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[Dermonster]

Ryo barely pays attention to what the other girl is saying, partly because she doesn't care but mostly because she legitimately didn't hear like half of it.

"Just why the hell shoukl I listen to anything coming out of your mouth?"

[Powder Miner]

The Grey Shade extends a palm to lightly push the Life Stone back, refusing it. "Said I'll be fine. And... yes. It's the boy in the frog. He..." The Grey Shade's voice, up until now fairly cool and regular despite the raspiness and the brittleness at the edges, falters for a while here. "He's... he's my responsibility."

He turns to Ryo, then and stares at her for a good while -- with the way he's holding his hood over his head, it's hard to see his features, but she does get a glimpse of grey eyes looking uncomfortably back at her. "...don't know. Ach, would have once. _{...ruined without them...}" He pauses for a bit and then stands fully up. "Let me pass. I'm expecting you now... won't be able to take me down, again."


Mijimeki pokes the figure on the ground (who, upon somewhat closer inspection, is probably male, though obviously the ooze still makes it hard to see anything but their silhouette), but the figure doesn't respond, even with another poke -- looks like he's not conscious.

[Sl4cker]

The tall teen scratches his developing facial hair, gingerly grabbing the unconscious figure and dragging him out of the ooze. Then, he drapes the happi on his form like a blanket.

[Dermonster]

Ryo grits her teeth. Even with this new power... why can't she...?

She glances to her side. The girl who's name she forgot is standing there, gaping like a fish. Does she know him? Was she complicit?

"Why are you trying to help him!? He kidnapped me!"

[Empiricist]

A pause. A step back. Aoi closes her eyes for a moment, and then responds "L-look, I-I know it's not fair, K-kanade g-got d-dragged off too..." she glances toward the raven-haired girl "But, right now, it's our best option. Y-you can fight him b-but h-he can j-just teleport away, a-and we c-can't even leave without h-his help. If we cooperate, we'll at least get some a-answers."

[Dermonster]

... She wasn't going to do anything. Truth or lie, complicit or not, it was clear that she would not get involved.

The man in front of her was unmoved by any of what she did, magic or not. She could still feel a prief pang from where he had held onto her foot. She couldn't hit him, couldn't return *any* of the terror or pain he made her feel. It was like school all over again. He was going to get away with it, for the second time if she was to be believed.

She couldn't do anything.

Her arms slowly fell down, then hung there limply. Walking outside the train, Ryo moved to the side and sat on the gound, wrapped har arms around her legs and buried her face in her knees.

Nothing had cheanged. She hadn't changed.

...

She wanted to go home.

[Powder Miner]

Ryo sinks down in defeat and Aoi willingly lets the Grey Shade pass... and he then doesn't say another word (at least for now), walking directly over to the boy who came from the remains of the Mutilated Frog (now with his modesty hidden by the Lion Happi). He hobbles over to the boy, and then after that painfully slow movement, he crouches down with a quiet, pained sound before he puts his bad leg down onto its knee again. Then he moves his hands to the boy's head, circles them around so he's carrying the boy's head in his arms, and the Grey Shade just... holds the boy, staring at him silently.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Kanade simply stops, leaning against the wall as she catches her breath, having not had much of a chance to rest.
"......are you going to explain what just happened? Why we're finding people inside these monsters?"

[Sl4cker]

"Ahem," says Mijimeki.

[Powder Miner]

Upon hearing the input from the two Persona-users, the Shade nods his head a few times, but doesn't stop holding the unconscious boy.
"I... to start. The monsters are shadows. They are... they're representations of people. The pieces that they hate and can't stand, given form. It's the... Sea of Souls, as I was told. Collective human consciousness makes everything real... in its own way. These pieces, here, are monsters, and they want to fight you. You have Personas. Personas are... your strength, to face the truth. Representations of yourself, or at least as close as I could get to matching what I saw in you. These Personas help you fight, and they will grow as you do. Normally, they would have been gained by facing yourselves, but... I gave you pieces of my potential. But made yours. Fragments of my potential, which was aided itself.

The Shadows will attack you out here, because... this strength. The commitment... to discover what is going on or to save people... it will let you see things normal people cannot, such as the Shadows, or the portal, and they notice that you can see them. The people... the people in the Shadows... ggh... they are Persona-users that have given up. That couldn't bear it anymore, were defeated. And then taken over by their Personas turned back into Shadows. This is the goal of Shadows: to convert everyone who could understand their presence into one of them. As long as you don't give up, this won't be a problem, and... I will support you. As best I can.

You're in... I will call it The Ruins. It is a place where Shadows roam the streets... and the place you are calling home is connected to it by that portal. I've been spending much time here... The Ruins go on very, very far, but I can at least guide you to the places that are important. By tugging on the pieces of my potential I've planted within you, the Personas, because they can feel that simple communication. And because they are now yours, then you can feel it as well. The Ruins has a relationship to reality that... I can't explain fully. Not until you've gathered more strength.

The Shadows are a problem. I... also can't explain some of these details. But... if noone fights the Shadows, if noone knows how things really are, then everyone is in trouble. Sorry. It is hard, I know. I..." The Shade stops his halting speech and then exhales, taking a moment apparently to calm himself down. "Sorry. I am. I gave you Personas, because... there need to be people who can fight them. But I know it isn't easy to fight this. I tried. Me and... me and others. We didn't understand. We didn't even understand close to much of what I've just told you. That is why we lost. We... all of us. We made wrong decisions. We failed. And now there need to be more people.

But in a team, and I am not finished building yours. Those with Personas... work best in teams. Together. With bonds. Never alone. Never alone. Never alone. It's... too hard alone. Tried before. Failed. Hurt. Got hobbled, and someone became a Shadow. Working alone... never works. Never works. Never alone. Never alone, never, never, never..." The Shade keeps mumbling to himself, usually in some combination of "never" and "alone", adjusting his grip to hold the unconscious boy tighter.

[Empiricist]

A pause, brief. A sigh, quiet, shaky."T-there was a street. P-puresu Horuda Street I t-think. No-one w-was there, w-we knocked on t-the doors but no-one answered, a-and and suddenly people began passing by and n-noticing... Do y-you know why that is? Pacing quiet footfalls amidst the rubble, her gaze trained on the shade as much as she wished to avert it. There would be time to process this later but right now? She was a on the clock, not sure who's clock, or what it reads but she wasn't going to let that time to go to waste. "T-they're vulnerable to e-elements... n-no m-matter h-how much harder we h-hit them it's a-always t-their weakness that stuns them. D-do you know if t-things o-other than these 'persona' c-can exploit them. Like a uh, molotov or _{I don't know, just} -something-! R-right now w-we can only keep  the ones w-weak to ice and fire down..." Another quick glance at his hands. "Y-you're not going to teleport away w-without w-warning right?"

[Sl4cker]

Mijimeki bites his lip, sliding an arm towards Aoi and patting her back. He stares at the Gray Shade, silent for only a second. "Is there a reason you chose us," he begins, before sighing. "Nevermind. Are the people that are in the big Shadows... are they your friends?"

[Dermonster]

Ryo slwoly unfurls herself from her little ball. She doesn't really give a shit about his problems. If he had just *asked her* in the first place, she might have been fine with it. Summoning gods and demons to fight monsters? Kickass.

Not when assholes have to ambush her in her bedroom. Not when she wakes up in some hellscape. Not when her helplessness is thrown in her face again and again and again and-

She needs to get out. She still doesn't quite know their names yet, but the girl with black hair who got pummled is the closest to her. She is also, Ryo noted darkly, very much not in fighting condition.

Marching straight over, she grips her by the upper arm to grab her attention.

"He mentioned a portal. You were here before, where is it?"

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"This wasn't where we were before. I don't know where it is."
Kanade remains calm despite herself. Probably because she's not nearly as badly wounded as she was earlier, having managed to patch herself up with Lenore.

[Dermonster]

Ryo scowls. Not what she wanted to hear. "How did you get here? What does it look like? I'll find it myself if I have to."