Persona: A Less-Than Cinematic Tale (Starring Hikari of PQ2)

In order to figure out how to get Ribbon home, they first needed to figure out a bit more about where they were. Hikari wasn't convinced that the theater the little robot came from held the answer- that would be too simple- but there had to be clues in this place somewhere, right?

"Do you think maybe... if I look around with Gullveig...?" She suggested, not entirely sure how she was supposed to do that, or what she was suggesting, but desperate to help either way.

"I guess you could try," Shinjiro agreed. "I mean, you can at least make sure no more Shadows are going to show up."

She wasn't entirely sure how to do that, either, but she guessed that was another thing worth doing. "All right, then..."

A Persona was one of those things that didn't come with an instruction manual. And yet, somehow, as Hikari moved towards, the center of the room, she knew exactly what to do. "Gullveig..." She whispered, drawing up power from within herself.

Perhaps, for a moment, a mask appeared on her face. Perhaps, for a moment, a card floated in front of her. Perhaps, for a moment, she was tempted to take her notebook out of her bag and open it. The mechanism didn't matter.

What did matter was that, for a moment, Hikari was enveloped in blue fire, which only faded away when her Persona was there, film reels spinning.

And Hikari looked around the cinema, to see what was there.
(Observation roll, DC 25/50/75. Result: 28.)
The main thing she noticed was that the room she, Shinjiro, and Ribbon were in felt different to the rest of the cinema, and also to the world outside. She knew, somehow, that no Shadows would appear in this place, nor would they wander inside if not lured here by someone engaged in combat with them.

Other than that... it didn't seem like there was much to see.

"Sorry, I... can't really get much..." She admitted, not bothering to wonder why she felt inadequate. Of course this wasn't good enough- they needed to find Ribbon a way home. "But... as long as none of us do anything to attract them, this place should at least be safe from Shadows. Something about it keeps them away." Versus the areas outside, where she got the feeling that they wandered freely, and the theaters, which...

...Hikari wasn't sure what kind of feelings she got from the theaters. They just unnerved her.

"Explains why I haven't really seen them around despite knowing they're there..." Shinjiro sighed. "Good thing I ended up here and not outside, huh?"

Ribbon tilted her head to the side. "Query: Outside?"

"...Have you never left your lab before?"

"Not that I can recall. I didn't have much reason to leave, either. I have a lot of friends there."

"Are they robots, too?"

"That's right. The other UIY units are my friends." Hikari couldn't imagine there being a group of other beings like Ribbon. It was hard enough to believe that there was one of her.

"...Still, if Shadows aren't going to show up here, it'd probably be a better idea to stay here if we don't want to fight anything. Not like... there's a lot of places we can go..."

"There's something odd about the theaters," She noted. "And... There's another path outside, that... looks really new. There... might be something down that way, but I can't really tell from here." Somehow, she knew that the farthest she could be from a place and still learn anything about it was at the crossroads. "Maybe if I got closer, but..." But Ribbon was still getting used to her changed circumstances, and it wouldn't be a good idea to wander in a place where Shadows might gather when one of them was disoriented. It just didn't seem like a good idea.

"If you're worried about me, it should only take about three days for me to be back to full capacity, maybe even less. I should be fine."

"So, we start exploring in about three days, then?" She suggested.

"You're the Navigator. We're not exactly about to go anywhere without you." And with that, Hikari realized that she'd somehow ended up the leader of a group where she had no idea who the other members were.

This probably didn't bode well.

---

Three days, at most, until Hikari could get to exploring the other world, less if she decided against bringing Ribbon along. Not that she wanted to leave the little robot alone in a cinema lobby, but it seemed about as safe as anything else would be.

As it was, she was still leaving her in a cinema lobby with only a ghost for company, whose actual existence she still hadn't gotten around to confirming after her last attempt ended with a dead phone.

Still, her phone had plenty of charge now, so... maybe it would be fine?

...Something to consider, anyway.


[ ] She was already by the garden. It would be nice to take the chance to relax.

[ ] Now would be a good time for studying in the library... even if she was pretty tired.
-[ ] It turned out that Shiyuri Kosono had the same idea.
-[ ] It turned out that Tsukane Akabori had the same idea.
-[ ] It'd be a little lonely, but Hikari was fine with that.

[ ] ...Maybe the cafe would be nice and relaxing.
-[ ] It turned out that Shiyuri Kosono had the same idea.
-[ ] It turned out that Tsukane Akabori had the same idea.

[ ] She wouldn't fall asleep this time. This time, her internet browsing would end without a drained phone battery. She was sure of it!

While Hikari was sure that she could access the cinema from any tunnel that led into the other world, the one she'd initially found was particularly useful, as it was right by the Dreaming Garden. She wasn't sure what it was that drew her to this garden, but it was such a nice place, she didn't really mind leaving it a mystery.

In the evening, the flowers were as vibrant and colorful as ever, the leaves of the bushes rustling in the stiff breeze remaining from the rain earlier. The sky was still filled with dark clouds that Hikari fully expected to open up again later, but for now, there was nothing but peace and quiet.

As there wasn't much else to do, Hikari retrieved her orange notebook from her bag, pausing for a moment to wonder at the sun on the cover before opening it again.

All of her notes on the people she'd be best off avoiding were still there. She'd only made those notes a few days ago, and yet it felt like forever. She'd already seen and discovered so much more...

These were things that probably needed to be written about, even if nobody would ever believe her about it. Worst case, she could probably use it to write a script, later in life, and then show people Gullveig if they thought her ideas were too fantastical.

...If she could summon Gullveig outside of that other world. As it was, she didn't really have any reason to try.

Still, these were things she needed not to forget, so they were things that she would write down, just to be sure that she remembered everything important.

Pressing her pen to the paper, Hikari decided to start by writing what she knew about Personas...

---

Hikari managed to get more done than she'd expected, only being distracted from her writing when a line of lightning struck the sky, followed by a rumble of thunder that caused the ground beneath her to shake. She had to hurry back to the dormitory after that, for fear of more rain falling and ruining her notebook.

The next morning, the storm was still going in full force. Everything was insulated well enough that Hikari wasn't sure they had to worry about losing power, but she wasn't all that excited about walking through a place that was full of water. Sadly, this apparently was not enough to cancel classes for the day.

With all the water around, it probably wasn't safe to go into the tunnels, other world or not... She hoped Shinjiro and Ribbon were doing okay... For now, she had her own problems to worry about.


[ ] Such as braving the rain with a friend to try and visit the cafe.
-[ ] Shiyuri Kosono.
-[ ] Tsukane Akabori.

[ ] Such as braving the rain to try and make it to the library.
-[ ] With Shiyuri Kosono.
-[ ] With Tsukane Akabori.
-[ ] By herself.

[ ] The garden is too wet right now.

[ ] Such as figuring out how long she could stay under one roof before being late to class.

4/12/17- A Persona appears to be a special kind of power a person can possess. It's not a power limited to living beings- ghosts can use them, too- but they appear to be easiest to bring out in another world.

The power of Persona can express itself in several different ways- My Persona, Gullveig specializes in gathering information, while Castor, the Persona used by Aragaki-san, is instead optimized for physical combat. From what little information I've been able to gather, there should be Personas capable of using elemental attacks, but I don't know anyone who possesses one.

Aragaki-san may know of the existence of other Persona Users, but from what he says, we can't expect any sort of help from them.

4/14/17- It appears that it's not just humans who can use the power of Persona- robots can, too, as shown by Ribbon's new Persona, Ninshubur. Ninshubur doesn't appear to have any direct capabilities for inflicting damage, but Ribbon seems to have that part of battle well in hand, herself.

While I still can't get a good look at Aragaki-san, examining Ribbon's Persona tells me about something called an Arcana that can differ from Persona to Persona- Ninshubur's Arcana is Faith, while Gullveig's is the Sun. Shadows also have an Arcana, though I'm still not sure what any of it means. If it means anything.

I considered asking Aragaki-san what his Arcana is, but I never got around to it. Maybe another day.

---

4/12/17- Shadows, from what I can see, are dangerous monsters inhabiting the other world. The only one I have encountered so far took on the form of an hourglass and could throw fire around. From what Aragaki-san says, even Shadows of the same type can differ based on the location they are found in- the Flowing Sand we met was weak to Bless, while the ones he is more used to were weak to physical attacks.

Gullveig's abilities let me sense the location of Shadows before they can attack. I must take care to use this power in the best way possible, so as to keep everyone safe.

4/14/17- In today's exploration of the other world, the others came across a Shadow that was much more powerful than the others in the area. They managed to avoid engaging in combat with it, thankfully, but I could still feel its power.

Shadows like that, we've decided to call FOEs- short for Fysis Oikein Eidolon. According to Aragaki-san, it roughly translates to 'an idol that lives by instincts,' though this is secondhand information, so it might not be entirely correct.

I should keep a particular eye out for FOEs in future expeditions.

4/18/17- Yesterday, in my expedition of the other world, I encountered a Shadow that looked a great deal like Akabori-kun. The main difference between them was that the Shadow's eyes were gold- everything else was identical, aside from their actions.

Akabori-kun didn't want to leave that world, and lashed out when we asked him to go back. The Shadow helped talk some sense into him. This is very different from how Shadows usually act, though I have encountered some before that didn't seem particularly interested in attacking, so long as their territory wasn't disturbed.

Possibly the strangest thing about this Shadow, however, is that it talked. He was the first Shadow I've ever seen that could do that. Or... if any other Shadows had voices, I didn't hear them. Maybe they just don't like talking to humans.

4/27/17- We fought an FOE today. It was the most powerful enemy we've ever faced. I think even a larger team would find it unusually difficult, because it didn't respond to attacks it was weak to the same way as a normal Shadow.

Most Shadows that are attacked with their weakness will fall to the ground, helpless. For Overseer Eye, being attacked by something it was weak to made it vulnerable to more kinds of attack for a small period of time, and required a second attack within that time to properly knock it over.

This particular method might not work for all FOEs. But it does prove that, if we wish to fight more of them, we will need to prepare a particular strategy.