[Note to myself: contact Zuriel at a later point for some actual fairgrounds exploring]
Believe it or not, I'm used to being alert in enclosed spaces like this house of mirrors. I can figure out some things pretty fast.
[Thanks, Tartarus, you trained him well. Still, it seems like there's a certain eagerness in him right now. He seems to be in good mood today! He's talking animatedly with Zuriel while they go around, until the effect of these mirrors happens, and memshare begins. As soon as the memory begins, Akihiko stops, shocked]
...Zuriel...?
[The first part makes him stare, his mind recalling all the details right before they appear on the mirror. Soon, midnight strikes, and the team gets shunted into Tartarus. Akihiko is seen running, finding Junpei, and the apparent leader of the team finds them, and everything moves to the second part.
Overall, the memories were quite the condensed summary of who Akihiko Sanada is. His personality, his reactions to things, his wish for a fight, the friends he has, and the dangerous things they all used to do. It's like his soul has been bared to Zuriel here, and when it's all over, Akihiko, a little, stunned, shrugs]
...not really something I expected, but I guess it's...fine.
Oh. Right, that memory was a little confusing, huh.
[To Akihiko, who had lived through that and knew the internal logic of everything that happened, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Zuriel's question made him remember that yeah, this is all stuff that warrants explaining]
We were at our school. What happens is that every midnight Gekkoukan High transforms into a nest of Shadows for one hour. It becomes Tartarus, a tower over two hundred stories tall. Normally we go in through the entrance, instead of hiding inside the school to wait for it to transform.
[But this was a special situation, necessary to save someone in danger. Drastic solutions are needed to prevent tragedies, sometimes!]
Anyone like Yamagishi, present in the school grounds at midnight, will end up somewhere in it and go missing. It's not like we know where in that tower they end up depending on where in the school they're at at midnight -- we sure never tried to do anything so reckless ever again.
[ no, not that confusing. actually weirdly familiar, except her magical bullshit is 24 hours a day and not just at midnight. she was more curious than anything, so she's listening to him explain before she nods. ]
So then as long as everyone's out of Tartarus by the time that hour's over, it's fine? How do you make sure that everything that should stay in the tower actually does?
Anyone staying in there will go missing until next midnight. Yamagishi told us she didn't even notice days had passed -- to her it was ten hours in a row instead of ten days. But most people would be attacked before a single hour passes. I doubt even my team could last for long -- even though we can defend ourselves, just being in that tower is exhausting.
[The Reload version may have gotten rid of the Tired mechanic, but that doesn't change they all still feel drained from exploring Tartarus, yup.
The other question gets a wry smirk]
They don't! Shadows have been out in the city often, and the source of it all was that tower. That's why we were aiming to get rid of the Dark Hour in the first place -- just fighting the Shadows forever is pointless. At some point it's important to stop playing defensively and go ahead with the offense!
[ right, all of that makes sense. even the loss of time doesn't seem too different for what she's used to, but she's not exactly thrilled to hear about the fact the attack time turnaround could be that short. ]
It does seem like it takes a lot of your energy. Do you have any idea where this even came from? How long has it been around? [ if they're aiming to get rid of it, that has to mean there's some progress. ]
[Oh, that question. He knew it'd come. Akihiko crosses his arms]
We found out answers to that. You can already guess there's a whole, long story here? Probably too long to tell standing around in middle of a funhouse.
[In a way it's an indirect way of saying he's willing to talk, but probably somewhere else where one can sit down]
[ well, in any case, she will turn and begin walking to find the exit. this is his sign to follow, and the look over her shoulder indicates he should walk and talk. ]
Finding the way out of the funhouse probably will take a bit. It gives Akihiko time to start. Time for a slight recap of the Persona 3 backstory, hell yeah. Any errors will be chalked up to Akihiko's storytelling and not that I forgot a detail, totally, definitely, that's it, yup. Let's see, little by little...]
I said it's a long story because it started ten years ago. The family of one of my friends -- Mitsuru, the tall girl -- funds everything in Tatsumi Port Island. They're that rich. Her grandfather somehow found out about Shadows, and formed a team to make experiments with them. What they tried to do at the start...I'm not sure I believe it was any good. Probably was something about time.
But during this, these scientists found out too much. They saw the dangers of messing with them, and they lost themselves in nihilism. They got obsessed with bringing the Fall. That's the end of all life.
[Oh, there's the exit of the funhouse! Akihiko steps through, and thanks to the way doorways mess around in heaven, Zuriel and Akihiko end up at the bar. Well, that sure is convenient! Good to get a drink, have a bit of an interruption, and see Zuriel process the fact a bunch played around with supernatural things beyond their understanding and, as probably is typical in that kind of happenings, lots of innocent people pay for it]
[ she's listening at least, and this doesn't entirely surprise her. isn't this how it always goes? people messing with things they don't fully understand until somebody gets killed, or worse. as they exit the funhouse and the door yeets them into the bar, she doesn't exactly stop. she's still walking, leading them out of the bar and toward the cafe instead. ]
What did they think they would actually accomplish by experimenting with Shadows? [ she does not sound too impressed. ] What on earth would possess them to think that was a good idea?
You tell me! It probably was some attempt to harness their effect on time or space or something like that. No matter what it was, it takes only one look at them to know nothing good could come from this. It's not like they're some misunderstood creature!
[Well, he probably heard a reason or two of why the Kirijo Group went ahead with that, but in his eyes they're irrelevant because what happened as a consequence of this sure overshadows whatever reasoning those scientists had. It's really hard to consider anything else when it all lead to such severe ruination of spacetime and later the end of the world. Screw them and whatever reasoning they had to think this was a good idea]
In the end, this got so insane one of the scientists disagreed and sabotaged the experiments to stop it all. The laboratory was destroyed by the Shadows, the one that would cause the Fall split into twelve pieces, and the Shadows' rampage created the Dark Hour.
As if all that wasn't enough, the cover-up included building Gekkoukan High right where the laboratory used to be. Of course my school transforms into a nest of Shadows every night -- that was the same spot this whole thing started!
[Akihiko and his friends are pretty much cleaning up the mess a bunch of nihilistic scientists made ten years ago]
Foolish men who think they can control the things bigger than them. [ they may not even all be men, but it's just her thoughts on that. again, sounds familiar. ]
Your high school must not be that old then if they built it on top of an old lab. Do people not remember the lab used to be there? Or that it was apparently destroyed? And what exactly is the Fall?
They're really good at covering up everything. Anyone who knows anything must have been convinced to keep quiet. That's how much influence they have in my city.
[Really, it's a good thing Mitsuru and her father were different. Had they done the same as the rest, there wouldn't ever have been an attempt to solve anything. Nobody goes against Kirijo!]
Take a guess: it's the end of the world. Everything dies in one night. Everyone wanting that kept calling it 'salvation'. I had never heard anything more defeatist than that.
You...now that I think about it, you told me about evil people trying to use that forest. Was it anything like this?
[Maybe less apocalyptic, but still potentially disastrous! I'm rather curious about her canon, honestly!]
Yeah, that also sounds right. People with money tend to be the same people with power. Trying to cleanse a whole world is insanity, but of course there were people who believed it,
[ she pauses a little to think before shaking her head. ]
It wasn't exactly like that. The people involved released something they weren't meant to, willingly and unwillingly, and the only way to kill it was to kill another being. Not exactly the most confidence-inspiring thing in the world to hear.
This other being was someone wholly innocent and unrelated...?
[Yeah, hearing that someone else had to be killed sure makes Akihiko think of a certain someone he once knew. There's absolutely no way what Zuriel is talking about was anything close to that, but still, having to hurt someone so something else can happen brings thoughts Akihiko didn't think he'd have to dwell on again]
It was whoever was willing to give up their life. "Willing death to pay for unwilling death." And so someone we all cared about decided it should be him, since he was fated to die that year. He chose to go through with it knowing it was likely his time.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Believe it or not, I'm used to being alert in enclosed spaces like this house of mirrors. I can figure out some things pretty fast.
[Thanks, Tartarus, you trained him well. Still, it seems like there's a certain eagerness in him right now. He seems to be in good mood today! He's talking animatedly with Zuriel while they go around, until the effect of these mirrors happens, and memshare begins. As soon as the memory begins, Akihiko stops, shocked]
...Zuriel...?
[The first part makes him stare, his mind recalling all the details right before they appear on the mirror. Soon, midnight strikes, and the team gets shunted into Tartarus. Akihiko is seen running, finding Junpei, and the apparent leader of the team finds them, and everything moves to the second part.
Overall, the memories were quite the condensed summary of who Akihiko Sanada is. His personality, his reactions to things, his wish for a fight, the friends he has, and the dangerous things they all used to do. It's like his soul has been bared to Zuriel here, and when it's all over, Akihiko, a little, stunned, shrugs]
...not really something I expected, but I guess it's...fine.
no subject
nothing in her expression really changes, though she tilts her head a little as one question comes to the front of mind. ]
How are people being transported there... ?
no subject
[To Akihiko, who had lived through that and knew the internal logic of everything that happened, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Zuriel's question made him remember that yeah, this is all stuff that warrants explaining]
We were at our school. What happens is that every midnight Gekkoukan High transforms into a nest of Shadows for one hour. It becomes Tartarus, a tower over two hundred stories tall. Normally we go in through the entrance, instead of hiding inside the school to wait for it to transform.
[But this was a special situation, necessary to save someone in danger. Drastic solutions are needed to prevent tragedies, sometimes!]
Anyone like Yamagishi, present in the school grounds at midnight, will end up somewhere in it and go missing. It's not like we know where in that tower they end up depending on where in the school they're at at midnight -- we sure never tried to do anything so reckless ever again.
no subject
So then as long as everyone's out of Tartarus by the time that hour's over, it's fine? How do you make sure that everything that should stay in the tower actually does?
no subject
[The Reload version may have gotten rid of the Tired mechanic, but that doesn't change they all still feel drained from exploring Tartarus, yup.
The other question gets a wry smirk]
They don't! Shadows have been out in the city often, and the source of it all was that tower. That's why we were aiming to get rid of the Dark Hour in the first place -- just fighting the Shadows forever is pointless. At some point it's important to stop playing defensively and go ahead with the offense!
no subject
It does seem like it takes a lot of your energy. Do you have any idea where this even came from? How long has it been around? [ if they're aiming to get rid of it, that has to mean there's some progress. ]
no subject
We found out answers to that. You can already guess there's a whole, long story here? Probably too long to tell standing around in middle of a funhouse.
[In a way it's an indirect way of saying he's willing to talk, but probably somewhere else where one can sit down]
no subject
The beginning, then.
no subject
Finding the way out of the funhouse probably will take a bit. It gives Akihiko time to start. Time for a slight recap of the Persona 3 backstory, hell yeah. Any errors will be chalked up to Akihiko's storytelling and not that I forgot a detail, totally, definitely, that's it, yup. Let's see, little by little...]
I said it's a long story because it started ten years ago. The family of one of my friends -- Mitsuru, the tall girl -- funds everything in Tatsumi Port Island. They're that rich. Her grandfather somehow found out about Shadows, and formed a team to make experiments with them. What they tried to do at the start...I'm not sure I believe it was any good. Probably was something about time.
But during this, these scientists found out too much. They saw the dangers of messing with them, and they lost themselves in nihilism. They got obsessed with bringing the Fall. That's the end of all life.
[Oh, there's the exit of the funhouse! Akihiko steps through, and thanks to the way doorways mess around in heaven, Zuriel and Akihiko end up at the bar. Well, that sure is convenient! Good to get a drink, have a bit of an interruption, and see Zuriel process the fact a bunch played around with supernatural things beyond their understanding and, as probably is typical in that kind of happenings, lots of innocent people pay for it]
no subject
What did they think they would actually accomplish by experimenting with Shadows? [ she does not sound too impressed. ] What on earth would possess them to think that was a good idea?
no subject
[Well, he probably heard a reason or two of why the Kirijo Group went ahead with that, but in his eyes they're irrelevant because what happened as a consequence of this sure overshadows whatever reasoning those scientists had. It's really hard to consider anything else when it all lead to such severe ruination of spacetime and later the end of the world. Screw them and whatever reasoning they had to think this was a good idea]
In the end, this got so insane one of the scientists disagreed and sabotaged the experiments to stop it all. The laboratory was destroyed by the Shadows, the one that would cause the Fall split into twelve pieces, and the Shadows' rampage created the Dark Hour.
As if all that wasn't enough, the cover-up included building Gekkoukan High right where the laboratory used to be. Of course my school transforms into a nest of Shadows every night -- that was the same spot this whole thing started!
[Akihiko and his friends are pretty much cleaning up the mess a bunch of nihilistic scientists made ten years ago]
no subject
Your high school must not be that old then if they built it on top of an old lab. Do people not remember the lab used to be there? Or that it was apparently destroyed? And what exactly is the Fall?
no subject
[Really, it's a good thing Mitsuru and her father were different. Had they done the same as the rest, there wouldn't ever have been an attempt to solve anything. Nobody goes against Kirijo!]
Take a guess: it's the end of the world. Everything dies in one night. Everyone wanting that kept calling it 'salvation'. I had never heard anything more defeatist than that.
You...now that I think about it, you told me about evil people trying to use that forest. Was it anything like this?
[Maybe less apocalyptic, but still potentially disastrous! I'm rather curious about her canon, honestly!]
no subject
[ she pauses a little to think before shaking her head. ]
It wasn't exactly like that. The people involved released something they weren't meant to, willingly and unwillingly, and the only way to kill it was to kill another being. Not exactly the most confidence-inspiring thing in the world to hear.
no subject
[Yeah, hearing that someone else had to be killed sure makes Akihiko think of a certain someone he once knew. There's absolutely no way what Zuriel is talking about was anything close to that, but still, having to hurt someone so something else can happen brings thoughts Akihiko didn't think he'd have to dwell on again]
no subject