phantasmalrift | DUNGEON LOG - SILVEREAGLE MANOR

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!dungeon

DUNGEON LOG - SILVEREAGLE MANOR

The day of the expedition dawns bright and early - are you all packed? Extra socks stowed in your hammerspace or with a hammerspace-wielding friend? Because - as the androids will tell you before you leave - this expedition is going to be a bit longer than usual.

After all, Silvereagle Manor is quite far in the mountains - even from Incendia, a slightly nearer starting point than Keystone Station, it's almost a full day's journey by glider. The vehicle that leads the way - piloted by Tau as before - is a bit bigger and clunkier than usual. Muon swoops around the main group of gliders at random, a yellow streak in the rain, while Neutrino - in a grey and black checkered glider - brings up the rear.

The reason why is revealed shortly after it lands, as spiderlike legs unfold from the sides of where Tau has carefully landed it just inside the gates of the manor. Within half an hour, a large canopy - almost too much to be called a tent - has unfolded, providing shelter from the rain and a place outside of the manor itself for everyone to sleep.

After all, even before you reach the boundaries of the base camp - floored by ivy tangles that the androids are rapidly working to clear to reveal the paving stones beneath - you'll notice that not all is right with yourself. And the far side of the tent, away from the gate, is within not only the main Fissure, but a Subfissure as well - they certainly seem to be becoming more common.

Perhaps more relevant, though, is the feeling that, once you pass beyond the plastic barrier of the canopy, you've entered into a ghost story...

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....don't have a link with Mitsuru-senpai. She's pretty busy.

[He doesn't want to bother her or waste her time.]

Mm...that sounds familiar, too. My Confidant with Sae-san hasn't gone anywhere for...quite some time. She's become so devoted to her work that it's gotten difficult to talk to her about anything else.

She seems happy enough... She's just. Student council president, valedictorian, heiress to a major company, plus everything she does for the squad. [...] Holds herself responsible for the Dark Hour. Kinda get the feeling she's been at this for a long time.

It sounds like they both hold themselves to unreasonably high standards. I used to be like that, myself...it doesn't leave much time for a personal life.

... [Come to think of it... Has he ever seen Mitsuru go hang out with someone? Or go out to meet friends? It's always Kirijo business or her duties as student council president.]

...Was it...fulfilling?

No. It was exhausting, constantly pushing myself to excel because all anyone saw of me was my accomplishments. Before my own timeline's Akira, all of my relationships were shallow and based on my image as the brilliant high school detective. My only friend was through work, and it was...lonely.

[So that kind of life is lonely, too. Minato still has a lot to learn...]

...Is being alone a requirement for having a Persona?

I have to wonder. Kurama Awoke to his here, but I sort of get the impression that the Phantom Thieves only have each other. And...when I Awoke, I most certainly didn't have anyone I could rely on.

Koro-chan's old owner died, and all of Aigis's "sisters" were destroyed...aside from that, half the human members of SEES are orphans. The rest... Mitsuru-senpai is the heiress to the family that created the Dark Hour. Kinda speaks for itself. Junpei-kun never talks about his family, and Fuuka-chan and Yukari-chan don't really get along with their parents.

Guess it's no wonder we all live together.

I don't know much more about most of the Thieves than what I found with a basic background check, but...that doesn't sound out of line. Though, with the way I Awoke to my Persona, it makes sense...it wouldn't have happened if I didn't have plenty to be angry about.

That's what it took, for you? [He remembers seeing Ignis's. He wasn't sure what sparked the Awakening, exactly; there had been so much going on all at once...]

Don't know if there's any real trend... Mitsuru-senpai, Akihiko-senpai, and Shinjiro-senpai all already had theirs, and Aigis has always had hers... [He draws his Evoker, glancing over its lines.] For the rest of us it was just a matter of being able to pull the trigger.

It was...a resolution. I had been angry for a long time, but I felt helpless as an ordinary fifteen year old trapped in a system that didn't care about me. It was when I reached the point where I decided I wasn't going to let anything hold me back from pursuing justice for myself that I first summoned Robin Hood.

I wasn't there for any of the other Thieves' Awakenings, but I suspect it was similar. None of us use external tools for it...I honestly didn't even know something like that could exist.

Resolution... Nothing like that, for me. Fuuka-chan had something like that, but the others I've seen... Nah. [Just getting up the guts to shoot.]

Didn't know it was possible to summon without one, until I came here. Don't really know how they work.

Do you mind if I examine it, later? Not taking it apart, or anything, just the same thing I did to figure out the Compendium.

[He nods.] Go ahead. All I know's they're useless to people without the Potential, or with too little Potential to summon, but I could use it without knowing it wasn't a gun.

[She goes tense, eyes abruptly locked on Minato. Her mouth...feels very dry, all of a sudden.]

If you didn't know it wasn't a gun, then why did...

[Ah, he-- He did. That was bad...getting too comfortable just leads to making others uncomfortable. He has to do better.

...]

Thought I'd have to watch someone die again. Preferred... [Tact, Minato, tact!] ...you get the idea. [His voice stays level and his expression remains neutral.]

[She's quiet for a moment. Part of her wants to just hug Minato, all too familiar with the pain of watching someone die and being helpless to save them. But there's still too much Japanese socialization in her, too much expectation that she's supposed to keep a physical distance. If Minato pays close attention, though, he'll notice she isn't even breathing.

Then she abruptly walks over to place a firm hand on Minato's shoulder.]

I'm glad it let you help. It's...I'm sure it hurts, to be in that position and not be able to do anything.

[He's already thinking about it too much, dwelling on the past. Remembering the details. Black hands. A pink sweater. A gun in a puddle of blood. Unmistakable danger, the certainty of death, familiar.

And he remembers how he'd found himself back on the bridge, and can't keep it from catching him again now. Roaring waves and shrieking metal, the smells of blood and burning, jagged edges and a blood-streaked hand, and--

He jumps when Goro's hand reaches his shoulder. He hadn't seemed out of it to the average observer, but apparently he was.]

Yeah. It sucks.

I'm sorry you had to go through something like that.

[Given the jump, the relatively minor physical contact was probably the right idea. And yet, it just makes her feel much more as though he really needs a hug. It's a gentle one, as she lifts the arm not occupied with a hand on Minato's shoulder to wrap around and rest her other hand on his back.]

[He swallows hard. He needs to stop doing that. Stop flying back to the bridge. That was ten years ago.]

...Was the first of the twelve Arcana Shadows. Akihiko-senpai and Mitsuru-senpai were trying to defend the dorm, Yukari-chan and I got ambushed on the roof. She couldn't make herself use it and got sent flying.

Evoker landed near me, so I.... Orpheus appeared. Didn't get to do anything before the black Persona tore him apart. Then tore the Shadow apart. Woke up in the hospital a week later. [He's repeating facts Goro already knows, but it's half to get himself back into the present. Focus. Focus.]

Then it sounds like you being there saved at least one of them...maybe all of them, depending on how powerful that Shadow actually was.

Maybe. [There's an uncomfortable thought that's been sitting in his head since he spoke to Kurama in Telovia. He hasn't wanted to develop it, hasn't wanted to put anything together for fear of what he'll figure out.

Let's not talk about that.]

Kind of stupid... Always go back to the bridge. Any time things look bad.

...If something bad happened there, it's...not too surprising. Sometimes, traumatic events just...don't want to stay in the past.

Been ten years since the crash. Should be over it by now.

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