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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

[ Minato laughs, softly and under his breath. Because, yeah, it's pretty hard to imagine when Minato gives off a selfish vibe most of the time, any consideration he has for people kept as an undercurrent like he's trying to keep people from noticing. ]

It's Souji's bad influence.

[ Now that guy, you can easily imagine having six girlfriends and telling bad jokes at the same time. ]

[ Mondo wouldn't say selfish, but he definitely is like a cat, going on his own pace, as he will. It's not something that Mondo entirely dislikes... but then again he's extremely biased and Arisato racked up good boy points back in Wonderland so. ]

Seta's? [ He's... so different to the Wonderland one Mondo doesn't even know what to think. ] I won't be surprised. He was showing off his legs like nobody's business. [ To be fair, Mondo was too. ] Does he do that kinda thing all the time?

[ Thank you Wonderland Arisato for racking up all those points so Minato can steadily chip away at them while he's here. ]

His legs? Hm... I've seen them a lot, so maybe he's happy to have a new audience.

...So he always shows them off like that?

[ ... ]

Don't tell me you do it too?

...Do you want to see them too? I don't mind.

[ He leans over and starts rolling up a pant leg. ]

N--

[ Before Mondo can say anything, Arisato already pulls up one side of his pants, and he stares. His skin is fair and smooth... much like Seta's. ]

Huh. So you shave too. [ He raises an eyebrow. ] Did he tell ya to put on moisturiser and stuff too?

Nope, my legs are naturally nice and smooth.

[ Is he joking? idk, but he's not the sort of person who cares much about moisturizer or anything. His lips are always dry and prone to cracking in the winter, and he leaves knots in his hair sometimes if he can't comb them out with his fingers. Minato wouldn't care about leg hair care. ]

[ Hm. Too thin for his liking. ]

Ya both are fair and thin as fuck... don'cha ever exercise?! Get some sun outside or somethin'?! I can easily break those legs!!

[ He can't brain the Minato life... ]

[ Mondo's standards for muscular legs are too high, there is nobody else in Cetana would can meet those standards haha ]

Well... The both of us have lived in this train for... centuries? Millennia? A long time. Can't go outside. No sunlight through the windows either.

[ It's honestly surprising how fit Souji looks, considering the environment of the Velvet Room. Minato, at least, looks exactly like the wilted plant you'd expect for somebody who's been kept cooped up in a tiny train his entire life, with little room to walk and never having seen the light of day before. ]

[ If Mondo hears that, he will definitely argue that it's everyone else's standards that are too low!! ]

Well, now ya can leave the train, can't ya? Listen Arisato, people might, future might, hope might... but muscles... they'll never betray ya!!

[ Hm. Passionate... He even has his fist balled saying all these. ]

Uh...

[ He has muscles, just like any person has muscles, it's just that there isn't much of it and he's not really interested in sweating it out to gain more. The effort is just too much. ]

Muscles can betray you too. Like when you're lying down to pull the blanket up, but the bottom edge is caught under something and you have to pull really hard to get it unstuck, and then you punch yourself in the face.

[ He can totally picture Arisato doing that, and the mental image amuses him. He doesn't show the amusement, though. ]

That's just ya bein' bad at controllin' how much force yer puttin' into it. If ya train enough, you'll know how much you needa put fo' that. Even if it happens, you'll be quick enough to dodge.

[ ...... ]

...Personal experience?

Nah. No blankets in the Velvet Room.

[ No beds, either... Minato just lies on the couches and since he doesn't move in his sleep, he's never in any danger of falling off, even if the train shakes. He makes no mention of taking the curtains down from the windows sometimes to use as blankets, though. ]

[ He looks at the blue door, then at Arisato. ]

Y'guys got insulation in there? Ya can't feel cold or somethin'?

[ Being their 'guide' and stuff, maybe they can perform some kinda supernatural power like that too... ]

[ Those aren't questions somebody asks just because they're curious. Aw, Mondo cares. ]

Nah, we can feel all that stuff. Temperature's pretty mild all the time, though. Doesn't get hot or cold in here.

[ Which Mondo can probably tell; it's kind of a strange feeling, actually, the perfect room temperature that makes it feel as if there is no temperature at all, even if one would expect the plain to be cooler. ]

Huh.

[ ...'s not like he cares or anythin'!!!11 ]

Can't imagine livin' at the same place for centuries, tho'... If I were ya, I'd wanna get out of here the moment I can.

[ As convenient as it is... ]

There ain't no rules for where ya gotta stay, right?

[ Honestly, it was the same for Minato once upon a time, sitting there with his elbows propped up on the windowsill of the lounge and wondering what's out there, where the train is going and whether the people he'll meet when they finally stop will be nice or not. Instinctively, he knows that's not how it works; the perpetual darkness outside and the little pinpoints of light isn't space and they're not headed towards any star, and despite the feeling of motion, they aren't really moving- or, at least, it's hard to tell when there's no reference to a start or an end.

He'd wanted to know what's out there, but now that they've come to a stop and he's given a chance, he'd spent all of two seconds outside before coming back to where it's safe and familiar. He'll get to it... eventually... but he's always taken his sweet time doing what he wants, while time isn't exact infinite anymore. ]

I'm staying here, in the Velvet Room.

[ No mention of whether he has to, let alone if he wants to; the fact is, he's going to be here. ]

My job is to guide you guys, and there's a lot of you... It's no good if somebody needs help and I'm not here. So until each and every one of you are able to find a resolution, I'll be here. I won't abandon you.

'Job', huh. Ain't that too heavy a burden for just ya two?

[ Sure, Arisato and Seta might know about the world better than the rest of them, probably. But having to have their lives bound to this 'duty' just because of that is a different story altogether. ]

I mean, 's kinda reassuring knowin' that you guys are on our side an' all... but I dunno. I won't be able to be that selfless.

[ The suggestion that Minato is anything close to selfless makes him smile a little and shake his head. ]

It's not a burden. Souji likes people— he likes helping. He's good at it too. So it's not like this is a job that's done begrudgingly.

[ He doesn't say anything about himself, but he doesn't entirely hate being an Attendant either. At least, he never did before, because it was the entire point of his existence, the only reason he was given consciousness and a body and a friend. That's what he thought.

He never knew he had a life before all of this, and discovering that is dangerous, because all it will do is make him want to abandon post and try to regain a life he had before, one that's not his anymore. So he'd rather take a step back, help everybody out, and then he and Souji can be on their merry way for however many more centuries the train will chug on for. ]

[ Mondo raises an eyebrow at that. He's a very much me me me person that hearing Arisato answering for someone else seems very weird for him. ]

Uh. Kay... 'm not talkin' bout just Seta, tho'. 'm talkin' 'bout ya too. What do ya feel 'bout it?

[ Eh... Minato tries to think of how to put it in words, but in the end, he goes with the usual all-encompassing shrug. ]

It's whatever. Something I gotta do, so I do it. I don't think too much about it, one way or another.

[ It's not like he plans to do much more than the minimum, answering questions when people come to him, creating weapons when the proper material is brought. But his opinion would change over the course of the month, because everybody is just... so concerning... The guidance they need is a bit more involved than simply Persona info, but Minato couldn't hope to predict that at this point. ]

Huh.

[ That's why he said it was a 'job', huh? ]

Well, just don't bear the weight too much. Yer gonna break.

[ It's a job for him. The things he's supposed to do, he's no good at doing. But there are other things he can do, and maybe he can help there, more than comfortable being in the background, the shadow to Souji's light. ]

I'll be fine, but thanks. Souji's here, after all. He picks up more than his share, so I won't ever break. And I'm there so he doesn't too.

[ It's a good system, he thinks, having two Attendants. It means Souji can help while Minato lounges around doing nothing. Mondo really doesn't have to worry about him being too much weight. ]

If ya say so.

[ It does sound balanced. But-- ]

Well, I'll always be around, so just holler up if ya need anythin'. There should be shit we can help with 'round here too.

[ Ok to be very honest he can't really say the same for Seta... but he'll at least help Arisato. At this point anyway. ]

[ That's really useful, and it makes Minato's job a lot easier when they're willing to help. ]

Sure, thanks. You guys just focus on what you've been doing. The dungeons, and staying alive, and stuff.

[ ESPECIALLY THE STAYING ALIVE. Y'ALL ARE FAILING HIM THERE. ]

AUGUST EVENT PT 2

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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