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OCTOBER EVENT PT 1

OCTOBER EVENT PT1

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→ 10/3 Rain, rain, go away

As summer draws to a close and the season turns to autumn, the forest gradually starts to warm into golds and reds, starting from the mountains and working inwards towards the town. The first few drops of rain bring with them relief from the heat that had taken hold of the summer months, and the intermittent showers turn into constant downpours by the weekend. For the rest of the month, the rain is unrelenting, the sky cast in heavy grey clouds that refuse to part for the sun for even the briefest of moments, leaving October a month of constant darkness both night and day.

Without an ocean to drain into, the rainwater instead runs down the streets and drags dirt and debris from the forest along with it, ultimately collecting in the lake at the center of town and turning it muddy grey. The children have fun splashing in the puddles, until the worms and snails come crawling out and then there's more terrified shrieking than shouts of laughter, but it's kind of nice sitting by a window with a cup of hot tea while listening to the sound of pattering rain/screaming children outside. Only, the rain doesn't stop, worrying the townspeople enough that they start to talk about preparations for flooding. There really is no higher ground to move to, unless people want to trek all the way up to the mountains, so efforts are instead focused on keeping the water level controlled. Everybody is encouraged to pitch in filling and setting sandbags to build dams around the buildings to keep the water out, to donate non-perishable food and other emergency supplies to make sure there's enough to distribute to those who need them, and to take in what stray cats they're able to care for so that none of them are put in danger of the rushing water outside.

For the duration of the month, both the inn and the school are allowing people to stay in the second floor of the inn and the second story classrooms, free of charge. It's hard to say whether the ghosts in the inn are happy about all the extra company, with the wailing in between the walls getting louder as the month progresses, and some people say they hear giggling at times, which stops the moment they get closer. At the school, there are the Seven School Mysteries to contend with instead. They're all the typical things: the painting of the school founder whose eyes follow you around as you walk down the entrance hall, the bust in the art room that cries blood and stains the stone red, an anatomical model from the science lab that suddenly comes to life and chases people out of the room, the piano in the music room that plays by itself when nobody is in the room, a ghost haunting the bathrooms that locks all the doors when you really have to go, a goat man roaming the halls who chases and knocks anybody out cold if they aren't in a classroom between 4:00-4:05 PM, and ghostly hands that grab your wrists and ankles if you try to enter the gymnasium after sundown.

All these things are real. School's haunted.

→ 10/11-10/12 Paantu Festival

As the lake fills up, more water starts to slosh out of it than what drains in, contaminating the drinking water, causing the townspeople to fall ill, and sapping all the light and the heat from the days. It's never rained this hard and this long before, people are saying. The gods must be angry. Something must have happened or somebody must have done something to curse the town, and now everybody is suffering the consequences of it.

While some people sit around and hope for the best, others decide to take matters in their own hands and revive a forgotten tradition in an effort to save the town: the Paantu Festival. For these two days, several dozen Paantu are seen roaming the streets, humanoid forms covered in branches and leaves stuck onto their bodies with thick, sticky mud, wearing wooden masks over their faces and carrying walking sticks as they chase after anybody still wandering outside. The Paantu scoop mud off the ground and smear them on people's houses, the shops and the school and even the hospital doesn't get spared. It's difficult to get anywhere in town without being ambushed and having a handful of mud thrown at your face, especially with how wet and slippery the streets have become.

As the Paantu are meant to spread good luck and scare away evil spirits, it's ill advised to attack the creatures, although some little kids inadvertently do as they kick and scream and try to get away, and doing so causes a day of bad luck to befall the attacker. When unmasked, some of the Paantu are revealed to be villagers playing the roles, but other times, the Paantu transforms into a cackling demon that jumps out and tries to grab onto your body. These demons cannot be destroyed, but if you're able to remove them, either by force or by persuasion, they'll leave behind a gold coin as thanks for playing with them. Unfortunately, the townspeople aren't able to see the demon Paantu, so if mud hits them on the back of the head and you're the only one standing there, they can only blame one person and that person is you. Better run, punk.

Parents jokingly tell their kids that the Paantu will take them away if they misbehave, but as the last of the Paantu are caught and unmasked, it's found that some people have disappeared in the chaos, old and young alike. Even in the days after the festival, the mud gets washed away, but missing posters go up— including those for the owners of the occult shop so many of you rely on for income, and the shop is temporarily closed. So much for driving out bad luck.

→ 10/13-10/27 No, seriously, please go away

If anything, things just seem to get worse after the festival. With the lake saturated and nowhere else for the water to go, the town starts to flood, two feet by mid-month, with the water level rising exponentially higher until the town is drowning in eight feet of water by the end of the month, rendering all those sandbags useless. Although the water is largely still now instead of rushing towards the center of town, it's still mixed with the toxins from the lake and those who fall in or try to swim in it will eventually become ill, suffering chills and a fever and pressure in their chest that makes it difficult to breathe. Souji and Minato will be glad to have you over for tea any time to get rid of that poison, but unfortunately the tea doesn't help those who aren't Persona users. In order to make a tea that will help the townspeople, you'll have to help the Attendants gather the ingredients for it and fill their request.

On the 14th, the power goes out everywhere except the hospital, which has emergency generators, but those won't last forever either. In the following days, thunder roars in the distance, and lightning begins to flash across the sky, providing the only light now that both the sun and the moon are hidden above the clouds. By some miracle, the lightning never hits the town and electrocutes everybody in it, but it does hit the mountains from time to time, breaking the rock and causing avalanches to fall and smother the forest. At times, little pebbles of hail fall from the sky, and other times, it's frogs and fish that plop down into the water despite there being no ocean in Hirajiro.

Throughout the month, rain continues to fall even during Lockdown. The moon still cannot be seen, but in the area around the lake, faint blue light glows underwater to guide people towards the dungeon, and no Shadows leave this dungeon or the school dungeon to swim through town. For those taking shelter in the school, it still transforms into the previous dungeon during Lockdown, spitting people out onto a random floor and separating those who were together when midnight strikes. In these two dungeons, characters may find some reprieve from the rain, but none of the floors have a sun or a moon to provide light, and it becomes very humid. Yeah. You thought the fourth floor of the lake dungeon was hell already, but now it's 122°F/50°C with 100% humidity.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ We're doing great, guys. In order to fight the lake dungeon boss, 2 more coin threads must be completed and submitted by 10/14.
⬥ To determine the outcome of the boss battle, a minimum of 10 threads across the entire player base from September's dungeon post is required, with a maximum of 2 threads turned in per player, containing at least 5 comments for each character. These threads may not overlap with coin threads but may be threads started in September or October. The deadline for defeating the boss is 10/31.
⬥ The raining and flooding will continue through the month until 10/27, with part 2 of the event going up on 10/28, but the pouring rain will noticeably lessen once the boss is defeated and the ofuda is returned to the castle. At the worst of the flooding, single story buildings in town will be almost fully submerged, but the water level does not extend as high in the forest and both the castle and shrine will be left untouched by the flood during the month, although they'll still get rained on.
⬥ This month, the full moon (despite not being visible) occurs on 10/12-10/14, and Personas may behave strangely and disobey orders. This is an optional mechanic.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kind of!

[He shrugs.]

Like, we hold on to it and jump!

We are not doing that.

[ Kido's not even going to let him finish saying the word "jump" before she cut in. This kid is going to die. He's like Terry, but he can actually die. ]

We'll find a board that will fit through the doors, and that'll solve that problem. Don't just go with the first thing that comes to mind, or you'll get hurt, acting off impulse that way.

Sorry, I just thought it was kind of the most obvious solution here...

[He'd never considered turning the raft sideways to fit through the doors, but that's what he pictures now.]

Yeah, the roof was a really bad idea.

I mean, it's direct, but that's not always the best way to do it.

[ She can sort of see the thought process? If the boat can't fit through doors, then build it outside. The roof is outside. You can get the boat down and also yourself down by jumping. It's direct, and very stupid. ]

Just run any other ideas by me first if you have them, and it'll be fine... probably...

[ She's so tired. The more they talk about this, the more she just wants to give up and go lie on the floor or something, so she exits the room first to go find where the janitor keeps stuff, and exchange the broom and dust pan for a bucket. ]

Okay! I will!

[She's opened herself up to constant chatter should anything idea-like comes to him. Toki follows, though he's not exactly excited about this anymore either. It's so much work, with really nothing to get in return. Some fish for the cats... to save them from drowning? What was his original idea here anyway?]

Uh, hm.

[Does he know her name? He can't remember it.]

There's some kind of idea forming right now and it's mostly that this whole plan doesn't isn't exactly uh, coherent, or logical, I don't think, and maybe uh, building the raft right now is too impulsive?

[ Kido never told him her name, and he's going to be Tokidoki to her forever. ]

Well, yeah, I think the entire thing is kind of stupid, but it's doable. Harmless, as long as you keep off the roof. What else would you do sitting around inside with nothing to do all day?

[ People are meant to go outside every once in a while and let off steam doing stupid but not deadly things. It's a wonder that the townspeople here haven't all gotten cabin fever from being cooped up inside. ]

What would you rather be doing?

[She'll be Hana-chan in his mind until he does learn her name.]

Roofs are dangerous, really, but they're the closest you can get to the stars sometimes.

[He has to think deeply for a minute on what he'd rather be doing. He mostly does things just to get away from his own weird thoughts or draw attention to himself to prove he's real. He comes up with absolutely nothing as an answer.]

I don't know?

[ It's close enough to her real name, and she'd hate it either way. ]

Closest to the stars...

[ If Toki's only come here this month, he must not have had the chance to see the stars here— or the sun, or the moon, or anything above the heavy storm clouds perpetually blanketing the town. So either Toki is into astronomy, or he likes high places? ...It's not much to work with, and Kido doesn't have much to suggest for what people should want to do, when she just wants to lie on the ground and be useless for a couple of days. ]

You're not giving me much to work on, here. What are things you like? Cooking? Do you like cats? Are you good with children?

[The clouds are depressing most of the time, but he can imagine what's behind them. It might stop raining. One day.]

Uh...

[While he thinks these things over, he's staring into space. Those questions are always so hard. Trying to find something he wants, or likes, or has an opinion on. He shouldn't have to make those decisions or pick something. He does like cats, because they're soft and you can talk to them, and they're cute, but are those good reasons? Does he like cats because a lot of people do? He only got a pet cat because Orihime suggested it. Cooking is... something to do. Sometimes food is cute, like cat donuts and turtle bread... Children are confusing, and he's too much of a child himself to be in any sort of position of caring for them in any capacity. It's three different options at once and he doesn't know which one is more important to focus on. What does Hana like? What would she like him to talk about, or participate in? He blinks slowly, and in the end, he has no answers or responses.]

[ She's just going to take the silence as a no. ]

How about the other way around: do you hate any of those things?

[ Because Kido will settle on whatever Toki doesn't hate, if there's nothing he particularly likes, and all three of those are things people will need help here with in general so Toki can occupy himself whenever he's sitting around with nothing to do. ]

Uh...

[He can't say he hates them, as much as he can't say he likes them.]

I don't think... I'd be good with children?

[He might say things that disturb them, or accidentally convince them the roof is a great place to play.]

[ You know, it takes a lot of insight to know you're bad with children. With how he is, Kido thought he might be good with them— he has that sort of energy- but she can also see kids bursting into tears if he starts shouting or throwing a barrage of words at them.

Between the other two... ]

Okay. It's almost dinnertime, so you'll help me with the cats. People can wait, but if the cats don't get fed in time, we'll never hear the end of it.

[ Almost the entirety of the town's cats have been condensed into this one building, so their needs come first. She gestures for Toki to follow her out the room. ]

[At first, he thinks Hana is planning to eat the cats, the way she phrased it. He almost protests, but then there's a clarification.]

Okay! I can feed cats!

[Which was... his original plan. Only now it won't be fish. He follows, attempting to take mental notes about the set-up of the school. A good portion of said notes will be lost as soon as they're made, but he may be able to navigate the entire building himself in a month.]

[ If Kido knew that was what Toki was thinking, she would literally cry.

The school is pretty traditionally set up: the first floor with the gmyn, auditorium, and most of the club rooms, and the second and third floors being mostly classrooms. The campus holds three buildings in all, separated by elementary, middle, and high school, all neighboring one another and surrounding a small courtyard.

The cats get free rein of the auditorium since it's the largest space, and the room echoes eerily when Kido opens the door and two dozen cats immediately swarm the both of them, intent on getting underfoot and making it impossible to walk unless you penguin shuffle your way across the room. ]

[As soon as she opens the auditorium door, Toki shouts excitedly.]

They're adorable~!

[So many cats in one place. He's already dropped to his knees to be closer to them and pet them.]

I like cats! I really like cats!

[It's a realization. He likes cats because he just does, not because he's supposed to or that's what kind of pet he ended up with at a friend's suggestion. He scratches one behind the ears and looks up at Kido.]

What do you feed them?

[He never actually took care of his own cat.]

[ Seeing Toki's reaction to the cats, Kido can't help but let out a laugh. It feels like the first time she's laughed in over a month, and while it feels good to do so, the realization is also deeply concerning. She's fine. Seeing somebody else love cats as much as she does is endearing, and she also crouches down to hug her knees and watch the cats rub against her sides and try to jump up onto Toki's lap or climb up his back to sit on his shoulder. The cats are fearless and it's really cute. ]

It looks like they really like you too. Everyone's stocked up a bunch of cat food here, so all we have to do is fill up the bowls and lay them out. Easy, right? I bet we can handle that.

[He joins the laughter, as the cats climb on him. He's fine with that.]

That sounds easy! I can do that!

[Depending on how hard a can opener is to use. A familiar meow sounds from beside Kido and Toki looks over to see a slender black cat, not very distinctive from the others present, but she's looking right back at him.]

Kuroko!?

[The cat trots over to him and leaps onto his shoulder, curling her tail around his neck.]

What? This is... this is my cat.

[He looks at Kido in surprise. Is this kind of thing normal here? He's pretty sure Kuroko wasn't even in New York with him to be pulled out through a portal in the first place.]

[ She'll let Toki handle the ones with a pull tab. But- oh. That's a really friendly cat, and it reminds Kido of her Persona whose designated spot is on her shoulders too. ]

Oh, you've already made friends with one of the cats here? Most of them are strays, so people giving them names and adopting them is always nice to see.

[ More often than not, the cats here adopt people instead of the other way around, so she'll just assume this is one that attached herself to Toki, and she might as well be his cat. ]

No, I mean... like from before. My cat from my world.

[He plucks the cat off his shoulder and holds her out in front of him to get a good look. Is it really her? Yes. Those were her eyes, the ones that looked up at him, straight into his heart, when he first saw her in the shelter in Soleil.]

She's from France.

Oh!

[ A French cat... No, that isn't what she's supposed to be focusing on right now. ]

Remember a short while ago, when we were talking about fish or furniture coming through portals here? It must be the same with her— you said her name is Kuroko? I've never seen the actual portal, but if Terrence can receive an entire bed, then there's no reason your cat can't make it over. It's good she seems alright...

[ Not weirded out by any potential space-time nonsense, right? ]

[Portals. It's an explanation for everything, like magic.]

I wonder what else will come through... I think she's okay.

[Kuroko hisses and swipes at his nose. He sets her down and she climbs back to his shoulder.]

Yeah, she's fine. It's good to see her again. I used to take her out for walks to look at the stars... and when the rain's gone, we'll do that again, okay, Kuroko?

[She has no response.]

Anyway! They all look hungry. Where's the refrigerator?

[ Portals and magic. If you can accept these two things, it's easier to stay sane.

Kido's never heard of a live animal coming through the portals, and it edges dangerously close to her hoping that people can come through too— people she wants to see again, her family mostly, but that'll mean they'd be stuck here too and she doesn't want it to happen just because of some selfish wish like that. ]

Going out to see the stars sounds really nice. Hopefully the storm won't last forever...

[ Every passing day, it feels like she's on the verge of destroying something if it keeps raining. She really hates it. Anyways, auditorium, back room... It's not a refrigerator in the back room, but a couple of storage cabinets Kido leads Toki to. ]

We'll get cans from here, since they don't need to be refrigerated unless we're keeping any leftovers after opening them. You're tall enough to reach the top shelf, so can you get them down and leave them on the table? I'll fetch bowls.

[Another week of rain, and Toki will be ready to join her in destroying things. In the back room, he grabs several cans from the top shelf of the cabinet and stacks them on the table, one on top of the other; a wobbly tower of cat food.

Then he returns to the cabinet to rummage for other things, like canned tuna or salmon. What else would they like?]

[ There's a bunch of cat food and some other things set aside for humans, including tuna and spam and some white jelly thing that's so old, it might not have been white or jelly to start with. Essentially, everything everybody had in their cupboards or in their stores, people brought out to stock at the school to share.

Kido returns with a stack of bowls, two spoons, and a can opener, all of which she deposits on top of the table before undoing all of Toki's hard work and unstacking that tower. ]

Are you looking for something?

[ He has ten cats at his feet, all meowing because they want food, and one or two kittens keep trying to climb up his leg and back with their prickly little claws. ]

[Spam sounds... interesting. Toki takes that out. Oh, it has a pull tab. Awesome. He pulls the lid off and examines the tightly packed meat.]

No, not really. Is this any good?

[Kuroko, still on his shoulder, licks the spam off the cover as he holds it out to her. He flinches as the claws dig into his leg, but he makes no attempt to escape the cats. Such adorable little kittens. He looks down at them.]

Do you want some uh, spam?

[It looks like cat food.]

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ 10/3 Rain, rain, go away

→ 10/11-10/12 Paantu Festival

→ 10/13-10/27 No, seriously, please go away

→ MOD NOTES

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