[semi-open!] I believe in you and I can do anything; we can change the world!

[slightlyoblivious]

Characters: Yukiko Amagi, the entirety of the Persona cast and Stregaverse, and trusted friends. Please tag yourselves in! New Purse Owners, you're welcome here!

(Xion, OU!Riku, AU!John Egbert, Saber of White, Diarmuid, Zelda, Shepard - if you have close positive CR with a Persona cast member, it's fine.

If you have any kind of negative CR, or your CR is only casual, I ask that you please not tag this.)

Setting: July 8th, 2 PM, Floor 28.
Format: Written in prose, either in comments.
Summary: Yukiko requested a meeting.
Warnings: Persona 4 Arena spoilers, talk about past Tower events, probably some language - not from Yukiko, but from other people.



Before the Meeting:

To say Yukiko was nervous was an understatement. She picked a few notes at the piano she'd chosen to call the meeting together on - she could play a loud middle C, but that was it - now and then, but she was still pacing a little and definitely nervous. Anyone wanting to approach her to calm her down would be most appreciated.

Comments

[imperialsun]

Yes that was an interesting tidbit, but he could mention that later.

"Philemon is the one who gave my team their powers," he explained, "As well as Tatsuya and Maya's own teams." While they weren't here in the tower anymore, Naoya had been explained the situation. "We all played the Persona game and he was the one who gave us that power...but the point is, Philemon represents the potential of humanity. Nyarlathotep is the exact opposite. His goal is the complete destruction of all of humanity. He has been as it as long as humans have Anger, Vengence, and Ignorance, it will continue to fuel his power. Chaos is a different thing entirely, and not necessarily evil."

You can guess where this is leading.

"You mentioned we all know about Shadows, but that is only partly correct. I was the only one who met my shadow in my team before arriving here, and all he did was bestow to me the items so my team could gain their more powerful Personas. I do know that Tatsuya and the others met a shadow self but...we think they were fuel by Nyarlathotep. Their forms were able to use their personas after all."

"In my time, Nyarlathotep was Kandori's persona, or at least pretending to be. We had assumed it was just a simple persona instead of a force before I met Tatsuya and the others." He stopped to rub his earring. "Then there was a group who came here a while ago, without collars, and I assume now no glamour, trying to find him, apparently sent by Philemon. He was here for a while...playing around like this was his own personal playground as usual. At least until Ruana stopped him and sent him home..." Yeah, that part was confusing.

[altitonant_emperor]

Hidetoshi remained mute, processing the information. So, Philemon was the potential of humanity and, like that white-haired girl from the group had claimed, did indeed possess the ability to grant people the power of Persona. Three groups, Naoya's, Tatsuya and Maya's teams were proof of this. This was a battle that has spanned generations... Though apparently there hadn't been so strength or focus placed on the Shadows.

He listened as Naoya continued with his speech, explaining more about Nyarlathotep, Tatsuya and the other's shadows and a man named Kandori having him pretending to be his Persona.

Hm. On one hand, at least Ruana had displayed the power to defeat him? Somehow?

Yes, it was confusing to Hidetoshi as well.

When he speaks up, his comment is simple, "And you strongly believe him to the mastermind Amagi-san speaks of, right? Given the history you've just told us of, that does seem to have a very high chance of being correct."

[slightlyoblivious]

"It sounds like it. If Mitsuru-san and Akihiko-san thought so, and you've had dealings with him in the past..."

Yukiko nodded her head. "I only heard the name in passing before now. So that's enough to link all of us in another way, especially if this Nyarlathotep was in the Tower at some point. When was that, exactly? I don't remember it, but I only got here in March. The first major thing I remember happening was when Jason brainwashed a lot of us, in April, but I was at least conscious, though I couldn't speak...I died twice that month."

She swallowed hard. She still has issues around that, ones the Tower didn't help by putting her into the wire frame.

"Do we know how Ruana banished him? Because...because that might be our key. I don't want to imitate everything she does, but..."

[imperialsun]

He had his ideas. But speaking them loudly here would probably be unwise. They could be listening to what they were saying.

"No." That was the truth, they actually didn't know. "It might simply be in her power to do so." With that said...

"It was Ruana's last month before July, so February. As for my dealings with Nyarlathotep, they were minimal. It was Tatsuya and Maya's group that had the biggest dealings with him. However, that is my belief. What he plans to do, I am unsure, but I have a feeling everything that happened in Yu, Minako and Minato's groups were partly influenced by him."

[altitonant_emperor]

"How unfortunate."

Hidetoshi signed, but nodded. If Mitsuru-san had been convinced, and there was this evidence presented to them, it appeared to seal the matter. A shame the same method couldn't be applied in Amagi-san's timeline then. He backed up Naoya's words about the date of Nyarlathotep being in the Tower. "Yeah, the incident with Nyarlathotep occurred during that mouth. At the end of it, Dax was exposed as rebellious and was... Ah, devoured by his co-worker."

He rubs his chin with a hand. While he had little idea what had happened in Rise-san's and Yu's time; "Che, was it he that had an influence over the Apathy Syndrome that Shadows inflicted upon people early in my own time then? That's an unpleasant thought."

[slightlyoblivious]

"...did you just say devoured? As in, Ruana ate him?"

Yukiko had to look away for a moment, turning a bit pale. A few deep breaths made her calm down, but still. Really?

She was glad when the conversation turned back to something she recognized. "I would guess that there was some influence on Nyx. From what I remember, the mythology only states she's the goddess of the night. Ryoji mentioned that he remembered Izanami - the goddess - when he was with Nyx, and they wound up....well, Izanami wanted to combine two worlds. One that belonged to the Shadows, and one that was inhabited by people. She's a creation goddess. Why, unless there was some influence, would she want to do that?"

[imperialsun]

"Yeah, she did." Seriously the deadpan in his voice. Despite the gruesomeness of it, he seemed almost calm about it.

"Nyx is more than that," he corrected, recalling what Eriko had said when they had faced her. "She is a primordial goddess, born from..." he rubbed his chin, trying to remember. "The beginning?" he frowned. "Sorry, my friend Eriko is much better at this than me..." In fact, she was literally always asking her about the demons during their adventures. "Point is, she created day and night and..." he shrugged, unsure. "My group fought her too, along with her three servants, Hypnos, Thanatos and Nemesis, and the dead schoolgirls using them as Persona guarding her tower."

Oh okay. Let's just. Casually. Say that.

[miseris_socios]

Wait hold up.

"How? From what I was told, that's pretty much impossible - not to mention that Hypnos is Sakaki's persona, Thanatos is one of Minato's, and Nemesis is - was - mine."

So confused.

[altitonant_emperor]

Hidetoshi, since he had studied up on Greek and Irish mythology using books he'd borrowed from the library after one of his first perception-altering experiments, was fairly sure Naoya's recollection of Nyx's role and importance in mythology was more accurate than Amagi-san's.

Except that bit about dead schoolgirls and a towers?

And wait, Izanami had been involved in the matter too?

That's odd. He looks over at Ken and then politely adds his own question; "How do the dead schoolgirls enter into this as well?"

Breaking order a little here.

[imperialsun]

He was about to answer Ken's question, when Hidetoshi began talking. It was only when he was finished as well that Naoya spoke again.

"School play. Three times, girls had died playing the role of the snow queen mysteriously died over the years. There was a curse, and it was forbidden to do preform the play." As for Ken's query... "Persona are parts of you. I have Vishnu, but others are able to use him too. Igor said gods and demons are created by mankind's will. The Vishnu I have is different from Vishnu someone else has, but they are both 'our' Vishnu, and a Vishnu..." and this was probably getting very confusing.

I forgot we had an order I pay best attention.

[miseris_socios]

"... I guess that makes sense. It's still weird."

But that was about the extent of his contribution.

interrupting asshole

[morituramfides]

"Thanatos and Hypnos aren't real." Jin had been there all the while, of course-- listening, quietly for the most part. He's a bit loathe to admit that he really doesn't know much about the situation back home, or anything sufficient about Persona that other groups might know. Not much about Nyarlathotep or Philemon, or any of that stuff.

But really, he didn't entirely care anyway. When he voiced the distinction, he sounded considerably irritable with indignation, as he held one hand up by his side.

"You're forgetting that some of us aren't a part of your cross-time war on the forces of chaos. Chidori and I didn't get our powers from Philemon."

The poison and vitriol in his voice was almost palpable-- but, when he moved on from...that subject, he seemed to ease up a bit on his tone and sounded a bit more reasonable, as he held up both arms in a shrugging motion.

"Besides, did you miss the part where Ruana kicked that asshole out of here? Of course it's within her power-- we saw the guys in charge get rid of that whale when it crashed in here and started demolishing the place, and we know she's even more powerful than them. This Nyarlathotep guy is a small fry compared to that bitch in charge. And none of this shit is gonna get us any closer to stopping her, so give it a rest."

is going to get interrupted back

[slightlyoblivious]

"Only Thanatos is real, and a bunch of people here have seen him. I can't speak for Hypnos, but Thanatos saved my life - I know, ironic that I'd be saved by a death incarnation - back at the barricade."

Yukiko's voice flared, and one of the cellos in the background played a long note to go along with the anger in her voice.

"I know people went through experiments. You probably went through them when Ryoji and Labrys did. And I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Nobody deserves it. But it doesn't mean that nothing else is real. You're as part of this as we are."

SHOUTING MATCH

[morituramfides]

"No, they aren't."

He was perfectly willing to let it go but she just had to go and scratch that scab. His temper flared-- though he didn't get the musical accompaniment.

"Sure, they're Personas, but they're not real Personas. They're artificial; monsters shoved into our heads, not manifestations of some greater willpower or gifts from god. Yours come and help you, and maybe they come save the day when someone's in danger, but ours don't do that. So don't tell me you understand, or that you feel sorry, or that we're one of you. I don't want your pity, but that doesn't mean I wanna be friends with the high and mighty regular persona-users."

gomen not gomen for protag-

[pitiedthefool]

"Calm down."

Odd, because he wasn't even sure which one that was aimed at. Perhaps it was even both. However, this was not the time to have an argument over how their powers came to be. Especially since he somewhat understood the pain that those Shadows cause, all thanks to Jason.

"We understand that you don't want to be friends, however we do want to make sure you, Yoshino-san, and Ken stay in the loop as well." He sighed. "You're right, though - what we need to focus on is those in charge right now rather than simply circumstances back home."

Maybe he was only trying to fulfill an old promise to their leader...

ty, leader!

[slightlyoblivious]

"I meant that literally. Not as some manifestation of anything or a gift. I mean Thanatos picked me up when I'd been hit with an attack that drained my magic and knocked me down hard enough to break my leg and some of my ribs and daze me."

There went the cello again.

"And - even besides that, because I had to fight him here before."

Yukiko paused, taking a deep breath.

"But Yu-kun's right. You need to be in the loop."

aw man no more cat fight

[morituramfides]

"You can see them, but they're the farthest thing from being real in any sense of the word! They're nothing more than a cheap knock-off just like everything else around here--!"

A stray string from a bass guitar went off to support Jin's rising fury as he spoke quickly, but he just as quickly turned away from Yukiko and looked at Yu when he was cut off from the rest of his tyraid.

"Don't tell me to calm down, Narukami!"

Well, he was still shouting, but it did seem like he was...sort of, calming down despite him sounding like he wasn't planning on listening to Yu at all. Apparently he quickly realized that that part of the outburst was unnecessary. He withdrew his arms back down closer to his body, and let out a scoff.

"Like I said, this shit doesn't even matter. Nyarlathotep isn't our problem, and there are other people than you without Personas out there trying to kick Ruana's ass like we should be trying to do. If you're gonna actually worry about the real problem, then I'll glady stick around."

god I don't have enough time to finish these icons

[imperialsun]

Telling someone to calm down was never going to solve things. Naoya had survived enough with Nanjo, Brown and Mark to know better to step in when they started bickering, and only spoke when it seemed a good time to. He was pretty much in agreement with Jin at this point; explaining Philemon and Nyarlathotep had gotten them distracted about the task at hand, although he was going to connect it to something else here...but it wasn't the best time to mention it. Too many pairs of eyes here.

"Let's go back to the issue at hand."

A man of many words.

[miseris_socios]

This was getting worse and worse. Ken drew himself up, did his best to prepare his voice and not crack on it, and spoke in a deeper tone than usual - and fairly loudly.

"Jin, Yu, Yukiko, shut the fuck up!"

... Okay mission not so successful, he cracked at the end. He winced and went back to his normal tone.

"We don't know anything about Nyarlathotep or Philemon. Jin, Chidori, and Minato didn't get their Persona naturally - I did, and as far as I know SEES did too. At least in our world."

"Aside from when a non-natural Persona user's Persona flips the hell out, we all need to use Evokers to summon them. That's basically all the info on Persona we have. If you want more info you'd be better off asking someone from SEES, I guess. Or any of the Kirijo's pets."

[floreatnoctem]

"Well put, Ken."

Because really, she couldn't have phrased it better herself- or without insulting the Kirijo group or S.E.E.S a lot more.

"You're all too damn loud."

Chidori slips into the room with a slight frown, having been doing her best to keep tabs via Naoya (and as soon as she realized he was there, Jin) before deciding that enough was enough. She pauses next to Jin to smack him lightly on the side of the head before settling next to him and crossing her legs and arms both.

"Is there even anyone blocking this meeting from detection, or are you all too full of yourselves to even think about that much?"

[morituramfides]

"Ow--!"

He flinched at Chidori's slap, busy glaring at her over the top of his glasses angrily to bother being angry at Ken too.

"Who cares about Nyarlathotep?" He grumbled, rubbing his head a tad. "But Chidori has a point."

[altitonant_emperor]

Hidetoshi internally winced and gripped to himself about how badly sidetracked the meeting had gotten. While a great deal of that had gone flying over his head, he's only asked for Naoya to clarify more about Philemon and Nyarlthotep because he was aware that he had absolutely no idea of how almost everything Persona-related had occurred. He'd wanted a bit of the history behind it all.

"I agree with them," He backed up them with just as few words, feeling much too out of the loop to get involved in the brewing yelling match between the man named Jin and Amagi-san's friends.

He missed the student council.

He'd been in charge, confident and at least he had known what on earth was going on there.

[imperialsun]

Naoya wasn't sure what was going on anymore either...but he was happy Chidori was here. Not that he'd show it inwardly too much. He did flinch when that hand connected with Jin's face, mind you. She was pretty strong, even if it was a light slap.

"A block is a good idea, but it might just make them wonder even more what we're doing." Secrets were very hard to keep around here after all. "...I might be over-thinking it."

It was a habit of his.

[slightlyoblivious]

"Actually, I assumed the instruments playing of their own free will would block the words. And the fact that Ruana should be asleep by now."

Yukiko's voice was a whole lot calmer then than it had been a moment ago, and the piano that sounded along with her voice was just as calm and quiet.

"But I agree. I should have been more careful and not assumed that just because every time I came in here they played on their own they would do that now. I'm sorry."

[floreatnoctem]

"If they really wanted to listen in, I doubt music would stop them," Chidori replied cooly, fingers tapping against her arm idly as she glanced at the now-locked door. "Though the locked door I'm not too sure about."

A pause, considering.

"Don't any of your Personas have cloaking abilities at all?"