aterat | Fox through the looking glass!

Entry tags:

Fox through the looking glass!

Who; Yusuke and people!
What; The Dark Hour Event
Where; The other side of the mirror
When; Backdated to the 10th!
Warnings; I will update if there are any major ones!

The arrival - OTA

One would think that after his first excursion through the mirror that Yusuke might have been a little cautious about heading back in again, especially when the sight that met his eyes upon looking at the mirror was decidedly different from it had been last time… But it hadn’t gone poorly the first time, on the contrary it had been a thrilling experience for him and Haru despite the uncertainties around the excursion. So curiosity had won out and through the looking glass, the phantom thief had gone.

What he found on the other side, though, was rather unexpected… Not only because it was such a strange and shocking sight, but because it reminded him of a very specific conversation that he’d had with Mitsuru a few months back… When they had been comparing their experiences with persona and the like, she had explained something called the ‘Dark Hour’ in which people ended up in coffins while shadows roamed the area… And as he stared at the coffins lining the streets? It was hard to not consider the similarities.

“What in the world…” He murmured, eyes wide, instinctively calling the disguise that went along with his persona in place as he realized this might very well be something both strange and familiar… And Goemon might be quite necessary before long.

In his element - OTA

Troubling as the sight of this other aterat might have been, there was something terribly thrilling about falling into the rhythm of battle again. Of cutting down shadows with deadly grace, of calling upon Goemon to join the fray when needed and trusting his other self with the task of sending a beautiful barrage of ice or an attack with a little extra weight to it and watching their enemies fall to clear the path forward… Even after the last few months, it was like second nature, and the only thing missing was the rest of the team. Even as he focused on dodging the strange shadows in this place or clearing a path, his eyes constantly kept a lookout for the familiar sight of the two of his friends who very well could show up in this place.

It didn’t take long for Yusuke to take to higher ground, finding his way to the top of a building in what was the market district in Aterat proper. Hand resting on his chin under his mask as he scanned the area below. He could see the odd form here and there, decidedly wandering shadows looking for something to attack and feed on… The artist couldn’t help but wish he had a sketchpad on him, really. The sight calling to mind a project he’d been meaning to start, something to surprise his friend Haru with…

But the thought gets set aside for now as his eyes narrowed slightly, head tilting to the side as he spotted what decidedly was not a shadow near the base of the building… “Hm…?” He blinked and crouched slightly to get a better look, to make sure it truly was a person and not a shadow.

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He'd be lying if he said he wasn't curious about how other Persona users summoned their Persona. He'd seen what happened to Strega, how they summoned theirs, and it was always painful. Sometimes, Castor was too, but he could handle it now. And sometimes, he had to pay with his own energy for Castor to use his abilities. He wondered if it worked that way for them, too.

Also, having someone to watch your back was never a bad idea, and he wasn't going to leave this kid on his own, either. "Be kinda stupid not to. I'll take point." Because of the physical nature of his Persona, he was durable, and his Persona didn't have any weaknesses. It as a good idea to be the guy who got hit first. In that way, Shinjiro served as a pretty effective tank.

And he started off. He usually worked with a telepath when there were shadows around, which meant things could easily get the jump on them if he didn't pay attention, and he was, even if the way he walked, with the sign propped on one should and his other hand in his pocket, just next to his Evoker on his hip within easy reach, didn't look particularly prepared as stances went, and he didn't walk quietly. It just wasn't his style. If something jumped them, he'd kill it. End of story.

"Your Persona don't happen to sense Shadows does it?"

“Very well! In that case, I shall keep an eye on things from behind to avoid an ambush from here.” Yusuke responded, glad that they’d come to an agreement of sorts despite what Mitsuru had suggested about the guy. It was rather good to have the company, after all, and he was curious what kind of persona the man had. It must be something particularly formidable, at least, for him to decide to take the lead so quickly. Then again, perhaps he was more used to the idea than anything… He didn’t know enough about him yet to be certain of anything.

The question gets a slight tilt of his head. What a curious question. “I’m afraid not, no. Goemon is more equipped for combat and speed.” He responded with a shrug, offering that much about his persona. “I presume you’re accustomed to working in a group that does, though?” He’s making conversation more than anything, hand remaining lightly on the hilt of his blade as his eyes darted this way and that to keep an eye out for shadows.

Of course, Shinjiro being in the lead meant he probably would see the shadows ahead of them first as they moved around the corner from an opening in a side street. Three rather large, blobbish entities were attracted by their presence as they walked down the street.

With a nod and without further comment, Shinjiro started off. It wasn't often he'd patrolled anywhere without Mitsuru's input or the ability to locate shadows before they got the jump on them, so he was wary.

"Goemon. That your Persona?" He knew enough about Persona users to know they all had their different strengths and weaknesses, so he was curious. "What's yours do?"

And as he rounded the corner, three shadows crawled into view. "Guess you'll get a chance to show me." His demeanor changed as he lifted the street sign from his shoulder, a smirk spreading across his face. "Come on, bastards. Get some."

They transformed as they approached, becoming hulking bulls with thickly corded muscles and horns that ended in gleaming metal tips. As the lead one breathed, steam billowed around it. And then it charged. Shinjiro grunted as he widened his stance, catching the thing between the horns on the flat of that street sign, then with a growl of effort and far more strength than a human without the benefits of a Persona could muster, hurled it away. It rolled before coming back up on its hooves and as it recovered, the other two crouched as though preparing to lunch and Shinjiro pulled his Evoker from its holster.

His grimace turned into a wicked grin as he placed it to his temple and pulled the trigger. With a crackle and a flash of light a large blond humanoid astride a strange stylized horse that appeared to be carved of stone charged forward, swinging its spear in a huge arc that sent the charging two rolling as well, black sludge leaking from wounds it opened up in both of them, and then it was gone.

“Indeed!” He confirmed, smiling lightly at the question. “Ability wise he is capable of both ice elemental attacks and several physical attacks.” He responded as he followed along behind, letting Shinjiro keep an eye ahead while he kept an eye on the road behind them for a possible sneak attack. “What about your own?” It seemed fair enough to ask, although there wasn’t much time or need for an answer as the shadows crawled into view and things escalated about as quickly as one could expect in a situation like this.

The size of the shadows alone was rather alarming, considering there were three and only two of them. While he had a feeling Shinjiro was a heavy hitter as far as fighting shadows went, given his chosen weapon, it was still rather startling to see him meet one of the shadow’s head on. Yusuke himself moved to position, keeping enough distance to not get in the way if Shinjiro needed the space to swing the street sign, while putting himself in a position to assist in battle. His eyes widened as he realized the man was going to follow it up with summoning his persona.

It was at least slightly less alarming to see him pull out the evoker and pull the trigger, given he’d seen Mitsuru use hers already… But it still really was a strange sight compared to he and his friends summoned their own. The persona was like none he’d already seen, and his jaw dropped slightly at the attack that repelled the other two charging shadows as well.

“Consider me impressed!” He commented before reaching up to grasp the edge of his mask. Best to not give them a chance to recover and charge again, and testing to see if they were susceptible to freezing seemed like a good start. Especially given Shinjiro could probably shatter them pretty easily with his abilities.

“Goemon, go forth!” Tearing the mask from his face with a wide flourish. Goemon’s tall colourful figure materialized before them, bringing a chill to the air. Shards of ice were thrown at each of the shadows, freezing at least one of them in place before the persona faded from view again.

Well, Goemon was certainly a colorful Persona and no mistake. Shinjiro wasn't even sure what he would call the guy other than 'extravagant', but he got the job done. A wicked smile spread across Shinjiro's face as ice incrusted the three shadows. He ran forward, putting himself near the center of them and pulled his Evoker again, shoving down the street sign and leaning on it for support. What he was going to do would hopefully finish off the frozen shadows, but it was going to hurt.

He put the Evoker to his temple again, grinning as he pulled the trigger. "Let's go, Castor!" The fallen knight astride his strange steed appeared again, a swirl of energy moving from Shinjiro to the summoned Persona and the young man grunted in pain, and then Castor swooped down, swinging a great spear with thundering ferocity through each of the frozen shadows, shattering them into chunks that dissipated a moment later.

Castor disappeared in shimmering light and Shinjiro was left to lean on his street sign, breathing heavily but grinning the nonetheless.

"We make a good team." Well, if he's got a dia spell up his sleeve, it'll be a better team. Castor's attacks used his own life force.

Yusuke remained tensed for a moment as he watched Shinjiro and Castor attack the frozen shadows, keeping an eye to make sure they really went down and nothing else was going to surprise them that needed a counter attack prepared… But as they shattered and disappeared into nothing, he straightened and turned to the other with a grin. “We certainly do, I’d say. You were quite impressive!”

That said, he tilted his head slightly at the sight of Shinjiro seeming a bit winded as he leaned on his sign. Wielding a persona could take a lot out of you… but not usually so soon unless you were a first time user. “My apologies, but did they land a blow against you?” He asked, unfortunately not having access to support spells, as the others in his team did.

By the time Yusuke had finished his question, Shinjiro was starting to regain his breath and he shook his head as he stood tall again, swinging the street sign back to his shoulder.

"Nah, I'm good. Castor doesn't have any magic, so all his powers come from my life force. It takes a lot out of me sometimes, but it ain't that bad." He took a deep breath, cleared his throat and turned to continue on. "You good to move?"

“Oh, I believe I understand, then.” He responded, knowing that physical abilities drew more from the person than the magic kind did… Still, it was odd to think that Castor didn’t have any magical abilities. Still, Shinjiro seemed ready to move on easily enough, though, which settled Yusuke’s concern as much as the response had.

At the question, his head dipped in a nod. He was still good to explore and handle potential confrontations for a while yet. Not that was going to seek out fights, but his past experiences meant he did know his limits well enough. “I’m ready to move on if you are, yes.” His eyes turned ahead, wondering what they might find. Absently, he spoke up as he started walking. “When Mitsuru and I were discussing the similarities and differences between our experiences, she described the Dark Hour to me… Would I be wrong to say this all mimics it rather closely?” He was curious, after all, and if Shinjiro had been there, he would know. It was… curious to think that something of their own worlds existed in some way on the other side of the mirror.

Shinjiro nodded as he continued on, street sign back over his shoulder.

"Yeah, it's a lot like this. The coffins, the blood. The moon." He looked up when he said it. He'd been seeing the Dark Hour every night since he was just a kid. It was hard to imagine a night without it. He didn't know what that said about himself or his friends, but probably nothing good.

"What'd she tell you about this place?"

“She explained that it’s an hour that occurs every night, when the world shadows reside in cross over into our own?” Or something to that effect, if he recalls correctly. “And that apparently the coffins are some kind of defence for normal people, to keep them from being fed upon.” Macabre as it all looked, it seemed like they served an important function.

“It’s odd, though… My group never came across anything like it ourselves, to my knowledge.” He realized he was a little… Behind… So perhaps there was a path that lead that way for their own group, but the obvious differences in their method of summoning and a few other things made him rather hopeful it wasn’t. “So it strikes me as rather strange that our experiences are all so different.”

"Yeah, and time moves different. In the Dark Hour, an hour passes for every day that passes in the real world. Something to keep in mind."

There was nothing suggesting this world would be the same, of course, but he didn't want to risk it, either. He was here without Mitsuru and he didn't want to worry her, not that he was sure he would.

"Maybe the Shadow world is different in different places. Shadows like to feed on people, so maybe it's different because of that?"

“Does it?” That was something he hadn’t heard yet, and so the teen keeps it in the back of his mind. “I shall remember that… We shall have to see how much time has passed on the other side whenever we do return.” Even if it was different, it was still something to keep in mind while they wandered around looking for a way out.

Yusuke supposed that he had a point. There was so much they didn’t really know about how this all worked that it could very well be as simple as the different regions having slightly different ways that it all manifested. “Perhaps…? Something that differs between where we are and where your team is. The collective consciousness affecting the different variations of it, like how mementos changes depending on the people and the state of things.”

"Yeah. One of our teammates we found 'cause she got lost there for days. We went lookin' for her and she'd only been lost a few hours according to her." It was definitely important to keep in mind, considering the sorts of things that could happen in so short a time in a place like Aterat.

"I think the Dark Hour's special anyway. I don't know the specifics 'cause...Mitsuru's from the future, but the Dark Hour was an experiment, so maybe shit like this occurs naturally, too, just different 'cause it's...natural."

“That is quite the time difference.” He responded thoughtfully, rather wishing he’d noted a more exact time for when he’d slipped through the mirror in his curiosity now. Still, he had a rough idea. It would be something to note when they returned to get an idea of what the difference might have been, if there were any.

Yusuke hummed, glancing down an alleyway that they passed thoughtfully at the comment. “She had mentioned that. Our group knew there were people studying cognitive psience, but before speaking to Mitsuru, we never would have guessed that an experiment like that was taking place elsewhere.” It was odd to think there were possibly more groups studying all of this in slightly different ways, and yet no one really knew enough about all of this to have definitive answers.

"And a long time to be hangin' out with Shadows when your Persona ain't offensive." But in the end, they'd found Fuuka, from what he'd heard, and she'd been safe when they did. Not too shabby. It was one of the reason he'd decided to come back, that the team they'd put together was actually able to do something.

"Cognitive psience, huh?" He'd never heard to referred to that way, but then again, he'd never had it referred to at all before Mitsuru told him what had happened. "What's your, uh, place like this like?"

“That would certainly be a terrible trial…” He didn’t like the thought of that in the least, trapped among shadows with no way to defend yourself? They were quite lucky to have found them, by the sound of it.

The teen considered the question thoughtfully. He really hadn’t had to explain the place to anyone yet… “Quite different from this, at least by its appearance. There’s mementos, which is in the Tokyo subway. There are multiple levels going down. It all mimics a rather sad and dilapidated subway system, with shadows lurking about.” He responded, thinking of the odd colours and the platforms between levels where one could see shadows boarding the trains before it departed again. “Then there are palaces that can be in other parts of the city, though.” Hm… How to explain that? He wasn’t keen to go too into detail about what his group did, considering how different the other group sounded.

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Fox through the looking glass!

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