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

you know what i'm here for

[biddentodance]

[Everything Minato has seen here so far, and the last thing he's expecting is....something from here. Something from Keystone, something from a multiversal nexus rather than one of a multitude of variants on worlds...

And it's altogether too much like something he's already seen.

Goro and Akira had explained mental shutdowns, how they were effectively Apathy Syndrome. And now....now he knows, too well, how that happens. He's been experiencing the Dark Hour since the start, after all. He knows the symptoms, the signs, the things that happen to the Lost beforehand. He's seen it.]

....really is.....just like.... [His breath runs out there, and he can't seem to make himself draw another back in. Aiden. No. No, no, no.... It didn't happen, it's not real.

It's not real.

After a few moments Minato forces himself to breathe again. He's familiar with this kind of thing. Shido, despite his proximity to the supernatural, is effectively a civilian. Leader time.

Minato's voice is soft, uncertain....but more or less steady. He's schooled his expression back to neutrality.]

Dad...?

[makejapangreat]

[There's no response. Shido seems to be in another world entirely, at the moment, as he stares where the vision once was, breath still shallow and tears still leaking out soundlessly.]

[biddentodance]

[He gently reaches to put a hand on Shido's shoulder. Snap out of it.]

Focus.

[makejapangreat]

[He startles a bit, then blinks, looking at the boy next to him.]

...Minato...?

[biddentodance]

Just a vision.

[He's firm and businesslike right now, like he was in Aiden's Palace. Not the usual gentle boy.]

Aiden is fine. Not Lost.

[makejapangreat]

[...ah... did he...?

He takes a deep breath, then gives a worn smile, hand coming up to lightly pat Minato's head.]

I know.

[biddentodance]

Subfissure is just....showing us nightmares.

[That has to be all it is. None of these things happen....in any timeline. He refuses.

Mostly thinking of what he saw in Kurama's, rather than the terrifying future he saw for himself.]

...the Lost can recover. They can get better. Sometimes even quickly.

[makejapangreat]

[...he keeps using that word.] The Lost?

[biddentodance]

The Lost. People who have Apathy Syndrome. Victims of mental shutdowns. Same thing.

[makejapangreat]

[Ah... his gaze softens for a moment, and he glances away. After a moment, he quietly says:]

Sometimes.

[biddentodance]

Sometimes. [He never said it was a sure thing, just that it was possible.] Don't know enough to have a method, but... SEES's work has cured a lot of cases. Nowhere near all, and it's spreading faster and faster, but a lot.

Better than dead.

[makejapangreat]

[A bit of a hesitant nod, before he looks back to Minato, hand finally drawing away.]

Who's "SEES"?

[biddentodance]

The Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad.....my team.

[He hasn't talked about SEES a whole lot.]

Our job to fight Shadows. Pretty different from Metaverse stuff.

[makejapangreat]

[... well that. sure is a name...]

Really... [His gaze is softening again.] Are any of them here?

[biddentodance]

['Execution' is a word that means perfectly ordinary and comforting things. Minato shakes his head.]

Not exactly. Minako-san is....from a different world's SEES, where she exists instead of me. Like Akira and Akira-chan, except we don't really look alike. At all.

[makejapangreat]

[He knew of Minako, at least... He gives a nod.]

I see... Have you been getting along well with her?

[biddentodance]

...Haven't....really talked to her a lot. [He looks aside, ashamed.] She's from the future. [And he's afraid.]

[makejapangreat]

[... oh. Oh.

Shido's mouth thins considerably, before he asks gently...]

Are you alright, Minato?

[biddentodance]

[He meets Shido's eye...and that neutral expression, grown hardened and tired from night after night of fighting, cracks. A familiar coil of dread makes its home in Minato's stomach. His eyes are fearful, not of Shido, but of some nameless horror creeping ever closer. He looks...


...haunted.]

I don't think so.

[He can't....hide this anymore, not from Shido. Isn't that what parents are supposed to be for? Guidance and comfort, and that kind of thing. He thinks he remembers his own...]

[makejapangreat]

[His brow creases hard, and he moves to put a hand on Minato's back.]

Come... let's take a seat somewhere.

[Perhaps somewhere out of the way, private. Minato seems to be the sort of person who wouldn't want to unnecessarily draw attention to himself...]

[biddentodance]

[Considering how rarely he shows strong emotions, let alone opens up.... No, certainly not. He'd rather cause no trouble for anyone.

This cave isn't especially comfortable, but they can find a reasonably nice nook.]

Don't know where to begin to explain... Don't think I've been 'alright' in a long time. Something wrong with me.

[His voice is so tired. But, when in doubt: deflect.]

Shouldn't be.... Are you alright, after seeing that?

[makejapangreat]

[And once he does, he sits them both down. He places himself right next to Minato, hand rubbing his back as he shakes his head.]

Don't worry over me... I'll be alright.

[His voice is especially gentle.]

You can start wherever you'd like.

[biddentodance]

[If that hadn't been future tense, Minato wouldn't have let it go. But he understands not wanting to talk about it, especially when time is really the only thing that can help.

But he....doesn't really want to talk about his thing, either? Sort of. It's the same feeling keeping him from talking to Minako, the same creeping dread that finds him when he thinks about the future - even the future beyond the Dark Hour. But he's going to. He's tired.

Now, where to begin.]

Remember before Incendia, I was down for a week in that coma?

[makejapangreat]

Yes?

[Shido will be quiet, for the most part. He isn't likely to speak at all until Minato is done. He's just going to sit here, give him his full attention, and slowly rub his back.]

[biddentodance]

Was caused by...the same thing that nearly killed Aiden. A Persona I can't control. Not...like others, though, at all. Goro said it might be proof of 'outside interference'. ...More and more things suggest he's right.

[He pauses, trying to figure out where to go from there. He never imagined he'd be trying to explain to another Wildcard, let alone someone without a Persona at all. He mumbles something that sounds like 'great catastrophe'.]

How much do you know about Wildcard stuff? [He has no earthly idea what the others have explained.]