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... ... ... ... ?

What is...?

I shouldn't... be awake...

[In the Velvet Room...]

[It's courteous of whatever's going on with Igor's plan here that Hamuko is dressed. She probably shouldn't even have a body... whatever she has going on now... did her body fall comatose without her? Did it die? If it was alive, she surely should be much older. ... ... ... Maybe that all doesn't really matter, right now. She's here, gifted a chance to be around others again. The pinboard catches her attention first, of course. Signs of other people... so many little notes, talking about multiple versions of the same person running around. That's... that's charming... that's fun. ...Even if the notes about Ken Amadas make her sad...]

Hmm... I don't see any other 'me' off the bat...

[She'll take a few minutes once given a pen and some pink paper to doodle a little version of herself, signed with her name and phone number, and add it to the corner of the pinboard.]

[Inaba, Central Shopping District]

[What a fun little town! A charming place... hey, isn't this the town she went to for the volleyball camp? She loved the accommodations, but it's so nice to actually wander the streets and see the little shops. This place is SO rural, Hamuko had never really visited a place this remote, even when jumping between foster homes.] Let's see... what's the good spot for the locals? [No point being a complete tourist shmuck!!]

[Shibuya, Underground Mall]

[Well, since nothing costs anything here... might as well get some cute new clothes, right? Who knows how long she'll be around here, and 'dreaming up' new outfits didn't seem to be a thing. No lucid dreaming here - somehow, Hamuko felt a lot happier with that in mind. Still... the fashion is so different!!]

I just want one cute orange top...!! Is orange out of style? Dang it...

[Iwatodai Dorms]

[Of all of the places she's been having fun goofing off and exploring in, the dorms... she couldn't quite get the courage to open the front. Not just yet.]

Not even Koromaru is out front right now. ...I've gotta apologize...

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Maruki listens intently, one hand gripping his chin with the clipboard now tucked underneath. His gaze shifts to the side, carefully adhering to the description she laid out about the rather...strange man. "I am really sorry to hear that," his eyes soften.

“Of course, my experiences weren’t anywhere near as harrowing as yours. But… I do understand the pain of being betrayed by someone you trusted.” His mind drifted briefly to his own past—his college professor, the mental shutdown cases, and how his research had been exploited by people with dark agendas. Even though he hadn’t physically taken part in those horrors, it still stung.

Ikutsuki’s actions, though, seemed like the stuff of dark fiction. A mentor posing as a guide, leading those who trusted him straight to doom. “He sounds like a rather despicable man,” Maruki said with a faint frown, his expression clouded. “All that effort—just to bring about the Fall? What a… dismal, meaningless cause.” Perhaps he misintepreted her or she still had reason to suspect him. Either way, Maruki didn't have any hidden agenda as melevolent like that.

He adjusts his glasses. They click on the bridge of his nose.

Still, the mention of Mitsuru Kirijo gnawed at the edges of his mind. He couldn’t say for sure who led the Kirijo Group in his own world—he had heard of her, but only vaguely, and many years ago. But Hamuko’s trust in her spoke volumes.

“I can’t say for certain where Kirijo-san stands in my world,” he admitted. “But if she’s as strong-minded as you say she is—carrying the weight of her family’s past while fighting to right those wrongs—then I believe she’s more than capable of steering the Kirijo Group down a better path.”

A faint smile touched his lips, lighter this time. “Honestly, I might refer to her for a citation if I ever make it back.”

That small levity didn’t last long.

Something shifted. The hairs on the back of Maruki’s neck prickled—a sudden, involuntary reaction, as though the air had changed. His breath hitched. He felt a strange pressure coil around him, like a low hum vibrating through his chest. Then, faintly…

Listen...
To my voice

He froze, one hand instinctively flying to his neck. His eyes widened behind his glasses. “I—did I hit my head or something? I swear I just heard—”

....bellowing voice...

He blinked rapidly, as though trying to clear his vision or shake off a dream. His brows knitted together. “I think I heard a girl’s voice,” he murmured, more to himself than to Hamuko.

Hamuko halted any response, quieting to turn her head, try and catch the voice on the wind. There was a subtle shift, wasn't there...?

Voice...? Bellowing...?

"...I think... we can go deeper. Let's see what that is. We have more battles ahead of us - I'll focus on physical damage, if you can try for elemental. Do you know how to do an All Out Attack?"

Azathoth would have been able to easily cover all of those attacks.

This place means nothing to us, doctor.

Why?

Are you ashamed of yourself? I am you after all.

For a split second, Maruki gritted his teeth a little before schooling his expression back to normalcy.

"An all-out attack?" he frowns, a question mark hanging off on his head. "I have... no idea what that means-! Is that some sort of fighting strategy?" he laughs in hesitation.

"That's right. When all of the enemies are knocked prone, a team can rush in and gang up on them - you hit them with everything you've got, pummel them while they're down! You can do a TON of damage that way, sometimes even killing the whole lot of Shadows," Hamuko explained with a nod.

"Honing in on the fact that an enemy can be knocked down by potentially landing their weaknesses, which will affect their chances of landing an attack and then you overwhelm them," he nods- frighteningly following along with her. "I will keep an eye out for any potential weaknesses and direct them to you."

"Do I...get to practise my Aikido skills at the shadows?"

"Yep - and don't hold back. Hit them as hard as you possibly can!! I like venting out any and all anger sitting in me in that moment. And don't worry - I won't lose track of you in the scuffle, so just focus on swinging and shooting as much as you can."

She had pleeeeenty of experience being battle-aware enough to not accidentally stab him in the pile-on.

"Alright. Follow my lead, Maruki-san. We'll get further in to hear that voice."

Hamuko's drive was infectious for sure. On the first few months of his arrival the only thing that had driven him up a wall is to gain his memories back so he could realize his true potential. His goal to remove the very flaws that wrung their reality dry and seek the root of his memories. Ones that Azathoth had flashed in his mind- fuelling his drive to tear through the different levels of Mementos so that he could make it to the bottom floor.

Things had changed from then.

If he approached this correctly, he should be able to benefit from this whole ordeal. Even if it didn't serve in the end results of his research, Maruki would never deny the opportunity to learn about people's metaphorical hearts.

Though his expression falls a little from the mention of shooting. "I don't think that peashooter would even be able to make it to any of the shadows." Yes he was still sulking from the gun now residing in his pockets. If it wasn't there, its probably lost in his pants.

Still-! No time to argue. "Roger that, leader," he answers dutifully as he looks on ahead, his left pupil once again glowing as he casually holds his clipboard from the top and follows Hamuko's lead.

She was a ghost. Someone who had just fought through hell itself probably and yet she was here, standing tall- leading him. There was something deeply moving about it all and all Maruki felt was the punctuated weight of her sheer will. It was passionate.

And so damn intriguing.

Listen…
To my voice
My shouting, bellowing voice

Here I am
Pouring my blood into my words
Yelling at the very edge of the world

I am the little mermaid…
Unable to return, the little mermaid…
Fated to foam, the little mermaid…

"Fated to foam, huh?" he grimaces- quite sure Hamuko could hear that voice just as clearly as he did. "There's a degree of helplessness here that is reflected upon the entirety of this place."

"That could explain why we have the worst weapons and zero items to our disposal." This is quite literally a physical manifestation of depression.

Edited 2025-02-20 01:18 (UTC)

Fated to foam...

Yelling at the very edge of the world...

Hamuko nodded at Maruki's assessment, slowing to a walk before stopping in front of the next shimenawa and placing her hand on the rope. Same as before. Binding something in, keeping it away from anyone else.

"You always wonder what it really looks like when they say something like walk a mile in someone else's shoes," she said softly, nodding a bit. She understood this place. "This is so different from the Dark Hour. The Dark Hour feels like you're being watched, ever and always, and everyone else is asleep. But here... a person's heart shapes everything else around it. It's incredible."

"My profession certainly takes that sentiment and ramps it up a notch," he agrees as he follows closely. "And the mile she seemed to cross seemed to be...already..." -doomed he wanted to say while watching her movements. Her experience shows in the way she commands the field while remaining headstrong with her ideals.
In comparison to her, Maruki always held a rather clinical case. An academic driven by thought, function and observation with ideals that some of the most stubborn men won't be able to keep up with- simply for the emotion underneath.

He looks around. Accessing. There's a flower petal that falls to the ground and Takuto leans forward- fingers grasping the small stem before it disappears and melts away. "Mementos in Tokyo has something similar to this place so maybe the theory of Nyx governing other people's cognition might be the true exception," he hums. "I wonder how much of it remains a godly influence and how much of the perception of a god is envisioned by the masses. Even counting the ones who are asleep."

He really should go to Tartarus one day.

"Ah-! I may have found a chest!" He practically calls out to her the moment he sees the glinting shine in the fog. Making his way over to it, surprised by the lack of a lock (which Azathoth used to promptly break) as he proceeds to pull it open.

A singular item. Is that...a bell?

"Fascinating," he tries to grab it then slightly flinches when he feels a prick of electricity course right through his fingers. "Ouch-!"

While he almost drops the item, the keyword remains almost because now he's holding out the item to the young woman.

Edited 2025-02-21 01:18 (UTC)

That caught her attention! With a blink, a soft sound of glass shattering, Hamuko switched her persona from Messiah to Vishnu, who was immune to electricity. The bell thrummed in her hand as she gauged it, feeling its fragility but potent magical power.

"Something to use in a pinch," she observed with a nod, tucking it into her fanny pack. "If we run completely out of stamina and can't use spells from our Personas, this might be the ticket to claw our way back out without getting TOO caught off guard. I'll keep an eye on it but feel free to dive for my pack if things are looking hairy," she assessed with a thoughtful nod.

"You are telling me these induce elemental attacks?!" Maruki's eyebrows hiked far up behind his glasses. "...why a bell though? Would we be able to strike a lightning bolt on the shadows if we ring it- oh-! Actually don't tell me, I might make use of it later on with our exploration."

Its then he remembers something. Something stemming from his own explorations in Mementos that makes his hand fly up to his face in exasperation. "Oh my god and now I used to wonder why the shadows always threw those coils and dry ice at me-!"

Those dealt elemental damage-! He just-! Threw them away. Well aside from the Zener cards- they were good for pysch exams but still.

Maybe it will be useful for Morning too... so that he can protect himself if he ever stumbled into these places without a persona.

"And here I used to think those shadows were just rude." He shook his head at his own stupidity. "Most of them were...honestly."

Edited 2025-02-21 16:32 (UTC)

"Well... look where we are," Hamuko gestured, the bell tinkling in her hand as she did. "There's a lot of deeply historic Japanese influence here. Bells are always used at shrines and in rituals, right? I never learned more than that, but it makes sense that bells would have to have some measure of meaning and power here."

She did laugh a little at him griping about rude Shadows, though.

"If they're all the subconscious parts of people, well... I guess that explains why they're surly."

He supposes that did make a lot of sense given the context of a shrine and its roots into Japanese culture. It didn't make it any less weird that a bell was connected to electricity but- gah-! How is he supposed to make breakthroughs if he's stuck on little things like this?

"Oh they are really surly. And inappropriate. Some of them are hilarious though," he does quietly add at the end, grinning ear to ear as he remembers his encounters with some of the friendlier shadows. "Alive." Even the more mischievious ones like the ones from the Jack Frost family as Maruki had coined in some of his reports. How some of them had shared marshmellows with him in the depths of mementos or how some of the shadows had his snacks while recieving counselling.

"You know what?"

Edited (fixing the icon lol) 2025-02-22 09:34 (UTC)

"You are right. A person's heart...it's...quite incredible."

"It is! I hope wherever this person ended up... they're at peace. If not, I hope we meet here in this strange place Igor brought us - I'd like to talk to her. Maybe she and I could bond a little."

She wouldn't have to feel entirely alone, in what she'd gone through...

"Mkay! Time to beat up on shadows again - I'm going in with physical attacks and hoping for critical hits. Another Persona of mine is better suited for it," she said, a blink of her eyes creating that blue glow, that clinking of shattering glass as her 'mask' shifted immediately.

"Let's get further in and hear more of her poetry if we can."

Maruki sombered a little even if his smile lingered. "Bond, huh?" Igor had been rather pushy with that statement when it came to the residents here but Hamuko...she was different. She brought a different energy to the table, one that almost seemed to distract him. Away from sterile walls. Away from being buried in papers.

He listened intently to her explanation and followed along for the most part. This part was relatively easy, coming up with strategies on the go was...not that difficult to follow. The blue glow around her eyes did make him back up a little. "I can give you some insights on when shadows slip," he nods with a brief smile. "That's how I usually land attacks from my end."

Or just slam them with Azathoth's tentacles.

Still, her resolve was bright. Challenging in a way that asked you to be better.

Maruki grew silent for a moment, boggled by how much he wanted to feel that connection of another passed away individual. It made his chest sink, realizing that he may have never met this person in his world- someone who held so much pain and no place where she could be understood.

The Death. What a cruel name.

"You're very kind, Hamuko-san."

Edited 2025-02-23 02:13 (UTC)

Those words were a quiet murmur. A lost sound in the otherwise endless bounds of suffering surrounding them. The human heart.

"Alright, let's keep pushing then." He follows along, his own words long buried as he walked past her and proceeded further down his field work.

The air was thick with motion, the electric charge of battle sparking against Maruki’s skin as he stepped back to assess the situation. A swirl of Shadows loomed before them, thrashing and unruly—at the center of them all, a spectral, raven-like entity with piercing white eyes, its massive wings stretched wide.

It let out a hollow, echoing cry, and Maruki barely had a second to register the shift before the air itself twisted, a violent Garula spell roaring toward them.

The howling wind tore through the space they had just occupied. Dust and debris scattered in its wake.

Several more Shadows flanked the raven-like creature—vague, warped humanoid figures that skittered unnaturally along the ground. Their movements were erratic, but their aggression was solely locked onto him and Hamuko.

Maruki clicked his tongue, quickly adjusting his glasses as he took in the battlefield.

“Uhhh...looks like the raven’s leading them,” he noted. “It’s the one coordinating them all but its not that strong. Though you probably already know that."

Taking the moments to swing the weapon, however dull and unreliable, gave the chance to get a gauge on the battlefield before pulling out the Persona and expending vitality or stamina. She had to be careful, conservative - Hamuko's extremely cautious and aware as she and Maruki assess their foes.

"Raven. Got it," she nodded, though thankfully that wouldn't matter too terribly much.

Hamuko leapt back for clearance once the Raven's gaze was on her and not her escorted party. Drew her evoker. Pressed it to her temple.

Summoning a Persona tended to have a certain feeling associated with it - almost imperceptibly subtle. Each Arcana had its own tone, and an affect on Hamuko's demeanor even if it was only ever a gentle nudge. But there was one Arcana that felt different... as much intrinsically natural housed in her heart as her Fool Arcana. And it's no wonder - ever since she was seven years old, Death had been a constant companion.

"Thanatos!"

With the pull of the trigger, the highest of the Death Arcana manifested - snarling, a hollow ghastly howl coming from the reaper-like visage as it swung its blade in a Deathbound blow.

It started the moment she spoke the name.

Thanatos!"

The gunshot of the evoker rang out, but the sound barely registered before something else ripped into existence.

It was overwhelming.

A towering figure of midnight steel, a flowing tattered cape, a face obscured by the cold, unfeeling mask of a reaper. Blades adorned its form, massive, curved like the scythes of executioners—jagged, merciless.

And...the coffins. The coffins that the persona draped on itself like accursed wings soaring over the dead and the damned. Ruling over them. Existing beyond but wearing the skin of humanity at its core.

~~You will die.~~

From its core, a howling emptiness emanated, a deep, hollow resonance that tore into Maruki’s senses.

It wasn’t just power. It wasn’t just a Persona.

It was..."What even...?"

Maruki barely registered his own breath hitching. His clipboard threatened to slip from his fingers as his knees stiffened, his entire body caught between moving forward and fleeing outright.

And then—

A wailing, endless cacophony sliced through his skull.

A B E R R A N T. U N N A T U R A L. F O R E I G N.

Azathoth thrashed. Writhing, coiling in some unseen space within his mind. Maruki felt it—an overwhelming, suffocating discomfort.

It hated this.

It—no, he—had never felt anything quite like it before.

Maruki’s vision flashed.A sudden pulse of gold overtook his irises, faint but present, a glimmer of something deep and restrained, something lurking just beneath the surface.

But the battle raged on.

Thanatos struck.

The Raven barely had time to react before the Persona’s massive blade swung, cutting through the air in a violent arc. Deathbound landed with a shuddering force—the ground cracked, dark energy reverberated outward, and the Shadows caught in the attack reeled back, their forms distorting under the sheer weight of it.

They staggered.

And that was the moment.

The perfect moment for that attack.

Maruki knew it.

He saw the way the battlefield tilted in their favor. How the Shadows buckled. How Hamuko—so effortlessly, so naturally—moved forward to seize the opening.

And yet.

He didn’t move.

His fingers flexed, breath uneven. The echoes of Azathoth’s distress still clawed at his skull. His own body felt locked.

Edited 2025-02-26 15:50 (UTC)

Aberrant? Unnatural?

Death was the single most natural CERTAINTY of all.

Thanatos' power seemed potent in this dungeon, in a way that surprised Hamuko - but only briefly. Of course it was resonant here, where someone was settling themselves into their grave. Hamuko was never that special to believe that she was the only one who lived with Death walking beside her - it existed in the dying often.

Here, it was her companion. It gave her strength. And he would help her protect what she valued most.

"Maruki!! We're going!" she shouted as Thanatos faded back again, settling comfortably into her psyche like a cat curling up in a bed - she brandished the more physical blade in hand and lunged forward, counting on Maruki to pounce after being called.

The calling of his name shook him about- ripping him from Azathoth's visceral shaking as his eyes widened. The guttural rupture that sparked from the bottom of his stomach pulled and gnawed and when he saw the flash of that blade, he moved.

Edited 2025-02-26 18:02 (UTC)

Maruki lunged.

It wasn’t graceful. It wasn’t anything remotely resembling a fighter’s stance. But he surged forward, pushing past the last remnants of Azathoth’s unease, his breath coming out sharp as he swung—

WHACK.

His clipboard slammed against the side of a shadow’s head with a hollow clap.

The thing reeled, its form distorting as if glitching through reality itself.

Maruki didn’t stop.

He jammed his pen into another shadow’s torso, the ink-tip stabbing through with all the force he could muster. It didn’t do much. But it shocked the thing just enough to make it stumble back—enough for him to slam the clipboard into its side for good measure.

Another shadow flailingly lunged at him. His arm barely came up in time to swat at it, his tiny, utterly useless peashooter nearly slipping from his grip. He grit his teeth—this wasn’t his strength, combat had never been his forte, but he had to make this count.

A shadow buckled beside him, still trying to regain balance after Thanatos’ devastating strike.

Maruki’s eyes flicked down.

He shifted his weight.

And then, without hesitation, he stuck out his leg—

The shadow tripped, sprawling forward, its already unstable form completely breaking its momentum.

"Hamuko-san-!" he shouted, already watching her movements, already knowing she would seize the moment better than he ever could. "Over to you!"

The shout-out wasn't needed - Maruki did exactly what made an All-Out Attack so potent - kept the shadows scrambling and prone.

Personas were funny, Hamuko noticed - they had subtle ways of making your fingers twitch at different times, making your impulses change, like a different aspect of yourself solidifying. Hamuko never understood what it must feel like to only ever have one self.

When aligned with Thanatos, every swing of the blade, every moment where she reached out with bare hands and grasped flesh or feathers or fur for purchase to drive a blade in deeper, over and over and over, a mix of euphoric relief and visceral calm...

Maruki was perfect. He kept the shadows distracted, reeling, which laid them out nicely to meet their final end by a blade that was likely too dull. All of the stress and anger and adrenaline flooding into every stab, every twirl of the naginata to use both hands and swing it down on the next shadow like a guillotine. Perfect clarity.

As quickly as the battle had started, it was over, the euphoria washing away immediately under satisfaction. Hamuko stood and grasped at the cards in her mind after that fight, feeling the boost of experience surging through them.

And then, this time not caught off guard, the wave of dismal dread from this place. The feeling of being resigned to death, if unwilling. This time, she didn't spiral - instead she embraced the feeling again, exhaling slowly.

Hello again, old friend. We'll make it out of here, I promise.

"Alright. How'd your first All-Out Attack feel?"

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