OCTOBER EVENT PT 1

[citta]

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.

Comments

[yokeye]

[If Kido returns to the auditorium back room later, she'll find half opened cans of cat food tipped over on the table and the floor. Cats all over the place, trying to reach the food still lodged inside. Plaintive mewling from those that cut their tongues on the jagged edges left by the can opener. Pull tabs from the spam and some canned sardines litter the floor as well.

There's a little fight going on under the table, two black cats hissing at each other, warring for possession of a half-empty tin of sardines. There are three knives on the table, one with the blade snapped off. They're covered in spam and cat food, and the cats lick at the remnants carefully. The cabinet doors are open and some of the cats have found their way inside, clawing at packaged foods of all sorts.

In front of the cabinet on the floor is Kuroko, licking sadly at Toki's hand. He's lying on the floor beside the opened jar of "white jelly". It's 1/3rd gone. It was probably mold. There's cat scratches all over his hands and face; an attack from the disgruntled cats who didn't get any spam before he succumbed to the possibly poisonous substance. Kuroko was too late to stop them, but now she hisses at any who try to approach.]

[reveilation]

[ KIDO CAN NEVER LEAVE ANYBODY ALONE EVER AGAIN

Toki has to suffer on his own for an hour or so before Kido comes down to ask if he wants dinner, but instead, she finds carnage. First things first, she summons Nekogami and has him Toki and then the cats, a slow process because he has to do it one by one and in between Kido picking up tin cans and knives and throwing things into the trash bin so nobody else can get cut up on the sharp edges. This place is such a mess. There's spots of blood everywhere and food smeared all over the ground and under her shoes and there's a can of expired jelly that Kido holds her breath near when she has to pick it up and throw it away. ]

Shoo! You guys go back to the auditorium!

[ The cats ignore her, so all Kido can do is clean up around them, closing the cabinets and using a towel to clean up the cats and moving them out of the door one by one so none of them can slip back inside. Nekogami sits on Toki's face and probably feels like a chunk of ice with how cold he is. ]

[yokeye]

[It's very cold, and there's annoying clinking sounds of Kido picking up the cans. He tries to move away from the cold, but it's... a cat? A ghost-like weird cat. Sitting on him. He's hallucinating. Okay, that wasn't jelly. The noise of the cats is dying down as Kido sends them out the door back to the auditorium.]

I was... going to clean up that mess, Hana-chan! I just... things happened.

[reveilation]

[ I missed an entire word up there and it was the most important one haha... Nekogami heals Toki and then the cats but it's just stopping the bleeding and that's it. He gets off Toki's face once he stirs, and disappears into nothingness. ]

Things sure did happen...

[ What even happened? Why did Toki need three knives in the first place?? Kido closes the door and picks up another cat so she can wipe off its paws. ]

If you're having trouble next time, you could come ask me for help. Are you alright? Is there anywhere else that's bleeding?

[yokeye]

[He watches Nekogami disappear, and not for one moment does he ever consider the cat is her Persona.]

I was... I was doing fine, I just... One can was really hard, so I had to use the knives because, well, I tried like a fork first but then that didn't work and I... I just wanted to do it myself even if it took a while... But then I got hungry and the spam was actually pretty gross, so I... ate the... white stuff... and then... then... um...

[What else did she ask?]

Fine! I'm fine! I feel sick, but that's... fine. I'm not like dying or anything... wait, bleeding!? Who was bleeding!?

[He checks himself for signs of blood, but doesn't remember the cat attack. The sudden movement makes his stomach lurch.]

I think the jelly was bad.

[reveilation]

[ ...Kido lets the cat go and sighs into her hands. Trying to do something by yourself to prove you're capable is something that can be commendable, but not when it causes so much trouble for or harm to everybody else. ]

Nobody's bleeding anymore, but you feeling sick isn't fine... I'm taking you to the nurse's office so they can take a look at you, and then you're to sleep there for the rest of the night, okay? Just... don't worry about anything in here. It was an accident. I'll clean everything up. Don't come back here.

[ Toki is banned from the auditorium. ]

[yokeye]

[He slowly gets up off the floor, and the room is kind of spinning, but he's not going to mention that.]

It's really fine! I'm not that sick, and I don't need to sleep there!

[He'd rather sleep in the classrooms, safety in numbers and so forth. He did fail rather badly here, and feels like he should be helping her clean up.]

I don't want to like, leave this all here for you to do...

[reveilation]

[ Kido frowns, arms crossed over her chest. ]

I'm not going to let you help if you feel sick. If you throw up, that'll make more work, and if you push yourself and get worse, that'll be bad for you. The best thing you can do is get better, and stop making me worry over your health.

[ People hate being told they're not allowed to help, that their helping will only cause more trouble, but sometimes they're things people need to hear, so Kido stands firm on this stance. ]

If you get really sick because you stayed and helped me, I'll feel guilty about it. So go see the nurse, and if they say you're okay, then come back and help me out.

[yokeye]

[Toki looks away, but he nods. He doesn't want her to worry, that's true. He does need to be told these things directly, even if it makes him feel more useless than he already does.]

Okay. I'll go find the nurse's office. I'm sorry this all kind of... got out of hand. Even if i don't come back, will I get to talk to you again later?

[She's not banishing him from her life, is she? Because that would be fair, honestly.]

[reveilation]

[ Talking to a worrier, it's going to be hard not to worry Kido, even on good days. The acquiescence helps, though, as does the apology, and when he asks that question, the look on Kido's face softens considerably. ]

Yeah, come talk to me again later. If you don't, I'll have to hunt you down to check up on you and see that you're doing okay. Hopefully I won't still be cleaning down here, though. Do you have a phone? Give me your number.

[yokeye]

Uh... I have a phone, but it kind of got wet, and I hadn't like set it up yet because I just bought it before I got here and the screen's all cracked because, you know, hit by a car... and I don't know the number or even if it like can be set-up here?

[That's unfortunate, but he's smiling again because she doesn't hate him and maybe one day, he'll be good enough to help her feed the cats again.]

[reveilation]

[ Toki's bar is low and Kido's opinion of him is slipping by the second. ]

Right, the car accident thing...

[ He has no reason to be smiling about that, though. Kido might not know the same Kano that Toki does, but she's more than familiar with people who smile through terrible circumstances under some misconstrued belief that it'll make things better. ]

Then, never mind. It probably won't be any good. Even if it does still work, broken screens are dangerous if the glass is coming off. If you still have it on you, you'd better get rid of it.

[yokeye]

[Toki doesn't have many good experiences to smile about and his baseline for it is very low. The most simplistic and minuscule good things deserve the brightest smiles, like making friends.]

I'll give it to the nurse and she can get rid of it, so I don't leave it somewhere where the cats will get into the glass?

[He wants to make sure that's logical before he does it.]

[reveilation]

Yeah, that's fine. But more importantly, it's so you don't cut your hand on the glass, isn't it?

[ She doesn't see any reason why the cats would be touching the phone... Toki... Kido's concern for Toki's well being overshadows everything else about him, and suddenly I understand how Yuya must feel. ]

[yokeye]

Right.

[He never thought about himself, just the cats maybe getting into one of the trashcans and accidentally cutting themselves. Even if he explained this, it wouldn't be any less concerning. Yuya had a difficult job.]

I will do that now! Which way is it, the nurse's office? I don't want to start in the wrong direction and like throw up in the hallway because I didn't get there in time or whatever.

[reveilation]

[ If Kido knew better, she would write down the instructions or offer to walk Toki herself, but she really wants to believe he's capable of this, so she faces the door and gestures with her hand. ]

Turn right from here, and head all the way down the hall until you get to the lobby. From there, instead of continuing straight, take the hallway to the left, up the stairs at the very end, and it should be the third or fourth door on your right when you come upstairs.

[yokeye]

[Oh my god. Toki makes a little whimpering noise in the back of his throat. He will not remember all that. Running it through his brain immediately even results in switching "take the hallway to the left" and "continuing straight" and he will never take a left turn. There's a lobby in a school? That doesn't matter. Right, then to the... lobby, then straight and the third set of stairs to the fourth door. He nods decisively after a minute of planning this out.]

Okay~! I'll see you later, Hana-chan~!

[He waves and he's on his way.]

[reveilation]

Yeah. See you later, Tokidoki.

[ Hopefully the nurse will get him straightened out and his head cleared, and maybe then he'll remember her name. She's pretty sure she told him, but since his head is addled, there's no point in correcting him now.

This place is such a mess... She gets back to cleaning, and tells herself that if Toki gets lost, he should have enough sense to ask somebody else for directions instead of trying to find the place himself. He'll be fine. ]

[yokeye]

[To be expected, Toki never makes it to the nurse's office. He takes the wrong turn and ends up on the wrong floor, never saw a lobby, and throws up in the stairwell. He finds himself in a completely different section of the campus by the end, and a teacher gives him directions back, but he gets turned around again and gives up. He'll end up in the dungeon tonight no matter where in the school he sleeps. It doesn't matter.]