[closed] Special Extracurricular Phantom Thieves?

[orphne]

Who: Akechi, Akira, Ken, Kotone, Shinji, Yoshizawa, Astralin
Where: Astralin's farm
What: Meeting of SEES and the Phantom Thieves! (sleepover)
Warnings: blood and violence, thanks akechi

It honestly feels a little overdue to get all of the Persona-users together in one place, but in fairness to them, there's been a lot going on! With Ken's arrival, though, it feels more important than ever to get everyone together -- if something happens again and they need to fight together as a team, it'll be good to have moments like this.

Hopefully.

Also, like, it's a chance to just relax and have fun with the others. Kotone's close friends with all of them, so it only seems natural to invite them to what's essentially a sleepover. There's nail polish, drinks, snacks, games -- it's not a party, but just a chill hangout session to her. An opportunity to sleep out under the stars with her friends while still being close enough to a house that they don't have to worry about monsters outside.

Everyone please be on your best behavior?

Comments

[orphne]

1.

[Listen, Shinji and Akira are the undisputed kings of the kitchen. But! They aren't going to make sweets, are they? She has a rack of sugar cookies cooling on the counter and is whisking milk on the stove in preparation to make chocolate truffles. It smells like there might be something fruit-based in the oven...? Busy, busy, busy! She's got her headphones on and is humming along to a rather upbeat song as she works.]

2.

[Okay, to some people she'd said it was a strategy meeting, to others, she'd said it was just a chance to hang out. You know who you are and which technique would have worked. But if you wanted to chat about the actual nitty-gritty of combat tactics as a team, now's your chance -- she's got her notebook in hand and a pen in her mouth as she looks over her list of her own skills alongside Shinji's and Ken's that she knows from before.]

3.

[Not long after midnight, there's an abrupt shift in her energy. She's still listening to everyone talk and doing her best to keep her eyes open, but while she'd been doing her best to hide exhaustion for the past hour or so, now it seems like she can barely keep her eyes open. Addressing her will be met with a,] Huh? [because she hadn't heard a word of it as she blinks and tries to focus.

If left unattended for too long, she'll simply doze right off sitting there. Look, she's been projecting a lot of energy all evening! She's Sleepy. Surely that's the only reason.]

4. Wildcard!

[get her]

Wildcard (hah!)

[murderingjustice]

[It's far into the night when Akechi gets up from his sleeping spot. He actually hasn't been sleeping at all, aside from dozing off from here and then. But despite that he's not tired at all. Because he's on a mission.

When Kotone had sent out her invitation Akechi hadn't hesitated to accept. Not that he didn't have anything against with spending time with her, but there had been something more pressing on his mind for a quite while. Ever since of the whole deal with Thanatos, actually.

His rival, Akira Kurusu, had lost to her. And that.. was a hard and bitter pill to swallow. He couldn't just accept that. Not when Akira was the only one who had been able to get best of him, to beat him on all battlefields. That's why they were rivals. So for him to lose Kotone was like a throwing a wrench to this whole dynamic.

Besides, it's not like he hasn't been curious about Kotone's skills without the whole almost killing Akira-incident.

So, after making his bed he quietly moves to where the girl is resting and places his hand on top of her shoulder to carefully wake her up.]

Hey, Kotone. Wake up. There's something we need to do.

[orphne]

[At least he let her get a nap in. When he touches her shoulder, she makes a little noise of distress, squeezing her eyes closed more tightly and scrunching up her face. Normally a rather heavy sleeper, it's his touch more than his voice that wakes her up and leaves her blinking blearily up at him.]

Goro...?

[She's so tired, and it shows on her face as she struggles to bring herself back to wakefulness. It's night... not the Dark Hour, right?

One more time, bud.]

1!

[foundheart]

[okay look, this is mean, she knows it's a lil mean, but there Kotone is. Headphones on. Not a care in the world.

Which is of course why Sumi pokes her right in the side while blowing on the back of her neck to get her attention.

THIS IS A NORMAL THING TO DO

She's also got her hair down and her glasses out since this is a sleepover and it's not like she can really sleep comfortably with her hair pulled up and all. So.]

[orphne]

[Kotone still has her ponytail up, because sometimes she gets so tired she forgets to bother taking it down, honestly, and she's just humming, having a good time, having a good tim--]

Eeek!!

[She jumps and wiggles away from the unexpected poke, dropping the whisk into the pot with a clatter as she yanks her headphones off.]

Hey-!! [She's laughing though, because damn, fair play, she'd have done the same thing.]

[chemex]

🍛 dinner is served;

[The Farmhouse had a much larger kitchen than was regularly at his disposal. Naturally, he took advantage of it, coordinating with Shinjiro so as not to step on his toes and double a dish, sticking to his strong suits. He made two batches of curry early in the day, letting them simmer while everything else was underfoot-- one was spicy, one was mild. There's otherwise a few colorful trays of veggies for snacking-- gotta stay healthy!! --and some cute fruit arrangements, as well as, of course, an enormous pot of rice for the curry. There's a little sign made of sticky notes and toothpicks that says "help yourself!" in his messy handwriting, as well as one by the spicy curry with a crude drawing of a chili pepper and "not akechi approved".]

⛺ country is as country does;

[Okay so maybe knowing how to pitch a tent that isn't one of those fancy pre-wired pop-up ones isn't strictly a country boy aesthetic, but Akira is Excited. The moment Kotone suggests a sleepover, he loses every possible brain cell he's ever had and excitedly asks if they can camp in the back yard of the farmhouse. He'll handle all the camping stuff!!! So he gets supplies, pitches a tent more than big enough for the group, and makes little fire pits and everything. He's bustling around with marshmallows at some point, with the intent of roasting them after dark.]

[Need something? Let him know, or feel free to assume he's brought it to you like an insane person without asking.]

💅 girl's night?;

[He has never had the patience for painting his nails. Ann got him to do a modeling session with her once, specifically advertising a jewelry brand, and the lead had been absolutely ecstatic that he'd been open to having his nails done for the photos-- Ann had subsequently insisted they have girl's nights where they all painted each other's nails. She'd even gotten pet-safe polish to decorate Morgana's claws, but..., Akira had forgotten the lengthy dry time on enamel and gone to fiddle with something, destroying the hard work.]

[So suffice to say, he's staring down the little cubby space of nail polishes with absolute trepidation, looking like he's about to face down his mortal enemy.] Okay so where's the Quick Dry stuff.

💤 sleep is for-- the protags, actually.;

[He was obsessive about making sure everyone was having a good time, situated, fed. Sleeping bags were laid out, he's sure at least one person was complaining (it was probably Akechi), but he's too busy laying on top of his own sleeping bag watching everyone to care.]

[Or he was, until the evening caught up with him and his head dropped onto his arms and he zonked the fuck out, still in his day clothes.]

pre-dinner

[orphne]

Are you using the oven?

[From behind him, Kotone goes on tiptoes so she can rest her chin on his shoulder and take a look at the curry he's cooking on the stove. Hey bud! Whatcha doin' there? Can they share?]

[chemex]

Hm? Oh, no, all yours,

[He stoops, just enough to let her rest her chin on his shoulder, by way of bending his knees a little and leaning backward. It makes stirring his curry Very Difficult, but it's fine.]

Sleep

[whatsamada]

[While Ken wasn't surprised that Kotone would pull something like this at the last minute, he was a little suspicious that it just so happened to land on his birthday. He wasn't complaining but he couldn't help but wonder...

That said, as he started to wander around the farmhouse, he spotted one Akira laying on his sleeping bag.]

Uh...are you okay?

[Please tell him you're alive.]

i'm sorry this is how you're meeting him, ken

[chemex]

I swear to fish I'm not God, [Eloquent,]

[Anyway that's what he slurs as he lifts his head abruptly, his glasses all askew, and squints at Ken for a while.] Muh?

💅 - keeps bombing ur inbox with threads

[murderingjustice]

[Hm, okay. Akechi isn't exactly an expert when it comes to camping, being a city kid and all, but he's pretty sure that makeup and other cosmetics are not usually considered as your typical activities.]

What are you doing?

you say this like it's a bad thing,

[chemex]

Contemplating the meaning of life in colorful enamel, [He fires back without hesitation, and then looks over, hands on his hips.] ...you probably got your nails done as the Detective Prince, yeah? Ever done it yourself?

[prophylactic]

[Shinji didn't want to come to this thing, but since it's at Astralin's house that makes his options either a) show up or b) go sleep on a couch at the inn for the evening, and well, here he is. He doesn't want to talk strategy, he doesn't want a new team, he doesn't want to paint his fucking nails—

Here he is, though. He's present. No one can ask anything else of him, he showed up, that's enough. So,

A. You can tell he's in a mood because he only makes one dish, a chicken dish he would have made anyway just to eat normally at normal dinner without guests and board games, and then he Just Leaves the Kitchen to lurk somewhere else with his trusty cookbook and Look Busy.

B. When it comes to the Fun Activities and Real Camping he remains sullenly off to the side... At best he will make s'mores. In silence. I'm sorry he is this way.

C. He straight up refuses to talk strategy and will suddenly "remember" he has to "get something" and just get up and leave if someone tries, Truly Sorry about this one.

D. In the morning he leaves the tent early to go make breakfast, which he just sort of leaves out to be found (but politely covered so it stays warm, you're welcome), and then he again vanishes but this time it's to feed farm animals. Thank god these cows and chickens don't want to talk about teamwork or paint nails together... truly a relief.....

He showed up and no one can judge him, thank you.]

[orphne]

[She's not outright ignoring him, but it does feel more than a little awkward. In the past, she might have grabbed his arm and tried to pull him into the group whether he wanted to be included or not, but... this doesn't feel like the time. It's better to let him have space, right? Without her butting in.

At some point during his cookbook lurking, she stops by and leaves a little plate of chocolate truffles by his elbow. She wavers a bit as if she might say something, but thinks better of it and just turns to head back into the main area with the others. If he wants to talk to her, he knows how to find her. It's enough to just make sure he knows she's still thinking about him with a little gesture like this, probably.]

[prophylactic]

[This cookbook won't add silly little notes to itself, he's got plenty to do here in his corner... He knows he's absolutely being less than ideal about this get-together, and probably less than ideal about his messy spiral of new things he doesn't want to talk about, but sitting in a corner with a cookbook while other people have fun in his periphery is really, genuinely all he can muster right now. So when Kotone brings him a plate of treats he glances up at her, placidly, and he lets her go back to the others without stopping her.

But sometime later, once the tent is up and while she's busy earnestly enjoying herself and not trying to keep an eye on him, he's very subtle— he leaves a sticky note from his cookbook stash stuck to her sleeping bag. It says, Thanks.

.....And then because he feels like that's stupid he also does his damnedest to draw a happy little Koromaru head underneath, so he can express without having to actually have a conversation that it's okay. Things might be... wack, but it's not her, and the truffles were tasty, and here's a dopey little Koro-chan saying thanks in a speech bubble for the effort. Never perceive this out loud in words or he'll dissociate into ether.]

d (kinda??)

[murderingjustice]

[It's Very late in the night when he and Kotone finally return to the tent from their little Death Match adventures. Without making any sound Akechi goes back to his spot, unrolls the sleeping bag, slides in and bam! falls asleep almost immediately.

Yeah, he's very exhausted. Both mentally and physically despite seeing a healer just now. Originally Akechi hadn't thought that he'd be able to sleep at all in a tent full of other people. Doze off now and then, if anything. Anyway! Guess he was wrong because he falls into deep sleep, forgetting where he is.

And for the next part he's definitely going to blame Akira.

Because thanks to their prior sleepovers and whatnot Akechi's body has learned to accept the presence of another, coaxing the latent cuddler out from him. So, when he detects another warm body next to him Akechi just automatically rolls over and presses against it, his lizard brain totally assuming it to be Akira rather than anyone else.]

Mmm.. [He mumbles softly in his sleep, nuzzling against Shinji's arm. Look, he might be a prick but at least he has sweet sleeping face?]

[prophylactic]

[Well, Shinji has been asleep, at the very least. He's resigned himself to just get over it and go to bed when it comes to any lingering hangups he might have about sleeping in a veritable pile of other people, and so while it might not be great, restful sleep, he's out.

Like, completely out. Like, didn't wake up during the Death Match exchange and didn't wake up when they came back. He doesn't wake up when Akechi snuggles up to him in his sleep, either, simply shifting literally unconsciously into a more comfortable position to be cuddled in.

...But he does wake up when it's Time To Feed Chickens. His internal clock is set to chicken time these days, regardless of when he goes to sleep, so it's at chicken time that he stirs, to get out of the tent and go find the feed bag, and-- uh, hmm. Hmmmm. Nightmare scenario?]

....Get up, [he says, mercifully quietly so as not to wake the whole group and end both their lives instantly. He has things to do, get up...!!] Idiot. Move.

[Look at Akechi's little face, aw..... Shinji pats him on the cheek to wake him the hell up, but like, several times. Quickly. Patpatpatpat!!!]

[foundheart]

A.
[She'd been more than a little nervous to come, but she didn't feel like she could say 'no' either. It'd look weirder to be the only persona-user to not show up, right?

But in the beginning, Sumi already seems really all-too-stiff. She's brought a gift of some snacks and sits ramrod straight, fingers curled onto her knees as she fidgets and looks around, clearly not sure what to do or who to talk to or...anything, really.

Her hair is down from its customary ponytail and she's wearing glasses now, and it seems like she's an entirely different person like this.]

B.

[After she starts to relax a little, she gets...antsy. Which maybe isn't actually being relaxed, as she fusses over random decorations or food. It's not even her place, but she seems anxious for everything to be going well]

Phew... [and looks exhausted a little bit herself, looking through the games with a furrowed brow] I hope this is enough...

C. [P5r spoilers likely]

[It's a little overwhelming sometimes. She's feels... weird. It feels like she's trying to be two different people at once and she doesn't know which face to put on.

She sits outside in those moments to get fresh air and stare at the stars, rubbing her face and her eyes under her glasses. With her hair down like this, she doesn't feel as...dazzling. She can feel-- Darkness, she supposes it is, in the corners of her vision and encroaching in. There's a grumpiness she can't put a finger on, an exhaustion in the back of her head.

She doesn't know how to describe it. Maybe she just needs to eat more or go to sleep already and she heaves a huge sigh, wrapping her arms around her knees and looking back upwards at the stars, frowning]

B

[whatsamada]

[Meanwhile, Ken couldn't help but notice a certain someone looking a little nervous. As she kept on looking at the games, he wondered if he should say something...]

I'm sorry, is everything okay?

[foundheart]

Eep!

[She jumps in alarm, turning to face Ken with a hand to her chest] Oh my gosh. You scared me! Y-yeah, everything's fine! I think. I just...was making sure.

[She laughs sheepishly, her face red and her heart still pounding. She hadn't meant to concentrate so hard that she lost track of literally everyone else but here she is.]

surprise wildcard dad

[scythedance]

[After their gathering, the older man takes this moment to slide out from his bedroom. Once the noise died down, he felt it fine to go downstairs and into the kitchen, where he could make himself a cup of tea. Happily taking a few sips of tea, before setting it down onto the table. Hair brushed back, as he finds himself restless and unable to really do much, except go onto the farm, where he could at least kill some time.

Since he assumes the children are asleep by now, he sneaks into the field of nearby flowers that have yet to be enchanted with his magic. Astralin hovering over his plants, and quietly muttering to himself, as small shards of ice begin to form in his hands. The ice engulfing the flower that he's hovered over, before dissipating once the enchantment is successfully attached to the flower.

To those who don't know him, he may seem intimidating at first, standing at 7'0 tall. At his side, is a rather large scythe that he has resting in the dirt beside him.]

[whatsamada]

[Meanwhile, Ken couldn't sleep. Not when there was a strange boy struggling up to his senpai and it was making things awkward. Deciding that he needed to get away for a moment, he walked out of the tent just to see what else his prison had to offer. As he gave a yawn, he found himself standing on top of some flowers. While he wasn't afraid, he raised an eyebrow or two at how tall this strange person was.

That and he had a scythe. That made things awkward.]

Uh...

[What was he supposed to say?]

[scythedance]

[Astralin had sensed the boy's presence from a mile away, and he shows no signs of being surprised when Ken approaches him. His eyes trailing over to the new stranger, and giving him an aloof look for a moment. His usual face that he couldn't quite help over the years, but it softens when he realizes that he's probably just one of Kotone's friends. His free hand waving at the boy, as he gets to his feet.]

Hello, young one. I am assuming you are one of Kotone's friends?

[His voice is gentle, careful not to awaken anyone from their slumber if everyone was dead asleep in their tents.]

For Akechi

[whatsamada]

[The morning after the sleepover, Ken found herself lurking around in the kitchen to see what the farmhouse had to offer. While there were still a lot of things he didn't know about, one thing was for sure. His senpais were strange and a little weird. However, when both of his older classmates were fighting bears and wearing a catsuit? Who was he to complain?

Which was why as he saw a familiar person walking into the kitchen, he could help but raise an eyebrow or two at him. Not after how he tried to snuggle up against Shinjiro.]

[murderingjustice]

[Fortunately Akechi is blissfully oblivious to the fact that there was witnesses to his sleepy mishap. Otherwise he definitely wouldn't be as chill with things as he is now. He walks to the kitchen to help with the cleanup, bringing in some of the plates and what not to the sink.

Rolling his sleeves up he turns in the water, and begins to rinse the dishes under the lukewarm water. That's when he notices the younger boy in the corner doing his own stuff. It's the new boy he's seen running around the farm. Okay, 'running' is overdoing it. He's been rather mild and collected, especially when compared to other people's (looking at Akira) chaos.]

Hello. You're one of Kotone's teammates, correct?