destinystrings | A different kind of IC intro

Who: Dojima and OPEN
Where: Caduceus Hospital, Leo District
Summary: Dojima doesn't arrive quite as planned.
Warnings: None so far.

Today, after being silent for a few days, the HORUS system beeps back to life, indicating a new arrival... at Caduceus Hospital in the Leo district. Not at all where Visitors usually arrive...

Dojima opens his eyes after a strange dream. Persona... must be because of what his nephew told him. He groans as nurses get to work around him, hooking him up to machines, giving him oxygen and dialing different departments for a head to toe examination of the new patient who was visibly in bad shape. Shit, why had they unhooked him in the first place?

"Sir? Sir, what is your name?" the youngest nurse asks, writing pad in hand.

He hisses in pain before repying "Dojima... Ryotaro."

"Okay. Do you know where you are?"

"Inaba."

From the look the nurse gives him, Dojima understands this was not the right answer. But, if he's not in Inaba... where is he???

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Even if it hurts he's gonna bear it, because come on, that's his daughter right here. "Nanako... Nanako... oh god, it's a miracle..." he says as he holds her tightly with his good arm. "Thank you, Yu..." He could never thank his nephew enough. He has no idea how Yu did it, but Nanako is back safely and despite his injuries this day could not be better.

"I... sure," Yu replied, admittedly a bit awkwardly. He wasn't sure what point in time his uncle was from, though judging from that reaction, he could guess. A smile came to his face as he made his way over, resting a hand on Nanako's shoulder as he looked his uncle over.

"How are you feeling?"

Dojima took a few more moments to hug Nanako close before answering. "Much better, now. I had the weirdest dreams while you were gone..."

Oh boy, how to explain this...

"What's the last thing you remember?" Yu asked. He can guess, but he wanted to be sure.

Dojima looked at his nephew, confused. "What do you mean by that?" He still thought the Persona and 'Hinotori' part of the day were just part of a drug-induced dream...

"It's important, uncle," Yu began. "There's... a lot we need to talk about, but it's better if I know what the last thing that happened to you was before you woke up here."

"You mean..." he let go of Nanako gently, "this... really isn't Inaba?!" If it isn't... well, he's gonna need a whole lot of explanation.

"Right, the last thing... I was in the hospital. I asked you to find Nanako. Then I fell back asleep..."

"This really isn't Inaba," he confirmed for him softly, nodding as his suspicions were confirmed; it wasn't long after the accident for Dojima. Philemon, he really, really wants to punch you right now.

"We're in a place called Hinoto-Ri," he began. "We've all been pulled from different points in time: myself, just before I was going to leave Inaba, Nanako and some of the others, not that long after I did. I'm not sure how we can get home, or if we even can. And..."

Well, this was going to get weird.

"Remember what I told you in the station? About Personae?"

"How is that... ugh." Dojima shifted to not lean on his broken ribs and listened, for once. It was just a hunch, but between the nurse, Hanamura and now Yu with Nanako, he knew something bizarre was going on, and his secretive nephew seemed to have answers.

"I... yeah, I do. I just had a dream where I heard someone talking about Persona, actually. Before you came in."

Nanako allows Yu to do most of the explaining. She knows about timeline differences, and she'd guessed by now that her dad must be from way back in the fall, but she knew she couldn't make her dad understand better than her big bro could. But this latest topic makes her pipe up again. "We all have Personas now! Even I have one!"

She may not like fighting, but Personas are still really cool. It's like having your own personal superhero. She'd worried about it after the tournament a little, but then she'd realized that even heroes don't win every battle. Losing just meant they'd do an even better job the next time trouble happened.

Yu smiled softly at Nanako, reaching out to rest a hand on her head. Her Persona suited her, but... he needed to give her some kind of training, help her better learn how to defend herself. Especially now.

"Everyone here has a Persona, Uncle," he continued, "and you don't have to be in the TV to use it."

Dojima stared silently at his nephew for a moment. This... didn't make any sense. How did he get a persona? Why did he get a persona? Nanako had a persona? Even without mentioning the thing about going inside a TV, this was pretty hard to swallow. The world just didn't work that way!

"I have a persona?"

"Yeah! The butterfly-masked man gives them to everyone so they can help the city."

She won't say 'fight for,' because that probably isn't the real answer. She was brought here too, after all. Her Persona must have some other kind of important use.

Yu nodded in agreement. He... wasn't so sure about Philemon's motives, but for now he'd go with that description unless proven otherwise.

"They work a little differently than on our world, but it's more or less the same thing."

"I... I don't understand. Why give me, of all people, a Persona?!" Given the state he's in, and his age... He can't be running around with a thing in his head when he has work... wait. This isn't Inaba. He doesn't have work here. How will he feed Nanako? And Yu? Where will they live??? Dojima attempts to sit, groaning in pain as his torso and arms protested.

Nanako immediately took charge of the situation. She'd dealt with this side of Dojima before. "Lie down, Dad... You need to rest and get better."

"But, Nanako... who's gonna take care of you? And Yu?" It's not that he didn't trust Yu, far from it. It's just that Yu was too young to have to work to support a family. But he did lie back down because holy crap it hurt.

"Are you eating well, at least?"

Oh Dojima... if only you knew the stuff Yu was doing to make sure Nanako could still live comfortably. On that note, he was going to have to make sure his uncle never ended up at Nyx's Nightclub... because yeah. He didn't feel like being grounded for life.

"We've been here for awhile, uncle," he replied. "I've been supporting us the whole time; it's okay."

Luckily for Yu, Dojima was not the type who liked half-naked dancing girls and loud boom-boom with his beer. He looked at his nephew.

"Sorry. Ugh... you shouldn't have to... do this. I should be the one working to support you. As soon as I can leave, I'll..." right, no work, "... I'll find work."

So... that means crossdressing guys are out too, right?

"You just focus on recovering, uncle," Yu replied. "That's most important right now."

"Big Bro's taken good care of me, Dad," Nanako affirms. "Even our house came here, too. Now that you're here it's just like normal again." Well, normal before Yu had to leave for the city, but she doesn't want to bring that up right now.

Yes, crossdressing guys are out too.

"Our house...??? Yu, how is that even possible???" First he's brought here, now the house? What was this crazy place???

A different kind of IC intro

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That icon was so perfect. Nanako is tired of your shit, Dojima.

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