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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

No, but I wouldn't want to meet them.

[ He peeks outside. Are they there yet... ]

How come?

[ Mara is, in fact, taking the long way around. Just sort of parading circles around the forest, you know. ]

... Hey, I don't think we went that far from the castle... why is it taking so long? Is he lost??

[ Ignoring that question with a question.

Yup. ]

Yeah.

[ No, but he says yes anyways ]

You don't seem the sort to have trouble getting along with people.

[ why did he put so much faith into a dick chariot... Anyway, Terry looks over at Minato again when he says that. ]

Do I? I mean... there are still some types of people I can't stand. What about it?

[ Yeah, why did he? ]

It's 'cause you went out and did all this with us. Even though you could've said no and walked away... I thought maybe we're the sort of people you can't stand. [ ... ] Or maybe just me.

[ Terry sure did yell at him ): ]

[ Minato has a point... and, well, Terry can't deny that the bear hunting adventure was at least somewhat enjoyable, because it was. At least, Minato didn't seem to care about what he did--perhaps he got used to a certain someone's scolding during his stay here that it became normalized, but with how chill Minato was, Terry could just kill that bear and slice it up however he wanted to.

Maybe it's the freedom that's attractive. Maybe he just wants to be let loose--no, that's... bad. ]

I'm just going to say it up front. I can't understand the two of you at all.

[ He takes a second to collect his thoughts. ]

You were vague, didn't answer my questions, talked in circles, and I feel like I get some lifetime warranty on that traumatizing moment with... that.

[ He doesn't want to refer to Mara by name. Sorry, Mara-chan. :( Though, Terry sighs as he leans back into his seat. ]

But I was also really high strung, had things to worry about that could cause the death of my friends, and I had to fight off two Personas while they were going nuts. I was... stressed.

[ Yeah, no kidding. ]

... That doesn't excuse what I did though. So.

[ ... ]

Sorry.

[ Mara droops a little at being called "that," and Minato gives the Persona a consoling pat on the side. ]

It's fine.

[ ...That's all he really has to say about it, for all the explanations that Terry gives, because it's not like Terry was entirely in the wrong. Especially for being rude to poor Mara-chan. ]

If you're angry, you can yell at me, and that's fine. You can punch me too, if you really want. If you're happy, maybe we can laugh together. All of that is fine... That sorta stuff is normal. Understanding people takes time, after all. Right?

Yeah, you're right.

[ He looks over at Souji. ]

Do those things apply to him too?

[ Can he punch him. ]

I dunno. You can ask him when he's awake again?

[ Souji would probably make sad puppydog faces at Terry if he got punched, though. He's unfairly good at those. ]

[ All he has to do is punch him while he's blind then. Problem solved!! ]

I guess so.

[ Maybe it's because they're sitting next to raw, bloody meat for so long, but the stench is getting worse. ]

Are we still lost... The meat might go bad if I don't start cooking it soon.

[ asdljhf Souji being found because Terry uses his pinpointing for evil... ]

We're not lost.

[ Minato gets up and stands on the chariot, hand in front of his brow as if blocking off the sun above as he looks around for something... Over there, where the trees are grown so close together, that the branches on either side overlap and form something of a gateway if you squint hard enough. The space in between glows with blue light, and when the chariot passes through it, they're suddenly inside the train again, Mara disappearing to spill all that raw meat out onto the ground.

It's Terry's room, naturally. ]

...We can rinse that off.

[ Holy shit. Terry is really surprised when that gap between the trees suddenly became a portal to the Velvet Room because what the fuck?? AND HE RECOGNIZES THIS PLACE. IT'S HIS ROOM. WHY. ]

... I hope you're not making me do it. I'm just here to cook.

[ Glances over at Souji.

Yeah.

Terry starts picking up the chunks of meat. ]

Where's the kitchen?

[ Terry can hope, but he knows the truth in his heart.

Minato tries to drag Souji up onto the couch so he has somewhere comfortable to sleep, but Souji is too heavy and Minato gives up after two seconds and settles on just straightening Souji's legs and laying his hands on his stomach, and leaves him on the floor. ]

Over in the lounge. Just a small side room on the right... I dunno which spices are which, but you can probably smell them and figure it out.

[ It's obvious who's the main cook in this household. ]

[ Ah, yup... he can definitely tell. ]

Yeah, I will. Heard from Souji that you guys just eat train food... whatever that's supposed to be.

[ Then Terry will start lugging all the meat chunks to the kitchen and making several trips because there are so many. ]

Yeah.

[ Minato... doesn't help... He goes over to the kitchen— it's a small space as it is, and Minato hops up onto the counter to sit so he can waste more space and watch Terry cook at the same time. ]

[ Terry starts off by washing all that meat first. Honestly, if he cooked all this, it'd probably end up like a feast. Instead he looks around to see if there's a freezer while he's still washing them at the sink. Doesn't look like he minds Minato being there. ]

... Anyway, the reason why I came was because I had my answer.

If you need more pots or pans or whatever, they're up on the cupboards above the fridge...

[ Minato and Souji had to live XX years off train food, they are absolutely going to eat the entire bear. ]

But, cool. What can you tell me about Vassago?

[ Maybe preparing the food would have distracted Terry enough so that he doesn't feel anxious upon finally releasing those words into the air, but it turns out that it's a little harder than he thought. He won't let it affect the cooking, so he'll just keep trucking on. ]

I feel like... he's everything that I never wanted to be. I usually don't mind summoning him from time to time, but sometimes on those off days when I do actually think, he reminds me of someone that I hate. There are so many things.

[ He begins preparing the spices now. ]

Vassago likes killing things because he likes the taste of complete victory over his opponents. He'll do anything to put the enemies down to the ground with no way of getting back up. He also has a lot of pride. He hates it when I get him to do mundane stuff like being a dragon taxi, or making some breeze on a hot summer day. He has... a lot of pride about it too. He absolutely hates it when he can't win and will do everything in his power to make sure that he does.

... Winning is all that matters, no matter what the cost.

[ The longer Terry speaks, the more the slow smile grows on Minato's face. All those things, they're all stuff that Terry obvious has always known, but putting it into words has some sort of power too.

"He's everything that I never wanted to be," Terry says, and yet he doesn't put Vassago down, doesn't call him vicious or a brute or anything bad like that. It's all so objective, likes and dislikes like Minato had asked for.

Those aren't all bad traits, Minato wants to say, but what Minato thinks of Vassago doesn't matter here. ]

You understand him really well. That's good. If you forget about that person you hate, do you see yourself in him at all? Somebody strong enough to protect what's important to him. When something's really important, that you absolutely have to win... no matter what... That sort of feeling?

Well, that's the thing.

[ He's definitely not using his own kitchen knife for this. besides, there are better ones in the kitchen, so he'll just take that and start slicing them more on top of a cutting board. ]

I'm a clone. The person I hate is my original. It's really hard to separate myself from him when I learned everything about him, forced to be like him at one point, and I sometimes have relapses when I feel like I'm slipping into his mindset that I want to avoid.

It really... tore at me, when I found out that Personas were supposed to another part of me. I didn't want it.

[ Must be hard, like following in the footsteps of an older sibling, but much more strictly. But, well, Minato's pretty sure he's an only child, so he doesn't really get it, how it must feel to be expected to be exactly the same as somebody else. ]

'cause Vassago reminds you of the person you're supposed to be, instead of the person you are?

Yeah. He was some kind of ruthless war leader candidate that doubled as a douchebag.

[ The meat is sizzling now on the pan!! ]

I didn't want to be like that... and I heard from someone that he could be roaming around this place with a Vassago of his own.

Another Terrence Nowell? That doesn't sound— oh, do it medium rare.

[ Food is distracting and Minato's immediately distracted ]

[ lmao minato... Well, Terry will oblige and make it medium rare. He'll do the same for Souji's portion too, since he doesn't know his preference and medium rare seems to be the default choice. ]

That doesn't sound... what?

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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