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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

[ Flying through the air is cool and all, but Minato doesn't want to get stabbed by tree branches, so he just summons Mara again so it can break their fall. They'll be saved by Mara's loving embrace. ]

[ Terry just screams again

His throat is going to be hoarse after this encounter. He hates this. Why is this his life. ]

[ Mara is very warm and squishy. Minato gives the Persona a pat once his feet touch ground again, and since Terry is currently having a blue screen of death moment, Minato reaches up with their joined hands so Terry can pet Mara too. ]

Stop that!!

[ Terry is so done with these two--oh, Souji is unconscious. He thought these two were some all powerful beings, so it's weird to see one of them knocked out. ]

[ Terry will just... take his free hand back while internally crying. ]

Do I still have to hold your hand while I go kill the bear?

[ He can lift them with no problems, but inertia is a thing and they might get in the way. ]

[ Souji's fine. It looks kind of uncomfortable, the way he'd fallen, but Minato makes no move to readjust his limbs. ]

No, you don't have to. It'd be cool, though.

[ Terry doesn't have to but Mara is right there looming over his head, so it'd be really cool if he said yes. ]

[ HE HATES THIS. SO MUCH.

Terry can't ignore Mara looming over and he clicks his tongue, scowling. ]

Don't blame me if you get cut up with the bear.

[ He breathes out and just drags the two attendants along with him like it's no big deal and walks in the forest with a direction in mind. ]

[ Minato is having the time of his life today. ]

I won't.

[ At least Minato trots off on his own two feet, unlike Souji who needs to be dragged along like dead weight. ]

We can let Souji sleep somewhere nearby, so you don't have to lug him around. You don't have to worry about me getting hurt, even up close.

That's fine. I'll just pick him up when we're done, even if he wanders off.

[ Pinpointing sure is handy. Terry still can't summon Vassago right now, because he's still throwing a hissy fit over extended dragon taxi hours, so he unclips the sheathe of the kitchen knife in his pocket and pulls out the knife. ]

And is that because you got all those Personas with you?

Hmm, yeah. Since you've got that knife, I don't have to worry about being stabbed.

[ Bear claws... they're probably about the same thing, maybe. ]

Would a sword be easier for you to use than a knife? A kitchen knife's sort of...

[ lame ]

I've never used a sword before. This kitchen knife is all I need.

[ Terry glances over at Minato like "you wanna have a knife vs sword sparring session or what". ]

We can put him against the tree here. A bear is pretty close, but it's the only one around, so we'll take that one.

[ He'd probably have one, if Terry wanted to fight, but Minato's not about that proactive life, so he just shrugs. Everybody has their personal preferences when it comes to weapons, after all. Terry can have his knifes and ...coat-hangers or whatever. ]

Sure. [ ... ] If I'm really in the way, you can say so. You don't have to let Mara-chan scare you.

[ If he has to, he'd even use paper...

Though, Terry makes a face at that. ]

How can it not scare me? I was fucking terrified in there with them looming over me. I'm probably going to have nightmares for weeks.

[ He lets out a pretty big sigh. Time to dump Souji at the tree and locate the nearest bear. ]

You aren't scared of Vassago, though... Being scared of Mara-chan's kinda weird.

[ He lets Terry lead him along by the hand, while he looks this way and that through the trees, not really interested in the stray cats here and there, but his eyes do linger on the mice and other small rodents. ]

[ ...

No comment on Vassago as usual. ]

Is it really that weird? I think that's pretty normal...

[ Seriously, who wouldn't freak out upon seeing Mara?? Especially if they're not used to their presence. Besides, what would a giant dick in a chariot mean for you if you have it as a Persona?? Terry has so many questions, but he's easily distracted by the bear in sight.

He doesn't even bother to hide his presence or anything and just straight up launches the kitchen knife at its eye. It's most likely because the bear already knows he's there from his cinnamon identifier, so there's no time to waste. The giant bear roars, trying to shake the knife from his eye, but Terry zooms in with Minato in tow, and delivers an axe kick down at its head.

...

That sound sure was loud. ]

... Did I overdo it...?

[ He mutters to himself as he looks down at the dead bear. ]

[ Obviously, it just means Minato is a giant dick, having a Persona like Mara.

Of maybe he's just fearless, stepping off the ground as soon as his feet touch down so it's like flying through the air with how fast Terry moves; Minato definitely appreciates a front row experience like this.

The battle is quick and brutal— efficient is the word Minato would use to describe it- and he awards Terry by letting go of his hand so Minato can golf clap his congratulations. ]

No mercy, huh? You can be pretty cool sometimes, Terrence.

[ Oh, Minato let go of his hand. He doesn't plan to run off though. Normally, he'd be happy about being called cool, but he can't tell whether it's genuine or sarcasm coming from Minato. ]

Thanks.

[ He says it anyway.

Terry bends over to pick up the kitchen knife. It's pretty messy with blood, but he flicks it in a different direction and voila. Somehow clean knife! It no longer has blood on it, so that's something. He puts it back in its sheathe and puts it in his pocket.

Oh.

Now that he thinks about it... ]

Do you guys even have a kitchen in that train...?

[ It's... something. Haha.

Minato keeps his hands in his pockets, apparently expecting Terry to carry both the bear and Souji back somehow. ]

Yeah, there's a kitchen. Nothing super big or fancy, though. Think it's easier to just chop it up here and take back the pieces?

[ Terry expected to be doing that, so it's really no problem for him. ]

It would be, but I don't have a bag to put it all in. You're probably not going to carry bloody meat either.

Why do we need a bag when we have a dick chariot?

[ Terry's right that Minato doesn't really want to carry bloody meat though, yeah ]

[ ... ... ...

You know what, Minato is absolutely right. Terry gets out the kitchen knife again without its sheathe and immediately starts hacking it into pieces. The bones aren't a problem if Terry can just break them, right...

By some miracle, there are no bloodstains on his clothes all the while he's doing it. He must have done this a lot huh... ]

[ Terry must be some sort of seasoned mass murderer, Minato nods to himself as he summons Mara while he lets Terry do his thing. There's some space up front for the meat, and the three of them can ride in the back next to Mara. It'll be a tight squeeze, but there's nothing wrong with being intimate with your Persona. ]

[ My Mass Murderer Guest Cannot Possibly be This Stupid, a novel written in Cetana, for the Cetana people.

It takes a while, but Terry eventually finishes up. He's been flicking the blood off his knife occasionally, so there are more blood slash-looking marks over yonder on a tree. Terry's clothes are completely clean, but his hands and arms up to his elbow are completely red after he loads the pieces of bear meat onto the chariot. ]

... So, am I gonna get my ass kicked if I touch him with my bloody hands?

[ Since Souji seems pretty particular about his clothes. ]

[ Minato shrugs, because he's determined to be as unhelpful as possible. ]

If you want to?

[ There's really no other way to get Souji up onto the chariot, unless Terry like. punts him up there (which would be painful but funny), or asks Minato to carry Souji (he will not). Consider the consequences and make your own decisions, Terry, that's how life goes. ]

[ ... ... ...

He looks down at the unconscious Souji. What should he do with him... It feels like he has all the power in the world all of a sudden and he grins. ]

Hey, you. Mara thing. Catch.

[ Terry digs a foot under Souji's stomach and flings him towards Mara as a light toss. ]

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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