Week 2

[linkupmods]

WEEK 2

WAKE UP, GET UP, GET OUT THERE.

Saturday rolls around and characters may see that there are notices from Mina, saying that everyone will be taking a trip at noon sharp on Saturday, and to have their weapons. Whether characters pay this heed or not, they will in fact hear a ding from their phones at noon, their screens glowing a sunset red with the word "TRANSFERRING..." the only thing to be seen. And then, just like that –

You all enter.

The new world before you can be described in one word: twisted. It doesn't feel great, but it doesn't feel extremely awful, either, depending on how you look at it – it's a distorted version of the already grim city that you've been brought to, and you are specifically in the shopping district. Everything seems to be darker shades of red, yellow, and purple, if you can see it through the haze ominously floating about.

That feeling of something stirring in your chest seems to grow stronger, more potent, burning with the desire to be let free…

…and you, all of you, are surrounded. Various monsters and demons are threatening to attack you, looking at you like you are their prey. That's because you are…but you don't have to be for long. The moment that you engage in battle with them, no matter who strikes first, is the moment your emancipation begins.

Welcome to your awakening.

You feel a surge of energy rush to your palm – for some, it burns like a fiery blaze. For others, it sparks with electricity; perhaps wind circles around it, or a mysterious frost begins to blanket it. Maybe you have a mysterious pink aura around it, or a bright turquoise light; a dark, sinister glow or a calming light. Whatever the case may be, it drives you to place your hand over your heart.

You latch onto something. It is not your chest, it's not your heart, but it's something deeper than that, something from your being. You pull, you drag it out, and there is no bloodshed or any sort of pain, only a very bright light and some struggle as you unearth what is within. You finally, finally feel free as a new part of you literally stands before you. Say hello to your new friend: Your Persona.

Your new skills feel intuitive, and you feel like you can navigate them well enough to at least try to survive. You don't need to question how or why you understand them just yet; all you need to do is let yourself experience your power, and you'll stand a chance.

And with that, it's time to fight.

(Note: Weapon attacks will always deal Phys damage, but Phys spells will naturally do more than just whacking enemies with your weapons. Go wild, dodge, parry – combat is more freeform here than it is in Persona, so play this out however you'd like.

Furthermore, you'll be able to see everyone's cool Personas! You just won't be able to really interact with them directly.)

???

(Picrew by ~danidoninha!)

After the battle, there's the sound of a whistle. Turn your heads towards the source, and…huh? A cat?

"Alright, newbies, it's time to roll out."

…And it talks???

She says it with a scowl on her face, and soon, she leaps up – poof, and suddenly, there is a cat train in front of you. Weirdly enough, this cat is the one driving it. How did she summon the train…who knows.

"Get in, unless you wanna get your asses kicked!"

And sure enough, she's right, because there seem to be more enemies flocking towards you. She will drag you all in whether you like it or not.

SAFE AREA.

And, after a quick ride on the cat train, you find yourselves back at the dorms! ...Kind of. Much like the rest of this alternate world, it’s distorted in shape, though there’s none of the haze you saw when you first arrived. It seems this area, at least, is safe - characters would be wise to note it as a location to base any Nekyia operations out of in the future.

Mina is also here! She looks, quite frankly, relieved to see everyone show up alive in the train. The train, by the way, is gone, because it seems like your mysterious cat friend is now back to her…first…form? And seems to be on her way out. Back to Mina, though:


“Thank goodness... Okay, um, app hiccups aside...

Welcome to the Nekyia - the world of the unconscious. As you can see, the unconscious version of the city is, um... Very, very messed up. The more commissions you complete, the more connections you forge, the more bonds you repair, and the more Shadows you take out will help return the Nekyia to normal - and with it, the real world!

The people of this world don’t have the power to summon Personas... You’re the only ones who can save this city from the influence now. So please...

Help me fix this city from the inside-out!”

Mina has also set up a folding table set up with divinity cookies and water bottles from “Ambrosial Water Co”, judging by the labels. Characters who partake in these proffered snacks will find them rejuvenating - literally. Using a Persona’s abilities takes spiritual energy, but these snacks replenish one’s energy to full again with a single bite or sip. Any characters who want to try venturing back into the thick of the Nekyia today are free to take some with them, but do take care! Mina is only providing snacks for today, and after this characters will need to monitor their energy levels on their own.

Characters with further questions may ask Mina and she will do her best to answer! You can also try to catch the mysterious cat from earlier, too.

To go back to the real world, all characters need to do is press the "RETURN?" button on their phones. Much like the "TRANSFERRING..." message, this is the only thing on their screen.

All phones will now have a Nekyia app that will enable them to come in and out of the Nekyia at will.

OOC

READ ME!!!!

• Welcome to your Week 2 event log!
• Here is your promised Persona debut. Fighting is very flexible, so please just thread the fights in whatever format you'd like.
  
• A reminder for those of you who have gotten their Level 10 skills: These do not unlock ICly until Week 3, starting on 8/17.
  
• As always, please let us know if you have any questions! Enjoy!
  

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Comments

[unweathered]

Oh? That's a shame. I'm not much for saving people myself. But if you like more corpses to count I can arrange that at a price.

[ yeah...]

[bloodandstars]

Why would I pay for that? Would you try to sell a shark more teeth?

[ Girl, please. But she can respect the hustle on this assassin, maybe...? ]

[unweathered]

Sharks lose teeth quite often don't they? [ Snicker, snicker. Just chilling in this barrier nbd]

Say you want to make a bigger statement than a mauled body. I can arrange for that too

[bloodandstars]

Not faster than they grow them back. Try buying one a few rounds and ask her to show you.

[ Dammit... Maika doesn't really expect anything much, but she'll at least throw a punch or two at the barrier first. And then a little more cryptically and futilely: ]

Open. Open.

[ Sometimes if you tell a sealed wall really sternly what you want, it works out?? ]

I can mangle— [ punctuated by another punch, ] —my own bodies just fine, too!

[unweathered]

[ It's suffocating and Schneider closes her eyes fighting against the sensation]

Forget it. If we could fight against it with violence we would have won already. Here, everyone is... just 'human'.

[bloodandstars]

[ Ah, the old familiar feeling. Being trapped. Being collared. Maika bares her teeth in a full-on growl and slams her fist into the barrier again. ]

I don't care what they take away from me. My blood. My heart. My bones and my hunger and my rage. I'm still a goddess-damned wolf.

[unweathered]

They can't change who we are internally.

[ She touches her chest, where a scar remained on the left. Hah]

But whatever powers you had wont work here. So stop wasting your energy. They seem to be celebrating the concept of being "honest".

[bloodandstars]

[ It's too practical for Maika to argue, but when has she ever let facts get in the way of her rage? She scowls and drops her hand, still balled into a fist like she can hold in her secrets with sheer force of will. ]

Spit on that. At least... sounds like this bastard recognizes it for what it is.

[ A cruel joke. Maika grinds her teeth a little harder. ]

You first.

[unweathered]

Hm. I've killed people.

[ Testing the barrier? No? Oh. Hm. Not dark enough yet. But deep in her chest, a strange feeling claws]

I'm a murderer who stopped caring about anyone but my family a long time ago in that shithole of a city that promised us a better future and took that away. I took whatever contract that came my way and if it looked beneficial...it was fulfilled. Maman and ten of my sisters never knew what I did. Marian did though.

[ Testing testing. Still not enough. And deep down, she begins to feel the familiar stirring of rage]

[bloodandstars]

[ Murder isn't a surprise — she hadn't had any reason to assume Schneider was lying before. They're probably far from the only killers in the group brought here. ]

So you cared more about your own survival and your family's than the lives you took. You and anyone else who's managed to live this long. If that's such a horrible truth, then I guess we're all way past saving.

[ But she's gauging Schneider's face... not done yet, huh? ]

[unweathered]

[ Sometimes, the horrible honest bare truth isn't the worst thing you've done... but knowing you did all those horrible things and it was for nothing]

Ahaha...I was always beyond saving. I was never lucky, even if I wanted to be. I stole these guns, pretended to be an arcanist because it was the only way to survive. Beauty, money...all of that doesn't matter unless you have power.

[ Hah. All those missions, all that blood...]

But what good was any of it? In the end I was only human and when the storm came... everything I tried to protect was erased anyway.

[bloodandstars]

All of it is just a different form of power. And none of it matters if you don't survive.

[ It really is just luck. But somehow it gets in Maika's teeth to hear Schneider say that. Maybe she is beyond saving, just like Maika. But maybe that's always just been bullshit. ]

...Your family didn't make it? Marian?

[unweathered]

[Schneider shakes her head. This isn't a secret either]

The storm erases everything in its path. All eras become reversed under the rain and wind. [Her voice becomes a little tired] That is, if we don't die to a madness that takes over us first. In our era, it was the desire to eat money and gold. All humans were affected. Someone tried to save us, me and Marian, to give us one last wish. She didn't know though...her refuge only protected arcanists. But I am human.

[bloodandstars]

[ Fuck. Maika can imagine that all too well. If she'd lost Kippa at Ravenna, at Golga — if that little face hadn't been one of the first things she saw when she woke up at the Spice Islands, if all of her stupid, senseless, brutal choices had really been nothing but a fucking waste... ]

Sometimes... all we can do is fight with everything we have. And sometimes, that's still not enough.

[ A horrible truth, indeed. This place scored that much of a victory off of them. Maika shakes her head sharply. ]

Someone thought you were worth trying to save. Remember that.

[unweathered]

[ ...

Schneider lets out a small huff, a small smile tugging at her lips. It's one of the few genuine ones without a trace of malice or sardonic mockery she's had since she's arrived]

Are you comforting me? You're rather kind after all.

[That's right. Vertin had tried to save her, holding her desperately in her last moments. She wont forget that]

[bloodandstars]

Only one person's ever accused me of that. I'd barely know where to start.

[ It's the first time she's ever seen that kind of smile on Schneider's face. She didn't even know she could make an expression that gentle...

It makes it worse, that the prying sensation is still tugging at her chest. She can't let Schneider still be trapped here because of her after she shared all that. ]

...I'm not kind. I've killed a lot of people. [ Which they both knew, but hey. ] Some of them deserved it. A lot of them didn't. ...I killed my mother.

[unweathered]

[ Matricide. For all the mafia were monsters in human form themselves, it was one of the crimes even they and their twisted morals wouldn't stand for.

But Schneider doesn't judge. How can she after having Maika listen like that? She tilts her head, shifts a little closer. Her expression is still soft and she's clearly listening, trying to understand.

Patience is a virtue. It's probably the only one she has]

Did you intend to? Or...?

[bloodandstars]

[ That's the real question, isn't it? The part that's horrible enough to free them from this trap. Maybe especially to Schneider, who did everything she did for her family.

Maika has the feeling she's going to be shattering this tenuous rapport before it's even fully formed. But that's what she does. She breaks things while they're still fragile, before they can bring down too much else with them when they fall. ]

...I don't know. It was an accident. But I wanted her to stop, and... I made her stop.

[ Accident and intent walk a fine line when you are intent, power made form. Part of her intended it. She can't pretend otherwise. ]

[unweathered]

...they say that's the worst kind of accident. When your power is greater than your control.

[She says, without judgement. She reaches up to fiddle with her cheap pearl necklace.]

What was she doing?

[bloodandstars]

[ Maika barks a short, hollow laugh. That's the truth of it, isn't it? ]

That's what she wanted. But not for it to be greater than her control.

[ Well. Best laid plans of wolves and monsters. Maika gives a little shake of her head, eyeing the barrier. The pressure is easing now, but she doesn't begrudge Schneider this answer. ]

...Research. Experiments. Trying to open a door to put a leash on old power. You said the storm that came for your world only eats humans and not Arcanics — arcanists? This eats... everything.

[unweathered]

[Ah. That kind of mother after all.]

Mm. Arcanists. There was a group of them that wanted to wipe out our world to the very beginning...just for them. I helped them because the humans wouldn't save my family either. [Another truth. She lets out a quiet huff] But people always try to take control of what is greater than them...far beyond what they can understand.

[She can't say if it was deserved or not. But...]

It...is a difficult thing, to carry.

[bloodandstars]

[ Maika's expression twists in wry recognition. That part, too, sounds much the same between worlds. Humans, Arcanics, Arcanists — who can afford to have a loyalty to species or kind when it's not like that protection would be returned?

She can't say if Schneider was right or wrong. But it's a choice she understands. ]

You took a gamble and it didn't pay off. If we could build our strategies from seeing the end result, no one would ever go to war.

[ With neither immediate condemnation — or worse, immediate absolution — out of Schneider's mouth, Maika's tension finally relaxes a tiny bit more. ]

For a long time after, I... couldn't remember. I'll take the weight over that emptiness.

[unweathered]

[ If she had known what the results of her decisions could be...no. There was no dwelling in what ifs, what could have been the very perfect ending...

In the end, she probably would have made every choice the same way. Besides, she's always been too decisive to a fault. Dreaming of regrets was not in her nature]

Only a shitty coward would want to live without knowing what they've done so they could escape their choices. Looking at your own actions without running away or trying to justify even the worst... that's much harder.

[bloodandstars]

I'd rather break myself against it than die a coward in miserable ignorance. Nothing changes then.

[ Even if that made her into an abomination. Even if her every choice proved Tuya right about her, beyond redeeming. ]

...Do you know what happens after this? If you can leave this place, but your world is still caught up in that storm?

[unweathered]

My world is gone... everything about my era. I might be able to find my way to a different time, find the Foundation but..

[ What was the point?]