towerofanimus | 001 { howling in the dead of night }

Characters: Koromaru and you, good sirs and madams!
Setting: All around the tower, starting in room 3-04.
Format: Starting in prose, but I'll match your preference.
Summary: Puppy did not have a good few weeks in the tower. Why all his friends either not here or acting strangely? :(
Warnings: Possible omg cute while everything else goes to hell ~~pfffffffffffffffft~~.

The last three weeks have been very confusing for the humans he's seen, and even more so for the canine that awakened in a strange room with three strange people he didn't know. Though, they did seem to be okay... and running into Chie-san wasn't too bad, either!

But... where were his friends?

He couldn't really put his own collar on by himself (we do not count the one he awoke with, it doesn't do the same thing), so he carried it in his mouth for a while, unless someone was kind enough to put it on him. Really, he looked kind of down about it as he began searching every floor for any sign of them being alright.

Probably didn't help that the last thing he saw was one of his closest friends flying up to the moon on his own as they cried out for him...

> ...
> Bother the furball?
> Yes
> No

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, he seemed cautious, but not outright frightened, which made sense. So Rise went down on one knee as he approached and took the...collar? Was that really what this was?...from him.

"...Are you sure you want me to put this on you? It doesn't look very comfortable..." She carefully turned it over in her hands, almost like she was inspecting it, though it looked way too complicated for her to figure out what else it could be, besides a collar. Though there was something written on it--"Koromaru? Is that...your name?"

Yes and no, really. It was complicated to talk about since unless they're communicating via Personae (which was a long shot regardless), she likely wouldn't understand that he used it to help him summon his Persona. Hell, she would likely be confused by that in general. It wasn't like he could tell that she was one, too.

He barked once, meaning 'yes.' It had helped him communicate with Chidori, after all. Maybe it'd help here? The mention of his name made his tail wag. Yep, that's him alright!

She looked up at the bark, and when he wagged his tail at the mention of his name, Rise paused. Could he...? No, plenty of animals recognised their names, it didn't mean he understood everything she was saying. Did it? But...what could it hurt to check, just to be sure?

Feeling a little silly, the former idol said, "If you can understand what I'm saying, gimme three barks, a howl, and another bark!" It was a really specific request, so the chances of Koromaru just randomly making those exact noises in that order was pretty low, right?

Well, Rise... Remember when you sensed a Persona user yet not? Someone was about to find out why very soon.

He tilted his head to the side at first, but he did bark thrice. However, when he howled, it kind of triggered something with the collar. See, it was sensitive to his vocal cords, thus when he did that, there was the tell-tale click of an evoker before a three-headed dog appeared in a familiar bluish light.

One more bark as it cast Masukukaja. ...Surprise?

Edited (i can read :I) 2012-10-30 08:19 (UTC)

Oh yes, "surprise" enough to literally knock Rise back on her ass, even though she's usually far from klutzy. ~~And it is totally karma, because Rise startled the hell out of and/or maybe minorly broke Hidetoshi by showing off her own Persona a while back. Whoops?~~

"Whoa!" Eyes wide, she sat up a bit straighter, because regardless of minor differences, there was no mistaking a Persona-summoning. "You have a Persona, too?"

It was a rhetorical question, because obviously he does, but…how is that even possible? (That bright red SEES band that puppeh is wearing might have helped her make more sense of this, if…she’d met any SEES members before now. Which she hasn’t.) Then again, Teddie was…well, Teddie, but not human in any case--a tame Shadow, really--and he had a Persona, too, so maybe she shouldn’t be so surprised.

~~Karma is a bitch... clearly.~~ Koromaru seemed surprised by that. Another Persona user in this place? He wagged his tail before barking again, offering his shoulders to help her up again. It was his bad she fell in the first place.

He had yet to hear of a Shadow having a Persona, though... most of them were mean and tried to destroy his home aside from one he met, but they didn't have a choice...

~~...But I thought Koromaru was male...|D //SHOT~~ She'd already been kneeling, so it hadn't been much of a fall (especially compared to entering the TV world), but Rise smiled and accepted the help nonetheless. Even once she was up, she didn't take her hand away from his shoulder right away, giving him a few little pats and a pet here and there. She couldn't resist--he was just so soft and fuzzy!

"You know, you look just like Hachiko, that famous dog they have a statue of at Shibuya Station. Are you looking for your owner, too?" Then, remembering herself and the language barrier here, she added, "Uh, one bark for yes, two barks for no?"

~~was not referring to the pooch, geez... XD~~ He didn't mind the pets or patting. In fact, he seemed rather used to them. He must have gotten a lot of affection by a lot of people back home. Though, that story...

...

He merely whined once... twice, lowering his head. He knew a long time now, especially for a dog, that his master was not coming back. Especially in a place like this, where he couldn't protect the shrine they both loved and had called home. Still though, something seemed to come to mind after a moment. One bark. He had friends to find, instead!

The whining...definitely wasn't barking, and he was clearly smart enough to know what he was 'saying', so...

"...More complicated than just a simple yes or no, huh?"

But then when a single bark came after that hesitance, and Rise brightened a little. "So you are looking for someone! Me too! I have a lot of friends here that I haven't been able to find yet. They're Persona users also, just like me and you!" She gave him one final pat, then stood, tucking her hands behind her back.

"If you'd like some company, I wouldn't mind helping you look." If only Koromaru could give her some details about whoever he's looking for...then maybe she and Kanzeon could really help him look. As it is, they'll just have to make do with how things are.

One bark for 'yes.' It was incredibly complicated, though he paused to think for a brief moment. He'd been wandering for a long while, and he had no idea where to begin, but if she needed some help protecting herself, then he could lend a paw!

Though it should be obvious; the ones he was looking for were Persona users, too. (The poor, unfortunate monsters that would be burned to a crisp...)

"All right then! Let's go, Koromaru!"

(And oh yes, Extra Crispy Monster Tiemz doubtless happened next ~~but it can be assumed they happened off-screen, to lighten your tag load a bit?~~ Actually Finding Any Of Their Friends Tiemz? Noooot so much, sadly, at least not while they were hangin' out together. Still, yay, new friend! ♥)

"Arf arf!"

(And off they go, looking through the entire tower and gathering candy for Rise and others along the way while Koromaru was burning all the monsters as they came~ ~~okay that works here have a half-joke of ending to this~~ If Rise were protagonist, she would have definitely heard the voices say she had a new Strength Social Link. Hooray! ♥)

001 { howling in the dead of night }

> Put the collar on the dog, then get down to some SRS pettin's

> He seems happy!

> Scritches behind those cute little perky earrrrssss <3

> The puppy is content... =u= <3

> THE SCRITCHES WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES

> MORALE WILL BE BETTER ONCE FRANDS ARE OK. ;A;

> (YOUR FRANDS ARE DEEEEEAD) ........SCRITCH SCRITCH SCRITCH! 8|

...ouch. :(

//will pet away the pain, bb

//why does everyone keep asking me thiiiis ;;

//...'cause natural thought progression = DOG MUST HAVE OWNER clearly (I guess?)

/...okay, seems legit