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cetana mods ([personal profile] citta) wrote in [community profile] cetana2019-11-03 02:39 pm

november dungeon.

NOVEMBER DUNGEON

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11/3 Lockdown

    When midnight arrives, all light in town disappears save for the sliver of the moon overhead, signifying the start of Lockdown. With the darkness comes cold winds, howling and rattling the windows around town, the gale unavoidable by anybody outside. For some, they've just opened their eyes to stare up at the stone walls of the castle ruins, a silk omamori by their side stating their preferred name and Arcana. Others have been in Hirajiro for several months and know that following the wind brings them to a new dungeon. The gust weaves in and out between the buildings, streaming up the stairs of the shrine in the forest and towards the back where the honden stands. Regardless of where you come from, the doors are open, and the wind gently nudges you across the threshold of the dungeon.

Dungeon Main Hub

    Inside, a short set of stairs leads down into a dark, empty hallway, meandering and liable to stub toes unless you have a source of light. With electronics non-functioning during Lockdown, you may have to rely on your Persona: summoning is as easy as touching your omamori and willing the Persona into existence, the shadow beneath your feet disappearing and taking the form of the Persona, its presence lighting up the room. Eventually, you come across an archway, a large open space past it that's a perfect circle with a dozen archways total lining the wall. The moment you step inside, your Persona disappears, both it and your powers sealed.

    There are dozens of people inside, lost and confused, unfamiliar filtering out of each of the other eleven arches. There are no Shadows, only people— until someone towards the center of the pack lets out a cry of pain, a short boy dropping to one knee and clutching his side. Before him stands a girl, calm on her face, knife in her hand dripping with blood, her blue eyes slowly taking on a golden hue. "I'm fine! I'll hold the line!" the boy shouts behind him, staggering to his feet and raising a fist with the hand not stanching the blood at his side. "You turn back and call the rest of the team for reinforcement!" An older boy turns around to the arch he'd come from, but the way is blocked by an invisible wall. Attempting to exit through any other arch produce the same result: each arch is a barrier allowing people to enter, but none to leave. The girl is sent reeling with one punch from the first boy, and the second causes her to fall apart into black sludge, dropping a fragment of a gemstone that the boy crushes beneath his heel. He looks around at all the strangers in the room, sets his jaw and gestures to his partner. "...It's just you and me, then. We can take these Shadows, even without our Personas."

    In this room of strangers with sealed powers, where you can't be sure who's a Shadow and who's a Persona user, the only people you can trust are those who came in with you, who arrived at the castle same as you did, lived with you for months, and fought through Shadows and dungeons by your side as a team. Whether you try to talk it out and risk getting stabbed in the gut with your defense down, or if you just duke it out with everybody to see who falls apart like a Shadow and who hits the ground like a real person, you need to identify and defeat five Shadows, keeping or destroying the gemstone fragments, before the invisible walls drop and allow exit through any of the dozen arches. The longer you stay, more Shadows crop up to replace those who have left; there is no end to them.

    Once outside the central room, your powers work again. Returning through the exit you arrived by leads out of the dungeon to the shrine, but at the end of all the other passageways stand a literal door. Sometimes the door looks brand new, with a lacquer shine and golden doorknob, while other times it's a plain door with chipped paint and peeling wood. Both knobs turn easily, silent when the door opens.

Option 1: Fear Floor

    Through one of the new doors is an empty room, so dark you can't see your hands. When you step inside, you don't hear your footstep. Your powers don't work. You can't hear your voice when you speak, nor your body when you turn, no pounding heart in your chest or pressure behind your eyes no matter how hard you want to cry. There's nothing. You can't see, hear, smell, taste, or feel anything, all five senses robbed from you, leaving you nothing but a conscious mind existing nowhere.

    You can will yourself forward but there's no indication you're moving at all, no different from waiting in place, knowing nobody will come to help, and nothing will light the way. Ten minutes pass. Then thirty. One full hour before a speck of light appears in the distance, and you're drawn to it: as you approach, the more of you returns into being, your body first and then the senses one by one until you finally stand in front of a door and step through it to see... Hirajiro. It's the Hirajiro you know so well, except it's summertime again, warm sun above your head, cool breeze wafting through the streets. You're in front of the school, listening to your footsteps as you walk and voice as you call out, but there's no response. There's not a single soul but yourself, everybody gone, from the animals to the people. But there are signs of life everywhere: clotheslines with fresh laundry in people's backyards, grocery stores with fresh produce, a bicycle left leaning against a tree by the lake with a set of worn sneakers neatly placed beside it. Your hand goes right through the apple you're reaching for, your entire body phases through the wall of a house without having to open the door— you can't open the door, because you can't touch anything in this town, having become a ghost bound only by the ground you walk on and ever-present gravity that keeps you to it.

    But you won't be alone forever. Eventually, somebody exits from the school just like you did, looking lost and bewildered but you can't hear what they're saying. Whether a stranger or someone you were exploring with, your hand phases right through them. But you can see them, and they can see you, both ghosts in a world you can't interact with. Hopefully, you and your partner are very good at charades, and can keep calm, because tinge of fear or trace of anxiety takes root the moment you're aware of it, negative emotions within you growing uncontrollably the longer you remain here, until, out of the corner of your eye, you see a black blob of a Shadow disappear around the corner of a building, and you feel empty again.

    Eventually, you'll find the exit at wherever either of you were living, whether a house or the castle or a dumpster. There's a door with faint blue light filtering between the gaps, and it takes both people touching the door to become tangible once more, able to turn the knob and step through. When you do, you're hit with a vision of being underwater, dark hair floating by your face as you grip a sword tightly in your hand and drive it into the ground at your feet. There's a burst of pain at the back of your head like somebody had taken a sledgehammer to it, and you stumble out the door, back in the dungeon. A round mirror lies on the ground, easily stepped on and easily noticeable, fitting in the palm of your hand if picked up. At the end of the hall are two doors: one new, one old.

Option 2: Memory Floor

    Entering one of the older doors, you immediately step in a pool of blood on the rooftop of a large building, dark clouds shrouding the night sky and a towering Shadow standing before you. You're not alone. Beside you is anybody you entered the door with, along with your closest friends from here or from home, numbering ten in all. Without warning, the Shadow raises its hand and fire rains down from the sky, initiating the battle; even with ten people and ten Personas, the Shadow is overwhelming, three times your level and easily picking people off one by one despite them doing everything they can to keep alive, casting healing spells on one another, digging healing and revival items out of their pockets to shove in people's mouths. It's never enough. The Shadow shrugs off every attack thrown at it, and even if you survive chipping away at all its health, it simply heals itself and continues the onslaught. Eventually, you run out of items, your friends all laying at your feet with blood pouring out of bodies sliced cleanly in half, the stench of burnt flesh with bodies charred beyond recognition. Eventually, it's just you and your partner, and there's no way you can win.

    Setting down your weapon to give up and take the final blow, you'll be knocked out and will wake up outside of the shrine when Lockdown ends. But if you grit your teeth and attack with all you have, despite no chance of winning, no matter how long the battle draws out or how tired you are, you find that you won't ever fall. As long as you attack, you're able to cling to that last bit of health no matter how many times you're thrown to the ground or blasted with spells. Your Persona hangs on, pulling together strength and magic it shouldn't have left, long after either of you should have run out of steam. If you push through exhaustion and pain, even if it takes hours, the Shadow will eventually fall— revive, but fall again, forcing you to battle it fourteen times before it stays down for good, dissolving into black sludge that covers the ground and bubbles up into small Shadows that crawl down the sides of the tower. The bodies of your fallen friends disappear along with it, and the door behind you shines again.

    When you open the door, you're suddenly staring at the contents of a refrigerator, specifically at a container of stir fried veggies in an alarming shade of red. In this vision, you take the container and grab a spoon to scoop out a large spoonful— you almost spit it back out when you're hit with the heat, burning pain that sears your mouth and throat, piercing your nose and making your eyes water so badly you can't see the sink you throw your spoon into. And then the vision fades, returning you to the quiet of the dungeon, staring down at the ground, at the gold metallic sheen of a tarot card. Comparing them with others confirms that each person receives the same Arcana as listed on their omamori, the card unnaturally heavy in their hand. At the end of the hall are two doors: one new, one old.

Boss Door (unlocked)

    Passage through each door ends in another set of two doors, always one new and one old, the new granting a mirror upon completion and the old a tarot card. Turning back just once, no matter how many doors you've passed through, returns you to the main hub with the arches and Shadow doppelgängers. Catching the Shadows in the mirrors exposes golden eyes and black smoke lingering about their feet, their reflection showing their true nature and allowing for easy identification to destroy what you can or ignore them and leave.

    Pressing forward through door after door, eventually, instead of another branching point, the hall leads to a large golden door that towers dozens of meters above you, a dozen eyes on its surface looking around independently of one another, until you enter and all eyes are on you. Thick splatters of blood coat a pile of thorny vines that lie scattered across the floor, the trail of blood leading up to and beyond that door which refuses to open until you pay the toll: 22 imprints mark the edges of the door matching the size of the tarot card you may have received before coming here. The Fool, The Priestess, The Emperor, The Lovers, The Hanged Man, The Sun, The Star. Each space must be filled with its corresponding tarot card in order to pass, forcing you to return once you've found everybody with the remaining Arcana, whether inside the dungeon or outside in town.

Welcome to OU Hirajiro

    Stepping outside the dungeon, you see the shrine outside caked with dry mud, grimy stone lanterns now lit with white-blue flames that are pretty to look at, but offer no warmth, and while the sign that's supposed to display the deity's name is still blank after being wiped clean, a closer look shows the handwritten word "JOKER" barely visible under several coats of white paint. At the center of the shrine, the offertory box stands empty aside from a few gemstones, like the fragments found in the dungeon except whole, sides of the box green with slime, rest of the ground coated with wet leaves and the occasional puddle. The only thing spotless is the honden you walked out of, untouched by the deluge from last month, and it was definitely not here before, the space behind the shrine always having been bushes, the preferred hiding place of a fox that lives in the area. A large statue of a bird flanks its entrance on both sides, and the doors are easily opened during Lockdown, though remaining tightly closed during the rest of the day. Standing on the top of the step, you can see the ruins of the castle in the forest, and the town in the distance blanketed with fog.

       OU only

      Changes to the shrine have happened once before, you recall, back in August when the first ofuda was returned to the castle. Going there now confirms your suspicions: the second floor is restored, two ofudas fused into the stone door set into the ground of the first floor. The rest of the ground is littered with scraps of torn tarps, blankets, and rope, especially around the throne guarding the Velvet Room door. Entering the Velvet Room, music starts playing in your head again that you cannot tune out. As of 11/13, the music has changed to this. ...You decide to leave.

      The second floor of the castle is decorated with similar murals to those on the first floor, the ground polished to a sheen compared to the rough stone making up the rest of the castle. Most of the second floor is barren, with open windows large enough to step comfortably through lining the outer walls. A room which might be an armory near the center, going by the few tarnished pikes and plain round shields left lying on the ground, but the weapons are brittle with time and easily broken, just like the stairs to the third floor that no longer hold weight. Despite being further restored, parts of the castle still look on the verge of falling apart, and perhaps that's why a single bear wanders outside of the castle, looking at it with curiosity, but does not enter.

      When you follow the path back to town, you find the streets hazy with fog that developed following the recent rainfall, but it'll clear up by morning. While it's still Lockdown, though, small black blobs of Shadows creep out of the school and the lake, crawling around the streets and poking their heads into any open houses, as if searching for something, squeaking and scattering when a yell booms through the empty street: "Why are there so many of them?!!" It's the same boy who got stabbed before inside the dungeon, apparently having left instead of venturing further. His wound has been magically healed but now he's livid, sword clutched in his hand and shouting at you through the bandanna covering his nose and mouth the moment he makes eye contact, "What the hell did you guys do?! Forget about the dungeons— get out your weapons and help me get rid of these Shadows NOW!!"

      Looks like you'd better either stab a Shadow, or he's going to stab you, judging by the terror and fury in his violet eyes as he cuts down a Shadow with the sword in his hands, slicing through it and splattering black gunk everywhere in a single stroke. He doesn't even bother calling for his Persona.

      You don't get it, but you think something must be wrong.

       AU only

      This isn't the Hirajiro you know. It's obvious just by looking at the shrine you stepped out of, no longer run down and falling apart, no smashed lanterns or murky shrine water or broken sign. Turning on your heels to look around, the castle isn't where it's supposed to be either, and there are two floors instead of just the one. From this height, you can see faint blue light from the door to the Velvet Room still in the castle, but when you enter, it's all wrong. Your Velvet Room is not a train, nor did it have this annoying music, and those are not your Attendants looking calmly back at you from the lounge or the kitchen, smiling faintly instead of scowling and yelling for you to get back out there and fight while it's still Lockdown. It's weird. There's a door at the center of the castle, two ofudas already in place when you were warned not to bring them here, and you realize why it feels so wrong. It happened differently here. Everything is wrong.

      The streets through town are dry instead of you having to wade through two feet of water, and the fog that hangs in the air isn't tinted red, nor is it thick and choking like the fog smothering your own town, that's been making the townspeople sick and tired until they could barely function. The buildings are all in the wrong places, but none of it's sunk into the lake following the series of earthquakes that hit Hirajiro back home. Shadows roam the town, but instead of fighting them to keep them off the streets, the Persona users here ignore them to fight in the dungeons, needlessly slaughtering Shadows and for what? It's the Shadows on the streets they should be worrying about, seeking out and attacking sleeping or unguarded Persona users and eating their psyche, leaving them in a vegetative state. There are too many people that have become like that here. It's wrong.

      When Lockdown ends and people and animals return to the world; rather than with storm water, the streets are flooded with an absurd number of cats, meowing sweetly up at you and rubbing against your ankles. You recognize many of the people around town, but they don't recognize you— not your boss, your friends, or the cute waitress who always smiles brightly when she sees you and asks if you want the usual. None of the townspeople know who you are, because you don't belong here; it's not your world.

      No matter how many times you enter the shrine dungeon, no matter which doors you try to exit through, you can't get home. You need to go back no matter what, before everybody in your team gets trapped here and there's nobody left to protect your Hirajiro from falling apart, but there's no way out.
    The next morning, the sun rises with clear blue skies and bustling streets, stores reopening following the flood, and children laughing and screaming in the parks because the school is closed for repairs. Life in town is peaceful, because the people here don't know what goes on in that hidden hour, or how things differ so much between a dozen Hirajiros, and the Persona users trying to protect them.

    You thought the storm had passed, but you're wrong: you're just in the eye of it.

MOD NOTES

    ⬥ Welcome to Cetana's Fourth Wall event and third dungeon log! Please take the time to read through the important notes below.
    ⬥ For 4th wall characters, please include your character's Name, canon/CRAU, and whether they are OU or AU in the subject line
    ⬥ AU characters may come from the same or different versions of Hirajiro, with 12 parallel worlds represented and NPC Persona users filling in to number around 20 to 30 Persona users per world. For the purpose of this log/continuity in threads, the short shouty boy who gets stabbed and then threatens to stab is Natsuo, played by one of the mods.
    (click to expand details) Key differences for AU characters:
      ◇ The previous two Daitengu's ofudas were obtained through negotiation, and as a group, the Persona users agreed to cooperate with the Daitengu, who are left alive and provide stat boosts and occasional advice. Some Persona users, however, believe leaving the Daitengu alive is the cause of the natural disasters befalling the town, and advocate killing them and all the Shadows to save the town.
      ◇ The Daitengu advised them to keep hold of the ofuda but do not return them to the castle until all four are collected, so the castle and shrine remain unrestored. Gemstones dropped by Shadows are destroyed instead of donated to the offertory box, but while the Personas are weaker than those in OU Hirajiro, Persona users all retain the full scope of their canon/CRAU powers.
      ◇ They are aware that Shadows outside the dungeons attack Persona users and leave them in a state of ego death, so after reaching the end of each dungeon and before the next one, they focus their efforts on fighting the Shadows on the streets to keep their teammates from becoming zombies. As a result, there are little to no zombies in the AU Hirajiros, compared to two thirds of the Persona users being zombies in OU Hirajiro.
      ◇ There may be one or two Velvet Room Attendants, but all emphasize defeating Shadows in the dungeons and killing the Daitengu, as leaving them alive has caused a heatwave, flooding, earthquakes, and a thick poisonous fog covering town. The relationship between the Attendants and their Guests are strained, especially after the early decision to side with the Daitengu, and Persona users are referred to by their Arcana rather than their name.
    (click to expand details) Instead of a set number of floors to clear, each door leads to its own floor. The two in the log are examples of what they may look like, but with many floors in the dungeon, the rest are created by players, representing their characters' fears:
      ◇ Behind new doors are constructs of your character's worst fears, the room/obstacles freely designed by the players. They may feature physical fears (giant spiders, rotting zombies, towering giraffes, etc) or conceptual ones. The example above reflects Souji's fear of being alone, featuring loss of senses representing how he feels like he's nothing without people, and the empty town forcing characters in a situation where they are alone, unable to reach anybody nor affect the world until they find someone to escape with. After confronting the fear and exiting, each character receives a memory and a mirror.
      ◇ Behind old doors are constructs of your characters' worst memories (their own death or somebody else's, situations they deeply regret, etc). Characters experience the memory, but with deviations because characters are no longer facing them alone. The example above is Minato's memory of the final battle against the Nyx Avatar. What he fears most isn't the fight, but losing his friends, so the memory twists into a hopeless battle where not everybody can be saved. Characters confront the fear by focusing on the battle and acknowledging that death is inevitable. After confronting the fear and exiting, each character receives a memory and a tarot card of their Arcana. All 22 Arcanas must be represented for the boss door to open, but OOCly we won't require one of each.
    ⬥ Players creating their own fear floors are encouraged to submit their floors to the toplevel below for other characters to explore. These floors will exist regardless of which characters enter it, while memory floors reflect memories of only the characters present. Players are free to create multiple fear floors and memory floors for their character.
    ⬥ Every time a room is completed, the character receive a memory, which may be mundane or plot related (preference given to current characters in the game). To receive a memory, please comment to the appropriate toplevel with the completed thread. There is no limit to the number of memories you can receive, and receiving memories is optional.
    ⬥ To access the boss, a minimum of 10 threads across the entire player base must be reported to the toplevel below, with a maximum of 2 threads per player containing at least 5 comments from each character. These threads may involve Fourth Wall characters, but only players currently in the game may submit threads. A toplevel for the boss will go up upon once 10 threads are reported, and overall, threads are due by the end of the month to avoid IC consequences.
    ⬥ This month, the full moon occurs on 11/11 - 11/13, during which Personas are more prone to behave strangely, lash out, summon themselves without being called, etc. This is an optional mechanic.
overstrain: (pic#13294430)

[personal profile] overstrain 2019-11-06 07:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Terry is internally screaming at himself to snap out of it already and bites down at the end of his tongue really hard enough for it to bleed. The pain helps clear his mind a little--it's better than nothing. He spits at his face. ]

What kind of a fucked up parent are you?! Some fuckface like you doesn't deserve to be Kido's dad! Or anyone else's!

[ He's trying to provoke him on purpose so that he can get within range and kick him in the face. ]

[personal profile] reveilation 2019-11-06 07:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The man stares back at Terry, eyes cold and lifeless. "Is that all you have to say to me?" he asks, tighting the grip on the knife in his hand but not taking a step forward. Kido shrinks against Terry's side, biting at her bottom lip, not knowing what to say or do but she has to prolong this as much as possible or they'll be killed. ]

Why?! [ The question is blurted out, loud and clear and shocking even herself, but all that does is make her next words quiet and timid. ] Why are you doing this...

[ The man's gaze sets on Kido's, and though she continues to cower behing Terry, she doesn't take her eyes off him, no matter how much she wants to look away.

Monotone monologue: "...I wanted to be free. All my life, I was forced into being somebody I didn't want to be. Into doing what I didn't want to do. I was forced into the school chosen for me, into a job made for me, marrying a girl I had never even met before. It was hell. I was not allowed to decide a single part of my life for myself. I just wanted to live freely."

Guess who he reminds Kido of. I'm writing all this out because it might be relevant later and I don't want to keep looking through the novel.

"But then I met your mother, and for the first time in my life, I felt true love. She listened to me, tried to teach me music, and taught me everything I was lacking in my life. But she disappeared once she learned I already had a family, and later, I learned that she died. I went to her funeral on a whim, and learned that you were there, Tsubomi... You're my last hope. I never want to let go of you again. After today, I'll be free of the handcuffs that was my family. I'll be free of everything except for you. We can live together. I'll give you whatever you want. I'll do whatever it takes."

Only then does he move, stepping forward into kicking range and reaching for Kido. ]
overstrain: * (pic#13366928)

[personal profile] overstrain 2019-11-06 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The thing about Terry right now is that he absolutely cannot sympathize with Kido's father. Maybe this was why Kido always got on his case about certain things, but he doesn't have the leisure to think about that. ]

She's not going with you! I'm the one that's going to take her away so she can be happy!

[ And the moment he's within range, Terry pulls himself up quickly and delivers two kicks: one in the throat to impede his breathing and bringing his leg down for an axe-kick right on his head in hopes to knock him out. ]

[personal profile] reveilation 2019-11-06 08:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[ doki

Kido's heart skips a beat hearing that, but considering how fast her heart is pounding with fright, it feels more like her heart is seizing up and she's dying, especially when the man gets kicked back and she ducks her head, muffling a whimper against Terry's side.

The man slams backwards against the suit of armor in the room, where it falls apart and clangs against the ground, spear dropping to one side and the butcher knife to the other, but the man is only disoriented, still alive, grabbing the knife from the ground and this time he pulls his arm back to throw the knife without getting close to Terry.

Kido screams for him to stop, and what plays out in the memory is exactly how she remembers it: she doesn't. One moment she's cowering behind Terry, and the next thing she knows, she's running for the spear without thinking and plunging the tip through the man's chest, her father looking at her with eyes full of fear as he falls. ]
overstrain: * (pic#13280482)

[personal profile] overstrain 2019-11-06 08:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[ A lot of things end up happening in such a short time. The knife is thrown, the spear impales the man's chest and Terry bites back a scream in pain, because that butcher knife would have chopped his hands off if it weren't for the bones, so the knife is just stuck there below the shackles, and Terry is internally cursing in his mind that Kido's dad couldn't even do this right because it fucking hurts. His wrists are still shackled, so he's still hanging from his arms. There's nothing but pain.

If he remembers right, there should be... fire...
]

Kido, you need to run! The place is gonna catch on fire soon!

[ Maybe?! He doesn't know the cause nor remember it--only that there's gonna be fire. ]

I'll get myself free!

[ Some...how. ]

[personal profile] reveilation 2019-11-06 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The answer to Terry's question comes in the form of a loud explosion that rattles the thick iron door, Kido dropping to the floor in shock and letting out a terrified scream. There's explosion after explosion, the entire room shaking as dust and plaster falls from the ceiling. She looks from Terry to the door and back, caught between terror and an order, it's the order and the look on Terry's face that wins in the end. She scrambles to her feet to run to the door— there's another blast, and she falls over. Beyond the door, there's a stairway, a little window on the other end that's bright with flicking flames, wooden beams burning behind the door where the entire room upstairs has already fallen in.

She's small. She could probably still make it out. But just like before, she's too scared to leave by herself, so she turns around and runs back to Terry, reaching up and about to pull on him but she stops before she touches him. With the knife there, all that would accomplish is hurting him. The knife isn't in deep enough that she can pull him free by tearing his hands off to get out of the shackles, and she's not tall enough to grab the knife and try to break the shackles with the blade either. ]


I... I can't, not without you...

[ The blood from the man's body reaches her shoes, and she moves towards Terry, hugging him close, vision blurring with tears but then she sees the omamori covered in blood rust. She takes it out now, and— not knowing what else to do, since Terry's hands are all the way up there— holds it up to his face. ]
overstrain: * (pic#13294432)

[personal profile] overstrain 2019-11-06 09:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Even though Kido is little like this, Terry can see why she made that choice. It reminds him of the time when she said that she'd rather die than leave the Dungeon without him, and... frankly, if he wasn't motivated before, he sure is determined to change things now. Even if this is just a memory, even if it's all fake and his efforts won't matter, he still wants to do something at the end.

He bites onto the omamori that Kido holds out and Vassago is summoned, roaring to announce his arrival and breaking the shackles that hold Terry up. He immediately throws the butcher knife off to the side and even though he's profusely bleeding from his arms, it's fine! Now's not the time to be worrying over an injury like this.
]

Thanks, for not leaving me behind.

[ Terry picks her up and Vassago unleashes a God's Hand on the ceiling in order to make an opening while holding onto both Terry and Kido and they're gonna flyyyy outta there. Goodbye, burning house. ]

[personal profile] reveilation 2019-11-06 09:15 pm (UTC)(link)
M-mm...

[ All she can do is whimper the affirmation in his arms, tears spilling freely down her cheeks now and she buries her face against Terry's chest, holding onto him just as tightly as he holds onto her. The three of them are going to fly up, three whole stories of a burning mansion above them with falling furniture and marble statues and chandeliers and other debris all around them.

There is no shining blue door that awaits them. All there is is the sight of a dark gaping mouth, fangs like a snake and completely covering the sky before it comes down to swallow everything whole. Goodbye, burning house. They still can't escape. ]
overstrain: * (pic#13366917)

[personal profile] overstrain 2019-11-06 09:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[ What is this Gainax ending, Card... Anyway, this will be my last one. Feel free to add another Kido's memory after this one. My brain is melting from making up scenarios.

When Kido comes to, she'll be in a forest. This time she won't have to suffer anything physical... for now. I never know with Card. Anyway, it stinks. It reeks like blood, because... well, it is blood. Whether Kido completely forgot about the bloody forest post-torture after passing out, she'll get to see it again here.

The Terry she knows is on the ground with a severed leg. It's the same leg that was in the photo. Terrence hovers over him, with the charm axe and laughs a little.

"Pathetic. I'm ashamed to have you as my clone. Did they lose their touch? Did I die for this? Absolutely pathetic."

Terrence cuts Terry's torso open, heals it up effortlessly, and slams the axe down again, heals it... the cycle continues and Terry can't say anything or do anything. In between healing his torso, his neck is severed with the axe so that it has something to do in its downtime. It's an absolute mess and Terry can't think straight because of the overloading effects of charm and trying not to throw up with the feeling because it's a trauma that's still embedded within him today after all those years.
]

[personal profile] reveilation 2019-11-06 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[ You know what? Yeah. Kido immediately passes out. She comes to a short while after, but Terry gets to suffer for some time while Kido lies there in the grass until she wakes up again, feeling like she wants to pass out again when she looks over and sees Terrence driving that axe into Terry's neck.

Please.

It's not the same person, but Nekogami has no problem coming out this time, standing protective over Kido's body and shooting an unending barrage of dream needles at Terrence's left eye. ]
overstrain: * (pic#13280494)

[personal profile] overstrain 2019-11-06 09:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ When Nekogami shoots the barrage of dream needles, the memory is disrupted, the assailant drops dead. Perhaps it's because it's a memory that Terrence easily goes down like this. Either way, the torture is over. Terry's neck had been healed before the axe dropped again, but everything below his torso is long gone, scattered into bits and pieces all strewn out everywhere.

He can't open his eyes. They're tightly shut from him trying to endure the charm/brainwashing effects and his head feels like it's spinning. He really needs some kind of ailment protection passive because regaining his filter won't do anything against mental stuff anyway.

But this time, he's not just a stand-in. It's the actual Terry, the one who came in with Kido to this memory room. There is no stand-in for himself this time. He just had to relive the entire thing over again for a good while. And he feels frustrated, because he couldn't do anything again, when he had a chance this time. It's nothing more than dangling a carrot in front of a horse and never giving it.

The exit door finally forms several feet away from them.
]

[personal profile] reveilation 2019-11-06 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Imagine Kido pulling him out just like this, and Terry has to be a torso for the entirety of her dungeon.

The needles continue to pierce Terrence's body long after he's already fallen, until Nekogami hears Kido stumble, her first steps towards Terry unsteady, with shaking legs. She will never get used to blood, but if she just focuses on Terry's face, it's a little more bearable, trying her hardest to ignore the blood all over his neck and face and everything and everywhere else. The moment she's by Terry's side, she drops to her knees and wraps her arms around him, not squeezing or lifting him because that'll just make him bleed out faster. ]


Terrence... Are you alive? Please still be alive...
overstrain: * (pic#13280488)

[personal profile] overstrain 2019-11-06 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm... alive.

[ For the better or worse. ]

I won't die. It just... really fucking hurts.

[ He tries to breathe in, but that only makes him cough. There's an airy sound as he does this. ]

This isn't real and maybe if I go through that door, I'll just be whole again.

[personal profile] reveilation 2019-11-06 10:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[ MAYBE

That one word clouds Kido's face with anxious doubt, but they have no choice but to bank on that maybe, or else... yeah. She has no idea what they'd do. She had her arms and leg hacked off but they were back when she woke up from being dead again; Terry can't die, so this doesn't help him at all.

She breathes out, breath shaking, until Nekogami trots over, jumps onto Kido's shoulders, and lays there, staring down at Terry.

... ]


I'll carry you. If you want, Nekogami can freeze... everything... and numb the pain. He can put you to sleep so you can't feel it.

[ Nekogami will help if it means attacking Terry or any part of him, yeah. ]
overstrain: * (pic#5531551)

[personal profile] overstrain 2019-11-06 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ With how eager Nekogami is over hurting him, Terry wouldn't doubt that. He shakes his head lightly. ]

You don't have to carry me. I'm pretty gross as it is... you shouldn't have to go through that.

[ He knows how much Kido hates blood and guts. ]

Just drag me through the door. It'll be okay. I don't want Nekogami attacking me.

[personal profile] reveilation 2019-11-06 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Kido frowns when Terry smiles, despite knowing he does that for her sake. Like he says it's okay to drag him like some sack on the ground even though the blood and guts are already making her feel lightheaded. ]

...I don't have to, but I want to.

[ Basically, Terry can't stop her, so she slides her arms under Terry's and picks him up, holding him close like he did for her back then, hating the way her legs shake and she doesn't even have the excuse of him being heavy. She hasn't even taken a step and blood is soaking into her pants. It's hot.

Like that, she stumbles towards the door, praying that when they get to the other side, Terry will be whole again. ]
overstrain: * (pic#13280479)

[personal profile] overstrain 2019-11-06 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Terry shakily breathes out, but closes his eyes as Kido carries him through the door. ]

Thank you.

[ Beyond the door is darkness and everything reforms, clothes included. It takes a moment, but he wakes up at the cafe. What is he doing here... ]

[personal profile] reveilation 2019-11-06 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He's sitting. Maybe it's hard to tell if he did come back whole, because Kido is sitting next to him in her main uniform and looking down at him. Her hand is clasped over her mouth, like she's trying really hard not to smile, but the delight is in her eyes anyways.

Terry is Huxian.

Terrence is there too, in the middle of conversation. "What good is he for you when a part of you hates him so much?"

Kido frowns, slow to take her eyes off Terry and look at Terrence. ]


What? Just because he's yours doesn't mean I hate him.
overstrain: * (pic#5531545)

[personal profile] overstrain 2019-11-06 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Terry was so confused until he looks down at himself and HE'S A FOX. AND TERRENCE IS RIGHT THERE. Terry growls. It sounds completely nonthreatening and Terrence is ignoring him. Swear to god if Terrence even hurts Kido-- ]

[personal profile] reveilation 2019-11-06 11:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Shh, it's okay. They're just talking. Kido looks a bit wary, but at the same time, she looks pretty relaxed if they're just sitting and talking, a far cry from how she was minutes prior to the start of this memory.

"My clone and your Persona," Terrence clarifies, and the confusion on Kido's face settles into something much more unsure. ]


Nekogami doesn't hate him. He just... [ ... ] Anyways, it's none of your business.

[ The back and forth continues and all Terry can do is sit and watch.

"I suppose he matches well with you." ]


Yeah? I'm glad you think so. But I don't need somebody else telling me who's good for me and who's not. I'm the one who chooses who to stand with.

[ "Yes, you and you." Terrence finishes the plate of curry in front of him. Guess he's tired of talking with Kido, and frankly, she's tired of him too. "Now, why don't you act like a proper maid and send me off like a master?" ]
overstrain: * (pic#13294417)

[personal profile] overstrain 2019-11-06 11:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Hell no?! Terry knows what Terrence meant by what he said, so he also copies Huxian in giving Terrence an appalled look. OH NO, YOU FUCKING DIDN'T!!! Terry hops on Kido's lap. MINE!! DON'T GIVE HIM WHAT HE WANTS!! AAAAAA ]
Edited 2019-11-06 23:16 (UTC)

[personal profile] reveilation 2019-11-06 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Terry gets a pat on the head.

She picks him up, though, before standing herself and giving Terrence a stiff, short bow, and she can look down at Terry in her arms while she mumbles ]


It was nice serving you, master. Please come again.

[ With Terry hugged close to her, he gets front row seats when Terrence leans in to lift her chin, kiss her, and slide the money into her pocket.

Since this is the real Kido, I guess Terry's Original gets both her first and second kiss. ]
overstrain: * (pic#13294431)

1/2

[personal profile] overstrain 2019-11-06 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
overstrain: * (pic#13280481)

[personal profile] overstrain 2019-11-06 11:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The small fox fur bristles as Terry hisses as the small fox, but he immediately turns into the normal nine tailed fox form and attempts to kill Terrence in cold blood with a lot of biting. ]

[personal profile] reveilation 2019-11-06 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Terry!!! You were just torn apart five minutes ago, why are you like this??

Very unfortunately, the Terrence in Kido's mind is all powerful and indestructible, so he just levels his gaze at Terry and stares him down without flinching. The exit to the cafe glows blue, Terrence standing in front of it, and Kido hopes Terry isn't too hell bent on killing the fake to notice. ]

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