reveilation | IC INBOX

An ofuda? That's a protective charm, like our omamori...

[ The stone in the center of the castle doesn't draw Kido's attention, seeing as she'd fled the area as soon as she could, and didn't spend much time wandering around the castle after trying to see whether any landmarks could be spotted up on the first floor. That place RO's talking about is something Kido would have easily missed, so she just files that away as something to take a closer look at later. ]

The first time that midnight shifted... Everything I saw was basically the same: all the lights went out, every other living thing disappeared, and there were monsters roaming around both inside and outside of the school. None of that happened the first few nights here, though, not until some sort of storm hit. That's what woke me up and got me outside in the first place, and it was such a strong storm that Mondo and I couldn't make it very far into the forest when we tried to go against the wind.

[ A wind like that, she would have appreciated if it were spread out throughout the month as the weather got hotter and hotter, instead of condensed all into that one night, it was pretty much a nightmare. ]

[ A windy storm... She recalls Minato saying something about patterns, and there was also a strong wind on the last day of the Obon Festival. RO stays silent as she keeps trying to process various info and tying things together. ]

If my hypothesis is correct, I believe the location where we can retrieve the next ofuda is at the castle. However, I cannot be exactly sure, since there was only one other instance of the pattern happening, but it is a real possibility.

The castle? Oh— it was pretty windy yesterday, wasn't it? Was that where the direction of the winds were blowing? Did you find a new place with more monsters?

[ Yes and the monsters are Minato and Souji.

But the winds had died down after that first night, so... that must be it, right? One of those strange dungeons at the castle? ...It could also just be a coincidence. Weather is strange like that, sometimes. ]

[ ...

Yeah, she can't say that... ]

The wind blowing like that was fairly unnatural, I believe... and it was cold. I am no weather expert, but it seemed like a strange occurrence... The castle didn't exactly have more monsters, but there were two Personas that went haywire and were promptly subdued by someone else without a Persona.

[ I looked back at the threads and Terry was the only one who fought both Personas by himself. She'll make a face at that, but. You know what. Whatever. Maybe you get super stronger once you come back from the dead. ]

It was there when we met the Velvet Room Attendants for the first time.

[ She can totally say that.

Kido frowns a little too, but thankfully she doesn't ask who that somebody is, because as long as the Personas were subdued, then it's fine. It's not like it'll happen again or anything, or be more destructive next time, or form a hell dungeon that drags everybody in to suffer and die. ]

That's pretty weird, huh... I'm still not sure about those two; what do you think about them? Maybe they're the reason the Personas got so agitated?

[ Heaven knows Kido also went haywire in there, sorry Souji's face ]

[ ahahaha absolutely not! now way that'll happen! not at all!! but is she really sorry for souji's face ]

... I don't have a solid opinion on the Attendants just yet.

[ Minato is difficult to gauge and she hasn't spoken to Souji yet. ]

Regarding the Persona agitation, I was told that it was because a full moon had appeared--that it's easy to lose control of them on that day depending on... [ she's not going to say heart ] ... your mental state.

Edited 2019-08-22 22:13 (UTC)

[ The full moon? Kido lifts her gaze to the sky, but it's already too bright out now to find where the moon is. That's sort of worrisome, isn't it? The idea that the Personas would freak out once a month... She can't remember what day it was that Vassago almost tore up the town, but if it was a full moon last night, then they don't have to worry about this for a whole other month. ]

So it's best not to be out during the full moon at all, huh? Least of all not fighting monsters inside that school or in the castle. But this is good news, isn't it, RO? We just need to find two more places, and grab the ofuda before the next full moon.

[ She can be home in a month's time! The idea is incredibly uplifting, and she can't help but get her hopes up. She gets to go home! And finish bleeding to death. But she can do it at home!! ]

[ RO still feels bad every time she has to dash Kido's hopes, but she doesn't want to lead her on with false hope, since she believes that knowing the correct information is better than knowing something wrong and ending up sacrificing a lot for it. Since this place just seems... to have those sorts of things happen. ]

Unfortunately, that seems to be the problem. I suspect that the castle is the next area where we would be able to gather the next ofuda, but there's no entrance to such a place just yet, like underneath the school. I did ask whether these places are "time-locked", but I didn't receive an answer for that one. He seemed to imply that the next place will be a lot tougher than the last.

[ Or at least, that's what she's gathering from Minato's subtle pushing for her to strengthen her bond with her Persona. ]

[ Wow, time-locking things is such a stupid mechanic when this is real life and not a video game or rp game. Kido's shoulders hunch a little as she walks, disliking things like hints and implications when a person clearly knows something and could say things outright without being difficult, but maybe Minato has his reasons besides just being an ass. ]

It's morning, so it's not like we'll be able to look around and figure anything out about that, huh? Do you think it's worth checking the castle every night just to be sure? I'm not sure the people who live there can get that information out very quickly.

[ She doesn't really know who lives here, exactly, but she knows some people still hang around the forest. ]

If it helps, I noticed that there is a portal near the school area during the midnight phase. It seems that the Attendants can control where to exit from as well, so perhaps we can enter the portal near the school, enter the Velvet Room, and ask them to reopen a portal at the castle.

[ It's... worth a shot?

Maybe. ]

[ That involves talking with the Attendants, RO ]

Is there really no easier way...?

Unfortunately, no... I don't think so.

[ She's fine with talking to the Attendants, so she can at least do that for you, Kido... ]

A helicopter sounds like an absolute luxury for a town like this.

Yeah... There's also people with Personas that can fly, but I'm not sure how reliable that would be.

[ Namely Vassago is kind of terrifying, so he's already out of the picture. But there's no use wishing for something impossible, so Kido just shakes her head. ]

Never mind that. It's easy enough to cut through that train, so we'll plan on that. It's probably a good idea to visit the school at night anyways. The monsters are still coming out of there, no matter how many are defeated.

Sometimes I feel as if time has rewound itself every night and we're defeating the same Shadows over and over again.

[ hahaha that can't be true right..........

Anyway, they finally arrive at the shrine because I don't want it to take forever again. RO has only been here several times to drop off the colored stones into the offering box, but that's about it, really. ]

It looks the same as ever here.

[ Oh, don't say that, when the only reason Kido even bothers with the dungeons is in hopes that there'll be less Shadows to escape into town. ]

The place cleaned up pretty nicely since the first time I saw it. No mold in the water anymore.

[ Thank god, now Rei can't eat it. ]

I've been asking around about this shrine, actually, since I was curious about the god worshipped here. But nobody can tell me who this place is meant for.

[ Then Kido can fight Shadows forever... in a never ending time loop... 8) ]

Was it that bad? Perhaps someone did some cleaning while no one was looking.

[ RO peeks into the offertory box and thinks. ]

It feels as if this box has an endless amount of space inside it... I'm sure no one has taken out the colorful stones that I insert here.

[ Except maybe crows...? But that gets RO to notice something. ]

I wonder if this shrine was meant for a cat or a crow god due to how abundant they are in this place.

[ ):< ]

Hmm... I wouldn't put it past people to steal the stones, actually.

[ She vaguely recalls Terry denying that he did something like that, or at least Wyatt yelling at him for the thought.

Reaching into her pocket, she finds some of the stones she'd been hanging onto from her very few dungeon visits, and drops them into the box. ]

These might've sold for a lot back home, actually, if they're real diamonds and rubies and such. Maybe somebody's slowly taking them bit by bit so nobody notices?

[ When RO looks down at the stones, she wonders if these could be used to modify several guns for better capabilities. ]

... I suppose the colors are attractive enough for someone to steal them.

[ Not that she would, but she's trying to shift her perspective in order to understand. ]

There was something similar where the Tengu leader was, wasn't there? I could easily imagine this being a shrine for him too.

[ They're shiny and pretty and honestly, it might be a smarter idea to just save the stones for returning home, rather than tossing them out here in the shrine for an absent god, especially when RO brings that possibility up. ]

If this is a shrine for that bastard, it's no wonder the place got trashed and left forgotten. That place is probably his too, if that's really what it is.

[ "That place" being the castle Kido nods her head towards, semi-visible from the higher ground of the shrine. ]

What's up with that? Killing a monster, taking his charm and returning it to his own castle? And somehow that lets us go home?

We would also need three more. Perhaps they are related to him somehow... though, again, these are mere guesses based on similar structures. I don't have any other evidence to support my claim.

[ She can't really question much about the weirder things happening here anymore. ]

Edited 2019-08-23 04:35 (UTC)

Guesses are better than anything else we've got, so we should take them and do what we can, even without evidence. At least there's not too much around here that seems large enough to turn into a... monster house.

[ God, she hates calling it that, but it gets the point across. ]

The school's pretty big, with its three buildings. The castle too. The hospital or the library is pretty large?

He did say to think about "strange" locations. I was thinking the lake and the inn... the shrine would have made a good location as well, but if nobody else comes here to claim it as such, I suppose that wouldn't work out...

[ ... ]

Though I am wary of those for several reasons.

[ Would the lake part like the Nile?? All that toxic water?? ]

Yeah, you're right. It'd better not be the inn.

[ She would take toxic lake water over haunted inns, thank you very much. And it makes her feel really unsure about everything, because as much as she wants to go home, all it takes is a ghost or a monster to jump out at her and she's prone to freaking out, at the very least, or passing out if she's having a really bad day, and neither of those are great to have happen in a place as dangerous as this. ]

Wherever it is next, if there's another Tengu thing in there, we should try to get him to spill the beans on where the other two are.

... If it happens to be much stronger than the one we faced, we need to get stronger in due time. I wonder if bonding with our Personas could help them out somehow in terms of combat efficiency... Perhaps they take in bond levels...?

[ You'd think something born from your heart would have powerups with sappy things. ]

Bond levels...? You're really incorporating that D&D book into your lexicon, huh.

[ Somehow she really doubts that her petting her ghost cat sometimes makes it any stronger, but it's hard to gauge when your Persona's stupidly strong and yet you never fight with it and so you can't tell. ]

Kurusu did say something about that, though, how you have to get along with your Persona in order to use it the most efficiently. Which makes sense, otherwise they could attack, and they're the stronger ones.

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