week zero: mingle

[cyclists]

Week Zero
32 in Competition

On Monday morning, the sun rises on the sleepy village, and when the first ray of light touches the gates at each corner of the village, the previously tightly sealed doors open.

The barriers around the village fall, and leave it entirely open. Each cardinal direction will have a path exiting the village, taking the curious explorers who follow it on an adventure to new territories to be explored. They’ll find that each location that they arrive in appears to be associated with one of the elements. As the Signs had explained the day before, each of the participants in the game possesses an elemental assignment, whether they are aware of it or not.

When they approach the elemental areas, they’ll find themselves more in tune with their new powerset, as if the location invites them to take them out for a spin. The new areas appear to be perfect for training and learning how to use the new skills, or maybe if you’re curious you can discover which of those listed powers you’ve been granted.

Just try not to hurt yourself while you’re out there.

In addition, it seems now that more pieces of the core are being revealed, the river that runs through the village will begin to be dotted with small lanterns floating on the water. Some of them seem to be holding small notes. Try as you might to grab one, they’ll always just barely float out of reach.

Perhaps try sending one yourself and see what results you might get?

Occasionally in the village, you might hear the sound of drums and flutes - is that festival music? - though no matter how you search, you can’t find the source… yet.



Welcome to your tutorial week mingle log! Please see all the links within the log to check out the new updates. In addition, your status page has been updated. In case you missed it, please report all item theft to this top-level where all comments are screened. Private conversations are also open and should be reported under the Week 0 top-level.

A mini-event will also be posted on Wednesday, June 5th, so please keep an eye out for that!

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Comments

[compendiem]

Uh.

[ Is it normal? Truthfully, the answer is ] No, I don't think so.

[ Because it's not normal, but it's his normal anyways. Which isn't. normal. He knows this. ]

It's not a normal thing... but it is a thing. Does that make sense...

[twinsightful]

Yes. [Strangely, yes, it does.] Are there others like you, too?

[compendiem]

Like me in what way...

[ Personas, yes, but the rest of him... nobody should be like him. ]

[twinsightful]

With soul demons that have proper names. [Personas. Whatever.]

[compendiem]

Oh. Yeah, a couple others. We call the soul demons "Personas" [ or whatever, but it feels right to give the proper term when not all the soul demons are demons. some are soul angels, or soul dogs ]

But none of that applies here, so.

[ He shrugs. ]

[twinsightful]

Maybe not, but I've never heard of something like that on my version of Earth. [Are you sure it's Earth?] But doesn't that mean that whoever brought us here took part of your soul, too?

[compendiem]

It's not something most people know about. It's... limited to the area... I think. [ He hopes? That it's just a Ryoji thing, a Iwatodai thing, a Kirijo thing. ] So it's no surprise that you've never heard of it. People aren't supposed to be aware of that stuff.

[ Ignorance is bliss, etc etc, but Minato presses a hand briefly against his chest, as if that's where his Personas-- his soul-- is stored. If he loses his Personas... does that mean he lost part of his soul? What about before he awakened to that power? ]

Hm... Hard to tell... Maybe I'm just souless.

[twinsightful]

[This is so strange...]

You seem pretty calm for somebody soulless. [But there's a nod.] It would make sense that something like that was kept a secret. What would you even need a soul monster for?

[compendiem]

[ Maybe it's because he's soulless that he's so calm, a thought that comes and goes at times, but one that Minato never dwells on for long. ]

Soul monsters... hm... for friends?

[ They're supposed to help make friends, supposedly. Mostly, his soul monsters are his closest friends. ]

[twinsightful]

Like befriending your own inner demons? [Except very literally?]

[compendiem]

Something like that. But easier to understand and accept, so we get along. They protect me, and in return... [ ... ] I guess they... sap my soul energy?

[ is that what SP is? Personas are soul vampires. Every Persona is a vampire. ]

[twinsightful]

Sounds pretty dangerous if you ask me. [...] You called it Empusa. What does it actually do?

[compendiem]

Do friends have to do anything?

[ Empusa is a pretty weak Persona, in the end, not one he ever remembers fighting with or keeping on his roster for very long. But they all hang out in his sea of souls, regardless of if he needs them or not, so... they don't do anything. They just exist, and that's fine with him too. ]

[twinsightful]

Doesn't it depend on the friend? [Please don't ask this dumb bitch who has, like, six friends total. That also answers his own question.] But friends have talents and skills, don't they?

[compendiem]

Hm...

[ He can think of a couple of friends who d—- no, he should shout that train of thought their. ]

I guess. Empusa's good at being a friend. She's a quick learner. And she can create tornadoes.

[twinsightful]

Those...are great qualities. [TORNADOES?] But wouldn't that mean the tornadoes are coming from you?

[compendiem]

I... guess? [ ... ] I can promise there were no deaths or property damage involved with the tornadoes.

[ Just in case Kaoru is here thinking he's a murderer or something. Which he is, but he murdered just one guy and that guy was Ryoji and he doesn't count. ]

[twinsightful]

Well when you put it that way, we have nothing to worry about. [False! But he's playing along, thanks for not being a murderer, Minato.] Every time I learn about someone else's magic it makes less and less sense.

[compendiem]

[ It tends to be like that, learning about magic. When it was first explained to Minato, he didn't really get it either, nodding along with the assumption that he'd figure it out eventually; it just turns out that he- and everybody else- had gotten it all wrong in the end. ]

Magic's... complicated... What's yours like?

[twinsightful]

Oh. [Uh.] We don't have magic. We have other things, and we have all kinds of resources available to us, but nothing like what you're describing.

[compendiem]

Well... The mundane to one person is magic to another. So I'd like to hear what you do anyways.

[twinsightful]

[Explaining it is going to maybe sound strange, but he doesn't seem embarrassed to share either.]

Our second year of high school just started. We're on an exchange program in Boston right now, but normally we attend Ouran Academy. Our dad's an executive at a software company and our mom has her own fashion line, so we have the freedom to do whatever we want. Milord came up with the idea of the Host Club two years ago and that's what we've been doing since then. Ouran's a school where lineage comes first and wealth's a close second, so all of our customers are well-paying and like to spend time with us at our events, parties, and trips that we plan.

[...] The club's on hiatus now though since all of us are living in America for a year.

[compendiem]

[ It may not be lights and sparkles magic, but there's a sense of magic there all the same— it's like a whole other world that Kaoru describes, that Minato couldn't even begin to see himself sharing. A successful family, immeasurable wealth, a dictator who forces his subjects into being hosts... He's glad Kaoru's escaped the tyrant and is how hiding in America. ]

...Sounds like quite the life... In a host club... you get to meet all sorts of people, right? Hanging out in a party like this, making sure everybody's happy. Being able to do that, I think is magic too.

[twinsightful]

You think? [Magic...is that possible? That's really just a normal thing for him. He's grown up in that kind of environment even prior to the Host Club, but it wasn't until Tamaki forcibly entered their lives that he learned to really engage with people.]

...I wish it was a kind of magic I could really use here then.

[compendiem]

Yeah, I think so. You don't think you can use it here?

[ Hanging out, making people happy... seems like a universal magic that can be applied anywhere, to Minato, if only he were capable of something like it. ]