subdivided | week four: mingle

week four: mingle

Week Four
22 in Competition

As the sun rises on Monday morning, all participants will find themselves awakening with a sense of purpose. Regardless of where they slept the night before, they’ll find themselves compelled to return to the main meeting hall first thing in the morning.

Approaching the hall, however, they will find a large, swirling mass grey in color looming near the sakura tree. This swirl cannot be approached just yet, but seems to be locked and waiting for something more.

As the last member of the village enters the hall, they will find Lune and Sol at the head of the room. Though they’re together, it’s Sol who speaks up first this time.

"We've been asked to open another gateway for you guys, but...it's funny. It sort of feels like things have calmed down. The corruption's temporarily evened out and the universe is stabilized for now, but that doesn't mean we should stop looking. Take a look and see what you can find on the other side. You might even get to learn something new."

When Sol finishes, they turn to face Lune, allowing for the other to speak for themselves.

"A bit of reprieve of welcome, isn't it? Please take this time to recover, even as you make steps forward to continue your good work. Thank you, thank you."

The moment participants leave the hall, they will find that the gateway has changed from grey to white, the opening widening enough for multiple people to step through. The Signs will soon take their leave, and all will remain peaceful once more.

In addition, as the week goes on, partners will be able to hear each other's thoughts whenever they look at one another! They may not hear every single thought that occurs, but the link will partners to hear thoughts as though their partner is speaking out loud. The more private the thought, the more likely the partner will pick up on it.

Welcome to your week three mingle! As a reminder, this is break week! This means no murders and no trial! Your normal schedule will resume next week. We will still be hosting a laid-back mini-event on Tuesday, however.

In addition, ensure that all of your week three private conversations were reported on the page, and your week four private conversations are reported on that page. If you'll be taking anything from locations, please report that as well.

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[ I think I put Minato on "murder is fine" on whatever chart that was, so? it's fine.

Minato doesn't even look at who it is, he just swings with all his might and—-

I guess that's Emma's head he's taking off in one clean swoop. ]

[lili peeks around from the wardrobe door that she swung open - and screams out emma's name just as minato finishes swinging. her head rolls onto the grass and lili's eyes widen because she's seen this before - she's witnessed this kind of ruthless violence

and she rushes forward to grab minato by the collar none too gently]

What did you do?!

[ Oh, hm. Minato just sort of holds his nailbat out of the way, because it's dripping blood and brains and Emma's face doesn't even look like hers anymore.

The line of his lips thin and tighten for a moment as he shifts his gaze at the corpse at their feet, blood pooling hot and sticky around their shoes, and up to look Lili in the eye. ]

I killed Emma.

[ Just in case she wasn't sure who that was. ]

I told you - it might not have even been dangerous?! Do you even think?!

[because lili's thinking - about the ways that you can help someone with a head injury but there's nothing there, because this is more than a head injury and besides

everything she learned about first aid here

was from emma]

[ The answer is no, but Lili knows that and Minato just lets the nailbat lie against the side of the wardrobe as he decides to step inside of it and run his hand along the wall to see if there's anything interesting about it. Clearly, this is more interesting and important than doing anything about the corpse on the ground.

There's teeth everywhere. It's pretty gross.

But at least inside, in the darkness, Lili doesn't have to see his face, the way he chews at his bottom lip until he tastes blood without registering the dull pain of it. He doesn't feel... scared. He doesn't think that's the right word for this feeling- and it's just a feeling, a physical reaction rather than a real emotion.

Is he supposed to laugh? He thinks Lili might pick up the nailbat and break his spine if he were to laugh at this moment. ]

[she's already considering breaking his spine just because - ]

Answer me!

[the distress starts to disappear, settles instead for a cold anger, as it begins to register to her that someone that lili trusted, and admired, is now on the ground. because of minato.

she reaches out to grab at him again, the collar of his shirt, her hand curled tightly into a fist to drag him back out of the wardrobe as her eyes burn into his]

You're going to look away from this?! Like you look away from everything else?!

[ Minato is dragged back easily enough, almost no resistance as he's pulled back and turned around to look at Lili— there is no fear on his face. No sorrow, no regret, no nothing, except the carefully blank face of somebody who has already removed himself from the equation. A coping mechanism, maybe, but not an excuse. ]

Will anything I do change what happened?

[ His voice, too, is only a little rough bc he's getting over a sore throat or something, but it's calm and even and quiet, emotionless.

What happened, happened. So, as cold as it is: who cares? He'd destroyed Emma like he'd destroyed his world; he can't change the past. ]

[Lili cares.

Lili cares so much, so very, very much - and the look of blankness on Minato's face infuriates her. is it better or worse than those that she's encountered in the past, who delighted over the pain and suffering of others? she can't tell - but she'd been so easy to agree with others that Minato was just an idiot. Minato was just a thoughtless person.

up until he kills someone right in front of her, and will dare to move on two seconds later as if he holds no fault in the problem.

so Lili draws back her other arm and punches him cleanly in the face. it probably doesn't break anything - but it sure is going to fucking hurt.]

[ He just takes it. And maybe that says something too, that he doesn't close his eyes or flinch in any way and just stands there and takes it. Unfortunately for everybody, Lili doesn't break Minato's nose, but it does bleed, running thin and hot down his face, salty when it seeps into his mouth. A familiar taste. It's only because of the wardrobe behind him that he doesn't fall to the ground, letting his back thumb against the side of it and giving Lili the same dead stare.

She's number three on his list of scariest people here. But it's not exactly fear that he feels- it doesn't feel like fear, when he looks at Emma, or Four, or Lili- but it's something more than that that he can't put into words.

He doesn't even try to understand it. If Lili wants to punch him again, he makes no move. The boggart is getting a little bored lying there on the ground, but that's also fine. ]

[it's not as satisfying as she wants it to be - but she imagines that this isn't something that's meant to bring her joy or any sort of contentment. emma is still dead on the ground, and she finds herself so angry, so angry.

but it doesn't answer anything. she breathes out, but her words are still venom as she glares at minato]

If you're going to set yourself on fire, at least don't take everyone else out with you.

[and she'll turn her back to him, going to look back at the fallen body - as if trying to understand any rhyme or reason for what it might have to do with the wardrobe]

[ If he sets himself on fire, is it his fault when people burn themselves trying to rescue him? It's what everybody here keeps doing, getting hurt and feeling the pain he cannot feel, trying to pull him out of this cycle of self-destruction he's already given himself up to. It's why he doesn't want people to care, why he wants people to stay away.

But that sort of stuff also doesn't matter. It's a mission, after all: return with a key. What's important now is figuring out why the test was locking up one of their group in the wardrobe. He really doesn't know. But before he can look back at the piece of furniture and leave Emma's body to Lili to look over, the corpse bolts upright and grabs Lili's wrist, teeth and blood dropping out of what's left of her jaw as she stands.

A boggart feeds off fear, after all. And Lili and Minato show none of that. ]

[it's not as if lili hasn't seen gruesome things in her time - she's encountered drug addicts who would senselessly beat each other when driven on by what gets put in their system, and seem battlefields. there's not a lot that can startle her - but there is always some level of separation. there is always some sense that those are separate people, away from her.

but this is emma, who may or may not be alive - emma, who grabs onto lili and even if she's not afraid to die, it's not as if she doesn't possess some level of fear that she might not be able to save someone.

so lili gasps, even as she tries to wrench her hand back - ]

What?!

[ If Lili hadn't said anything, Minato probably would have spent the rest of the thread looking at the wood grain inside the wardrobe and not realize she's being attacked, but unfortunately she does, and Minato turns just in time to see her grappling with the boggart. Something about it seems to darken sucking the light out of the very sky and the field all around them, the boggart feeding off Lili's spike of fear.

Frowning, Minato stoops to pick up his nailbat again, because Lili's loathing for him killing Emma once won't be much different from him killing her twice, so he raises his nailbat and—-

the darkness forms around the boggart's broken face, long red hair spilling out and Futaba's gremlin grin spreading wide across the face that stares up at the two of them. Minato still his hand. The boggart tightens its grip on Lili's wrist. ]

[it's fake.

it's fake, it's fake, it's fake, emma might not really be dead - and lili still somehow manages to find hope in this situation. if anything, that manages to get most of her fears to ebb away, even though she is a bit startled still. when minato finally hesitates, she wonders if maybe there's some decency left in him -

but then she realizes that it's suddenly very useless to them]

Follow through - it's an enemy!

[ Yeah, he wouldn't have been much of a help if Lili hadn't spoken up again. Just like he always claims, he doesn't feel fear; his heart doesn't pound, his hands don't sweat, and his knees don't shake. But he has different tells— he holds his breath, and he grows quiet, and that's enough fear for the boggart to grow stronger yet.

He wouldn't have swung if Lili wouldn't have spoken, but following orders doesn't require thinking, so he disregards the static in his brain and steps forward to swing the weapon at Futaba's head— it doesn't go flying off like Emma's did, but her glasses crack and shatter on the ground, her face contorting and shifting yet again.

This time, it's Ryoji who stares up at them. Babyfaced Ryoji with his gentle smile and sad blue eyes, and when Minato swings his nailbat this time, lip bleeding with how hard he's biting down on it, the blow doesn't do anything at all. ]

[she doesn't even know this boy - and she wonders why it's not being as affected by minato's strikes anymore. lili settles now that she realizes that it's not as if they've lost one of their number, maybe not really. so she breathes out and recognizes that the most important thing here is victory.

she orders around minato again - ]

Back off.

[because his strikes aren't doing anything, and because he's bleeding, and because she doesn't trust a panicked minato to not take a swing at her along with the monster they're dealing with]

[ He's bleeding but he's not panicked, puzzlement on his face more than anything— because he knows it's not real, he knows this and can separate himself from it and not be shocked by something like this- but it's not working. Even if he knows exactly why these three people, and what they mean to him.

He backs off, but not before handing Lili the nailbat. Or, like, just setting it on her lap or something. Ryoji's hand is on her wrist, but that just makes it easy for Minato to take Ryoji's wrist in his- a shake of the head instead of saying anything to him, hand on hand on hand starting to smolder with the heat that emanates from Minato's palm. ]

[god this is such a crude weapon - but she'll take it in her hand anyway, if it means that minato's hands are free. she frowns and winces briefly in surprise when the heat starts to emanate from minato's hand and moves herself further away from the creature, looking around to try to find an additional answer for exactly what they're supposed to do here]

You know this boy?

[maybe there's an answer in that?]

[ Minato nods, but doesn't really want to say anthing more. He knows why it's Ryoji, why it's Futaba, why it's Emma, what these people mean to him and why they're the ones who came out of the wardrobe. ]

He can't be killed.

[ Not by anybody besides Minato, and he wonders if he wants to test that theory out again. ]

Let's just shove him back into the closet...

[ Can't deal with his problems? Just shove them to the side and hide them. Suppression is fine. ]

No, we need a key - and I think this is some hint to it.

[she's rather sure of herself? it seems like this is something that at least elicits a reaction from minato, even if it might not exactly be fear.]

There has to be some other way to deal with these monsters.

[ Minato is the wrong Persona protag for this. Souji would know what to do. Tatsuya and Maya would know what to do. Minato suspects but really doesn't want to, because doing something like that would be nothing more than an action, it wouldn't mean anything. ]

I'm open for ideas.

That girl said... something about laughing, and not letting yourself be paralyzed.

[even though lili will look down at the figure in front of them and

frown]

... I don't know if it's possible to laugh at this though.

[ There's no fear anymore, so Ryoji just sorts of sits back and looks at them curiously, like they're some sort of friend group talking about something he doesn't understand and so he just sits back politely and waits it out. He's still smiling his pleasant smile and hasn't stopped this entire time.

"That's a little mean, isn't it...?" When Ryoji speaks, it's similar to Minato's voice, but softer, tinged with humor and sadness all in one. It's somehow a lot more human than Minato's monotone. "Why would you laugh at somebody?"

Minato just sort of gestures to Ryoji. ]

I don't know - it depends.

[lili has absolutely laughed at soo-won's misfortune before, but.

she stares at minato]

Can you even laugh?

[ Hmmmm... No? Minato shakes his head.

Ryoji pouts up at him. "That's sad..." he says, and yeah, it is. ]

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