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Shattered Justice (A Persona Quest)

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Stroll 1: The Origins of Teddie
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    • As you walk down the halls of the school, you encounter three members of the new group of Persona Users, along with your group's wayward robot. As the group of newcomers includes Teddie-san, this is more than a little concerning.

    "I was wondering," Aigis-san starts, "Exactly where you would find a creature such as... Teddie-san."
    Well, at least this would be good practice for later... if we could remember any of this.
    "We got him in a TV," Hanamura-san explains. "We fell in, he saved our lives a few times... then he ended up coming to live with us."

    Rise-san blinks. "You know, you guys never told me the full story about that."

    "Well, I mean..." You get the feeling that Hanamura-san doesn't entirely want to talk about his first encounter with the adorable bear. "It doesn't really seem important, you know? Ted's Ted, and that's what matters."

    "Before Sensei and Yosuke found me, I was all alone," Teddie-san adds. "And... then they ended up in my world, and they said they didn't have a way out, so... I gave them one."

    "Your... world?" Aigis-san's voice has not gotten any less concerning. "What world... would that be?"

    You feel like you should probably intervene here, before she starts some kind of inter-team crisis. "Oh, Aigis-san!" You decide not to let on how long you've been here. "Are you... asking Rise-san and her friends about how they use their Personas?"

    "I am actually more interested in the origins of Teddie-san," She tells you. "I am still not certain that he can be trusted."

    "Why not? He seems nice."

    "He feels like a Shadow." This is probably not the time to mention the fact that your own Shadow is actually someone you get on kind of well with. "Shadows are dangerous."
    ...I'm sorry, but I'm trying to view Teddie-san as dangerous, and the thought just... does not compute.
    You find it difficult to agree with her, on the grounds that Teddie-san has been nothing but friendly, and also he's far too cute and cuddly to be a normal Shadow.

    "...Aigis?" Rise-san's voice is nothing but sweet, though her eyes tell another story. "Do you know what my powers are?"

    "You said you are the Navigator for your team."

    "Right. And as the Navigator... if one of my friends was, hypothetically, a Shadow, then shouldn't I be able to sense that?"
    I'd make a point about ________, but I suppose he wasn't actually there in any sort of battle.
    "She... does have a good point," You say. "If there's something to worry about, I think that she'd already know." As would Fuuka-san. And Mitsuru-san as long as she's had the chance to stare at him for a bit. Aigis-san's worries are... probably unfounded.
    Or everyone's noticed what he is and just decided to do the polite thing and not bring it up.
    "Right. Because there's nothing for you to worry about." With how Hanamura-san is looking at Aigis-san, you half expect a strong gust of wind to brew at any moment. "You know how I know you can trust Teddie? None of the team from my time would be alive without him! Heck, I'd be dead so many times over, I've lost count!" This sounds like something he should be a lot more sure about.

    "...I think it was fifteen?" Teddie-san suggests. "I wasn't counting, either... and I'm not that great with big numbers..."

    "That doesn't sound wrong," Rise-san agrees. "It's not less than I saw during the game and the lab, anyway, even counting..." She winces. "...Anyway. Why are you so bothered about where Teddie comes from? Isn't the fact that he fights with us enough for you?"

    "I am simply attempting to ascertain his origins, to ensure that he is not a threat."

    "Well, good luck with that," Hanamura-san shrugs. "He says he's not sure where he comes from, either. Dunno if you'd even be able to figure it out." Despite the bluster he puts behind his words, he looks... kind of worried?

    You pause. "That... really?"

    Teddie-san shakes his head. "The first thing I really remember all that well is when I first met Sensei and Yosuke and Chie-chan. Everything else just blurs together... I think I'd like to know what I am, but..."
    Given what the answer is, it's not surprising he'd be hesitant about it.
    Aigis-san blinks. You weren't even fully aware she could do that. "Why would you not wish to know?"

    "Can you just drop it?" Hanamura-san asks. "He doesn't have to tell you anything if he doesn't want to. Ted's one of us. He fights with us, he lives in my house..." He reaches over and tugs on Teddie-san's ear. His head comes off, revealing a boy with light hair and bright blue eyes. "He can even look like us, when he bothers to."

    "Yosuke..." The boy pouts, crossing his arms inside the bear suit. "How many times do I have to tell you? Don't take my head off without asking!"

    ...Somehow, this doesn't even ping to you as much stranger than normal. It's just another thing that's happening.

    Then again, maybe that's just because it can't get much weirder than having a cat that turns into a bus.


    [ ] So, is this or the bear his real form?

    [ ] ...Does Hanamura-san regularly take Teddie-san's head off without asking?

    [ ] Ask Aigis-san why it would matter if Teddie-san was a Shadow.

    [ ] ...You're pretty sure people can't usually have eyes that blue.
     
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    • Stroll 1: The Origins of Teddie- Rise's Dilemma
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    • You cross your arms. "Aigis-san... even if Teddie-san's a Shadow, why does it matter?"

    "Shadows are dangerous. That is why my purpose is to eliminate them."

    You blink at her. "I thought your purpose was to stay by Makoto-san's side?"
    To be fair, she's probably never going to have to choose between the two options.
    "That too." While you aren't entirely sure about how she goes about things, you have to admit that she certainly knows what her priorities are. "I believe that it is possible to accomplish both."

    "No eliminating Teddie-san. I'll ask Ma-" On second thought, you don't see Makoto-san being all that helpful about this. "I'll ask Mitsuru-san to make it an official order if I have to."

    Teddie-san and Hanamura-san have not stopped with their bickering, so it's just Rise-san who continues this part of the conversation. "You'd really do that for us?"

    "Why shouldn't I? Whatever your friend is, he's clearly really important to you. And besides, he seems nice." The thought of Shadows potentially being nice probably isn't something that really occurs to a lot of people, but you've got enough personal experience with the concept not to find it too strange.

    "You know, once he realizes you've said that, he's going to take that as his excuse to talk your ear off."
    It's called Hurricane Teddie, and there is no escape.
    "I can handle it." At the very least, the things he has to say can't be any more inane than some of the stuff that Junpei-san comes up with.

    Aigis-san walks off, apparently displeased, and Rise-san continues talking to you in a low whisper.

    "It... really doesn't bother you, right? About Teddie being a Shadow?" You guess she's gotten sort of tired of pretending that he's not.

    "Not really. He... doesn't exactly feel like a bad person, or anything." A bit strange, maybe, but overall he seems to mean well. "But... I guess that's not something you really talk to people about."

    She casts another glance at where Teddie-san and Hanamura-san are arguing- it doesn't appear that they're going to stop any time soon, and sighs. "We don't even talk about it with him. He says he doesn't remember what he is, and I don't know if he's telling the truth or not, but... I don't know. It seemed rude to point it out at first, and... if we said it outright, it'd break his heart. He really doesn't want to be just another Shadow."
    I don't think he has to worry about that. He's very memorable.
    You guess this is something she has to think about a lot, as the Navigator who can tell full well just what her friend is. You wonder if she's even discussed the matter with her friends at all, or if she's keeping it a secret from them, too.

    "Does he really have to worry about that?" You ask. "I mean, he has a Persona and stuff..." But then, you remember Morgana, and his constant insistence that he's not a cat, despite all evidence to the contrary. Maybe that's just a thing about mysterious entities who wield Personas.

    "I guess not, but... I don't know. I just worry about him." And it's really hard for you to argue with that.

    Somehow, when your group comes back together, you all start by congregating in the school courtyard, below a massive clock tower, with hands that seem to be frozen somewhere between eleven and twelve. "I know this isn't really our school," Narukami-san says, staring up at it. "But this... really makes it sink in."

    "Is there not a clock tower at your actual school, then?" Mitsuru-san asks.

    "No," Naoto-san replies. "Not since we would have started grade school, at the very latest. And the one that was here, back then, was... much smaller. A simple monument."

    "Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to work all that well," Shinjiro-san comments. "It doesn't look like it's moving at all."

    "No, it's moving," Zen corrects him. "Just... very slowly. It moves at a rate that is very close to, but not quite, one second for every eighty-seven thousand, three hundred that actually pass."

    "First, that's so slow to be actually useless. Second, that's already real precise, why not go all the way with it?"

    "C-could you two not fight, please?" Rei asks, quietly. "It's a big number either way, isn't that what matters?"

    "I suppose it must be hard to maintain it," Naoto-san comments, "With how there's no doors into the tower. It may have just run down over time."

    But then... there's no way to know for sure, is there? For whatever reason... it seems like time really isn't passing here.

    Still... it doesn't seem like there's really a good way to get a proper look at it from the ground, if you can't even get inside. For a moment, you consider trying to break in with Psystrike Link... but, no, you get the feeling that that's an even more terrible idea.


    [ ] Ask how long it'd normally take for a clock like this to run down.

    [ ] As the others what they think of trying to break in somehow.

    [ ] ...Maybe you could get a better view of things from the roof?

    [ ] If he knows how fast... or slow... the clock hands move, then Zen must be really good with numbers.
     
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    • [x] If he knows how fast... or slow... the clock hands move, then Zen must be really good with numbers.
     
    There's No Way You Can Convince Me He Wouldn't Be Good At Math
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    • "You must be... really good with numbers, Zen-san," You speak the first thought that comes to your mind, as irrelevant as it probably is at the current situation. "To figure that out."

    Zen shrugs. "It's simple math," He says. "And I have a good sense of time. As well as a watch of my own to check my answers."

    "Still, I don't think most people would take the time to work that out."

    "We had a lot of free time," Rei remarks. "I don't... I'm not sure how long we've been here, but... I got curious."

    And then Zen went through all of the effort to get an answer for her, despite how complicated said answer ended up being.
    I'm just imagining them spending a few days just sitting out here, Rei-san with massive amounts of cotton candy...
    "I can't imagine having that much free time," Fuuka-san says. "Eighty-seven thousand seconds... that's over a day!" You're impressed that she knows that, if a bit less than the fact that Zen has actually sat through that.

    "We had a lot of free time," Zen repeats Rei's words. "It was... relaxing, to be able to sit back and count the seconds as they went by. That was quite some time ago, though. The clock has visibly moved several minutes since then."

    You aren't sure you like the implication that your new friends have been here long enough for one minute to pass on that clock, let alone several of them. Particularly if they only took note of the time back then due to growing bored. It's... not a nice thought.

    "What did the clock look like," Rise-san asks, "When you first got here?"

    "...I don't remember."

    After that particularly disturbing conversation, Fuuka-san and Rise-san get to work locating a new Labyrinth. You aren't entirely sure why they didn't do that sooner, but you guess they need as much time to enjoy the festival as anyone else... even if you hopefully won't be here long enough to see more than a few seconds pass on that clock.

    You suppose you should probably do something while they scan... or try and find a Labyrinth yourself. That is also a distinct possibility.


    [ ] ...Actually, searching for a Labyrinth could be fun... even if it also seems like a terrible idea.

    [ ] Somehow, Zen and Teddie have gotten into a competition for Rei's attention. You aren't sure how it started, but you definitely want to see how it ends.

    [ ] Somewhere, when you weren't looking, a girl with a blue hat showed up inside the Velvet Room. Despite how Margaret and Elizabeth both claim her to be one of them, Theo and Lavenza don't have any recognition of her. This warrants investigation!

    [ ] Narukami-san, Junpei-san, and Akihiko-san all seem to be bothering Shinjiro-san about something. This is... not the most unusual thing in the world, but it's still not exactly expected.
     
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    • [X] Somewhere, when you weren't looking, a girl with a blue hat showed up inside the Velvet Room. Despite how Margaret and Elizabeth both claim her to be one of them, Theo and Lavenza don't have any recognition of her. This warrants investigation!
     
    [X] Somewhere, when you weren't looking, a girl with a blue hat showed up inside the Velvet Room. Despite how Margaret and Elizabeth both claim her to be one of them, Theo and Lavenza don't have any recognition of her. This warrants investigation!
     
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