(no subject)

[reveriemod]

» WHO? Everyone
» WHEN? August 16th onwards
» WHERE? All over the station, and in the Metaverse
» WHAT? Time for the Metaverse and it's fun perks to come into action on Reverie Terminal...
» WARNINGS? violence

0 0 1 » THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT

A new function has appeared on the communication device for some characters: a strange symbol with an eye, and no obvious use. Do you try to delete it? It might work, for a little while. But it comes back, no matter what lengths you take to get rid of this thing.

If a character chooses to run the app, they'll find that it's called the Metanav, and it speaks to them in a feminine voice: "Please enter a destination." It seems to want a voice command.

Unfortunately, any combination of words you try will result in a gentle error sound and that voice saying, "Conditions have not been met." There's no lock-out or limit to how many attempts you can make, and it will keep rejecting every try.

(As a note of interest, the name Goro Akechi in full, spoken anywhere near a device that carries the Metanav -- a one in a million chance, sure, but coincidences happen -- will earn a victorious chime from the app and a triumphant, "Destination found." But from there it seems to want more keywords...)

0 0 2 » ENTER THE METAVERSE

A few days after the Metanav appearing for some residents of the station, someone is definitely putting it to use. But Reverie is a close-quarters situation, and not every corner and corridor can be checked before turning on the app. On top of that, some devices are activating the Metanav on their own, without a destination at all -- people are being dragged in left and right.

You feel something strange wash over you, like vertigo. But nothing seems to have happened. You're still in the station, and your surroundings are... mostly normal. Actually, something isn't quite right. It's hard to put your finger on it; the air feels wrong, heavy, and the shadows are darker, the station even more unsettling than usual.

And everyone around you is gone.

You can search for hours, and maybe you'll find one or two other unfortunate souls in the same situation as you, but that's it. The rest of the station's residents have vanished.

If you have the Metanav app on your communication device, you're in luck: using it will bring you right back to the station as normal, like sliding between one plane of reality to another. If you don't have the Metanav... you're stuck. Alone.

0 0 3 » HERE THERE BE SHADOWS

Wandering around the strange "other" station is mostly uneventful. Everything about it seems to be unchanged in terms of layout; the same doors are still blocked off, the rooms are in the same locations, the view from the Observation Deck is the vast expanse of space...

But you're not as alone here as you thought.

There are monsters. They come in various shapes and sizes, some of them humanoid and some of them far from it. There don't seem to be a lot of them around, so it's easy to miss them entirely, but if you do run into them, they'll attack without hesitation, and some of them are strong.

If you can fight back: magic is most effective against them in every case. Fighting them physically is a strange case, because if you think it will work, it will, no matter what your weapon. If you don't think it'll work, then it won't.

If you can't fight back, and nobody comes to save you: you're dead. At least you'll wake up in the real world.

0 0 4 » YOU'RE NOT ME

There's one more thing populating the "other" station. They come and go at random, sometimes there and sometimes not -- strange, spectral images of other people. Their faces are vague and they don't seem to have any interest in you, seeming to talk to themselves even when you try to get their attention, but they're definitely people. They have enough features to tell them apart, and some of them seem almost familiar.

One of them is you.

It's not a clear image, just enough to be distinguishable, but it is you. Like looking at your own ghost. Its eyes, though -- its eyes are a little bit wrong. Yellowish.



This plot was brought to you by your Persona cast! All players who have signed up can have the Metaverse app appear on their communicators. The Phantom Thieves are here to rescue anyone who wants their heart stolen, and are available to discuss plotting. Once the Metaverse appears on Reverie, it will not disappear.

Comments

(ooc) Dial-A-Phantom Thief!

[intrusivethot]

If your character is lost in the Metaverse and needs intervention to battle Shadows or find out how the heck you leave the darn place, request a Phantom Thief here!

The available thieves are:

Ren Amamiya (hearttheft)

Haru Okumura (mapsio)

Ryuji Sakamoto (ryuji)

Goro Akechi (uragiru)

Our fifth thief is Yusuke Kitagawa (artisticliberty) but currently isn't available for plots, but the rest of us are here to help!

@skull (private)

[ryuji]

>@joker, @noir, @crow, @fox

Yo....

Tell me you're seein' it too

[mapsio]

I am, we should check it out. Make sure it isn't some station trick or...something of that nature.

( last surprise intensifies )

[intrusivethot]

» NETWORK; un:phantomthieves

To the residents of Reverie Terminal:

It has come to our attention that a change is upon the station. Whether or not you know it, your friends and loved ones may have disappeared without word in the last several hours, and you will not find them without aid.

At some point a new application will have appeared on the comms belonging to these people, and if they were unfortunate enough to indulge their curiosity, they will have been pulled into a world parallel to ours. Everyone who is in this world - the Metaverse - is now in danger.

Check on those whom you've come to know and care about on this station. If they have slipped into the Metaverse you will not be able to contact them by any means; the Metaverse is a place that crosses the threshold from reality to the unconscious human mind, and only those who know how to navigate it will have a chance of finding a way in or out.

We, the Phantom Thieves, offer our services to ensure their safety and retrieve your loved ones from the Metaverse. Contact us at this ID and we shall act without hesitation.

» MISTAKES WERE MADE

[ Ren - Joker - tugs the base of his glove straight and flexes his hand. He knows this feeling.

Staring down monstrosities isn't a new thing. Splitting up to cover more ground and save more people in danger was a logical decision, the absence of a Navigator be damned, the absence of another healer an even bigger issue than that. Ways to keep in contact with one another here are thin but as much as this is the Metaverse this is also Reverie Station and therefore the layout is known and accounted for. All they need to do is get in, touch all bases, and get out with anyone trapped in here.

And this Shadow is in the way. In one moment he thinks, Be safe, and in another he discards his own advice handily as he leaps into the maw of danger, trench coat tails trailing behind him.

Extending his hand, the Turf gun that Ryuji handed out earlier has, through the power of pure belief, become a heavy-barreled handgun that Ren begins unloading at likely looking vulnerable points, spots where the Shadow's enormous spindly limbs are thinnest and breakable. ]

Go down!

[ The ferocity of his voice is matched by sheer accuracy; in the almost half year since he's wielded one Ren hasn't forgotten how to aim his firearm of choice, and where reaching for his Personas when his mask came back let him slip right back into a comfortable, warm place, this too allows him to reclaim what is his. Mask donned, air combing through his hair, grinning madly with the smell of gunpowder and the bright red glare in his eyes.

This is him. And he missed it dearly.

The Shadow screams and lashes out with a narrow miss that clips the heel of his boot, a graze that Ren deftly turns into an arc and roll past it with an easy shift of his weight that comes to rest with his arms splayed and pressed to the ground and one leg dramatically extended out.

He smiles. And when he sees the Shadow rear back and make for another strike, his confidence doesn't flicker as he reaches out into the darkness of his mind for the correct tool - Chi You can negate physical damage entirely and he'll wait to summon him until the last opportunity to preserve the element of surprise-

SMASH.

For an instant, time stops and spools out in front of him to let him examine where he miscalculated, what brought him to the point where he is crushed into the cognitive wall of this station. He gropes out into the darkness, what he imagines as a sleek, velvet-lined case full of his Persona - the proper weapon for the right job at his disposal. And in that case he finds that the place settings are empty, that the thief has been stolen from and he'd grasped at nothing.

Where were they? When could they have been - ?

Oh. Of course... the last time he would've seen them was before he left the fetid lump that was Ryuji in the shadow of a console in the observation deck. Mere hours, maybe less, before Ren too was gone. Was this a punishment then for not finding a way out, a cure for the infection?

And then the regular flow of time reasserts itself and Ren groans in pain, collapsing into the floor and, at least for the moment, at the mercy of the Shadow and whomever else might be lurking nearby. Is it you?

Would you dare help? ]

» RUN LIKE YOU STOLE IT

Go!

[ No time to waste or explain, a gloved hand grabs your own and pulls you along with no arguments brooked as a figure in almost solid black tears down the corridor and away from whatever had been eyeing you hungrily from an ill-lit, sick-smelling heap.

Believe him, it's best if you listen.

Every so often he'll glance back to make sure you're still on board, and when the two of you run out of road he wheels you around and casts a protective arm out in front of you, breathing heavily and straining to listen to see if the escape was successful. ]

We've bought some time, at the very least. Are you okay?

» WILDCARD

(( or run into Ren/Joker however you like! ))

network | audio; un: alucard

[reposing]

Minato is missing. His scent just disappeared. If he... is truly where you say he may be, then--

If I cannot reach him, then you must. You must.

1» MISTAKES WERE MADE

[imperialsun]

[Naoya still didn't quite understand it and how this 'other side' worked, but his curiosity got the best of him. A series of events had left him with a form more befitting of this world and the strange connection he had to it. As each of his steps light up the bottom of his soles briefly, even as he makes a run towards what sounds like a battle. Unfortunately what Ren would see coming to save him was a boy with a costume that looked completely ridiculous yet so very 1990s. It was Naoya, but like the other he seemed a little too at ease with what was happening. While he could summon outside of this world inside of the station, it felt strangely like home in here.

The outfit was nice, but Naoya would just call it a costume change. He could take time later to be mesmerized in Ren's costume and weapon, but right now he needed to act quickly. Or maybe he just wanted to act clearly, he couldn't quite tell right now nor cared.]

Airgetlam!

[In this place, everything felt more raw, energetic. Like something had injected him with a sort of rage spell he couldn't quite place. Maybe it was because battling demons made him feel alive and without the need to hold back, something he hadn't been able to do for so many months.. He didn't question it, and the summoning was blissful freedom. Answering his eager call, the persona appears above him before pointing its sword at the attacking force. The earth rumbles and roars, as pieces of rock appear from nothing, slamming into the foe with utter violence and complete ferocity, knocking it back before they can harm Ren. The demon, having no natural defense against this type of attack, is caught off guard.]

Your turn!

[Don't mind the overly excited grin on his face.]

mistakes are continuing to be made

[uragiru]

[ he knows that the others are around. he's stuck, right now, to slipping between dark corners and hiding behind walls to make his way through the Metaverse, but the Thieves are far less handicapped and far more interested in drawing attention than avoiding it. and they can do what they like; he's not interested in a run-in, so they can be the heroes while he scopes out an unfamiliar-familiar place, an atmosphere he became accustomed to years before they came onto the scene.

the only reason he doesn't go right past the fight between Ren and a Shadow is because it's a risk, and he doesn't want to be drawn into a battle. better to wait until it's over, to stay and watch to the end of it, and then go on his way. except that Ren doesn't get rid of the Shadow. Ren goes down, and Akechi is moving before he even really thinks about it, that autopilot instinct that takes over a person's whole body. he knows that death doesn't mean anything here. it doesn't matter. it shouldn't matter. but all Akechi can think of is Ren, and his stupid voice, I don't want you to die, and he darts forward to slash at the Shadow.

the size of a weapon doesn't have anything to do with whether or not it's of use in the Metaverse. the quality of it affects its strength, certainly, but — a whip, or a dagger, or a straight razor taken from his room on the station. it makes no difference and it's natural as breathing to use as long as you have the conviction to fight.

that doesn't mean he can win with nothing but the razor on him, so as soon as the Shadow rears back, he turns and grabs Ren by the collar of his coat to haul him to his feet. ]

Move, you idiot!

[oculusriffs]

i. come ON

[yup, this was pretty much exactly how Dave was expecting his day to go.]

[one second he was on his way to the mess hall, probably the one place aside from his own room that he haunts very, very frequently, the next, he's carefully stepping down the corridors, back pressed against the wall as he tries to sneak glances ahead of him for threats. it's a behavior he seems oddly way too practiced at.]

[because, he's gotten a load of the monsters lurking around, and he doesn't exactly have a weapon to defend himself with. well. okay, he technically has a weapon with him? but, unless you happened to be in need of something to break a toilet, there's no way in hell it'll actually be of any use.]

[not even if someone else happens to find him. if you bump into Dave, you'll find him cornered by a Shadow, hackles raised and out of options. and suddenly, he pulls the dumbest fucking sword literally out of thin air and swings it at the Shadow like a baseball bat.]

[the sound of impact is a hearty one, a robust, meaty sort of noise layered with several different textures. the gods are real, and they have raised their weapons and, in unison, struck down this aggressive little blip in human cognition. or, like. say you had a pinata. but instead of filling the pinata with candy, you cooked up a metric butt ton of noodles and made it a noodle pinata instead, and then you took a wiffle bat and tried your damndest to get the thing to spill its spaghetti guts. it sounds like that.]

[yeah, no, Dave can keep the thing at bay, but he certainly can't defeat it with this stupid ass weapon he doesn't really believe can actually do damage. little help?]

ii(a). error: failure to load
[cw: character death, glitches, potential shit wrecking (♪)]

[if you're not much into getting into completely dumb shenanigans with regular old Dave, there's always his Shadow self — it's shuffling along, mumbling like all the others, very much like Dave himself does anyway, dressed in a very comfortable looking pair of pajamas complete with cape. there's something particularly odd about the way it moves, too: like it were built of code, and the layers of binary it took to create it are firing off in all directions, or simply failing to load altogether, completely corrupting the visuals that would otherwise be recognizable as Dave.]

[this is the one that failed to save her.]

[it'll ignore anyone who approaches — unless you happen to be someone Dave has had a conversation with for more than five minutes. if you've made that mistake, then it turns, sword suddenly in hand, but really armed with only one goal, fueled by a corrupted desire to protect: getting you the hell out of here, no matter what it takes.]

[honestly, this Shadow isn't the strongest you're going to run into out here. that's not the problem, what actually makes it dangerous. the problem is it can time travel.]

ii(b). take two
[cw: character death, glitches, potential shit wrecking (♪)]

[or, you could always run into Dave and his Shadow self at the same time. to be honest, though, Dave's so used to running into different versions of himself, and the Shadow, metaphorically, doesn't really give a shit about protecting himself, so they're. just kind of standing there, not exactly acknowledging each other, like two kids who got into a fight waiting to be forced to apologize to each other.]

[this is embarrassing. but approach, and you still may wind up having to fight — you'll just have a pal alongside you willing to pitch in.]

iii. wildcard

[got something else? want Dave's scathing and probably unhelpful commentary on your own Shadow? let's do it!]

i.

[iustitia]

[This station is whack. That's nothing new. What is new is the not-quite right feeling of otherness that suddenly creeps over her like a shroud. And the shitty monsters. Like, that's pretty unexpected.

Luckily, it's not too long before she stumbles across Dave. He's cornered by one of the monsters, and as a last ditch effort, he pulls out something that's like a sharp punch to the snout.

It smells like...

...

..................

What does it smell like? It's hard to pin down. A riotous mess of color, jpeggy artifacts, and deep fried memes. The electric buzz of licking a computer screen, VHS tearing, and overexposed color film. Hubris and really, really low quality Troll Rose Art crayons.

Jeez. This has to be the SORD...... Nothing else could smell this extraordinarily shitty.

Dave donks the monster and it becomes immediately clear that the weapon is completely and utterly useless. Worse than useless, maybe. Terezi wouldn't be surprised if hitting someone with it actually healed them. Or made them start shaking in the air like a Bethesda game physics glitch. It's a coin flip.

As funny as that would be to see (smell), Dave needs help. Terezi gets a running start and launches herself at the shadow in a high-speed dropkick and hollers like the thirteen year old internet idiot she used to be:]

Dynamic entry!

[ryuji]

[He might've taken his leader's choice words to heart, despite the fact that they were placed under a moniker in a new comms device over the network: Check on those whom you've come to know and care about on this station- and when he does the 'uze by sending out some feelers via text, not receiving a reply is a good enough reason to check; just be DOUBLY sure that shit from his home world wasn't fucking around and complicating the already annoying levels of crap that are going on elsewhere.

To anyone near him when it happens, it would've looked absolutely ridiculous. He improvises a weapon from his chin up bar by detaching it down from the entrance to the bathroom in his room, and makes sure his Turf Gun is at the ready. The app activation is pretty much something he's used to, even the weird rippling effect as reality turns to cognition and back to a new subset of reality space. And Ryuji's here, in the Metaverse, decked out in his proper thief attire.

The public places are the better option to start with; rooms are an unknown for Ryuji when he thinks about it, because they're the dream chambers, which means that any number of feelings that are brewed there could be turned into a number of far worse things, just by merit of thinking them so. He looks around his own bedroom, and it's worth noticing that his and Ren's room looks and operates as a safe room, with waves of the real world trickling in and distorting even the distortions that make up the woven boundaries of the Metaverse. But it kind of makes sense - Ryuji and Ren both see their room as a secure environment, so the cognition around it makes sense.

And there are monsters, everywhere. The worst decision to make when entering this world is to go alone, but with the threat that there were multiple people in danger, it would only make sense to split up where they needed to. Ryuji could handle most of them just fine- they didn't seem like they were anywhere near as strong the ones they encountered when the Prison of Sloth ascended upward into Tokyo.

He's seen some Pretty Weird Shit in here before, but it's definitely new to encounter a shadow that doesn't even look like it's compiled itself correctly, and when he chances upon Dave, face to face with his own repressed feelings, or- back to back? They don't look like they're talking- he doesn't know what the deal is with this. He takes another step forward---]

Dave? Er. Daves?

[This was a mistake.]

i

[mapsio]

[Dave, sweetie. Dave, honey. That sword...no SORD, isn't going to do much. At least, she thinks it won't. Unless Dave believes it will? Then maybe it had a fighting chance. But right now? Nah, she's... really gotta step in.]

I'm glad to see you can hold your own, but, would you like some help?

[Is that Haru with a grenade launcher? Yeah, you bet your ASS it is.]

Do you think you could knock it back a little more and move out of the way?

ota for later in the month, after the first wave of disappearances/rescues

[bu773rfly]

[Against all logic of self-preservation, Erika quietly, cautiously lets herself back into the Metaverse; not once, but a few times after that first, eventful exploration.

The thing that is not Wormmon, but is like Wormmon enough for her to feel alright calling it that, webs off the entry to one of the medbay rooms - the counterpart to the one she's staying in. It's easily peered through, and easily removed by the little Shadow that put it there, but anything hostile will be stopped up by it long enough for Erika to activate the app and return to her bed unscathed.

It works. She has no interest in roaming the other side; just spending time with the thing that looks like Wormmon, and in a body that isn't still about 30% copper. Her body here is almost-but-not-quite like an EDEN avatar, light-feeling and painless even where her joints are locked up. She can sit and code, undistracted by aches and isolated from the station's hostile systems, with her Digimon-like other self curled up at her side and commenting gently on her work, or sitting at the end of her bed and lecturing her on her recent choies. Or just...being there.

A noise at the door will see Wormmon leap to the ground ready to confront another Shadow, and Erika with her finger poised over the button to Go Home. But they do look first, and listen for voices that aren't layered and monstrous...]

[uragiru]

[ exploring the Metaverse isn't turning much up, and Akechi isn't particularly surprised. even if Yaldabaoth were somehow responsible for this, for any of it, that would only be all the more reason for Akechi to be left in the dark once again. but there is something different about this place, compared to home; the cognitive populace is strange, the surroundings are less distorted. he's tried a dozen times to find Mementos and it just leaves him on the Metaverse side of wherever he was standing. he may not have gotten the information that Ren did, but he was in the Metaverse for years before they came along, and he knows it. the cognition here is askew.

it might be the small number of residents, or the lack of a real society here. it could be the station itself fucking around. either way: he decides that for a small-scale replication of the Metaverse, he should be exploring it on a small scale. room by room, looking for things out of place, any reflections that might show an influence on this place.

the obvious places to examine are areas where people congregate, where they might have lingering impressions of; the Observation Deck, the mess hall, the medbay. if they're a small population, his theory goes, then maybe the cognition is much stronger, able to shape the Metaverse with a few dozen thoughts rather than thousands. maybe it's about resonance. he checks them, one by one, and although there might be the start of something growing in each, it's not enough to make a judgement yet. by the time he gets to the medbay, he's not expecting much of anything.

definitely not Erika cocooned inside, calm as anything. her Shadow? he wonders, but— as strange as this Metaverse is, it doesn't seem like he should encounter a true Shadow if he wasn't looking for it. this isn't Mementos, it isn't a Palace. it's not even a real location.

so Erika is probably the real thing, and she's... here. in the Metaverse, like nothing is wrong.

the figure that stands in medbay doorway, staring at her in silence through the gaps in the webbing, is hard to identify as human or Shadow. there are Shadows that look plenty human, after all, and the figure's covered face doesn't help tell the difference. when Wormmon reacts, though, it doesn't seem to have any intention of moving further in. it blinks with red eyes beneath its pointed mask, mouth set in a hard line, seems to hesitate as if it's thinking of turning and leaving — and then it gives a slight, narrow smile, and knocks politely on the wall beside the doorway. ]

[twoaffirmations]

[So this was the metaverse...

He'd thought that network post by the "phantom thieves" was phony until the app had appeared on his own device, and of course 9S with his natural curiosity had to check it out. Now he was stuck, but he'd figure out how to solve that after he finished exploring.]

Everything seems like it's in the right place... [He muses after he's finished checking out his room, and then makes a trip to the medbay where a strange creature leaps out to meet him.]

An enemy?! [He draws his sword.]

[hopefragment]

[closed to haru]

[Does Hajime fully understand the Metaverse, even after having it explained to him? Not really. Does he know how to use the app to enter? Only partially. He'd already gone in with the actual Phantom Thieves once before, and just-- found himself on the sidelines, only able to watch. The toy gun Ryuji had lent him was literally just... a toy in his hands.

He trusts them, but he can't help but feel like they're messing with him. Their guns all looked real inside this weird shadowy replica of the station. His still looks and feels like a toy. "Cognition" this, "belief" that. It's all too nonsensical, too far outside even what he's come to accept as normal on this station.

But the fact remains that whatever this place is? It's very real. He hadn't meant to end up here alone, but before he knew it, his feet had started to splash through something he couldn't quite explain, the vague distortion he'd come to associate with this weirdness. But then again, this is a good opportunity. If he can practice, maybe he can justify Ryuji's belief in him. Be able to come back and show off some cool mask and his own set of magic powers.

Which is how he finds himself face-to-face with some weird medieval knight astride a massive horse, a very obvious toy gun held in one shaky hand as he tries very, very desperately to believe it's real.

Plink, plink, plink. Foam bullets bounce off the knight's armor, and the demon just laughs. And charges toward him, full-speed ahead. Something collides with his chest and hurls him back, sending him flying several feet up and back with a scream of terror until he slams against the corridor wall and collapses, curled up and gasping for breath. If ever there'd be a time for a magic mask to appear, now would be the time.]

[open!]
1.

[Sometime later, Hajime can be found in the Metaverse, though it's less because he wants to be there by himself to prove something about himself, but more because he keeps just-- slipping into the damn thing. He's gotten much, much better at hiding and running since his unfortunate mishap trying to channel some non-existent magical powers.

Instead, he beckons to someone else who seems to be lost, trying to wave them behind the doorway he's currently half-hidden behind.]

C'mon, it's not safe to go that way. Let's go around, I can get you out... I think.

[He doesn't know much -- he's not a real Phantom Thief like his friends -- but he can work the app, and he's a steady voice of reason in all the chaos. That has to count for something, right?]

2.

[Although-- sometimes hiding doesn't work. Sometimes running is the only option he has, which is why Hajime can be found sprinting down the corridor, chased by what seems like, for all intents and purposes, a floating jack-o-lantern. Lovely.]

Shit shit shit shit-!

[If you can fight it, you're more than welcome to! Hajime is Not.]

you know what content im here for

[mapsio]

[Haru had been the biggest advocate for Hinata not going to the Metaverse alone until he had a grip on the power of cognition. Imagining a nerf gun to be real for instance, until Hinata had that under control... she was definitely preferring to accompany him.

She has been ducking in and out of the Metaverse herself for the last few days, checking out the alternate station. Seeing if any secrets lie here. Her trip today? Something felt off to her. Haru learned as a Phantom Thief to always trust your gut.

Today? She's glad she did. Though death isn't permanent in the long run, if she had been another second longer she is certain that she would have found Hinata dead instead of gasping for breath. In an instant she calls Milady to shield them while she crouches down next to him.]

Are you okay? Is anything broken?

[The shadow is about to P A Y.]

enjoy #2 hinata

[uragiru]

[ Akechi only re-enters the Metaverse, over and over again, to investigate it. he isn't here to save people. but he's not a heartless monster, either. there's no real cost-benefit analysis to be made of the situation, because there's very little cost or benefit that exists on this station anyway; it's just that he doesn't see any need to leave lost souls behind to die when he could just as easily shoo them out of the Metaverse and go on his way unhindered.

it's less simple when there's a Shadow involved, and he could always run too, but that irks him somehow, worse given that it's Hajime Hinata running away. it won't matter if he dies, he tells himself. it won't matter, and — Pyro Jack. he can kill Pyro Jack, even with nothing but a straight razor in his hand, because all he needs is a weapon and a conviction. he steps between the Shadow and Hinata, and takes a swipe at it; darts to the side to dodge an Agi, looks back at Hinata to see if the Phantom Thieves have at least given their stray pet something to defend himself with—

Hinata may not be able to see his rescuer's face behind the pointed mask and the helmet that covers him from his chin to the top of his head, but he'd know the voice that snaps at him: ]

Is that a gun? [ he sounds incredulous, angry. ] What are you doing?! Shoot it!

2!!!

[theunluckygirl]

Hajime!

[While Jennifer certainly doesn't look like a fighter, there is an old-fashioned pistol clutched tightly in one hand and a kitchen knife tucked carefully away in her dress.

She sets her jaw, takes aim with the pistol, and fires with a grim sort of confidence. She's not great, but she's obviously shot a gun before and though it doesn't seem to do much damage, it's enough of a distraction that the creature reels back. It gives them an opening, which is all Jennifer could hope for. She grabs for Hajime's hand]

Come on, let's go!

1

[hyperfresh]

[A little out of breath from the running she's been doing from all this stuff that wants to attack her, Marina takes several sharp steps back when she sees something waving from behind a doorway. But it sounds like a person, and if he can get out of here... She hurries over.]

You can? How?

2.

[gundamned]

[Gundam... doesn't truly understand what's going on here as he has never been privy to a conversation about the metaverse. However, such details are not necessary. There are enough context clues around him to figure out he's been pulled into another dimension of sorts. Such is the norm for the Supreme Overlord of Ice...

The only problem being-- his Four Dark Devas of Destruction did not transcend the barrier between the realms with him and he can't seem to penetrate it again to get back to them. It would be distressing for anyone else but! He will not panic! No!]

Emissary of evil hear my--!!

[Gundam's kneeling around the corner of a hallway walk way with an eyeliner pen, drawing the beginnings of a summoning circle on the floor. He looks up hearing Hajime shouting in distress, but doesn't quite see him yet.]

...?

goro akechi, persona 5 » ota

[uragiru]

1. ENTER THE METAVERSE █ AND YEAH, MY EYES ARE BLACK

[ among the costumed heroes that are making rescues in the Metaverse, there's one that's much less approachable than the others. unlike them, his mask covers his entire face, making both his identity and his expression indecipherable. he's wandering around and he seems to have at least some idea of where he's going, or what he's doing, because he knows when to hide, when to run, how to get around quietly in this strange empty station.

if he sees you, he won't say a word — but he will approach, reaching out to take you by the arm forcefully. ]

2. CLOSED TO RYUJI █ AND YEAH, THEY CAUGHT ME LOOKING

( cw for potential suicidal ideation )

[ a little over a month ago, under the influence of the contaminated station food and the pressure of sheer exhaustion, Akechi came to the certainty that life and death, here, are equally meaningless. anyone who dies will only wake up again, perhaps with a little less of themselves, and in the scope of their situation, what does it matter to lose something? this is Purgatory, for Akechi. nothing will ever change. ever. he's already dead, anyway.

it makes him reckless. the first time he'd stepped into the Metaverse when it appeared on the station, he had immediately found the absence in his mind: no Personas. no Loki, no Robin Hood. nothing to defend himself with but a straight razor he takes with him from his room. but it doesn't matter, so he goes back in alone, to explore this Metaverse and learn it as well as he had learned the one back home. (which wasn't well enough, apparently.) if there are familiar signs — if the Shadows here will listen to him, even without Loki's presence... a part of him honestly wants Yaldabaoth to be responsible for this, too. he wants answers that even Ren can't give him.

despite his lack of self-preservation, he's not an idiot. he sneaks around the Shadows once he finds them patrolling the floors of the station Metaverse, waits patiently to follow them. but this lacks the organised layout and the safe corners of a Palace; these Shadows have nothing to guard. so it's not surprising that one, eventually, catches him off-guard.

if it were a smaller one, maybe he could have fought it off with the straight razor. but Rakshasa would skewer him if he tried to get in close enough for that, and it would hardly even do him much good against a Shadow that resists physical attacks. he came in here knowing he had very little for protection. he knows that, and he still freezes up, with the Shadow staring him down and a powerless void in him filling up with fear. he's going to die. it'll only be a nuisance, but—

he's scared. ]

3. THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT █ ALL OF THESE NAMES ARE AS PERMANENT AS GRAVES

[ for the past month, Akechi has been scarce, difficult to get a hold of. he's spent most of his time holed up in his room, only emerging to get food from the replicators and take it from the mess hall immediately. but a few days after the appearance of the Metanav, he ends up sitting by the window on the Observation Deck, looking out into space while his smartwatch prompts him in a feminine voice:

Please enter a destination. he bites down on his thumbnail. ]

Prison. [ Conditions have not been met. ] Of course not. ... A colosseum? [ Conditions have not been met. ] Damn it. Competition, competition...

3

[imperialsun]

Hey. Are you trying to guess the password?

[Naoya had heard that voice before from the application appearing on his own, but nothing he had gotten him inside when HE wanted to. Now he saw Akechi as just someone else trying to do the same thing after finding the application there.]

I'm sad that Open Sesame didn't work, personally.

[theunluckygirl]

A-- Enter the Metaverse

[Jennifer really wishes she could say these sorts of things were novel experiences. She wishes, for once, she could have some shifting of reality like this and have a normal reaction, instead of just feeling resigned. Her shoulders slump, she sighs a little--there's a general feeling of, 'oh no, again?' to her manner.

She wanders slowly, hands clutched to her chest, and upon seeing someone else there's a rush of a relieved breath]

Thank goodness. I thought everyone had disappeared. Do you know what's going on?

B- Damsel in Distress

[Monsters. Of course there's monsters. Jennifer knows how to fight back, mostly, but that doesn't mean she wants to. Her first encounter goes...less than stellar, as she screams and immediately runs.

She's actually doing a pretty good job of evading and hiding, reflexes honed from too much time spent dodging her bullies and the like, but of course, Jennifer isn't known as The Unlucky Girl for nothing. Her shoes slide when she turns a particular corner too sharply, and down she goes with another short scream, hitting the ground with a solid thud. Her chin knocks painfully against the floor and she groans, a bit dazed, as the Shadow closes in on her.

Send help.]

C-- A prince to the rescue

[Eventually Jennifer is able to find her feet, and now it's her turn to fight back!!

...Okay, generally, she takes the "run away and hide" approach first, but if she's forced to she fights back rather savagely. She's got an old-fashioned pistol and a knife, which she seems to handle with... Not ease or expertise, but there's a definite feeling that she knows what she's doing. She's savage and unrefined with the knife, but the gun is wielded with a bit more ease.

She also won't hesitates to run in to help anyone who looks like they need the help, no matter how dire.]

Are you alright? [She certainly looks exhausted herself, but she's more interested in making sure whoever she's talking to is okay first.]

D- You're not me

[Jennifer's 'other self' is a strange one. It doesn't appear to be able to stay as just one person. The image is distorted and hazy and keeps fluctuating between a little girl, a little boy, and the grown Jennifer.

The real Jennifer hangs back, looking a little pain as she watches the transitions happen]

What... does it mean? Why do we have doppelgangers...?

Wildcard!

[For all your Other Shenanigans, as needed]

B!

[mapsio]

[Haru just keeps running into people who she knows definitely shouldn't be in the Metaverse. She unfortunately sees this entire moment, shoe slip to ground. Ouch.

But no fear, Jennifer! Haru is on her way.]

Hang on, I'm coming!

[She calls on Milady to shield them and help keep the shadow at bay while she crouches next to Jennifer.]

Are you okay? Is anything hurt too badly? You took quite a fall there.

Arid | The Fall | OTA

[thefaulty]

002. i don’t feel like i’m even here
[As one of the fortunate few who actually have the Metanav app on their devices, Arid does not find the experience of transfer quite as upsetting as others might. After the app brings her to the strange, empty station, it is only logical to attempt using the same app to bring herself back. Her instinct proves correct. With some experimentation, she manages to return, appearing back on the real station with the same brief bout of disorientation that she'd felt when she departed.]

Interesting…

[She attempts traveling back and forth a couple of more times in an effort to learn more about the transport process. Which means anybody either on the real version of the station or in the Metaverse will see Arid blink in and out of existence repeatedly. What’s that about?]

004. you may just watch me disappear (cw: reference to canon sexual assault)
As it turns out, Arid isn’t the only version of herself wandering the Metaverse. Like the others, Arid’s Shadow walks the empty station as if in a trance, taking no notice of passersby. Instead, it talks to itself, voice as monotone as ever, but with words that seem to refer to events far darker than its impassive tone implies.

”Myself. My obsession. My rule.”

“I broke more than routine.”

“He fought to survive. I fought to use.”

“She implored me, offering alternatives. I silenced her, focusing upon myself.”

And one word, repeated throughout, the same evaluation for every crime the Shadow lists: ”Irreparable.”

It will continue in this pattern, the list of transgressions and the same condemnation, over and over again. If approached by an AI, it will retreat, only shoving pursuers away if backed into a corner. Approaching organics, on the other hand, will see a very different side to the Shadow. The second its personal space is breached, its reaction is immediate and violent, a lunge that seeks to grab the trespasser by the throat. The calm monotone from before is broken, replaced by a desperate cry of anger and fear. And its faceplate—its faceplate is nearly lost in a tangle of writhing black tendrils.

”I will not be violated again!”

wildcard!
[Want a different thread? Arid can be found wandering the Metaverse with a mind to exploration, so feel free to have your character run into her there! She’s also very confident in her own combat abilities and thus will have little trouble curb-stomping monsters, which means she’s also available for fight team-ups/rescues. If you have another idea in mind, feel free to PM or hit me up at crimsonxiphos.]

venus | we know the devil

[wingstosee]

first cont[a]ct » locked: erika mishima

[ she heads to erika's room before the medbay. she's not sure why, past force of habit - it just feels wrong. sort of like everything else this week. sort of like jupiter vanishing. it's another fifteen minutes before she manages to make it to where erika's being kept, the sound of the opening doors and her small wave the only warning she gives. ]

Hey. [ it seems- insufficient. not enough. but it's better than nothing. she walks to the medbay dock, hesitating before taking a seat next to the resting girl. ] Are you, uh... are you holding up okay?

here there [b]e shadows » various locations

[ she is thoroughly, completely lost.

well, okay, that's not true! she definitely knows where she is. she even technically knows how to get out of this place - it's the app on her smartwatch. like, she gets that. but this place is weird, and things don't seem quite right, and most importantly- ]

I thought fairies were supposed to be nice!

[ -most importantly, the shadows around here are kind of assholes. they're swarming her, buzzing and biting and kicking at her and laughing, and she's had about enough. she draws her hand back, lets loose a desperate yell, and punches one hard.

she's expecting the way her fist impacts the smaller being, the feeling of force and pushback. she's not expecting the flare of light off her body, or the way the faerie just sort of... poofs?? into shadow?? the others back off her for a moment, and - still with a fair bit of trepidation - she puts her dukes up. ]

I- I'm not scared of you! I'll do that again if I have to!

shadow [c]lones » bar

[ within the metaverse, your path is filled with shadows. you turn left, right, down one hall and through the doors to the bar-

-and there she is. like a flower, venus is in bloom. like a heart, venus is beating. like a soul, she is shining like a soul.

she doesn't say anything, at first. in fact, she doesn't move towards you. she stays where she is in front of the bar, quietly watching. she holds her wings tight to her body, hugging herself close. her golden eyes are pleading for- something, certainly something, but who can say what?

do you approach her? ]

[bu773rfly]

[A day and a half ago, Erika had been absolutely certain she was going to die again, and hoped against reason that it would happen sooner rather than later.

Then the petrification stopped in its tracks, and the pain receded, backing down from "excruciating" to "insistent". An unpleasantly familiar status quo followed. Time has a way of dragging itself out after things like that. It already feels like she's been lying here forever, alternating between fitful dozing and typing away at some sort of project and gentle conversation with one visitor or another. The pain waxes and wanes but comes back a little weaker each time.

It's fine. She's not one of the ones who died, so it's fine.

Venus catches her in the middle of staring at the ceiling, riding out an ache that's throbbing up her back and through her shoulder, making her arm weak and shredding her focus. Memetan is draped limply over her stomach; the holoscreen blinks blithely above her like a signpost. There's an aura of exhaustion that hangs heavy even when Erika turns her head and genuinely beams, reacting immediately and without intention to Venus' presence.]

Mmmhm.

[Everyone is messed up. There's a lot she doesn't know yet about who's in what condition - the perils of being laid up for a day. But she is happy right now to see Venus, apart from any other sorrows - because she has a visitor, because the visitor is a friend, because she's a bit loopy and sentimental with the high of survival and renewed resolve - and it is their rule to be genuine first. She stretches out her good arm, the right one, palm-up, lets it hang off the bed for Venus to take.]

closed to phantom thieves

[foolishjourney]

[Minato remembered Ren and Ryuji talking about the Metaverse with him, when they'd had their initial introductory conversation with each other. It wasn't readily apparent to him that this was what he was currently experiencing, though he certainly knew it had to be something in his wheelhouse when he started running into Shadows in the distance as he carefully snuck around the corners of the halls.

(Well, they weren't what he was used to with Shadows — to him, these were Personas. But he'd also had that conversation with them already, about that very same disconnect, so it was an easy conclusion to make.)

Either way, he knew he was in deep trouble right now. Weapon-less, Evoker-less, and alone, Minato wasn't sure what he should do. He was lucking out so far with avoiding the Shadows, but how much longer could he really manage to do so? He wasn't ready to die, not here, not yet, even if death was a fickle thing on the station. There were no guarantees about anything for sure, and he wasn't ready to chance it. He had too much he still wanted to do...

It wasn't surprising, in the end, that his luck had managed to run out, turning a corner straight into a large mob of Shadows. As they all turned to look at him, rushing forward to attack, Minato turns tail to run as fast as he can, not knowing where he was going besides away. If he could find someone, anyone—]

Guh!

[Why did he have such shitty luck on the station? Why was this his life? That was all that could cross his mind as he tripped over his own feet and went sprawling to the floor in a heap, only just barely managing to catch himself with his hands to avoid a more painful collision. He rolls over onto his back to watch as the Shadows continued their approach, and grits his teeth — why did he have to be so powerless? He was sick and tired of it, sick of being some sort of weak person that needed protecting, sick of being a damsel in distress that needed saving, someone who couldn't even so much as take out a puny bunch of Shadows that he would've decimated in the past. He clenches his fist, closes his eyes, and wills something, anything to happen.]

C'mon... I know you're there... just help me...

[His voice is but a frantic whisper, fingernails digging into his palm.]

[ryuji]

[As much as it made sense for Ren to go alone- he could summon multiple personas on his own, their initial sweeps of the Metaverse to check on people, making sure that anyone who shouldn't have wandered in there finds a safe way out, were done as teammates. He didn't understand this- how this place could manifest in the station, even though the obvious answer was there. People had become miserable through the various things that had happened to them, and the cognitive dissonance that existed under the repressed feelings and pain were enough to open the door for this world to follow their adversaries right after. Ren had said "the last heist"... the last time they had delved into Mementos and prepared for their fight against Yaldabaoth. But this didn't feel like the last of anything. It felt like a beginning. The first in a series of nightmares that wanted to come and claim anyone and everyone Ryuji cared about.

And it blew.

Emotions aside, despite the fact that he was chock full of them, Ryuji works with Haru to ensure that the preliminary work here is done. There's no possible way to clear the entire station of shadows, and by this point, Ryuji's stamina is staring to dwindle. He can only summon Seiten-Taisei a few more times before he's wiped out, so he has to make the next few ones count.

He hears the shout of a Guh! and immediately, his masked face turns to Haru.]

Someone's over there. C'mon!

[No one was going to get hurt.

No one.]