Day 41: Sun Room

[feartehreaper.livejournal.com]

Haseo's steps were heavy with the weight of righteous anger as he was escorted into the Sun Room, his posture so sullen and reluctant you could almost hear the nostalgic cry of an electric guitar. He was seething, and though perhaps it was a bit harder to be intimidating while wearing the uniform of an insane asylum and flanked by a bored-looking orderly, it was not for lack of trying.

Unfortunately, his nurse seemed unaffected by the act, and even with the cloud of failing to keep "Kai" away from "Peyton" hanging over her, remained determinedly cheerful. She merely said something about receiving a lecture later on, ignored his retorts, and assured him that it would be alright even though his internet stalker was in the same building. For the most part, Haseo tuned her babbling out after that, dismissing it as hopeless.

"...and usually this would be the time children would be taking showers, but you don't have to worry about that right now. Now then, le--"

"Wait. What?"

"Oh, all the children seventeen or under are separated right now while the adults go to the courtyard..."

"Hey, I'm not a kid you old--!"

"Oh of course you aren't dear, but you're not eighteen yet either, now are you?"

Haseo resisted the urge to do something rash, literally biting his tongue to keep quiet. But upon having the bulletin board pointed out to him, he shrugged off his anger for the most part and headed that way, fully intending to get more answers than he'd had time to receive during breakfast.

Well... at least Endrance is in another shower group, he thought, Thank god.

[Closed to Tsukasa, for now!]

Comments

[trapdetected.livejournal.com]

Naoto was about to make an, albeit unimportant, comment, until she was disrupted by the sudden intrusive and surprisingly loud... Wait a minute, was that Gavin? Unlike Mitsuru, Naoto didn't hide (nor attempt to) her gawking, taking a long moment to figure out what on earth prompted such an absurd action.

So this was the man she agreed to work with, huh?

Almost losing track of the time, Naoto whipped her head back in Mitsuru's direction, clearing her throat in a manner that implied she'd prefer to pretend it never happened. Mitsuru spoke up again immediately after, and Naoto was thankful that she didn't have to both explain why she found the scene extremely odd or find a way to get the discussion moving once more. And here she wrote earlier on the bulletin that the sun room would hold little distraction...

"No," Naoto spoke up slowly once she finished, and she sounded awfully surprised again, like this was far from the explanation she was expecting. And it was; their battle against Shadows sounded much more serious than any the detective could recall from personal experience. They actually emerged in their world with the intention of destruction on the mind, while in the television world, they were basically intruding in a place not their own, full of monsters that grew aggressive and attacked you... but Naoto knew they had to, because they had to save whatever victims fell inside. But otherwise, Naoto viewed them as more of an obstacle and less of a root of the problem-- they weren't, that much was known. So hearing this was... unexpected.

"It is not," she finished answering. "It sounds like there are many discrepancies between our experiences; I had no idea there were different phenomenons occurring like this." Yet, so close by, and the Shadows and Persona aspects were similar. Why was that, Naoto wondered. "You see, there is an actual alternate dimension-- at least, for us-- that is full of nothing but the Shadows. We don't go there with the intention of fighting them because they pose a threat to humanity, but rather, because we have a criminal on our hands trapping victims within this world. In it, shall they stay for too long, the Shadows will inevitably kill them. It's in there where we obtain our Persona, as well."

Naoto paused when something came to mind; they couldn't have missed this when they were in Iwatodai, so then... "Tell me, when was this?" she asked. "Or, should I say instead, when is it for you."

[marin-karin.livejournal.com]

This time, it was Mitsuru's turn to be surprised, something that showed on her face. An alternate dimension full of Shadows, like Tartarus but posing little threat to humanity past endangering the lives of those who are trapped within it. It seemed so much simpler for them, based solely on what Naoto was saying.

They acquired their Personas inside this alternate dimension, while fighting Shadows; that much, Mitsuru was used to. They'd all awoken to their abilities when Shadows were involved. She supposed it was possible for anyone who had the potential. It had to be, since it was reality for those from Inaba.

She should have suspected that the dates might come into play. "I was unaware of the different phenomenons, as well," Mitsuru replied. "It was November 18, 2009 for me. My teammates' own dates range from a week ahead of that to a month and a half earlier, but all within the same year." She wasn't sure what she was expecting Naoto's own time to be, but she hoped that it was within that same year, or earlier. If it was later, what did it say about their ability to finally remove the Shadow threat and Tartarus?

"If I may, could you tell me more about the circumstances in this alternate dimension? When regular people without the potential to summon a Persona are attacked by Shadows during the Dark Hour, they are afflicted with something called Apathy Syndrome, which leaves them incapable of doing anything. There have been casualties during the Dark Hour, but they are usually caused by other circumstances." And only one casualty that came to her mind was anywhere around Tartarus. "Yet it sounds as though things are the opposite for you, in that alternate dimension."

[trapdetected.livejournal.com]

So the events in Iwatodai were from much earlier than their own, which meant the Shadows had been around for some time. Naoto only spent a short moment speculating on how long; right now, it wasn't important, and it was hard to determine whether Mitsuru would have known or not either.

"November 2nd," Naoto offered; she didn't ask, but Mitsuru probably wanted to know. "2011. Almost precisely two years after your own time." It made her realize she still didn't know Kanji's, but hopefully the differences-- if any-- wouldn't be too jarring. If only they had more time at breakfast, then maybe they could have gotten more said and done. The staff were such a nuisance more times than not.

Apathy Syndrome; yes, the name itself was familiar. It was a huge deal across TV networks while doctors scrambled to find a cure and never could. At around two years ago, at that... Well, that explained things, at least the ones Naoto was aware of-- she wasn't involved with those affairs much, seeing as it was far from her expertise and had little to do with her job.

"There have only been two casualties so far," Naoto began explaining. "An adult woman, and a high school student; these happened before anyone had realized what had been happening. Since then, anyone else who had been forcibly thrown in has been rescued-- they now compile our group of Persona users." All of that save for Mitsuo, of course, but he was a stick tossed into the gears that needlessly complicated matters; on top of that, his crime was nothing but a mock one. There was no need to bring him up when Naoto felt his actions were irrelevant to the discussion. "None of us are sure how it came to be, but we are aware of some of the things it can do. Areas can manifest and warp according to a person's innermost thoughts and feelings, but that isn't the most dangerous part. Normally, the most strongest of Shadows are also created because of those thoughts, which poses the biggest threat. If the person trapped inside is killed, if our first two examples still hold true, their corpse would end up back into our world; however, the police are unable to figure out the cause of death... So we've taken it upon ourselves to find out."

[marin-karin.livejournal.com]

Two years in the future? It wasn't entirely unexpected, but hearing it was still surprising. Two years, and the Shadows still existed.

But Naoto said that those they rescued became a part of their group. While it was true that most of S.E.E.S. had had a prior connection with Personas or Shadows before their own awakening, it wasn't the case across the board. Yamagishi's friend Natsuki, for instance, was both still alive and someone without the potential. Was it a simple coincidence that it had happened for Naoto's group?

Things were rarely 'simple' when Shadows and Personas were involved.

What Naoto said as she continued, though, was of even more interest to Mitsuru. There were more powerful Shadows that appeared in this alternate dimension, although she wasn't certain of their similarities to the ones that appeared during the full moon. But their connections to the thoughts and feelings of the people within that dimension was rather fascinating. She wondered, briefly, if these Shadows were different than the ones that S.E.E.S. knew, before remembering the July incident. The second large Shadow that night had had a connection to their emotions, after all.

That just left one question on Mitsuru's mind, for now. "If you don't mind my asking, what do you all use to summon your Personas?" The Evokers were specially made by the Kirijo Group, after all, by scientists who were familiar with Shadows, to a certain degree. Unless Naoto's team had the Group's aid, they would have had to find other means.

[trapdetected.livejournal.com]

"I had thought a comment you made on the board was odd," Naoto said after a beat, and she still seemed somewhat unsure about Mitsuru's question. "If it were impossible for you to summon before, I can't figure out what would change your ability to do so now. We have the same power of Persona... would the means be any different between us?"

Then again, with as many differences as there were between the two events, it would be foolish to say there wasn't until proven otherwise. All Naoto could determine is that the Shadows were clearly persistent to stay in existence, no matter where or when it was, and it was up to fate to decide who would be the ones to go against them.

"Do you mind elaborating, Kirijo-san?" Naoto countered with another question. "If I'm understanding correctly, my answer would have to be nothing at all, once we've obtained the power. I simply desire for my own to come forth, and it does."

[marin-karin.livejournal.com]

"You...desire for it, and it happens?" Mitsuru repeated. "I would have to agree that, ideally, there should be no difference in the means through which we summon, but that's evidently not the case."

She paused for a moment, trying to decide where to start with her own explanation. "After a person first awakens to their power, we have to force out our Personas. The term has been used a few times on the board, I believe, but this item that facilitates our summoning is called an Evoker. Ours were all taken when we arrived, but when one of ours was taken for the brainwashing, she received it and we took it back." Mitsuru sighed and shrugged. "Of course, the question now becomes why there's a difference between our summoning methods."

[trapdetected.livejournal.com]

"Ah." So there was a difference. She should have known as much... of course, their circumstances of obtaining their power were different, so it only made sense that this were the case. Naoto suddenly felt incredibly lucky that they didn't need such a method; however, such a feeling would be rendered moot if one question was answered undesirably. Could she-- and Kanji-- even call forth their Persona while here?

She supposed it was time to find out, sooner or later.

"I cannot say," Naoto admitted, because it was true: none of them even knew there were other users, so that couldn't mean they already realized why there were. "That is how we have done it. I don't recall of any limitation of the sort of inability to do so without such an item."

[marin-karin.livejournal.com]

Mitsuru nodded. The opposite was how they had always done it, and this was the first she'd heard of any Persona-users outside of Iwatodai. "I suppose it's something we'll have to think on, then."

She paused, considering. "But the item alone isn't the only thing in our way. Attacks that should have been far more powerful were reduced to a much lighter ability, and exhausting. Do you know if similar limitations exist for your Persona, as well?"

[trapdetected.livejournal.com]

"I would suspect nothing more," Naoto pointed out. "After all, the fact that whatever abilities anyone may have are dampened is written on the board often enough, as well as spoken possibly more of. There are no exceptions to be taken into account."

She crossed her arms, but didn't lean back, as comfortable as it would be. "I have yet to try, but I'll have to soon." Naoto was hoping it would; even with the limitations, it would be better than nothing, especially when she lacked a weapon. "Another one of us arrived here this morning. I'll be sure to tell him to do the same."