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 Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2017 6:44 pm
 ~::The Hunter's Quarry - Norio Ogasawara's Palace (Metaverse)::~
The Hunter's Quarry is a strange, Transylvanian mansion set upon a hillside that overtakes the Shibuya Police Station and surrounding blocks when one enters into the Metaverse using the Meta Nav and the keywords 'Norio Ogasawara', 'Shibuya Police Station' and 'Instinct'. Dwelling within a perpetual moonlight with cloudy weather and occasional lightning peals across the sky, the grand main hall of the mansion is the entry point for any who wish to come head-first into the realm of the palace's ruler, the Vigilante Hunter Ogasawara. Here they will bear witness to the distorted heart of Norio Ogasawara, a police officer who has come to believe that society is little more than a world plagued by bloodsucking children, little more than creatures feeding off of the hard-working adults of society and draining them dry. He views himself as their hunter, a righteous vigilante, who seeks and puts and end to their rebellion against decent humans before it can grow too strong to take root.
To the east of the main hall is a hillside with ascending stairs, first leading into a grand library before continuing on towards the chapel at the hilltop, a locked room housing what is most likely the core of the distortion of this world. Shadows patrol throughout in the shape of undead things, floating vampires, shambling zombies, and patchwork monsters. All of which guard the pass towards the Chapel...
...And yet to change the heart of this twisted man, that is where you must go. Society awaits your victory...
Can you take this heart?!Quote: -Due to the Calling Card, every area of the Hunter's Quarry is now accessible!-
*~The Treasure Has Manifested!~*
NOTE: Palaces or areas within the Metaverse are only accessible using the keywords for each specific Palace and its ruler. After the core, or treasure, of a Palace has been taken, that Palace will crumble and cease to exist, making it inaccessible forever. Thus, a Palace is a temporary space within the Metaverse patrolled by shadows, and lorded over by a ruler until a Phantom Thief might steal their heart. In addition, some areas may require a change of cognition in the real world in order to be accessed, and some treasures can only be accessed after sending a calling card to force it to manifest.
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Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2017 7:59 pm
 
Usaji Azai, aka "Soma" and Kaede Kuzuyama, aka "Zen"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!..."This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. They didn't really have time to think about why that was the case, though, because they were too busy outrunning the crumbling stairs and the dissolving Chapel in the distance behind them. All the world of the Hunter's Quarry was coming apart now, and any step they made could be their last as they tried to flee towards the exit of the Palace and the Metaverse together, stumbling, leaping, and jumping three steps at a time to outrun the carnage. Tucked beneath his overcoat was the item they had come to retrieve, and in the wake of their success there was a broken down shadow returning to the body of a terrible man to right the wrongs he had committed. All-in-all, it had seemed like a successful first mission...well, that is, until this. Nearly dying wasn't what anybody would call successful, even an eccentric like the Phantom Thief 'Soma' would have to agree. And if they didn't pick up the pace, the whole dying bit was going to be a bit more than 'nearly', so he did his best to take a third step in a single bound and tore into the Grand Library of the Palace in a smooth burst, before skidding to a stop in front of what appeared to be a veritable wall of shadows blocking their path.
That was...unexpected.
"Soma! King! Marvel!? You've stopped running...what's going on?!"
A voice rang in his the young man's ears and he winced a little at the urgency within it. All the world around them was falling to pieces and they had a wall of enemies between themselves and their escape route. The fight had really taken too long, but they certainly weren't expecting to be confronted with something like that, either...there was still too little that they knew about the Metaverse, after all. But they wouldn't have a chance to solve any of that if they didn't somehow navigate this pinch before they fell into the dark recesses of whatever this place would become when it was gone. Nothing? Something? Soma tried not to think about the consequences and scanned the room, spotting a chandelier hanging over the heads of the shadows and a fraying rope tied to the wall holding it aloft. His mind raced as the ground began to rumble beneath their feet. They didn't have time to think!
"We're a little busy, Zen," he answered the voice as he drew his blade, and as he wound his arm back he aimed not at the horde of shadows but the rope connecting the chandelier to the wall, the segmented sword extending and lashing through the fraying cord sending the mass of glass and steel shattering down to the floor of the Grand Library on top of the center of the horde of shadows, creating a precarious bridge between the remaining mass for the trio to escape. Sheathing his blade, he rushed forward and leaped onto the fallen chandelier, motioning for his allies to follow with a confident smirk. He leaped down on the far side and blasted through the doors of the Grand Library's other side, grateful for the shortcut, and leaped onto the stone guard alongside the stairs ascending the hill, doing his best to balance a slide down towards the main hall and cut as much time from their flight as possible. The descent was tricky but necessary; the hilltop behind them was falling into the depths and catching up fast. If they didn't make it through the Main Hall and to the exit soon, they would probably...
"I heard a crash?! Are you okay?" a slightly older, softer voice called through their ears just as they reached the Main Hall, but even without looking they knew that there was a welcoming party likely waiting for them inside as well. 'Zen', their communication support, confirmed as much, "The enemies are forming a wall inside the Main Concourse of the Hall...but I'm detecting a hole caused by the collapse in the east wall of the dining area...it's about 10 feet up and to the left of the door you see at the bottom of the stairs! If one of you can make that jump and pull the others to safety, you can get by the bulk of the shadows and make it to the Lobby just inside the front door! But hurry! The Palace won't last much longer!"
Zen's warning was taken to heart, but a feat of acrobatics on that level was beyond the artist. Turning to the other two members of their nascent squad, his eyes fell upon an ally...a friend...whose talents just might happen to fit the bill.
"Marvel, you see it?" Soma asked with smile and yet a bit of labor in his voice, so much rushing and physical exertion pushing him to his very limits, "Looks like it's your time to shine. We're counting on you..." Coming to a stop just beneath the leap, the tall, lanky young man cupped his hands at his waist to offer a boost.
There were some things he couldn't do alone. But that was why they were a team, right?
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Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2017 8:19 pm
 Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel"
There were many things the only girl on their team had doubts about... her place in the world, the value of anything she did, and exactly what the heck this Metaverse place was supposed to be, for starters. Still, if there was one thing she was confident in - one thing at all - it was her athleticism. The dealer's suit she wore rather resembled the so-called bunny outfits, and like a rabbit, she sprang upward and grabbed the ledge. Rather than pulling herself to safety and continuing to run, however, she simply braced herself against the wall with her legs and extended a hand down towards the others so she could pull them up. She finally had people that might just qualify as friends... and like heck she was going to give up on them now.
"King, you're up first! Anchor me and help me pull the others up!" she called down to him. He looked frail, but he did have a power to augment his strength... and as many of those Shadow creatures had learned, underestimating his power was not a wise course of action.
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Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2017 8:35 pm
 Narumi Chell, aka "King""I gotcha, I gotcha."
The brown haired, masked figure charged forward with the others, following their intense battle.......
'Can't believe something like that actually exists..' he thought, shaking his head. 'No no....Deal with that later! Let's not ******** die first..'
He watched as the bunny-suited Marvel of their team took a leap, and caught onto the edge like a monkey......Bracing herself, and holding her arm down.
"I'll try to not ******** up." he started, giving Soma enough time to brace for a second hoist....Before charging forward, and leaping up to the girl's hand....Gripping hers quickly as she would catch him....
"On it..on it."
He wasn't quite the athletic master that Marvel could be, but with her help, he was able to get to the edge of the ledge, and hoist himself up.
"s**t..Shouldn't skip on leg day anymore." he uttered to himself, before turning around, and moved over the edge.
"I got you, Marvel. Get Soma up to safety." he called as he embraced the girl, holding her steady to help the last member up. No moment was spared to admire the girl's figure, or in any kind of elation to the proximity...no, no...
There was important s**t to be done, and if they were going to make it out of here alive, they'd have to keep their asses moving.
"C'mon Soma! Getcher a** in gear!"
If they got out....no, when they got out, he was going to treat himself. A day off, a beef bowl, and an early night.
If it all worked well, of course.
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Hopeful Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2017 10:30 pm
Usaji Azai, aka "Soma" and Kaede Kuzuyama, aka "Zen"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!..."King's crack that he needed to avoid skipping leg day earned a wry smile from the taller teen as he readied for Marvel's leap, and as he strained to lift the not-at-all heavy young girl to the ledge that she barely managed to reach, he took to heart that perhaps his own physical stamina had been falling a bit too far behind in his focus on artistic pursuits. If they were going to be doing this sort of thing ever again...and at this point, he wasn't sure if his heart could take it...he would have to ensure that he was in a better condition than he was now. But those were notes hastily scribbled on the parchment of his mind and stored away as he watched the young woman scramble around and call for his other companion to make the leap next, then support her as she pulled him up into the second level of the crumbling manor for their increasingly-hasty getaway. Nodding firmly, he didn't hesitate as King made his own run, leaping into his lift and climbing into the hole as well, leaving only the white-haired young man to make his way up the climb on their route to freedom. Taking a couple steps back, his foot nearly slipped as the ground gave way behind him, falling away into nothing and alerting him to the dire nature of the situation as he caught his balance.
He only had one shot at this, and if he messed up, it would truly be the end of their adventures before they had even truly completed their first mission as a team. Swallowing hard, he glanced back at the darkness and up at the outstretched hand of his companion, Marvel, and the firm anchor that King provided...and then he dashed, leaping with all of his might foot-first against the wall, using it to spring almost parkour (or so he imagined it might be) style up towards her fingers...barely catching onto her wrists at the last moment and feeling the combined strength of his teammates pulling him up to safety! He let out a deep sigh and smiled, wobbling just a moment in a combination of physical and mental exhaustion as he got to his feet and stepped out ahead of them into the wrecked dining hall.
"Come on, we need to move!" he urged them as the voice in his ear bellowed stronger than ever that they needed to hurry, playing it as cool as possible, as though he never doubted for a moment that the duo would manage to pull him up and save him if they worked together. The truth of his doubts was a matter he was content to let slip into the sands of time, of course, and mattered little...still, the little confident smile he offered as slid over the kitchen table mid-dash and out onto the balcony overlooking the Main Hall was enough to tell them that he was recovered from the near-death predicament and ready to move forward. But the last, and most dangerous hurdle remaining, was still down in the grand lobby before them...the mass of shadows standing between the trio and their only door to escape the mansion, where Zen still lay just beyond waiting to escort the three of them safely back into the real world. "We need a plan..."
"You don't have time!" Zen's voice answered on the edge of frantic, and no sooner had it burst through their ear bud than the doors to the exit burst open, a beautiful orange head of hair covered by a mask visible in the portal! From his left hand he seemed to almost casually toss a canister into the center of the mass of shadows, before covering his eyes and sharply calling to others, "Look away!"
...Soma didn't need to be told twice raising an arm over his eyes and turning away before the Main Hall of the Hunter's Quarry burst into a brilliant, blinding white light!
"A flashbang?! Where did a principal...?"
"I said there's no time! This is your last chance! Run!"
...
It was truly the last chance; the balcony was beginning to wobble and crumble beneath their feet. A horde of wailing, half-blind shadows in the Main Hall below awaited them, and the door to the exit was just beyond. The time to make a decision was upon them, and Soma didn't have a plan so much as an instinct...now why did that seem like it mattered? Glancing back at the others, he suddenly felt a calm fall over him...a confidence, as though whatever crazy idea came next, there was no way that it wouldn't work if they did it together.
"Well, if the three of us are going to pick up the torch of the Phantom Thieves," the artist let his lips curl and his eyes flash, spying the gradually curving stair down to the lobby floor and the railing alongside it with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Then we have an obligation to do it in style."
And then he did it...turning away from his teammates he dashed towards the stair and leaped upon the railing, almost sliding down, balanced upon the arch of his feet as he reached to his eyes and tore away the mask that lay upon it, his body engulfed thoroughly in blue flame as he leaped from the bottom of the rail into the air above the shadows and, soaring gracefully above the mass of their enemies, summoned his persona!
"Scaramouche...Makouga!"
White light burst from the floor amidst the reeling shadows and killed a few outright, knocking others back as he landed in their midst, rolling somewhat inelegantly towards the doorway from which Zen had already retreated towards the exit out front. Following through up to his feet, he could already feel the shadows closing in around him and could only hope that the others had followed suit...carving their own path out of this nightmare and towards the future...in the real world.
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Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2017 10:45 pm
Narumi Chell, aka "King"Chell didn't need a second remark to keep the pace up, starting to run once again....Panting loudly.
"Never. Skipping. Again." he snapped loudly, as he ran....stopping as the exit burst open...and something fell in.
"Oh shi-" he called to himself, barely clamping his eyes shut as a bright white light flashed through the area.
"Ow Ow Ow ********> he snapped to himself, glancing back to see the world disappearing behind him...As he shook his head.
"No time to worry....Gotta go!" he stated, watching as Soma started to slide down the railing.
"I'll take the stairs, thanks." he called out quietly, not too confident in his own ability, as he held up his hand to his mask.
'I'm not gonna let this be the end.. he thought, firmly. 'Just like before...I'm coming back, Katsumi-chan.."
The plan? There was rarely one..But, for getting through the shadows..
"Let's Go, Moriarty!"
He tore the mask off once more......Once again...Using up a bit of his vitality remaining to send out the power that pooled from his memories....A slam of a blow to the memories of the shadows baffling their minds...and clearing a path for the boy.....
....
And hopefully, it would be enough.
'Dammit! My ******** ears are still ringing..'
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Hopeful Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2017 6:33 am
Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel" That was... quite a lot of Shadows, wasn't it? Plans ran through her mind as she moved... but her mouth twitched into a grin as Soma mentioned doing things with style. Ignoring the rapid pounding of her heart, the primal fear that she was going to die here and fail at the last moment, Shiori took a deep breath as a number of shadows paraded towards her. The moment before they crashed into her position, she jumped in an arc above their heads.
"And for my next trick... I'll make you disappear!" the girl in the stage magician's outfit said, snapping her fingers. Her Persona, Medb, flashed into the air behind her and caught her before she could fall. A moment later, a cascade of multicolored orbs crashed into the shadows below, blowing a hole through their ranks. Without using that weird gem she'd found, that spell was her only good area-of-effect attack. It was a bit embarrassing to only have one trick up her sleeves, and she was probably going to have to fix that at some point... but hey, the Shadows didn't know of that limitation. Before Medb disappeared, though, the Irish Queen hurled Shiori forward - and vanished with a smile and a wink.
Marvel landed in a crouch and rolled once, then pushed off of the ground and moved right into a dash towards the doorway. "All right, time to go!" she said as adrenaline continued to pump through her veins.
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Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2017 6:51 am
Usaji Azai, aka "Soma" and Kaede Kuzuyama, aka "Zen"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!..."No matter how heavy the burden that their lives had laid upon them might have been, and no matter how severe the situation, it was easy to forget that the trio of 'heroes' who had come here to take down the corrupt cop of Shibuya were still only students...teenagers, banding together to fight for a shared justice that they had discovered together in that cell he had put them in. And teenagers were apt to do things with a bit of flair and unique style, even though the world itself held their futures hostage. Zen waited as the trio flew, danced, and plowed stubbornly through the horde of shadows and escaped the door, the orange-haired support specialist kicking the door to the mansion closed behind them as they escaped just in the nick of time! Shaking his head, his lips curled into a wry, self-depreciating smirk as he stepped up behind them at the Palace exit.
"Showing off even at a time like this," he sighed, raising his phone and lifting his communication gear, summoning the Metaverse Navigation and readying the button, "Learn to save it for after the mission." Despite his admonishment the man seemed somehow satisfied, even impressed by them, and as they came to stand beside him he caught the artist's eye, whose lips curled into an exhausted and yet equally satisfied smirk.
"Who's wasting time now? ...Come on, Mado's waiting for us," Soma smirked as the adult in the group rolled his eyes, but as he raised his thumb to click on the App and send the quartet back to the real world before the Shadows could catch up to them and his adviser could give him anymore browbeating, he froze...a final mass of shadows bursting out of the front door of the mansion to pursue the quartet in a rush! His eyes widened suddenly, a half-laugh escaping him as he wondered in that moment whether they would make it out of the Metaverse before they could catch up to them and kill them...but before he could test his luck there was a sound just behind them. One that they did not expect...
...And the sound of the man's voice made the white-haired young man's eyebrows raise in a pleasant surprise.
"Speak of the devil..."
Smirk.
"And he shall appear."
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Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2017 7:35 am
 Mado Kusamigaseki"You think I'm talking to you like this because I hate you?""My, having trouble already Zen?" Memories rippled through the team of the careful planning that'd taken place earlier. Each member had been assigned a role to accomplish, and despite the debate every person here explicitly remembered the second of their two advisors volunteering to remain behind and provide support for this mission from outside the Metaverse. And yet, as the divide between the two worlds rippled like a wave, Mr. Kasumigaseki sneered at the wave of Shadows attempting to overrun his valuable pupils in their first true test of courage. Despite the impending wave of monsters he seemed almost unphased by the creatures chasing his allies, and possibly even delighted by the challenge...and he bothered only to take a moment to glance towards Soma, and offer a curt 'tsk' at his fellow Educator and his favorite pupil.
"Remember, the Metaverse is a world of the mind. You shouldn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, Soma." As he chastised the exhausted thief Kasumigaseki's hands fell to his side and the power of the Metaverse gathered between his finger tips. If anyone thought that he was being cute, then they were wasting the brief moment they'd been given as a warning to get down...and considering how amused the professor seemed to be, every member of the team knew by this point to feel a shiver running down their spine. What followed was a cacophony of destruction, as each member of the team (if they knew what was good for them) fell to the ground and covered their heads; the power of the rebel's spirit manifested in his hands, an enormous barrel spinning to life with the roar of a maelstrom, the 'modest' model weapon their teacher had chosen for his own. A gatling gun that no person could have handled in reality roared to life, and he immediately began twisting his body slowly from left to right, and right to left, unleashing a hail of Shadow-shredding lead upon the unexpected final trap of the Hunter of this Transylvanian nightmare. The student's senses were nearly overwhelmed by the wave of annihilation, tearing through walls and Shadows like rice-paper before finally reaching the end of the thousand round belt of ammunition, a grin so wide it was incapable of being hidden spread across Mado's face.
"What are you doing laying on the ground? There's no time to waste, so bring me the treasure." Mado called out, tired and callously as he looked at the team...as if he himself hadn't just forced them to duck mere moments ago. Such was the wild nature of their other 'reliable adult', a man who seemed tired and sick of other people's slow paces one moment, and yet unbridled and terrifying the next...and yet now they knew, seeing his power manifest for the first time, that he was a reliable ally capable of relieving a great weight from atop their shoulder at any time. ...iiif they asked nicely, of course. "Please, there'd be more friction if you rubbed what few, pathetic brain cells you have together. I simply do as I please..."
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Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2017 8:55 am
Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel" Shiori hadn't been the one carrying the Treasure from deep within the Palace... but she was sensible enough to drop into a slide as the gatling gun opened fire, and as the barrage of death finally stopped sweeping through the Shadows, she popped up at Kusamigaseki's side, turned around, and made a performer's bow to the now largely-cleared hall. They were trying to do this with style, after all... and it was helping her keep her wits about her.
"That's, uh... if we do this again, are we going to have to do that every time?" she asked the others. Not that she was sure any of them had an answer, but if they were going to have to run out, it might be wiser to be more prepared for it in the future... you could only handle so many narrow escapes in a row, after all.
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Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2017 9:25 pm
Usaji Azai, aka "Soma" and Kaede Kuzuyama, aka "Zen"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!..."There wasn't any time to think; he knew his professor and the principal knew his friend well enough that when he gave an order it was expected to be followed without hesitation. Power-sliding and leaning deeply back under the hail of gunfire, Soma watched Zen purposefully collapse to the left and the ground, swearing rather unlike himself, unheard under the roar of gunfire. Bits of shadow and wood splattered all over the Main Hall and the cobblestone walk up to the front door, but neither took the time to look until the ripping and shattering caused by the bullets dimmed into the silent, dying whir of the Gatling gun's barrels cooling to a stop. It was only then that the artist slowly stood back to his relatively lanky height, still less than that of the newer adult to arrive on the scene, and brushed wood and black splatter off of his hair and cheek with a small breath escaping him. He caught Mado's direction and let his lips curl faintly, fingers slipping into his jacket to produce what looked to be some kind of a golden cross...? Holding it out to his teacher, it slowly shined and changed form from the cross into a Shibuya Police Department Medal of Distinguished Service...the true source of the distortions within the Vigilante Hunter. Treasure changing hands, Saji couldn't help but answer Mado's dismissive demand with something of his own.
"Were you worried about us, Sensei?" his eyebrow raised faintly, though the shudder in his arm was as good an indication as any that his cool facade was beginning to wear thing after the danger they had survived, exhaustion and confusion and pure adrenaline all coursing through him in equal measure, "Do you think this sort of thing is valuable?" He asked, but before he could continue the thought an orange-haired man stood up beside him, brushed his fine clothes off smoothly, and clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"All four of you are ridiculous," he sighed as he clicked the App upon his phone, the Metaverse starting to dissolve around them in an instant...the macabre world of the Hunter's Quarry crumbling into nothing in the final moments they spent crossing over from that world into their own. Saji landed on a knee in an alley next to the Shibuya Police Station beneath a moonlight sky moments later, his normal clothes returning to his body as they crossed back from the Metaverse, and at his side landed Kaede Kuzuyama, smoothly touchign down upon his feet and letting out a breath into the white fur scarf bunched upon his shoulder. "If you were capable of that, Mado-senpai," he emphasized the suffix to his former research companion with an annoyed glare, "Then why exactly were you the one to volunteer to stay behind when you knew I can't summon a Persona?" His eyes narrowed, a sharp contest to the implication that he shouldn't have been having trouble himself inside the Metaverse...but just as quickly as he raised the point, he felt a hand upon his shoulder...Soma...no, Saji's, no doubt...and let out a sigh, bringing light fingers to his forehead gently. "Oh, nevermind..."
"He bailed us out again though, didn't he?" Saji's calm, airy voice pierced the tension smoothly, easing it from the older man as quickly as it had arisen, "We stole the treasure, now if Principal Kuzuyama's not wrong...Ogasawara's heart should change, right? Sounds like a win to me, no...?" He glanced at the other two newly-christened 'Phantom Thieves' with what little confidence and a smirk that he could muster. Shrugging in exhaustion, the auburn-haired Principal of Kosei High School could only sigh.
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Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2017 9:37 pm
 Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel"
"Really no way to beat around the bush on this, but... I'm beat." she said, wincing slightly. "Is it all right to call it a day and do all the talking stuff tomorrow, or is there some kind of followup we have to do right now?" she was going to stick around if there was - she hadn't come this far to peter out at the last moment - but she really wanted little more than a cool shower, a nice glass of milk, and her futon.
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Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2017 9:59 am
Mado Kusamigaseki"You think I'm talking to you like this because I hate you?" "My idiot student don't you see? This entire world is separated from our own by people's fears, their abject terror at having their inner selves unmasked. Everything here is a hidden gem, some untold truth you would never be able to touch if your phone hadn't downloaded that strange app. My desire to research the cognitive world was one thing, but this? If this world is a mighty oak, then every branch, every sun-baked leaf and every splinter of that full grown and ancient tree owes its livelihood to the trinket in my hand; this is the original desire, the seed from which all of that beast's decisions blossomed. I cannot think of a more intrinsically valuable, nor highly guarded piece of knowledge when it comes to this black-hearted man. By removing this, you've unraveled the very mind of Ogasawara...this is as much undoing him, as pulling apart his very DNA and putting it back together again." While the way their professor framed it seemed to instill some weighty gravitas to their actions, Mado himself seemed almost pleased by the nature of it all. Years of research in the field had been crushed under the heavy boot of Masayoshi Shido's selfish designs, and yet now it had all been revived and exponentially expounded upon, flourishing from the mere theories of some closed in lab rats into a lavishly decorated and entire real physical dimension...it was as if he and "Zen's" research had been simultaneously crushed for the insignificant specs of knowledge they were, and yet at the same time elevated to heights almost beyond their view entirely. Even now, the mind boggled that such a change could occur in so short a time, and neither knew how the Phantom Thieves had made just such a thing happen.
He peered over at the hesitant Soma, and smirked. "Oh now, don't make that face. This is what you wanted after all...to change this man, even if it ended up killing him in the process. Compared to that possibility, if we merely put a new 'Ogasawara' in his place, it will still be a magnificent triumph. Oh. And yes, I presume this item will be worth some modicum of money...perhaps I'll pass it off as a pre-war artifact to some naive thrift store? Eh he he." And there it was, they all thought with an internal sigh. Ever the educational (if not condescending) sensei, Mado nevertheless had that shady side to him that had acted as the source of more than a few rumors around Shujin Academy. Mado insisted that they learn from his example, as "a sucker was born every minute", but by no means did he seem to bully the earnest students under his thumb exclusively...in fact, while his lessons to them were often harsh they usually had a lesson to be gleaned by those willing to listen all the same, and his truly ruthless negotiations tended to be reserved for delinquents and adult scumbags who happened to have no shame in them. Just the day before Shiori had born witness as a thug bumped into another man outside the front gate, then tried to shake him down for some money. In the end, Mado had brokered a peace between the two, resulting in the confiscation of the injured party's identification and twenty dollars in reparation...while he'd convinced the thug the school's exterior was filmed, demanded he offer up his belongings to have the tapes 'erased', and then stripped the man of his blue jeans and sent the half-naked man running under threat of a boot to the a**. So no, none of them dismissed the devilish cackle of Mado as a mere jest, but at the same time they knew he was no wolf in sheep's clothing either... probably?
"You'll never grow if you don't try, my dear Zen. Sometimes a bird has to wring her little chicklets by the neck, and throw them overboard to teach them how to swim. I can't believe you didn't figure it out already though...I guess it's why you were merely an Assistant Researcher." Mado clicked his tongue at the Phantom Thief and stared with an almost bottomless empty gaze of disapproval, as if "someone who can't even manage that is a bug" were written across his forehead. This of course was the nature of Mr. Kusamigaseki, and the reason he was such an outcast among his peers, dating all the way back to his time as a researcher with Zen. Always dolling out educational shpiels, playing pranks on the nervous interns and never accepting others as his equal, Mado was among the hardest of colleagues to work with, and had often had his name slandered or lambasted for things he'd never even done, all in an attempt to drive him out of the laboratory (and now, school)...and yet, never a thing seemed to phase him, only growing his ego larger as he stepped over the people who ridiculed him, and continued to trudge on amidst an almost entirely hostile field of occupation. "Please, there'd be more friction if you rubbed what few, pathetic brain cells you have together. I simply do as I please..."
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Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2017 3:36 pm
Usaji Azai, aka "Soma" and Kaede Kuzuyama, aka "Zen"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!...""I was only an Assistant because I was new and just out of college," the calm orange-haired former-researcher sighed, shooting a casually-annoyed glance at the taller man seeking to belittle him with his gaze...this was just how Mado was, he knew, but that didn't mean that he couldn't get under his friend's skin at times, "And as I recall, I was only your assistant because nobody else could stand that superior attitude of yours." It was true, the older man was a bit of a black sheep among the project, but that didn't make him any less vital or talented to what they were doing at the time. Even Kaede's own Metaverse Communication Gear was an idea only brought to realization thanks to the out-of-the-box thinking of Mr. Kusamigaseki. 'Zen' had learned to tolerate him relatively well in their time working together, genius outweighing personal distaste at first...and eventually melting in a sort of appreciation that the younger man would, at least for his own part, consider a strange sort of friendship. But that didn't mean they couldn't fight a little, either. It was probably better to leave it at that for now, though. Mado's weighing of the gravity of the situation was likely to be heavy upon the minds of the kids, having completed their first mission barely knowing the potential dangers of changing a man's cognition. Even Mado and Kaede weren't entirely sure what would happen, acting only on a hypothesis they had formed from their own research and what they believed to be the true nature of the Phantom Thieves incidents. They could still be very wrong...they could be, but he really hoped they weren't. And that uncertainty wasn't something he wanted to impart to his charges if he could help it, that instructor's instinct that he hadn't even meant to develop as a principal leading him to wish to protect them as much as possible. It was enough to make him smirk wryly in a strange nostalgia.
"I don't want to kill anybody," the white-haired teen reiterated with a tired frown, correcting his teacher's somewhat careless assumption that the trio would go so far as to assassinate anybody in their attempt to reform him and change his heart...though they didn't know how all of this worked, that was a possibility he didn't want to consider. Besides, what would they have to do to a person's cognition...to their mind...to kill them in reality? He hoped they never found out...but that worry faded just as quickly when his favorite oddball teacher returned to the issue that really mattered...the price of their score! Even if their reasons for doing all of this were altruistic, there was something intrinsically romantic about being a 'Phantom Thief', and part of that allure was the treasure, the score and reaping the rewards of your thievery after a heist to enjoy a taste of a life that was normally beyond you. He had no doubt that the Phantom Thieves themselves had enjoyed some lavish dinners and such after their heists if these items were of any value...and with Mado confirming they could likely sell it for a decent price, his soft eyes twinkled with mirth. "Call it whatever you want if it gets more money," the artist let his lips curl faintly into a mischievous smile, "We can call art...and art is subjective no? Besides..."
He glanced at the others, wondering if they would catch his drift...smirking at his new friends and partners with a look that invited him to join him in his imaginings.
"I've always wanted to try escargot. Perhaps with the money we could try some new cuisine?"
He let the half-serious suggestion linger a moment, but it was Shiori's exhaustion and Zen's rationality that eventually broke the bout of whimsy.
"We can talk about what to do with the money after Mado examines and sells the treasure. We need to learn what we can from it first. Fun can come later," he poured cold water on their passion as it seemed his lot to do among this unique bunch, glancing at the exhausted teens pitifully but with a satisfied, proud look in his eyes, "That said...you all did remarkably well for your first time 'stealing a man's heart'. I wasn't sure what to expect, but you've all proven very reliable. ...For now, get home and rest. You've earned it. I will contact you all again soon to meet and discuss the next step for Illa Phasmas...all right? Dismissed."
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