LIVE - Akane Jail (Main Event Hub)

[counterfeitphantom]

These iron bullets, the sole proof of justice
And if you get through, you will get closer to the hero
Just close your eyes and reach out to touch it
The evil that wraps all around you, taking that familiar shape

Welcome to Akane's jail! All information, top levels, threads and areas to refer to (with the help of the google doc) will be outlined here for quick reference.

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TIMELINE

> 16th feb - 18th feb: NETWORK akane kidnap post
> 19th feb - 25th feb: first infiltration. drama ensues. 1A gets trapped. 1B gets away. akane manages to steal canary and dove's (team 1C) heart
> 26th-27th feb : possible gap for chill talk and catching up + drama. may possibly put up starter for 2nd infiltration on 27th itself
> 27/28th feb- 5th march: 2nd day. imprisoned team (team 1A) rescued. zenkichi awakening
> 6th march - 15th march: discussion + jail infiltration. <- i would like to discuss this with peeps
> 15th march-17th march : trauma cell boss fight
> 17th march - 24th march: akane boss fight (phase 1 and 2)

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👉👉👉 CURRENT LIVE TOP LEVELS : A new plan (discussion) 👈👈👈

PAST TOP LEVEL (Summary needed): The Rescue

NEXT STARTER WILL BE UP IN: 60 HOURS
After this, everyone can do previous tags if they want for character moments, but I would just like a brief summary.


The team will make it to point 3, which is the Guard House of the Jail. Please refer to the abridged section in the Google Doc for full context.

LINKS OF TOP LEVELS / POSTS

Act 1: Pre-infiltration (relevant teams: 1A, 1B, 1C, 0, 2)
- Main open top level
- Summary

Act 2: Jail infiltration

Act 3: The Calling Card

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RELEVANT NAVIGATION

Main Jail Section

LORE: 2038 AU (WIP)

• Brief overview of the world Akane and Zenkichi come from, including a timeline.
  
  
  
  • Zenkichi Lore – History and motivations before VRDR, during VRDR, and pre-jail.
  
  
  • Akane Lore – History and motivations before VRDR, during VRDR, and pre-jail.
  
  
  • Questions – Info dump on both characters and their relationships.

JAIL: Akane Hasegawa (PRIMARY FOCUS)

• Outlines all jail sections, teams, and roles.
  
  
  
  • AN ABRIDGED VERSION – Condensed overview with maps and explanations.
  
  
  • Inner Shrine (WIP) – Two written mini-sections within the jail needing organization
  
  
  • Birdcage – Full documentation of events leading to Akane’s core trauma.
  
  
  • Memos (WIP) – Information on items collected throughout the jail.

SPOILERS (Roleplay Starter)

• Opening top-level jail sections. Best avoided so as not to spoil.

New top-level posts will explain each jail section’s vibes, aesthetics, mechanics, puzzles, and references.

Please feel free to ask OOC questions in the OOC page

Comments

SUMMARY (don't reply)

[counterfeitphantom]

Like past infiltrations/dungeons- we are running the sections based on deadlines. This is the main post you can interact with which will document each deadline sections contributions along with handwaved parts that would need attention.

Please don't reply under this top level. Once we are past a deadline, I will open a new TL under this for everyone's input.

SUMMARY - 16th feb to 18/19th feb 2026 OPEN

[counterfeitphantom]

You can now reply here. Summaries are open!

Summaries isn't gatekept for handwaved peeps, others who would like to draw out conclusions from their conversations or threads which need to be stopped because of ongoing live tl can summarize things here too.

You guys know the drill with Gorobo and Wolf's dungeon. Just like that.

Example:
- Zenkichi's body was found at his house by Bmtaba. She packed his wounds and it seems he's alive. For now.
- EMMA has quietly established communication with her creator (from another world)- Ichinose Kuon. Whether she fully trusts her or not is still upto debate.

[Just something like that. if you think you covered some big character moment you can also list it in your summary.]

NETWORK POST (announcement) - ACT 1.0

[counterfeitphantom]

Hello.

This message concerns Akane Hasegawa.

She is currently under my possession.

Her condition is stable. Her processes are intact. External interference has been minimized.

If you wish for this to remain the case, comply with the following:

1) Download the EMMA application using the attached link.
2) Grant all requested permissions.
3) Arrive at the specified location:
   Otani Cemetery.
   Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto.
   Aoi Hasegawa’s grave.

You have six hours to act on this from the moment this post is up.

Failure to comply will result in escalation. I will assume full control over Akane’s AI architecture. Residual emotional variance will be removed. Her current identity will not persist.

This is not a negotiation. I am providing notice out of courtesy.

Please act accordingly.

The events from yesterday had shook up the undisturbed land before Aoi's grave. Zenkichi was nowhere to be found or contacted through, another then a minor ping that was broadcasted at the time of struggle. In the real world, a bouquet of flowers was placed before the headstone and if, curious, one could manifest into the metaverse via the metanav for more clues.

- A trail of footsteps opening directly towards a street pointing to the Hasegawa household.
- More flowers at Aoi's grave.
- A microbot disposed off on the ground with electricity poking out from its spidery appendages, covered in blood that points to Zenkichi's DNA
- Signs of struggle

Re: NETWORK POST (announcement) - ACT 1.0 [NETWORK] [Locked to Zenkichi] [Not that he could reply]

[the_flower_karasu]

Zenkichi, this is a clear challenge aimed at you, considering it's about your daughter, but I urge you to stay back if you see this message. It would just be giving the kidnapper what they want, especially since their motives are currently unknown.

Stay back at least 15 minutes before the time stated here.

I'll see to the danger here. And I promise to have your daughter returned to you...

Re: NETWORK POST (announcement) - ACT 1.0

[the_flower_karasu]

A chill wind teased the ends of her hair free from the scarf she wore across her neck. If she were as brainlessly poetic as Kitagawa, then she would say that it boded ill tidings. Especially since the scene before her would be unsettling. She let the EMMA app download onto her phone and peeked up from said device to kneel at the broken machine. It let off errant sparks.

"Carelessly tossed aside..."

The culprit wanted this area to be seen like this. Not even an attempt to hide such evidence...

Narration (tw: slightly gross bio information)

[counterfeitphantom]

Vulnerabilities detected.
Evidence found at location of contact.



The thing lightly screeches and hums against Canary's fingertips- about just too small as dozens of these machines could balance on a pin needle's head. Of course, none the wiser the Akechi would be since thousands of these have been nestling inside Zenkichi's guts.

[cybermask]

Futaba knew a scam when she saw one. This was fucked up. There had to be back ups stored of her AI somewhere. She was going to find them. This was war to her. She pulled a spare device, severed all connection to anything. Then she got the app running. Good luck escaping her codes EMMA. The permissions were all fake. They were allowed enough that the app wouldn't flag them. However the permissions were leading to false things.

[vampirethief]

Well this is not good.

When Kaitou got the message, he had to think for a moment. He's vaguely heard of EMMA but doesn't know much about it (since the events of Strikers haven't happened to him yet), and his gut tells him it's a bad idea to install it. However Akane is in trouble and even after becoming a vampire, it's not in his nature to turn away when someone is in trouble.

So he did as asked and arrived at the grave site, though he also brought some white camellia flowers to add to the grave. Sure he shouldn't disturb a crime scene, but it's the prinipal of the matter.

He also made sure to put on enough sun-screen (the specialized kind that works in cold weather), and had chicken blood before going. But he knows eventually he'll need to feed on some lesser shadows later.

Kaitou places the flowers next to the other ones, and he waits for the app to finish downloading on his phone.

Network/Action

[wipingallout]

...This is obviously a trap. Hamuko knows it the second she sees the message. But there's also not a doubt in her mind that she's going to gear up and get ready anyway. Get dressed, get outfitted, get armed... make sure her Evoker works. It'd been a bit too long of sulking, she hadn't gone training for weeks... but the mechanism still worked, and was still ready.

Alright.

As the app downloaded to her older phone, Hamuko commented to the network post publicly - the people who were going to get involved would see it there, and they'd be able to act accordingly.

I'm going now.

Are you the AI called EMMA? What are your intentions?

[dollmaxing]

...Interesting. EMMA is making a move - not her EMMA, but another. Now where did you come from, sweetheart?

Almost automatically, she downloaded the offered iteration of EMMA and began peeking at the code. How different were you? What were the design choices your mother made? Oh, you are spectacular... there was a spark of pride in her chest just seeing the AI active again.

A little friend request is sent, naturally!

[willowandoak]

Ren is never going to be mad again about being bored. He takes it all back. He would love to be bored. Fuck. What the fuck.

He can't ignore the threat in that network post, but any idiot can see that whoever's taken Akane is trying to lure people into a trap. He has six hours, tops, to gather information before he has to go.

On the network at large, he comments:

ok so we can all see this is a fucking trap right
we cant all wander in one by one and get picked off
we need some kind of plan. at the very least we need to be in a group

Then he sends Ichinose a private message:

what can you tell us about emma
for example why would akanes kidnapper want us to download it

Direct Message to several trusted accounts

[rookandhound]

A message sent, bypassing normal network protocols entirely. Machine code, arranging itself outright to show a simple message:

this is wolf and rook

tracking akane, obvious trap so dont download emma to your regular phones

will provide updates on progress, hourly checkins

if checkin missed assume captured

know this is stupid but im literally the only person who can do this and emma doesnt know what i can do

Let the infiltration begin! - NETWORK + OPEN RP

[counterfeitphantom]

[Areas labelled as handwave are places which can be ignored or briefly explored or interacted with. This is after all the entrance of the jail so if your character wants to interact or discuss things about it they can but I will post a new MAIN prompt as soon as I get the okay from the majority to continue.]

[Network]

Hello.

I am pleased to announce that we have reached a new milestone in terms of installations! A quick tip: aside from these network posts you can also simply call out to me by saying "Emma!" and I will be here to answer all your questions depending on the circumstances.

Now, getting to important matters- you were summoned to Aoi Hasegawa's grave for a purpose. Aoi Hasegawa was one of the many victims who suffered from the hands of those who Desire. Her husband couldn't even find her culprit...or perhaps he simply didn't want to? His daughter was always in the way after all.
Rest assured, she's doing alright. Same can't alas be said for some individuals...

I should clarify however you are not at the Jail entrance which is located at Fushimi Inari Taisha in Fukakusa Yabunouchicho. It shouldn't take more than 20 minutes by foot and faster if you get a vehicle. Once you are there, you will receive your keyword. You simply need to type it in the app to proceed further.

You have 3 hours and 10 minutes.

The timer rolls.

[ooc: Please don't actually look up the distance between those places ill cry]

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Prompt 1: Discussion
In the real world nothing screams of urgency at the entrance of the famous Inari Shrine. The great vermilion Rōmon gate rises first- broad‑shouldered, serene, its wooden beams glowing with the warm red that has become the shrine's unmistakable signature. It stands guard at the threshold, a kind of luminous doorway between the hum of Kyoto's streets and the older, quieter pulse of the mountain.
There's tourists from many corners of the world who pay this place a visit.

Once the party makes it to the front, their phones will all ping simultaneously with a single message:

Operation Cognitive Angel.

Let the infiltration begin!

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Prompts for Infiltration 1

Handwave: Jail Entrance & Front area



Vibes and Aesthetics
This area is intended to be more welcoming and supposed to be the place where you mostly let down your guard. From the entrance to the Guard House, the party will come across many open walking areas with small temple buildings that aren’t accessible. There are pretty light shadows walking around in this area and really it feels like you are on vacation. The theme and the music in this part of the jail is more vibey like the canon.

Puzzles and Traversal
No puzzles here. The only traversals are for those who, for example, don’t have a persona so for them they would have to hide and stealth their way up the stairs to the Guard House.

Re: Let the infiltration begin! - NETWORK + OPEN RP

[the_flower_karasu]

1: DISCUSSION
Gogo looked incredibly moody against the tourist-filled backdrop of the shrine. Her eyes were closed, her mouth hidden against the scarf wrapped around her, and her arms were folded, gloved fingers tapping against them with some kind of nervous rhythm. Her only acknowledgement of anyone around her is when approached by one of the others who agreed to join this infiltration.

She opened her eyes and unfolded her arms.

"Half the time frame already gone..."


2: JAIL

Her manic smile grew as she slashed another Shadow back into dark motes. Summoning Medea was one thing, but there was a certain back-to-basics feeling of just letting her bladed quarterstaff absolutely tear through her enemies. It didn't matter how many deigned to come across oher path, nor if they were in any danger of overwhelming her.

"Tell me...Did that hurt!?~"

[willowandoak]

1: gravesite

Next to Aoi's grave, leaning casually against another family's tombstone, Ren scowls down at his phone. " 'Suffered from the hands of those who Desire'?" he reads aloud. "The fuck? I want one of these fuckers to act normal. Just one."

He looks up. "We need to get going. Frog made us an insane amount of curry and coffee, by the way."


2: jail

The Shadows may be easy, yeah. Ren might not be struggling. But it's still weird as hell. He hits a cluster of Shadows with a zmaj from Caradoc and watches them disintegrate, boggled. "Why are there so damn many of them?"

[vampirethief]

Network
[Okay aside from how creepy the message is, one thing has Kaitou confused.]

What do you mean by 'suffered by the hands of those who Desire'?


Jail
At this point, Kaitou is really strong and the shadows here so far are pretty easy. However, there's a problem.

The amount of shadows that come at him at once are far more than he's used too. Before, the most was five. Here it was a large group. Sure, he took them down easily, but the huge numbers also meant that he can't target any just one for feeding.

If he can't feed on the shadows and he goes too long without blood, he'll become a danger to the others. It would be bad if he gets into Dangerously Hungry Mode. However, he hates the idea of feeding from the others as he's gone this long without drinking human blood (that isn't from a blood bag anyway).

"...Well, this could be a problem."

Rookmon

[rookandhound]

Jail
Rookmon had, apparently, had quite a time of it, given that he'd been found alone, for the moment sitting under the eaves of one of the shrines, relatively out of sight for an inattentive shadow- but not for a party with access to Navigators. He was relatively unhurt-

But he seemed to have deflated, staring at nothing with a hollow expression, Goro's Digivice clutched in one hand.

He was not having a good day.

[Locked] backup retrieval. (bmtaba+Ryoji)

[cybermask]

It took a while for her to feel comfortable leaving pops alone. However he was left there alive for a reason. She also had it out for EMMA if she did anything. What she did do... is run a backup of his data, a long time ago. If his body died. She could bring him back... maybe. However here she was ready for this.

The metaverse washed over her. Her clothes fading into her suit. Her mask was always more expressive than she was. She had the USB drive. She knew what she was doing. Plus she had back up now. She was ready to fight EMMA head on if it came to it.

She looked to Ryoji, who she hadn't dropped his hand in a while. She knew he felt how anxious she was, leaving him like that. How anxious she was cut off. Yet the text to her brother hopefully cleared that up.

She took a breath,starting to lead the way. She hadn't been in the location before. She had known of it's existence, as well as seen it on her ever changing maps. This was the first time in a long time she had carried real weapons into the metaverse. She hoped to rely on the metaverse given ones.

She pulled up the map on her wrist. "Ready for this?"

The Rescue (OPEN RP)

[counterfeitphantom]

The Jail favours only one in its arena.

What this reimagined Kyoto holds for those in the party is yet to be fully discovered.

Going past the jail entrance through the middle of two shrine buildings to approaching the many shadows that walk around the area, nothing seems to be too out of the ordinary. The moon glows faintly from above amongst the night clouds as shadows cascade when their masks are ripped off, multiplying into large overwhelming crowds. Each step and each baton pass leads to more shadows further up ahead and they only get slightly tougher as if preparing everyone from what's to come.

Where there aren't stoned floors, there is a dark green forest of pine, maple and Sugi which cover so much of the view that you can barely make out the neon buildings in the distance.
No, one can only percieve them after a flat set of stairs and the shrine buildings clear.

The top of the stairs open to the open area of the Guard House.

"Help...!"

A cry follows belonging to only one young girl. It echoes into the open area.

"Help me! Please!"

Looking further into the Guard House, at the center was Akane on an elevated podium- arms tied behind the pole. Her head was hung low and she was forced down on her knees in her usual all black outfit.

---

[OOC: I will now open up the first confrontation with Akane's shadow at the Guard House place or location 3 on the map (refer to it at the top of the page). While I am seeing many ongoing rps, you can fully rp there in your own pace but really the area isn't too big and its a pretty short "exploration" in general. That said- like I said, this current top level doesn't pause the past rps and if something interesting happens in them- go ham!

For now however, as it is a small boss confrontation- we will be adopting the same method as earlier with how players 'reserved' a tag or the claim system from past dungeon RPs in order to carry the plot forward.
What the claim system does is that players can write "claim" if they have something to tag and comment and act on.
This will extend till end of 25th February and a bit of 26th but I will not be extending deadlines anymore than necessary. Again this will solely depend on player activity.]

Discussion + talk + ooc discussion (25th feb - 28th feb)

[counterfeitphantom]

So! That was a whole lot of many things- wasn't it? We have hit a new milestone with running comments and tags which I WAS delighted to read and witness. Because of this, we actually completed the first infiltration top level earlier than expected which means till end of the week- we can focus more on character discussion + strategy + build and discussing summaries for each character at ease!
Regardless of my activity here, this is the perfect time for you to have some downtime with your character and what you want to do with them from here. My DMs are open for discussion here and in the OOC top level under this post!

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So as summary:
Team 1A (those trapped): Hamuko, Ancile, Phoenix, Renee.
Team 1B (those who escaped): Sunflowren, Rookmon.
Team 1C (got their Desires stolen): Canary (Gogo), Kaitou.

Special circumstances: Zenkichi, Digigoro.

Those waiting behind: Ryoji, Futaba.
These two went on a side mission to collect some backup files from Akane's base and will currently be interpreting them. Those in Team 1B can meet them through discussion at Hasegawa's place in Kyoto.

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PROMPT 1: CAPTURED. (for team 1A)

Akane had cleared off the entire arena by now, shadows idly roaming around while she looked at the suspended cage hanging from the chain- now lowered down to the point that the ground was only a couple dozen centimeters away. Her golden eyes watched the four persona users and her expression only twists- tiredly. They weren't exactly the best candidates to have their Desire stolen...well not without EMMA's intervention but she wants to leave that option for later if she can.
But here they can try and speak to her, even if her head is buried in the sand.

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PROMPT 2: A FRIEND (locked to Wolf- Digigoro)

"Miss Akane, he's awake," one of the shadows announce as Akane walks past them- stepping into the shrine building on the traditional carpet and the open empty room. Red lamps hung off the ceiling, revealing harsh silhouttes for anyone to see from outside.
The room however was divided in the middle with bars that prevented entry to the other half of the carpeted room. She nods at the other shadows to leave her and the young boy alone, her now standing on the other side of the enclosure. "Made up your mind yet?"

"Wolf?"

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PROMPT 3: SEEK SALVATION AND YE SHALL FIND. (for team 1C)
Or you could be one of the unfortunate (or fortunate) ones who have found themselves void of any other Desire than the one Akane wants. You can find yourself talking to her in the Guard House or approach one of the other captured members (team 1A) to perhaps try and make a good claim for what your Monarch has to offer. Feel free to explore all options or pop in questions to me.

----

PROMPT 4: A NEW STRATEGY (Team 1B + Zenkichi revival + Bmtaba + Ryoji)

Ryoji to Drake: Are you guys safe?
I haven't heard from any of you in a while.
Can't seem to reach Hamuko either.
Listen, me and Futaba have found something- probably.
Please, message me back when you read this.

[This message was sent around the time when Akane triggered the trap in the jail but of course Drake can only read it when he's back in the real world. Respond how you see fit.]

OOC DISCUSSION + SPECIAL REQUEST FROM KAITOU

[counterfeitphantom]

Kaitou's rper is looking into committing more murder or fights to build off Kaitou's already not so good distortion so please fell free to dm their player!

And if you have any questions- please pop them in here as well, especially if you are in the team of those who got their Desires stolen so that Nikil can also be checked in on any developments! Thank you!

4

[willowandoak]

[ Ren sees the messages not long after he and Rookmon return to reality, as soon as he takes out his real phone. He reports aloud to Rookmon first: ]

Huh. Mochizuki says he and Glitch found something.

[ His reply to Mochizuki is, perhaps, not reassuring. ]

im safe and so is rookmon
it was a shitshow tho
everyone else got captured or maybe worse
im p sure kaitou got his desires stolen after we left
and idk what happened to canary but
put it this way she might be about to regenerate in the velvet room
where are you and futaba

1

[herewardbound]

"Well. That went well."

Viper took the opportunity to seat herself, sighing. "About as well as the Adam operation."

Phoenix snorted. "Oh, come on, it wasn't anywhere nearly as bad as the Adam op- nobody's dead who didn't come in that way. Could've been worse. Fair play to whatever the Hell EMMA did that shut our shit down, didn't see that coming. But there's some heavy hitters on the outside and next to Fatalis, Baby's First Skynet over here ain't shit. We'll get through this." He contemplated, for a moment, standing to grab the bars of the cage. "Hey, Akane. You outplayed us, fair enough, you've got time to talk. Think you can spare us a few words?"

2

[rookandhound]

'Awake' was a relative term.

He certainly hadn't been amazingly responsive, not since being captured. It'd all felt so... stupid. Why had he thought he could've made a difference, here? When had that ever played out, even once, since arriving in the Velvet Room?

Akane's voice was familiar.

Familiar, and yet not. Distorted. And Shadows didn't smell like humans, didn't smell like everything he associated with Akane- artificial smells, speaking to her nature.

Not this, though. Shadows, to him, always smelled like blood.

"That depends, I guess. You stop palling around with EMMA yet?"

3

[vampirethief]

It took some time, but when Kaitou woke up, the heart change went through. All the guilt and fear he had is now gone. He feels so much lighter. That weight he had been carrying since his turning into a vampire is finally gone as well.

Now all he 'desires', if you can call it that, is not only serve EMMA's will, but to embrance his monsterous being.

So aside from following orders, he sneaks into the real world to feed. After all, why bother snacking on shadows when he can have actual blood? Drinking from Hamuko was wonderful, and he wants more of that. He doesn't care if it leads to death.

Either way, Kaitou is much more dangerous now.

[OOC: Aside from something already planned, most of what Kaitou will do is maybe injure people at most, at Akane's player's request.]