Minato | Open | 088

[messianic]

a

[Look, he's a Persona protag. So maybe you're having some difficulty with something--anything from looking for something to dropping things to carrying groceries and who knows what else--and after a moment of observing, he has to come over, hands tucked into his pocket and voice quiet, to ask:]

Is there anything I can help with?

[Protags gotta protag, after all; he just wants to be useful, okay!!!]

b

[Alternatively, he also seems to always find himself in these situations and can't seem to say no.... which is a life skill that would probably benefit him to learn but one he will never quite manage. HE...TRIED....

Probably.

But it's almost Easter and that's why he was dragged into helping with an easter egg hunt, wearing a stupid-ass costume complete with bunny ears and looking very puzzled about it (if you can tell beneath the lineface).

He's also, more importantly, kind of struggling to juggle all of the eggs he's supposed to be painting while more are dumped onto him by other overworked volunteers, and with paint on his face and hands and a paintbrush in his mouth as backup while he tries to paint colorful designs on one of the many eggs in his hands, he...

... Probably has bitten off more than he can chew.

Help.]

c

[if you want to see him shoot himself in the head make up a battle prompt or just tell me and i'll come up with one, it'll be Fun.]

wildcard

[Come up with your own prompt or consider one of these OR WHATEVER MAKES YOU HAPPY.]

Comments

[necromomicon]

... I guess anything that can happen once can happen twice... Though I wonder why? I assumed it was such a super-special rare ability, we'd just never find anyone else with it because of statistics, but maybe it's a lot more common than I thought?

Can anyone else in your group do that?

[messianic]

No, it's only me.

[So statistically: still weird.

But occasionally happens more than once.]

I'm not really sure how common or uncommon it is... it was a big surprise to see Kurusu-san do the same, honestly.

[A big surprise for Minato is like "the slightest of widened eyes".]

[necromomicon]

Surprising enough for you to have an expression?

[... let her have her burns, okay]

[messianic]

[He just kind of rolls with it.]

Yes. [a placid nod] I'm a very expressive.

[EMOTIONAL ALL THE TIME

he says

with no expression]

[necromomicon]

... You never make expressions, you're really bland-looking except for a weird haircut, you're quiet all the time, and you have a super-special power that was supposed to be unique...

[she pokes out a little further behind from Akira to squint.]

Are you a fanfiction protagonist?

[messianic]

[.. ... .... "Bland-looking"?]

I think Kurusu-san is closer to being the fanfiction protagonist--isn't the dashing and dangerous Phantom Thief with a super-special power more like it?

[He's a mary sue.

That's what he's saying.]

[necromomicon]

No way. He's the main character, and the fanfiction protagonist is the one who rips off his special power!

[YOU'RE RUDE.]

[messianic]

[Ahhhh, he sees.]

Oh, I'm the knock-off version. I see.

[He's not...arguing it??? Thanks, Minato.]

In that case, you might be right.

[necromomicon]

I'm always right. That's one of my Persona's powers.

[messianic]

[He certainly doesn't believe that for a moment, but--]

I see. What a dangerous power.

Good thing you're using it for good.

[Like determining which protag is the knock-off of the other.]

[necromomicon]

Such is the power of the forbidden wisdom.

[She sounds smug.]

But... Anyway, Orpheus, you said? I guess that must be the Persona that best represents you?

[messianic]

[Hm...

> You wonder if maybe encouraging her in that was a bad idea... OH WELL, NOT YOUR PROBLEM]

That's right. He was my first Persona, so there's probably something to that.

[Him and DEATH but we don't talk about that one in polite company.]

[necromomicon]

Orpheus... In Greek mythology, a musician who traveled into the Underworld. Maybe that sort of legend is why you can travel into the strange hour no one else can?

[She folds her arms, thinking.]

No, then Prometheus should be able to do the same... Is there a kind of a theme to your party's Personae?

[messianic]

[Well, trust the analyst to analyze, he supposes.]

The original Personas [and not the upgraded ones] would be...

Io, Hermes, Polydeuces, Penthesilea, Palladion, Cerberus, Nemesis, Lucia...and Castor.

[He tilts his head, thoughtful.]

The "theme" doesn't seem as clear as with Kurusu-san's team.

[The theme is death and murder mostly.]

[necromomicon]

[trust the analyst to analyze, but also, she just doesn't like having a puzzle she hasn't solved.]

... Except for 'Lucia', those are all from Greek mythology. If that's the theme, then that might explain it... Except my Prometheus still can't. Maybe it's because my original Persona didn't fit that theme? But Necronomicon should be able to see those sorts of mysteries.

[... yeah, her initial persona was necronomicon. that's not alarming, right?]

[messianic]

[You know, when one of the personifications of death bursts out of your Persona upon your first summoning, alarming things become somewhat less alarming.

He notes it, and it gives him pause (necronomicon...that's A Lot, and yet somehow weirdly fitting, he feels...?) but he otherwise just nods.]

And it isn't that the Dark Hour is centralized to only Iwatodai... it's been confirmed to occur everywhere.

[At least, as far as the Kirijo group has analyzed, and that's Pretty Far. So there's something more to it.]

You should be able to experience it, even here.

[necromomicon]

That means it's probably like Mona's ability to speak. It's a matter of cognition. A distorted time... But if it occurs everywhere, doesn't that make it even bigger and more dangerous than Mementos?

[The puzzle has piqued her interest, and she's venturing a bit further out from behind Akira.]

Is it something you can choose not to enter?

[messianic]

[He is very glad to see her face, though he's at least careful not to make it obvious. Instead, he shakes his head, and lets her try to figure out the mystery.

(Cognition...???)]

No, not at all. Most people are kept in stasis during the Dark Hour [Coffins] but if you can experience it... you'll always experience it. It's just like having an additional hour in the day.

[If that additional hour is filled with Shadows.]

People with potential... or just unlucky people can...wake up in the Dark Hour, I suppose--and then the Shadows hunt them down.

[He's not very used to expositing, but he's doing his best here. A slow shake of his head, and:]

That's why we fight. To get rid of the Dark Hour and protect those people.

[Granted, he has no way of knowing that they're gettin' played here, but still.]

[necromomicon]

[She thinks for a moment longer, before finally returning to the other side of the counter, sitting down next to Minato, and pulling out her laptop, opening it up.

She's copying down their entire conversation up to this point, word-for-word.]

This Dark Hour... It's gotta be another world, like the Metaverse. There'd be all sorts of weird problems if the Earth froze in space for an hour every night. So instead of the Shibuya railway, and the keyword "Mementos", the key to get in is 'midnight'. As for getting in... It's gotta be cognition. Once you're aware of it, your cognition changes, so you become able to enter it again. The same way Mona's speech works.

But just hearing about it might not be enough... It might be something you have to experience first, to truly change your cognition. Just hearing Mona can speak isn't enough until you hear him yourself...

[typing away at high speeds.]

Maybe if I write a program for a webcam to keep track of everything from 11:59 to 12:01...

[messianic]

[It's weird, but also he's just glad she's not hiding behind Akira anymore. So he nods peacefully, and tries not to peek too much.]

That might work.

[But he really doubts it.

Either you experience it, or you don't. He's experienced it so many times, for so long--

...Well, no reason to not.]

If that still doesn't work, I guess you could come to Iwatodai and I could show you myself... [Somehow.

(No, that won't work, Minato, you'll be dead.)]

[necromomicon]

Iwatodai... That's, what, twenty minutes by train? I could... probably put up with a train for that long...

[put her on a crowded train for longer than twenty minutes and she'll join you in being dead.]

[messianic]

[Hmm...]

... Just if your other plans don't work out. May as well go to the source, right?

[You can do it, Futaba!!

Not the dead thing, don't do that.]

[necromomicon]

Right! It's good to have backup plans.

[... also, looking at him.]

By the way, what's a "social link"?

[messianic]

[Sweats inwardly.

Why are you like this, Futaba... Minato's not as good at being dodgy and sneaky as Akira is.

On the other hand, he's not bad at being stupidly sincere in the wrong way.]

Someone who helped me out a lot with my Personas called my bonds with my friends that, once. I guess it stuck.

[It's TECHNICALLY TRUE, OKAY... just not getting into the nitty gritty of what they actually are.]

[necromomicon]

Oh... So it's just relationship values? Huh, are you a gamer, too, then?

[see, she gets it like that.]