[VIDEO]

[mementodagger]

[He's been trying to avoid this, especially since the COMP link buried in his flesh freaks him out as much as any ghost. But now his closest friend, the only person he knows and trusts, is missing and he feels utterly helpless to do anything about it. Feeling helpless makes him rather cross.]

Hope I'm bloody doing this right.... Zael? If you can hear me, give me some sign. It's been three days, you can't be gone for good. I swear, if you've left me in this place alone....

[He takes a deep breath.] If anyone on the rescue team finds a man named Zael, have him contact me as soon as possible. [In the meantime, Yurick is going to go blow off some steam by burning something down.]

Comments

[otakuro]

Atsuro Kihara. Don't worry about it; it's nice to meet you, Yurick.

[It was difficult to judge Yurick's age from sight alone. Given that the man was clearly from a time in the distant past, perhaps it was safe to lop off a few years from what he was thinking.]

Try not to be too worried - he'll come back soon. ...They'll all come back soon.

[mementodagger]

Thank you, Atsuro. [He trips just a little over the foreign name.] I certainly hope so. In the meantime, I need to learn as much about the situation here as I can.

[He... hasn't really discovered his Persona yet. He knows something feels different but he hasn't had the desire to explore things until now.]

[otakuro]

It's definitely weird at first, but hopefully, the culture shock will wear off soon. There's not too much to learn besides what was in that dream you heard. Use Persona, fight demons. I guess there's something of a learning curve with being able to summon the thing properly, though...

[mementodagger]

I keep hearing that term... Persona. Just what is that?

[He's used nothing but his own magic, both before and after arriving. Just the implanting of the COMP made him want little or nothing to do with the quirks of Hinoto-Ri.]

[otakuro]

[Atsuro bites his lower lip for a moment or two.]

...You didn't hear the dream, did you.

[Alas. No wonder he was confused.]

Well, it's not a big deal. Persona is only really relevant when you're fighting, really... Um.

[He isn't quite sure where to start with this.]

So you're saying you only know the word?

[mementodagger]

Yes. I've heard it mentioned often but I wasn't quite sure what it meant.

[He frowns, the concern in his expression ramping up a bit. This talk of dreams is a bit of an uneasy subject with him. He's had nightmares about the deaths of his parents and other things, so he tends to try pushing any dream off as nonsense produced by a troubled mind, nothing more.]

And to which dream are you referring?

[otakuro]

Most of us have a dream about a guy in a butterfly mask when we get here. He tells us a little bit about what he wants. ...Definitely not enough, then. We call him Philemon.

[Or Butterfly Guy as the case may be.]

Persona are a representation of your soul. In times of severe danger or stress, they come forth to defend you. ...That's the official interpretation, anyway.

[mementodagger]

[A man in a butterfly mask... wait. Yurick does remember that, but since it made no sense he'd chalked it up to stress.]

I remember that dream, but I thought it was nothing more than that. He spoke of a new power, but I already have my magic. Why would I need this Persona?

[otakuro]

...You don't need it, exactly, but it's not something you can ignore, either. It will come up when it wants to.

And to be honest, I find it supplements what I could do before pretty well. You might find you have some new abilities you find handy.

[mementodagger]

What you could do before? Are you a mage as well, then?

[He's trying not to think about an autonomous force living inside his soul. If it can act without his control, what might it do to his magic?]

[otakuro]

...How far from the past did you say you were again?

[This was totally relevant.]

[mementodagger]

Past?

[Despite his accent, he's not from Earth, or at least not the Earth Atsuro knows. It's sort of the equivalent of medieval Europe, but it's a world of magic.]

[otakuro]

[Atsuro coughs slightly before half-turning away.]

I summon demons and harness their powers ahem.

[mementodagger]

[Yurick's eyes widen. Atsuro conspires with demons?! He never would've imagined someone that seems so normal and friendly could wield such an evil power.]

You--

[otakuro]

...See why I asked? People always take that the wrong way.

Have you seen the monsters around here yet?

[mementodagger]

[Yurick nods slowly. Not only has he seen them, he had to fry a couple to a crisp one evening. Getting caught out in the 13th Hour had been a rather frightening event.]

You bargain with those monsters, then...?

[otakuro]

...Not these, exactly, but the world I came from had the same type of monster. We use 'demons' as a catch-all term, and... some of them are traditional demons.

But the only way to survive was to get them on your side. So. Demon summoning.

[mementodagger]

But you do the same thing here in this world? Consort with demons to survive?

[He prays he doesn't have to resort to that. Such things rarely end well.]

[otakuro]

I use the ones from home. As strange as it sounds, I trust them to look out for me in battle. They haven't let me down yet.

[mementodagger]

So you're saying that not all of them are evil... that they're your allies?

[Zael's the only one he can depend on here, but Yurick can't even do anything to save his friend.]

[otakuro]

...

Do you want to meet one? It might help you understand a bit better...

[mementodagger]

You mean over this blasted device, or....

[Making a friend face to face? The idea is a bit daunting. Yurick isn't one to trust easily, at least outside of his mercenary group.]

[otakuro]

...Whatever you're more comfortable with is fine.

[Atsuro's life philosophy, on the other hand, indicates that life was full of friends waiting to be discovered and all of that cliche nonsense.]

[mementodagger]

[Yurick's about to ask if they can just do this over the COMP when he hesitates, biting his lip. If Zael is gone, he needs to find at least a few allies for the duration of his stay. For that, he needs to try to extend some sign of trust, no matter how difficult it is for him.

He takes a moment to search for Atsuro in the directory, mildly surprised to discover that they're in the same building, only five levels apart.]

I can meet you on your floor.

[otakuro]

[He is mildly impressed that Yurick would be willing to do this in person - judging from the expression on his face moments earlier, he had indeed leapt to the 'incarnation of evil hellfire and brimstone' interpretation of demon. Atsuro smiles in what he hopes is a reassuring manner.]

Alright. I'll keep the door open, then!