Shattered Justice (A Persona Quest)

It has become clear enough that, in search of an answer to your specific predicament- or, at least, Makoto-san's predicament, you should go to visit someone from the Velvet Room.

This, of course, leaves the question of who to go to. Elizabeth is a Wild Card, so whatever's happening could also affect her, but her relative sanity in comparison to her siblings is... not great. So while you'd probably get answers after a while, you'd have a more difficult time understanding her.

There's also Theo, who's presumably reliable, but who you don't know all that well. He's another good option, but...

...So far, every time you've had a big question about Personas, or what to do next you've always gotten your best advice from Lavenza. And you feel like the same could hold true here, as well.
She's definitely the most helpful of the three. Though, it'll be harder to tell once Margaret-san gets here. Really, where is Narukami-san?
...Besides, out of the three siblings present, you find her the least scary. That is definitely a factor here.

"I could ask Lavenza-san about it," You suggest out loud. "She's... pretty good at putting things in ways I can understand." You'd needed that a lot, last year, and you actually think it went pretty well. By this point last year, you were... actually sort of okay. "Maybe she'll be able to help us with this."

"Are you sure?" Morgana tilts his head to the side. "I don't think she's ever had a Guest before. What could she know about this?"

"Probably more than we do." And isn't that the important part?

Mitsuru-san glances at you. "I suppose you'd be able to find her?"

"I don't think she'll have left the Velvet Room," You confirm. "At least, unless she really wants to see the festival." And in that case... she could just wait, and you'd be more than willing to show her around.

You guess that means it's your job to get Lavenza's help. You suppose it makes sense. You're the one that knows her best.

Still, it'd be easier if it was the actual Wild Card doing the talking.

---

You're not letting the others get away with sitting back and letting you do all the work, so you drag them with you to the Velvet Room. "Lavenza-san, I have a quesiton for you," You declare.

She blinks up at you. "What is it?" It comes to mind that you should have really put in mind how to formulate this beforehand.


[ ] Jump straight into asking what's wrong with Makoto-san's powers.

[ ] Ease her into it by telling her about the Labyrinth.

[ ] Make Makoto-san do it. They just asked you to find her.

"Makoto-san's powers aren't working right." No reason to delay things, right? "He... says that he can't use most of his Personas."

She blinks at you. "Pardon? Could you repeat that?"

"He doesn't have access to any of his Personas except the ones he had with him when he came to Iwatodai." You aren't sure if this is a good enough way to dodge the existence of Thanatos, but it'll probably work as well as anything else you could think up. "It's... sort of worrying."

Lavenza nods, steps forward, grabs Makoto-san's hand, and drags him over to the chair in the center of the room. "I've never heard of something like this happening before..." She muses. "For something to interfere with the powers of the Wild Card... I hadn't thought it to be possible." She shakes her head. "Yuki-san. Would you mind drawing a card?"

She spreads out a deck of tarot cards in front of Makoto-san, and he gingerly reaches out to pick one. "It's... the Tower," He says, blinking.

"That's strange... I would have thought it would at least be Death, but..." She shakes her head. "Never mind. That isn't important right now. What is important is that the card you drew was not the Fool."
I really hope this doesn't mean I have to have a roommate...
"The Fool?" Mitsuru-san asks. "As in, his Arcana?"

"Exactly." Lavenza gives a firm nod. "The Fool is the Arcana of infinite possibilities- the Arcana of the Wild Card, particularly that of one who has yet to complete a Journey. Even outside of a Journey, it is not unusual for the Fool to have a secondary Arcana of some sort, or even a tertiary one, though of course I have not seen any examples."

"So something's wrong with his Arcana?" Yukari-san checks.

Lavenza's eyes continue to scan the cards in front of her as she speaks. "An Arcana is a simple expression of a person's inner self, marked in a way that those touched by the Velvet Room, or those with heightened senses, can see. It is less malleable than a Persona- the Arcana doesn't change unless the person themself undergoes a truly major change. It is not necessarily an indication that something is wrong, so much as..." She pauses, and then turns to Yukari-san. "Would you mind drawing a card for me? Or... not you necessarily... One of you. Anyone who wants to. We don't have all eternity for this."

Yukari-san reaches forward and takes a card from the table. "It's... the Fool."

"Interesting... I may need to fetch my sister, however, in order to prove my theory. All of you, wait here. Do not move a muscle." You get the distinct feeling that, if it had been Elizabeth speaking just now, the phrase would have been mangled beyond all repair.

Lavenza leaves the Velvet Room, and despite her words, everyone starts moving and talking to each other. Well. Everyone but you. You're still not sure if you should join in yet.


[ ] Maybe you should talk with Mitsuru-san.
-[ ] About?

[ ] Maybe you should talk with Makoto-san.
-[ ] About?

[ ] Maybe you should talk with Morgana.
-[ ] About?

[ ] Maybe you should talk with Junpei-san.
-[ ] About?

[ ] Maybe you should talk with Aigis-san.
-[ ] About?

[ ] Maybe you should talk with Shinjiro-san.
-[ ] About?

[ ] Maybe you should talk with Fuuka-san.
-[ ] About?

[ ] Maybe you should talk with Zen and Rei.
-[ ] About?

[ ] ...You know what? You're actually going to listen to what Lavenza tells you to do.