[ah. the atmosphere sure is getting heavy all of a sudden]
. . . Bienfu.
[the normin snaps to attention, before hopping onto Magilou's shoulder and then vanishing in a ball and ring of blue light. she affixes Akira with a lidded stare, folds her arms, and cants her head to the side slightly]
Hey, Trickster. You want me to start?
[asked in a very business-like and to the point manner. she knows how rough the story is for him, and she knows how rough it'll be for him to recant it to someone he cares for so deeply. but if she can give the gritty, gruesome details in her usual detached manner. . . perhaps she can help?]
[ Bienfu suddenly turning into a ball of light startles him a little, too?! He's suddenly standing back up again, inching even closer to Akira. She can't just do that to people like him, right...? For the moment, he tries to put it out of his mind... There's definitely something fishy going on. Something that Akira didn't know how to tell him. Him, of all people! ]
I knew it... [ though he can't emote very well in this form, he looks a little disheartened somehow. Did he think he wouldn't be able to handle it? Or he didn't trust him, maybe? Either way... Well, he looks to Magilou this time. ] I want to know. This guy's supposed to be my...
[ and then, all of a sudden, he realizes that Magilou's talking to him and apparently understanding him. ]
W-wait... Hold on a second. You can hear me?
[ Akira went to the Metaverse without them - or without him, anyway? What the heck is going on here? He feels so lost, and he really hates it. ]
...It might be easier if you did. You're better at that exposition thing.
[it's a quick interjection, though—
yeah, morgana probably deserves an explanation.]
She innately has a resonance for things most humans can't. Kind of like her cognition is a lot stronger than ours. [...] Strong enough that she wouldn't have to have it changed in the Metaverse to hear you properly.
[he knows enough about her, but:] And I told her about you a while ago, so she was ready for it.
[ if she's calling him "Trickster" and he's mentioning the Metaverse in front of her, she must already know most of the story. Morgana trusts his judgement on who he tells about their group, so he relaxes a little bit, even if he can feel the tension in the air. It's not that strange for Akira to let someone else do the talking, but... ]
Yeah, of course! [ HE KNOWS WHAT MOVIES ARE TOO, AKIRA SHOWED HIM ONE!! THEY'RE GOOD AT THIS. ] Like "Hint," right? What does that have to do with anything?
[ did Akira go into her palace alone? Was her palace a murder mystery movie? honestly, that kind of falls in line with how palaces are, so he's ready to accept it. ]
[since akira is obviously familiar with the movie in question. but the fact that morgana eases on his suspicions a bit and continues to trust akira's judgment...
well, it matters a lot.
he isn't sure he'll be entirely deserving of that once this story is told, after all. this is unsurprisingly pretty stressful, even if magilou's already offered to take some of the weight off his shoulders here—but then, she knows better than anyone how hard this story is for him to tell, anyway.]
[stares at Akira like. wtf. but that seems to get the point across, so. . .]
Well, imagine one of those, staring forty-two strangers, hm? Forty-two people, all from the far reaches of the universe, brought to a deserted island and told to kill each other for the right to return home.
[that's. a blunt way of putting it, but. it's also the best way of putting it]
... Are you trying to tell me that happened to him?
[ it sounds too outrageous to be true, but Morgana's no stranger to outrageous things, being one himself. Still - that's radically different from anything they've dealt with so far. He narrows his eyes at Magilou quizzically, trying to figure out if she's telling the truth or not... but he can't read her at all, so he ends up looking over to Akira, instead.
Trapped on an island with a bunch of strangers and forced to kill each other? Really? ]
[that's directed at Morgana, just so can kind of gain an understanding of how they met in the first place]
The island itself was a dream, but the people linked to that dream were all very real. I'm evidence of that much.
[there's a joke here about how Akira dreamed up a cute girl and then she showed up on his doorstep one day, but she passes on it. for now]
A lot of people died in that dream. [s-so blunt] But it being a dream meant their deaths weren't permanent. "Winning" that game meant that everyone could wake up, and-- well!
As you can see, we won, and now everyone is awake and no longer suspended in a world between dream and reality.
[to. borrow Igor's phrasing? not on purpose, though-- sorry Akira]
[ the mechanics make enough sense to him, at least - he doesn't question the idea of a realm just outside of reality that has both permanent and not-so-permanet effects on its inhabitants. Morgana listens intently, looking troubled, at least as much as he's capable while in this form. ]
... So you went to a place like a Palace in your dreams, and while you were there, you had to kill each other?
[ he knows it's not actually a Palace, but it seems like the best point of comparison. It's a pretty bleak story, if it's true. Imagining Akira in that situation by himself is depressing. ]
Joker... How did you get out? If I had known, I would have come to save you.
[ he considers taking care of him and the others in the Metaverse to be his responsibility, even if he doesn't act like it. ]
Everything I did was to keep you and the others from being brought in to play that game. Or... see those things.
[there were too many of those things, and the things he did aren't ones he's proud of, so he just closes his eyes and shakes his head.
magilou can explain how they got out, he guesses. akira can only be adamant about the fact that he definitely did not want the phantom thieves to be there.
especially after what happened to the other phantom thief who was.]
[Akira's words earn him a silent stare from Magilou. perhaps it's because she knows the truth behind them, but. . . she thinks even someone out of the loop like Morgana could pick up on the subtext]
[she turns her attention back to the cat shortly afterwards. Akira will talk about it when he's ready; there's no rush at all]
Five people on that island were given specific instructions to murder. Kill at least one person each week, or the volcano will erupt and everyone will die.
[a small sigh]
That was a lie.
The way to "win" the game was to kill off each and every one of those five people. And that's what we did-- not this guy and I, personally, but the other thirty-seven of us.
[ the movie comparison was apt, because this definitely sounds like someone's murder mystery screenplay. If Morgana didn't know better, he'd assume it was made up. But it's not like Akira to play tricks on him - and even if he doesn't know who this girl is, he seems to trust her, and thus, so does Morgana.
His insistence on keeping Morgana "safe" is so typically him that it kind of annoys him. ]
So you'd rather just suffer alone? We're a team, you know! Helping each other is what good teammates do. [ he has to say it - his sensibilities won't allow otherwise. But he can understand the gravity of the situation. He has to assume what Magilou is saying is exactly what happened; he looks back to her, ears flicking back in unease. ] ... You had five people get murdered?
Mmm. Yeup. It wasn't as though we knew who those five were until about five weeks into the game. They claimed a lot of victims before they were caught.
[. . . and. . .]
Not to mention there were people killing for their own reasons, separate from that group of five.
[she doesn't look at Akira when she says that; she isn't giving him away until he's ready]
[ he hopes that his (apparently) being so close to this girl at least means she was there to support him. He knows how Akira always tries to take everything on by himself... ]
33?! You saw that many people die?! [ his fur stands on end a little, and he glances back and forth between the two of them for a second, as if looking for the punchline. It doesn't come, of course. They've dealt with crimes of all shapes and sizes, at this point, but certainly nothing like mass murder on this level. It's way out of their league. Certainly out of a lone Joker's league. ] ... Are you serious?
[ is he okay? no, he's definitely not okay. He can't just ask that. But what can he do? What does he even say to something like this? He's no good at this sort of thing in the first place... He gives Magilou a look of disbelief, then turns to Akira, concerned. ]
[it's a lot, morgana. and akira knows that. so he just nods his head solemnly, shifting his gaze.]
Everyone's alive now. [that was the condition of winning the game, after all.
but "okay," is not what he'd call it. not for himself, at least. plenty of others were fine once the illusion was broke and they knew they'd get home safely. for akira, though—well, the nightmare he can recall akira waking up from was the start of his trying to move on from those traumatic experiences.
[Magilou links her hands behind her back and rocks to the side, nodding in affirmation]
Alive, awake, very unlikely to go through the same thing again. Small comforts, right?
[now she looks at Akira, whom she knows is still struggling with this. despite it being a dream, despite it all being a very distant memory. people like Magilou-- selfish people, who closed their hearts off to such things so long ago-- could very easily move on without issue. but people like him, good people, who still didn't know how to come to terms with the actions took during the game?]
[that was a lot harder]
[she takes a step forward, towards Akira, and gently bumps her shoulder against his. that's a motion she's learned from him]
[ at least their deaths weren't permanent - it's a step above the Metaverse in that regard. It would feel callous to say that. Morgana is used to looking after Akira, but this is so far outside his wheelhosue that he's not sure what he should say. What can someone say in response to a story like that? ]
Akira... [ he looks up at him again, ears wilting. ] ... Damn it. Why do these things always happen to you? You never did anything wrong, but it's like the world is your enemy!
[ being angry is a lot easier than being sad for Morgana. He could apologize, but it wouldn't help a thing - instead, he channels his feelings into frustration and action. Magilou's actions towards Akira don't go unnoticed, but he can hardly ask about that now. ]
It's good you're safe, but we need to find a way to make sure that never happens again! If the Metaverse can be that dangerous, it's our job to stop it. I'll figure something out.
[magilou's gesture helps a bit; he knows she's doing her best in her own way for his sake—she's trying, and it counts for a lot.]
I don't know why. Low luck stat, I guess.
[it's a weak joke, and he knows it. either way, akira shakes his head.]
It's not something that can be stopped in the Metaverse. It wasn't the Metaverse at all—it might have been easier if it was.
[not that he really wants to discourage morgana here, but what he dealt with existed on such a different scale.] At least in the Metaverse, we can use our Personas.
[something he wasn't able to do on murder island, yaaay.]
. . . in hindsight, perhaps not asking about the nature of the dream, who was benefiting from our performance, and how they managed to get us all there anyway was probably ill advised.
[so now they literally. can't do anything to keep it from happening again. and from the way Hal spoke? it sure did happen a lot]
What? So we're going to let them get away? They might do it again, you know!
[ it's their job to stop this kind of thing! Or his and Akira's job, at least. He looks back and forth between the two of them, serious. People's lives are in danger - there has to be some clue they can chase after. Maybe they could find something in Mementos, or... something.
(The real root of the matter is that Morgana doesn't know how else to comfort Akira other than trying to solve the problem through phantom thievery - he's trying his best, in his way.) ]
It's not about letting them get away. I just have no idea how we'd find them. What happened to us was in a dream, with people from so many worlds that aren't anything like this or the Metaverse.
[it's okay, mona.
as okay as it can be.]
When I woke up from that nightmare, it was like no time passed at all here. There probably aren't traces of them—Magilou being here is the only thing I have to prove it even really happened.
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. . . Bienfu.
[the normin snaps to attention, before hopping onto Magilou's shoulder and then vanishing in a ball and ring of blue light. she affixes Akira with a lidded stare, folds her arms, and cants her head to the side slightly]
Hey, Trickster. You want me to start?
[asked in a very business-like and to the point manner. she knows how rough the story is for him, and she knows how rough it'll be for him to recant it to someone he cares for so deeply. but if she can give the gritty, gruesome details in her usual detached manner. . . perhaps she can help?]
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I knew it... [ though he can't emote very well in this form, he looks a little disheartened somehow. Did he think he wouldn't be able to handle it? Or he didn't trust him, maybe? Either way... Well, he looks to Magilou this time. ] I want to know. This guy's supposed to be my...
[ and then, all of a sudden, he realizes that Magilou's talking to him and apparently understanding him. ]
W-wait... Hold on a second. You can hear me?
[ Akira went to the Metaverse without them - or without him, anyway? What the heck is going on here? He feels so lost, and he really hates it. ]
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[it's a quick interjection, though—
yeah, morgana probably deserves an explanation.]
She innately has a resonance for things most humans can't. Kind of like her cognition is a lot stronger than ours. [...] Strong enough that she wouldn't have to have it changed in the Metaverse to hear you properly.
[he knows enough about her, but:] And I told her about you a while ago, so she was ready for it.
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[she shoots Morgana a sly grin]
You two must be similar, or whatever counts for "high resonance" in your world. That's the reason you can see Bienfu.
[but! that's an explanation for a later day. she leans her hip against the counter and lapses into thoughtful silence]
Hmm, let's see, how to put this into words. . . oh! Have you ever watched a movie about a murder mystery?
[SHE KNOWS WHAT MOVIES ARE!! AKIRA TOOK HER TO ONE!! PRAISE HER KNOWLEDGE]
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[ if she's calling him "Trickster" and he's mentioning the Metaverse in front of her, she must already know most of the story. Morgana trusts his judgement on who he tells about their group, so he relaxes a little bit, even if he can feel the tension in the air. It's not that strange for Akira to let someone else do the talking, but... ]
Yeah, of course! [ HE KNOWS WHAT MOVIES ARE TOO, AKIRA SHOWED HIM ONE!! THEY'RE GOOD AT THIS. ] Like "Hint," right? What does that have to do with anything?
[ did Akira go into her palace alone? Was her palace a murder mystery movie? honestly, that kind of falls in line with how palaces are, so he's ready to accept it. ]
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[since akira is obviously familiar with the movie in question. but the fact that morgana eases on his suspicions a bit and continues to trust akira's judgment...
well, it matters a lot.
he isn't sure he'll be entirely deserving of that once this story is told, after all. this is unsurprisingly pretty stressful, even if magilou's already offered to take some of the weight off his shoulders here—but then, she knows better than anyone how hard this story is for him to tell, anyway.]
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[stares at Akira like. wtf. but that seems to get the point across, so. . .]
Well, imagine one of those, staring forty-two strangers, hm? Forty-two people, all from the far reaches of the universe, brought to a deserted island and told to kill each other for the right to return home.
[that's. a blunt way of putting it, but. it's also the best way of putting it]
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[ it sounds too outrageous to be true, but Morgana's no stranger to outrageous things, being one himself. Still - that's radically different from anything they've dealt with so far. He narrows his eyes at Magilou quizzically, trying to figure out if she's telling the truth or not... but he can't read her at all, so he ends up looking over to Akira, instead.
Trapped on an island with a bunch of strangers and forced to kill each other? Really? ]
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[there's no pride in it though, so akira just closes his eyes.]
An island that existed in... a collective unconscious. Not the sort we know, but a dream. [...]
More a nightmare, really.
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[that's directed at Morgana, just so can kind of gain an understanding of how they met in the first place]
The island itself was a dream, but the people linked to that dream were all very real. I'm evidence of that much.
[there's a joke here about how Akira dreamed up a cute girl and then she showed up on his doorstep one day, but she passes on it. for now]
A lot of people died in that dream. [s-so blunt] But it being a dream meant their deaths weren't permanent. "Winning" that game meant that everyone could wake up, and-- well!
As you can see, we won, and now everyone is awake and no longer suspended in a world between dream and reality.
[to. borrow Igor's phrasing? not on purpose, though-- sorry Akira]
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... So you went to a place like a Palace in your dreams, and while you were there, you had to kill each other?
[ he knows it's not actually a Palace, but it seems like the best point of comparison. It's a pretty bleak story, if it's true. Imagining Akira in that situation by himself is depressing. ]
Joker... How did you get out? If I had known, I would have come to save you.
[ he considers taking care of him and the others in the Metaverse to be his responsibility, even if he doesn't act like it. ]
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[akira says that simply and quietly.]
Everything I did was to keep you and the others from being brought in to play that game. Or... see those things.
[there were too many of those things, and the things he did aren't ones he's proud of, so he just closes his eyes and shakes his head.
magilou can explain how they got out, he guesses. akira can only be adamant about the fact that he definitely did not want the phantom thieves to be there.
especially after what happened to the other phantom thief who was.]
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[she turns her attention back to the cat shortly afterwards. Akira will talk about it when he's ready; there's no rush at all]
Five people on that island were given specific instructions to murder. Kill at least one person each week, or the volcano will erupt and everyone will die.
[a small sigh]
That was a lie.
The way to "win" the game was to kill off each and every one of those five people. And that's what we did-- not this guy and I, personally, but the other thirty-seven of us.
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His insistence on keeping Morgana "safe" is so typically him that it kind of annoys him. ]
So you'd rather just suffer alone? We're a team, you know! Helping each other is what good teammates do. [ he has to say it - his sensibilities won't allow otherwise. But he can understand the gravity of the situation. He has to assume what Magilou is saying is exactly what happened; he looks back to her, ears flicking back in unease. ] ... You had five people get murdered?
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[though he really did shoulder so many burdens alone in that time—well.
he'll get to his reasons eventually. he's still not sure how he wants to tell that part of the story.]
It was more than five. Those five had to die for the game to be "won," but... in total, it was. 33.
[thirty-three people died. it was a lot, and it was brutal.
and he was one of them but hey. minor details.]
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[. . . and. . .]
Not to mention there were people killing for their own reasons, separate from that group of five.
[she doesn't look at Akira when she says that; she isn't giving him away until he's ready]
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33?! You saw that many people die?! [ his fur stands on end a little, and he glances back and forth between the two of them for a second, as if looking for the punchline. It doesn't come, of course. They've dealt with crimes of all shapes and sizes, at this point, but certainly nothing like mass murder on this level. It's way out of their league. Certainly out of a lone Joker's league. ] ... Are you serious?
[ is he okay? no, he's definitely not okay. He can't just ask that. But what can he do? What does he even say to something like this? He's no good at this sort of thing in the first place... He gives Magilou a look of disbelief, then turns to Akira, concerned. ]
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Everyone's alive now. [that was the condition of winning the game, after all.
but "okay," is not what he'd call it. not for himself, at least. plenty of others were fine once the illusion was broke and they knew they'd get home safely. for akira, though—well, the nightmare he can recall akira waking up from was the start of his trying to move on from those traumatic experiences.
sorry, mona. this isn't a fun story at all.]
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Alive, awake, very unlikely to go through the same thing again. Small comforts, right?
[now she looks at Akira, whom she knows is still struggling with this. despite it being a dream, despite it all being a very distant memory. people like Magilou-- selfish people, who closed their hearts off to such things so long ago-- could very easily move on without issue. but people like him, good people, who still didn't know how to come to terms with the actions took during the game?]
[that was a lot harder]
[she takes a step forward, towards Akira, and gently bumps her shoulder against his. that's a motion she's learned from him]
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Akira... [ he looks up at him again, ears wilting. ] ... Damn it. Why do these things always happen to you? You never did anything wrong, but it's like the world is your enemy!
[ being angry is a lot easier than being sad for Morgana. He could apologize, but it wouldn't help a thing - instead, he channels his feelings into frustration and action. Magilou's actions towards Akira don't go unnoticed, but he can hardly ask about that now. ]
It's good you're safe, but we need to find a way to make sure that never happens again! If the Metaverse can be that dangerous, it's our job to stop it. I'll figure something out.
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I don't know why. Low luck stat, I guess.
[it's a weak joke, and he knows it. either way, akira shakes his head.]
It's not something that can be stopped in the Metaverse. It wasn't the Metaverse at all—it might have been easier if it was.
[not that he really wants to discourage morgana here, but what he dealt with existed on such a different scale.] At least in the Metaverse, we can use our Personas.
[something he wasn't able to do on murder island, yaaay.]
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[yep, totally piggy backing on his joke]
. . . in hindsight, perhaps not asking about the nature of the dream, who was benefiting from our performance, and how they managed to get us all there anyway was probably ill advised.
[so now they literally. can't do anything to keep it from happening again. and from the way Hal spoke? it sure did happen a lot]
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[ it's their job to stop this kind of thing! Or his and Akira's job, at least. He looks back and forth between the two of them, serious. People's lives are in danger - there has to be some clue they can chase after. Maybe they could find something in Mementos, or... something.
(The real root of the matter is that Morgana doesn't know how else to comfort Akira other than trying to solve the problem through phantom thievery - he's trying his best, in his way.) ]
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[it's okay, mona.
as okay as it can be.]
When I woke up from that nightmare, it was like no time passed at all here. There probably aren't traces of them—Magilou being here is the only thing I have to prove it even really happened.
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[Morgana probably doesn't get that, but Akira will. not that she's elaborating]
Well, until I figured out how to worldhop here, that is. Even the injuries we sustained while on that island are gone.
[the scratches on Akira's face, the gash in her arm. vanished, without a trace or a scar]
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1/of like. idk. morgana why.
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okay done now i'm so sorry
i'm love magilou
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