005 | ❝Come back for the hope that you've stolen...❞

[pitiedthefool]

Characters: Yu and you it will never get old
Setting: Starting in the morning of the return from Infighting on the dorm's second floor, wandering later on
Format: Your choice
Summary: Birthdays were had in Hell, so he decided to celebrate by flooding the dorms with origami cranes and do several other things.
Warnings: I sense a few New World Fools...

Yu wasn't one to say when he was hurting, nor was he the kind of person to simply ignore when others were either. It was hell, the last month... and according to the notes he'd received from Naoya and Zo the main portion of the tower hadn't fared well, either. So for remainder of the first day, all he did was continue making paper cranes in his shared dorm room. If anyone asked, he probably was too absorbed in how calming it was to respond much...

Floor One
After dropping off the little paper figurines at the doors of the other Persona users and his friends, Yu found himself wandering down to the cafeteria. He hadn't eaten much of anything for the last month and barely stomached whatever Ken and the others had brought him from the table, so finding all of these ingredients in the cafeteria?

It was like he was finally back in his element after what felt like an eternity.

The teen soon lost himself in the scents and mundane actions that come from cooking, probably making extra on purpose for anyone who wanted to try something that wasn't guaranteed to poison them. After all, he does know his way with a knife and a stove... even if it was a pain figuring out Fahrenheit-to-Celcius every now and then.

Floor Five
Yu tried to avoid this floor as much as he possibly could for reasons only a select few fully understood. He always ignored the red-collar workers as they went about their jobs, doing what they always did. Yet the sensation he had when coming here...

For once, he could recognize it. That emptiness and the suffocating feeling as though death were clawing up his legs again, trying to drag him down into the pits of hell. The crushing void within his heart to the point where he could almost hear their screams as death claimed them all over and over again.

He almost fell to his knees once or twice, taking hold of something before he could. A rail, someone's arm... he didn't know. All he knew was he wanted out of here before the despair that nearly claimed the spark of hope that still resided in his heart returned once more.

Floor Fourteen
Over the several months Yu'd been here, the media room had become a place of solace where he would meet with his friends and bond. Whether it was over music or video games didn't matter. He just enjoyed the time he spent with them.

This time, however, he was looking for someone in particular... someone he couldn't find at the "wrap-up party" last weekend. After a while of waiting, he sat down and began playing a little game again. Maybe they just decided not to come today...

Floor Twenty-Two
For some reason this week, Yu had begun to frequent the art gallery much more often than he normally did. After all, it seemed to be a place where a certain goddess kept finding him... and all it did sometimes was show him his fears. Oddly enough when he looked at the paintings now, it wasn't mostly his own world he was looking at...

It was of a surgeon cutting open a patient who remained awake, abominations and many grotesque creatures oozing out of the person's abdomen. Yet he didn't flinch, didn't so much as make any acknowledgement of what it was he saw. All he did was keep walking and enjoying the silence all the while hoping someone would soon break it.

Night, Your Floor of Choice
Cooking wasn't the only thing that was cathartic for the teen. No, there had also been a reason he had tried making a weapon for himself only to find a new friend giving him one instead. It had been a month, and his skills were a little rough around the edges, but he'd decided that it wouldn't hurt to stay out until around midnight and fight once the monsters came out.

If you're lucky, someone might even hear a single word being muttered before the sensation of electricity remaining stagnant in the air became more poignant: "Persona."

[ooc note: For Purse Owners Yu's met and seen their Personas, there is an origami figurine of them in their rooms somewhere (more than likely just at the door unless you're his roommate). For close CR, there's an animal other than a crane for them of their choosing. He was in a giving mood. :c

ALSO! If you'd be so kind as to also state the day of the week in the comment as well, it would be greatly appreciated! You can also have your characters wander into him on accident on either lounge floors. It gets old saying "Yu sit here, wat do?" after a while... |3]

Comments

[evokingfool]

At least there's that.

[Really, he have enough of labyrinths in his life.]

Physically, you're rested but... [Letting their bodies sleep is easy to fix. What he's really worried about is their mind and emotions.

And if there's anything Minato can do to help.]

[pitiedthefool]

[Yu pauses. Really, he hasn't stopped to even think about himself since his last talk with Yosuke. Come to think of it... Yosuke's been avoiding him since then, and that kind of hurt to think about. He... hadn't done something else, had he? Other than the tentacles...

He sighs, deciding to come clean.]

I'm more worried for the others than myself. They had it worse. [...] They messed with my Personas. Every one of them are back to normal now, but...

[It was hell without them. It was worse with them being insane...] ...If I ever have to hear Rokuten Maoh, Moros or Medea again, I have no idea what I'll do.

[evokingfool]

[He knows what it's like to have his Personas messed around with. His hand unconsciously clenches when Yu mentioned it. His friend must have had it worse than his own experience.

Whoever have it worse, one thing's for certain, no one should mess with their Personas. It's no different from messing around with them, the Wild Card users.]

Hopefully, that won't ever happen again. [His hand is now a fist.]

[pitiedthefool]

[It doesn't matter which one had it worse over the other; it's like ripping a piece of the soul from you--your very core. The others didn't affect him as much as Izanagi-no-Okami, but when he saw them all like that... parts of himself that were nurtured by the strength and trust of his friends... No wonder i had left him feeling hollow.

Yet he sees that look, and sees the fist. Had something similar happened to Minato--one of the few people he truly trusts in this tower? He frowns in worry for his friend.]

Hopefully not... but are you okay? [Because he doesn't know what happened, but he still wants to be there despite his own pain.]

[evokingfool]

...I'm okay now.

[He's quiet, before admitting it. It's been over a year since he experienced it in Hell. When the monsters dragged him into that dark cave and his memories blurred. But he won't forget the pain and horror.]

I was remembering something from a long time ago. [Minato haven't told Yu about it, right?] ...Have I told you about the Underworld?

[pitiedthefool]

[Yu wasn't so sure about that, because it obviously was still affecting him in some way. After all, he knew some things didn't fade in time. So, he shook his head.]

No, you haven't. [I'll listen, friend.]

[evokingfool]

[The experience told him how much he rely on his Personas. So Minato learn to fight without them.]

Before I arrived here, I was brought to the Greek Underworld by the gods, specifically Hecate. [The goddess of witchcraft.] Hecate and Hades would use us as pawns in their war. But...

[It's not so simple, any more.] There's a third party and they joined the war.

[pitiedthefool]

[It's probably a good thing to know how, which is why he could get behind Chi's idea of training when they could. With and without.]

...I see. [A third party?]

[evokingfool]

...One day, the third party, or Apportioners, sent out monsters to kidnapped some of us.

[See where this is going, Yu?]

Everyone who got taken get experimented on. [He speaks with a distant tone, recalling the old memories. A desperate battle against the monsters, the feeling of water against his skin, and the cold, hard and damp cell.]

[pitiedthefool]

[...Deja vu, indeed. He... he really does see where this is going, and of course his immediate reaction is one both of realization and of sympathy. Minato had lost his Personas at some time because of it, didn't he.]

...You were one of them.

[Probably had a better chance of fighting them off, but... he isn't even thinking like that, only feeling a small bit of that emptiness that was still in the process of disappearing.] I'm sorry.

[evokingfool]

It's alright.

[It's a long time ago. He recovered from most of the damage, but the scar remains. What the Apportioners did was worst than the gods.

The gods simply gave away his powers that one time, temporarily, the Apportioners took that extra step and reach in.]

It's a long time ago.

[However...he feel a little lighter. Maybe because he admits it to someone, his hidden pain. Minato listen to other people for so long, it's strange to have someone listen to him.]

[pitiedthefool]

Even so, it isn't something any of us should go through. With or without a Persona.

[He sighs, leaning back a little. Had he known about that, he'd tell Minato just how his Personas had been... removed. But then, it probably was a good idea not to try and relive it. It happened, and he accepts that fact, but it doesn't mean he has to like it or what it did to them.]

It's funny, isn't it... All this time I fought to keep everyone alive, but I couldn't even keep the parts of myself I have here from dying. ...and how small a universe this is.

[He subconsciously places a hand where the scar would have been, if time hadn't seemingly reversed... It's... weird, really. That feeling of actually being able to at least partly admit a pain that's been bothering him, but not as much as when he told another friend. Same goes for the gentle nudge from one of the 'masks' he trusts the most.]

[evokingfool]

It's rather funny in a way.

[He understand it. He recognise how it relates to himself, but Minato keep on doing things to the contrary.]

I'm always watching out for everyone I know and can see. But I have people telling me to look after myself. [Sometimes it work, other times...well, you just need to look at his tampered Personas experience.] I'd try, even if I end up suffering for it.

[This is more than he usually confess to.]

But I always think...as long everyone's okay, it doesn't matter if I'm suffering.

[It's a stupid way of thinking. A part of him knows very well that his pain will cause them pain.]

[pitiedthefool]

[It is rather funny in a way, but Yu doesn't verbally acknowledge it. After all, what good would that bring when they both know what it's like? To want to put others first. In fact, he even smirks faintly.]

Because as long as they're okay, you can continue on?

[The amused sound is small, because he's been there too. Still is- just like the light of recognition in his eyes.]

"You have to take care of yourself so you can take care of others." Others have told me that enough before that it's been drilled into my head, but I can't always follow it.

Must be part of the Wild Card tradition, huh.

[evokingfool]

It must be. [He get tired, and sick a few times during the school year from pushing himself too much.] And we can either continue follow it, or make our own change.

[Moving on and not get hurt? Tall order, with the dangers this tower have.]

I could do without getting sick, even if I don't mind sleeping.

[Sleep is okay. Getting sick isn't. :|b]

[pitiedthefool]

[Oddly enough the only time he got sick was when he first arrived to Inaba. Though there had been times when he got home and barely had the chance to set up his futon before passing out on it or the couch face-first.

Yeah, the last one was a little embarrassing.]

I don't get sick often, but agreed.

[Thank you, immune system...]