towerofanimus | Infighting Week Two

[If it weren't such a tense moment it'd almost be hilarious how many times he's had to strike his best friend now. Did that become his official job at some point? He's not sure, but even with the atmosphere he can't help muttering under his breath]

Jeez... you'd be lost without me.

[He sees where Yu's gaze goes, and while he can guess at the stupid plan his partner is currently formulating, he chooses not to stop it. He's got no place to, having had his fair share of stupid plans. Instead he'll stand side by side with Yu, looking over at the stage with that same anger-fueled determination]

You're wrong, by the way.

You might not have a persona right now, but we're never powerless. Not completely. As long as idiots like us can, we'll scratch and claw and kick until we've got nothing left.

Right, Partner?

[...They became each others' therapists. How did this happen? Sure, Yosuke took the more physical approach (ow, his arm), and he had his own method of just being there, but this was almost ridiculous now that their initial journey was over and they'd begun another.

He chuckles a bit at that comment. To be honest, he's be lost without all of them... hence why it had been so easy to slip up in the first place.]

Guess this place is just giving us plenty of role reversals lately.

[It's still forming, still a few catches he needs to think through... but one thing he was sure of? He didn't want Yosuke to get into any sort of danger when his team had to vote someone off. Dax may be more humane, but after this? No. Especially after this, but any time in general...

He couldn't stand the thought of losing them again, even if he already was watching their underclassmen fade before his very eyes with each passing day.]

...I was thinking more along the lines of a punch or two.

[He closes his eyes for a brief second before glancing towards his best friend and lowering his voice.]

Think you can wait here a moment? I know one person who deserves a shot, too.

[So, that's what you've got in mind, Partner? He certainly doesn't like the idea of leaving you to handle that idiocy by yourself, but that tone of voice... Yu's serious, huh?]

You do realize this is pretty stupid.

... but I'm not exactly known for great plans.

[Yosuke lets out a sigh before patting Yu on the back]

Make it count.

[Somewhat, but there's more reasons than just the one Yosuke can guess just by glancing at it. If this misses, then they tried. If the strike hits? Awesome! But he's more interested in seeing what all of them as a whole can do, and without Rise to even be able to try and scan...

What's wrong with a little trial and error?

He chuckles.] Since when have most of our plans been that great when they basically amount to 'wait, then strike'?

[He smirks, grateful for the pat regardless of just how wrong the smirk looks. Hearing murderous Personas for over 48 hours straight will do that to a person.]

Will do. [He disappears into the crowd, but not before slipping one little thing into Yosuke's hand. It's been hell, trying to keep track of days while basically being a prisoner inside a cell, but if his guess is right... it wasn't too far off from a certain date. And... with the chance Yosuke might not make it...

It's a paper and plastic scale model of Susano-o, saw-like blade and all, made out of leftover energy bar wrappers. He'd folded it meticulously to stay sane, even wrote something with his own blood after accidentally cutting himself once.

Though this month is hell
Happy early birthday, friend
I pray you survive

Dark, for a sort-of haiku... but he tried with the voices and emptiness.]

[Yu's gone before he can say anything else, before he can even react to being slipped something. Unsure whether to focus on his partner or whatever he's been given, he chooses the later - there's sure to be a commotion when anything happens with the former, so it'll be hard to miss]

[What's this now, a figure? He holds it up to get a closer look-]

[...]

[After a few moments of staring, his hand closes around his gift and stores it in a pocket, eager to keep it undetected and safe. Then he's eager to find a wall to sit against, opting to be alone for a while as he pulls his knees close to his chest]

Bastard... you better survive too...

[It's another fifteen, thirty minutes tops before there is indeed a commotion... and another thirty minutes before the aforementioned partner shakily made his way to a wall and slumped against it. He didn't hear what Yosuke said when he vanished into the crowd, but his priority was for Ken to survive after the initiation of that plan.

The strike had not been successful, but they learned more than what they knew before of what they were capable of. That in itself had been a small success.

It was buried anger that had kept him on his feet this long... but the lack of energy was catching up to him. He slumps against the wall, but doesn't sit down. No, he wasn't going to show his weakness that much. He survived another day... Made sure Ken would be safe for now.]

You better be alright, Chie, Teddie, everyone...

[Forget his own mistakes... he just wants to see the rest of them alive after this.]

[It's not difficult to follow his partner's path after the commotion, considering not many people ask to punch Jason in the face. It's also not hard to see the slump in his partner's shoulders, or how defeated he looks leaning against the wall there. Though his own emotions are equally conflicted - because seriously, that idiot could have gotten himself killed but thank god he's okay and that was actually kind of funny - he knows that with Kanji and Naoto in... their respective states, it's going to be up to him to keep Yu going.]

[No pressure or anything]

[He makes his way over to the wall, casually leaning against it next to his partner. But what's he even supposed to say at a time like this? He doesn't know, so he just winds up blurting out the first thing that comes to mind]

Too bad we never thought to ask about punching King Moron, huh?

[Well, he hadn't exactly ask in the first place. Maybe it was childish, but there was a bit of smug satisfaction to see that look on Jason's face when they tried. That was pure gold, though it didn't make up for what they've all gone through.

Stupid or not, there had been a reason he followed his selfish wish for revenge. They weren't completely untouchable; they could be taken aback and maybe, just maybe, that little display would renew some hope for the others trapped in this 'game' of theirs. In the end, that's all he can do.

Yu doesn't really respond when his partner joins him, but he can't help the faint smirk after that one sentence. Oh, what he wouldn't have given... except not really.]

Don't know. Got pretty close to it my first day.

[Instead he stuck to mere words, which worked well enough as it is...]

Probably would have been arrested sooner. [He remembers the incident well...]

[Well, he's not entirely sure his strategy of blurting out whatever comes to mind is working - because it's totally strategy and not completely improvised okay - but Yu's talking, and he takes that as a good sign, or at least as good of a sign as he's going to get, given the circumstances]

Wait, so you're saying you'd have been arrested no matter what?

That means waving swords around in a public place is officially no longer my fault! I'm alright with that.

[Those darn brotagonists making it hard to read them under certain circumstances. He tilts his head slightly in thought before he shrugs....and chuckles.]

No, it is still your fault. [Unfortunately for Yosuke, in this state his logic is even more poignant.] You were the one waving them around in the first place.

[Aww yeah, dat chuckle! Mission Accomplished. He's getting good at this]

It was just a demonstration! Of... proper sword waving technique!

I still say that officer overreacted.

[Well, the smirk was creepy enough right now. He didn't want to do that to his friends, especially with the issues they still needed to face so they could get out of here.

Yu raises an eyebrow at that. Uh-huh. Sure. That was completely and totally what that was. Someone could have lost an eye with the way you were going on about it.]

Considering what was going on, I can understand why he did.

[Especially now...]

Hey, we were trying to save lives! I still say we were in the right.

[It doesn't matter that they weren't in the right in the slightest - if he can manage to distract Yu with even a little friendly banter, then maybe he can help his best friend get through the next week]

[Maybe]

[He's more worried about a certain dork of a best friend than himself. Yu has his own ways of coping, and after that metaphorical kick in the rear for being an idiot who nearly completely broke down... Yet there is still a part of him who is glad for this much.]

Tell that to Dojima-san, not me. [Oh. Oh hey, there was a bit of his old sarcasm as he smirks.] Think you can manage another week, partner?

Yeah, next time I see him I'll mention it.

[Because that's likely to be so soon, right?]

[But as for the question... there's a brief silence as he looks down. They both know Yu's the one that needs to worry more - but...]

I will if you will. Deal?

[Yeah, no kidding. Yu's patient, waiting in the silence between the two of them for an answer. It didn't matter what happened to himself as far as he was concerned. So long as his team would be back to normal once this was... over...

It would end soon, right? And... after the second commotion today...]

Deal.

[As if they were still in the media room that one day, he gives Yosuke a light nudge to the arm. Don't you dare frown now, man. It would make his attempts to repeatedly mentally think of the lyrics to the Happy Song and thus stay sane go down the drain.]

Sorry I dumped all that responsibility on you earlier. I won't let myself fall that far again.

[> You feel like you know your Leader just a little bit better...]

[Okay, no; kidding. You won't have the same "I ART THEE ART I STICK THEE HAND INTO THE TV DO IT DO IT DO IT" that he did.]

[He wants to frown because he's worried, Yu. You were invincible and unflappable and unshakeable during their time in Inaba, but this isn't Inaba anymore. He's seen your human side, he knows you have weaknesses, and he's seen Yu stumble. While he's grateful to not have to shoulder the burden of being the team's sole pillar of strength, to have it re-claimed like this...]

Good.

But just because you're done being dumb doesn't mean you have to do it all yourself. I've always got your back, okay Partner?

[That's because he had so many guiding him, including some none of you ever saw... except Margaret that one time. People who would give him advice in his dreams on how to proceed and assistance in fusing the Personas he used to protect everyone as well as he could. At least, that's what he thinks. Those bonds saved them time and time again, after all.

And now most of those voices were gone, yet he still stood.]

I know. [He smirks faintly, looking back on those events.] We promised not to go it alone because it was dangerous back then... I'd like to believe that still applies now, even if it's not in the physical sense.

[He's almost tempted to ask how he liked his makeshift figurine, but thinks better of it.]

It's never stopped applying. You know that.

[He spares Yu the punch in his arm though - his partner's had enough of those for a while. A hand slips into his pocket and finds the figurine, and though Yu may have thought better on it, Yosuke has to comment]

... thanks, by the way.

Right... Just another form and meaning.

[Shh, he likes to state the obvious every now and then... and the redundancy is helping him to remain somewhat lucid. Yu's silent for a little while, until it begins to literally drain him with that huge void where most of his soul used to be... thank god for his best friend somehow knowing without knowing, because that's the moment someone spoke up.]

No problem. Just wish no one had to spend important birthdays like this.

[He pauses] I'd... actually planned on doing something for both yours and Rise's, before this happened. Sorry most of us were dragged in here instead.

Don't apologize for something you can't control, that's stupid.

Besides, I... I mean, it's the tower. I wasn't exactly expecting a birthday party. Hell, I would have been thrilled if I got a hug from Chie and edible food in the cafeteria.

[He nudges his partner slightly, teasingly]

Unless that was what you planned, then sorry for ruining the surprise.

[Yu gives him a look; you know the one. That look when someone guessed something right without meaning to and they have no idea just how right.]

Maybe the next time Dax is in control, then. [Because like hell they'd have any sort of good fortune otherwise...]

[He does know the look! But he sadly misinterprets it]

Wait, you were seriously going to ask Chie to hug me?

[Oh, Yosuke.]

No, I was thinking about a party. [But now he's thinking that it would be a good idea for everyone to have one... Especially after all of this.]

Oh! That makes more sense!

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