Time for exploration! Follow the yellow brick... scarf?

[death_awaits_you]

Characters: Ryoji and you~
Setting: Starting in Room 4-18 and meandering elsewhere (see below)
Format: Written in [action tags] but I will match your style
Summary: Ryoji has just woken up into a tower that's not working and is wandering in confusion.
Warnings: None so far?

Room 4-18 and Dormitory Area

[ Once Ryoji has woken up, read his letters and gotten his bearings, he'll be wandering aimlessly through the dorms, looking for other people. He seems a little troubled, but overall he appears more curious than worried. Still riding on the high of events just prior to his showing up here, Ryoji just can't believe the world that was just saved before his eyes could be destroyed just like that - especially without him knowing!

Since the dorms seem to be one of the few places with lights on at present, there are bound to be people here right? No matter who you are or how scary you seem, Ryoji doesn't seem to be afraid to come up to you to say hello! ]


Floor 1

[ Of course, Ryoji doesn't stay in the living quarters all day. There's a whole tower to explore! And this one doesn't have nearly as many floors (it seems) as the one he just came from. The first place he starts poking around after the dorms is the cafeteria. Even if it's dark, he seems to be able to find his way pretty well, though the oatmeal seems to have him confused.

Instead of eating the oatmeal, Ryoji spends a while playing with it. This batch seems pretty sticky, so he's trying to make a snowoatmealman out of it... Maybe you should advise him of its actual purpose... ]

Floors 4, 6, 10, 13 or 25

[ Each of these floors contains either a view of the outside of the tower or else some sort of scenery Ryoji has never actually seen in person before, so he lingers in these places, exploring a little. The cathedral puzzles him (where is that murmuring coming from, anyway?), but the aquarium and the meadow in particular fascinate him - and he stares in open-mouthed, grinning glee at all the pretty colorful fishies and oh wow, so many flowers! He's never seen so may flowers, not even in a flower shop!

... it's probably really obvious he's new, isn't it. Well, hopefully he doesn't get eaten by a fish on his first day or two. ]

Anywhere else you fancy!

[ Is there somewhere else you want to corner Ryoji? The library maybe, or as you're chasing down or running from a monster? Feel free to bring that up, instead. ]

Comments

[imperialsun]

[He nods again, confirming.] Amon-Ra. He's one of my Personas, given to me by my other self...

My name's Naoya Touhou. I'm a 17 year old student currently studying in America.

[death_awaits_you]

It's nice to meet you, Touhou-san! Wow, though - it must be so neat to get to study in a foreign country.

[imperialsun]

It is interesting. The students there took to calling me Neo instead of my real name.

[He looks at him again grinning. Shadow or not, if he has a full name he must have been doing things as well.]

What about you Ryoji? What were you doing before coming here?

[death_awaits_you]

Me? I was... [ But then his smile fades a little as he considers exactly what he was going before he showed up here. He shrugs. ] Well, I was going to Gekkoukan High School on Tatsumi Port Island, but I haven't been to school in a couple months. [ His voice is a little wistful there, and his smile a little sad. ] I had a lot of fun while I was there, though.

[imperialsun]

[He was good at reading body language, even if Ryoji was almost an open book right now. Something was clearly troubling him, but it was Naoya's nature to finish what he started. It wasn't snooping, more so than he knew there was something hidden there. Besides it was almost as if Amon-Ra wanted him to go on.]

Tatsumi Port Island...never heard of Gekkoukan High School. Maybe it was built after 1996.

If you were having fun, why leave?

[death_awaits_you]

Oh yeah it's pretty new - I think it was built sometime in the last ten years? And it's 2010 back home, so it definitely was built after 1996.

[ But Ryoji realizes he's avoiding the subject with this, and he has a distinct feeling that he's in no way fooling Naoya, and that he's not getting out of explaining - especially not if Naoya has a Persona. Even if Naoya isn't a part of S.E.E.S., Ryoji knows enough about Personas and what they are to decide that he owes an honest explanation.

He takes a deep breath before he begins, speaking quietly. ]

I... I left because I remembered what I was and why I exist, and I didn't want to trouble anyone with my presence. I'm not -- an ordinary Shadow. I'm more like the embodiment of all Shadows... The Appriser who summoned Nyx to bring about the Fall, and I am also a part of her, as her Avatar.

[imperialsun]

That explains it. I had been looking around the various Faculties in Japan before settling on going to North America instead.

[Ahh yes. Now they got into the meat of the discussion and Naoya listened without judgement, merely rubbing his ear where the earring hung once in a while. He had already guessed he wasn't an ordinary Shadow, considering he had a name and went to school but...Nyx. Nyx..The goddess of the night. Her name means "the night mother..." Eriko's fascination with the occult and the way she kept talking to him about demons, gods and goddesses was paying off. The meeting he had had recently with the other Persona leaders that filled in the blanks that remained.]

...the Night Queen.

[He mutters some words mostly for himself, but they seem to be from a memory, words spoken to him by someone...something else.]

Eternal Night will fall again so long as people seek to turn hope into despair...

[Had humanity accepted that much darkness into their souls once again? No wonder Amon-Ra had been urging him to go on. He wanted him to know this. Strange however, when he looked at Ryoji...the Avatar really didn't seem happy about his role in it at all.]

I'm sorry.

[He means it.]

[death_awaits_you]

[ Ryoji nods at muttered quote, for that is just what happened - or would have happened, if Minato hadn't taken the one and only way out. But Naoya's next words surprise Ryoji, and he looks up again, startled. A beat or two passes, and then a faint smile flits across his face, and it grows a bit brighter as he speaks. ]

Thank you, but -- it's all right now. Minato stopped it from happening. He used the power of The Universe to become a Great Seal between us and humanity's despair, so the world won't end now. It's safe, and life will continue on for everyone else.

[ He chuckles faintly and glances around. ] I thought I'd just go to sleep, but I guess I wound up here, instead.

[ Yeah, he's not buying what the letter says about his world being destroyed. That's totally impossible, because Minato just saved it, so clearly everything is okay, and he's just wandered here on accident or something. Right? ]

[imperialsun]

[It made as much sense as how Naoya was here, knowing that Tatsuya and the others knew about him three years in the future...but then after the walk with Jason, nothing made much sense anymore.]

I see. My friends and I also fought Nyx in our school in 1996...

[He goes on to explain their dealings with the 'Snow Queen'. How Nyx's was stuck inside a mask, and each year whoever put in on was cursed. How the school was frozen solid and they fought, even visiting Tartarus, Hypnos, Thanatos and Nemesis who became the cursed human's persona before being able to reach her in full...]

When we defeated her, she gave us a warning. That Eternal Night would come again if people's hearts were overcome by darkness. We each took her words to heart but...I...didn't realize it would happen again this close...

[Had he known, he would have done the deed himself. In a way he felt guilty that they hadn't worked more so that her warning hadn't come true, especially in so little time. He would have been older than Minato then. He deserved a longer life and yet...who was he to judge what he did?

After all, Naoya would have done the same.

No hesitation.

He smiles again.]

I wish I could say that this place is worth it, but unfortunately it's not all that safe. However, I have faith that we will find a way out, one day or another.

[Naoya's best trait was his ability to stay positive no matter what, after all.]

[death_awaits_you]

[He listens attentively, finding the whole story quite interesting both in and of itself and because of its personal relevance. When it is done, he nods slowly, looking away as he thinks about it. He can't say he knows much about it, but he can tell that Naoya is troubled by the timing, so he adds further explanation. ]

I don't remember her coming before, but... I only really came into being ten years ago. Although I am a part of Nyx, she is not fully present here, so I cannot really reach too far into her memories or knowledge. However I think... maybe it would have taken longer, if a man hadn't gathered shadows together in a laboratory to create me.

Nyx might have come even sooner, in fact, if the unification process hadn't been interrupted. When I awoke, I was incomplete, and pieces of me escaped before I was sealed away. It wasn't until this past year that all parts of me were brought together, and I fully awakened into my purpose...

If that man and his subordinates had not created me, then... perhaps the Fall may have been delayed, though it would have only been that - delayed but still inevitable. As it is now, so long as the Great Seal is in place, the Fall will never come.

[Ryoji smiles at that thought. He feels sorrow and guilt for the pain and suffering he has caused Minato and his friends, but he finds it difficult to be too weighed down at the moment, for he is buoyed with that wonderful hope and knowledge that a miracle has happened. Life can continue on - and what is one willing sacrifice compared to the cessation of existence? But then again, Ryoji's perspective on death is certainly different than most.]

Yes. If we came here, surely there is a way to leave, right?

I apologize for the lateness

[imperialsun]

[He listens to the story, frowning a little. Perhaps, then, they only fought a fragment of Nyx itself instead of the true one. It is something he will have to dwell on. Regardless, this could be saved for another moment, and he nods at Ryoji's final comment.]

I cannot fully believe their words, or that we are trapped here forever. Even if it has to take years...we will all get out.

How good are you at fighting?

[He has a feeling that he's pretty powerful, but it doesn't hurt to ask.]

no problem. it's not like you were busy or anything. >_>;

[death_awaits_you]

Yes. We will. [ Ryoji is 100% with Naoya there! ]

Ah... I don't know. [ He looks away, the smile fading as he thinks about it. ] I know I'm more powerful than most things I have encountered. I can easily defend myself, and as a Shadow, there are many things I can easily destroy.

TAGS EVERYWHERE

[imperialsun]

[He enjoys it when people are 100% with him.

And despite his hesitation, it does warrant a smile from him again, and a nod.]

Good. Not everyone in the tower can defend themselves, you can help save the lives of others too.

[A lord of Death, saving others. Naoya seems pretty certain of himself regardless. He takes a pause before speaking again.]

...Although Death isn't everlasting here. You wake up in your bed the next day if you are killed.

[death_awaits_you]

I can help -- save the lives of others?

[ That is not a thing that has ever exactly occurred to him, so used is he to thinking of himself as a destructive being personifying the ultimate end. So he stares at Naoya, eyes wide and mouth slightly open in surprise and a little shock as he thinks this over.

But it is not an unhappy thought in the slightest and one Ryoji finds himself very much liking, if the smile slowly spreading across his face is any indication. ]

I'd like to do that.

But -- really? People -- just wake up again if they die here? [ Let's take a moment to reflect on how weird that sounds! ]