The almighty persona play thread

Hikaru nodded and accepted his phone number, tapping it quickly into her phone. "Yeah. Thanks. First number in this damned thing after that last night wiped it. Tried to get a fuckin' video of that shit. Got a... friend back in Japan who could have helped us. Of course now I have no way of contacting him... fuck," she spat, fingers flying as she continued setting her phone up properly.

She placed her feet up on the table, crossing them, leaning back in her seat. She wasn't against working together in the slightest, really. Considering her time with the Raibyō, it's not like she hadn't learned to work together, it was just... ugh. She wasn't sure what it was. He was right though, it was safer for everyone to have contact with each other. "Alright, that was pretty much it then. Have a good ride," she said nonchalantly, waving lazily over her shoulder, "and be safe."

As Lance stepped outside, he looked up at the sky and sighed. He saw the moon, shining in its half full glory. Wait, he thought, last night the moon was full. He looked left and right and noticed that each of the dorms was completely silent, all the lights were out. He looked at his watch, it was barely past eight, no way in hell was everyone asleep already. He could only think of one thing and ran back inside.

Lance was slightly pale as he traipsed back through the door not 5 seconds after he walked out. He swore there was something wrong with him. Was there some sort of music playing somewhere outside that he had just caught snippets of? It sounded bleak, a sort of lyric to it that suggested hopelessness. He had only heard it for just a split second, but it resonated with him. This didn't bode well, did it?

"H-hey... um... Hikaru... Th-there's something not right here..." He felt dizzy. He needed to sit down but damn the floor looked nice right about now. He needed something to calm his nerves, he could feel the walls closing in on him a bit as he stood there, world spinning. This had to be a panic attack. He hadn't had one of these since he was last at... THAT school. He staggered forward another step.

"D-don't go..." he breathed in. "Outside. It's -" another breath. "Not right out there." He seemed to trip and went down to a knee. He slid from this position into a position lying on the floor on his side.

Hikaru sat up at the noise of the door opening again, about to snark at him about being that fast but clamping her mouth shut when she saw him. He seemed sick, almost. She stood up just as he dropped to his knee, rushing over to him. "Holy shit, Lance, what the fuck, man? Are you okay? Shit, shit shit shit... okay, okay stay here," she said, grabbing a pillow off the couch and tucking it under his head, running upstairs to go check if Aiden was in his room. Shit. Shit, she knew that thing could reach past the shrine. If it was pitching an attack against them here, all the way at the school... mother of fuckin' god...

"Aiden! AIDEN!!!" she shouted, banging on his dorm door. "Aiden, it's Hikaru! Please for the love of fuck tell me you're in there, man!" After banging and banging on the door for a good thirty seconds or so, pretty damn sure she'd have woken him up if he were sleeping in there, she ran to her dorm, grabbing more pillows and a blanket and dragging them downstairs.

"Lance, okay, Lance, it's okay, I brought you some stuff. Here." She lifted his head gently, placing the extra pillows under him, then draped the blanket over his form as she kneeled next to him, putting a hand gently on his shoulder. "Breathe, Lance, breathe. Focus on regulating your breathing. Come on, man, breathe with me. In, out, in, out..."

Intersection signal detected. peak: -63dBm   dur: 8ms

Alert criteria met. Mandatory Threat Assessment.

Exiting standby mode.

Threat Assessment: Environment. permittivity: 1.122mW^-1   stability: ---Process terminated.

Major intersection imminent. Preparing to dump voltage......▒▒CN▒w♠&4D▒!Z▒▒L▒▒E▒▒H|x▒8cv]▒[3?9y▒m▒▒▒M]ytmPZ6GJe<9m`U6▒>▒kxH}Ç+tAzV▒?i&ʕySzi\TXr<t=urʕK♠▒▒♣▒▒kٿ~▒▒>v▒▒?Ο▒^

Intersection complete. Measuring background signal level. avg: -339dBm

New locale confirmed paranormal. Classification forthcoming.

New objectives:

1. Use elevated signal levels to track attuned humans. Demand collaboration.
   
2. Defend self and others against violent hostiles, if and when present.
   
3. Locate intersection barrier and determine traversal strategy.
   
4. Compile known information about paranormal locale.
   

One grouping of attuned detected. Partial match to previously detected signatures. Traveling to signal origin. Location confirmed: grouping is inside this building. Large amounts of noise emanating from building. These humans are likely in danger. Approaching at maximum speed.

Visual contact. Two humans. One damaged. Other attempting to aid it.

Remaining damaged inappropriate and dangerous in current situation. Immediate rectification necessary.

Starting connection sequence. OK
Priming voltage sinks. OK
Factorizing noise filtration map. OK
Designating channels. OK
Optimizing pulse width and voltage. OK
Perimeterizing target entity. OK
Generating zonal flow profile. OK
Quantizing pass/fail criteria. OK
Leveling personality cores. OK
Engaging parking brake. OK
Contacting Persona.

Aiden is on his way back from a walk. "What a nice night, cool, clear, great to get some fresh air. If only that asshole hadn't ruined it. I was fucking enjoying myself out here."

As he looks up at the moon though, he begins to slow and look around - suddenly the great night seemed strangely ominous. "Wait a second, why are all the lights off? Where is everyone? They don't turn the lights off in the dorms ever. They only dim them. Something is going on here.... SHIT I really hope it's not what I think it is"
Aiden starts to run towards the dorms much faster. He finds Hikaru and Lance in the entrance, Lance on one knee looking sick. "What the hell is going on here! Lance, are you all right?" At this point anyone paying attention probably notices that Aiden is sporting the start of a rather nasty black eye, but is otherwise fine.

*Somewhere on campus*

"Guys, where did you all go?" a lone student cried as he turned the corner of the building. He had just been there with his friends, he blinked and suddenly it was so much darker, and his friends were gone. "They could at least have woken me up if I dozed off..." he murmured as he paced on.

SLURP

"What was that?" He says looking around, panicked. "I-is someone there?"

Slurp

He turned around and saw the leering face of a blue mask glaring back at him, it seemed as though the mask was attached to some oil slick or thick tar. "W-what the hell are you?" the student stammers, falling on his rear in desperation to keep away from it. He looks behind him to see another, similar, creation mere inches from his face. He screams into the night as the two creatures take hold...

Lance was breathing irregularly as Hikaru came back downstairs with the extra things she grabbed. He felt his head lifted up, another pillow placed beneath, and a blanket draped over him. If he wasn't so focused on his heart hammering in his chest he might have been genuinely impressed with her understanding. Then the feelings of uselessness came in. He shouldn't have been such a wimp about all this crap, but he couldn't keep the fear away.

... What had caused this fear in the first place? He was beginning to forget at this point. His breathing slowly started to regulate. He still had tears of embarrassment on his cheeks, something he couldn't try to hide at this point. He noticed Aiden nearby at this point and brusquely wiped the tears off of his face.

"I'm fine now... I guess." He took a deep breath in and out to try and placate them. "I can breathe... I'm not... well, I'm mostly not freaked the fuck out anymore..." He looked to the two who were watching over him with a small blush on his face. "Outside... The lights are all dim. what the hell's going on out there? That's not normal at all..."

"I was out for a walk, I noticed it too. Something is wrong out there, I don't know what. I just have this feeling like something...something not normal is going on out there." Aiden goes to get himself some water. "Do you want anything to drink while I'm over here either of you? We should figure out what's going on here. And we should find Ivan."

Initial response OK.
Switching to full duplex OK.
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(Full duplex communications are untranslatable)
Transaction failure. Instantiation canceled.
Disassembling failure manifest OK. No compatible damage on target. Further repair not possible.
Idling connection OK.

Conclusions:

• Persona operations available in current environment.
  
• Assessment of damage incorrect. Distressed human at maximum structural integrity.
  
• Source of distress unknown.
  

Resuming previous objectives. Closing range. Additional partial match detected inside building (no visual contact). Arrival. Door to building remains partially open -- traversing doorway.

---

Something not normal is indeed going on out here, but it'll have to wait, because someone with an unseasonably warm coat and a radar dish coming out of their back just drove through the door. And from the perspective of Lance and Hikaru, who were still in the entrance, it's staring right at them! At least, if pointing the bundle of cameras and sensors where someone's face normally goes counts as staring.

"Hello Lance; Hikaru. We are not currently in any immediate danger, so there's time for introductions. I am Explorer, an autonomous paranormal research expedition vehicle. What would you like to tell me about yourselves?"

Contrary to pretty much everything else apparent so far, this Explorer person(?) had a surprisingly boring voice. In fact, unless you were paying very close attention it almost sounded human.

There are many looks that are difficult to describe in human facial features. Looks that skirt the line between a twitch of the eye and a slightly agape mouth, a glower paired with a slight upturn to the lips, the list can go on for eons. There are many emotional responses that are demanded of the human psyche in many different times of their life. To be happy, sad, angry, afraid, this list can also go on for eons. The intersection of these lines of human emotion and expression could not possibly account for the arrival of this thing.

Lance didn't even know where to start. A person with cameras and sensors for a face covered in a warm winter coat somehow driving its way through a door. A person with cameras and sensors for a face covered in a warm winter coat somehow driving its way through a door THAT KNEW HIS NAME. If it wasn't for the fact that he had just recovered from a panic attack he might have just flipped the hell out. As it stood now he found himself sliding back along the floor away from this whatever-it-was and remaining silent.

He shot a quick glance over to Hikaru and ran for Aiden. He wasn't a fool and he understood that this whatever-it-was didn't seem to be hostile, but he didn't want to leave anything to chance. Running down the stairs to the kitchen he slid around the corner, almost falling flat on his side until he regained his footing and barreled towards Aiden.

"... I don't even know where to start. For the love of all that is holy, just get up here." He verbally grabbed hold of the fellow student and with words dragged him back up the stairs.

Hikaru looked up, then jumped with a loud yelp, scrambling backwards. "W-What the fuck...?!" she exclaimed, looking up at the... what the fuck was she looking at? A 'paranormal research expedition vehicle'? Sure as fuck didn't look like a vehicle. A robot, maybe? That'd explain its face... and what was with its face, for that fuckin' matter?! She shot a glance over at Lance as he took off for the stairs. Thanks a bunch, asshole, she thought, glaring daggers at the coward's back. She turned back to the... creature (as it sure as fuck wasn't human) and stared at it bewilderedly, her mind blanking once more. "...the fuck are-"

The thought finally occurred to her that the thing knew their names. There was only one thing that would know their names, and take an interest in them like this. "This is another trick, isn't it? Fuckin' Fo... I'll wreck your fuckin' face worse than it is!" She stood up, taking a combat stance and summoning her card. She didn't break it, however - seems she was waiting for the weird robot thing to make the first move.

Cataloging responses...

Name	Reaction	Comments
Lance	Rapid recovery from distress state. Relocation to safe distance.	May compound future distress states. Trigger with discretion.
Hikaru	Minor stall. Aggression with measurable but insufficient caution.	Reaction likely frequent. Prioritize de-escalation and damage control during.

Generating and testing de-escalation tactics.

---

Explorer pointed its face directly at the agitated Hikaru, but made no other obvious response to the threats. It spoke, raising its volume but using the exact same voice it used before: "Put the card back, Hikaru. I am not your foe. Let's save our strength for the actual dangers that live here."

Hikaru eyed the thing warily, only moving to drop her hand a touch, not in the slightest putting the card back. "...the fuck are you? What do you mean, actual dangers?" she asked. She suddenly had a flashback to the cheesy sci-fi movies she would watch when she was younger. "Who made you? What is your purpose?" She paused before adding, "And the fuck are you doing here, and how do you know our names?"

"First answer: I already told you what I am. I'm not hiding anything from you, Hikaru. If you're asking about details regarding how I work, we can talk about that when we're back safe in our normal reality.
Next answer: I mean the things that live here that wish to do you harm -- you know what I mean, you've faced them before. The foes that have been playing tricks on you count as well. I also mean that I am not a danger to your safety; additionally, I do not wish to do you harm or play tricks on you.
Next answer: I was made by people curious about the paranormal things that you've been experiencing, and my purpose is to learn more about them.
Next answer: I was in the area investigating the trail you left after your encounter last night, and whatever process brought you here affected me as well.
Next answer: I looked up everyone's picture on the internet.

"Is there anything else you'd like to ask me? As long as we aren't in immediate danger, you're welcome to make any inquiries or requests that you'd like. However, once you're finished, I have things to ask you as well.

"Please tell me everything you know about what's happened out here over the past few days. I'm already familiar with general background information about these sorts of places, so you don't need to explain to me what a Persona is or anything of that nature.

"Additionally, since this is a dangerous and volatile environment I insist that we work together, since it will improve our safety and our ability to accomplish objectives, whatever they may be."

She cocked a brow. Well the thing was answering her questions, at least. Although it could be attempting to lull her into a false sense of security... She let the card disappear, then stood up, still cautious but far less hostile. Not entirely without hostility, though. "...We were taken into a region of darkness by an entity calling itself Fo. He told us he would release us if we cut him a deal - that'd we'd entertain him for the year. So we agreed." she explained, debriefing the robot-creature-thing.

"The next instance there were creatures. Shadow blob things with masks. They tried to attack us, kill us. Damn near succeeded too, if it weren't for the timely appearance of a blue door. The room past it is where we signed the contracts that apparently gave us this power." She summoned the card once more, displaying it for a moment more before dismissing it.

"Those are the main events. For anything more specific, you'd have to ask another member of the group. I've got a shitty fuckin' memory."

"That was all very helpful. Thank you. You're right, though; I do need more specifics. Let's confer with Lance and the other one, and see if we can figure out more of the situation. We should also find the rest of your friends; I suspect they've all been transported here, and some or all of them should be in this building. Please follow me."

---

Searching for target signals... 2/2 locked. Reducing distance to estimated signal center and refining location.

---

Explorer retained the exact same tone of voice while attempting to reestablish contact, despite raising its volume enough to be heard throughout the majority of the building. "Lance and friend, and anyone else that can hear me: We all need to talk - right now. I've spoken with Hikaru and I suspect we are in great danger. Please make yourselves available at once. We likely don't have enough time to waste any on being afraid of each other."

"He seems clean, guys. At least willing to help," she called out. She turned to the thing and stated, "Let's get one thing straight, 'Explorer'. I still don't trust you. You just seem to have more of a handle on what the fuck is going on; that's why I'm going with this. Got it, metal man?"

"Of course, Hikaru. We've just met. I just presume that you're more likely an ally than a threat because you're obviously not a native of this environment and you haven't been here long enough to get comfortable. You can't say the same for me, so trusting me wouldn't be very reasonable -- but, let's do everything we can to facilitate legitimately trusting each other."

"Tell me again, what just happened?" A voice said, brimming with both happiness and anger.

The shadow quailed back, and began it's story again.

"W-well, all had gone according to plan, Nightfall happened as you expected and we, my brother and I, attacked an unsuspecting victim. We took control, and nearly found another, before we were attacked by a group of, of..." The maya begins breathing heavily

"Persona users." The voice said, with a bored tone.

"Y-yes, sir, they attacked us. We nearly had victory when our prey attacked us from behind with some powerful force and we were forced to relinquish control. Then I followed them as the horde advanced. They barred themselves inside and we milled about, waiting for something to happen. It was then I saw Warlock come out of the woods and climb up the side with a grace I would not expect of his, um, size. I, being a good climber, scaled the side and watched him confront the foe. He seemed to be doing fine, when suddenly the users began attacking with much force, knocking him over several times. He had nearly overcome a few of them, but another human realized the Potential and Warlock was defeated. He attempted to blow them off the roof top with his death blow, but they all survived, sadly."

"Very well." the other voice replied. "So the game-." Suddenly, Nightfall happened. "What?!" it questioned the nothingness. After a moment, Nightfall ended, the world returning to normal.

"Sir, was this your doing, if I may know a fraction of your plans?" the shadow asked, cowering at recent events.

"No, pawn, whatever caused this is much more, mundane, then the power I possess." Suddenly, in rapid succession, it changed from day to Nightfall and back to day.

"Those fools, they must have found a way to activate Nightfall." the voice said. "This game suddenly became much more interesting..."

"Ok guys, what the hell, who pressed the button!?" Ivan shouts from behind the desk. Everyone looks at Yurt in the corner, who lifts his hands up in the universal sign of "I didn't do it". The clock tower outside reads 8 to anyone who looks at it.

Hikaru looks around, surprised - and a bit frightened this time - as the darkness settles in once more. Gathering herself, she turns to Ivan. "We've got the fuckin' button, Ivan, no one's pressed it. This ain't us." She turns to glance over the rest of the group, then turns back to him, asking, "So what the fuck do we do now, then?"

"I think now would be a great time to explore, honestly." he responded. The look on his face was serious. He got up from behind the desk and casually walked to the door and unbarred it.

"You all are pretty fresh on using persona, you need experience and this is the only way you'll get it."

Hikaru turns to Ivan, about to bitch about something or other, before turning back to the group, looking them over. They were all pretty fresh... all of them, including herself. She turns back to him, asking, "Well, you seem pretty fuckin' capable of some sort of self-protection. Are you gonna be helping us here? Or is this another fuckin' thing you're gonna ditch us at? Because I for one would like some goddamned help with this shit, considering I got my ass nuked last time." She pauses, then turns to Evan. "You. You killed that damn thing. You're with me."

Seems her case of the 'eep's had disappeared with his panty-snatching. Well, Yurt's panty-snatching. Either way, really, it had solved the problem.

Lance rolls his eyes and walks up to Hikaru with a look of annoyance on his face.

"It's not like we're splitting up into teams or anything. We're all going out there we might as well stick together. It's a fools errand to go out there in small groups when we're this... 'green'." He let out a soft sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Honestly I'm happier that we're done pussy-footing around the situation. It took long enough for my statements to get through to people earlier about getting stronger. I can understand being wary but we have each other to help out, do we not? All the worrying in the world won't make someone stronger in the end."

He looked back at the others as if wordlessly inviting them to consider their options. He had no idea if half of what he was saying was making sense to anyone or if he was even saying the right things in the end but he didn't entirely care. That is to say he cared a little. He reached for his water bottle and took a small swig before snapping the pop-top back down. Just a little to tide himself over as they made their way out the door... whenever they decided to do that much.