thenearshore | [Closed] A Gathering of Thieves

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[Closed] A Gathering of Thieves

Who: The Phantom Thieves and their Shinki
What: Information Sharing.
Where: The Far Shore, the Park
When: July 26th, Late Afternoon
Summary: 3 new gods arrive to find that 2 of their closest friends are dead, and they are responsible
for two other people as well. A talk is needed.

Warnings: Major Persona 5 Spoilers in comments, also probably language.

[Arriving here with little warning had been jarring enough, but when the Phantom Thieves realized that they weren't alone, and that two of their number had no memories, it was time to confer somewhere. Temples and the like had felt a little raw, and not wanting to stray too far from the Far Shore until they had their bearings, the group had gathered in the park. Akira, Ann, Futaba, Makoto, and Ryuji, along with the shinki that had unwittingly become part of their circle, all standing around in a small clearing, talking. It should've been a positive occasion, but there was no denying the shroud that hung over the group. There was a lot to talk about, and things that needed to be agreed upon.

The question was...how to even start?]

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[The day had been difficult enough so far, with the shift from Tokyo into this strange place, but the events had taken a far more jarring turn when Shinki assignments had come. It necessitated a lot of tongue biting and patience until they had made it through what was expected of them and been able to move off on their own without causing too much of a fuss. That part, at least for Makoto, had been torture. The vision of both shinki's deaths had been like a dagger through her heart, and waiting to really speak to her friends had been a task.

But the moment was here, and someone had to say something. So, pushing off of the tree she'd been leaning on, Makoto coughed to get everyone's attention. Trying to stand in as non-threatening a pose as possible, she addressed the group.]

So. We...all need to have a talk. All seven of us. Probably starting with introductions, I think. So that we all have an idea of who each other is.

[Looking at each of them in turn, she puts on a weak smile and bows.]

My name is Makoto Niijima. And I'm currently standing in for Bellona, the Roman Goddess of War...

[Which felt even stranger to say than to think.]

((ooc: This is the big group thread. No posting order, just go for it.))

Edited 2017-06-17 06:42 (UTC)

[Before the meeting really began in earnest, Makoto had deliberately pulled Ryuji and Futaba aside, tugging them out of earshot of the Shinki and pitching her voice low so that they could actually discuss how to handle all of this. It was difficult, hard to bear even, but it needed to be done. As the eldest she naturally felt responsible for the others, the Shinki more than any of the others, and it wasn't going to be an easy talk but when she had the two of them isolated, she tried her best not to let her emotions show.]

So. We...definitely can't tell Akira and Ann about their life back home. None of it. But that doesn't mean we can't work together. All of us. I...

[She frowns, at a loss for words.]

...Without the rest of us, and with Akira and Ann in their current state, I think that we're going to have to be careful for a while.

A) Team Mom:

[It's really not an easy situation to be in, but Makoto Niijima is nothing if not resilient. She'll do as she does, doing her best to make sure everyone around her is at least somewhat comfortable and adjusting. She's not great at offering kind words, but she is good at giving advice and a comforting smile.

She's also snagged food from the training grounds, and has set all of that out for people to munch on as they want. Light snacks, water, Gatorade, that sort of thing. If anyone looks remotely hungry or dehydrated, she's bound to walk up and offer something. Well...offer is a strong word.]

Here, take this. [Foisted upon is more like it.]

B) Ferocity

[Makoto eventually had to step away from the group. Her head clouding, memories of Akira's life coming back to her slowly but surely, coupled with the fury that had been seething inside her since she'd been given Bellona's mantle made it necessary. Moving back into the trees, she sets to work getting out some of that pent up aggression. It starts slow, one punch, two punches, just working a tree like a punching bag until eventually her anger overrides her sense. She draws on that anger, fist swinging faster, actually cracking the wood of a tree. Another swing and another until her power begins to truly manifest, a blood-red aura beginning to swirl around her hands as her new power starts working.

Feel free to come see her, fists working the tree until they tear out splinters. She's mad, and her fists make audible impact sounds as they crash into the wood. Just...don't sneak up on her.

C) Wildcard

[Funk me up guys. Come talk to Makoto, or make up a scenario you want. I'm cool with anything.]

Edited 2017-06-17 07:01 (UTC)

[Futaba was perched on a end of a bitch, sitting like she often did when she was uncomfortable. Well, 'sitting' wasn't right, since she was basically crouching on the bench, hugging her laptop to her chest. Her eyes were turned downward.]

They don't even know who we are.

[She said, her voice quiet. She sucked in a breath that might've been cover to hide a sniffle.]

It's so stupid.

A - Watching the dead

[Futaba had no idea how to deal with this. When she'd arrived, she'd sensed the four of them almost immediately thanks to her persona (which worked here, and was a briefly awesome thing) until she'd realized...well. The rest of it. Someone explained before she did anything stupid, but the urge was still there in the back of her head the whole time.]

[So she was sitting off to the side of the others as everyone talked, just listening, her laptop open in her lap (but she wasn't actually doing anything with it) as an excuse to seem like she was busy. But her eyes were never on the screen, they were on everyone else. Well. Mostly Akira and Ann, really.]

[It was a shame two years of basically hiding had made her awful about hiding her emotions, since it was pretty obvious she seemed caught somewhere between frustration, and just wanting to burst into tears. Whoops...]

B - Oh right she's a light goddess.

[Sometime after adjustments had been made and she'd managed to get control of herself, well she thought she had anyway, she realized that...well, it wasn't as dark where she was sitting as it had been earlier. Which prompted her to look at her arms, which were...bright? Brighter than her usual sun-reflecting paleness, even. Uhm.]

Hey so uh I seem to be glowing? [A beat, as she waved her hand in front of her face.] Yeah definitely glowing this is new. Help?

[She was probably supposed to know how to turn this off...]

C - Wildcard. Futaba will be moping around or watching or glowing or whatever just throw an idea here!

Edited 2017-06-17 11:18 (UTC)

[Ryuji, on the other hand, is tapping his foot restlessly with arms crossed and is barely looking at the other two. He would sit but he can barely keep still as it is and his position keeps him from sneaking in glances at Ann and Akira. Even Shion.]

None of this is fair, goddammit. [And up his volume goes.] Why'd it have to be them!?

[Makoto glares at Ryuji, fixing him with the harshest look she can muster, ready to literally beat him senseless if he keeps this up.]

No, it's not fair, but you have to keep your voice down or things will get a lot worse. I heard what happens if we tell them about their past. We cannot allow that to happen.

[Slumping angrily against a tree, arms folded belligerently across her chest, she practically growls out...]

We have to keep our heads on straight, and watch what we say even more closely than normal. While protecting each other and the other Shinki too.

[Her eyes drift over towards Mabel now, attention lingering a little longer.]

Even the ones who aren't Phantom Thieves. They may as well be now.

Edited 2017-06-17 15:36 (UTC)

[In constrast, Mabel was excited about everything! She wasn't sure what was going on but if it meant that she has some kind of superpower, it was a definite plus for her! Who wouldn't want the ability to do cool stuff anyway? However, that didn't stop her from looking back at Futuba.

For a moment, she wasn't sure what was going on. She simply just stared at wondered if everything was okay. Wouldn't she be happy too that she got some kind of powers too? Without another moment to lose, that's when she hopped over to the girl]

Hey, is everything okay? C'mon, let's turn that frown upside down now!

[With everything going on, Mabel had to admit, she was pretty hungry! After her training, she figured if she worked hard enough, she could get her powers to work pretty quickly! And so far, it seemed to be working!

...Or at least until her stomach started growling. Suddenly, that's when she held it and started mumbling to herself]

Oh c'mon, just when I got it too...!

A - Juice Box Blues

[Once the introductions are over and done with, he takes it upon himself to help with handing out some refreshments. Better to keep himself busy to take his mind off of things than to sulk around, right? With a pair of juice boxes in hand, he wanders about still visibly tense. Not like he's trying very hard to hide it, but for the sake of everyone else he's at least attempting to put his best foot forward.

If you happen to be sitting or standing nearby, the blond will pause.]

Yo, heads up.

[Think fast, you're getting a juice box thrown at you!]

B - Oh my freakin' God

[After a little bit of socializing (if he can even call it that), Ryuji takes his leave from the rest of the group for a while to explore the park and to clear his spinning head. Gods and shinki, memories lost... it's a bit much for someone to take in in one day. Once he's far enough away, he breaks into a light jog as he begins a lap around the park. Second time around, he cranks it up a notch into a run with his feet thundering against the ground as he gradually picks up speed.

Being able to run like this stirs a sort of rush that's unlike anything else, and it's one he's missed for a while. This time, however, things feel different. Something's not quite right, and by not quite right, he means that everything feels right. Like he can run freely without a care in the world... it's that awareness that sends him stumbling a little before he catches himself from falling. His movement is swift and quick and very not-like-him that he fumbles to a halt when it's all over.

He looks back to the group, hands out in front of him and eyes wide.]

The hell...? [And he calls out to whoever happens to be in earshot or watching him:] You see that!?

[Or is he just going crazy? Heck, if it's not one thing, it's another.]

C - Wildcard!

[Have something else in mind? Come at him, brah!]

[Mabel's efforts hadn't gone unnoticed, of course. Makoto had been watching cautiously, out of the corner of her eye, just seeing what the girl got up to. Honestly, she wasn't sure why she'd been partnered with her, given what she had gleaned from her personality through memory and observation but her heart did reach out to the poor thing.

She's dead. So young, and she deserves so much better than me was her only thought as she approached, holding out a packet of well...something she liked.]

This may help. It's just some dried squid I found, but it might take your mind off your troubles until we can properly eat.

[He wasn't heading in any particular direction, just wandering, when he hears the sound of splintering following loud thumps not far from the path he's taking. Into the trees he goes, following the noise until he happens upon Makoto... a very red and angry looking Makoto.

You'd think that one would have the sense to not sneak up behind her the way he's doing, but this is Ryuji and he's far past the point of caring by now. Besides, it's not really sneaking up as much as it is not making himself known until he's behind her, hands sliding into his pockets as he slumps his shoulders.]

What'd the tree ever do to you?

[She doesn't pause in her furor, her fists grinding against the wood, flinders flying off in all directions as she pounds away. It's easier than she imagined, if she just thinks of that guy's face.]

Ryuji.

[Another swing, a vicious right cross, and she tears through more of the trunk with a resounding crack. That broke her concentration on the routine enough to whirl around, expression a little wild, her breathing heavy. Slamming her fist one final time against the oak, she meets his eyes with her own, like cherry-red coals burning in her sockets.]

I want to strangle something but I can't. What would you propose I do to get out some frustration?

[ The afternoon at Bishamonten's temple had been illuminating, if dimly so. Why Akira had awoken memory-less and and with a walloping headache radiating from the center of his forehead had been more or less answered, unsatisfactory as You died can sound. Then someone claimed him - like a person have the right to claim another. Much less someone "standing in" for a god.

None of them could be much older than the "us" in the equation: Akira, someone named Ann, a guy
he'd met earlier that called himself Shion, and a... kid? Mabel, the only one of them that didn't look or sound like the rest.

Through the phase where they got settled in together in the field Akira held himself away, glancing among those gathered. Those trapped here in an arrangement they neither asked for nor wanted, at least in Akira's case.

No one else is going to speak up? Fine. ]

I'm dead. Nice to meet you.

[Futaba winced faintly at Ryuji's yelling, and would've snapped something back if Makoto hadn't gotten there first. Instead she just shifted on her bench, dropping her feet to the ground and sitting on the edge of it, her hands folded on top of her laptop. She understood what Makoto was saying, but that wasn't the same as being sure she could actually do it. There were already a million things she wanted to say to Akira that she couldn't. She couldn't say any of them.]

[She made a frustrated noise under her breath, glancing over at her own Shinki. The soulless woman was standing outside of the clearing where Futaba had left her, as if it no time had passed at all.]

Not sure mine counts.

[She finally said, turning to look back at the other two gods. Gods. They were gods. How weird was that?]

[Futaba was sitting on the ground nearby, legs stretched out in front of her, laptop on her lap, screen open. Her gaze flicked from said screen to the small group of people, then back. It all felt so familiar, them sitting around discussing their situation, trying to come up with a plan. Except it wasn't. There were two strangers and two of them were dead and it was just...ugh.]

[It would have been comforting if it wasn't so not.]

[In the silence that followed what Makoto said, Futaba decided she should probably go next, and opened her mouth a second before Akira suddenly blurted that out. Her only immediate reaction was her fingers clenching against the keyboard, because it was such a him thing to say. In his voice. With that stupid face of his.]

[She started to glare at him, but then remembered it wasn't his fault he was like that. Unless it was, really, she didn't...know why he...okay. Not dwelling on that right now. Roll with it, Futaba. She could do this. She had to do this.]

...Hi Dead, I'm Futaba.

[Well somebody had to say it.]

[Ryuji had been uncharacteristically quiet up until now, taking a spot well off to the side to let the rest of them handle things until it was his turn to speak up. He would have easily remained so were it not for the abrupt statement coming from Akira in that very Akira-like manner. And it's not that that has Ryuji's ears burning with anger, though. It's the meaning behind it that he latches onto. His best friend. Dead. How the hell else is he supposed to take this?

Doesn't help that Futaba plays along like that.]

That ain't funny. Not like this is a carnival for the rest of us either.

[Futaba didn't mean to dead-eye at Mabel, peering over the top of her glasses as if she were some kind of bug, but that's what happened. Because Mabel wasn't exactly helping since she was a kid younger than her who was also dead? Why were there so many dead people?! And from how chipper and cheerful she was, Mabel clearly didn't deserve to be dead any more than Akira and Ann did.]

[But it wasn't her fault, right? So...so, stop it, Futaba. The kid was trying to help. So she sat up a bit straighter, sucking in a breath, and put on the best smile she could manage.]

Sorry. R-right. [Okay.] It's just been a...busy day. [Which was a ridiculous enough understatement that she even surprised herself with it and actually chuckled for a second.]

Still adjusting I guess. To you know. Godhood. And dead people. And everything else.

[Well, that was fair. That was more than fair, but that didn't stop Makoto from visibly flinching at the statement. She looked away focusing on the ground in front of her like she'd been slapped, some of her calm evaporating into mist. She knew what had happened, but actually saying it out loud was another matter, and she couldn't in front of any of the Shinki. Just in case. Taking that comment without answer was admittedly one of the hardest things she'd done in a long time. But she did it, hands balling into white-knuckled fists.

She couldn't look at Futaba either, but her tongue clicked disapprovingly, as much a reflex as anything else.

Ryuji though, did get a look.]

That's...not fair. Not to him.

[The words came out awkward, stilted and forced, but no less truthful.]

[ Sarcasm's the least of what this messed up situation deserves, blondie. Akira's good at submerging his anger to a degree (apparently), gaze slicing in their direction - the substitute gods. What in the world...

Do they have history? Makoto schools them pretty fast for them not to have history, like she's used to it, but Akira isn't in much of a position to appreciate it when he is struggling to play nice period.

(Neither does he miss that moment; she's terrible at hiding her emotions, or maybe only when they strike too dearly. The welcome committee for Shinki was clear on a few things: he has to earn back with time and experience what the Gods are granted by default and it is unfair. Flinch. Akira will feel conflicted about it later when his helplessness overtakes him.)

On autopilot, Akira's hands skim off the white yukata he'd arrived in, no pockets to speak of. His arms loosely cross instead, still reluctant to introduce himself when he is clearly already known. ]

No, don't let me stop you.

[He jumps when she slams her first one last time against the tree, but he doesn't back down or away. Not this time. Instead he takes a brave step toward her, followed by another and his hands come up in front of him as if to show surrender.]

Just don't strangle me, alright? [That's where he'll stop, still leaving a couple of feet in between him and the raging girl in front of him.] We're all stuck on the same stupid boat here. You were the one who told me that we gotta keep our heads on straight, and yours is lookin' a little crooked, yeah?

[His own is far from being on straight, still trying to absorb everything that's going on between them all... Akira not feeling like Akira to him... Ann, too. Everything is messed up and nothing makes any sense.]

[It's the placating hands that do it, forcing her to tear her gaze away from him, her fists lowering to her sides. Still, no. That's not enough to completely push back the fury inside.]

Are we? I saw him die Ryuji. I got to watch as that snake killed him.

[She felt his fear, the gun barrel pressed to his head, and those last dying moments. It was fleeting, but enough. She knew, and it was tearing into her, biting to the quick. She...they...hadn't been good enough.]

I'm trying to keep it together. For his sake. For Ann's sake. For that poor little girl. But all I can see when I close my eyes is that.

You ain't the only one who's gotta see that shit, y'know!

[He loses his hold on that carefully kept temper of his at the mention of Ann and of him - the stupid crow who picked away at them and everything they worked so damn hard to achieve. He rode on their backs like a parasite...]

Every time I close my goddamn eyes, I just see Ann disappearing. Hell, all of us. So yeah, I'd say we're stuck on the same effin' boat here! And this other kid, I don't even know 'im, but he's just a kid. Same as the rest of us.

Yeah, I got that part. Thanks.

[He's snippy and doesn't even care at this point, but Ryuji's gaze follows Futaba's in the direction of the woman standing in the distance, eyes lingering on them but not really watching them at all from the looks of it. She's been creeping him out since they got here, and this is definitely not helping her case any. It's like she's barely even human...]

Uh, how long has she been like that? Just standin' around not sayin' anything?

[That. That's not helping. The rage around her flares up, his anger literally feeding hers, the red aura deepening.]

Ryuji. I know. What you saw. That kid deserves better, yes. Mabel does too. But you're not like me. You're not...Bellona.

[Belligerently, she steps forward, and it takes an effort of willpower not to grab him.]

...I can barely keep my temper, Ryuji. Whatever gave us these new powers...I can't keep it together like you right now. You of all people should know how hard this is for me.

[And how much admitting that costs her.]

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[Closed] A Gathering of Thieves

The Discourse.

God Talk

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Ryuji

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