Video / Action

[terminally_clever]

[Video on the network; Action in Capricon Ward]

[Fumi's spent several weeks gathering information about Hinoto-Ri, Personas, the state of things in her world and various iterations thereof, and now it's finally time for her to begin her grand experiment.  But in order to have something to experiment on, first she needs a Persona.  She's only heard two different stories about them since coming to this place, and considering she doesn't already have one, the only thing left is to put herself in harm's way to force it to awaken.

And apparently, that's exactly what she's doing.  When the feed clicks on, Fumi's busily securing the watch portion of her COMP in a safe place, setting it up to record what she's about to do.  She flashes a small knowing smile at the camera without saying much of anything, and then walks off a short distance away, standing in the middle of the open field that makes up most of the Capricon District.  It's dark, and during the 13th Hour to boot, but there's just enough light to make out her white china dress and the faint light of what appears to be a cell phone.

And Fumi just stands there in the middle of the field for a short time until she is predictably found by a group of fairly strong-looking demons that happen to be wandering through the area.  They slowly make their approach, prompting very little reaction from Fumi whatsoever.  As they get closer, they pick up speed, and finally she slowly raises her head to regard the demons impassively.  As they tear toward her with their claws, there is a flash of light, and Fumi's Persona appears.

Of course, Vapula happens to be a support Persona, so there's precious little Fumi can do to fight back.  She takes the demons' attack on the nose, grunting as she is forced back a few steps.  For a moment or two, it seems that her gambit has backfired, but there is the briefest flash of a confident smile as she holds her cell phone out in front of her.  A second flash of light emanates from the phone, and suddenly there is a demonic sheep sitting in front of Fumi, joining the fray.]

...Tao Tie.  Finish them off.

[And that appears to be all the impetus needed.  There is a great swelling of energy from Fumi's demon, and it lets the attack loose on the unsuspecting demons, utterly vaporizing them in a single shot.  Megidoloan is always a nice standby for that sort of thing.  And after a quick Mediarahan, Fumi's back in tip-top shape herself.  She walks over to pat her Tao Tie on the head before summoning it back into her phone, and then at last walks over to her COMP watch, her newly acquired gryphon-winged lion Persona floating behind her.]

Well, then.  That certainly was exciting.  Chief, I'm ready to begin the next stage of my research.

Comments

[terminally_clever]

Ah, I see. Small sample size and insufficient observational data. Well, no matter.

[otakuro]

Anyway...

Have you thought to ask Igor more about it yet? All we get are vague answers about the 'sea of our soul', but you might be able to figure something out.

[terminally_clever]

Perhaps I will. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him just yet.

[otakuro]

Give him a visit whenever the Velvet Room pops back up! You can choose a second one to have on-hand, too - maybe even a special one.

[terminally_clever]

That's a rather handy service to have around. But what do you mean by 'special one' exactly?

[otakuro]

[Atsuro gives a shrug.]

One that's unlocked for you specially. The others are stored in a database or something.

[terminally_clever]

Interesting. It's rather similar to the demon compendium.

[otakuro]

Yeah. You'd think if these things are coming from the 'sea of our souls' or whatever it was, we wouldn't be able to share them communally.

Either that, or it's some kind of social commentary about people really not being all that different.

[terminally_clever]

That would make sense. The word Persona to begin with is derived from the works of Carl Jung, who also came up with the concept of the collective unconscious. If you think about it that way, it fits in rather nicely.

[otakuro]

...No more Carl Jung, please.

[He had had about as much psychology as he ever really cared to delve into.]

Still. I bet he doesn't mention anything about our souls manifesting as demons.

[terminally_clever]

That detail is conspicuously absent from his writing.

[otakuro]

I bet it means he was a hack.

We'd better come up with our own brand of psychology involving forcing our Souls to do battle with demon powers.

[terminally_clever]

That's the sort of thing that was kept classified at home.

[otakuro]

...Demons were a secret back where you came from?

[Atsuro blinks for a few moments.]

Really? It sounded like people were pretty aware of the situation from what I heard... The apocalypse is hard to miss, isn't it?

[terminally_clever]

Up until the apocalypse occurred? Yes, they were a rather well-kept secret.

[otakuro]

...You had demons before the apocalypse?

[terminally_clever]

No, not everyone. But I've probably already said too much here.

[otakuro]

...You do realize I'm never going to be going to your world to compromise whatever security measures you think you might have, right?

[terminally_clever]

Of course I do. I'm not an idiot. But as you recall, my superior officer is here as well. Ask him yourself if you really want to know the details.

[otakuro]

...You work for Yamato?

[Because Hiro is too goofy to be in charge of anyone.]

Isn't he a lot younger than you? ...Like, my age?

[terminally_clever]

How old do you think I am?

[Geez, c'mon, she's only 21.]

And why should that matter? He's accomplished far more in his lifetime than most people his age.

[otakuro]

[Atsuro isn't one to be purposefully lewd, but he glances away uncomfortably at that question, having performed an estimation based on her physical endowments.]

Maybe so...

[He wasn't questioning Yamato's experience or accomplishments. No doubt the guy was a prodigy. ...Actually, he was pretty sure Yamato was a prodigy. He wasn't sure what word he would use to describe it, admittedly, but in the short time he had known Yamato, it was evident that the guy wasn't altogether... stable. And this was, most likely, a result of his accomplishments rather than despite them. Perhaps he was brilliant, but he had never had a chance to develop normally, which was more of a hindrance than an asset in the long run.]

Anyway, I didn't even know Yamato was the chief of anything. What's your organization about? Collecting demons?

[terminally_clever]

[They might even be bigger than Yuzu's.]

It's a virtual certainty. Even with the weight of his family's name behind him, the Chief has never been one to rest on his laurels. As for the organization itself, officially it's the Geomagnetism Research Department.

[otakuro]

...

That... sounds incredibly fake. But I guess a portal to the demon dimension probably affects the natural magnetism of the Earth...

[terminally_clever]

Hidden in among hundreds of other departments and bureaus that no one knows the function of, though, we were able to conduct our research relatively unmolested by the public eye.