damned_institute | Night 46: Main Hallway, 1-West

At the question, Minato stopped in his attempt to secure his Evoker to his side and took a step back, pointing in the direction of the hallway he had entered through. "At the end of the hall is an exit." ...Well. Not a real exit, but... "There's a sports field and storage."

As he thought about the field, he recalled what had happened his first night; there had been a good reason he hadn't found out about the activity shed until later. "It can be dangerous."

Ah, yes. That field. Abe nodded his understanding. "I'll be careful of it." He strapped the handle (is that what they called it?) of the bat to one of the many loops on his belt, letting it hang there as if it were a sword.

"So," he asked, patting his new weapon. "Where do you go from here? Are you going to bring Orpheus back?" If so Abe didn't want to be anywhere around.

Minato carefully shook his head at the question about his Persona. "I only do that to defend myself." Usually, anyway. There were always the stronger Shadows in Tartarus that were there specifically to block their way, and they had to be the aggressors in those instances.

He thought about Souji, recalling their plans to meet near the field. "I might meet someone." But first he would need to figure out a better way to carry his Evoker; it was a bit large to put in a sweatpants pocket, and he didn't have a proper holster for his belt. "You'll be okay?"

"...I'm not sure what I'll be," Abe admitted, hands curling together across his chest. His plans for the night had gone up to returning the device to Minato and any self-defense that might have followed, he hadn't expected it to go nearly this smoothly. Now it was either try and go downstairs again, alone--and from what he'd seen of the place the doors were locked to him if not to others--or just go back to bed and give up on the night. "What about you?"

They had to have some kind of plan. Everyone had a plan.

"...I'm not sure what I'll be," Abe admitted, hands curling together across his chest. "I can take care of myself, but in what direction I've yet to decide."

His plans for the night had gone up to returning the device to Minato and any self-defense that might have followed, he hadn't expected it to go nearly this smoothly. Now it was either try and go downstairs again, alone--and from what he'd seen of the place the doors were locked to him if not to others--or just go back to bed and give up on the night. Or wander more. Abe was weak here, but information was still his greatest ally.

As soon as the question had left his lips, Minato recalled how capable Abe had been without a weapon; how much more capable would he be with a weapon at his belt and an idea of where to get more? He was also a mind reader of some sort, which could be helpful around all the strangers of the institute.

"Be careful whatever you decide." He had to look for Souji before he and his teammate had decided to move on without him.

((From here.)) (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/781144.html?view=64263768#t64263768)

Of course, it was at about that time that Souji walked out of the far hallway, playing his flashlight over the assembled groups of people. This wasn't good... no luck finding any of his teammates. He really should have dropped a line for Kanji on the board, but he just hadn't thought of it until it was too late. He hoped that the other boy was all right, this wasn't the sort of situation that he could really feel safe about anyone unless he was looking after them.

Shame, too. He'd hoped to have found Arisato by now with that odd headache that seemed to follow him around, but no luck. Then again, that might be because Izanagi was floating around in the back of his head, a stoic but constant presence that distracted him. That was always a difficulty he had, and that no one else seemed to understand- that sense of having another voice and personality in his head, and yet it was himself too. That was all well and good, until he realized he had a little fairy in him. That had put him into some serious introspection for a few days!

Abe preened slightly, giving off a faint smile. "Now that, I can assure you of." He almost laughed, if it was around Red and Liz he would have done so. "I'm a trained professional in these sorts of situations, it's how I was able to take you down so quickly.

A sudden flash of light drew Abe's attention and his hand went to his bat--oh, just another patient.

Minato gave a little relieved sigh at the vaguely visible amusement; at least Abe was letting down his guard slightly.

...At least, that was what he thought until Abe snapped his hand to the bat at his belt. Minato peered over at the light, blinking at who had pointed their flashlight their way.

"Seta?"

When he heard that voice, Souji blinked in surprise. That voice... surely it wasn't... yet when his gray eyes shifted over, he couldn't deny that there was Minato right there. The young man trotted over to the other, and yet, with each step, the knowledge that there was no headache only grew. Rather, there was that odd sense of destiny, a lingering attraction that Souji had learned to associate with a potential social link.

In other words, it was a sense of normalcy for him, which was very much welcome after all of the confusion of the past few days. When he got closer, he nodded politely to the other patient- had to be a friend of Minato's, right?- but his gaze was still on the other kid's, confusion written on his face. How was this even possible...?

While Abe was still adjusting himself to the subtleties of social interaction he had the distinct feeling that the situation had gotten about ten times more awkward. He looked from one young man to the other, wondering how they knew each other and keeping his hand resting on the hilt of the baseball bat. Just in case they didn't know each other very well.

Minato met Souji's gaze with a mild surprise of his own. He had a feeling that something different happened when night fell in the institute, but this was almost too good to be true. The headaches (well, other than the one that he had suffered since last night) had disappeared, replaced by a familiar tug that he hadn't really expected to sense in a completely different world.

They had probably stood there silently, staring at each other, longer than could be considered normal. Minato averted his eyes to beyond Souji just long enough to dispel his surprise. "Were you looking for me?"

Souji nodded slightly, forcing himself to shake off that odd sensation. It probably had been rather uncomfortable for Minato, if not the person with him, but Souji couldn't really help it. He hadn't been anticipating something like that, and in the back of his head, he could almost hear Izanagi's voice. Like a buzzing, or like he was remote but still there. ...or maybe Souji had gone hard of hearing, that was another possibility.

Even still, he looked at the other man and offered a polite smile to him. "I can go wait somewhere if you want."

Abe held up his hands and forced himself into yet another unnatural smile. "No, no, it's quite all right. We've concluded our business." He did not, however, make any motion to leave. Bereft of psychometrics he'd need to figure out this new person's identity by conversation and Abe was very curious as to whether this one also carried Personas inside his mind. Perhaps Seta would let him see them.

Perhaps he'd even do so without them trying to kill him.

The discomfort in the air had thinned a little, but Minato could tell there was still a tentativeness there. When it became clear that Abe wasn't trying to leave, Minato gestured to the taller teenager. "This is Souji. We met here." He then brought Souji's attention to his Evoker before gesturing to Abe. "This is Abe; he gave my Evoker back." After a brief pause, he continue with a calm voice, "He saw them last night."

There was just one problem with all of this. Souji had never seen an Evoker before, so he stared at it blankly for a second. Where did he get a gun from? And why was he handling it so casually, as though he was used to something like that? ...for that matter, what was an 'Evoker' anyway?

Those thoughts were driven out of his head when Minato said that last statement, and his gray eyes shifted to Abe. Even if he didn't have the potential, seeing 'them' and not being afraid was quite amazing. More than Souji could give himself- the first time had been more than a little unsettling. Even still, he had to make sure. "You saw his Persona?"

Abe gave a slight bow when he was introduced, hands before him.

"In one sense or another." His hands wavered back and forth in a gesture of uncertainty. He wanted to be thorough about his explanation, and if Minato wasn't disturbed by his psychometrics then it made sense that Souji wouldn't be either. "I had a dangerously close and personal encounter with Surt, although that was not Minato's fault. The others I merely saw in a psychic reading of Minato's body. They're like nothing I've ever seen before."

Although anyone who shot themselves to create monsters from their psyches didn't really have room to complain about being disturbing.

Minato quietly gauged the two as they spoke, taking advantage of the fact that their attention wasn't focused on him for a few moments. Souji had given his Evoker an odd look -- one that wasn't simple surprise at the Evoker's presence. Had he been wrong to presume Souji knew what an Evoker was?

...Now that he thought about it, he had learned before that the Evokers were made by the Kirijo Group. If Seta was from Inaba, what were the chances he had come in contact with anyone from the company?

He would have to ask the other Persona-user about that.

"Abe-san is a mind reader," he explained, in case the 'psychic reading' was misinterpreted somehow. "He helped when I was brainwashed." Minato decided to leave out the part where Abe had bodily knocked him out in the process.

"Surt?" Souji's eyes shifted to look at Minato, and though he didn't say it, he was impressed. Surt was a powerful Persona, a little terrifying at times, but powerful- with flames that incinerated everything they touched. To have him showed just how powerful Minato was... and to survive the encounter meant that Abe was just as talented.

The bit about psychic-reading and mind-reading and what-not was a little surprising, but in the end, Souji accepted it with a shrug. He had demons and gods in his head, he couldn't really call anything else 'weird'.

It was with that idea in his head that he nodded to Abe, quietly offering, "Thanks. And if you wouldn't tell anyone about this..." Abe seemed accepting of the idea, but Souji didn't really like trumpeting the fact that he heard voices. Other people with Persona understood, but others, well...

"Of course." Abe gave another slight bow of his head, hands folding together close to his stomach. "Do you also have Personas? As I said, I've never seen any besides Minato's. You don't seem to have one of the Evokers with you as Minato did."

Good grief, an entire group of people going around with monsters in their heads. Abe couldn't decide whether that was a fascinating new discovery in cryptoanthropology or outright terrifying. Either way it had gotten his little researcher side up and eager again.

Minato met Souji's gaze at the mentioning of his Persona, resisting the urge to smile faintly at his tone. So he had heard about Surt as well. If both of them had been in the Velvet Room, it was likely Elizabeth or Igor had shown him a Persona compendium.

Abe's curiosity certainly helped with Minato's own concerns, and he averted his attention to make sure no one was lingering in the hallway with them. He waited for Souji's response -- even if the lack of Evoker could be explained away as the institute's fault, he might learn something about how the other summoned.

The first question made Souji look at Minato, just to confirm... then he nodded silently. He did have Persona, and like Minato, he could use a fair amount of them usually. They were both guests to the Velvet Room, as it were. The same power danced in the back of their heads.

But as for the second question, he found his eyes drifting back to the gun in question. It looked just like a regular pistol, but that had to be it, that had to be an 'Evoker.' He had to wonder how it worked. Did the Persona card get shot, like what Naoto did? Or were they used... more...

That was kind of a disturbing thought. He shook his head in the end, and simply said, "I don't use Evokers. I didn't know there were such things until now."

Night 46: Main Hallway, 1-West

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