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» 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.

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I definitely didn't... not just hit on you?

[At least he's getting better at it? Maybe. The light ribbing in return only makes his power grow stronger, and he's sitting there, a half smile and a sense of accomplishment away from doing that shit again to him, but there are things they ought to be focusing on. Right.]

Hm... yeah, I ain't that great at thinkin' about stuff that I don't kinda already have context for. It just made sense when you started talkin' about your thing, I guess.

[It wasn't like he was actively trying to hide any of this, either, it's just... he had no way of actually utilizing the metaverse here before. It was an extreme what-if sort of situation. He thought this thieving days were straight up forced into retirement. Why bother harping about something he couldn't even do any longer?

Still, there's a bunch of unresolved things here, relating to Dave and all the reasons that shadow was so incredibly hostile to him. He had an inkling of why that was, but if they're going to get anywhere with this, then, some things are going to have to be faced. And nobody wants to go through that- nobody wants to see the feelings that they've put away, tucked tightly inward, be so put on for show and used against them. Backfiring wasn't even the worst outcome that could possibly happen. Making Dave lose his sense of self, undergo a shut-down... that's the thing that's at stake, here. He needs to impress that upon him in a decently useful way.]

I ain't gonna lie to you, here. If you have to kill your shadow, there's gonna be nothing left of you out here left. If I have to go 'n steal your heart, you're not gettin' any real closure, you're just gonna change and lose a part of what makes you, you.

[He sucks in air through his teeth, complete with the annoying sound that comes with it.]

But if he ain't gonna talk to you, then it's gonna be useless. Which means... that until that happens, I can't go in there without havin' to hide from him comin' after me. [He realizes what he's saying here, and, yeah... okay, maybe it's a little flustering to know that your boyfriend's inner self will stop at literally nothing to protect you? It's cool. Really, he's kind of touched over the whole thing.]

So... I guess the first step's changin' your own cognition of yourself out here. If you let down your defenses, the you that's in there might be more receptive to you. [That's a really weird fucking statement to make.]

But that might take time, too. I mean. That was... uh. There were definitely some... dead... versions of you in there? Sure, 13 year old you was kinda a dick, but like. Shit, that's rough to see. It's probably not something you can even come to terms with over one conversation. And if that's the case, I can wait before goin' back in. The other thieves can handle this stuff.

[He's talking way too much, and he knows he is, but he also doesn't have a solid plan here, other than dragging a baby by the cape and making them apologize to each other.]

Or I guess we could take an extreme route and you could like, take me hostage until he talks to you, or something. [Don't let him call the shots.]

Okay ... we can pretty much scratch that last idea you just had, because there's no way I'm doin' it.

[he knows he's overprotective, and that he's being so here. that's not really the distorted part of him, the repressed desire that needs addressing. it's more the fact that he's failed at it so many times that he can't bear the idea of it ever happening again. maybe he's started taking baby steps toward accepting where he is now, that he'd fucked up a lot of shit over the past three years, but he still hasn't really given himself a chance to mourn what he's lost. to find peace with it all.]

[boy. admitting all of this shit out loud and trying to figure out how to work through it so the Metaverse isn't haunted by a horde of violent Shadows of himself is going to be ... fucking awful.]

I ... yeah. Sorry you had to see all that. [all those tiny dead Daves, he means.] I mean, it's not the sorta shit you bring up in casual conversation, and I'll admit I didn't really want anybody to find out, either.

Which I guess is why it's front and fucking center in there.

I trust you, though. And if you say that it'd be better for you to wait while I, uh. Deal with this? Let my guard down enough? Then I'm just gonna have to sign my selfish permission slip again and say I'm cool with that — with you staying safe. Even if it's staying safe from me.

[Internal systems check: was that a dumb idea? Yeah, that was definitely not the right step to take, but Ryuji smirks at him when he completely dunks it in the trashbin, where it belongs. Guns blazing rarely ever really works, and forcing a change to happen through that style of determination is probably as good as just stealing his heart and getting it over with.

But, also, since their usual cadence of conversations runs the gamut of weird to wonderful, it stands to be said that all of this happening right now? Expectedly unexpected, for the most part. How is he supposed to sit down and tell someone that- yeah, it's cool if you died a bunch of times, still gonna support you and try to help you figure this shit out? He doesn't even know if he's got the right equipment to tackle this on, or even if Dave really... wants the help here.

Either way, he looks at Dave, searching for some of that guidance, somewhere.]

It's cool. I don't really blame you, man. How do you even go about that sorta thing? 'Hey, so just so you know, I'm like... a mega overlord cat with way more than 9 lives. Lemme just tell you all about how I've died a bunch of times.'

[He didn't want to burden Ryuji like that, right? Hurt him by letting him know about these things.]

But uh, I mean. It's whatever. It's a part of who you are, and like. Maybe you don't see yourself that way, or somethin', but... for what it's worth, I can't imagine... that those versions of you from the past weren't tryin' their best to keep the people you care about safe. And maybe you messed up along the way, and you gotta get through some of that, but at the other end of everything... it doesn't have to tell you who you're gonna be.

[Sitting up, he reaches over and drapes an arm around his shoulder. He's been through this before. Not with the added consequence of dying a bunch of times, but he's come to terms with a lot of failures and fuck ups in his life. He thinks back to the track team he was a part of, and even though he would never reconnect with those old friends, he at least thought he was in a position to say... okay, it's time to chart a path I want to follow.]

So I guess I'm sayin... take as much time as you need. You're more important to me than anything that world's got to offer. I'm cool with just bein' Ryuji of Guy, over here.

[every time this happens, it gets easier, feels a bit more natural, to just go ahead and lean on Ryuji. and he may be tired, too, but that comfortable feeling is there, so he pretty much does so immediately, scooting closer and reciprocating, wrapping an arm around Ryuji's back.]

[Dave's shadow has some pretty fucked up ideas on how to protect someone, but Dave himself thinks he's on the right track here. even if he doesn't necessarily like the path it's gonna take to fix this (which, it keeps occurring to him, is the point, isn't it?), he'll walk it if it ultimately results in Ryuji's safety.]

[and maybe by the end of it he'll figure out how good it'd be for him, too.]

[but, on an equally important measure:]

Mega Overlord Cat. [......] Y'know, I kinda like that title. Maybe even better than immortal god of hamster Valhalla.

[what the ... hell, Dave. of course he'd like the idea of being a cat, his fursona literally has the surname "Purrmusk," whatever measure of sincerity he actually meant with that. but he breathes a little sigh, feeling some of the tension of their conversation topic dissolving.]

Thanks, though, dude. For everything. [honestly, he feels pretty damn lucky here. like, Ryuji could have gotten a load of all that excessive baggage in the form of a horde of dead Daves and just straight up left, but ... he didn't. he stuck by him.]

[not that Dave expected him to bolt, that's not the kind of person Ryuji is, he just. well, okay, the fear's always there in some tiny, irrational form. where's the line between "messed up" and "too messed up," and how do you know if you've crossed it?]

[honestly, the fact that they are here, arms around each other in the middle of the hallway, is enough evidence that he's not anywhere near that line. and that he is, in fact, about ready to start walking away from it.]

[What the fuck?]

What the hell is hamster Val--- oh. You musta met Gundam.

[The hamster thing should have pinged him to clue him on where this was going, but his brain caught up to it after he began, which put him exactly where he was; cutting himself off mid sentence to come to that weird as shit revelation. And god, if having a fursona named Purrmusk isn't questionable enough, he hopes that Dave never finds out how much he actually gets a kick out of being turned into a werewolf magically. Fucking wolvaan spell... there weren't any personas he knew of from his timeline that could do that, so did it die off by natural selection? Things he doesn't want to know.

But, more importantly, it's not like Ryuji doesn't come with his own baggage to begin with. And he's way, way too determined to just say screw it, this is too weird to give up on Dave. As long as he has a place by his side, he's going to keep doing this. Keep wrapping his arm around his shoulder, telling him that the weird shit is okay. The tough shit, too. Whatever else.

He's been in the Metaverse almost all day trying to figure out why it was even in the station. That's another question that'll have to be figured out later, but there's always a side effect that lingers on Ryuji whenever he uses his persona to kick ass- he's got some residual electricity running through him, and it's... funny to see what it can do to things like hair and dryer sheets. So, he'll move his head a little closer in Dave's direction to see if he can pull off the magnetism thing on him. Ryuji chuckles like a doofus, and accepts Dave's gratitude in the way he knows how.]

Yeah, no problem. You don't gotta even thank me, you know? It's just sorta natural. Like you've got this kinda static thing goin' on that just pulls me right... to you.

[This is a pretty serious moment, and all, and Dave will have to come to terms with himself at some point or another, but there's no rush. It's not like he has to pull off his shades in a giant, bloody mess to jump into battle and force his way through cognition via brute force. And wherever, or if ever, Ryuji can help... he wants to be there for him.]

Yeah. I mean, I can't really figure out the guy, but the ham — wait what are you doing.

[if Ryuji's goal was to pull something like a living static balloon trick, then he's in luck, because Dave's hair is pretty much the perfect consistency for it. and he can feel all those strands of hair lifting and escaping his carefully curated coiffure.]

[dude. dude! that's his 'do!]

[though, this sort of cements something more than it draws hair away from one's head via static. you know — the fact that bird types are weak to electric types.]

[it also cements the fact they're going to be all right.]

Are you for real right now?

[That 'do is a goner. Ryuji smiles as he brings the hand around Dave's shoulder upward, just to hover at the back of his head and watch more of it move upward to in a pining sort of way, just to meet his hand. He's way, way too fucking amused by all of this, ignoring the questioning that's dumped in his lap, since it was pretty obvious what he was trying to pull off.

This is some cute shit, he has to admit. And he's about to confirm that, yes, he was messing with him, before Dave blurts out two words that Ryuji knows really, really goddamn well. In fact, so well, that it's burrowed its way into his top ten list of phrases, snuggled somewhere between "This is BULLSHIT!" and "Goddamnit!". For real. The shit eating grin on his face right now is unbearable and victorious.]

Yeah. I'm pretty forreal.

[And maybe Dave's used that phrase a ton of times before, but he's going to take the idea of "rubbing off on him" to heart as he just slides a few fingers into the back of his hair, lifting it upward and watching it try its best to cling. With a little bit of rough shaking, he pulls back, not realizing how intimate it is to just... rifle through a dude's hair like that... and see it stand on end in all the wrong directions.

Ryuji audibly sighs.]

Color me effin' shocked.

Unbelievable.

[yeah, this is completely and utterly forreal, isn't it? Dave's hair barely even resembles a sort of bird anymore, it's a lot more like one of those cartoons where a dog jumps out of the water or something, shakes off and immediately puffs out into an unrecognizable giant ball of fluff. except a lot more ... shocking.]

[and honestly, he doesn't read much into the hair ruffling at first either, aside from the fact that Ryuji's found a brand new way to be obnoxious and is currently basking in it, judging by the pretty fucking impressive shit-eating grin he's sporting. any other connotations it might have don't really hit him until after Ryuji's stopped, and there's the way the nape of his neck is still sort of tingling from the touch, and not at all from the static.]

H-hey. [did he just sputter? did Ryuji just accidentally stumble on a weak spot?]

[yes. yes to both.]

You just earned yourself a triple-decker revenge for that.

[no, he didn't forget about those earlier transgressions, which ... also included a hair ruffle, actually. and yes, he's pretty obviously blustering a bit, not really putting any bite into this threat of revenge, as he lifts both his hands to try to smooth down his hair. it only sort of works.]

[The sound of his laughter comes in crisp and just as obnoxious as his smirking features did a few seconds ago. Yeah, pretty un-fucking-believable, to be honest, but don't think for a second he didn't catch that little stutter. Has he actually ever heard him do that? He has to seriously go through the memory banks to pull that one out, and it's just as amusing to watch him pretend to get pissed about it and try to press down his hair back into a recognizable shape.]

Still waiting for the first and second deck, dude. Can't serve me dinner without workin' on the breakfast and lunch of revenge, man. Don't even get me started on just desserts, either.

[And then it kind of settles in- like the whole part about Dave getting slightly flustered was amusing at first, and, yeah, he wanted to chase that high for as long as he could, but the second wave of recognition was a resurgence of things that he's coming to realize and get a little bit better at accepting in general. The part where Ryuji is steadily becoming more chill with the idea that it's okay to do that stuff to begin with. Like... how nice it would actually be to just chill lazily with his fingers in his hair.

Which, well, okay, that's a thought that's going to be stuck in head way too much from here on out.]

Hey, leave it like that. It looked cute. Had that... just woke up sorta thing goin' on with it. And I gotta admit I'm kinda weak to it.

[Oh god, what?

He let those thoughts just go straight to his mouth, and he bites the inside of his cheek to shut himself up for a second. They were just... dealing with his dead bullshit baby repressed versions, and now this. Ryuji, you're a fucking mess.]

Er.... Eh, screw it, not takin' it back. You wanna get outta the hallway?

[it almost surprises him that he has to resist the urge to stop unmussing his hair, to just go ahead and move about the station, business as usual, looking like he planted both of his hands on a Van de Graaff generator. because as much as Ryuji is thinking he might be chill with doing this sort of thing, Dave's thinking that he's becoming pretty chill with being called cute. it's certainly been said a lot, anyway, both accidentally and on purpose.]

[and ... well, fuck it, they've managed to be goofily flirty in much more serious situations before, and he's not gonna get it back to the preened bird shape it was earlier. he lowers his hands, his hair in a state of not completely out of whack, but still pretty ruffled and fluffy. you win this round, Ryuji.]

Okay, don't think for a second that you're escaping a five-course, Michelin Star round of gourmet revenge here. It's still gonna happen, and I'm still not tellin' you when.

But, yeah, all right. I wouldn't mind zoning the fuck out for a little while.

[hell, maybe Ryuji will get that scenario he's picturing sooner than later. and honestly, what exactly they just experienced, and the reality and full gravity of what Dave's going to have to do to handle it, won't hit him until later. when he's alone with his thoughts, probably. and it'll probably take him a while to not completely blank out on a way to approach it.]

[for now, though? chilling it is.]

[Even though Dave foretells of revenge plots, he can't help but feel at least a little placated by the way he stops trying to pat down his hair. He gets the victory, he'll take it. Put the medal right on his dresser stand and take a look at it every now and then, thinking what sweet effin' loot it is. And besides? It could be worse for him; Ryuji could wait until the precise moment that it's back in its neatly ornithological pristine state before just... holding a hand right above his head and watching it climb back up, only to dismantle the effort it took to get it right again.

Is he that mean? Hm, hard to really tell.]

Yooo... potty mouth.

[Ryuji doesn't mean anything behind it, since he wouldn't mind zoning the fuck out for a while either, and considering this was the kid that was introduced as "vulgar boy," his argument doesn't stand much weight in this court of law. Between Hajime and Dave dropping f-bombs left and right though, Ryuji's found himself doing it way more often than he usually does. He's starting to realize that just because he heard that word a lot when he was a kid doesn't mean it has to hold the same weight now, over a decade later. Is that improvement? Probably not- coming to terms with adding a new curse word doesn't really seem that therapeutic to begin with, but Ryuji's a weird kid.

He eventually uprights himself and offers a hand to Dave to help him up, regardless of whether or not he actually needs it.]

People are gonna think I'm dating some punk ass delinquent if you keep that shit up.

[Here comes that embarrassingly obnoxious smile of his, but he offers a respite for a moment and lets Dave know that he's on board with it too:]

Seriously though... I'm pooped and my leg is startin' to cramp up like crazy. I wouldn't mind zonin' out either. [And then, eventually, he knows Dave will have a lot of stuff to sort out on his own. He probably can't help much there, but, c'mon. He just saw a bunch of dead versions of his boyfriend, he could absolutely use some time with Dave to just be with him and block out the actually kind of messed up trauma they both stumbled onto.]

[Dave can't quite help himself here, as he accepts Ryuji's hand and allows himself to be pulled to a standing position. because Ryuji's gone and perfected a certain art form, gone and made it his own in that overenthusiastic way of his, and while wearing that embarrassingly obnoxious smile of his.]

[it's, you know. irony. and it's the kind of irony that gets a smile, albeit a much smaller one, out of Dave.]

Takes a punk ass delinquent to know one. Is there something you can do for the cramping?

I'd like to refer to you, your honor, [The intonation in honor here denotes absolute levels of sarcasm-] the reference...able... case of rubber vs glue, circa playground times, when it used in a successful defense against Itsuki Nakamura, your standard wise ass of the playground variety. A total case turnaround where the court went completely silent and the result was almost a hung jury. Or, at least, hanging from the monkey bars.

[It's spoken with so much bravado and confidence, Ryuji sticking to this absurd imagery to make his point, which was, namely- that whatever Dave says will bounce off of him and stick back, like he's hopped up on the good elmer's shit.

But, otherwise, Ryuji does the Ryuji thing where once he's up, they're there, side by side, his arms crossed as they start heading off to zone the fuck out, if only to stop himself from slinging an arm around Dave casually and hanging off of him like he's wont to do.]

Maybe eat something with a ton of potassium. Like bananas. Or.... [He hums, smiling, before turning to stare at Dave and deadpan.] Banana milk.

[... whoa.]

I don't know shit about lawyers or lawyering, so as the judge here I'm ruling your argument invalid.

[that's ... well, Dave's proving his point about not knowing how the law works. but he just finds a smirk, jamming his hands in his pockets, completely pleased with his brilliant comeback.]

Wait, that actually has bananas? I figured it was just like. Some weird sorta drink that's vaguely banana flavored, but not actually, because nothing banana flavored actually fuckin' tastes like bananas.

W...what!?

[He wasn't ready to have his defense stricken from the record so easily and the door nailed shut with a gavel, but here he is, and Dave's got the final say in the matter. Ryuji has a pretty vague understanding of parliamentary procedure, and doesn't even know if you can appeal a ruling or anything like that, so he assumes that his judgment is final and everything else is NULL AND VOID.

Which, of course, earns the dude a shove as they're walking. No, you're out of order. Bailiff, take him away.]

Nah, it's mostly just sugar, I think. But you could probably make a killer protein shake with 'em. And it doesn't taste like a banana at all. Kinda has that... uh, super artificial thing going for it? Y'know, the type that kinda coats the top of your mouth and the back of your throat?

[He pauses for a second, considering...]

Man, why the hell do I even like that shit.

[lol. Dave has to sidestep a bit to maintain his balance, hands still casually in his pockets, but he has no regrets, knowing full well he deserved that shove. he’s not above cheating his way out of schoolyard insult court.]

Everybody’s got their weird food vices, I guess.

[he says that in such a little shithead way, too. like, it sort of implies that he’s the exception. Dave’s taste buds are immaculate, obviously. who the hell doesn’t like apple juice, burritos and Whataburger?]

[this is ... a major tonal shift from the horde of dead Daves they were fighting earlier, but it’s exactly what he needed. they haunt him plenty enough as it is.]

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