Week 3: Mind Trip!

[foundationmods]

Comments

PART 1: Organize ur shit

[foundationmods]

[purrtagonist]

[AT SOME POINT!! he is dragging Minato and Makoto into his room for a Persona meeting]

I need your help with something.

[messianic]

[Naturally, he's here for this--also he's talked about this with Makoto already, so he doesn't look completely surprised that this is coming.

So his hands are in his pockets, and he nods without asking.]

Okay.

[Whatever it is...!! He's here for it.]

[justfists]

[she's not expecting anything, so there's that level of surprise, but when he says he needs her help, she's all business.]

What do you need, Joker?

[purrtagonist]

[his gaze flickers towards Makoto first as he holds up his phone— his cell phone from home, which likely has no service out here— and shows her a very familiar app with an eyeball]

There’s a heart that needs to be stolen.

[messianic]

[Oh...?

Minato blinks curiously, glancing back and forth between the two of them.

He's heard about this, but...!! There's still so much he doesn't know!]

[justfists]

[her eyes light up]

That's here now...? Wait, whose heart?

[give her a clue here, Akira. because she's ready to do some mucking around in some hearts]

[purrtagonist]

The person who killed Ichigo.

[looking between them both now, chin tilted up]

Their name is The Outsider.

[messianic]

[... huh. Akira's really fond of Ichigo, isn't he...? It's kind of sweet.]

... Mm, okay. I'm up for it.

[It's the only target they've got that they really know of, right? Maybe they'll learn something that can help them with their current predicament along the way.]

[justfists]

[her eyes narrow a bit.]

The Outsider, huh? Is he the one that threatened Ichigo today, too?

[and Owain. Even as she asks, she looks set on going now.]

Count me in.

[purrtagonist]

[it's true Akira has a lot of Ichigo feelings, but. . . he may also have a lot of JUSTICE!1 feelings when it comes to Ichigo's killer]

[his mouth curves upwards when both Makoto and Minato say they're in without question, without hesitation. he drops his phone to his side, exhaling deeply as he does so]

Okay. Thanks, you two. You both know it's better to go on a Shadow hunting mission in a group rather than alone.

. . . Minato, Makoto and I will fill you in on how the Metaverse works when we get there. And I've asked Ichigo to come with us. He said yes, but that he'd be a little late in showing up.

[messianic]

Mm... okay. Sounds good.

[Minato's at least pretty confident about his own skills and his ability to adapt...and it feels better to be doing something, instead of just sitting back and waiting.

He likes Appy too--or, well, Ichigo, now, even if he doesn't know him as well as some people here seem to, so...!]

I'm ready, then.

Part 2: Dive right in!

[foundationmods]

[purrtagonist]

[ONE HANDWAVED EXPLANATION ABOUT THE METAVERSE LATER. . . Akira leads Makoto and Minato to the lobby of the resort. he makes sure no one else is around, before he pulls out his phone and calls up the MetaNav app. it's. . . kind of comforting to see it, after going so long without it]

[a deep breath, and his gaze flickers up to the two members of his team who are here. Minato and Makoto. . . he knows he can trust them. he knows they'll have his back. and when Ichigo joins them, they'll have a perfect four-person team]

All right. Are you two ready?

[messianic]

[Minato has no idea what they're doing, really--I mean, that's a lie, because he definitely understands the thought process behind the Metaverse as well as he possibly can from their explanation. It's just...that there are some things you don't really understand until you experience them, and so...

... It's fine, no time like the present to experience it and learn, right?]

Yes, all set.

[LET'S DO IT.]

[justfists]

[some people climb towers, some people use Metaverse google maps. It's all about the experience and the friends you make along the way, right?

At any rate, just as Akira's clothes change, so do Makoto's. Her brass knuckles should be intimidating for, well, any shadows they run into in this dungeon.]

When am I not?

[it's a nice bonus to have her gun be useful again, too.]

[foundationmods]

[Well, fun fact: It's less 'dungeon' to start off with, and more 'concrete jungle'. Yep, you're starting off outside in a large, large city. It's not quite what you Japanese kids might be expecting, though, because it is an American large city. So, a very condensed downtown, and then miles upon miles of city streets and neighborhoods.

You're at a playground near a highway overpass, where kids are playing on old-yet-functional playground equipment. This park isn't just for kids, though, as there seems to be a group of teenagers playing basketball on a nearby court too. And given that these kids and teenagers are hanging out here in the middle of the day, it's probably a weekend. No school to worry about.

On a bench nearby there is what looks like a smartphone, but a bit more advanced than the smartphones Makoto and Akira would be used to. It's got maybe a decade or two on them technology-wise? But it's still recognizable as a smartphone. And on the smartphone is a scrolling news feed.

Can any of you read English?]

[purrtagonist]

[. . . Akira isn't sure what he was expecting, but. . . for some reason? it wasn't this]

Stay close.

[he orders, voice low, as he approaches the bench, coattails fluttering behind him. when his gaze lands on the phone and he notices the English letters flashing on the screen, he sighs and scoops the device up, immediately handing it to Makoto]

Can you read English, Queen?

[messianic]

[Minato's used to a lot of weirdness, he really is, and he tends to take it all into stride... but they've been dumped into a city that he doesn't at all recognize, and he's been dumped into a weird costume and a weird mask, which is edgy to the extreme and he's kind of left looking around and plucking at the fabric with a faint frown.

But.

As per usual Minato norm, he's just kind of dealing with all of that silently while Akira and Makoto do their thing, head tilting from side to side.

DOING GREAT OVER HERE, IT'S ALL GOOD.

( also here's a source )]

[justfists]

I can try. Though, this does make me miss Panther.

[she takes the phone from Akira-- she's very book smart at English. More than passable, but not fluent. Slang and the like would throw her for a loop.

What can she pick up?]

[foundationmods]

[Luckily it's a news feed, so it mostly uses formal English. There's a few words she will not be able to understand, because they're very specific words with a specific meaning to them. But it does mention Russia, and crisis, and factories. Something about factories starting up again and causing a crisis.

There is a video to click if she wants to watch a video. Does she want to watch a video?

Meanwhile, the two boys will be able to notice some cloud trails in the skies. They're like the trails that follow behind airplanes, but there are a lot of them. And they all seem to be heading in the same direction.

Hmm. How strange.

The kids in the park seem to have taken notice as well, and one of the teenagers has dropped the basketball he had been holding just moments ago.]

1/2

[purrtagonist]

[hang on he needs a moment to stare at Minato's swanky new outfit. so cool senpai /////]

[purrtagonist]

[. . . . . . . and then there are cloud trails. no-- missile trails]

[and he leaps into action]

Holy shi-- we've been here five seconds, but unless we want to get blown to pieces, we need to move!

[messianic]

[focus, Akira.

Minato's eyes definitely snap up to those trails as well, brow furrowing. Oh. Yikes.

His eyes snap back to the teens who were playing, but... Makoto and Akira had said they weren't real, right? The people in the Metaverse...

... Right, okay, they have to focus on just moving forward, then. Firmly, but calmly, as he snaps to attention--]

Let's find shelter.

[justfists]

[she's going to press play, yes. because the video she can hear, right? Also did-- anyone try to ascertain if the trails were headed towards them?!]

Go, I'm following!

[she will, but yeah. this is a dangerous heart? Is there any immediately obvious places to run]