expiationlogs | (after event chill out lil mingle) let's understand it

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(after event chill out lil mingle) let's understand it

(cw depression)

(he hasn't exactly been doing great - much to the opposite. he spent the week in bed, he hasn't taken care of himself whatsoever, and he's exhausted. either way, it hardly matters how he feels, does it ever?

so. let's go. a text message arrives to everyone's charms and tablets, and it reads:)

this is, you guessed it, osamu dazai. it's been a week since that stupid maze, so here is what we have:

1. i need copious amounts of alcohol and food. i'll bring some to the beach in 30, i suggest we all do the same.
2. i'd like to hear what your experiences were. it's important for data building - we have a few detectives in this place, some smartpants, and some go-getters. we need to take advantage of our only resource, which is ourselves. meet me at the beach, or send me anonymously. i don't care about your shit per se.

see you, or don't see you.

many words that mean absolutely nothing here,
dazai.

(to those that come to the beach, they'll see several cocktail possibilities laid in front of dazai, as well as a good number of the food they serve in lupin - mixed nuts, pistachio, cheese tables, chocolate, dried figs, potato chips, chicken snacks, boiled sausage, asparagus with sauces, and dried fruit. a bonfire warms his hands in the chilly breeze of the night - this feels awfully needed.)

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[Maybe they all want to run away from something -- or toward something else. As for Yu, he relies on the strength of others. He always has. If the maze showed him one thing, it's his own reluctance to be on his own, and his own dependence on other people. But...he doesn't think that's a bad thing. Loyalty. Somehow this world has seen that as a crime -- a defect in him. As for him? He still can't see it that way.

For seeming like such a chill, normal high schooler, he doesn't seem to bat an eye at the offer to summon a demon, instead huffing out a quiet little chuckle.]

Seems like overkill, to me. Would there be any melon left after that?

[He's perfectly happy to chill out in the comfort zone with people, anyway.]

It's one way to get this done.

[ Because that's clearly the one important thing here, right? Cutting open this watermelon.

After all, having.. fun? Talking to people..? Certainly foreign concepts to Ange, and the more she can indulge in just focusing on this watermelon, the less likely it is she will be forced to confront anything else. ]

And if I'm forced to be at some weird beach party, I at least want some melon. [ Usually Ange would be saying that sort of thing in a way that sounds entirely unaffected.

Considering the circumstances, though, she instead sounds a little pouty as she says it.

(You know, even aside from the fact that.. clearly no one forced her to be here.) ]

I guess, but at what cost?...

[He can't deny that part of him is...a bit interested in seeing what sort of demons other people might be capable of summoning here. Is she talking about Persona? Some sort of devil-worshipping cult? Something totally different?

But-- no, this isn't the time. Watermelons might not be as expensive here as they are in Japan, but that doesn't mean it's suddenly okay to waste it, right? So he sort of ignores the tiny voice in his head urging him to either let her try it or give Izanagi a crack at it, and instead he tries to improvise.]

I bet it'd crack open if we dropped it. Then we can use one of the smaller knives to slice it up.

[ Yu, are you being the fun police--

Though Ange at least doesn't seem to protest his own plan here. She just wants to get some of that watermelon, after all, so the method of getting it doesn't really matter to her. Even if she still maintains that doing it with her demons would be way less of a hassle. Clearly. Totally. ]

Then you drop it.

[ Making him do the work, huh.. ]

Let's see if your plan works, or if you'll make a cute girl cry with a failed plan. Then everyone here on the beach is going to give you judging looks, you know. [ T-The horror..!! ]

[This is what he gets for being the normal one.

The veiled threat of tears tugs a smile out of him, honestly. Hey, if she thinks she's the only cute girl who's ever pulled the watery-eye card on him, she's wrong. But that doesn't mean he's not taking this seriously.]

We can't have crying at the beach. Then I'll have to give it my all.

[... ... ...

Is he really just going to drop it on the ground...? Maybe he should try banging it on the table first...

A few heavy thunk!s later, the melon is still in tact, with what appears to be a flexible and sturdy rind. Just as he's about to relent and try the ground, he realizes foolishly that they're at the beach and the ground is all sand. So it's not even hard enough to crack the melon anyway.

After a considered moment, he places the melon back on the table. This is a tough rind to crack.]

Alright. We should try it your way.

[ Her facial expression doesn't change a single bit. Ange watches the entire display, and yet she doesn't seem to do as much as blink. Not even when he's trying to bang the watermelon against the table multiple times in a row.

Perhaps it's her silent way of saying told you so. Not that the girl is speaking those words out loud in the slightest. No, instead when she speaks up, it's only after he's conceded, simply putting it as: ]

I thought you'd never ask.

[ .. Someone is a little too eager to do this the demonic way, huh. It might not necessarily show in her flat tone, but those words themselves do kind of imply it.

Ange stands up, extending her hand as it starts glowing with a soft golden light. ]

Come, arise, and forgive the sin. Beelzebub of gluttony.

[ One of those classic red demonic summoning circles - popular from the height of the satanic panic - appears out of nowhere on the sand, and a strange object appears from it, floating up to Ange's hand. The object is kind of odd - perhaps it's even a little hard to place what it is at first. It kind of looks like an ice pick, or maybe a stake.. And it's also oddly ornately decorated.

Ange grabs it out of the air though, and then just swings it right down at the watermelon. Despite how sturdy the watermelon is, there's something about the object's force that splits the watermelon in half - almost perfectly so.

Demonic watermelon magic. ]

See, that wasn't so hard, was it?

[Yu might not be fazed by her unrelenting judgment, but he's very, very interested to watch this summoning. He should have just let her do it in the first place.

... It's very different from what he was expecting, but no less impressive, and for a few moments, he has to search for words to respond. (Boy, that crack in the watermelon is perfect, isn't it? Impressive.) But as surprised and, indeed, impressed, as he seems, he doesn't seem surprised, exactly. Almost like he has his own experiences with summoning creatures...which, of course, he does.]

You were right. [A little smile.] I was expecting something more... [(An image of Izanagi slamming a sword down onto the watermelon pops into his mind, leaving it splattered all over everyone around them, too destroyed to eat)] ... Messy, I guess.

Wow, you're so judgmental of demons.

[ .. Is that-- Is that the true issue here, Ange? Especially when most people would find Yu's relatively passive reaction in the face of that display the strange thing here, yet that doesn't seem to bother Ange at all.

The people in this place come from all sorts of worlds, after all. Maybe something like this isn't that weird where Yu comes from, for all she knows. ]

As long as you don't actually let Beelze eat it, it's fine. [ .. The most casual way to talk about the demon-stake thing that Ange is still holding in her hand. ] That's when the real problems would start.

[He can't tell whether she's being serious or sarcastic -- something that's becoming quickly apparent to him is that Ange seems to have one hell of a poker face. So he doesn't take the comment too personally. Besides, maybe he was being a bit judgmental, assuming that whatever she can do would be akin to his experience with Personas.]

I guess some must be more precise than others.

[The demon-stake-thingy being the case in point. Literally, in this instance. ...Anyway, it's kind of cool. He's never considered summoning a demon or a Persona as a weapon like that. But--]

Why would that be a problem?

[Call him curious.]

[ Without missing a beat: ]

Because she'll eat everything and everyone. [ A very normal thing to say, clearly.

At least the stake does disappear from her hand a moment later - probably due to Ange dismissing it, though it's hard to tell with how she doesn't seem to say or do anything to make it happen. The weapon just changes into a bunch of golden butterflies that fade away as they fly off. ]

She is still a demon, after all. You know how it goes.

[ Naturally.

Surely demons are a normal thing to you, right, Yu. ]

[Oh. Well, that strikes him as a pretty practical answer, actually. Kind of accurate, too, judging from the vast numbers of monsters and Personas who have introduced themselves by saying they were going to eat him. Me eat you whole came from somewhere, after all.]

Got it. So no watermelon for her.

[At least he's got good humor about it? Right? Anyway, he starts slicing the watermelon now that it's in more reasonable-sized chunks and offers her a plate.]

How long have you been able to do that?

[ Thanks, Yu. So chill about all of this, and understanding of the fact that you indeed do not feed the gremlins after midnight.

It's what keeps Ange chill too, rather than going into full tsun mode the way she does with certain other people. Instead she just takes the piece of watermelon from him, picking it up from the plate to take a tiny bite.

There's a moment of thoughtful chewing, but after she swallows, she speaks up again with: ]

Since high school.

[ So not too long ago, judging by the fact that Ange looks like she's in her late teens. ]

My cousin taught me. [ Yes, sure, she's saying it a little bit too much like it's just a normal thing to learn from one's cousin.

On the other hand, Yu has been so chill about all of this so far that she doesn't even think he'd find it weird only starting here. ]

[Yu takes a bite of watermelon too, thoughtfully chewing on it. Funny how it tastes so similar to the ones at home... His eyebrows lift a bit at her admission. Since high school, huh? What is it with high school bringing out the brain demons??]

Your cousin?

[For a second, his mind flashes unwillingly to the mental picture of Nanako with a Persona...now that would be formidable.

But her summoning is just different enough that Yu remains curious. No one was able to teach them about Personas, after all. Not even Igor or Margaret.]

So it's a family skill, in a way?

[ .. something about the question actually seems to make her think. Even though technically the answer to the question should be easy - but it makes her think of a few more things. ]

.. yeah, kind of, I suppose.

[ Even if there's a long, long story behind it. A long story she won't bother Yu with, since so much of it is also depressing and very emotional, but-- ]

My aunt happened to inherit a witch's title, and then she passed it onto me when she died. [ A slight pause, and then she adds: ] Is that not how it works where you come from?

[ Granted, Yu hasn't really.. mentioned all that much about powers..

But considering how calmly he's taking all of this in, Ange is pretty sure that at least part of this must be pretty normal to him. A very normal conversation to have while enjoying some watermelon. ]

[Yu pauses a moment at the explanation. It's been really interesting, learning about other worlds and how they work. Some similar to Earth, some not. It sounds like this sort of thing is common where she comes from, if "witch's titles" are something she can talk about so casually. Or if not common, then...at least not unknown.

... ... ... Ah-- good question. He shakes his head.]

No witches to speak of. [In fact--] Extraordinary powers like that...they're not supposed to exist in my world at all.

["Supposed to." Knowing that there are other Wildcards, other Persona users...that doesn't mean as much as it did in Inaba. But naturally she's hit the nail on the head -- maybe not "normal" exactly, but definitely something he's familiar with. In his case, it really was mostly a matter of being in the right place at the right time.]

I guess you could say it was more of a fluke than anything.

Well, isn't it like that in a lot of places? People live perfectly ordinary lives until the moment they realise their world isn't so ordinary after all behind the curtains.

[ The girl says it so easily that it might lead to a rather simple implication, even if it's not directly voiced out loud: Ange's case isn't so far from Yu's own in that regard. Sounds like she only learned about this stuff later on too, even though she now speaks of it like it's the most normal thing in the world. ]

In my case I was told about it. [ By her dead cousin's spirit...

But, you know, let's leave that out of it, before this story gets even wilder. ]

In your case it sounds like you kind of stumbled your way into it by accident.

That's true enough.

[A faint smile. Maybe she relates to that, too, in a way. And isn't that how it works in stories, anyway? Discovering a new power or a new destiny or something...

He exhales softly at her observation, nodding.]

Sounds about right. [Setting aside all the weird Izanami stuff, at least. Just to keep the story from getting too wild.]

It's surprising, isn't it? Getting a peek behind the curtain, so to speak.

[ She lets out a soft hum. ]

It wasn't that strange. [ .. though that might honestly just be Ange being weird, because things did get really, really strange back there. Objectively so.

But maybe she just didn't really care about that part a whole lot. ]

Instead it felt more like everything started making sense. It makes you realise that everything is happening for a reason, even if it's not always a great reason.

[Wasn't that strange, huh? Yu isn't sure if he buys that, exactly -- it's pretty subjective. But he can definitely see Ange just not being impressed by the weirdness of something. He's not sure whether that speaks more to her personality, or to the world she comes from.

As curious as he is about that, he focuses more on what she says next. There's something about it that hits home, in a way he can't really put into words. The way the pieces fall into place, figuring out the reasonings behind reasonings, peering through the fog...]

I think I understand. [A little, at least.] Even if it's not a great reason, knowing why something is happening...it helps.

[Maybe that's part of why this place is so frustrating.]

Guess we're not having a whole lot of that here.

[ It's almost as if she's reading his thoughts. Except-- of course she's not, Ange doesn't have any sort of power.

It's more just a fact that's really obvious about their existence here, right? Something that's constantly hanging over their heads, especially when you think about it as much as Ange herself does. ]

.. instead we're going through weird mind torture mazes and then eat watermelon on the beach.

[ Their current situation summed up. ]

[She's right about that first part -- Yu gives a soft nod in agreement. With the trials they've all gone through and the weird sentencing summons he got, the crimes they've been charged with, the complete lack of direction...they've hardly gotten a single indication through it all of why they're here. What, if anything, they're meant to do. Whether there is actually an end to any of it.

It's discouraging. Frustrating. Something he doesn't want to linger on too much.

--that last part gets a laugh, though.]

Never a dull moment, I guess. [Not that he ever found small-town life particularly dull, either. ... Maybe it would have been, if not for the constant near-death experiences.] ... Although at this point, a little bit of dull might be a nice change.

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(after event chill out lil mingle) let's understand it

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