[OPEN] 11/25 fuck timelines x2

[windbreakers]

ɪ. ᴛʜᴀɴᴋs, ᴋᴀɴᴏ :/

[ Seto was able to navigate to the town rather easily, knowing to follow the path out of the castle and what to avoid in the forest. For once, his immense knowledge of navigating through dense woods helps him out. At this moment, there are a lot of things that are racing through his mind, but he tries to stay as calm and collected as possible. It works as he doesn't look like he's freaking out, but that all ends when he's in town and a box of crickets falls on his head. ]

[ A million crickets jump out and wreck Seto's collectiveness immediately. ]

Daaahh--!! Wh-- What is this--?!

[ He has crickets in his hair. He has crickets in his clothes. He has crickets on his face. And if you're one of the unfortunate ones who thought going for a stroll was a great idea, well... too bad, you're dragged into the cricket apocalypse. If you're not joining then well, Seto will just have to knock into you and transfer his couple thousand crickets onto you instead since he's panicking. ]

ɪɪ. ʜᴇ's ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴀ ᴄʀɪᴄᴋᴇᴛ ꜰᴀʀᴍ ꜰᴏʀᴇᴠᴇʀ

[ ... he wasn't able to get all the crickets out of his jumpsuit. ]

[ He at least thinks that there aren't any inside his clothes and scurrying around his body, but there are still a few on his shoulders, a couple in his hood, and probably a loving family in his pockets. He really needs to find a place where he can take off all of his clothes and give them a good shake. It's one thing to look at bugs, admiring and learning things about them, but it's another to have them crawling all over you... ]

[ So, here's the boring prompt where Seto just walks around town while a cricket occasionally jumps out of his clothes. He will wave down a person when he sees one, approaching but maybe staying a step away because no one else should suffer the crickets... ]

Excuse me! Do you know where the nearest restroom is?

ɪɪɪ. ʙʟᴇss ᴅᴀɴɪ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴀᴄʜɪᴋᴏ ɪᴅᴇᴀ

[ In Seto's desperate wish that he could get rid of these bugs, his hand brushed against the omamori in his pocket and summoned his Persona, Hachiko. However, being distracted by swatting away a cricket that jumped on his face, he doesn't notice that he summoned the large Akita dog that suddenly appears next to him. In fact, the Persona doesn't look any different from a regular dog so there's no reason to think otherwise. So, when Seto notices that an Akita somehow snuck its way next to his side, he's relieved to have something to distract him from his horrible morning. ]

[ He bends down and immediately begins to pet Hachiko on the head, about to ask if it's lost, when the Persona, knowing why it's been summoned, decides to eat the two crickets on Seto's shoulder... then proceeds to eat every other cricket that Seto left behind in his trail. Immediately, Seto takes this seemingly stray dog and tries to open its mouth, but anyone with any experience with animals knows that when you want them to spit something out, they just close their mouth even harder... ]

C-C'mon, spit it out!

[ It's okay if dogs eat some bugs, but Seto has no idea what kind of crickets these are, so it's best not to risk it. So yeah, there's just some dude wrestling with a dog, but since it's a Persona, the townspeople just see some weird kid wrestling with himself... ]

Comments

i

[reveilation]

[ It's sad how used Kido's gotten to walking to the castle and hearing screaming in the near distance. The voice seems familiar, but it's hard to tell when it's screaming, so she steps off the path to see what's up— Seto collides into her, a cricket jumps at Kido's face, and then she clocks Seto on the side of the head in retaliation because it's clearly his fault.

You don't run around when you're covered in bugs!! You set yourself on fire and be a sacrifice to save us all. ]

[windbreakers]

[ This is indeed Seto's fault. He shouldn't have come out to this town. He should have just lived in the woods like he used to, take those fun night sleepovers in the wilderness, instead of trying to find civilization. He gets knocked out in a single punch because while he's big, he's no match for Kido's raging fist. Already unsteady on his feet, he falls backwards and lands sharply on his back. He admits defeat. Sorry, everyone on the other side, he knows he said that he'd live and fight, but maybe this is the end for him... ]

Ow...

[ ... he just lies there for a few seconds because he's seeing stars from the punch and there are just crickets jumping all over his face. They jump towards Kido as well. Accept them. ]

[reveilation]

[ Kido will absolutely not accept them. She already has Nekogami out to set whatever crickets jump on him on fire, while trying to pounce on whatever's on the ground without setting the entire forest ablaze. Kido, though, looks shocked when she sees Seto, and then drops to her knees beside him to grip him by the shoulders and give him a hard shake. Do not do this to somebody with a possible concussion. ]

Seto! It's you, right? Pull yourself together!

[windbreakers]

[ Absolutely do not do this to somebody with a possible concussion because the world is now shaking and ah, he's starting to hear Kido's voice. That's not possible... he's probably just imagining things because everything hurts and it's been a long while since he got knocked on the head like that. ]

P-Please stop shaking me--

[ He manages to weakly get out while a cricket just sits on his forehead, miraculously staying on. ]

[reveilation]

[ She stops shaking him long enough to slap Seto on the forehead to kill the cricket. It hops away and she misses. ]

[windbreakers]

[ What is this abuse... Now he just sits there with his hands on his face. Everything hurts and he'd like to go back home, please. ]

[reveilation]

[ Sorry. Don't move. That's perfect; protect your face while Kido attempt and fails to slap the other crickets off Seto's face and arms and chest. ]

ii

[cicadashell]

[Jiro raises an eyebrow at Seto. He jerks his thumb towards a space between two buildings.]

Just take a piss in the fucking alley.

[Because Seto's kind of twitchy looking and probably won't make it to an actual public restroom, if there even are any in Hirajiro.]

[windbreakers]

[ Seto is indeed twitchy, but for completely different reasons... there's a cricket climbing up his leg, holy shit, he feels it and he has to resist the urge to completely kick his leg in front of a stranger. ]

Ah, n-no, it's not about that. I need the restroom for a different reason.

[cicadashell]

[Seto could shit in the alley too, whatever, but...]

There's a school. Gotta have locker rooms or some shit.

[windbreakers]

[ Please don't think that he's going to shit in an alleyway........... ]

Wouldn't I have to be a student to enter the school?

[ They always seemed strict on that, but then again, he doesn't go to school so it's not like he really knows that much. ]

[cicadashell]

[Jiro doesn't know any of the school policies, or even if it's being used as a school again yet.]

Who the fuck cares? You asked for a restroom, that's where one is. Everyone's been using the building for whatever because it was flooding... did you come from the castle?

[If he didn't know about the school, he must be someone new.]

[windbreakers]

[ A pretty blunt guy, huh... but the question takes Seto by surprise. ]

Yeah, do people normally arrive at the castle?

iii

[overstrain]

[ Well here's another dog, a big samoyed with a white coat. Terry recognizes Hachiko, since he saw Seto as a kid, and he also recognizes Seto from taking a peek at Kido's memory once, but that was of him getting shot and dead, so... yeah... he now realizes that they could be the same person, because not even Terry and Terrence had the same Persona, and they're literally the original and a clone.

Terry trots over and barks. The heck are you doing. ]

[windbreakers]

[ Seto would normally be really happy to see another dog, but not in this particular circumstance. Hachiko is squirming and keeping his mouth shut. At least he's not biting, but Akitas are still big dogs so Seto's struggling to hold him while also trying to open his mouth. ]

O-Oh, hey there, don't eat any of the crickets!

[ Not as if the dog could probably understand him... ]

[overstrain]

[ Terry just sits and stares at the whole situation. Why are crickets everywhere... He lifts a paw and squishes one on the ground.

Crickets are a delicacy somewhere in the world... ]

[windbreakers]

[ Seto somehow manages to get Hachiko's mouth open and grabs out the slimy crickets that Hachiko kept in his mouth. The dog couldn't swallow them in time because someone summoned him to get rid of the bugs but won't let him eat it. Picky. So, as soon as Seto lets go (he sighs as he puts the crickets back on the ground, covered in gross dog saliva), Hachiko goes and starts to squish the bugs instead, just like Terry. ]

[ Seto wipes his hand on his pants as he reaches out for Terry while he keeps an eye on Hachiko. ]

Hey, are you lost as well?

[overstrain]

[ He shakes his head no and squishes another cricket. He lifts his own paw to stare at the squished thing and eats it. ]

[windbreakers]

[ why is terry like this ]

[ Seto immediately lets out a yelp and immediately goes over to try and open Terry's mouth as well. ]

III

[not_that_sasuke]

[...

There's... something weirdly familiar about this scene... Especially since this town just doesn't really have dogs.

On a bit of a guess, he'll ask:]

Hachiko?

[windbreakers]

[ Seto is still in the middle of wrestling with Hachiko, trying to get his mouth open when Sasuke approaches. ]

Oh, is that the dog's name?

[ Seto asks as he has a squirming dog in his grips. ]

[not_that_sasuke]

It might be...?

[He's not sure.]

I think I might have seen you... or someone like you before.

[windbreakers]

[ Seto doesn't want to be rude and talk with this guy while he's preoccupied with something, but it's important that he gets those crickets out of Hachiko's mouth. Luckily, the dog is annoyed by this so when he breaks free, he just spits out the crickets. This is too much work. He'll just go and stomp on them instead. Phew... now that Seto is free, he sits down properly to rest for a bit. ]

This is my first time in this town, but if you were in Tokyo, I was around there a lot.

[ Since he works so many jobs, people probably see him everywhere. ]

[not_that_sasuke]

I've never been to Tokyo.

[Immediate response.]

...If you don't remember, don't worry about it. But do you have an omamori, at least?

[windbreakers]

Oh, do you mean this?

[ He pulls out his omamori to show to Sasuke. It has "Seto" and "Strength" written on it. ]

I woke up with this in my pocket.