of them are cool, like an mp3 player or a charger cord, but then there's also an umbrella and after that, Kido starts carrying that around to protect her head from falling objects. It sort of helped with the dartboard except that was really heavy and still hurt, and the three darts that accompanied it punctured the umbrella and now it's useless in the rain.

Another crow lands on her shoulder and drops a stack of bills amounting to ¥10,000 onto her lap. ...The bills get stuffed into her pocket and this crow gets a head pat before it flies off.

But not this last one, who keeps trying to deliver Kido a pair of glasses that she immediately turns and yeets into the middle of the lake. The crow flies over and plucks it out of the water and brings it back before Kido can run away. Maybe it thinks they're playing fetch. Kido does not want this. ]

iii. 7/17-7/22, Lockdown
[ The only reprieve that Kido gets from the weirdly aggressive animals in the town is during Lockdown, when the only birds she has to worry about are the Shadows overhead. Unlike her first few days here, she's much less scared of them than before— not that she's gotten any better or more confident at fighting, but because she does not need to. ]

Hey, let's team up.

[ She makes this request at the school gates, a key swinging on her finger. No more hopping fences. ]

I can guarantee you that we can walk through to the end of this place without being noticed or attacked. If you want to fight, I can guarantee the first strike. But either way, I need others around to discuss what we should do.

[ It's late into the month. Everybody else in the town seems to have slowed to a crawl, this place has not disappeared yet, and a there's also that gate at the very end that they can't get through. They have to do something about this. ]

wc.
[ Contact me at

birdseed for anything you need!

For prompt iii: this can be either a one-on-one thread, or a group of two characters + Kido! Essentially she's getting them through the dungeon by using her canon ability to make them unable to be heard or seen, and then leeching off their kills bc her Persona has growth 3 and can gain experience doing nothing haha ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There was a crow that bartered with a human for a burger where I came from. It was pretty amazing... it made headlines once. But the thing is, our charms have a crow on it too. I thought... maybe it had something to do with it. It can't just be a coincidence, right? The monsters are birds, our charms have birds on them, birds in the daytime do weird stuff... I thought they hoarded things, not give them away.

[ Though Terry can't make any other connections than that, it bothered him enough to tell Kido about it in this kind of situation. He's still following well. ]

Oh. We should go straight at the fork. There are those big gross looking ones blocking the left and right path.

[ The good thing about someone leading him by the hand is that he can space out to use his powers, be quieter than usual, and detect any other roadblocks that may exist. ]

[ Kido hums under her breath, taking her omamori out of her pocket and holding it up. heading straight as instructed without giving either branches another look. There's the crow on the corner, the rest of Kido's omamori a plain black besides the gold thread of the borders and her name and title. ]

...I don't know. At first, I thought it's like how a town with a lot of deer will have deer merchandise, as a symbol of sorts. But there aren't that many birds; they're just weird, or are monsters.

[ It's weird, but if she can't figure anything out about it, it's easier to just accept it and come back to it later once they learn more. ]

What do you think, the person who made these charms lives here?

Hm...

[ It takes a bit longer than usual, and Terry frowns a little. Either the person doesn't exist, or they would have vanished from existence from the world. Terry questions that for a reason: someone, whether that be a god, a ghost, or anything, would have made these charms. Things just don't spontaneously come into being, and even if they were, they were brought to existence by someone or something. He doesn't think they're dead either, because then he could at least locate the body or whatever is left of it.

... ]

It's no good... I'm not getting anything.

[ ...Yeah, she also supposed as much. They have very little to go on, still, at this point, but it does make her think. ]

Terrence, have you ever gone to the very last floor, where that gate is? Are you able to probe around whatever's behind it to know what's there, or do you have to have something specific in mind, first?

Being specific helps! Though I can usually also fish for info, I can only find stuff with it now. Like... physical things. I haven't gone past the second floor though. I usually spent too much time on the first and second floors to help people out...

[ Though a gate sounds pretty cool... and sounds akin to a final boss, just waiting to make its appearance. Well, it's only video game logic anyway. King of the birds also sounds funny, but he won't... comment on that. ]

[ She's going to leave him behind istg. He's still way too casual about this, and in contrast to Kano's stupidity that makes everybody feel at ease, Terry's has the opposite effort of making Kido wonder if he's going to wander off and get himself killed at any given moment. ]

It's good somebody's there to do that. The third floor is... pretty harrowing, to be honest. I've mostly just kept to the stairs and tried not to attract any attention. But if you can tell if there's anything worth venturing out there for, that would be very useful.

Yeah, I'll keep that in mind.

[ At least he's following your directions well, Kido... ]

What's up on the higher floors anyway? Are there tougher monsters up there?

I think so... They get... I don't know how to explain it, but more like people than animals, as if they were people wearing masks. That just makes me think whatever's at the very end has to be the person we're looking for, if the trend continues.

[ Maybe it's a coincidence, she doesn't know; three floors is barely enough to go off of, but maybe she wants to be optimistic because this is the only lead they have. ]

[ Well, Terry isn't here to deny her theory, but it's been quiet. Really quiet. Longer than usual too. Terry has kept his silence this whole time, but-- ]

I wanna see their face under those masks.

[ He is now brimming with excitement and curiosity, but relatively calm enough to keep following Kido while matching her pace. However, whatever is in that head of his, is not. ]

[ Hmm, holding Terry's hand a little tighter now. It's a death grip. ]

...Do you know this saying that goes "let sleeping dogs lie"?

Are you telling me to lie down?

[ He feels that death grip, and he's too used to his friends calling him a dog of some kind, so.

Yeah.

It's an unfortunate reflexive reply. ]

[ If she weren't holding onto him to keep him from running off to punch tengus in the face, she would have covered her face with both hands. She'll have to settle on sighing instead. ]

If means they won't bother us, so long as we keep hidden like this. Engaging them is only bad news, so if that's your plan, it's better if you just lie here. Find a corner to curl up in.

I mean, not now! But eventually! I won't let your hard work go to waste, Kido. I said I wouldn't run off, remember?

[ ... ]

So... can you loosen your hand? I like holding hands and all, but this is... a bit too much...

[ His hand is starting to hurt

tasukete ]

[ No she will not, stopping in place right in the middle of the maze to turn on him. Because that's not what she wants to hear either, that "eventually" Terry is going to run off to face something he doesn't even know if he'll survive. Promising her this right now doesn't mean anything when he's just going to do it the moment her back is turned. ]

What would you even use to fight with, huh? Your dragon? That thing tried to eat you! You were going on before about how the crows on the charm was suspicious and maybe it is— maybe it's bad news and we shouldn't be using it at all!

[ You know what? She has a free hand, and she uses it to poke Terry in the chest. ]

You think you can be reckless because you're "immortal," don't you? But you can't know that you are, not unless you die, and what if you don't survive it? What if it's like how you can't use your powers right, or how I wasn't able to until recently? Even if you don't die, it still hurts— you should know this!

[ He's surprised when Kido turns around and gives him a lecture. He listens to it all, and she's not wrong. That is exactly what enables his recklessness and he honestly never had a clue until now that his immortality was something that could be revoked. And she's exactly right when she says that it hurts every time. It's painful, but there are many times when he thinks the trade-off is worth it. He thought he would have just gotten used to it, becoming a part of his life in Hirajiro now due to... everything.

But the biggest reason why he thinks that his immortality hasn't been revoked, is because he still feels the need to drink blood to extend his lifespan. That fact isn't up for debate, and he has always tied it to his immortality like a condition. Even though there are two people who vaguely know of this fact unwillingly, he's not ready to tell. It's one thing to tell people that he's a demigod clone, but it's another to tell others of his lifespan condition. He hates it, and feels like something will just boil over at this moment, but-- ]

You're right. I'm sorry.

[ He easily concedes, and it doesn't look like he's just doing it to get Kido off his back about it either. His tone and the look on his face clearly reflect that. ]

I meant "eventually" as in if we ever get into a situation where we would have to fight them, but not willingly. I... should have mentioned that earlier.

[ Yeah, he should have. He should think before he speaks and he should think before he acts and Terry being carefree isn't something Kido ever wants to take away from him but she wants him to not die, if that's going to be the end result.

Any stronger grip and she'll be breaking his fingers, so she loosens her grip, and then lets go entirely, letting her hand swing by her side. ]

Damn right you should have.

[ The anger's still in her voice, shaking as she forces herself to be calm. ]

Get it through your head that you've got people who would tear apart the forest looking for you if something happened, so don't go off and do stupid, reckless things anymore.

I...

[ His eyes go wide for a second, then he looks down at the ground. Terry's voice trails off, but he moves closer to Kido to hold her hand with both of his hands as if to anchor him down to this situation, face reality, and not run away. ]

I'm... sorry. I'm sorry.

[ He's not sure what he's feeling right now. He feels happy that he's told that people care about him, fearful that other demigods would suddenly turn up one day to snatch him for a war that he doesn't care about, sad that one day, he'd be stuck while everyone else moves forward. It feels as if he sees a hand reaching out to him in a room full of people, but loneliness was the only thing prevalent in there. He feels like he can leave that room now.

He feels a pressure well up in his head and his eyes water. He hasn't seriously cried since he begged observers that he didn't want to be anything like his original and it doesn't help that he hasn't felt emotionally stable for the past several days (laughs at future regain) ever since the incident. ]

I'll do my best. I... I will.

[ He holds onto Kido's hand tighter, but not enough to hurt. ]

[ She almost pulls her hand away at the touch— but out of surprise, not rejection- anger simmering down to something more self-conscious as she listens to him apologize, words sparse but sincere. Seeing him so close to tears makes her want to cry too and she can't tell why, so instead, she curls her fingers around his hand and reaches up with her other, to pat him on the head, the only real comforting gesture she knows that isn't a hug. ]

I know you will. I said so before, didn't I? I trust you.

[ She can't remember the context, but it holds true. Terry is one of the most troublesome and worrisome people she knows, but he's a good person. A sincere person. And that's really all she needs to trust. ]

[ Terry makes a small noise of confirmation. The head headpat feels nice and honestly, he wants a hug, but he thinks that he shouldn't push it that far. Besides, they're still in a dungeon. With that in mind, one of his hands free itself from Kido's so that he could wipe his eyes with his sleeve. ]

Thanks, Kido. It makes me really happy to hear you say that. I've always trusted you...

[ He looks up and smiles. ]

Let's keep going.

[ Thanks for trusting her even though she almost gets him killed in some capacity every time they meet... ]

Yeah, let's go.

[ But not this time. This time, she's determined to make sure everything goes perfectly fine, because she trusts Terry and she trusts herself and she trusts Rei's map, and it means a lot that she has somebody's hand to hold as solid proof that she's not alone here.

For as many times as she's gone through the maze, it's a quicker process now, even if it's just slightly so. Do the maze properly, and the monsters rarely come at all. It's a silly, unfathomable rule, like how the monsters don't touch the stairwells or the houses in the next floor down, but however ridiculous it is, she'll take it. ]

[ Terry is pretty surprised when everything goes really smoothly in the maze. He only had to direct Kido several times to avoid running into monsters at split paths. Now that he's seen what going through the maze properly does, he definitely won't object to doing it again. Another reason why he couldn't go any further than the second floor was that his energy was pretty spent by the time he found the stairwell to the third floor, so proceeding further would have been dangerous. He can't say no to saving energy like this for the tougher monsters on higher floors should the need arise. He seems pretty satisfied with the result.

And yup, here's the second floor now. The blood splatter is gone from the entrance and it makes Terry wonder if there are janitors around that do magical cleaning. It would be an amusing thought. But he really wishes that the Onmoraki didn't stink so much. The air hardly ever feels fresh here. Not to mention the structures that are constantly on fire that release smoke. ]

Do you have a map for the second floor? It's pretty much an open space, but I can tell you where the monsters may be from our blind spot or something on the map.

[ This is why you don't go fighting every single monster you see... Though, on the flip-side, Kido's Persona is rather weak; it doesn't need to be strong in order to heal, though, and she's hoping it can just leech experience points off everybody else's kills. It works. ]

No map here. At least we can smell those monsters coming from miles away... We'll just need to be aware of our surroundings at all times, and trust me to get us through this floor and the next. Rei got us through the first floor. After this, it'll be your turn. Trying to see what's beyond that gate is something only you can do, at the moment.

[ They'll be fine, she's sure of it. She's made this trip by herself before, and really, an open area is much more reassuring than a closed off space where she can't see everything around her. The monsters don't charge around randomly either, content to pace or lie in wait until they spot something, but they won't. ]

Yeah... alright.

[ His sense of smell is better than his other senses, even without his demigod enhancements, so he just suffers every time he comes to the second floor. He's hoping that the third and fourth floor would be better. Ever since he had his pinpointing power revoked, he felt like he lost a vital part of him, but now that it's slowly coming back to him, it feels weird to suddenly have it back, even though it was only for several weeks. He'd normally have confidence in it, but he doesn't anymore.

Despite that, he's still alert of his surroundings and tells Kido if there are swarms of monsters in a location or if it looks safe to go in a certain direction, and all that. This much is something he can still do, at least. He nearly freezes up for a second upon seeing a chimera ahead, but still continues to diligently follow Kido and stays quiet as they pass it. ]

[ RIP Terry. Kido can just pull her jacket collar up to use as a mask, but she otherwise doesn't make an effort to step quietly or keep quiet in response to questions or directions or any of that, even near the chimera. It's the opposite of being ignored, when you're in a room full of people desperately trying not to be seen; it's standing in a room full of people and no matter what you do, you can't be seen. Both upsetting, for different reasons, but at least this one with useful.

The hood goes down over her eyes once they pass the second set of gates and reach the third floor, and this is the floor that Kido really hates, movements a little stiffer, her grip on Terry's hand a bit tighter. It's fire and ghosts and bad memories all around, and she takes it slow going through here, to allow Terry to get a good look at what's around. The monsters around here— both types of tengus- they all tend to come in groups, travelling in formation almost as if an army.

Good luck getting a mask off one of these things, without being swarmed by half a dozen others. ]

[ Oh.

He gets why Kido would have been concerned now--and all this time, he was thinking about soloing one, not getting mobbed with a bunch of them at once. He was never much an AoE kind of person in any kind of fighting style, so he'll definitely give up on the idea for now. He keeps his grip on Kido's hand strong when he feels her hold tighten as if to reassure her that it'll be fine.

Terry isn't good at making physical maps like Rei, but he's starting to have a general idea of this floor in his mind. The third floor, as a whole, Terry concludes, is an absolute disaster. He's wondering if he's hearing things sometimes, but keeps following Kido. It looks like a wasteland, an area abandoned, forsaken. Blood stained weapons lie here and there... truly terrible. ]

... The voices. [ ... ] They're not coming from real people, right?

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