InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "What is this, a missile launch"

Sonozaki Renju [園崎蓮珠] (lotus_beyond) wrote in disappear_plot,
@ 2010-06-22 22:28:00

Mikio Seiji Dungeon Investigation Redux

WHO: Renju, Kozue, Masami, Yoshi
WHAT: Trip back into Seiji's dungeon.
WHERE: Butterfly Room and into Paradise from there.
WHEN: Some indeterminate non-school point after Renju started growing a spine.
WHY: Isn't it obvious?

Renju's heart was beating in her chest far faster than she'd ever admit.

It wasn't at the prospect of returning to Seiji's place. Apart from the ever-present strange white light (and Seiji himself), it hadn't been dangerous the first time, and she doubted it would be dangerous now. Besides, strange though it was to think so, Paradise in and of itself rarely held much fear for her now.

But she was leading. Somehow, she'd taken upon herself without really thinking about it the responsibility for not only her own life, but, indirectly, everyone else's as well. It had been startling and sobering to suddenly realize the implications of her organizing these missions, and yet...

And yet she felt up to it, something she wouldn't have been able to say even a mere month ago. She was never the sort of doubt her own competence when it wasn't merited, but the idea of her taking charge in any way besides just pushing the team forward had simply been unthinkable. She wasn't sure where the sudden boost had come from; perhaps it was an unconscious way of trying to prove to herself that she didn't need her Persona to be useful.

At any rate, implications and explanations aside, she was in the Butterfly Room, waiting for the others, Wisteria Fields bag in hand. She was flipping the weightless XII-marked keychain in her other hand (her research so far into the numbers had been no help--the number 19 was apparently significant in the Quran, which would also explain the angels, but the individual numbers had no particular significance), debating whether and how to bring them with her. Seiji had been quite clear about not bringing them into Paradise, but the matter of why was less clear than she'd have liked.

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lotus_beyond
2010-06-28 12:29 am UTC (link)

Renju was starting to fish through the bag anyway when Kozue's voice alerted her to the presence of someone else in the room, and she finished up by pulling out the II, VII, and XVII keychains. "I have them all here. I'm not sure what will happen if we take them into Paradise, but I don't have many more ideas regarding how to find out more about them."

She finally looked up to acknowledge Kozue and Masami, and found that having something else to focus on helped keep her distracted without needing to feel about about trying to intentionally run away from it. "They haven't reacted at all here, though. And yes, we're just waiting on Tachibana-san."

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omgboyskissing
2010-06-28 10:38 pm UTC (link)

The door opened again, this time for Yoshimi, who was trying her hardest not to look nervous as she walked over to the rest of the group. Trips into Paradise with a team of nearly twenty people were nervewracking. Going in with four people, only one of whom had a combat-oriented Persona? Yoshimi had been sorely tempted to call in sick. Her attendance record was good when it came to Paradise, so they'd have to believe her if she claimed to have suddenly and inexplicably come down with the flu, right?

But the thought left her feeling guilty, and all of her subsequent plans — making up a family emergency, showing up drunk enough not to feel scared — fell through for the same reason. This was important. Finding out who'd thrown Shingo in was important, and, like it or not, she was the one stuck with the information-gathering Persona. So she acknowledged the rest of the girls with a wave, making a note of Kozue's taiyaki (particularly the fact that having something to munch on would do wonders for her own urge to dive under the couch and hide there for several hours; maybe she'd ask about sharing once things were underway) before zeroing in on the keychains.

"Sorry I took so long. These are the, um... the new things, Sonozaki-san?"

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lotus_beyond
2010-06-28 10:51 pm UTC (link)

"It's fine, Tachibana-san. The others just arrived, too." Renju realized with a start that this was quite possibly the first time she'd spoken directly to Yoshimi (or, if that wasn't precisely true, then at least the first time in a non-crisis situation). The two of them hadn't interacted much at all outside of Paradise, or even in it; really, Renju had mostly been vaguely puzzled by her, except on those occasions when she'd distinguished herself.

She flipped the weightless XII-marked piece of wood between her fingers and regarded it thoughtfully. "Yes, these are the keychains. As I was saying to Sakuraba-san, I'm hesitant to take them into Paradise... But I'm hopeful that perhaps taking in one or two won't cause too much trouble. I'm not certain how else to find out more about them."

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anthesphoria
2010-06-29 11:07 am UTC (link)

Kozue frowned a little at Renju's suggestion, and, to keep herself from spitting out whatever immediate idea she had had, took a bracing bite of taiyaki. "What if they... I don't know, actually do something?" She contributed, after her bite, "and taking them into Paradise makes them blow up?"

"Aside from getting exploded on, we'd be short a... thing that did something." The vagueness was so present and unavoidable that it bothered even Kozue, queen of vagueness in theory. So she added a little more, "Maybe we should wait to... I don't know, ask the angel? We can always leave them here and come back."

A bit belatedly, she raised her extra taiyaki and moved it in front of her, in the direction of the other girls. A wordless anybody want this?

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