compnetwork | 004 [Video/Public]

[VINDICATION YES WEEKS OF WASTING HOURS READING ABOUT THE MOST POINTLESS CRAP HE'S EVER HAD TO STUDY COME TO FRUITION PRAISE THE GODS HE HAD BETTER GET SOME KIND OF MEDAL WHEN THIS WAS DONE

No wait this was a bad thing ahem yes very bad the proper thing to do in this case was to maintain a certain air of decorum and er grave sincerity yes grave. ...Atsuro can't help grinning slightly anyway as the COMP feed flickers on.]

Look sharp, guys. Those of you who were around back in October know what this means. For everyone else... The news broadcast probably could have stood to be a little more informative.

Let's do a quick recap. Back in October, about a week before the 23rd, we started noticing that a few of us were acting a little strange. This escalated over the next few days until some of us were brainwashed into trying to attack people and some of us were brainwashed into being terrified of everything that moved. And, uh... sometime during all this, all of these giant scorpions started falling from the sky or something; I don't know. It was probably a totally related natural progression. Anyway, on the 23rd itself, a really huge scorpion monster appeared, and a few of us had to beat it off. We compared notes afterwards and realized that the behavioral changes all had to do with what star sign you had. If you have no idea what that is, just hold on a sec. The important thing is that the ones who were attacking had the sign of Scorpio and the ones who were frightened were Leos, Taurii, and Aquarius...es...ii.

I know a lot of you aren't from Earth, or if you are from Earth, you're not from the right time period to even have Scorpius or Taurus as constellations anymore. I can do a quick explanation of astrology if you want, but it's really a lot of trouble for something that's pretty much meaningless for you - It has to do with what day of the year you were born in, and which imaginary pictures formed by stars in the sky were closest to the sun then. There are 12 of them, and each one is supposed to mean different things about your personality and the people you'll fall in love with or something. ...Try not to think about it too much. You can just take a look at the little ID cards you get when you come to the city and your completely arbitrary sign should be listed there.

Anyway, we're already off schedule. The 21st - that's today - is the first day we're supposed to be under the sign of Taurus. If a monster appears, it's probably not going to happen for a few days so it looks like the government is trying to quarantine everyone before it does.

The one thing is... I don't want to undermine our great government or anything, but I don't think their predictions are right. Scorpios were the main targets last time because the sun was swinging into that area of the night sky; Leos, Aquariuses, and Taurii were affected because of something to do with the relationship between the signs. I never could find any consistent information or an exact chart or anything, but I don't think it's just going to be the same people as six months ago. We'll be able to gather more data after this round, but I think everyone should be on guard for emotional changes, regardless of what your sign is.

...Also be on guard for giant bulls, because that's really not going to be fun at all.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No way. You don't think we had these things normally, do you? It only started to be a thing in the last week before I came here - if you didn't pick up a COMP and learn to use demon powers, you were toast.

Heeeh, really? What kicked that off?

...Off the top of my head, I'd be willing to guess the demons did.

Well, duh.

[Really, Atsuro.]

But why?

...Your guess is as good as mine.

[Not strictly true, but Atsuro felt no need to go into the details about Naoya and the Shomonkai and Yehowah at the moment.]

[He gives a penetrating stare, but only for a split second. He doesn't believe Atsuro, not really - the guy seems pretty smart, so he's sure that even if Atsuro doesn't know the full story, he's got at least a hypothesis.

But just like that, he goes back to his usual flippant air.]

Aah, I guess having a power like that without having to pay a price really is too convenient. [If... having to deal with demons everywhere could be considered a price.] Too bad!

It's not like they're good for anything except fighting demons, anyway.

[Atsuro frowns for a few moments.]

I mean, could you imagine everyone being able to destroy a city block with Megidolaon? That'd be a pretty terrible idea.

That was one of those weird spells, wasn't it? Not exactly an element of its own and kind of a game breaker in terms of strength?

Megidoalaon is probably the strongest spell, yeah.

[A short pause.]

If you have any magical aptitude. [Atsuro doesn't.] It does have an element, actually; it's Almighty, which means that nothing resists it. It costs a lot of energy to use, though.

...The point is, demon abilities are fine if you have to fight demons. But... I'd rather just have a normal world, really.

So even having cool powers just isn't worth it, huh?

[Well, he can agree with that on his own terms, to some extent.]

Well.

[Atsuro pauses.]

I mean, it is pretty awesome to have superpowers. ...But probably not in the long run.

Wasn't there a line about that from somewhere? "With power comes responsibility?"

I don't think I could deal with that!

...Don't we all already have to deal with that here?

But here you can just shove the responsibility onto the others!

[He... looks surprisingly pleased to say that.]

At least you're honest.

...So you're OK with getting superpowers as long as other people get them and they can do the hard stuff?

Pretty much! I mean, we've got so many people here, if something comes up someone else is sure to step up and do something about it. There's no real need for me to do anything myself.

What if...

A monster that can only be defeated by people with green hair named Hizumi appears?

There's no way something like that would happen.

You have to be prepared for anything! What will you do if the safety of the city relies on you?!

[He just gives a soft snort.]

The city would have to be really messed up if it all came down to me.

We can run a trial simulation! I'll train my demons to attack green-haired people named Hizumi on sight.

Hey, hey, hey! Are you trying to get me killed here?

Don't worry. They won't attack to kill. And you can level up your Persona more easily this way!

I'm gonna have to pass.

Haha, well... I think we wandered away from the topic a little.

Anyway, good luck with whatever happens. If you end up needing to level up, the offer's always open.

[Atsuro is a kind and generous soul.]

I'll see you later.

(no subject)

bondsofsuffering - 2013-05-20 23:16 (UTC) - Expand