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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

[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.]

[ Spam is... well. It shouldn't kill the cats, Kido thinks, but it's pretty salty, with a weird jelly texture if she doesn't pan fry it to use as an ingredient in a dish. The kittens meow and try to scale Toki's back so they can get at the spam, and Kido plucks them off and places them on the table so they can scream at Toki but on a more solid surface. ]

I don't know how much the cats would like it, but it shouldn't be all they eat. You can place a cube of one on top of everybody's bowls as a treat or something. Knives are in the leftmost cabinet, in a basket near the bottom.

[He was going to eat it himself, but alright, he'll give it to the cats. He holds the can of spam out of Kuroko's reach while he finds the knives. He pulls one out of the basket with a confused look. How solid is spam that you need a knife and can't just eat it out of the can with a fork? A weird substance.]

So how many cats are there? Like, there's at least ten of them every time you go somewhere...

[He sits at the table and jabs the knife in the spam. Cutting it into cubes will be a difficult task. The kittens look on, mewling.]

[ There's so much better food out there, that Kido didn't even think Toki would want to eat this stuff. Maybe he hasn't had spam before. It's sort of jiggly, but the knife goes through easily without much resistance, though; it's just a matter of keeping the cats away while you work, because they keep trying to get at the food. ]

A lot... They're mostly strays, so they're usually hiding all around town and parts of the forest, but they've all come here to take shelter from the rain. I brought a lot of them in myself.

[ It's Kido's fault, saving them from the flood so they don't drown. ]

That was really nice of you! I wouldn't want the poor cats out there in the rain either. They'd be miserable and sad.

[He holds the knife out to one of the kittens with a chunk of spam on it. He hasn't ever had it, which is why he was curious. It's questionable whether he's eaten any canned food before at all. He was rich, and the academy was rich. He's been to restaurants of course, but he's never fixed his own meal in his life beyond re-heating leftovers of some elaborate banquet spread.]

Oi, don't do that!!

[ TOKI THAT'S A KNIFE and Kido drops the can of cat food she'd been scooping into a bowl to pull the knife away from the kitten's face, because why would you do that? Oh my god? She's going to wrench Toki's hand away and he's banned from all cutlery forever. ]

What!?

[He freezes, convinced he's just committed some horrible crime known only to this universe.]

[ Kido wrenches the knife out of Toki's hands and points it at his face. ]

Don't point knifes at things like that! It's dangerous!

But I was just... they could lick it off the flat part!?

[He stares at the knife like Kido's going to take his eye out with it.]

I'm sorry!

[This is why he didn't volunteer for child care.]

[ She is this close to doing just that. ]

It's still dangerous. What if something bumped into you and either of you get hurt, huh? Use your head once in a while.

[ She sets the knife down on the table, because she's undecided whether to confiscate it or give it back, and takes Toki's hand so she can place a piece of spam on his palm to hold out for the kitten to eat from. ]

[Oh. Yeah, that would be safer. The kitten licks at the spam. He can feel the rough little tongue and oh my god, the poor cat could have sliced it so easily on that knife.]

I'm sorry, little cat.

[When its eaten all the spam from his hand, Toki reaches for a can of cat food, the can opener, and a bowl.]

I'll just... do this now.

[ There are also potential dangers to can openers, but it's better than knives, so Kido nods and swaps places with him so she can cut up the rest of the spam, in slices first, then strips, and then diced with a practiced hand that suggests she's used to cooking, and this sort of meal prep is no different— other than having to do all that while using her elbows to keep the cats away. ]

You said you had Kuroko from back home, right? Was she a family cat?

[ She needs to know there was somebody else taking care of the cat and not Toki feeding her off knives. ]

[Watching her cut the spam, he's glad he didn't pick cooking either. He'd cut off his fingers trying that. He's doing okay with can opener though. It's slipped off twice and he's making a pretty jagged edge somehow, but he's keeping the cats away from any potential hazards.]

No, I haven't had her long. Just a couple months. She was from a shelter in town and just lived in the dorm room. I never thought she liked me, and that she preferred my roommate, but here she is.

[Not hissing at him or clawing to get away. But that's probably because he hasn't taken her for a "walk" yet, or attempted to make her wear cute outfits.]

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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