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July Intro Log

INTRO LOG

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"Persona, Persona, please come here."

→ I.

The words linger in the back of your mind, but whether it’s your own thoughts or somebody else’s, ceases to matter in light of more pressing things. For one: actual light, mid-summer daylight streaming down upon your face, dust in the air glowing almost golden. Next to your hand lies a cloth omamori, each character’s a different color but all bordered with gold thread, a little black bird stitched in one corner, and… at the bottom...

It is your preferred name, along with another word. For those familiar with tarot, they may recognize it as one of the major arcana. Regardless, it seems to be meant for you, so it might be a good idea to hang onto it.

Looking around, all around you are broken stone pillars and crumbling walls, a spiral staircase that leads to an upper floor that has partially caved in, requiring a bit of a leap to make it to the top. From the outside, the structure looks like a castle, situated in a clearing otherwise surrounded by forest. From the inside, it appears as if no person has been here for a long time. Birds have made their nests in the upper story, eggshells scattered across the floor, and sticks and straw breaking off the nests in the dry summer heat. The occasional woodland animal can be found around the castle, skittish and quick to flee upon approach, but there are also several cats who seem to have no fear for strangers, rubbing against your ankles and padding off again unless you have food to bribe them to stay.

There is also a bear in deep sleep, in the middle of the main hall all characters awake in. Please do not disturb, or you may find yourself in the middle of a bear attack, completely disconnected from any special powers or abilities you may have. Curiously, any injuries you might remember last having seem to be in the process of healing, though by varying degrees, and maybe we shouldn’t undo that! There isn’t a hospital out here in the middle of nowhere, after all. You’ll have to venture out of the castle in search for help like that.

→ II.

A field of dry grass forms the clearing around the castle, with two paths on opposite sides leading into the forest:

A stone path, though broken up and partially buried in the dirt, will lead you out of the forest and towards the town, given you don’t wander off the path to be lost in the woods. But it’s alright if you do! If you keep wandering the forest, you may eventually come across the mountains. And if mountains aren’t an obvious enough sign you should turn back, you can continue through the short mountain range to find yourself back inside the forest; keep on going and eventually you’ll arrive at the opposite side of town. It’s the long way around, but you’ll make it either way.

The road less traveled, however, is one of just dirt, a narrow path that’s been cleared away but after all this time, the weeds have started encroaching again on both sides to reclaim the space. Following this path will take you to a set of stairs, dusty and crumbling but sound enough that you can climb it to the top and find a shrine. A fox yaps at you, and ducks away into the trees behind the shrine. The place could really use some cleaning up, from having the steps swept, to the water in the basin being changed out, to fixing up the sign stating what deity is worshipped here— it’s been broken apart, the name seared off the surface of the rotting wood. Who knows what it used to say…? There doesn’t seem to be anybody around at the shrine, nor anywhere in the forest.

→ III.

Civilization can finally be found in the town, but the people here just look at you curiously, unsure of what you’re talking about if asked about how you got here, and laughing a little when you inquire about the town, though happy enough to talk about their home. ...That’s strange, though? The language spoken here is Japanese, what sounds like an older dialect, and regardless of what you’re used to speaking, you find that you can speak and understand the language here without trouble. How convenient!

While much of the townspeople are bustling around in the mid-day, there are still others more than willing to show you around, or to point you in the right direction if you’d rather wander and explore on your own. Even if you feel like you don’t need a guide, there are plenty of stray cats loitering around the town more than happy to escort you wherever you go. For those who are injured, the walk-in clinic at the hospital has its doors open to treat anybody who needs tending to, for a small fee. Don’t have money? The townspeople are more than happy to hire you on, especially with what seems to be preparation for a festival to be held at the school at the end of the month. The students in the school are also eager to receive what help they can get, building sets, figuring out menus, or creating enough decorations to cover the school twice over.

Whether it’s cooking, mending, delivering, or something else, there’s a variety of odd jobs to be done, and the extra pocket money will serve to be helpful, especially once night falls. The temperature will dip overnight, a dense field of stars covering the sky like a blanket when the sun sets and the moon takes its place, but it’s warm enough in the summer that camping outside is a viable option for those who are used to sleeping outside or want to save money. No worries keeping warm without blankets, either; there’s a good chance a stray cat will wander by and sleep on your face. The inn, rumors have it, is haunted… but it may be the cheapest option if you want a roof over your head and not a broken castle or a cat.

Mod notes:

⬥ There is no Lockdown period for the first week, and as such, Personas cannot be accessed until week 2
⬥ A new post will go up detailing the Lockdown period and Persona summoning process next week, but this post may be used for threads taking place throughout the month
⬥ The name on the character’s omamori is up to player discretion, whether it’s the character’s full name, first or last name, or nickname
⬥ Please see the locations page for visuals and more details about the setting

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ It feels like a certain monkey bastard said something similar... Anyway, he'll let Kurusu in on what feels relevant, since there seems to be something they can discuss about this. ]

I dunno what actually caused it to happen, but we were just sleepin' like normal, y'know? And when I came to, I was at some creepy castle. Come to think of it, 'twas kinda like how we ended up here-- but the castle was different. It was weird, like there were classrooms, but they looked more like jails... or somethin'. There were portraits of this uglyass dude, and--

[ Ah, yes. ]

--some monster that looks like a fuckin' dick in a chariot-- fuck. [ That reminds him, his amulet says 'Chariot' too, is there some kinda link? Goddamn... ] Ugh, just remembering about it makes me feel fuckin' gross. [ He twitches a little from the goosebumps it caused. ] Some dude told me not to fight it, tho', so we just bailed it outta there.

[This is...]

[He doesn't put two and two together until the end. After all, they woke up in a castle here too, and most inhabited castles did have strange rooms and pictures of ugly men. But Akira's expression drops into something uncharacteristically honest, a wide-eyed stare, right as Mondo gets to the part about the dick in the chariot. There's no way to misconstrue that.]

A— dick in a...

[Immediately, one hand goes into his hair, twirling the strands around.]

...What, uh.

What color was the dick?

Green?

[ What colour was the dick. ]

Haah?! --Wait, yeah... yeah, it was green. [ Oh god GROSS the memory flashes in his head again, fuck. ] Ugh, shit. But... how didja know that?!

...'cause I've been in that castle and I've fought both with and against that dick. His name is Mara.

[Akira just looks unnerved. Like someone's blown the lid straight off everything that kept his personal history safe and out of public attention.]

...What I don't understand is... how you got into the Metaverse in the first place.

[ With and against? Holy shit what?! He doesn't get it but he doesn't really wanna know, really. Mondo would probably understand it better when he finally wraps his head around the concept of Persona a little later, but right now he's just holding his head internally like, what. What. WHAT. ]

Metaverse? [ If the castle was what Kurusu's referring to, then-- ] Uhh, that time we were goin' through someone's memory, and that came from this fucker-- uh. Sakamoto Ryuji. It was his memory.

[ Hold up! ]

You said you've been to the castle?! Is he your-- [ ...Didn't that chimpanzee have a roommate before? Is that why he finds Kurusu kind of familiar? Then again, it didn't seem like Kurusu knows anything about Wonderland... ] --d'ya know him?

His memory...?

[So it wasn't even the real Metaverse, but some sort of— construct of a construct? Akira's hair-twirling stops, and he just leans his entire head heavily in one hand, looking at the table. And when he speaks again, he's clearly willing his tone to be calm and stony. The way Mondo describes him as a 'fucker' doesn't escape Akira's notice, but he doesn't really think it's the most important topic of conversation right now. —And also, despite the fact that Akira would fight and die for him and he's sure Ryuji would do the same, he's definitely a bit of a fucker.]

Yeah. Ryuji is one of my best friends. He and I, we discovered that castle together back in Tokyo...

Edited 2019-08-04 05:07 (UTC)

[ Well, he didn't have the leeway nor time to talk about the castle with Sakamoto when they were back there, nor was it possible for the two of them to have civil conversations that don't end up in a fight any other time, so while they're here-- ]

He said it was made out of someone's personality... I didn't hear the details on it, but apparently it was some creep's. I can't remember his name but there was pictures of him all over the place.

[ Ugh, now that he tries to remember what happened then, he could remember the sensation of the jello dicks on his fists and sole of feet. Fuckin' gross. ]

...Who's that guy, anyway? You guys know him?

Kamoshida.

[Akira pulls a grimace.]

An old teacher at our high school. Ex-Olympic medalist. He... did terrible things to the students. Including Ryuji.

A teacher, huh?

[ Come to think of it, the castle he was in does sorta resemble parts of a school... ]

So... the hell's that castle? You said it's influenced by somethin' in their head, right?

It's how he sees the school. He thinks he's king, see.

[The bitterness is creeping back into his voice, fast.]

And the students are a bunch of peasants he can do whatever he wants to. Beat the shit out of 'em. Sexually harass 'em. No one would stop him, but they all knew, because his reputation raked in money and attention for the school.

Ryuji can't run track anymore because of him. Kamoshida broke his leg just to teach him a lesson about standing up to tyrants.

[ King... huh.

Mondo narrows his eyes in pure disgust, even more when he listens to what Kurusu described. Sick fuckers... Kamoshida was definitely a piece of shit, but so were the people around. ]

They knew, but didn't bother stoppin' him? What the fuck's wrong with the school?!

[ ...!

Mondo freezes when Kurusu mentions about the leg injury. ]

...So, that's why the guy would have troubles runnin' sometimes. [ In the first place, it's not like Mondo hates Sakamoto. They just can't mix, simply because they're water and oil - their personalities clash too much. But Sakamoto was among the ones who didn't give up on him, and never left his side, whatever the motivation was. ] He never told me all those shit. [ Not that Mondo would've listened to him, anyway. ]

He said you guys were 'Fantasy Thiefs', or somethin'. [ Sorry, he's not good with names... ] That got any relations to the castle thingy?

'Course he did...

[Ryuji's inability to can it about phantom thievery has always driven Akira up the wall, but he supposes there's no real reason to hide it anymore either, at least not here. Akira's mostly just cagey.]

To answer your first question, there's a lot of things wrong with that fucking school.

To the second, Phantom Thieves. That's what we called ourselves, collectively — the people who went into cognitive worlds and literally stole the distortion from out of people's minds. Kamoshida was one target, and his mind put up defenses, hence the castle.

That.

[ Mondo always gets the name confused, but he supposes he'll remember it... eventually. ]

...Huh.

[ Wait, he's beginning to remember what Sakamoto told him. He wasn't really paying that much attention when Sakamoto did tell him stuff simply because he was too pissed off to. Who'd think it'll ever come up in conversations again. He hated-- no, that's too strong of a word, probably. He disliked Sakamoto, and the 'Phantom Thieves' by proxy. It's all for petty reasonings, but talking to Kurusu... Mondo feels like he can change his mind. Kurusu seems decent, unlike that crazy monkey. ]

Come to think of it, Sakamoto did mention something about 'changin' hearts from inside out'. That castle came from someone's warped thoughts, huh.

[ The more light-hearted tone of his voice turns dark the moment he mulls over everything. ]

...Say, did the murder stuff happen in one of the castles or somethin'?

[One of these days, once Akira realizes the true depth of Mondo's feelings about Ryuji, he's going to ask what the hell happened between those two because it sounds really juicy. Even if Ryuji is one of his best friends, Akira will readily admit that he's a fucking idiot and it's easy to develop a bad relationship with him.]

No, the murder stuff was somewhere else.

There was murder in those Palaces, but it's... unrelated murder.

[And the less said about that topic the better.]

What else did he tell you about our top-secret operation?

[ Mondo was Ryuji's gay husband... ok just kidding, their relationship was rocky at best, the only thing that brought them together was Mondo's pupper in Wonderland, Komo, and that's it. They were just constantly on bad terms. ]

...'s pretty much it. He kept preachin' on me, and said shit that he wanted to... help me [ He shudders a bit, gross. ] but kept acting like an asswipe. The hell's wrong with yer friend?!

[ It's a wonder that Sakamoto can even have friends. That kinda asshole... Anyway. ]

So I guess you went to some other universe, too? ...That didn't happen back home, right? The murder shit.

[ His eyes narrow slightly at the mention of the murder in the Palaces, but he decides to keep his question for later. He won't be able to handle too much information at once, anyway. ]

Nothing's wrong with him.

[...That came out a bit too quick. Akira pauses, and then continues, more calmly.]

He's just too impulsive. Honestly, he probably did want to help you, but he sucks at using his words.

[That was a volatile reaction out of Mondo, but also, he and Ryuji both seem like volatile guys. So maybe they just fed into each other in some negative way? ...Akira doesn't really appreciate Mondo talking about Ryuji like that, but he can see why it would happen, he guesses. But still, his first instinct is always going to be to defend his friend.]

...The murder shit was after I left home. Yeah.

.....

[ Even though Mondo notices the discomfort in Kurusu's reaction, he's not planning to take what he said back. That was what it felt for him, though he can't deny the fact that Sakamoto did save his ass a couple of times, even if he didn't ask for it.

He's not here to argue about Sakamoto, though, so he'll just let it slide. ]

Man. And here I thought there'd be some clue about all these crap. Ya don't know what brought ya to that place, right?

[It's not so much discomfort as defensiveness. Sorry, Mondo, but he refuses on moral grounds to sully Ryuji's name even more than it already is.]

I know it was a person in a mask with a voice-changer and the name Zero. Probably a fake name, too.

But what's the real one? Hell if I know. Hades?

[ Zero...? ]

Don't ring a bell to me... But that means you guys had some mastermind controllin' stuff too, eh? Ours was... [ Mondo scoffs, but he doesn't look the least bit amused. ] a fuckin' bear robot that could move around and self-destruct. It's called Monokuma.

Mono...

[ ... ]

Yeah, ours was a dude in a mask.

He had a little robot pal, though. Rat named Calhoun.

[Akira looks down, and scowls with visible displeasure. This conversation is already bad enough, but on top of that, now he has no food left. This is bullshit.]

Did your bear say anything about why it was happening?

[ None of these names ring a bell, but he keeps them in mind, just in case. This conversation certainly isn't one they should be having while eating, but here they are. ]

Don't say 'my bear'!!

[ He's sensitive, ok. ]

But that fucker didn't explain anythin'. It just kept blackmailing us with shit, tryinna get us to kill each other. No one knew how it found all these information. ...At least, I didn't get to know any further.

[ Kurusu is free to speculate why. ]

Alright, sorry.

[He doesn't think twice about it.]

All we got is that it was some kind of experiment. Thought you might be the same. But Zero definitely knew more about us than he should've.

... To be honest, I'm not convinced that he wasn't some sort of super-powerful cognitive construct, trapping us in his mind prison. But that's just me.

[Akira liced til the end and never learned a goddamn thing, so he thinks nothing of Mondo's failure. Feel free to call him a lunatic for that up there, he probably deserves it for saying shit like that out loud.]

[ Mondo acknowledges the apology. It's appreciated, even if he doesn't say a thing.

But holy crap, that sure is a whole lot of overlaps there. From what Kurusu described, while Zero seems to look and act differently to Monokuma, in the end of the day, they're doing the same things for some absurd reasons.

Unfortunately though, having already navigated through someone's mind and experiencing the 'Metaverse' doesn't make Mondo question what Kurusu said. His idea of normal has been warped long since the killing game started, and he's seen way more than he hasn't. ]

At this point, anythin's possible to me. [ He sighs. ] Not that discussin' this changes anythin'... in the end, there ain't a single clue we got outta that. But, heh. Guess we're... whaddya call it again? Lickin' each other's wounds?

[ It sounds kinky but he sure doesn't mean it that way... ]

... I guess we are.

[Akira doesn't seem to like that turn of phrase, but not for the reason Mondo might assume.]

Though, it's less tending to wounds and more - comparing notes. I'm not... well, that place was probably the closest to Hell that we can get without supernatural interference, but...

I'm fine. It's not like the memory of it is debilitating to me, or anything.

[He just doesn't want to sound weak, is what he's saying.]

Ah, that's a better way to put it.

[ Mondo can give him that.

But the way Kurusu put what he's been through bothered Mondo, even if he knew Kurusu was trying not to sound pathetic. Coming out from a mind-fucking situation will always make you feel powerless - while Mondo is very familiar of that feeling, it doesn't make him any more tolerant about it. ]

Hah. One tough cookie, ain'cha? [ He gets up from his seat then, picking up his tray. ] Well, don't think we've got anythin' else to share for now. I'll see ya when I see ya.

[ And off he goes. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

July Intro Log

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

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