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

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

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....

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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..."

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?"

"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.

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.

"What? No way!" He was legitimately surprised at that. Was that how it had seemed on the other side of things...?

"I mean, I know we didn't really get along that well, but that didn't mean I wanted you to go and die." He shifted his gaze to the ground with a small frown.

"I was hoping we'd be able to convince you to come with us, but it was pretty obvious that wasn't happening. Still, in a weird way, you did keep us alive during the whole thing. Heh, without you, all of us would probably be dead."

"You would have been dead," Yamato stated simply, "and, truthfully, I would have died earlier if it weren't for your assistance." Hey, Yamato could admit how useful even Shijima was in the fight against the Septentrione. It was he who damaged Dubhre enough for Hiro and his friends to finish it off after all.

Shijima was a bit of conundrum to Yamato. He was a cowardly, untalented boy, but he did have flashes of bravery and intelligence in the right moments. Luck, perhaps? Or maybe Shijima had some seeds of potential buried inside of him somewhere.

It was enough for Yamato to acknowledge him somewhat.

Wow wait did

did Yamato just kind of compliment him? For once he's actually kind of speechless, but uh, he should probably try to not look like a blithering dumbass like he usually did, hah.

"Th-- Thanks?" This whole conversation was basically turning into things Daichi never thought would happen ever. "I don't know how much I deserve it, but we all had to help each other survive back there. Just because there are no Septentriones doesn't mean we can't still help each other out, right?"

"Hmm..." Yamato hummed neutrally, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes. He looked amused by something - and he was. Well, they were in a foreign land and all that, even if Yamato was still half-certain that this was some kind of purgatory, re-establishing old alliances would be advantageous in this kind of situation.

And as stated, Shijima could be useful when push came to shove.

"I suppose."

"Alright!" Oddly enough, he did feel better having Yamato around and not, fighting them again, even if there weren't many other traces of JP's around here. It was good having people that you were familiar with in a crisis situation, after all.

"You can count on me!"

Yamato had to admit that the familiarity was nice - even if personally he would have preferred someone as useful as Makoto, or even Fumi. Beggars could not be choosers however, so Yamato simply nodded in response.

Now cue awkward pause - well probably awkward for Daichi. Yamato was just staring at him. Right in the eyes. Very Intently.

See he wasn't that weirded out or awkward until... he... noticed Yamato staring at him like that. With direct eye contact. Uuuhhh--

"E...Everything OK...?"

"...hm?" Yamato blinked, tilting his head slightly. He still didn't look away. "I'm thinking about something."

He actually was. He was pondering over how on earth he had a physical body here. It had to be a different body because his original one was still trapped beneath the debris of Tsuutenkaku, so unless they spirited that away too and stuck it back together, this had to be an entirely new one.

...although Yamato felt a little disturbed to think that. Actually he didn't know what was more disturbing: a dead body stuck back together or an entirely new one that was, as far as he knew, identical to his original down to the minor details.

Whoever did this as well would have tremendous power to achieve any of that - let along bring a massive amount of people to this sole spot. Was it that man in the butterfly mask? Hm, for what purpose...

Hah, Yamato stated he no longer cared what happened but he was still intrigued by this mystery, it seemed.

Meanwhile outside of Yamato's head...stare. Stare at Daichi.

He did kind of just let Yamato spend the time in his head to think about it. Mostly because he was both kind of weirded out and also kind of scared to say anything. Because. Hey it was still Yamato, and Yamato still kind of scared him sometimes.

"Uh... What're you thinking about?"

"My death," Yamato said candidly. "Specifically how I came to have a body that is still in one piece. Unless it's a new one."

"Oh."

Oh ok.

That's not weird.

"O-Oh yeah..." Yeah he totally wants to think about Yamato blowing himself up that was totally awesome yep. "Maybe they just did some kind of time rewind?"

"I doubt they did a time rewind," Yamato deadpanned, giving Daichi a flat look as if disappointed with his response. "A time rewind would have effected me mentally as well as physically, so I would have no recollection of my death - as I would have came here before my death actually happened, even if the 'time rewind' was localised around me only."

He placed his hand over where he had been bisected across the torso, frowning slightly. "...It is possible they did it to my bisected corpse before placing my soul back inside of it. However I think it's more plausible that they simply gave me a new body to inhabit."

~~Thankfully he was used to Yamato's disappointment.~~

"Yeah, I don't see why they couldn't have just done it to your body. It seems like it'd be easier than making a whole new one if it was just cut in half--"

--hey wait.

"Bisected? What do you mean by that?"

Yamato lowered his hand, giving Daichi a little frown. "What do you mean, 'what do you mean by that'? You witnessed my death. I was crushed beneath Tsuutenkaku to the point where my body was severed."

Daichi had been right there when it happened.

"But-- But you exploded! I was standing right there!"

He was standing right there... Kaito remembered it, there's no way that it could be a dream, right?!

Yamato gave him a strange look.

"I think I would remember the details of my own death better than you, Shijima. I assure you, there was no exploding. I was in two intact parts, somewhat, not scattered across the landscape in pieces."

He frowned. "Do I have to jog your memory? I was challenged when you all decided to join Kuriki of all people, and an altercation between us occurred. I made a mistake of using up too much of the Dragon Stream, whereupon the Tsuutenkaku fell upon me. Is this sounding familiar?"

On second thought, it was...kind of weird telling someone else that they died differently than they remembered. But Daichi was sure that he wouldn't have forgotten watching Yamato blow himself up.

"Ronaldo...?" His face twisted in confusion. "No, I... even if Ronaldo's system would have helped people, it wouldn't have worked out in the long run. I don't think so, at least. That's the whole reason I tried to think of my own idea. But we ended up joining Kaito and Saiduq in the end-- we tried to get you and Ronaldo to join us, but you both refused."

Who the hell was Saiduq?

There was a long pause where Yamato simply frowned at Daichi - before he let out a soft 'whuff' of laughter. "Oh, I see now. Hm, interesting..."

Could it be possible that they hailed from alternative versions of their own world? Yamato is open to such ideas, especially since he died and was brought here - but there was no other explanation. Shijima was not the brightest person about, however Yamato admitted that there was nothing wrong with his memory, nor is there any point in lying about what they did.

"You see...?"

Man he hated when Yamato acted cryptic and weird, it always made him nervous. Well, more nervous than usual.

"You see what? What's so interesting?"

Because heeee's not understanding any of this at all. Why wasn't Yamato chiding him anymore?

Yamato gave Daichi a stern glare. "Come now, you are not this stupid, are you? The answer is clear. We both hold differing memories of what had transpired. You claimed to have gone with... 'Saiduq', whoever that person is, and I claimed you went with Kuriki's ridiculous ambition."

He heaved a sigh. "...Shijima, we both come from alternative timelines."

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