☆ 001 : DEBUT ☆ "Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today."

[idol_support]

Characters: Rise (idol_support) and YOU! :D
Setting: Starting in Room 2-01, then WHEREVER SHE HAS TO GO TO FIND HER FRIENDS, K (i.e. feel free to choose if you'd like!); morning of the 12th
Format: Posting with prose because I can't help it, sob; no preference for the comments, I will happily follow your lead!
Summary: Rise wakes up (in her Halloween costume, lol) and goes lookin' for trouble her peeps!
Warnings: Uh...the usual Intro Post Semi-Ramble, and possible spoilers for the True End of Persona 4 (...does that even count any more...), but otherwise nothing so far!



It could have been worse. Waking up in a strange place and then experiencing a short period of sleep paralysis were far from Rise's idea of fun, but while it had been a little scary, she wasn't the type to let something like that get her down or frighten her into inaction; not any more. After all, she'd experienced things tons scarier than that since she'd moved to Inaba and gotten her Persona--it wasn't like it was the end of the world or anything!

...The end of the world...a terrible concept, and one that was vividly real to her now, but also less terrifying at the same time, all things considered. She'd read that your world has been destroyed letter, yeah, sure, but it wasn't the first totally B.S. letter left by some huge creep that Rise had seen this year. Plus she'd received enough iffy fanmail during her career as an idol to know that people could write whatever the heck they wanted, but that didn't make any of it true. She would have to see for herself that the world was destroyed before she'd even begin to believe it! There was really just no way it could be destroyed--she and Senpai and all their friends (but especially Senpai) had just saved it.

More than likely this was the TV World, and some jerk had kidnapped her (ugh, again! That was twice in one year! Twice!) and dumped her here. At least, that's what she'd thought at first...but this place just didn't feel right somehow. Not that the TV World had, but that had been a different sort of Not Right. This was...this was...augh, she didn't even know what this was! It had to be somewhere kinda like the TV World, though, another place that existed outside (or was it more like inside?) of the Real World, because she could summon Kanzeon here with no problem. That had been the first thing she'd done, in fact; the ceiling had looked a little low to try it here, but she had no idea where she was or what to expect when she went through the room's solitary door, and "kinda cramped quarters" was still better than "totally dangerous open area". Anyways, she could always do a more intensive scan later on, when she had a better idea of where she was and what was going on.

What she'd found on doing that initial scan had both reassured and confused her, because ooh, some of her friends were close by! ...But wait, there were a looot of people here, and it looked like there were more--way more--Persona users than just the Investigation Team, whatever that meant... She didn't know anything about them, so Rise couldn't get a solid feel on how many, or exactly where they were, but there were definitely others like them here.

Still, that wasn't the most pressing thing on her mind just now, because in addition to this being a super-weird place...there was also the costume.

Rise hadn't wanted to stay here in this room any longer than it took Kanzeon to run a quick scan of the place and give her a general heads up, but she'd still stopped long enough to change...or she'd tried to, anyway. The outfit she'd found herself wearing on waking up had to go.

It wasn't that she didn't look good in it, and she'd worn a lot less than that on national television, so it could've been way worse, but still! Whoever had kidnapped her this time was a real weirdo (and the idea that someone had changed her clothes while she was unconscious was creepy on a whole new level that Rise decided was best not to think about for now). Fortunately, among other things, she'd found some of her normal clothes in the storage trunk at the end of the bed (which, she'd been interested to note, Kanzeon's scan had designated a Treasure Chest). She'd felt a little unsure about changing when she didn't know whether or not there were any hidden cameras--an idol couldn't be too careful after all, even a former-but-hopefully-returning-to-showbiz-soon one--but she pushed that concern aside as well. Their school uniforms were essentially Full Battle Dress for the Investigation Team, and this place felt strange enough that Rise wanted that extra jolt of confidence from the familiar. That had led to a brief (and utterly hopeless) struggle with the weird collar around her neck (it fit snugly enough that she wasn't sure if she'd still be able to wear her usual white turtleneck), but no amount of tugging, pulling, or twisting could get it off, so she'd conceded defeat for now, and just left off wearing the turtleneck this time.

She'd had to concede defeat again just a few seconds later, when she found that the devil costume wouldn't come off, and then a third and final time when she tried wearing her uniform on top of the costume. It had been a little tricky, what with those wings and all, but she'd managed...only to find that somehow, when she'd briefly turned her attention back to the second (much longer) of those two letters she'd found on waking up, the devil costume had somehow ended up on top of her uniform. Which didn't make ANY sense, and looked a whole lot worse than just wearing the costume on its own had. Ugh! If that was how things were gonna be, then fine! She'd just wear the stupid costume already! She had more important things to worry about anyways--namely, finding her friends and figuring out what was going on here!

Getting the uniform off again was more of a struggle than getting it on had been, but she managed it eventually; by then, she was more than ready to get out of here.

"All right!" she said to herself--hearing the cheery sound of her own voice in her ears was oddly comforting. "Time to find everyone and figure this place out!"

Snatching up the two letters and totally ignoring the plastic pumpkin and the attached note that had been sitting on her trunk, Rise headed out to face the Tower and (hopefully) find her friends.

Comments

[idol_support]

Rise blinks a little, but her smile only grows a little wider. "Whoa! Now that's a handshake!"

...Someone as strong as this might come in pretty handy while they're trying to get out of here, especially if they find themselves somewhere too small to summon their Personas. Kanzeon just barely fit in that first room, and the hallway ceiling doesn't look much, if any, higher; Senpai had some smaller ones, of course, but still...

"Have you started looking for a way out of here, Rei-san? With a grip like that, you could probably tear your way through just about anything that's thrown at you!"

[terreifying]

"Thanks!" Rei chirps, glad somebody liked her handshake.

"Weee~ll. I've been looking around, but there don't seem to be any windows or even air vents. No exit doors either. Haven't tried to smash anything either because I wanna see what this place offers first."

Oh, she was going to smash her way out of the Tower someday. Just not today.

[idol_support]

"You mean you don't want to get out of here right away? If I could smash things like you probably can, I would've started doing it already!"

But of course, she can't, which means her goal is still to find her friends and let them do the smashing. Which...she should probably get back to doing right about now. Rise can't know for certain if Rei-san is really telling the truth about looking around for a way out, but if she is and there isn't one...

"I think I'm gonna go look around a little myself. But if we run into each other again and you've changed your mind about smashing your way outta here, then count me in!"

[terreifying]

"I'll make sure to give you a call. Would you like me to find you a giant robot as well?"

In Rei's mind, a liberal application of robot could solve even the worst of dilemmas.

[idol_support]

For half a second, Rise is nonplussed by that question because whaaaat giant robots whaaaat; but if she's seriously asking a question like that, then the reason behind it must be-

"They have giant robots in your world? For real?"

Rei had mentioned being an "EVA pilot," but that hadn't meant anything to Rise at the time. But now...

[terreifying]

"Of course. Well, EVAs are kinda fleshy too, but they're 200 feet tall and awesome! Go-kun is the very best!"

[idol_support]

"Wow, that's pretty amazing!"

Not that having a Persona, jumping through TVs, solving murder-mysteries, etc. isn't, but...GIANT ROBOTS, come on that really is totally cool. Personal head-canon: the manga Rise mentions reading? Almost completely shounen stuff, lmao.

"Hmm... Two hundred feet tall might be a little big for this place, buuut if you do find a spare giant robot around, I wouldn't mind taking it for a spin."

[terreifying]

"I hope it has a drill. Or rockets. Go-kun had a drill and rockets. Oh, maybe it can have a cool lance too. Always did want to play with one of those."

She shakes her head at the "too big" comment.

"Don't you know? Bigger is always better! If the tower can't fit it, then I'll just rip off the ceiling and make it fit!"

[idol_support]

"How about one of those beam-saber swords? Or an Energy Wing System? Ooh, could it combine with other ones?"

And Rise, in turn, shakes her head at Rei's response to the "too big" comment.

"But bigger isn't always better--sometimes smaller and faster is what wins the fight! Anyways...there are too many people here to just rip into the ceiling like that--what if there are more rooms like this one above you? Someone could get hurt."

[terreifying]

"Well, Go-kun doesn't have combining completely figured out yet. I sure would like him to combine with all the other EVAs, though. Also, Shinji's the one with the sword."

She taps her chin, thinking for a second.

"Then I'll just go on the roof."

[idol_support]

"You make it sound like...your mecha is actually alive..." There were a few series like that, though, weren't there? Though mostly when the pilots talked to their machines, it was purely for their own benefit, not because they honestly thought the things could hear them.

Rise considers Rei's solution for a second as well. "Yeah, I guess the roof would work. And you could always just climb up and down the outside of this place if you need to get at something or someone on another level. Getting it up there would be the problem, depending on where you found it."

[terreifying]

"Yep, he's alive and he has a mind of his own. I gave it to him."

Rise brought up a really good point. With his build, Go-kun couldn't exactly bend over. Other robots could, but ran the risk of being lightly armed

"I guess I have to know the tower better before I try finding and playing with robots then!"

[idol_support]

"You gave it to him? How did you do that? And yeah, figuring out the basic floor plan of this place is pretty high on my to-do list!"

She wasn't sure if the rooms and hallways would (or could) change like the dungeons had in the TV World, but since this place wasn't the TV World, it seemed like it was worth a shot at least.

[terreifying]

"I touched his core while trying to fire off his best weapons."

She looks around the floor.

"How are you gonna do that?"

[idol_support]

"His core?" That sounds like an important part, though Rise has no clue what it actually is.

Rise smiles at the question, a hint of mischief to the expression. True, her powers don't let her map out floors exactly, but what she can sense on them tends to be pretty helpful. "Oh, nothing much...mostly just looking around! As an idol, I had to memorize lines and stage directions and things really quickly, so I have a pretty good memory. But...that'll only be useful if the floor plans don't change all the time." There's a hint of a question there in the look she gives Rei, an unspoken they don't do they here, do they?

[terreifying]

"Yeah. Like, you can call it his mind or his soul."

Rei hasn't been here long enough to know anything about floor plan changes. Nor is she concerned with that now that she's learned this new piece of information.

"Ooh, you're an idol?"

[idol_support]

"Oh." Well, she'd read weirder things in shounen manga before, and had actually seen weirder things in Real Life, so. Just gonna accept it and move on...

Rise flashes a brilliant grin and strikes a pose. "Yep! Rise Kujikawa, known to thousands of adoring fans as 'Risette'! I sing, I dance, I model, I do commercials, and I'd just gotten the lead role in a big movie when I decided to take a break for a while. I had a lot of things to think about, but I got that all straightened out, so now I'm ready to get back to work and give 100% in everything, just like before!"

[terreifying]

"Ah, I've never heard of you before, but my family likes classical music more. Can you do classical stuff? Like violins or pianos?"

However, Rise must have looked cute in one of those fluffy idol dresses.

[idol_support]

"Well, that's not too surprising if we're from different worlds, right? And mostly I just sing and dance. I guess I'm not terrible on the piano, but...I'm still definitely not good enough to play during a concert, sorry! I probably could be if I practised a whole bunch, though! I'm a pretty quick learner."

[terreifying]

"Hee~ey!" Rei's eyes light up again as she gets an idea. "What if someday we got a big stage and all the dance and music people held a big concert on there? It would be so fun! Better yet if I could take Go-kun. I'd teach him how to wear glowsticks and dance."

[idol_support]

"Well, if that ever does happen, count me in! Totally! It's been almost a year since my last concert--I'm really starting to miss it! ...But for now, I should probably focus on taking a good look around this place."

She's already seen some of it, but not everything...though there are some places that she already knows she doesn't want to see.

[terreifying]

"It's only been a couple of weeks since my last television interview. I liked it, but I like being in action more."

Rei had very specific requirements for the sort of attention she liked.

"Would you want me to go with you? In case you run into anything?"

[idol_support]

"Sure, you can come if you want! I'm not gonna be looking for trouble just yet, though, so it might be kinda boring if you already know your way around."

But honestly, after experiencing that handshake? Rise would be MORE than happy to have Rei along as a bodyguard of sorts. Even if she's serious about not looking for trouble yet. Because of course, trouble might come looking for her...

[terreifying]

"I haven't seen very much of this place either. I've just been walking around the dorms."

[idol_support]

...Well, if that was true, then maybe there actually was a way for them to escape. Especially with Rei being a strong as she was.

"I've been to the cafeteria and the lounge and a few other places, but there's still a lot I haven't seen. So let's go! We could take the elevator down, start at the bottom, and work our way up!"