acatalepsy_logs | ( the sickness: phase two )

( the sickness: phase two )

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II ▫ logs	V ▫ rules	VII ▫ bestiary	IX ▫ canon updates	XII ▫ taken	XV ▫ drop/hiatus
III ▫ ooc	VI ▫ faq	VIII ▫ setting	X ▫ mods	XIII ▫ reserves	XVI ▫ players

the sickness ends.

the temple.

The Temple, shortly after Astoria's burst of energy, is in a constant state of growth. Trees are bursting into existence from seeds in mere seconds, flowers are growing wherever magic lands . . . and the Temple is abruptly a-buzz with energy, magic crackling throughout the air. You may find a tree in your house, or flowers suddenly growing along the walls, or plants wiggling their way through the stone walls of the buildings of the Temple. All of a sudden, the place looks very overgrown.

The Forest of the Fey seems to be responding in kind, too. Sprites are exceptionally active, darting out of the Forest and into the Temple with increasingly regularity, playing basic little tricks on the members of the Circle they can find. Flower crowns are made at an alarming rate, and there might be a few fruit-food fights that break out with the sudden abundance of peaches and apples that appear on the grounds. Learn how to duck!

With the magic comes the sudden fluctuation of energy: canon powers flicker on and off, as do the powers granted by Astoria. You feel more like yourself, you suddenly have access to energies you did not have previously in the Temple However, it's a double-edged sword -- it is not constant, and it may be more trouble than its worth.

And, remember: the Sickness is not fading immediately. If you make it to Stage 3, then you're stuck with sensory deprivation for at least another week or two. Sorry, friends.

lake dona.

Lake Dona is a massive body of water, stretching outward for so far that it almost seems like an ocean until you see that the water is fresh. It is surrounded by long, leafy trees that dip into the water and has a variety of ancient ruins scattered around it -- weathered stones set into circles at seemingly even intervals, old buildings that seem to mirror the Temple in construct.

In addition to the ruins, there are a network of caverns tucked along the water’s edge, just underneath the surface on the western side of Lake Dona, that appear to go underground into murky darkness. The actual entrance to these caverns seem to be underwater, seemingly guarded by merfolk, but poking around may seem to be more trouble than its worth.

There is plenty of wildlife to be found within the lake itself, ranging from freshwater mermaids who would rather you stay the hell out of their backyard to a rather large and suspiciously friendly plesiosaurus-like creature (some would say that she prefers to be called Nessie) that seems intent on checking out who you are. The lake teems with odd-looking fish, most of which seem to be okay to eat, and plenty of plant life! But who knows what lurks in the depths below . . . that giant sea-monster looking thing has to be eating something.
PROMPT IDEAS: Here are some prompt ideas for this new area! However, don't feel limited to such ideas! Feel free to fish, to explore, to swim, to poke around . . . it's always possible Astoria may check in on your character, too, once she is feeling better! ;)

1.) The Great Pumpkin The overgrowth of plants have caused a massive growth spurt in a lot of the trees, including the fruit trees that sprinkle themselves throughout the Temple. However, the fruit themselves seems to be growing at a rather . . . alarming rate, resulting in a few pumpkin-looking squash growing to the size of small boulders in the fields. Hope you have a lot of spare time on your hands to make a hell of a lot of Temple-pie, because these squash aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

2.) Food Fight!: Those damn sprites are at it again, and are collecting fruit off the ground and throwing it at people. Fight back, organize, and conquer! Or not. It's probably better to just not.

3.) Part Of Your World: The mermaids within Lake Dona are a suspicious lot, and they don't take kindly to strangers stomping through their territory. However, they are receptive to music, so if you are so musically inclined, they will definitely be more inclined to be a little more playful than territorial. If you aren't? Have fun getting tossed into the lake head-first by a bunch of pissed off mermaids who want you to get the hell of their lawn. They don't take kindly to your type around here.

4.) Nessie: Within Lake Dona is a massive plesiosaurus-type creature which seems to be . . . oddly friendly? It seems to pop up at the most inconvenient of times. Are you sitting on the edge of the lake enjoying the water? Enjoy a massive ass dinosaur sticking its impressively long neck out of the lake to check you out and also scare the bejesus out of you. That being said, Nessie is an extraordinarily friendly being, and will even give you laps around the lake if you ask nicely!

5.) Caverns: The caverns within the lake are dark, deep, and menacing The merfolk inform you that you cannot go there -- no one can, but the merfolk sure seem to be keeping a careful eye out on it. Testing the boundaries indicates a weird magical field around the entrance of the cave, that works like a bit of a forcefield. Weird, right?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Circumstances. . .

[again, he wants to ask. but Minato keeps it vague on purpose, and Akira can't blame him. only a choice few people outside of the Phantom Thieves knew about his abilities. and even fewer knew the circumstances surrounding them]

I'd like to hear about them one day. Whenever you're willing to share.

[he makes an offer. one that Minato doesn't have to accept now, or even ever. but it'll stay open regardless]

[as for himself?]

It was a power that came to me at-- a time I needed it most. [both when he wanted to protect Ryuji, and when he was shipped off to Tokyo with nothing but a cardboard box of belongings to his name] It's a part of me. It gave me the strength to fight back against something I've wanted to fight for a very long time.

If you call that "enjoyment," then. . . yeah. I guess I do.

[ The strength to fight back... Whatever circumstances surround Akira's being granted the power of Personas, it feels so much different than Minato's own. But even then he can relate to parts of it— he had first harnessed the power when he needed it the most, but rather than something he had wanted to fight for a very long time, it felt like the first time in his life that he'd stood up against death and fate and swore to protect those he could with his own hands. Rather than granting him strength, the Persona felt like courage, guiding him towards the strength that was already there. ]

...Maybe I "enjoyed" it a little too.

[ He says nothing more about sharing his own story for now, but he crouches down and plays with Koromaru's paws, and thinks he could share his. ]

For Koromaru, too, I think it came when he needed it. It came when he needed to protect his shrine— his home- and I guess it's something like that for me too.

[ah]

I wonder if it's like that for everyone?

[it'd make sense, considering what a Persona is. a mask for facing the world's hardships. Akira crouches down to Koromaru's level as well, reaching out to pet the good dog's head, fingers scratching his fur behind his ears]

Every person I know awakened into their power when they were trying to protect something. [. . .] Or. . . trying to rise above something else. Rebel against it.

[ Minato isn't too sure, knowing what he does about how Aigis got her Persona, or all those involved with Strega, but however the power came to them, it doesn't change the fact that they were all a form of strength, whether it's out of a need to protect or fight back. ]

I dunno. I guess that's something I could've asked Igor, but it's a little late for that.

[ He lets Koromaru's paws go, so the dog can sit up straight and lean into the scratch. ]

As for now, though, protecting people... I want to be able to do what I can with my own two hands. I don't need my Persona for that. So that's what I mean by "until I have a good reason to," I guess.

[. . . Igor--]

Huh?

[anything else Minato says after he drops that name is immediately lost in the wind, because. . . out of all the Persona users Akira knew? none of them knew about Igor]

You know-- I mean, you've met Igor? From the Velvet Room?

Oh. [ It doesn't surprise Minato as much that Akira knows of Igor and the Velvet room; even if none of the rest of his team has ever been in the room or met the man, Minato's told them of his existence. It took a while to convince everybody he wasn't just asleep on his feet on the ground floor of Tartarus every night. ]

Yeah. Lots of times. I'd come hang out after school, usually.

[ To visit Elizabeth more often than Igor, granted, so he could see if she wants to go anywhere or switch out his Personas if not, but the Velvet Room in general was always a nice place to hang out. ]

[Minato is far better at sharing with his team than Akira, who avoided every single opportunity to tell them about Igor he could because why would they believe him]

Oh.

[well. . . the concept of another wild card isn't that foreign to Akira. Akechi had been one, right? either way, Akira jerks a thumb at the crown of his head, one brows raised]

Same hat. Wild card?

[ Maybe if he didn't joke around at every given opportunity, people would believe him?

Minato looks up at Akira's head— no hat, actually, but they're the same in that regard. ]

Yeah, that's what he said my power was. Death, and also the wild card.

[his jokes are funny!!]

Death?

[what??? Minato gets a squint for that, but then again, it kind of fits with what Akira was told. . .]

I was a wild card and the "Trickster," apparently. Although it wasn't Igor who gave me that name.

[ Minato figures Igor was talking about the Death— Ryoji- that was sealed inside him, but he hasn't heard of any arcana that relates to trickers. ]

Elizabeth?

[another bemused look]

Who?

Uh.

[ How to explain Elizabeth? ]

No, never mind. Who did you mean?

[SQUINTS. . .]

[putting a pin in that to answer the question Minato asked first]

It came from Yaldabaoth. The false god who took over the Velvet Room and disguised himself as Igor for my entire stay there.

[ Akira should just make a list of all the things Minato refuses to tell him, probably. But after Minato squints back at him, looking similarly uncertain. ]

That's not a name I recognize... I doubt Elizabeth would have let him take over the Velvet Room, if she were there.

[ She would have suplexed him right into the ground. ]

[it's a weird day when Akira is (only slightly, admittedly) more open than someone else!1]

She wasn't there.

[he can say that for certain, because he's never met someone named Elizabeth before in his life]

Was she your war-- . . . mm. Attendant?

[nnnot gonna say "warden."]

[ "war"

hm ]

Yeah, she was. She's the one I went to to swap out Personas. Sometimes I'd do favors for her. Sometimes we'd hang out around town. I wonder where she went, if she wasn't there when you arrived.

[HM]

Beats me. Caroline and Justine oversaw my Persona fusion and compendium. There wasn't anyone else there but those two, Yaldabaoth-as-Igor, and myself.

[a pause]

What was Elizabeth like?

[was she small but terrifying like the twins. . .]

[ Akira's met with blank stares, because that's all Minato can really offer for unfamiliar names, although he imagines it must be nice having two attendants in the Velvet Room to sit and chat with.

Elizabeth is indeed small and terrifying, but the thought of her beings a faint smile to Minato's face, fond and reminiscent. ]

She was always very curious about the world... Said she'd never been outside of the Velvet Room, so we'd go out together. And she'd find something to love about everything. ...Once, she asked me to go out and buy her a drink— in return, she gifted me a sword. That sort of person.

["nice" is one word for it. Akira makes note of that fond smile, too. and while Caroline and Justine were abrasive and easy to sass. . . Akira has to admit, that Rank 10 Confidant didn't come from nowhere. they were like bickering, bullying younger siblings]

I'm almost jealous. . .

[and who doesn't complain about their younger sisters??]

That sounds a lot better than getting kicked around and bullied a lot. You really cared for her, huh?

[ Minato's usually the bully in any situation, but even Elizabeth gives him a run for his money sometimes; she has nothing on Justine or Caroline, though, if only Minato knew. It's alright to be jealous, Akira. Minato's attendant is the best. He knows. As sympathetic as he is to hear that Akira apparently gets picked on by his attendants, he can't help but be glad that Elizabeth was the one who held his hand throughout his entire journey. ]

I do. I wish I could see her again.

[ ... ]

Do you think it's possible? To fall asleep, and find our way back to the Velvet Room?

[ His contract is over. He has no obligation to return. But maybe a visit, just to say hi, isn't impossible. ]

[. . . that's a question. and Akira finds himself hesitating before answering that, head tilted back to affix on the sky above, warm and blue and clear]

[. . .]

I don't know.

[and he doesn't, really. the last time he had seen anyone from the Velvet Room was. . . the day before he left Tokyo, when Lavenza had finally give him the key he had been denied upon first entry]

Did. . . you get a key?

[ Oh. The key is always on him- like a part of him as much as his headphones are- so it's something he never gave much thought to, the door to the Velvet Room parting before him each time he approached without much thought on his part. But he brings his hand out now, light shining in the palm of his hand until it forms something more solid, a small silver key.

...

He looks left and right, as if expecting a glowing blue door to appear out of nowhere. This is how it works, right? Let them in. ]

[ah. and there it is]

[Akira can't help the way his gaze is drawn towards it, glued to the way it shimmers in Minato's hand. he hadn't arrived with any personal possessions beyond his model gun, so his own key was currently lost in the void somewhere, wherever the personal objects they were stripped of before being brought to the temple went. when Minato glances up, he does as well, halfway expecting to see that glowing blue outline of a very familiar door towering in front of them. especially now since they both had their connections to their Personas back]

[. . . and then there's nothing]

Not that easy, huh. . .

Hm...

[ Maybe it's not that easy, but Minato had thankfully died on that rooftop with all sorts of things to his person— I lied that last thread where he only had his Evoker, I read the faq and apparently he can come with his pockets full of gravy if that's what I really wanted, so long as he doesn't have multiple weapons- but one of those things is his cellphone, unused until now because he couldn't find any signal, but there's a last ray of hope as he flips it open and holds it high above his head. ]

...

[ Again, hmm. ]

You're taller. Can you try?

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