[Game Opening, Part 1 - What Souls Here May Bring]

[stringmods]

The drawstrings cut,
my hollow ebony stained wood plomps to the floor—
THUD

Eyes open, souls recollect.
The new me, erect.

I make my own decisions, have my own priorities,
have my own thoughts.

No external force taps into me—
Freedom.
- Jana Bielecki
Who: (Everyone OPEN LOG)
Where: (City Hall)
Summary: (You've just arrived in the city. Welcome.)
Warnings: (Intro logs are pretty warnable.)
Style: (The text is in prose, but feel free to write back in action tags if you feel more comfortable.)

They always say the first day on a new job is always the hardest.

But tell me...did those tasks include being taken from your own homeworld, dumped into a city you didn't recognize, meeting a man dressed in the purest of whites with a butterfly mask, to be bestowed the power of Persona, and then having some Men in Black lead you to the city hall saying you were expected?

...

...at least your things are apparently safe in your new apartments?

...

...looks like you might be here for a while.


What a way to start the first of September...

As they usher the last of you in, you realize that they've been preparing this for quite a while. There is a small table with food on the right, mixed cuisine (although the main theme seems to be Japanese dishes). Some strange computer program appears next to you and seems to be translating what you are saying so those before you understand. Language barriers? Don't be silly!

Most of the men ignore you after that. You are expected to mingle amongst yourselves a bit before the main 'show' starts, it seems....

Comments

Minato Arisato | Persona 3

[fools_journey]

Not too far from the food stands a sleepy looking boy, shoulders hunched in a slouch and hands stuffed into his pockets. He simply lingers for a little while, gazing blearily at the crowd and scanning for familiar faces, before he wanders over to the food table. He doesn't seem too fussed by this whole affair, instead just following along as instructed, but food is nice, and he makes a small plate of sweet things before pouring himself a cup of coffee. If the way he's yawning or the circles under his eyes are any indication, the kid probably needs it.

But once he's got a snack and a caffeinated drink, he settles down in a chair to more easily balance his plate on his legs while he sips and eats.

... except after a few sips of the coffee, he doesn't seem to be doing too much of either, as his head bobs.

Is he... falling asleep?

Well, no worries, if someone doesn't wake him up, he's bound to spill something, and that, at least, will be sure to wake him up.

[linefacingforever]

Well, this was different. Most everyone here was confused and looking around like they didn't know what they were supposed to be doing. Except this kid; he was just...

...practically falling asleep?

Yu frowned, going over to his side and placing a hand on his shoulder, mostly to keep him from falling out of his seat.

"Are you all right?"

[fools_journey]

Blinking groggily, Minato very nearly drops his cup before he realizes what he's doing. He slowly looks up at the one who touched him, and there's a second of delay before he processes that he was asked a question. He nods.

"Just tired... thank you."

He's not entirely sure why he's still so tired, but he does have a few speculations. Still, there's no need to go into too much detail just yet, is there? But such thoughts aside, he studies Yu a little, wondering how his own personas would have responded. Other worlds, personas -- even Philemon don't seem all that strange to him, but if there's one thing that does really bother him, it's that most of his personas are missing. It feels almost... empty.

[linefacingforever]

He feels for the kid, really; no more social links means no more Personas, except for his own personal head monster. At least Kanji was here; he'd be able to restart the Emperor easily enough. The others... well, that would take some doing.

"Try to stay up. We don't know when they'll tell us what's going on," he encouraged softly, a faint smile coming to his face.

[fools_journey]

Well, Minato can't quite help another yawn, though he covers it with the hand not holding the coffee, while he nods.

"Mm. I'll do my best..." And he then gestures with his cup and takes a long sip of coffee. "Just hope the caffeine kicks in soon."

[linefacingforever]

Yu nodded, before eyeing his uniform. Hey, that was the same uniform as that school they visited at Tatsumi Port Island.

"Stay up all night studying?"

[endears]

"Um, mister? I'm not sure this is a good time to sleep..."

He'd been in the middle of people-watching, trying to pick out the best people he could potentially charm information out of when he spotted...

Someone... falling asleep, apparently? Logically speaking, he knew that someone like this probably wouldn't be much help, but he couldn't help but be curious as to what sort of person could be so relaxed in this situation.

Besides, he reasoned, there was a chance that he was so calm because he knew something, right?

[fools_journey]

Minato's head nods and then he catches himself and hears someone addressing him. Blinking rapidly in some attempt to not repeat the almost-sleep, he looks over at the other person, putting on a mildly sheepish expression.

"Ah, sorry... I guess I didn't get enough rest before I was brought here."

He pauses to take a long drink of his coffee. Every little bit to help!

[endears]

So, he probably didn't know anything useful. Oh well, he does his best to show concern, reaching out to try and steady the other boy despite... being kind of short in comparison to him. Good thing he's sitting down.

"Then... I know this might be hard, but could you do your best to stay up? You might miss something important otherwise."

[fools_journey]

Minato's not terribly tall himself, but either way, he's grateful for the show of concern. He doesn't like falling off chairs much. Nodding, he takes another drink of coffee.

"If there's something I haven't heard before, I'll stay up."

[endears]

"... 'Heard before'?" He's probably taking his words out of context, but he really is that desperate for intel right now. Besides, taking an interest is the first step in building up friendships and all that.

[risetocaesar]

Though glad to spot a familiar face among the crowd, Akihiko wasn't entirely surprised to see that Minato, like him, had chosen to hover near the food. He was, however, surprised to see Minato at all -- it had been quite some time since their leader's departure. For a moment, he second-guessed himself. It was entirely possible, after all, that there were other people in the world who looked like Minato -- but that familiar hunch of the shoulders was enough to convince him.

Well. There was only one way to be certain.

After claiming a drink, he made his way over to where Minato had seated himself, his own lips pressed into a thin line before he allowed a small but genuine smile to pull at them.

"Hey, leader. Do you really think this is the time to be nodding off?"

[fools_journey]

That voice -- the familiarity of it pulls Minato from his near-dozing and has him looking up and over at Akihiko. There's half a second of staring before he smiles, too, just a little. It's good to see Akihiko again - and apparently an Akihiko who actually remembers things, if he's calling Minato 'leader.' And that, at least, is a bit of a relief, even if Minato's not too sure being brought here is entirely a good thing.

"It seemed as good a time as any."

[risetocaesar]

Akihiko smirked just a bit in reply, glancing over his shoulder at the crowd that filled the room. "No place like a crowded room for a nap. Have you seen any of the others?"

It felt like a question worth asking, and allowed Akihiko to dodge the awkward 'and aren't you supposed to be dead?' that he felt nagging at him. If the two of them were both here, surely they couldn't have been the only ones that made it.

[fools_journey]

He shakes his head. "You're the first person I've seen here who I know."

Of course, he's still a little disoriented and groggy from the whole being dead and then not being dead thing, but he's trying to roll with it, even if it does mean lots of falling asleep. Still, the fact that he hasn't yet seen anyone else doesn't mean they're not here.

[risetocaesar]

He nodded; it was a huge room full of people, so there was at least a slim chance that they might see someone else they knew, if they were lucky. Personas seemed to be the common denominator here, which he felt improved those chances, at least a bit.

"It's been awhile," Akihiko said a moment later, discreetly eyeing Minato and appraising him. He looked alright -- alive enough, anyway. He had to find a way to ease into trying to figure out exactly how Minato was standing -- well, sitting there before him. "I haven't seen much of you or the others since graduation."

[nofairy]

There's a boy who looks about the blue-haired boy's age staring at him.

... And he's continuing to stare.

Um. Maybe he should do something? Yes. He should. He moves towards the boy, gets close, crouches down a bit...

... And continues to stare.

[fools_journey]

Well, stares aren't loud enough to wake this kid, so he starts to droop a bit more and slide sideways a little and then -- jerks himself awake again, nearly dropping his plate of food. But in the process, he also startles a little to suddenly have someone there staring at him when he was being left alone before.

So of course he does the only logical thing and stares right back. That's when he starts to really notice this other boy's appearance and -- something about it seems wonderfully familiar. Like an old friend - except in this case, it's more like a childhood hero, one Minato has secretly tried to emulate, at least when it comes to weapons he's not super familiar with...

But he soon pushes these thoughts aside to clear his throat and ask, "May I... help you?"

[nofairy]

Unfortunately Link is not privy to these thoughts - nor would he really understand them anyway, so.

"Why are you so sleepy? You shouldn't sleep there."

[fools_journey]

Minato yawns and shrugs. "Ah -- it's been a long several months. I'm just tired. I didn't mean to sleep here..."

[nofairy]

"Maybe you should tell someone in charge so they'll let you go to bed." Unless they're jerks. Then you'll probably have to have a boss fight or something.

[singsforsouls]

Naoya is passing by when he notices the other boy about to tip out of his chair. He does not say anything, nor really stop, instead slowing down enough to pull a hand out of his pocket and tap him on the shoulder.

[fools_journey]

Thankfully that rouses Minato from his doze, and he jerks a bit more upright (though not completely, because what is life without slouching, even when you're sitting down). "Ah -- thank you."

[singsforsouls]

"No problem." Naoya gives him a slight smile in response.

[fools_journey]

His protag senses tingle, and he feels like he shouldn't just let this conversation go --!

Minato looks at the other boy for a moment or two, glad there's other people who seem to be taking to this whole thing calmly. And then he realizes it probably isn't good to stare, but his sleepy mind is a little slow to kick in, and he's a little prone to staring off into space at the moment anyway. So he says the first thing that comes to mind.

"Nice earring."