Ad Visitatores

[animusmods]

Characters: anyone participating in the event
Setting: floor 56 and eventually other areas of the Tower
Format: either
Summary: Welcome to the Tower.
Warnings: horror/creepiness/potential danger/generally unfortunate things all possible
Notes: PLEASE GO HERE TO MAKE NEW POSTS.

A few minutes before anything happens, Ruana's voice rings out over the Tower's intercom--it manages to be louder than anything the residents happen to be doing. "Hey, everyone, there's something exciting going on at floor fifty-six! Go make sure they don't get themselves killed!"


You arrive, stepping or tumbling, in a surgical suite. It looks abandoned, with dust collecting on the table and floors. The lights flicker, and for a moment blood dripping off the table, puddling on the floor--but no, the lights are back, and surely that was your imagination. It's quiet, eerily so, but nothing hinders you, and you're free to spread out and explore. There are multiple rooms here, like in any hospital, and it's all a bit confusing. Occasionally the lights flicker, and it's a bit frightening as Things appear that shouldn't exist. Shadowy creatures stitched together and reaching for you, doctors brandishing phantom surgical tools, blood splattering the walls or floor or ceiling, how did it get there--but none are real, and all of them vanish when the lights return. Eventually you find the staircase, spiraling up and down into darkness. Approach it, though, and the thing glitters with a barrier that will push back any attempts at climbing the thing.

A girl, a teenager dressed in red and black, appears. And she does simply appear, inserting herself into the space, nearly pushing it aside to make room in it for where she is now. Her face beams with unconcealed excitement, and her words tumble out on top of themselves. "You can't go there! Yet, I mean. You'd all die!"

The girl steps onto the staircase, passing through the barrier as if it weren't there, and sits on the steps to address everyone. "Hi! I'm Ruana. You didn't show up the normal way, so the Tower can't support you yet. We got this one floor ready when I saw you were coming but, well, the Tower's kind've big, so getting all of them set up is taking a little longer than I thought." She smiles, sheepishly apologetic in a carefree sort of way. "I've got everyone coming here to visit you--or at least they know they can visit you--and I'll have someone bring food up for you. It'll be oatmeal, and oatmeal is super boring, but you have to eat it, okay? Then you can have whatever you want! The cafeteria's down on the first floor if you get hungry. We should have everything ready in a few hours. I've gotta go help with that, so you guys wait here.

"Don't worry, the monsters can't get to this floor as long as that barrier is up."

And then she's gone, blinking out of existence. The barrier will remain for three hours.

Comments

[themortalhalf]

[Probably.]

[Though Shinjiro would have never blamed Ken had that been the case. It would have been justified, and Shinjiro would have taken it, relinquished himself to it, accepted it for what it was and what it stood for. Hate was relatively easy for him to understand.]

[The circumstances, however, are hardly an improvement. If he knew of every facet and evil that lurked in the Tower's darkest corners, he would rather be dying again than see the kid with a collar on. Animus was no place for anyone, let alone a kid who's still growing out of his own clothes and aspiring to be the sort of adult he isn't and can't be yet.]

[Shinjiro response to Ken's sudden, unexpected presence is to freeze. The passing silence might be have been more awkward if Shinjiro had ever been talkative instead of brooding, but for the moment, it passes as Shinjiro stares at him, the initial surprise fading, unsure of what to even say.]

[There are a lot of things he'd like to say if he were able to bring himself to, but he can't. There are some things words can never make up for, so he's not about to try to say things that would likely be received as hollow platitudes, as genuine and sincere as they'd be. At least not yet. ]

Hey.

You're here too, huh?

[miseris_socios]

... Yeah.

[It's clear that this Shinjiro hasn't seen him since that night or earlier. He might as well get this out of the way.]

Look. I'm not going to kill you. You don't have to worry about that. Don't give me the talk about how I should or whatever, because I've already heard it. Not... from you, but a version of you that was here before.

[Ken's quiet for a moment, and then lifts his Evoker to his head, pulling the trigger and summoning an armored woman with a spear that is decidedly not Nemesis. There's no real better way he can think of to show Shinjiro that he's moved on.]

... Dike. Not Nemesis anymore.

[The Persona smiles gently and casts a Diarahan on Shinjiro, before disappearing.]

I'll try to explain things to you about this place if you want

[themortalhalf]

[Shinjiro knows better than to talk. He doesn't interrupt, just listens. Lets Ken say what he wants to say. It's one of the few things he can do. Listen.]

[But Ken would be right about a few things. It's been awhile since Shinjiro last saw him. He hasn't since the fourth back in Iwatodai, and it's been almost six months since then. It's not enough time to forget much of anything—though no amount of time ever will be—but it's more time than Shinjiro had been planning on, and it's given him the opportunity think things over. Mull and go over everything that's happened to him and those back home as he got used to existing again.]

[So some of the things Ken tells says doesn't surprise Shinjiro as much as they might have six months ago. Minako had told him Ken had moved on, forgiven him even, and for as hard as that reality is for him to come to terms with, he believes her. It's hard to understand, because that's one thing Shinjiro never expected Ken to do, or have to do, or should do. But it's also one thing for Minako to tell him things, and another for Ken to. It drives things home a little more, and it's surprising how much it hurts. You'd think it'd make things easier—and perhaps it will, in time—but it doesn't. It makes some burdens lighter, but complicates other things that Shinjiro will have to sort out for himself, though he doesn't know if he can, or even where to start.]

[Dike, however, does surprise him. His brows lift at her appearance, different from the Persona he had grown used to seeing summoned in Tartarus, and his eyes involuntarily widen when she casts Diaharan on him. He feels the warmth settle deep into his bones as the woman disappears. He looks down at Ken sharply, startled, though there's little in his face that shows it, until only flickers of it exist in his eyes.]

[He's continues to stare on in silence once the woman disappears and Ken finishes. He smiles slightly, but it's not so much of a smile as it is something tired. He's glad Ken's moved on. He's a good kid. Let him live the sort of life he's supposed to as well as he can. And moving on is better than being consumed by something, whether it be a person, an event, a single emotion, or even a day that exists on constant repeat. It's something Shinjiro wishes he could do.]

I ain't here to tell you what to do, [he says finally, regardless of what might be fair or just. He has no right to tell the kid what his next action should be. All Ken should focus on is doing what he thinks is right, whatever that may be.] And I've heard a few things about the Tower. Just say what you think is important. That's enough.

[miseris_socios]

... Right.

[It's tiring, having to go through this again, but he can push on. He has to. He doesn't know how else to deal with this other than to muscle through the explanations and the shocked questions.]

The tower is huge. Most of the floors are dangerous, either because of something on them or the monsters wandering around. Some of them disable your Persona. There's a lot of people here, from a lot of different worlds. Sometimes, even if you think they're from the same world, they're not - something's different.

The administrators here are... pretty insane. Zo is even younger than I am, but I think he's the one who brings us here. Riki's... weird, but not as bad. Dax is pretty okay. Ruana... is insane, and perky. She's the one you heard before. She's also really powerful. Jason is one of the big ones to watch out for - he's bald and sometimes has blood on him. He... really likes experiments.

... And before you ask - no, you can't take the place of someone else in an experiment. He'll just hurt you and them. Don't try to attack any of them, either. I've tried. It didn't work, and I got lucky that they didn't kill me.

You come back from death here, by the way. I've already died twice. Most people who've been here a while have died at least once.

... Please try not to aggravate Chidori or Jin, by the way. They're dealing with enough right now.

[That's about all he can think of that's really important to say, at least.]