Shattered Justice (A Persona Quest)

"So... do you remember Rise-san?" You ask. Probably not the fastest way to the point, but it's a way, and that's probably a good start.

"It'd be... kind of hard to forget."

"Well... I'm pretty sure this is her team from the future." Mostly because you've spoken with her, and because time travel's not exactly a foreign concept to you, but the reasoning doesn't entirely matter right now. "I mean... it's that or she's somehow had a Persona for four months despite only learning about them a month ago." And you can't even say she learned all that much about them. "And also they say they're from 2011."

"You could have started with that part," Yukari-san points out, but that wouldn't be as fun, now, would it?

"It sounds less crazy when I start with other stuff, though." Besides, you haven't had the chance to dramatically explain the time travel as explicitly as you can with barely any memories yet!
We can skip that part. Just because the Thieves had an addiction to drama doesn't mean you need one, too.
"Considering what we were planning to do tonight, I don't think you have to worry too much about sounding crazy," Junpei-san points out. "I mean... I'm pretty sure we're already there."

"You'd know better than I would," Chidori-san comments. "Normal is... subjective, isn't it? We have a talking cat."

"I'm not a cat!"

"I know. I was making a point."

You have to admit, it's a very good point. At this point, there's very little you wouldn't believe, so long as it was prefaced by the involvement of Shadows or maybe a group of particularly dedicated Persona Users. Or the Velvet Room. You have no doubts that the siblings dwelling within could end the Dark Hour if they so chose, it's just that they're forbidden to do so for reasons you may never understand. Impossible is a temporary condition.

Zen pulls a stuffed toy out of a treasure chest and hands it to Rei, who clutches it tightly. "I believe we are done here?" He suggests. "I don't see anything else in the box, let alone something that can be used as a more proper escape."

"What is that, anyway?" Yukari-san glances at the toy Rei is holding. "It... looks like the rabbit from earlier."

Rei nods. "I think it's pretty cute, don't you?"
Oh, she says that now...
Yukari-san nods. "I mean, it actually has eyes, that helps... huh, what's that written here? 'Niko?'"

Rei flinches. "That... is what it says..."

"...Philei?" Zen glances at her.

"...I'm fine," She tells him. You don't believe her. You don't think Zen does, either. Neither of you call her out on it, but you'd like to at least partially blame Fuuka-san for it.

"So... something strange is happening with the locks on the Velvet Room doors," She speaks up, distracting you from the topic of Rei's doll. "It... looks like one of them might be trying to come off? It has been since Zen-kun opened that chest."

That... sounds maybe like something she should have spoken up about sooner.

"Oh, are we leaving?" The blue bear thing hops in place with a little squeak when his feet touch the floor. "Can I help?"

Makoto-san blinks at him. "...How do you plan to do that?"

"Like this! Traesto!"

---

And, all of a sudden, you're standing outside the You in Wonderland booth. It's like the Access Points in Tartarus, except a whole lot more convenient.

...Well, convenient in terms of speed. The mass of fake students was clearly not prepared for your arrival and the whole thing looks sort of ridiculous.

"All right,' Yukari-san sighs. "How about we all introduce ourselves properly and say what we can do so this doesn't happen again?"

Nobody disagrees.


[ ] Your group goes first.

[ ] The newcomers go first.

Despite Fuuka-san's excitement over the lock on the Velvet Room door, it's apparently something that can wait while two fairly large groups of Persona Users take the time to introduce themselves to each other properly. She brings Shinjiro-san with her, as well as Margaret's siblings and a girl with cinnamon-colored pigtails who can only be the older Rise Kujikawa.
Every time something like this happens, it brings up the question of how many people can fit in these kinds of spaces. Given how we're supposed to forget each time, I don't think we'll ever really know for sure.
As befitting your group being the first to find this place- as if that could ever be something to be proud of- your group introduces themselves first. For now, the exact order seems unimportant, although the first one to speak is Yukari-san.

"Um... I'm Yukari Takeba, and my Persona's name is Io. She uses Garu spells. I'm the field leader of SEES, my Arcana is the Lovers, and... I guess that's about it." From the other group, the boy with headphones and a girl wearing red are both staring at her speechlessly, though she doesn't seem to notice.

"I use Garu, too!" Morgana speaks up. "I'm Morgana, and my Persona's Zorro. Magician Arcana. ...What are you looking at?"

The silver-haired boy stares for another moment, before quietly asking, "Can I pet you?"
Right... unrepentant cat person. Would probably trade in Hanamura-san if he could.
"No! I'm no housecat!"

"Not when he looks like this, at least..." Shinjiro-san mutters. There's a few more confused glances, but you get the feeling that's always going to be the case. As far as you can tell, your group is unique even among Persona Users.

"I think complaining about this sort of stuff's a Magician thing," Makoto-san speaks up. "The others I know can be like that, too."
It would not surprise me.
"C'mon, Makoto, you don't mean that, do you?" Junpei-san asks, almost desperately. "I can't be that bad!"

"I'm pretty sure that's subjective..." Everyone's gaze lands on him. "...Makoto Yuki. Fool Arcana. My main Persona's Orpheus, who uses fire, and I can't really use anything else right now." And sure, you know that he's lying, and that Thanatos is still there, but there's a time and place to talk about that, and it's not in front of a large group of Persona Users that are presumably less-experienced than you are.

"And, like he said, I'm a Magician," Junpei-san sighs. "The name's Junpei Iori. My Persona's Hermes... who also sets things on fire... You know, a lot of us here in SEES set stuff on fire." You can't exactly deny it. It'd be possible to build an entire combat team out of only people who live at your dorm who can use Agi spells.

"You... aren't wrong," Chidori-san admits. "It might just be a common element around Iwatodai... Chidori Yoshino. Hanged Man Arcana. Medea. Fire and Curse spells." Once she's done listing what has apparently been decided on as the important information, she's back to sketching. You aren't sure what she's working on at the moment, but it'll probably be interesting to see later, if you ever get the chance to look.

Mitsuru-san steps forward next, apparently deciding to try and get this whole thing back under control. A futile mission, if you've ever seen one. "I am Mitsuru Kirijo. My Persona, Artemisia, excels in the use of ice attacks, and my Arcana is the Empress." If people were looking strangely at Yukari-san, there is almost at entire team outright staring at Mitsuru-san.

You sort of get why, her family is kind of a big deal, but it's still odd to think about. To you, she's always been just Mitsuru-san.

"Well, that's not the conspiracy theory I expected to ring true..." The one whose Persona can use Almighty spells mutters.
I'm just wondering why she knows about those conspiracy theories. Has the Gekkoukan rumor mill come to life and gotten a book deal, or something?
Either way... you get the feeling that it should be your turn to speak soon. And you should probably think about what you want to say. If only because, no matter what happens, people are going to be a bit concerned about the presence of an eleven-year-old in a team that regularly fights monsters.


[ ] Just follow Chidori-san's example. Name, Persona, Arcana, element, done. (+Diligence)

[ ] You... might want to explain a bit of why you're part of this group? (+Expression)

[ ] If you can emphasize how much you care about everyone here, maybe they won't think to question it. (+Empathy)

[ ] There should be absolutely nothing wrong with explaining that you've had a Persona since you were nine years old. (+Courage)