DUNGEON - BELLMARE ENCLAVE (BELLMARE MOUNTAINS, PT 2)

[phantasmods]

The shadows are starting to grow very long as you crest his particular ridge - it's not night yet, but it will be soon. In the shadows of the afternoon, with a tall mountain already blocking the sun, lies a snow-covered valley that is different from the ones you've come across thus far in your investigation.

This valley is home to a town, and unlike all the settlements you've seen so far - Incendia, the Telovia mining town, and the manor - it's very much active. There are actual people in the streets, visible from above, going through their days on snow-free streets, bundled up against the cold.

Those of you who asked were told of the handful of people who didn't go into the slumber of stasis as the Fissure conditions of the world grew worse and worse, instead isolating themselves and trying to continue living their lives as they could. Now, it seems, you've found exactly such a group.

Welcome to the Bellmare Enclave, and enjoy your stay.

[[OOC: Welcome to part 2 of the dungeon! For the most part, interaction with the town's NPCs can be handwaved as described on the main information post. Worth noting are the following major things: The Bellmare Enclave isn't expecting visitors, though the people are generally friendly to the new arrivals. They don't know about the time dilation effect of their Fissure - to them, it's only been about eighteen years since the Slumber Plan was put in place and they withdrew from the world. And finally, by a similar token, they have no idea how far the Fissures outside of their own have grown - while it's not uncommon for them to find odd objects from time to time, they'll assume that the characters are just arrivals from other places within their own world, rather than outsiders, until told otherwise.]]

Comments

[biddentodance]

...Don't know. [No, he knows. He wishes he didn't.] Can't....think of anything it could be other than....suppressants...

[hairpincurves]

... Suppressants?

[Ohhhh, she does not like the sound of that.]

[biddentodance]

Persona Suppressants. Drugs that help control a Persona.

[It's Bad, from his tone.]

[hairpincurves]

... Fuck.

[And that would be why she did not like the sound of that. Her mind's racing several directions at once and none of them good.]

None... none of these visions are real... we have to take comfort in that.

[biddentodance]

...Lethal. Lethal drugs.

[Yeah. Bad.]

Not...not taking them. [Even if there's one he can't control.] But....if senpai is.....

[hairpincurves]

[WELL THAT'S JUST LOVELY, THEN]

Then he's... oh no...

[One: going to die, and two: HAS A PERSONA HE CAN'T CONTROL???? THIS IS SOMEWHAT ALARMING?????]

[biddentodance]

[....Wasn't Shinjiro the one who identified what was going on with Chidori's....? No...oh no. Veering away from that thought for the moment.]

Know of three Persona-users who take them. Strega. Enemies.

[hairpincurves]

I... I see... do you, uh, want to talk about that, or...

[Fret fret fret]

[biddentodance]

...Don't know. [He doesn't talk much about Strega. He'd seen that flash of dark anger when he told Goro what they do.]

Artificial Persona-users, so...can't control them.

[hairpincurves]

Artificial-- that's possible?!

[biddentodance]

Apparently. [...] Don't know a lot beyond that. SEES has one of them in custody. Hers tried to kill her when she was off suppressants too long.

[hairpincurves]

That's scary... Awakening the way I did was painful enough to start with, but even that was like ripping a bandaid off, it was better after it was over with, and there hadn't been a problem since. Having a power that could turn against you--generally speaking, I mean--like that... That's awful.

[And what those people must have had to go through...]

[biddentodance]

....

[He looks haunted for a moment. His own Awakening, the things he's learned since.]

Having one you can't control....is hell.

[hairpincurves]

... Yeah.

[She thinks back to Goro's birthday, where he first mentioned Loki being angry... she can't quite suppress her shudder at what she was told happened after.]

I'm not sure whether it's more horrifying if the Persona-user status is natural or not... because even with a natural Persona, it's acting on--from my understanding--things you still feel and think, even if you're not acknowledging them or trying to understand them... but it's still a part of yourself you're still failing to control... If you're not a Persona-user naturally... can you really say the same thing for that? Or is it more like... this foreign thing that's supposedly you but at the same time it's not you...

[Akira. Rambling.]

[biddentodance]

["Things you still feel and think".....it results in a sharp intake of breath. No, no that's....not right. Aiden could have died.

He never wants to watch someone die again.]

Can't really say... Just don't know enough about them. ...My case feels more like the latter.

[hairpincurves]

[...]

... Sorry.

[biddentodance]

[...?]

For what?

[hairpincurves]

... My rambling. It bothered you, didn't it?

[biddentodance]

Don't worry about it.

[It's fine. He's fine.]

Everyone from your time seems to know a lot more about how these things work... Still have a lot I'm learning.

[hairpincurves]

[...]

Minato-kun. Telling someone not to worry about something like this generally has the opposite effect. Besides, you're my friend. It matters to me if I've upset you.

I can't really claim to know all that much... some of this stuff I learned since coming here, admittedly.

[biddentodance]

Not upset. [Not really the word for it. Maybe more like scared.]

...Didn't even know Personas and Shadows were the same thing, when I got here.

[hairpincurves]

Still, I'm not gonna know anything if you don't say something... I'm not exactly a mind-reader or anything, and your personal comfort is important to me, even if it's not important to you. I want to know.

[biddentodance]

[....of course. This is exactly what the others want, too - what they've been trying to tell him is okay. And...Akira said they're friends, and that she wants to...]

....Have one... [He's still hesitant, though.] ...that I can't control. At all. It's....violent.

[So both the implication and the vision struck mighty close to home.]

[hairpincurves]

Oh... I see. Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you like that. I was mostly thinking out loud, so...

I probably should've figured it out when you said it was hell.

[But instead she was an oblivious idiot who just charged right ahead...]

[biddentodance]

It's alright. Not like I talk about it....took until well after it hurt someone for me to mention it to anyone.

[He shouldn't have waited.]