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AUGUST EVENT PT 2

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→ 8/13-8/15 Obon Festival

Lanterns start to dot the streets, hung by the front door of each house who still have an able body to hang them. From there, the lights spread outward, neighbors visiting neighbors with lanterns in hand and prayers in their hearts that the light will be enough to guide the spirits of their ancestors home, enough to heal their loved ones and bring the health and energy back into town.

The first day of Obon passes in silence.

On the second day, the oppressive heat starts to lift, skies clear with a cool breeze that passes through the streets and rocks the lanterns at each door, which opens as people trickle out onto the street. By late afternoon, the entire town is alive with chatter and laughter, the townspeople bustling about to get their late start in setting up the festival stalls and the large stage set on the lakeside in front of the school. Some of the missing have started turning up again, with claims of having recovered from illness or returned from a trip, and more than that, visiting relatives are introduced to one another despite no car or plane ever seen entering or leaving the town. With most businesses closed for the Obon holiday, the second day is spent catching up with one another, making last-minute purchases and renting yukata, and finishing preparations so that both the spirits of their ancestors and those who have become well enough again may celebrate with all in full. By the end of the night, everybody has returned, the town restored.

Loud drumming can be heard the morning of the third day, taiko drum performances starting early and lasting late into the evening. The steady beat fills the air no matter where in town you are, but standing right in front of the stage, it can be felt in your chest, as if the entire town's hearts beat as one. Though less compared to during the tanabata festival, stalls are set up for Obon and largely consist of games and shops selling toys and trinkets, food stalls focusing on small treats rather than meals. With the taiko performance in the background to keep the rhythm, folk dances are held on the stage and in the parks and are open to anybody, participants being pulled in from the streets to join the circles to dance. Traditional clothing like yukata can be seen worn by almost everybody, from young children to great-grandparents, as they gather around the lake at sundown to say farewell to the spirits. Lanterns are lit and sent off into the lake, where they gather at the center and burn bright until there's nothing left to burn, and the town settles into warm, sleepy darkness.

When night falls and the townspeople begin to clean up, retrieve the lanterns, and go home, the breeze picks up a little, soft and cool, cutting paths throughout town much like the freezing gusts of winds that first Lockdown night. Rather than to the schoolhouse, however, the wind gently nudges you towards the forest, towards the edge of forest blocked by caution tape to keep people out of scorched earth and blackened trees. Only one lantern is left untouched, hanging on a tree branch just before this forest fire site, fallen trees cleared out to widen the path, that leads into the forest.

Soon, the full moon hangs high in the sky, shining its light straight down onto the castle ruins below.

→ 8/15 Castle Ruins and the Shrine

Carried along by the breeze that winds through the streets and blows down this path, finding your way through the forest becomes simple, and soon the trees part to reveal the castle ruins hidden away inside the forest -—at least, what used to be castle ruins. The changes come unexpected and instantly, in a blink of an eye during the day for those who still live in the castle, and a sight to behold for those who haven't returned in a long time until tonight.

Entering the castle reveals a repaired foundation and pillars which stand whole again, stairs to the second floor still broken but with all the rubble underneath cleared away, the air inside the castle no longer choking with dust. In the main hall, red candlesticks line the perimeter of the room, the glow of fire illuminating the murals that have shown up on previously blank walls, images faintly visible under a layer of yellow mildew. If you carefully scrub them clean, they depict a small village surrounded by farmland, a familiar lake at the center, flocks of crows adorning the skies with one large crow standing on the peak of the mountain overlooking the town.

At the center of the castle's main hall, a mother bear and two cubs can be seen snoozing in the middle of the room, sleeping next to a meter-by-meter square that has been cut into the stone ground. If you can get the bears to leave or are brave enough to approach without waking them up, you will see that hinges on one edge suggest it to be a door, but there is no handle and no way to lift the panel, nor can the door or the surrounding area be damaged no matter how hard you try. Upon closer inspection, there are four impressions on each corner of the door matching the size and shape of the ofuda received as a reward for defeating the dungeon boss, currently in RO's possession. Placing the ofuda on one of the slots causes the edges of the door to glow bright blue for a second before the light disappears, and the ofuda turns to stone, just like the door and the castle around them. Nothing more seems to happen after, the other three impressions remaining exactly the same.

All throughout the night, the candles burn along the perimeter of the hall, one hundred in total that cast the room in warm light. Whether you remember the fortune teller's words or are simply chatting with one another and catching up on all that's happened during your time here, each time a story is shared, a light blows out, leaving the castle dimmer and dimmer as the night goes on. The darker it gets, the more restless you begin to feel, Personas becoming more agitated and prone to lash out as the clock ticks closer to midnight. Those who choose to take a walk to the shrine to cool their heads find that the shrine looks different from before too, revealing unbroken steps, a thoroughly swept floor, stone lanterns whole instead of crumbled and broken, and the water basin filled to the brim with clear water that almost seems to sparkle in the moonlight— a far cry from how broken down the abandoned shrine appeared just a month before. There's still work to be done, however: in particular, the sign- restored and painted over in pure white so that it looks almost new- still displays no name. The paint is still a little wet, so perhaps somebody is just waiting for the paint to dry...

The night seems to drag on, but as long as people keep talking, no matter where they are in the castle or at the shrine, the candle lights continue going out until they count down to zero.

→ 8/15 Welcome to the Velvet Room

When the last of the candles go out and the castle plunges into complete darkness, a bright blue light begins to shine from beside the throne, taking on the form of a doorway set into the wall. Without fanfare, two figures step out, the taller with silver hair and a kind face, and the other with golden eyes that peek past long bangs to squint at everybody inside the castle. ...The latter immediately turns around back through the doorway to leave his partner to explain things to everybody here, who takes a seat on the throne as if he belongs there all along. If you have questions, come talk to this guy; but otherwise, there's nothing stopping you from going through the doorway to follow after the other one.

This isn't the only doorway that opens up: blue light shines between the pillars of the torii at the shrine, and similar doorways appear scattered throughout town to replace your bedroom door, the bathroom stall in a store you've run into for an emergency, set into the wall in an alleyway where there was no door before, even at the first floor of the school dungeon if for whatever reason you're there. Regardless of which door you enter, stepping through any doorway brings you into a small room, a bowl of fresh fruit and a bottle of some sort of non-alcoholic mixed drink in a bucket of ice sitting on the table in the middle of the room, two chairs flanking the table and a plush velvet couch against one wall. The ground shakes and rocks as you look around, curtains pulled aside to reveal inky blue darkness, spots of light floating past the windows out in the distance like stars. Each person arrives in their own room, a placard with their name and arcana set on the door labelling it theirs.

Down the end of the hall, the door opens up into a brightly lit lounge, wide windows set along the walls although the landscape outside remains as dark as ever. The lounge is filled with chairs and couches covered in the same blue velvet as the rooms and music seems to fill your entire being rather than just your ears. Passing through the door at the end of the lounge brings you to the conductor's cab where a young man sits, changed out of his costume into a more formal uniform in dark blues with a train engineer cap pulled low over closed eyes, slouched far back on his seat with his feet up on the control panel. Despite all that, however, the train simply zips along, the rail just barely visible from the front window of the cab. The attendant tilts his head your way, looking rather irritable, silent until you speak first.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ As a reminder, characters are more likely to lose control of their Personas around the time of the full moon (8/15) but this can also occur at any time, especially with internal conflict and during Lockdown. This is an optional mechanic. Personas will also temporarily disappear once the character enters the Velvet Room.
⬥ The two Velvet Room assistants will have their own top-levels below for those who wish to speak with them in this log, and they may be contacted at the NPC contact page at any time as well. The NPC contact page will serve as an "IC inbox" for the characters to freely interact with the attendants to ask questions, receive and fill requests, hang out, etc. Please read this page carefully for more information about accessing the Velvet Room.
⬥ While each attendant may have individual requests for those who ask for them, they will also give tasks for the characters as a whole. These general requests will be listed on the NPC contact page at the beginning of each month. Successful completion of a request will earn characters rewards, and there is no time limit for completion.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Clearly, Terry's looped around to an entire alternate universe and this is just AU Kido who rubs her sleeves over her eyes and looks at Terry with the utmost hope and relief— because of course, Terry would be the one person who could find Ayano in a heartbeat with his pinpointing powers. She is definitely putting both hands on either side of his arms and gripping his sleeves tight so he can't escape. ]

Can you? She wears a bright red scarf, has long black hair, and is a bit shorter than me... Is there any other information you need to be able to find her?

... A name would be good.

[ Though from the tone of his voice, it's not like the usual way he talks to Kido, if she can pick up on that. It sounds like he's trying to be polite to a stranger--someone who he doesn't know.

From her grip though, he can tell that she's pretty desperate to find whoever she's looking for. This girl must have lost her sister (ha) in the crowd or something. ]

[ That's exactly it, and Kido- doesn't let go of him because she can't let him run away- but at least loosens her grip a little once it's more apparent that he's willing to help. Maybe he just sounds reserved because she's being alarm, that's fair. ]

Ayano Tateyama. She was... 16? With red hairclips on the left side, she never goes out without those.

[ Terry didn't ask, but whatever... Kido assumes that any extra information would make it easier. ]

[ That age bit makes Terry question things, because the way she worded it sounded odd. But he'll keep it down in favor of getting to work. He looks around from where he stands, something he usually does when he uses his powers in front of a stranger who doesn't know how his powers work, so that it doesn't really look like he's pulling an answer out of nowhere. He tilts his head for a bit and. Hm.

That's... strange... His powers are telling him that she doesn't exist in the world.

... ]

Sorry, I don't think... I can find anyone like that.

[ Any stranger would put Terry into a headlock for just standing around and apparently only pretending to look instead of actually running around to see, but Kido lets her arms drop to her side and gives him time. ]

...Try harder. She's wearing a white dress, and she was always kind and smiling, and...

[ And she has to be here. ]

There's no way I could mistake her for anybody else. I know I saw her.

[ Which would really follow into him helping them look himself, really... but the fact that she doesn't do that makes him want to try again. Also because she looks so much like Kido and doesn't want to see her make that face, so.

He tries again.

And again.

And again...

They all end up with the same result:

Ayano Tateyama does not exist in this world.

...

Terry has been quiet this whole time since he's trying to rack his brain for results that will never come. It's been a good two minutes of solid silence from him, before he speaks up. ]

I'm sorry, Miss... I don't think I can find her.

[ ...The longer she waits, the harder she has to cling onto hope, the more it seems to slip away from her. Ayano was here. There's no way Kido's mind would play tricks on her like that, especially so long after her death, and she could so vividly see the way Ayano smiled at her, the way she would raise an arm in the air and wave wide arcs to get her attention, the way she just... is.

It's so unfair. This is possibly the only world in which Kido could see any of her dead family members ever again, and she's being teased like this. It's not fair, and she should never have gotten her hopes up that she would see her sister again and take her home so she'll be safe and sound with the people who so desperately miss her- who need her- and Kido can feel her eyes grow hot and wet again out of the sheer disappointment of it all. ]

...why are you calling me that? It's weird. Stop it.

[ ... ... ...

Does this person know him? Terry's eyes grow a little wide, but then he immensely feels bad seeing her about to cry. ]

... Well, I don't know your name.

[ ... ]

Come on, I'll go help you find her in person.

[ She doesn't move at all, just stares up at Terry in concern— with hurt and betrayal and confusion. ]

Did you hit your head or something? If you're teasing me, you will regret it.

[ She will not hesitate to sock you in the stomach for pulling the amnesia act, Terry. ]

I wouldn't really tease you when you look like you're about to cry... I mean, you do remind me of someone, but there's no way she would be here right now.

[ Even her attitude is the same! Wow. This really is some high quality crafted AU. Maybe it's a mirror town of Hirajiro. Or maybe he's the original and the real Terry is bleeding out somewhere in the forest. Who knows. Suddenly Doppelganger Town.

Terry scratches the side of his head for a bit. ]

Then can you give me your name?

[ He doesn't look like he's joking either. ]

[ Kido scowls and steps forward to sock Terry in the stomach. She warned you, bro. ]

[ Unfortunately for Kido, Terry still doesn't think she's... actually Kido. lmao. So he easily catches her fist before it hits his stomach. Wow! If it was so easy, why didn't he do it before on all those times?! Reasons. ]

Hey... if you don't want to give me your name, you could just say so. You two are so alike, I wonder if you're related. Maybe a long lost twin or something.

[ Terry could have died so many less times if he didn't let Kido punch him so yeah, why

Kido wrenches her hand back and crosses her arms in front of her, scowl not letting up an inch. As if she has a long lost twin. Surprise, Kido!! Another sister you didn't know existed. ]

The hell are you going on about? You know my name, Terrence.

[ ... ... ...

He gulps. ]

K-Kido?! It's actually you? Like, seriously? For real?!? How did you get here?! This isn't Hirajiro!

[ Which means... OH NO, HE MADE HER UPSET. Well, he always makes her upset in some way, but he didn't want to make her cry, oh my god. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ]

I'm sorry! I didn't think it was you--

[ You know. Despite looking like Kido, acting like Kido, sounding like Kido.

His sometimes working brain cell probably got lost in the forest on his way back. ]

[ ////////:

He really did hit his head. Kido doesn't look any more sympathetic, though, scoffing and dead-eyeing him. ]

Who else would it be... And this is Hirajiro. What, did you get lost in the woods and turned around that much? Got attacked by another raccoon? Come here.

[ She motions for him to step closer. ]

Well, no... I kept going north though. There's no way I could have come back this early...

[ Terry steps closer to Kido despite everything anyway. ]

[ She places a hand on his forehead. Moves her hand to the top of his head. The sides.

She's checking for a fever or evidence of any bumps or cuts or anything bleeding that suggests traumatic brain injury because Terry sure is talking nonsense. ]

[ I totally forgot to mention this, but he's wearing a navy blue cap on his head that covers most of the bandages wrapped around his forehead lmao... That sure won't help. He also has bandages around his neck too. ]

I'm fine! I didn't hit my head!! [ kido, gesturing to terry's head: what the fuck terrence ]

I went off to search for my original, but I couldn't cover all the area! I flew over the forest with Vassago and I kept going north! Just north. But there were nothing but trees and mountains and I thought I finally reached another town, but you're saying it's Hirajiro and that doesn't make sense! I wouldn't be traveling the world in about four days! And I'm sure the world isn't just trees!

[ lmfao Kido pats his head over the cap, it's fine, surely he must have hit his head hard enough that she can feel it through a hat. She can definitely feel the bandages and just chalks up the rest of Terry's words as being lies. ]

Uh huh. And did you get enough to eat and sleep over those four days, Terrence?

[ Are you delusional from hunger or the lack of sleep? This would make sense too. ]

[ Everything about Terry to Kido feels like boy who cried wolf lmao

Terry looks undeniably frustrated at the fact that Kido won't believe him though. ]

I did! I ate well and slept well while traveling! I literally just came here like ten minutes ago, Kido! Then I saw you looking all beautiful and then I was sad that I couldn't help you! And now you're saying you won't believe me!! Besides, I got these bandages from my fight with Mondo--you can ask Rei about that too! She'll tell you the same thing!!

[ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ]

[ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?????

Kido's not going to ask Rei anything or even remember what he said about fighting Mondo, because she's still caught up in the surprise of him calling her beautiful that she just. reaches up to slap both hands over his face so he can SHUT UP and save her the trouble of covering her own face. ]

Ow!

[ Terry's still feeling frustrated, so he'll just. Pry Kido's hands off his face. ]

I'm not done talking!!

Yes you are! Stop talking!!!

[ Shut upppppppp
she doesn't want to hear any more lies!!!!! ]

No!! At least hear me out!! This is unfair!!

[ THIS IS DISCRIMINATION!!! ]

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ 8/13-8/15 Obon Festival

→ 8/15 Castle Ruins and the Shrine

→ 8/15 Welcome to the Velvet Room

→ MOD NOTES

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