[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

Yamato Hotsuin | Devil Survivor 2

[drakenguard]

Yamato was confused.

This was new for him, but he was just so dazed that he honestly couldn't pull himself together. His last memories before he arrived here was Tsuutenkaku collapsing and his last words to Hiro and Kuriki. He was pretty sure he died.

So why was he standing in a room filled with strange and foreign people...?

Yamato stood on the fringe of the crowd, being a complete wallflower and unwilling to mingle just yet. He wasn't sure of his situation, and although normally he would go to gain information, he felt that observation and quiet would be best for now...

[blitzkriegzwei]

Ludwig, in his scanning of the people around him, noticed a young man who appeared to have military decorations on him. Perhaps this young man would be worthy of further investigation? Ludwig doubted that he was part of this world, but perhaps a military background would be a common ground. "You there," he called out as he approached. "Were you in your world's military?"

[drakenguard]

Yamato turned to the stranger, hearing the foreign words. German, he recognised it immediately, and his eyes flickered to the program that automatically translated the words before dismissing them. He could speak German relatively well.

"...something like that," he said evasively, regarding the other man cautiously. He was dressed in a military uniform. A soldier then? Was this perhaps some sort of purgatory? It looked strangely... bureaucratic for the afterlife.

"You were a solider, I presume."

[blitzkriegzwei]

"'Something like that?' Care to explain more?" Ludwig was trying not to sound like an interrogator and failing miserably. "As for me... yes. I was a soldier at multiple points in my life. It's actually been a while since I've been in any actual fighting, though." He looked down at his uniform, then back up. "I'm not sure why they sent me in my military uniform. Must have been so that others would recognize me more easily." While Ludwig spent more time at a desk chair than in the field these days, he was a soldier deep down. He didn't exactly mind being sent in his uniform.

[drakenguard]

"Hmm..."

Yamato noted the interrogative tone, and felt his lips quirk upwards slightly in amusement. It had been some time before he had a trained interrogator picking at him. He pulled himself out of his shell slightly, adopting the more commanding presence of Chief of JP's.

"Not particularly. It no longer matters," he said, his tone polite, whilst he logged away the pieces of information this stranger carelessly gave away about himself - or not, he could perhaps be trying to coax Yamato to speak about himself by putting forth a false front of friendliness.

"Are you a retired soldier, then?"

[blitzkriegzwei]

"Not entirely." Ludwig noticed the change in attitude. Suddenly, this young man's presence felt more powerful somehow. It was an aura that he only felt from the commanders he had worked with over the ages. It was not entirely unheard of for someone so young to rise to greatness, but perhaps his world had different rules regarding age and position. "I could go back into the military at any time, should my superiors order it. However, right now I am simply assigned a different sort of government job. One that involves a lot of paperwork."

As he said that, Ludwig realized a slight problem in his midst. Should he bother explaining that he represented the country of Germany? Probably not. Even if this man had a Germany in his world, he probably wouldn't believe him. People that embodied countries were most likely a foreign concept to most of the people here. Likewise, many of their concepts would be foreign to him...

[drakenguard]

"I see."

This man was rather free with information about himself, wasn't he? Yamato thought it quite at odds with his military ensemble. Aren't those in such positions trained to be deliberately vague with personal information? Unless, of course, these are all lies. However stating that he handles paperwork was just indicating that he handled sensitive information daily, which made him a bigger target.

"You are very free with information," Yamato mused aloud, "Isn't that a bit foolish of you?"

[awww_yeeeeeaaaah]

What's better than seeing "Hiro" in this place?

"...Yamato!"

Seeing "Hiro" running towards you, looking really excited to see you while holding a plate of Takoyaki.

You did it, Yamato.

You made it to heaven.

[drakenguard]

Well, admittedly, for a moment Yamato wondered if he had gone to heaven. Hiro and Takoyaki were his two favourite things, and both of them were together so-

But then he was instantly suspicious. He didn't believe in heaven, even if his current experience proved an afterlife existed, and he especially didn't believe in miraculous, wonderful occurrences like this happening without a price...

As Hiro drew near, Yamato seemed to withdraw in himself, eyeing the brunet with a closed off gaze.

"...Hiro?"

[awww_yeeeeeaaaah]

He stops just short in front of Yamato, looking...well. Worried.

"...No?" Worried and a little confused.

[drakenguard]

Yamato frowned. "...what is your name?" he asked. This looked remarkably like Hiro, and he had stated his name, so who was he? This...was this some strangeness of whatever purgatory he had stepped in?

[awww_yeeeeeaaaah]

"...I'm Kaito, dude." He said as if Yamato was being totally dumb and didn't recognize him. "Remember? Daichi crashed that truck into Dubhe, you wanted us to work with you..."

Ringing any bells?

[drakenguard]

"...you were called something different," Yamato murmured quietly to himself, but left it at that. Kaito? Yamato was certain that Hiro Kageyama was his name, but he was hardly going to argue it. If he was in purgatory, they could simply be annoying him until they decided what to do with him.

"It doesn't matter. What are you doing here? You were alive when I last saw you, unless you failed in your negotiation with Polaris."

[hetried]

OK, so Daichi had actually started to calm down! Fancy that! Talking to everyone else and Kaito had certainly helped. So he was actually walking around and being social like a normal person! Sort of!

And then he basically just, stopped and. Balked for a minute when he spotted a very familiar head of white and black hair standing against the wall.

It... couldn't be, could it?

"Yamato...?!"

[drakenguard]

Yamato twitched at hearing his name shouted like that, turning to the offender with a slight frown. That expression only deepened when he caught sight of Shijima of all people. What was he doing here? Yamato was certain that he had been alive the last time he saw him...

Well, it wasn't like Shijima was the strongest or durable of people. It was highly possible he died against Benetnasch or Polaris. Ah, shame. He was Hiro's best friend or something like that.

"...Shijima," he greeted after a pause, tilting his head to the side slightly. "Why are you here?"

[hetried]

Wow he certainly didn't miss that stare, that was for sure. It was like he could feel the sheer and utter disappointment out of him.

"Heh, that's what I'd like to know. Last thing I knew we beat Polaris, and everything was fine and--"

Wait wait there was something more important here.

"Wait, I should be asking you that! What happened to you?! Didn't you... uh... you know..."

[drakenguard]

Defeated Polaris? Ah, so they succeeded in their world of Equality? Yamato felt...well, he was telling the truth when he said he acknowledged Kuriki in his goal for his world, and had passed on at peace with his loss. He supposed he was somewhat happy that they succeeded where he had failed. He didn't want the world obliterated, after all, not even in spite.

"I see. I am glad," he said sincerely. "I suppose you are referring to my death. Yes, I died, which is why I am confused..." he looked about himself with bemusement. "At first I wondered if the afterlife was strangely bureaucratic, but if you're here, then perhaps I have been revived somehow?"

[hetried]

"Well, I'm pretty sure I'm not dead-- I don't remember dying, at least. Unless I imagined the final battle..."

Wait what if he really died when they were fighting Polaris and this really was all some kind of weird bureaucratic afterlife waiting room OK no snap out of it Daichi he's pretty sure he wouldn't have imagined Saiduq turning into a planet!!

"--Uh, anyway. I don't really know what's going on, but either way, I'm glad you're back."

Dying sucked, even if Yamato acted like a supreme dick.

[drakenguard]

Yamato looked a little amused at that. "Are you? Hrm, I half-expected you to be happy over my passing."

He knew he hadn't exactly endeared himself to Hiro's friends all that well, not that he really cared. Yamato did what he had to do, and if it made everyone hate him, well it wasn't like he desired their friendship or kindness anyway. The only one he strangely desired the approval of was Hiro, but that was a confusing can of worms that he refused to even touch with a fifty foot pole, let alone open.

[viditlibertas]

It wasn't that he...wanted to avoid Yamato. It was that he felt he had no other choice than to do so. Given his form, and their parting, it just wasn't the sort of confrontation he was eager for.

Eventually, he accepted it'd just be worse if the Shining One or Daichi mentioned him, and tentatively, warily floated over to where Yamato was (hopefully) distracted. His sides were fluctuating in and out at a slow pace, not quite making points, but enough to show that there was some serious unease going on in his thought process.

[drakenguard]

There was a foreboding sensation creeping over Yamato, like he was walking in the woods and some sort of predator was closing in on him. He shifted his weight, looking sharply to his left - but only saw the strange people mingling about as usual - before heaving a small frown. Perhaps his death was just throwing off his sense...

Then Yamato looked to his right and-

oh.

okay.

Yamato stared at- Alcor. Box Alcor. The form he had only seen once in his life. It had been during childhood, when Yamato was a stupid child and found the form fascinating rather than horrifying as it should be.

"..." Yamato closed his eyes, then opened them again. Alcor was still there.

"No."

[viditlibertas]

The second Yamato uttered that one single word, Alcor made his decision and pushed in to his spiked form, teetering uneasily.

"..."

But he had, no idea what to even say to Yamato. How to even talk to him anymore. He had given mankind language, but they had given those words meaning.

". . ."

Well, that forced his hand.

"Ψ%%δΩ."

[drakenguard]

Yamato stiffened up when Alcor shifted into starform - which Yamato automatically translated into "READY TO ATTACK" - and looked absolutely frozen when the gargled Septentrione language issued forth from the alien.

For a moment, it simply looked like Yamato was going to stand there, completely frozen, until Alcor left, but then the man practically jumped back a step like some startled rabbit, throwing a hand out to point angrily at Alcor.

"What...what are you doing here?! Why are you dogging my steps even in death-!!"

Wait, in death. No. No no no what if this was purgatory for lost souls and- Alcor, had died too - he would have to die for them to find the way to Polaris so was-

No. No he wasn't spending an eternity with Alcor in purgatory!!

HE WASN'T!!

And commence meltdown of epic proportions, Yamato looking to be on the verge of a full on mental collapse as he bowed his head, clutching at his hair. No no no this couldn't be happening...!!!

/not here (yet)

[awww_yeeeeeaaaah]

"...?"

>You sense a disturbance in the air, as if there is a huge storm or earthquake about to hit this very auditorium.

>...Hmm, but be just your imagination.

It's not until afterwards that he hears the screaming, though and, being an SMT protagonist the type who helps people in danger, he rushes over to where the screaming is coming from.

Re: /not here (yet)

[viditlibertas]

His wires knotted and swarmed over his frame, slithering quickly to contract and expand over his points and curves. It was obvious the star was up to something, but it was hard to gauge what.

For the time being, however, Alcor didn't move from the spot he hovered in. Even without eyes, or a human presence, he was staring Yamato down from where the teen was crouched and breaking down.

Saiduq didn't say anything. Even another word would have only escalated the situation beyond repair.

...it also helped that he didn't know what to do.