Fandom Persona 5: The Meta War CLOSED

[Azurian Dream]

"You're welcome, you really earned it though. I appreciate you fighting alongside Prophet like that even if we started a bit rocky," Oracle sweetly replied with her appreciation of Heartbreak's thanks. Yet it was strange at the same time as unknown to Heartbreak, Oracle could see her real face having known her true identity. It made the conversation feel more genuine but also more awkward. Even Prophet had given a very subtle tilt when Heartbreak had removed her mask but moved on upon the start of the conversation. Knowing who she was and fighting alongside her made him wonder... what was Heartbreak truly like outside this guise as Shiro who was the shield maiden of the Phantom Thieves. That would need to be an inquiry for another day as his attention temporarily caught Dr. Sage's eye on himself and then Oracle... the man didn't seem all that much of a problem in fact he seemed very concerned and kind to them so far interested in their habits and such.

"Oye my Necronomicon's not weird you oversized shaggy dust featherer, your weird Big Sis," Oracle protested with her gremlin energy posing an accusing finger point at Swan while Prophet raised an unseen eyebrow to the feathered lass rather direct shot at the UFO... rather an odd thing to point out specifically in this conversation. Xenophobia maybe?

Having not meant her comment to be an insult to Oracle's persona, Swan was surprised when she responded the way she did. Her confusion was immediately met by her own irritation leading to a remark of her own, "At least I'm not a purple-warted frog. Maybe try finding a prince to kiss, you might be easier to look at."

"Guh... at least am likely to get kissed by a genuine prince you Baba Yaga crone," Oracle was at first taken aback by Swan's sharp comeback, but then her own irritation led back to another swing of comebacks Oracle pride as a snarky was not to be dethroned. After a few rounds of the girls attempting to out-snark each other, it seemed the inability for a victor to be decided caused them to simply run out of humored fumes.

This was not where Prophet's full attention lay as Swan instead upon that draw took a dive attempt at getting information out of Dr. Sage by getting him to naturally reveal via casual conversation his profession... a psychologist. If Prophet wasn't so surprised by Swan's trick he would have damn near applauded her craft, and trickery as Sage was clearly none the wiser to what he had just given up. She had just tricked a professional at their own game. Bravo... was all Prophet could think rather impressed. Though he part that now was a sharp reminder not to purposely mess with her now... what a woman.

"Dr. Sage I dare remind you that a crow has just as sharp talons as a cat has claws maybe it best to leave the talking cat for another day," Prophet joked shaking his head at Swan's skills as he gave an amused turn at Morgana's jovial stab before answering his question.

"If we are to go with what's at hand. Kagura Koga seems a strong fit for our Palace Ruler yet... I feel unsure about it. Given what you're describing Miss Swan was dealing with a very vicious woman willing to take from others what she can to fuel her own wants, and also has disdain for talented folk even if working for her which does match what we have seen, but we also saw someone strong in use to theatrics, and strangely enough care to those useful. Ms. Koga fits half of the profile so we're still missing a matching piece. Yet what you saw in her room Sir Mona definitely equates to a stronger argument... yet something about that layout bothers me... for we must remember that the palace ruler seems to have three conflicts of interest playing out but Koga seems to be only showing one conflict of interest and that being this movies completion," Prophet spoke in earnest giving a very unusual balance of both sides he wasn't ignoring any piece but was at the same time making a case to both possibilities which for the group would probably come off as a strange method. He wasn't just grabbing for what was appreciated to be the obvious answer, but seeking to make sure it was without a doubt the correct answer. There was also another mystery of interest given Baron's rather almost jolly response to the second team's return he seemed to latch onto Swan's sight in particular... interesting?

"Oracle is too be thanked for that. I figured that would be the case as I haven't seen any tailings yet. Indeed all forms of status are useable and their mark I will use in full as well. One should never waste potential given," Prophet mused in Baron's response to the firearm that Oracle had picked for him to continue on this road with, and the situation Baron had warned him of, and just like the investor had guessed Prophet was already planning to make use of the situation in some way further down the line no doubt. Yet it's what Baron said next that created a sudden jerk reaction from both Oracle who had been having a name-calling battle with Swan up to that point and Prophet who up to this point has only been analyzing. Oracle at first was about to say something but at an angle only Swan would be able to see Prophet gave her a soft wave of his hands signaling for her to calm down which she did with a huff before rubbing her temple. Nevertheless

There were signs that Baron had a... disconnect from this Palace, and the feelings of connection to the victim of it's ruler. He had even addressed it at the start seeing it clearly as only a means of training. However now that Baron had addressed the matter at hand it was starting to appear that the disconnect was not with the palace but with how he and the Phantom Thieves functioned in how they saw it. This was driven home as Tragedy gave his own counter of worries against what Baron promised to cover, and in truth yet again Prophet was impressed Tragedy was connecting the importance of alternative methods turning damaging given the roles they were already playing Swan couldn't be swapped out as she was too deep, and she couldn't be replaced as she was to noted for her actions now. Sending in a new face poking and prodding as she was would raise the awareness extremely fast damaging any future attempts to via for information in the real world.

"Huh, that was actually rather smart of you Tragedy. I guess you can be somewhat cool when you want," Oracle surprisingly addressed the boy without an insult added this time clearly showing she was legit impressed by his logic as she was handed the folder from Koga's office by Swan.

"He's right we can no longer have someone else poke the situation or someone of Koga's caliber or those she's in function with will catch on fast. I tip my hat to your unique way of thinking Sir Tragedy. And I thought I had the advantage of mystery." Prophet spoke tipping his hat complimenting Tragedy's work and addition on the matter.

"Baron I daresay I must counter your claim as well to this ruler's weight. This palace appearing unexceptional is why we all should be concerned about its ruler. This is someone bursting with three times the creative potential with a mind carrying the weight of three personalities. So the fact they can carry such passion, rage, and sorrow while functionally being normal in reality especially as a business runner states they are extremely used to the weight of heavy decision making past that of a CEO of a successful I remind you film industry. Atop the fact this person has connections to completely cover up an attempt of murder, has ties to be guarded this uniquely. I think their weight goes above what we're seeing. Swan mentioned she was working around their questions and starting to question them back which means this person is way more level-headed than they should be, and in truth that shouldn't be possible so happens ideas sheet holding together then... how dangerous does someone's life have to be to become that efficient and broken," Prophet addressed in his deductions building his case against Barons thoughts on Kagura Koga it was as of Prophet was theorizing this woman must have done something very much else before this career path she was on now.

"This woman is dangerous and she plays a big game with heavy shadows of chess pieces. Compared to how you all acted in Kamashido's palace to here something tells me this palace is highly above prior threats placed before. I feel like I have led you to something more insidious than you would want to chance," Prophet seemed to calm down on the breakdown of facts coming to a more concerned nature now having a better grasp at how complex this palace was becoming the more they delved in. He was also concerned if requesting their help was really alright at this point as at any time something could go dangerously south without warning. This was when Tragedy chimed in the talk of the meta mercs addressing nature which again paused Prophet and Oracle again... no the Phantom Thieves were fully aware and regardless would keep moving forward even if they parted ways. They knew the groundwork with the meta merc regardless of Oracle and Prophets appearance would escalate no matter what... this speed-up only drove their own passion to rebel.

"Is that so? Thank you for really being as insane as us. You know how to deliver a guy punch-off surprises Phantom Thieves you have me amazed," Prophet sighed with a heavy heart realizing that no matter what they would go forward... and for that he was ever more grateful.

"Perplexing as we may be I concur with Tragedy this palace has no real tie with the aforementioned mercs. This means whatever drives them to stay with our poke and prod to the truth must be lamented in each gauge. Or better yet why hasn't this mysterious third party acted yet in our toil of their soil," Cryptic whispered creating an eerie layer of uncertainty amongst the group they now knew a third element had been involved, and if that was so wouldn't it stand to reason they should be the most responsive? So why had nothing appeared on that end... why were they letting things happen like this? Before such could be addressed an alarm went off causing Prophet to turn away only minutely pausing on Heartbreak for a moment as he turned to Oracle. During their investigation of Shiro, they learned she had moved on from her gang to a shrine that had a scheduled turn-in time the alarm was set an hour before it to avoid Shiro being made suspicious by her fellow shrine goers.

"We will learn what we can in a combination of the files and that memory. For now, we should stay away from the palace so they don't see us coming or think we lost interest since they have no idea why we're involved we have somewhat of a shroud of surprise. Once we have answers to the riddle we will immediately reach out to converge our next strategy," Prophet expressed bowing to them all politely as he and Oracle started to walk away just about to pass Swan.

At first, Swan thought it odd that Heartbreak would take off her helmet in front of the newcomers, but that was until she remembered the common visage of people that one hasn't met in the real world becomes blurred. However, what Swan did find strange was how both Oracle and Prophet when addressing Heartbreak seemed to look towards her center almost suggesting they were looking at her eyes. This became even more evident as the conversation went on and they continued to do so. By the end of it all, Swan was sure of one thing, the person they knew who their identity was, was Heartbreak. So as Prophet and Oracle began to walk away, Swan sternly stated in a whisper, "I trust that you'll be careful with the knowledge you have about Heartbreak, right?"

"You truly are a crafty Emerald...but of course Miss Swan I plan to keep them all safe," Prophet didn't show any signs of surprise and much like Swan kept his words to a whisper keeping this fact very much between them as he walked away leaving what would come of this collaboration safe for another day.
..............................................................................................................................................

 

[Anthem]

A smirk slowly fell upon Tragedy's face as he heard Oracle address him with some well-deserved respect without the needless insults or jabs at his general procedure. He was generally annoyed with the navigator's attitude towards himself, and her bickering with Swan that was nothing more than a nuisance. But nonetheless he would just accept the fact that he had gotten a compliment, but that wasn't what made him hold his tongue from giving some sort of smart-assed remark.

"-I tip my hat to your unique way of thinking Sir Tragedy. And I thought I had the advantage of mystery."

Advantage of mystery... just where had he heard such a line before? The fool would continue to hold his tongue as his eyes focused in on Prophet, trying to pick out any defining features despite his monk apparel and mask that fully covered his face. But with just how odd the Metaverse could be, the horned thief knew better than to rely on what his height or body type could possibly be because it may not perfectly translate to reality in the end. But the way the Psio-user spoke seemed all too familiar at times, even with the voice-modulator his mask utilized the dialect within was much too unique to simply be a ruse... right? And that odd feeling that the Fool had already met Prophet, that feeling that a form of bond was made before they even had the chance to converse or engage in combat alongside one another... it was all too convenient for it to be a coincidence. Tragedy knew Prophet, he had to. But who was the mad monk below the mask he wore?

"Hmm..." A small grumble befell Tragedy's breath as he couldn't pin it quite yet with his fatigued mind, so it would have to be a investigation for another time but it will be an investigation nonetheless just into who this Psio-user is. Rising from his seat with a small stretch to crack his back, the Fool would begin his departure. "Well if things are said and done, I'm out. Oh how my mattress is calling to me~" Tragedy hummed out with a tad of rhythm as he started to walk away as well, walking past the trio of Swan, Prophet and Oracle who seemed to be wrapped in a miniature conversation of their own. Not wanting to interrupt completely, but still be his annoying self, the young man would ruffle Oracle's hair and give a light slug to Swan's shoulder before completely removing himself from the safe room, and Metaverse whilst holding up a peace sign.

---

Collab with TreasureSniper

Spoiler: The Fool's Errand

Due to recent events and upsurge of activity in the New World’s borders, there was a temporary shortage of manpower within the ranks of the metamercs. Imato would swiftly find an anonymous message from his Metaverse. It was short, ominous as one would expect from such a faction. “You’re needed, Jester.” the message spoke, with no further detail.

Looking at the watch he used for Metaverse activity, Imato would sigh as he realised it was finally time for him to actually start his work with the Mercs. This organisation wouldn’t allow a member to just idly stand-by obviously, so no surprise came from the boy. Making sure no innocent bystander would be dragged in alongside him, Imato dove into the mental realm, once again taking the visage of Tragedy. But of course this mission didn’t call for the thief, but instead the mercenary. So the boy tapped a few options on his watch, which quickly allowed him to swap forms. It was an odd feeling, the sudden spike of power but it was one he would have to grow quickly accustomed to.

Once more, as soon as Imato entered the metaverse, he would immediately feel a strange presence. He would feel a creeping hand on his shoulder. But as soon as he turned around to face whatever it was that was behind him, he would find that no one was there. Or so he thought, turning around again would lead him to ambush by one of the Raven’s of the All Father. The bird humanoid wasted no time and transported the provisional member of the meta merc straight into what appears to be a “war room”.

There were only a handful of mercs this time, all of which Imato had already met before. Maestro, Roadkill and Rex. The senior merc was in the middle of giving the two briefings while pointing out the area of interest on a map of mementos. The map itself was unique in the way it presented its information as it was ever shifting and had constructs made of magical energies to represent enemies and allies. From this table alone, Imato was able to see just about all the meta mercs that were currently active and on the field.

“Ah, Jester. So good of you to join us. We are in need of your….talents.” Maestro gestured to the boy to come closer to the table where he could better explain the situation. He went on to explain that they were currently in a territory dispute with a few freelancer factions. At the moment, there were only a handful of mercs that were available as most of them were busy with their own assignments. He explained to him that the last person that was sent to said area was Hardshell and has yet to regain contact with him. “Your objective is to find out what happened to him, and if possible. Get him back home in one piece.”

Jester was unsurprised to see the few number of members, he had already assumed that others were already deployed elsewhere. Though he took a chance to peek at the war table, which was made much easier thanks to his helmet obscuring his eyes. His mind was running laps to take mental notes, all the while listening to Maestro to ensure no signs of disrespect would be shown to the higher ranking merc. He wouldn’t want to risk being outcasted so early in this little incursion of his.

One thing would peak his interest, freelancer factions. Jester swore he heard mentions of other groups of Meta-Users that formed groups similar to the mercenaries he was with now. Silence was all that came from the fool as he made a few mental notes, things that would be worth adding to his own notes at a later time. After that is when the newbie finally spoke out to respond to his superior.

“Sir, do we have any potential leads on what could have happened to Hardshell? Or will our mission double as an investigation and rescue?” Jester asked, seemingly invested into this mission already despite just being informed of it moments ago.

Maestro smiled at the boy's question, finding his mask of calmness to be intriguing. Given that Maestro has seen the way he fights when he is with thieves, the merc was impressed that the boy is able to change his demeanour so convincingly. “Normally I’d leave someone like you to find that out for yourself, but given that you’re new here, I’ll cut you some slack.” The senior merc added before drawing the trio’s attention to a specific section of mementos. “He was last seen in this section of the Path of Kaitul. Unfortunately the section ceased to exist a few hours ago..” The floors of mementos were known to shift in shape and form every few hours, making any maps of the place useless unless one could render it in real time.

Thankfully, the metamercs had access to someone with such abilities. Maestro usually acted as his namesake. A figurehead that directed and managed the day to day operations of the mercs. While he is rarely seen in the frontlines, in the absence of the All-Father, the ravens heed his beck and call, as with all the other mercs.

“As for theories regarding what happened to him, I theorized that he went up against a shadow or freelancer that was stronger than him and met his end.” Maestro was direct with this statement, sounding as if he was ready to accept that he had lost another meta merc.

“Well…maybe the reaper got to him! He always was a slowpoke.” Roadkill added, sounding unintentionally blunt and too care-free for his own good, earning an annoyed glare from his more serious partner. “Sorry..” Realizing what he had just done, red merc immediately apologized before falling back in line.

“The latter is much more likely, given that he should be more than capable of fighting the shadows of said area.” Rex interjected with his own opinion on the matter, revealing that he thought highly of the rhino-themed member’s battle prowess.

Maestro simply sighed at this predicament, noting that this all could have been prevented had the merc simply waited for a partner to become available. “Oh and here…”

The senior merc threw a cuboid object towards Jester, knowing that he’d have the reflexes to catch it. There were a few warning stickers and danger markings on the object, indicating that it was something dangerous and not to be handled recklessly. “I am sure that should be able to handle anything down there.”

The two other mercs step forward, standing next to Jester, shoulder to shoulder, preparing for their departure. Maestro gestures one of the Ravens take hold of Jester, with the two other members holding onto his shoulders, an indication that shared teleportation would need some form of physical contact. “Good luck out there.” Maestro bid them farewell with a smile. The next moment, the trio was consumed by the whirlwind of rainbow-like energy.

The trio of metaverse users would reemerge from the column of pure power and into somewhat the familiar tunnels of mementos. However, Jester would notice that these tunnels were not the same ones he had visited before. The perpetually dimness of the area was much more potent, with faint lighting was much more sparse and the eerie fog that hangs in the air was much thicker.The sound of distant echoes and whispers were stronger and more aggressive adding to the sense of unease. This was much deeper than any part of mementos that he had been exploring before.

“Hey... Jester.” Eventually, the more light-hearted Roadkill was able to refocus his new team member’s attention. “You alright there?? Seemed like was lost you for a second there. Does raven-port give you motion sickness too?” The merc was quick to theorise on why his new teammate was so dazed, not noticing that this was a completely new environment to him. “Stay focused Roadkill. We have a job to do here..” There was this uneasiness in his voice. Rex had just noticed how significantly stronger the new member had become despite having just joined this new team. Based on the readings of his scanner, he could tell Jester outlevelled both him and Roadkill. While he fully trusts Maestro’s judgement on the matter, his gut feeling tells him it's not a good idea to put so much faith in someone who was his enemy not too long ago.

“Wow... you got beefy. How did you get so much stronger? You’ve been juicing up or something?” Roadkill spoke, only noticing how different Jester was compared to their initial meeting with Slayer. “Oh erm…. that Panther girl… is she single?” That statement alone would earn him a pull from the collar by his partner. “You know Maestro is watching right?”

“Yes I am. And I will reprimand you another time. For now, keep moving east, his last known location should be nearby.” right on the cue to voice of the senior merc spoke into their heads. A reminder that he was always watching.

As they moved closer to the designated area, they would notice Maestro’s voice becoming fainter and fainter until it completely disappeared. Rex made an attempt to retrace his steps to reestablish connection with the senior merc only to be engulfed in a huge dust storm that seemingly came out of nowhere.

Jester could go on for hours about how he disliked how calm Maestro was about potentially losing an ally, sure Hardshell was lightyears away from being equal in power to the senior merc, but that didn’t mean it put a bad taste in the newbie’s mouth. Though he had to remember that this was an organization, this was a job to them and not some sort of revolution like the thieves were fighting for when they went against the palaces. So for the rest of their time in that war room, the fool stayed silent, even upon receiving the new equipment from Maestro.

The transport didn’t disorientate Jester, he had grown quickly used to the odd way of travelling but instead was more or less intrigued by the landscape before him. Just how more hellish did Mementos become upon deeper travel? His mind filled with a multitude of questions and possibilities, to the point that Roadkill’s comment was what finally pulled him out of the slight trance-like state. Though the concern in Rex’s voice was what really got the fool more focused on his merc-allies and the situation at hand. Just in time for a damned dust storm…

“Visibility is dropping… and fast at that…” Jester would have a hard time even seeing the allies that once stood by his side moments ago due to the debris flying through the air. He had never seen an occurrence like this in Mementos before, or at least never saw a naturally occurring one. A small chill ran down his spine whilst the boy tried to regain visual, as if it were some sixth sense for danger. “Roadkill. Rex. I know you lot are a lot more accustomed to these depths, but from my experience… this isn’t natural. I recommend remaining on guard.” Jester advised, while trying to catch a glimpse of something he could use as a landmark or point of return if this dust storm were to remain a consistent issue.

“No it isn't…” Rex was quick to reply to Jester’s concerns, readying his weapon, charging it up with golden lightning. “Did you guys say something? I can’t hear you!” Roadkill desperately held his arms over his head, trying to shield his face from the waves of sand.

But then, as suddenly as it had arisen, the sandstorm began to diminish. The gales gradually weakened, allowing the dense cloud of sand particles to settle back to the ground. As the air cleared, a peculiar sight emerged amidst the dissipating storm.

From the midst of the swirling sand, a figure began to take shape. The grains of sand coalesced and solidified, forming the unmistakable silhouette of a genie. Standing tall and majestic, the genie-like entity exuded an otherworldly aura, its form seemingly made of ethereal sand.

The genie's body shimmered with a purple hue, its translucent form revealing intricate patterns and flowing curves reminiscent of desert dunes. The entity seemed to embody the very essence of the sandstorm itself, its presence both captivating and intimidating.

As the sandstorm subsided completely, the genie-like entity hovered gracefully above the ground, suspended in mid-air. Its eyes, glowing with an intense brilliance, surveyed the surroundings with a mix of wisdom and curiosity. Long, wispy tendrils of sand extended from its arms, undulating gently as if alive.

“Welcome to my REALM!” entity’s voice boomed with power, shaking the very ground the trio stood on. While the massive sandstrom had ceasedm the winds that surrounded the body of the genie remained active and turbulent. “I am the Djinn of mementos. State your wish and it shall be granted.” The entity continued to hover over the the team in a neutral stance, waiting for them to state their wish. This being was impossible to read, betraying no emotion or intention.

“Careful, I don't trust this….thing..” Rex whispered to the team, keeping his sword at the ready for any sudden hostile movements. “Yea…neither do I…I am gonna test it out…” Roadkill was quick to offer himself onto these “wishes”. Nonetheless, Rex seemed to trust his friend enough to allow him to follow through with it, nodding to him, allowing the red merc to step forward and make his wish. Roadkill cleared his throat, and stated his wish. “I wish to meet the phantom thief, Panther again!” With everything he has said thus far, it is unsurprising that he would make such a wish.

The Djinn remained silent, as if it was trying its best to register and understand what this merc had just said. Raising one his freehand towards the trio, the entity snapped his fingers, triggering a tornado of sand to form around Roadkill, propelling him upwards towards the ceiling. “PANTHER HERE I COMEE!!!!!” His voice continued to echo in the distance before completely disappearing.

“..What did you do to him!?” Rex shouted, raising his weapon towards the entity who was indifferent in the matter. “I gave him what he wanted. You have two wishes left…choose wisely.” Rex was just about ready to attack this fiend, but at the same time, there was a lot unanswered questions. “You got any ideas.., Jester?”

Jester would watch as the sands formed the being before them, his eyes widening as he hadn’t seen an entity of this size before, shadow or persona. He was against Roadkill making a wish to the Dijin, but the newbie stayed silent as Rex seemed to trust the speedster. After the crimson merc was sent away by a whirlwind of sand, this left the fool to start thinking.

Unless Panther was indeed in a higher part of Mementos, it would make sense for the speedster to be sent flying higher and higher. As the deeper you dive into Mementos, the further you drift away from reality… Or that’s how Jester saw it at least. So he made the assumption that this Dijin granted wishes to the letter with acute accuracy. At least if this was the case, the fool hoped that Roadkill was being sent to a location where he can reconnect with Maestro or someone at HQ.

“I can’t spot any visible weak points, and we have no certainty on what this thing’s weaknesses are. And like it said, this seems to be the fiend’s realm alone.” Standing still for a few moments, Jester would then move forward to address the Dijin. He would put up two fingers, to signify this as their second wish. “I wish for you to return our ally, Roadkill, to us unscathed!” The significance of this wish? To see if Roadkill had been truly sent out of the realm due to his wish, or if he was sent elsewhere. Either way, the fool knew of a possible third wish as well... he just hoped Rex would follow along.

Rex nodded before following suit with his own wish as well. "And I wish for the return of our, friend Hardshell." Rex understood what Jester was trying to do. He could only hope that this Djinn entity actually worked. Readying his weapon, to counteract any….unforseen events.

Much to their surprise, the Djinn remained silent and crossed its arms. And yet nothing happened, as the entity itself seemed to levitate in front of them without saying a word. Soon, the sandstorm begins to pick up once more, blowing copious amounts of sand towards the two.

And from that sandstorm, a big bulky silhouette could been seen erupting from the ground. Both Rex and Jester were immediately struck by a blunt object, pushing the duo across the sandy ground. The figures silhouette becomes much clearer as the sandstorm begins to subside once more.

"Damn, I was hoping both of you would play along a bit longer. Oh well…more meat for the grinder." The big humanoid slammed his massive Tonfas together, becoming the two mercs to come at him with all their strength. "Show me what you're made of, you damned mercs!"

Seeing that the whole incident seemed to be just a ploy didn’t surprise the fool all that much, after the duo was pushed back he immediately started to reanalyze the situation. “Now this is more keen to my language…” Jester said as he cracked his knuckles, he didn’t want to rely on the weapon given to him by Maestro quite yet.

The fool knew his usual tactics of jumping around to gain momentum wouldn’t work as effectively, at least not in this sandy terrain with little environment to boost himself off of. Though that didn’t mean Rex was incapable of potentially blitzing the brute in front of them now. “If you can try to keep him off balance, I’ll deliver the punishing blows.” Jester simply requested from his ally, hoping that the simple strategy would be enough until a weakness to exploit became more clear to them.

His horned helm burned in a brilliant blue flame as it disappeared, and Loki was summoned to Jester’s side. The usual trick of casting Tarukaja and enchanting the boy’s fists with a nuclear alignment was played out before the trickster god disappeared once more. Taking a strong stance, Jester was ready for Rex to make the first move so he could follow up with a powerful continuation.

"Leave it to me. King Midas!" Rex nodded in acknowledgement of the boy's suggestion, summoning his persona to his side to turn the floor they stood on solid gold. Despite his best efforts, the sand itself seemed resistant to his gold coating effects. Even so, the Golden Merc lunged forward, aiming his sword at the freelancer and unleashed multiple bolts of energy.

The sand shroud around the bulky freelancer persisted, easily absorbing the multiple blasts of lightning, much to the user's disappointment. "The lumbering beast has a thick hide!" Rex commented, running circles around his opponent.

"Insipid gnats! Feel my might!" Like a pissed off animal, the muscular freelancer pounded on his chest a few times before slamming both tonfas into the ground, creating a massive tsunami of sand towards both fighters, sending them both skyward. "Let's dance, golden boy!" Fixing his attention towards the golden merc, the brute would send his adversary back downwards and into the ground.

A loud cracked could be heard as Rex impacted the ground, with his voice screaming in pain. The scream would soon be reduced to a squeak when the brute boot landed on the merc abdomen. "Hope you were tougher then that guy, horns boy.." the brute continued to add pressure onto Rex's body, causing his armour to cracked a little under pressure

Seeing that King Midas’ ability had no effect on the sand surrounding them, caused an audible grunt of annoyance from Jester. It seemed lightning had little to no effect due to the sandy veil, and overall defenses of the freelancer. The fool was left biding time in hopes that a new strategy would be brought to mind, but that hope was sent sky-high just as the mercs were. Hearing Rex’s cries, while it didn’t bring the same rage as hearing the pains of his former team, Jester certainly wasn’t going to allow this bulky buffoon to just continue on with this rampage.

The nuclear energy within his fists started to crackle louder, and burn a brighter blue as the newbie’s emotion spiked. “Scum… Get your filthy boot, off my ally…” Without a second thought, the fool rushed in like a raging bull. Using the energy packed within his arms, Jester sent a blast into the freelancer to push the bulking mass back, and off of Rex. “Heal up, I’ll handle it from here…” With a bit of a prideful accent in his cloaked voice, the horned merc would clench his fists before blitzing towards the sandy freelancer once more.

The blinding sands and seemingly infinite dunes wasn’t going to slow Jester down, he wouldn’t allow such simple things to. Instead, he started beating against the coarse veil that acted as a shield to tear open a striking point. And as soon as Jester could see a point to strike, he took it and slammed his heavy fist into the bulky man. “Do me a favour and die quick.” The nuclear energy within his arms focused into that one point, before releasing into a brilliant, point-blank explosion.

"But a fight is never that easy, right?" A cynical chuckle fell from Jester's lips as he used the smokescreen from his nuclear attack to jump back, readying the weapon he received from Maestro. "Boom." Was all the fool said before shooting all four rockets from the weapon at the freelancer, aimed for the centre mass of his silhouette.

Despite having his ribcage stomped by massive brute, Rex remained conscious enough to assist his would-be ally’s retribution. With his weakening breath, his whisper his persona’s name, summoning the king’s arm to touch the brute’s boot, temporarily encasing it in a layer of gold, allowing him to conduct his signature paralysing electricity into this opponent.

“WRAAAAHH! You little shit!” The freelancer screamed and prepared to brought the blunt end of his tonfa onto the merc’s face, impacting it with great force. He lifted his weapon upwards, preparing squish the golden one’s face-in. Fortunately for Rex, he had provided his ally just enough a distraction to close the distance and deliver a well placed strike onto the brute.

Each punch Jester landed onto the large freelancer felt like he was punching a dense sandbag. Nonetheless, he was making noticeable progress, actually pushing his opponent back while he’s is still recovering from the paralysis. The nuclear hit its mark, completely knocking the his opponent a few meters back, a safe distance for him to pull off his next attack. Rex could only watch in awe at the raw power and battle prowess displayed by this newcomer. While he still had mixed feelings about this guy, he can’t deny Jester’s talent.

The four rockets flew towards their they target, hitting him directly on his center mass, engulfing the large freelancer in a blaze of orange. A few moments later, the sand in the surrounding area would slowly disappear, including the dust storm that had covered up the ceiling, causing two objects that resembled sarcophaguses to fall onto the ground. Upon impacting the ground, the sarcophaguses crack open, revealing Road-kill and the missing Hardshell.

“So that's…where they went…” Rex spoke weakly, propping himself up with sword. The other two mercs were slowly beginning to regain consciousness. “Good work…Jester. Let's get out of here before…” And right on queue, the group would hear a menacing wail, strong enough to put out the surrounding flames almost immediately, revealing that the freelancer survived Jester’s onslaught of rockets.

“~hey dont you think thats enough crepes…” Roadkill mumbled to himself, causing Rex to give him a low powered shock, immediately waking him up. “Alright alright I am up. Oh..” Roadkill was not expecting to be awakened from his slumber by the sound of a very angry animalistic freelancer.

Now that he’s gotten a better look at the Freelancer, Rex could finally recognize him as someone who they have crossed paths before. “That's Dozer. As in Bulldozer.” Rex commented, still struggling to get up from the beaten from before. “He’s strong….but both of you should be able to outmaneuver him…I am.. gonna need a minute..” The golden merc pulled hims to the side and along with the unconscious Hardshell. Knowing that he’s in currently no shape to fight, he had no choice but to rely on the two that were still standing.

“WRAGH!” Dozer, in a fit of frustration and show of force slammed both of his tonfas onto each others, destroying it’s exterior frame, and revealing what lies within. Chainsaws. This whole time, the true nature of his weapons were sheathed. With casing now gone, the chains begin to road to life, rotating razor sharp blades at blinding speed. Without warning, Dozer would lunge forward towards the standing duo, wildly swinging the true form of his weapons at them. In spite of his size, he was noticeably faster now, almost as if the encased form of his weapon had weighed him down before this. Even the some as fast as Roadkill is left on the defensive, dodging and weaving through each strike while his “engine” warms up.

With their two missing allies found, part of the mission was complete but that left one loose end to still be cut off. As Dozer attacked, Jester kept a keen eye on the freelancer’s movements whilst dodging the destructive weapons, he knew that one hit on him or his speeding ally would be certainly fatal. Yet, that didn’t seem to stop a grin coming to his lips as the danger grew ever more present. With a quick handspring to create some distance between himself and the freelancer, the fool entered a position as if he was about ready to run a race at a track meet.

“Outmaneuver? Oh no, it’s long past time for this beast to be put down…” Jester’s mask burnt away via that infamous blue flame, as Loki was summoned behind him. It seems the newbie had become serious about ending this fight as soon as possible. “Shall I..?” Jester’s eyes flickered to that fearsome golden colour, as his gaze was piercing through the freelancer. “Let’s see how much this armour can handle..!” Placing a hand on the boy’s back, Loki started to infuse a greater amount of nuclear energy into Jester and his armour, until the lower half of his legs were radiating with intense energy. The ground trembled as a light steam was produced from the fool’s strong stance alone.

“Technique Development… Atomic Meteorite!” In an instant, the ground where Jester was once placed had become a great crater, as the merc had launched himself towards Dozer with intense speed. Similar to how Tragedy had blitzed Abyss in the past, Jester was now gaining a great sum of momentum as he bounded around the battlefield. Each time the fool crossed with Dozer, he delivered a devastating kick to the freelancer, even using the behemoth as a point to jump off of a few times. In a short time, the merc had become a shadowed blur with a trail of nuclear energy behind him, consuming all in its path. To Dozer, it felt like he was being hit from multiple places at once at some points.

“Now… PERISH!” With a wrathful roar, Jester finished the move with a mighty axe kick to Dozer’s head before reappearing where he once stood. Steam was now emanating heavily from the merc’s armour, as his mask finally reappeared. “Phew… Almost reached a meltdown!” The fool let out a hearty laugh as he looked to see how much damage his newly created and promptly named technique had done.

Seeing Jester going on the offensive, Roadkill followed his lead, summoning the black rider to his side and empowering him with hellish flames. While Jester focused on attacking the freelancers upper body, Roadkill focused his efforts on destabilising Dozer’s stance with kicks to the knees and ankles. ”HELL YEAH! I AM FIRED UP!” Roadkill shouted, moving fully in sync with Jester with their strikes. Despite fighting alongside him for the first time, he couldn’t help but feel some sort of kindred spirit with him. After sufficiently softening up the freelancer, Roadkill left Jester to finish of this opponent. Afterall, someone like him deserves it. The axe kick would hit its back, smashing the mask that covered the freelancer, sending him flying into a nearby wall.

While this victory was indeed impressive, Jester would soon feel horribly nauseous from exerting all his newfound strength. While his natural aptitude and adaptation was impressive, his body and mind has not yet adapted to this newfound strength. His muscles would begin to feel extremely sore, almost as if had been hitting the gym the entire day with stretching. “Hey…you ok there buddy?” Roadkill reached out to touch the Jester shoulder before noticing just how hot he was. “Oh damn, are you like…overheating?” Roadkill could definitely relate to such circumstances considering that he still tends to suffer from such effects when pushing himself to the limit.

While Jester himself was in no shape to stand back up, thankfully his comrades Hardshell and Rex had recovered. Roadkill would shoulder the newest member of the team, happily allowing him to lean on him as much as he wanted to. “Rest up champ, you earned it.” while the others likely couldn’t tell, Roadkill was grinning ear to ear about having a new friend.

Unfortunately, the brief reprieve was quickly interrupted by the emergence of Dozer along side his persona, Djinn. While severely weakened, the large freelancer was still alive and kicking. “You fucks! I AM GONNA-” Before he could finish his sentence, both Rex and Hardshell would charge forward head first. Hardshell summoned his persona to his side, riding on top of like a trusty mount.

Rex would do the same, having king midas touch the metal armor that covered the rhino merc, turning it into gold. Within seconds Hardshell made contact with freelancer, wrestling him and his persona into the ground. The golden merc would follow up on this by blasting a bolt of lightning into Hardshell, electrifying his armor allowing him continuously electrocute Dozer into submission.

“Sorry buddy, we just gotta finish this guy off.” Roadkill spoke, setting Jester to lean on a wall before rushing into the fight himself. By this point, Dozer was just barely conscious after being pummeled by entire team. The coordinations was truly spectacular, with each of their strikes weaved into each others actions. Eventually, Roadkill would be the one to critically injure Dozer’s persona with flaming hot kick that pierces the sandy body of the djin.

The red merc would remerged from other side of djinn, along with a massive exit “wound”. The core of the freelancer burned with great intensity to the point of turning to glass. With Dozer vulnerable, Hardshell would repeatedly slam the freelancer onto the ground before having Rex reach into his chest and ripping out the their metaphorical heart.

Jester wouldn’t remember much of what happened next, but from what he could tell, he was shouldered back to the metamerc stronghold by his team without much fanfare. That said, he would distinctly remember Roadkill asking him repeatedly about what type of person Panther was.

---

“Ah you’re finally awake…” At last, Jester was fully conscious and was currently sitting down on a wooden chair in the war room. Standing in front of him was Maestro, with the male mercs that had just fought alongside him. “Congratulations on completing your first assignment. I was told that you fought quite hard out there. So hard in fact that you knocked yourself out..” While it was difficult to tell what this line of questioning was supposed to enquire about, it seemed Maestro was curious as to what caused him to go unconscious despite not suffering any noticeable damage.

With a light groan, Jester would look around before grabbing his head with one of his hands. It seems while he was now in a better condition considering he wasn’t overheating, the fool still had a splitting headache from just the sheer amount of energy he exerted with his final attack against Dozer. A few cracks could be heard as he moved his neck and shoulders a bit in an attempt to loosen up, before finally responding to Maestro’s inquiry.

“I just decided to put as much power as I could into an attack, it was needed at that moment. Especially against that sandy brute.” Jester looked at his fists, clenching them a bit before he sighed and started to dust off his armour. He would then stand, wanting to seem at least a good amount professional. “It seems however my cognitive state isn’t used to such power yet, so I’ll need to ease into it before giving it my all.” While it was certainly simple, that was Jester’s analysis of why he passed out after performing the powerful attack. It would be an annoying process to train his body to handle this boost, but nothing he wasn’t used to at this point.

"Hmm what an interesting turn of events…" Maestro added, holding his wand against the boy, watching the colour of the tip shift ever so slightly. "Hmm it seems your body hasn't fully adjusted to your new threat level. And likely won't anytime soon…" there was a hint of smugness in his voice towards the end of that sentence.

"Maestro, you should have seen this guy! He was going head to head with him like his life depended on it!" Roadkill being the loveable hot shot he wasted no time in complementing Jester's aggressive plays while his two colleagues stood at the back and remained silent.

"While the internal damage he suffered were not serious this time, he might not be so lucky the next time." Rex weighed in his own observations about Jesters unusually high threat level rise. "Perhaps it's better for him to have his threat level lowered to one that is closer to his original." The golden soldier suggested, showing concern over his new ally.

"Hmm perhaps I was a bit overzealous in giving him such a significant threat level." Once again, there was something about the way Maestro spoke that was off, almost as if he expected this all along. "What say you Jester? Would you like to stay as you are?" This was an important decision for the young merc. While staying at a higher level did not doubt improve his battle prowess, he still would not know the full extent of the side effects of his newfound strength.

The group sat silent, waiting in anticipation of what Jester would say.

Of course it would be blocked by his helm, but Jester had squinted his eyes as soon as Maestro started speaking of him being unable to control this new power in the near future. A gritted grin could be heard in his voice as he then spoke. “You haven’t seen nothin’ yet.” The newbie would point at the higher-up’s wand with one hand, and then pointed at himself with the other. “I don’t know what your little tool there says, but it hasn’t the slightest clue of what it’s talking ‘bout. Especially if it thinks I’m gonna let some sort of “limit” stop me.”

Losing the tone of professionalism he had been trying to hold while speaking to the other mercs, Jester seemed confident and certainly prideful when it came to his capabilities. “So I’ll stay as I am. If that means I have to face complications whilst in combat every now and then, so be it. I’ll just have to make up for it in other areas.”

Another sigh fell from Jester’s breath as the statements he had made allowed him to cool off some. Which was especially needed after feeling how the mental chains entrapping his mind seemed to grow ever more apparent. But for now, the fool would ignorantly ignore the growing weight.

The small grin formed on Maestro’s lips upon hearing the fool’s reply, letting out a small chuckle before returning to a more neutral disposition. “Your way of thinking is truly…fascinating. Very well, you will remain as you are..” And with that Maestro brought his hands together and clapped, finalising the meeting for today. “Alright. That is all for you today. Well done in rescuing Hardshell ... .Hopefully he’ll be more careful next time…” The last of his sentence was spoken in a slightly more condescending and dismissive tone. The senior merc wasted no further time, commanding a raven to teleport him away from the room, leaving the younger mercs to their own devices.

A sigh of relief came from Roadkill as he enthusiastically walked towards Jester, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. “Maestro is….a bit of stickler, but he means well…I think. Regardless, I am stoke to have another member who knows how to have fun!” Roadkill was pleased to see there was another member that shared his enthusiasm in terms of adventuring and combat. “Alright Roadkill, I think Jester has had enough of your antics for today. Besides…don’t you have something important to get to?” Roadkill seemed sour at first before realising that he was indeed missing something important. “Oh shit! I AM GONNA BE LATE FOR MY DATE! Nice meeting you jester we should totally train together sometime do you happen to like crepes cause I’ll bring you some next time….” Roadkill wasted no time in leaving the room, leaving small trail of fire behind him, with his voice slowly becoming fainter and fainter.

The next to approach the fool was the large thick armored merc known as Hardshell. Up until now, he has said little to nothing at all and given that this was the first time he had seen Jester on their side, he no doubt had a lot of questions on his mind. “Thank you.” The merc expressed his thanks in his usual nigh monotonous voice before walking away. While some would see this as rather rude, Rex seemed to be highly impressed by this small gesture of interaction. “Hmm impressive, you even got him talking.” Rex voices his thoughts with a slight hint of cynicalness in his voice. “If I am being honest, I can’t say I fully trust you…your persona is the God of mischief for a reason.” The golden merc spoke with a much more serious tone than before, unlike his allies, he wasn’t as easily swayed by relatively small actions. “That said, my gut tells me I should look forward to working with you….what a strange feeling.” Rex’s tone lightened ever so slightly, reducing the tension in the air. “I am curious…do you even know what is the purpose of the metamercs?”

Jester rolled his eyes as Maestro made his final remarks before the senior merc made his exit from the area, off to do who knows what. Of course the fellow had a right to be confident considering he’s the All-Father’s right hand man, but to the fool that didn’t matter a single bit. He didn’t like Maestro’s condescending attitude, but for now he would just have to deal with it because someone like the senior mercs would have to be dealt with at a later date. But luckily to help lighten up the fool’s darkened mood, the other young mercs would push conversation, especially Roadkill.

“And I thought I had a need for speed… I’ll need to take him up on his offer, training more wouldn’t hurt.” Jester mostly spoke to himself with a small chuckle before looking over to Hardshell. The armoured merc would certainly be harder to make pals with considering their first interaction was… less than friendly. Nonetheless, the newbie was also a tad surprised to receive the thanks from the rhino merc, but happy to hear it either way.

Then all that was left was Jester and Rex, the Fool and the Emperor. The golden merc spoke nothing but truth with the first statement, he had no real reason to trust the newbie. Persona aside, he was an enemy not too long ago and still was considering his wavering allegiance to both sides of the battlefield. But then there laid the bit of comradery that was shown in the heat of battle today, something that Jester felt towards all the mercs that stood alongside him against Dozer. “The purpose?” What a question. Not once had the fool been given a direct answer on just what these mercs plan to accomplish with their jobs, so he had to rely on the few clues he picked up here and there. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it has something to do with the little sanctuary the All Father is building here. After all, there’s a few things that make this place different from Mementos… all of the Metaverse actually. The folk that aren’t mercs are the big plot point.” Taking a moment to recall the first time he entered the All Father’s realm, he let out a small chuckle.

“Real folk and Shadows working together, that really caught me by surprise but keeps me interested nonetheless.” Jester took a small breath and a moment to just glance around before focusing back on the conversation at hand. “I know that isn’t much of an answer, but that’s all I’ve gathered so far.”

"Hmmm I see..I'm sure if you stick around long enough Maestro will tell you. " There was a small sense of secrecy among the mercs especially with newcomers. That said, Rex himself did not seem to harbor any hard feelings against the boy, simply sticking to protocol out of habit more than anything else. "In any case, I'm about to head off to. If we are to meet again in the battlefield, be sure to put up a convincing performance. I'll let the other mercs know that you're still under probation. Just…keep your guard up though. Some of them don't really hold back for any reason. You've already met Slayer…but just be careful of Frostbite." The merc gave the green horn a few words of advice hoping that it would ease him into his new role.

Jester stopped dead in his tracks when Rex had mentioned putting up a good performance upon the battlefield. A hearty chuckle evolved into rather unexpected laughter from the fool, it went on for a few seconds before he faced the golden merc. “Worry not of me putting up a good performance. I would worry about holding back a little too much, as I don’t plan on holding my punches… As for your pals, you can tell them to bring it on. I’m always down to wreck some faces.” Confidence emitted from Jester as he spoke, fitting of his ever swinging personality. The fool would then finally start to exit but of course he couldn’t help but speak once more. “See you on the field, Goldie.” A final quip to relieve the tension of what he just spoke before exiting, the nature of a true Jester.

Read Note / TW before Reading:

Spoiler: The Fool's Everyday

( Not important to any Social Links, or any Story-Related Events. Read only if you'd like a bit more background into Imato's life outside the Phantom Thieves. )

TW: Abusive / Violent Family

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Ugh..." A light groan came from the white-haired boy as he reached over to the stand that had his phone, blaring as it had finally reached that point of the morning he had to drag himself out of bed to face whatever the day had to offer to him. After many failed attempts of trying to just swipe the damned noise away, he finally rose from his slumber to grab the device and finally turn off the alarm that ached his ears so easily. Imato's red eyes drifted over to his old, beaten desk and grabbed a small container to shake it a bit. When no noise emitted from it, a quick sigh and rolling of the eyes occurred before he tossed the container into a small bin. "Didn't need the damned things anyway..." With that, he would dress himself in casual attire before finally leaving the confines of his room.

"- MANY TIMES DID I TELL YOU TO STAY OUT WHEN I'M WORKING?! SHUT UP AND GET! OUT!" Yelling, angry at that. Imato quickly looked over as he left his room to see his little sister in the doorway of the office, his "father's" office. Bolting over and yanking the young girl out of the doorway, the Fool quickly shut the door as something with some heft had struck against it... perhaps a stapler? Various curses were heard as the door was then locked from the inside, making the boy sigh before looking at his sibling. "I told you I could get him to talk to me! He said a lot of words this time!" Ibuki giggled as Imato couldn't help but chuckle at the mischievous behavior that she seemed to gain from his general influence, and the boy couldn't have been more proud. "Alright, alright. You win but don't make it where I have to save you from getting burned all the time, alright? Now, where's the hag? Did she make you some breakfast yet?" Almost in immediate response to his questions, Ibuki pointed downstairs to the couch where their "mother" was passed out with a sake bottle practically glued to her hand while the kitchen had no signs of anything being made.

"Well... Hope you like French Toast then." The siblings made their way downstairs, the young girl getting herself a plate and utensils as her elder brother scavenged some ingredients from the fridge and cabinets before getting to work. With a bit of time and skill, the young girl had a nice meal in front of her to satisfy her sweet tooth along with a bit of fruit to balance out the sugary main dish. "Can you take me to Aya's house today 'Mato so I can make it to her sleepover? Pleeaaaasee?" With a small sigh and smile, Imato gave the girl a small thumbs-up as he washed the dirty dishes made by prepping the meal she ate.

After a few choice words were thrown at reckless drivers by Imato, he had successfully dropped his younger sister off at her friend's home where she would be safe from the hellscape that was their own home. He shortly made his way to a dojo / gym to spend his free time, in his eyes he had to continue bettering his body to ensure his cognitive body within the Metaverse would continue growing stronger as well, even if by the smallest amount he couldn't allow the growth to stop. But sadly in the confines of a place made to better one's self the ridicule never seemed to let go of it's overarching grip on the Fool. "Hey Makage, stop wasting your damn time and get some food to the people who are getting some real gains!" Ankoku, douchebag personified called out before his lackeys echoed him and bursting into laughter. Imato rose from his sit-ups and looked at Ankoku with animosity in the glint of his eyes, but didn't get too hostile... not yet at least. "I told you Ankoku, it's Imato. Not-"

"Not the name of your family? Or at least the one your with now? I hear they like getting physical in that household! Is that where your pretty little marks are from?" Pointing at the few scars that ran along his arms and then the one by his brow, Ankoku smirked as the white-haired boy gritted his teeth slightly. "Shut the hell up if you know what's good for you, and your friends here." His crimson glared at the other boy as his hatred grew ever more apparent in that moment, the thug's lackeys continued to laugh as they thought their numbers would be more than enough to deal with Imato and whatever threats he made. "Oh is that so? You and what friends, Makage?"

The bigger they talk, the more they cry like a baby when their beaten.

Standing over the trio with bloodied fists and a black eye, Imato huffed as he held a bundle of bills in one of his hands as the other threw the thugs wallets in front of their beaten and bruised bodies. "Thanks for the grub... Stupid pieces of shit." Spitting on Ankoku who groaned and wept as he still couldn't stand up on his own, the Fool would pocket the cash before grabbing his bag and exiting the area before any form of law enforcement could get involved in the whole scene. At least it was growing close to the evening hours now, so the young man happily enjoyed the cooler air of the evening as he biked his way home. Things weren't quite finished yet, there was just one more obstacle in his way before this day was over...

"Imatooooo~ Do you mind lending me some changeeeee?~" Imato gagged a bit at how his "mother" had already reeked of booze and seemed to be drunk off her mind to be talking in such a manner that her speech slurred every other word. Her actions already furthered Imato's reasoning into wanting to ensure Ibuki was out of the house as much as possible, with this being the norm of many nights. "So you can blow it on even more to drink? I'm doing your poor liver a favor, now get out of the wa-" Before the boy could even react he felt the woman's hand going across his cheek, one her rings cutting into his skin and causing a small amount of bleeding to occur. "Don't you DARE tell me what to spend on and how MY body works!" Yelling and angrily pointing at the boy's injured visage, the woman hiccupped before continuing her anger-filled rant. "And don't even THINK! That you're better than me you little murderous bastard... Remember what you caused to happen to my poor siblings-in-law... oh how I miss them... Remember how you're lucky to even live in this house... murderer~" The woman would stop there, waltzing over to the couch to continue drinking as she watched some form of modelling show.

Imato had lost that fighting spirit in his eyes that he had moments before, and instead sluggishly dragged himself up the stairs to clean and cover his wound before locking himself in his room once again. He laid on his mattress, letting his thoughts run wild as his heavy eyes slowly closed so he could get some form of rest... so he could do it all again tomorrow...

 

[Azurian Dream]

~Concept of Past Pains~

(Amazing collab with Anthem )

Ever since seeing that rather jarring show inside the Palace, Dascal had been rather busy putting all the information given by all the Phantom Thieves reports. Together a bigger picture of the truth was indeed in sight yet to try and stab down whatever could help them shed some light on this mysterious Ruler was not a for certain reach yet. The biggest issue was the answer to the current mental wall was also the best way to go about broadening the picture yet not the who and more the why the palace exists. As such Dascal needed a small break or risk pulling an all-nighter.

This was his current reason for walking about the streets to a very particular shopping district in the Shibuya area in precise detail, a very popular student lunch out spot around the block… or so Imato told him when he texted if it was a good time to punch out their food debt to each other. The boxing match, still rather fresh in his mind, was a rather silly yet friendly memory to hold onto with Imato really going in a lot more than most teens could stomach. It was nice to know there were other teens who were passionate about being actually strategic and not just meatheaded with pure strength… though Imato did sort of act like an unpredictable bull at the end in humorous hindsight. Yet the unpredictability was a good sign of someone who thought outside of the box. Something that Dascal hasn't run into much at all… well… until the Phantom Thieves that was.

As he turned a corner a bit deeper into Shibuya he was greeted out in the distance with the sight of Imato waiting next to the establishment known as Aiya's Nexus… a Chinese establishment? Well, that definitely hadn't been expected.

"Huh, I've never heard about this place quite frankly, is it really that popular," Dascal asked Imato offering a high five as a form of greeting to his recently acquired friend.

Dascal Marion was still an oddity in Imato’s eyes, the foreign student had somehow come to fit in at Shujin High almost instantly despite being… well, foreign. The American boy spoke basically perfect Japanese and never really acted as annoying sight-seekers did. Just how much did he study about this area and its language before coming here? The brute could only guess that it was at least a decent amount.

Nonetheless, the white-haired boy quickly made friends with the foreigner after their boxing match where neither side ended up victorious nor defeated, a perfect draw. It was rather satisfying to know that there was someone who shared a similar passion for the art of combat, and also had the skills to back up their claims instead of being all bark, no bite. This earned Imato’s respect almost instantaneously, so when the dark-haired male approached while offering a high-five, the fool grinned and slapped his hand with a little’ bit of force behind it.

“Would I lie? The reviews for this place online are through the roof, maybe there’s just a lack of word of mouth coming from the public.” Since it was just Dascal he was speaking to, Imato switched over to using English as the primary language for the discussion. Being fluent in both languages was nice as the fool was able to click between either one like there was nothing to it at this point. Hell, his accent was on point as well so the mastery of the language was shown rather obviously. "Sometimes people rather post online than actually talk about a place. So hearing about the 'popular' locations depends on where ya look, ya know?"

After a small bit of chit-chat, Imato would open the door to the establishment to allow Dascal in before following behind. It was a bit of a wait before seats were open, but once they sat and received menus, Imato quickly started scouring through the pages to see what would interest his current appetite. "Lordy, so much of this sounds good. I wonder what would be the best thing to get…"

"Would you, I wonder," Dascal wondered lightly with a stare at Imato as if re-analyzing him as they walked to their table rather caught off guard by Imato’s perfect English. Japanese students had to learn English but usually, it was at best the best minimum Imatos though it was completely natural… very curious in nature that was. Did Imato travel abroad? Alas, Imato's explanation of Japanese gossip was also rather curious in itself, apparently, it was the word of the web over word of mouth…huh.

"Well look at you with your use of languages. How unexpected a clash of the tongue, and here I thought I had the advantage of mystery," Dacal chuckled softly, switching to English as he folded his arms, re-examining the boy in curiosity. What mysteries did Imato Makage hold was now a well-picked case that Dascal wanted to unveil. For now, though Dascal studied the menu finding its labyrinth of options rather intense. As they mulled over their options it started to rain a bit heavily outside with the pitter-patter against the roof creating a somber thinking atmosphere. This in itself caused Dascal to cut to the chase of his curiosity

"In my experience, people learn to fight like you to battle their troubles away or make sure they never come at all… mind if I ask what ails you so," the question was a bit heavy for a first-hand out and a very personal one at that especially coming out of the damn blue as it had. Yet Dascal's calm eyes and observant demeanor made it strangely friendly a question as if all he wanted was to get to know Imato deeply rather than part with the norm of questions new friends usually asked.

A small smirk did show upon Imato’s face as Dascal had mentioned the sudden change of tongue, and how his little trick of mystery with words had been lost. While it did make the white-haired boy wonder why Dascal would want to keep a sense of mystery, no question really came from him on the matter. The rain had gone unnoticed by him as he continued to peer through the menu, but it seemed to cause a rise in the foreigner as an… unexpected question came from the guy. Imato peered over with a small sigh, looking up to one of the servers and ordering the Sweet & Sour Pork before turning to Dascal.

“Well, I suppose my answer to that depends on what realm of my life we’re going to peer into today. I started to teach myself basic self-defense tactics when I went over to America to live with family for a few years.” There hadn’t been a day where some sort of memory from the trip crossed Imato’s mind in some form. Sometimes the nicer moments pulled through to give the boy a smile, but most of the time? The negative was usually all his mental projector played on repeat, never allowing him to grow soft. “A small foreign kid is quite the easy target for those who wish to manipulate others. So I had to learn fast or risk a black eye every other week.”

Cracking his neck before looking up to the ceiling in thought, Imato wondered how far he should go with this answer and what he would receive in return. Would Dascal also open up a little bit with time? Or was this just a way for the guy to see if the other was worth keeping around or not? “With time I dove into proper fighting styles instead of just the basics, and soon enough I started to mix styles to create my own. Which is helpful considering the violence never really stopped, even when I came back after my trip…” With a small sigh, Imato would stop there before looking at Dascal. “What about you? Was fighting just a small hobby for you or did you also have your reasons?”

"...I am sorry to have asked," Dascal mulled watching Imato's mannerisms as his eating buddy went into something of a minor trance remembering something good, but quickly swept away by a concentrated bad.

So Imato had done in America what Dascal was currently doing in Japan. Though worst it seemed his experience had not been as kind as Dascals up to this point. Oddly, or more so concerning it seemed like Imato was rather placid with whatever bad he remembered not even batting much as an eyelash to it as he threw it out the window chatting up again as if it was nothing. Unlike his first reaction with Masami, or Kasumi, this wasn't exactly the type of problem one could hit directly with words on a first go. As such Dascal had a gentle smile of his own in response knowing this time it was not his place to pry further.

"Oh, how much trouble do you believe you get into around here? I feel like I would have heard about you at Shujin Academy by now," Dascal admitted to the school he currently resided at while curious as to what Imato could mean as he didn't notice any viable battle scars visibly to equate to what he meant. Yet it seemed it was Dascal's turn to share as Imato returned the question. The jet black-haired boy paused in empty thought before deciding with an odd nod with himself what to share.

"My desire to learn defense came more so from my own younger days of hubris. Back in my birth town at the age of ten, there was a well-known produce company setting up a small test site. I couldn't tell you what I heard or who I heard it from but I was pleased with what went on inside it. It was something new and intriguing with so many people for and against its presence," Dascal explained, his smile gone with now a sober look of withdrawal on the matter.

"The main gate guard I knew quite a bit about was a family friend whose kids I played with. He had gotten lucky getting a job as his old one had gone out of business thanks to the very same new one. One night I stole it and snuck out without rhyme or reason," Dascal kept going a slow sigh escaping his lips as he relieved the night well without a doubt playing around with his cup with the tip of his index finger rolling around the outer ring as he continued.

"As kids we never really question anything and see everything as one big adventure. Unaware of the dangers we bring to ourselves with our impulsive actions. Yet I felt it was more than that… I had to know the truth of what was going on that riled everyone up so much. It was honestly the first time I ever had a rush to do something in my life. So motivated I was that I snuck past four-night guards after spending weeks of studying their walk patterns… tsk… what kind of kid does that really," Dascal chuckled both chastising himself yet humored as well by his actions as if rather reminiscent of it. Yet the notion brought no smile to his face as he turned fully to Imato with a bit of ominous tune.

"Once inside I got pretty far in almost all the way to what I think was something important cause I got shot at by an enraged adult. Yet even with the obvious danger I didn't even freeze up I just looked at them confused… but they looked rather horrified at me realizing they had almost jumped the gun on a minor… After it was all said and done the company at hand didn't charge anything if my parents dropped any form of charges on the employee who shot at a child without any warning. That didn't stop them from firing the four-night guards and the family friend," he mulled and while it was hidden well for the most part there was clearly a form of regret. However what for was the real question.

"After that, those four would find me walking from school one day, and well with how I was raised gave them a polite wave… and they proceeded to beat me within an inch of my life. During the punches, kicks, and whacks with something metal multiple times the guard that honestly had the most reason to hate me dived in protecting me and taking the brutality in part with me. We both ended up in the hospital for quite a while so badly beaten I couldn't do much of anything right for a while nor could he," Dascal finished his rather dark piece.

"I miraculously made a full recovery. The man who saved me, however, did not…had more permanent damages…," Dascal finally settled to finish what he was willing to share as he came to the answer to the question at hand.

"I learned to defend myself because when you have problems being unable to leave things as they are, you piss off a lot of people who are obsessed with the status quo. I am a lot better now about holding those urges off to know the truth, but still... I must admit it gets hard not to step into the middle of something when you see others being wronged by it being hidden," Dascal admitted to a fault but something he was clearly passionately willing to hold to regardless of what storms it may weather.

"Of course, after a beatdown like that, you think I really would just surrender to not mess with those clearly stronger, or the system of how things go… but I think the system of letting things be as is… is part of the disease we let haunt all of us. I get hell for it a lot, and there are quite a few times I think I am insane for not surrendering to the slander, but honestly I feel so restricted holding so much of it back as I already do. When I could potentially undo a prior wrong. I want to protect those I might make it worse for at first," the older teen finished now having nothing more than a blank face.

"Just because things turn out bad first doesn't mean they can't end up better," breathed with a heavy heart surprised quite a bit with how much he had shared with Imato so out of the blue for a second outing as friends yet there was a strange familiarity with Imato that went beyond just there fight as if Dascal knew the boy in some other way… or really just shared a similar burden of self loneliness.

"Sorry don't mean to scare you off on the first hangout," he apologized finally taking a drink of the tea he ordered unsure of how Imato being the first person he ever shared that with was going to take it.

Imato would absorb the info for a minute or so, not speaking right away as to let the cards of a conversation he had been dealt really sink in. “Hmm…” Lightly humming as he thought of his following words carefully, the white-haired boy took a sip of his water before finally nodding. “Thanks for sharing all of that, must’ve been something else to share. To someone who’s basically a stranger no less.” The younger boy’s gaze wasn’t filled with judgment or confusion, but rather understanding as he continued to nod along as Dascal’s story visualized within his mind. “Don’t worry about scaring me away, I’d rather you be truthful and speak your mind rather than hide behind a veil of faux safety.”

Instead of speaking as he usually did, Imato dropped his simplistic way of speech for a calmer one that focused more on properly conveying the message within his mind. He took another long sip of his water before placing the empty glass aside. “I certainly can’t blame you for the curiosity you held, and the need to stray away from what’s considered the norm. The need for rebellion is strong within many yet a good portion of folk stick to what society wants due to fears of rejection.” Taking his time with his thoughts, Imato allowed his mind to run as he spoke just to see where his brain would take him. “But it seems both of us have learned to not fear that rejection, despite what society may think of us due to that.”

Oh, how Imato despised the eyes of society, twisting their own beliefs to place a false title upon the undeserving. But to find others who fought against normality in their own ways put a smile on the crazy boy’s face, and this meeting with Dascal was no different. Hell, Imato had grown used to this feeling upon meeting the thieves, making these connections that seemed to make life just a little bit better by the day.

“But it is pleasing to hear that you didn’t allow one bad experience to drag you down, despite it absolutely has the power to do so. You’ve gained a bit more of my respect, Marion.” With respect came trust, and with trust came a willingness to share the experiences that once caused pain or trauma.

“My family would certainly find you interesting, well… probably.” Imato would stop there, unsure if he should continue on with the story-telling or stop there before old graves get dug up.

“Maybe a friendly stranger is who I needed to share it with… the longer you hold onto something like that… well the more unlikely it is to be shared. Yet weirdly enough I feel I can trust you with it.. can't say why though,” Dascal admitted with a mulling sigh it was curious as to why he shared it, but for some strange reason, he felt a different form of connection with Imato. Yet while he was appreciative of Imato’s willingness to take such a heavy-handed sit down lightly it was the look on his new friend's face that concerned him… the face of someone who could understand the feeling. Dascal had expected a lot of reactions, but the one he got had been the last, giving Imato yet again a snatch of the element of surprise. Yet before bows of curiosities could be tied in response Imato talked of society and rejection.

"And yet even with that freedom, we're still shackled by our own thoughts on it. Whether or not whose wrong the burden of ire from those who disagree is a heavyweight," Dascal thus spoke not expecting Imato to be well… this philosophical it was a genuine yet enjoyable surprise. Dascal didn't really have any friends back home who could converse as such without getting bored.

"Your rather Shakespearian for a wild boar Makage. I almost dare say you're a dreamer," Dascal teased with a gentle smile as he finally took a sip of his tea, feeling friendly enough now to do so with his dining buddy. Though upon the bruiser bringing up how he was happy to see Dascal's event hadn't dragged him down, the jet-black-haired boy surprisingly said nothing taking another sip in thought before Imato dropped quite the bomb. Not even someone like Dascal knew how to respond to what his friend had just implied. Dascal's lips parted for a moment, but nothing came out. Eventually, the right words came to mind.

"I would love to hear about them whenever you're willing to share," Dascal said, giving Imato an understanding nod that he didn't have to go any further.

Imato poked at his food, kind of smiling still from being called Shakespearian which was certainly different from the boarish behavior also pointed out by Dascal. “Well, where do I start… My sister, Ibuki, is quite an oddity and that’s coming from me. There’s energetic and then there’s her, I swear she must be running on solar power or something. I can’t even keep up with that mind of hers..” The white-haired teen let out a small laugh, a genuine chuckle as he recalled a few moments he held dear when it came to interactions with his sister.

Taking a moment to cool off, he would then continue on with the short analysis of his crutch, his family. “Ma and Pops aren’t too bad. Folks always think I’m not related to them though, since I really didn’t inherit too much from the two of them surprisingly. Genetics can be pretty damn weird, huh?” Imato smirked, leaning back in his seat a bit as he continued without much of a break this time around. “I even got some family in America. They’re… they’re…” Oddly enough, that’s where the brute would cut off his little story time. Those with a keen enough eye would notice the small twitch of his lip, as the boy bit his own tongue.

“Not important.” Imato stared at his finished food, his visage darkening as a flood of memories filled the landscape of his mind. The comfort of speaking grew slim, as all that could be heard among them now was the pitter-patter of rain against the restaurant’s window. Oh, how awkward this little get-together has become.

Dascal only listened as Imato filled the air with wondrous sensations of his family there was beyond no doubt he loved, and cared for them quite a lot which is why every smile, and every gleam in the boy's eyes… caused conflict within Dascal's thoughts. Yet regardless a smile had crept up on his own face listening to his friend's expoza. Yet it was time to face the music as Imato mentioned his extended family what Dascal had first thought to be the fall of the immediate family instead happened to befall the extended family. There was no doubt no the young scholar's mind… something had erased them from Imato’s life… the silence itself bared that fruit enough.

“I thank you for sharing that… I am rather strained with my own family. So honestly its nice to know someone who can express what it's like when your not an abnormal oddity to have a caring home,” was all Dascal said not poking or prodding just thanking him for what he gave. He could feel Imato’s love for everyone he spoke… and the guilt he felt that he did not speak of just like Dascal.

…………………………………………………………….

I am thou, thou art I

The bond between The Fool & The Hierophant has grown to new heights

Within the realm of rebellion has given greater strength

………………………………………………………………​

“Then again I think both abnormalities that we are means you will be pulling me into a lot of trouble apparently tough guy… and never you not call me to arms to assist alright,” Dascal offered with a humored underlier.

 

[Maeve Valor]

(Collab written with Azurian Dream )

Free days were hard to come by in recent times within Masami’s life, but on this day it was a rare occasion where she had absolutely nothing planned. Lately, she has taken up a lot compared to her swindler life before being a Phantom Thief. Before all she had to take up her time was to study and steal from people. But now she had training with the others, and her part-time jobs as a barista and as a stunt double of all things.

Masami decided that she would relax by going to the bookstore and buying a new book to lounge around with for the rest of the day. Heck maybe if Sougo wasn’t busy maybe she could even spend a little time hanging out with him at LeBlanc at some point. And as the thought came to her mind while walking along a street to get to said bookstore, she adjusted her backpack a bit only for her to flinch her hand in pain away from the strap after gripping it. She had hoped that by this point in her training that she would have developed callouses by now, but she still had cuts on her hands and wasn’t quite there yet.

During the middle of this mundane droll of a day of thought a loud unadulterated banshee war cry sang off from the right side almost as if a reflux a lot of people suddenly jolted up and ran specifically and weirdly females as the men more so took to cover around the area. Masami would only get one moment to turn to the right to locate the unsettling sound coming from a higher twenties woman jumping off the bench that had currently been the only thing protecting the teen from the kendo-wielding woman's path… wait why did she have a kendo practice sword?

“PREPARE YOURSELF, WRETCHED WENCH,” the Phantom Thief would only have a millisecond to realize she was being attacked by the jumping woman dressed in a strange dojo white attire as she came down hard barely missing the green moss head due to natural reflexes with the kendo stick making a loud whack upon layout against the concrete the woman would then aggressively spin in the direction to send off a horizontal slash to see how the girl would react to close quarters.

“WHAT THE-!” Masami would exclaim and didn’t even get to finish that sentence before the crazy woman tried to slash at her again. After barely dodging the first attack, Masami was better at evading the second one coming her way. Considering that she had the upper hand due to her reach with the kendo stick, Masami ducked down more towards her since backing away would only further in her favor. She attempted to do a leg swipe at the woman before standing back up... Was this yet another MetaDuel ambush? No, it couldn’t be since it still looked like the real world. So she was just being randomly attacked by some stranger?

“What the hell is your problem?! Do you know me or something?” She yelled finally finishing her sentence this time and hoping that this wasn’t some person that was connected to her past as a swindler.

As Masami went for the counter kick with an impressive tour de force of moxie to charge an armed enemy the attacking woman in question smiled deviously delighted in her opponent's unwillingness to simply back out in the run, and instead take the challenge head-on. With a quick twist herself, she spun onto one knee catching Masami’s foot with the tip of the handle of the weapon in question grid locking the two in kneeling positions as the older women gave a deep glaring once over of the girl before responding with…

“Hm? Nay can’t say I have. I just am not used to other dojo students coming around my turf especially one with such an exotic weapon choice,” she bluntly answered letting the pressure off of the girl's kneecap as she stood up holstering her kendo stick to a clothed sheath on her back. Before the mossheaded girl could question what the hell was happening the woman grasped her left hand twisting it to look at the back of it noting the marks from an improper form of a certain unusual tool.

“Whose teaching you to use Chakrams young lady,” the woman asked showing some watchful-eyed concern for the nicks and scaths all around the poor girl's hands from the unfiltered grip methods of the unique weapon. Grabbing Masami’s other hand it was the same stitch of scars causing an unfettered scowl on the woman's face.

“Whoever they are they are training you to be a brute with a graceful tactical disarming weapon… give me your instructor’s… name,” the woman paused noticing the scars below Masami’s neckline.

“Young lady has someone been attacking you,” she asked rather sternly now more than ever concerned for the young girl's safety as such scars were not even normal for a Dojo student. That or the girl was in the habit of throwing her chakrams at once leaving herself wide open to attacks which would have been even worse had an instructor hadn’t fixed such a bad habit.

Though Masami was taken aback by this bombardment, she was astonished that this woman was somehow able to tell that she used chakrams as her choice of weapon just by looking at her hands. Not only could she tell what weapon, but she was also accurate in the style in which she was trying to use it. Hearing that the weapon was mainly used to disarm and was considered “graceful” was news to her, though she wasn’t too surprised considering that before joining the Phantom Thieves, she had extremely minimal knowledge of any sort of fighting.

The mood shifted when she alluded to suspecting that she was assaulted. Hearing this, Masami knew she needed to think of a quick explanation for the assessments she had made. “If my sparring partners count, then yes I have been attacked. I’m afraid I cannot give you my instructor’s name because… I am currently being self-taught,” she pulled her hand away from the stranger as she offered this bit of information hoping that it was satisfactory.

“...,” the woman froze up with a blank expression at Masami’s answers… this girl was all self-taught? At first, it seemed like the young school girl would have her chance of a free day returned to her, but with one… no two firms hands now on the girl's shoulder the older woman suddenly spun Masami towards the direction she had come from to attack her. The audience that had been hiding having seen this sorta thing on a daily bases watched as Masami was kidnapped in public until she passed the Dojo doors to which the rest of the female populace sighed in relief at their safety for the rest of the day.

As it seemed to settle into the woman that Masami didn’t belong to a dojo, the confused teenager stood up. “Now if you excuse me, I’m gonna gooooo!” While she was bidding farewell to the martial arts enthusiast she was surprisingly pulled by the person in the direction of where she came from. Masami tried to get out of the woman’s tight grasp but found it to be no use as she looked around with pleading eyes at the people that were witnesses to this insanity. Further confusing her, she noticed upon looking around that the people who were watching had varying expressions of nonchalance, pity, and exasperation in response to the display. From this, she gathered two things: she did this quite often in this area and the second being that this was not a life or death situation. Her confusion now turned to curiosity as she thought that this whole encounter was surely just a misunderstanding.

“Alright given your stature I’ll wager you a first-year middle schooler. The fact I haven't seen you around here before means you are not from the all-girls Baranohana Academy.… Shujin Academy perhaps,” she pondered looking the girl up as she brought her straight into the dojo where quite a few female students were hard at work. Practicing kendo the girls at the front were very much younger than Masami, and quite surprisingly all yelling with excitement, and fun with a mix of concentrated as well as giddy smiles… seemed like the instructions fuel something in them each a different form of passion.

Upon her words, the woman brought Masami to what appeared to be the older woman's office with little reason to impress as the trophies, and certificates all around of her own, and many of her students spoke to the volume of the woman's passion to train others. Finally releasing the girl from her iron maiden grasps she motioned Masami to sit as she sat down at the desk pulling out a permission form.

“Um, yeah. I go to Shujin Academy,” Masami confirmed this bit of information as she wondered how that was relevant to be brought to this dojo or even anything they have talked about thus far. The atmosphere of the dojo seemed comfortable enough from what she had observed so Masami inquisitively sat down and listened to what the woman who she soon found out to be named Kikyo had to say. Judging by what has transpired, Masami assumed that Kikyo was probably an instructor of some sort here since she had her own office which only supported this thought when the form was placed before her as she began looking over it.

“First things first I am Kikyo Asuka, Rose Blossom’s 4th owner, to say the least, it's been around a long time. We primarily help at-risk girls find temperament, and balance while they attempt to find their calling in life. We also help younger athletic girls get prepped for things as major as the Olympics right down to just wanting a passionate hobby or a form of self-defense,” she expressed giving Masami quite the down low of what the Dojo strived for.

“Once in a blue moon though we scout natural talent whether it be a brilliant pearl, or like yourself a diamond in the rough,” Kikyo nodded to Masami spoke handing her the parental/guardian approval form.

“You have chosen such a unique weapon, and have stayed with it due to some form of passion, or personal choice. I use a unique weapon style as well. More importantly, I have trained against Chakram users from India where it originates from I could help you master an actual style representative of your weapon choice, but whether you would like to take advantage of that is up to you,” she instructed Masami giving the girl the option to bail on the offer as well.

Contemplating this odd situation she had been dragged into, Masami was silent as she continued looking over the form. The only negative part of this arrangement was that it would mean even less free time for her than how it was currently for her. Otherwise, it seemed that taking lessons here would be largely beneficial. Kikyo knew the use of chakrams and the students seemed to have an air of passion for learning in this dojo. Finally, the girl spoke to say, “Diamond in the rough hmm?...” Masami then put away the form into her bag carefully. “...That’s not good enough. I wish to be a bright and polished diamond. So expect to see me again with the form signed,” Masami stood up and bowed respectively to Kikyo.

…………………………………………………………….

I am thou, thou art I

Thy wills are now tempered in mentorship in the pursuit of the truth,

In shattering the chains of doubt,

A dual nurturing bond has been formed,

Between The Tower & The Priestess

Thy paths have given new strength in meeting
………………………………………………………………​

The older woman watched the young girl go over the aspects of the opportunity given. It was a silence Kikyo had often listened to in this office, however… Kikyo had a bit of a surprised look at Masami's reaction. At first, it seemed the girl was going to reject the offer, but instead made it clear she expected way more out of the teacher in taking it. At first, the dojo master had no reason for the show's build-up of laughter built up until exploding as she slapped her hand on the desk a few times. Standing up she gave the girl a huge smile of higher expectation as well.

"With a roar like that I am not going to go easy on you kid. It's a dog-eat-dog world, and you have enticed this wolf to devour you whole," Kikyo almost growled in amusement showing her fangs to the spunky girl. Oh, what a grand find this truly had become.

"Bring that form in this coming Sunday, and we will see if your fighting spirit can hold a candle to those flames burning in your eyes," she more than taunted Masami with the grandeur of knowledge yet to be earned.

 

[Azurian Dream]

(Four in game days later)
(10 August 20XX)
(12 Days Till Productions Complete)

~A Curious Meeting~

Nellancholy

There was a uniqueness to this town dreariness when it was raining. Dascal would even dare say it was a completely different place with fewer people out by the heavy flow of water coming from the skies above... it felt... grey. There were so those out though driven by small passions like those looking for the perfect gift in the shop district for the perfect date, those rushing to the eateries to escape the cold for a warm pleasant meal to melt the cold away, enthusiastic readers getting pelted waiting for that new manga or novel at the book store just to open. It was a genuine unique feeling to people watch today after school before Mountain Day as such Shujin had closed earlier than usual allowing activities to get extra time in, or for students to relax just a bit more in prep for the wave of homework no doubt coming in the next few weeks of lectures. At this time Futaba had probably already called in the helping force she wanted to place a few more things together before they gave their full findings to the group so as of right now Dascal had a few hours of time before today's next operations.

As such... he was searching for someone peculiar on this rainy day. The jet black hair boy adorn in a plastic raincoat over his Shujin Academy uniform turned a corner towards an alleyway after Shibuya's theater heading towards the city's more abandoned downtown area's still being reconstructed. In terms of construction Japan was terrifyingly fast as evident as he had heard the projected completion of the downtown area before the red light district would be torn down, and back up by the end of the year. At the same time no doubt was this joy to the people of this area to have a second breath of life returning jobs, and opportunities. and even new joys to flourish in the growing fields of entertainment there was also a notable sadness, and loss to that which the area once was letting the new erase the old to those who it had once been a place to scour for new emotions and life experiences. No doubt this would give a reason for the one he was looking for to visit that "place" a few last times.

The rain was picking up a little bit more as Dascal found his small trek at an end turning to look where his phone had led him to a rather well-sized building... that had recently been set aflame as part of a gang attack not to long ago. Dascal looked over the wreckage walking into the building gently touching the burnt wood heading in a bit with his phone light now on as he investigated the scene. Bringing the char marks to his fingers he could definitely smell small hints of the accelerant used... turning to his left he saw some leftover supplies of those who used to call this place home. Kneeling down he moved some stuff finding no personal belongings perssay, but enough to tell this was a group who had moved a lot as everything was make shifted. No doubt designed to be taken down without a moment of hesitation to any threat or reason that may have required those gone to move to a new location. It showed some rather impressive astute mentality for whoever was in charge clearly knew the rules of the life they had lived.

The teen could feel some of the emotion of the vagabond soul in the building as even if it was abandoned it still had been treated as a home with what remained of the walls and roof still showing marks of drawings of dreams, better times, or stories that held this group together. Finished from his rummaging he could tell the neat details, and proper attention to the craft of living here that it matched up to the rumors of the girl gang he had heard about at school. The pitter-patter of the rain reminded him how far people would struggle to live, and stay connected beyond the conditions given...

"This place really tells the story of a sisterhood that was once here don't you agree fellow curiosity," Dascal spoke up knowing someone had just joined him or maybe had been there for quite a while as he touched the wall drawn with a beautiful piece of the ocean side of a small town with a sunrise so evoking to the imagination Dascal couldn't really tell if it was a dream or memory of a happy or sad time. He turned off his phone light as he turned towards the rising arches of the theater seats meeting eyes with Shiro Akiyama.

................................................................................................................................................................................................

~Ask For Danger & It Will Befall You~

Anthem Maeve Valor

"ACTION," Sakura's voice yelled out in excitement as the lights went off revealing a disturbing shade of red, blue, and green lights wildly going off in patterns inside the damaged aflame room filled with spacecraft tech. Masami and Imato were reprising their roles as the stunt doubles needed to do this particular scene as there were many hazards once again Sakura’s beautiful mind had painfully recrafted the scene as a complete visual effect rather than cgi the scene given the surprising momentum the two had shown for their art Sakura’s was now fully confident they could do it. This of course would set back completion by a week, but that didn't matter to the crew as if these two stunt doubles could pull it, this would undoubtedly be a grand scene.

The scenario was set to be in the middle of the movie where the lead heroine had just barely re-established flight, and gravity control after the docked ship had exploded damaging the system of the space station. With help from the unknown villain techie who had been sent up to make sure the station was destroyed after stealing a crucial rare rech receiver, it had gone sour as they initially placed the receiver in danger forcing the villain to play to his disguise helping the heroine and her term fix the damages before it took out the whole station and the receiver.

The goal was to build trust between the two characters before revealing that the tech was the villain a few scenes later with fewer crew members left, and the tension at nerves end for the watcher. As such as the flames, and circuitry went out of control the two started to move “trying” desperately to control the damage. The wire work to imitate zero gravity pulled and weighed on them prying at them. In the beginning minus their audition scene, the two had some problems in the stunt work but in less than two weeks had feverishly improved Masami in particular had climbed up the most in capability closing the gap with her other half Imato. To say the least, the crew was incredibly infectious with excitement and warm nurturing in helping them as well in their endeavors. Tashi gave them numerous methods and study books on stunt work acting, Tabono was available at all times to correct and tighten their methods, and Oppai kept them incredibly well-fed, and helped them understand anything about the production they cared to learn.

Sakura signaled another disaster with a snap of her fingers twice to initiate the next round of firework explosions that the two were well protected from inside their suits. Masami in particular would have to prep as she would know the next wave would be designed to hit her off the footing structure at the current panel to which Imato's character would be forced to risk himself to save her to keep access to the receiver possible. Upon three snaps from Sakura, the third wave triggered blasting Masami backward. With her extensive training, her feet were able to hold flat as she skipped back as Imato dove for her clearly meant to be a reverse to the finale scene where it's the other way around before Imato's villain lost at the very end showing he would not stop for his mission even in death. This scene however was saving survival as such Imato grabbed onto Masami the whole prop would shift causing them to slide up until the end when the scene would have them at the edge of the platform.

“CUT, heh if I didn't know better I swear you two are trying to steal the star's rolls,” Sakura cheered as applause enveloped the duo the crew was again captivated by the performance shown it was hard to say what it was but the duo had an all-out feeling to their roles most stunt scenes would never accomplish. It was almost like their body, and soul had experienced such things as danger, suspense, loss, and emotional wails of their own.

"Annnndddd that's a wrap for today folks," Tashi called out as Imato and Masami were caught by their tethers now suspended in the air as the stage was lowering into the square cube it was designated to lock into. Once the stage was secured the two were lowered down as Oppai immediately offered them fruit-filled rice balls meant to refresh them while nourishing their sugar to remove fatigue. Once the big guy was about to leave Tabono latched onto the duo into a big bear hug as she laughed excitedly pulling the two into what was equivalent to a sexy death.

"I AM SO PROUD OF YOU TWO. YOU HAVE COME SO FAR FOR THIS PROJECT, AND YOUR OWN CAREERS," Tabono teared up happily with their hard work picking up. Letting go of Imato she then gave Masami her own personal deep bear hug.

"YOU, IN PARTICULAR, YOUR GROWTH HAS BEEN SO JOYOUS TO WATCH I HAVE EVEN NOTICED YOUR MUSCLE DEFINITION GROWING WITH OUR OUTFIT CHECKS I AM SO PROUD HOW WELL YOUR TAKING CARE OF YOUR SELF, AND GROWING INTO YOUR ROLL," Tabono sung as Oppai, and Imato could only watch Masami's slow death not willing probably to add to the about to start body count. As Tabono shook Masami wildly a picture from their copy of the documents from Mona's snag slipped out unseen floating onto the ground halting at Tashi's feet.

"Oh wow... Time Current," Tashi spoke with a soft voice rather than his usual energetic spring as Tabono paused finally letting go of Masami as Oppai also paused strangely turning to Tashi as the two walked over to Tashi which in both of their own surprises seemed to light up in a unique hue of fondness... with a strange note of sadness in their eyes.

"Wow, Mengi, Aki, Toga, and... Asahi," the last name would no doubt catch all of Imato, and Masami's attention was it their Asahi? Before they could see the picture at hand or even start blasting any questions that would no doubt jump to them a very sharp voice cut into the vines of security and chance.

"Yumi, and Ogi I need to speak with you privately NOW," Koga's voice hissed into the air like a hot knife slicing into butter creating a barrier verbally between the duo, and their operation the call of their fake names ringing load as the trio of crew members immediately reacted well in response.

"Oye what the hell do you need with them were still on schedule," Tashi spoke first before the intense look from Koga's eyes shifted from them to Tashi causing him to release a small sound of panic as he hid behind Oppai... clearly showing that even adults found her intimidation... at another level. Oppai was hesitant to weigh in not sure why such a prompt figure would want to talk to the stunt workers of all things.

"You know Sakura won't like hearing about...," Tabono was weighing in before Koga cut her off.

"Pretty sure I pay your checks. Tattle to Sakura all you like badger. You two in here now," Koga hissed back causing Tabono to look like she was ready to brawl before rushing off to bring this to Sakura's attention with haste rather than attempt to argue any further there was no doubt about it this woman had control of this place even with those who would normally be the type to not take such demands.

"Just go for now we will get this figured out whatever it is," Oppai suggested as the two found themselves in the office without warning Koga would viciously close the door behind them.

"Thank you for accommodating Masami Ogawa, and Imato Makage. Though please don't mind my associate. Given your unique "skills" I don't take much chance with your kind," she hostilely yet quietly hissed making it very evident this had just escalated way past whatever could have come to mind yet nothing followed it as the woman watched them with. The associate she mentioned was sitting on the desk an alluring feminine figure in a business suit with long void black hair up in a Chinese bun wearing a face-concealing demonic sparrow mask holding up her phone with a single finger gently circling around an app... the metaverse app.

"Just to make sure you don't try to pull anything or me to "somewhere" you would originally have the advantage," Koga chuckled in the announcement as she walked around them placing a hand on the desk as she traced it all the way to her sitting down looking at the top with sharp eyes. At first, there was a silence with the four in the room for quite a while haunting the imagination of where this could go, but as it continued it was quite clear Koga wouldn't start this until they spoke first hinting at the attention to detail to make them plunder up as Masami had at the interview... Koga had her a bit figured out which meant now she was trying to break her and Imato down aiming to make them admit to something anything she could use against them.
......................................................................................................................................

~Piecing The Rest Together~

That Weird girl

"Right let's go over it one last time so we get it all sorted," Oracle awkwardly spoke having never led a team even if only in means of info digging with Cryptic, Panther, and Mona. For hours a few times a day along with the Prophet they had placed together a pretty big web of connections. So before they showed it all off they decided to go over it one more time.

"Kagura Koga joined the company around the same time Sakura Yua was hired. Meaning that the potential of that girl who shot Asahi could very well be Koga as she wasn't in the company yet. There was also the fact that the girl we saw shot Asahi had gone by the identity Ishibiki Honago, she was a solo entry with a knack for practical effect who had appeared out of thin air... literally," Oracle started nodding

"Behind the airs of mysticism, Honago was never a real person as shown by Japan's birth record tracker with the assigned hospital against her false info given to the competition, but back then a film company with aspirations wouldn't check something so trivial in heated continuity time consumption. They were small and desperately needed people that could grab attention. This is probably how, and why Koga wiggled her way in using Sakura to be her wedge in. Yet what she took from Asahi to make it so escapes us like most of my study topics," Cryptic astutely proposed.

"Righhhhtttt? Ahem atop of that we know Koga has a secondary faction other than the Meta-Mercs handling her Palace business seemingly using the Meta-Mercs as a proxy potentially to keep their hands clean of it. Given the lack of reaction from them, it's hard to gauge how important it really is or how to the shadows they want to stay," Oracle expressed turning to Panther, and Mona after wondering what the heck Cryptic was talking about, and well living up to his namesake since she didn't know too much about him yet... like what research was he doing?

"But maybe a good way to make theories is to ask you guys seeing as you have clashed quite a few times with the Meta-Mercs. Like what have their prior contracts been like through your eyes of experience. I take it you have clashed in a few palaces with them," Oracles asked the Phantom Thieves present to see if they could build a concept while still connecting the current dots they had.

 

[Nellancholy]

Shiro stirred, shifting from her hiding place amidst one of the taller, heavier shelves. The kind that had once borne so much upon them, the weight of other people's needs, their desires, and had now found themselves empty. With them no longer bearing that weight, she couldn't help but feel as if the shelves suddenly found themselves devoid of purpose. Almost like her.

She found herself back here, somehow, her thoughts going back to weeks ago. She could hear the crackling of flame, the smell of charring and smoke...even though she wasn't there. She wasn't there when her sisterhood needed her, but it was thanks to their own actions that they survived something that could have gotten much worse. Koyuki, and all the others.

And she could have used her (self-appointed) position to declare that nothing was wrong, to force them to swallow their fears and act like they could keep going the way they were going. But instead, she chose change. A decision that took them out of her hands, but gave them a new chance.

One way or another, this place was a turning point alright.

And now, someone else had arrived here.

"You..." Shiro stepped into view, observing the visitor. Someone who had little reason to explore an abandoned building like that. "Dascal." She tried to recall his name. Now, she had to wonder why he was showing interest (and awareness) of her experiences, all of a sudden. "There's nothing left here for you. Or me." She remained cautious. "Not even memory, if that."

Azurian Dream

 

[TreasureSniper]

Collab with That Weird girl

Recently, Sougo had been acting differently towards Kasumi. He wasn’t always there after school to hang out with her these days, she wondered if he didn’t like her anymore. Kasumi worried about him and his recent behavior and wondered if he was just stressed out from the work of being vice president of the student council. She had tried to talk to him but he always managed to slip away or he was too busy, she was going to have to be forward.

Kasumi waited at the school entrance waiting for Sougo to exit. She watched several kids leave and then saw Sougo walking out. Kasumi stepped in front of him, blocking his passway so that she could talk to him. She was a little nervous about doing this, especially since she did not know how he’d react. Her genuine care for him won over her shyness in this moment, Kasumi did not care if he pushed her out of the way.

“Sougo-chan, can we talk?” Kasumi posed a question to him, her voice was a little scared from being so forward with him.

Busy, busy, busy. As always, the student council vice president always had something on his schedule, whether that be dealing with school work, his council matters and most importantly to him at the moment, furthering his goals with the Phantom Thieves. Making his way out of school, the young man stared at his watch, noting that it close to the next meeting and operation of the Phantom thieves. As per usual, he always made it effort to show up to these meetings early, but today..something unexpected happened.

He was stopped by a familiar redhead, one he had been unintentionally neglecting as of late. In this time of strife, social activities have been assigned a lower priority as there were simply more pressing matters to attend to at the time. But even so, he could hear the nervousness in her voice and distress on her face. With little hesitation, Sougo would quickly send a message to the team, informing them that he would be late. While this was indeed a critical operation, they should be able to fare better in the early stages without him.

Pocketing his phone, Sougo turned to the redhead girl and gave her his usual friendly smile. “Of course. But since when do you call me Sougo-chan?” He couldn’t help but poke fun at her as he was used to her calling him with the san-prefix. Nonetheless, he could sense that something was off with her as she seemed fairly nervous for some reason. “What’s the matter? You seem….tensed.”



Kasumi smiled a little when he poked fun at her using the chan prefix, she had usually always used the San prefix for addressing him. But today she used the chan prefix for addressing him because she thought it was more appropriate for this moment. “Is that OK?” Kasumi asked, chuckling a little.

Then as he asked about her, she returned to her nervous tense mood. Kasumi thought he still liked her since he acted friendly towards her. “I hardly see you anymore…I know you’re busy but you would find time to hang out with me.” She looked at him, it was clear that she was wondering where he was going after school but didn’t want to ask such an intrusive question.

“Sometimes I see you have some form of injury too,” Kasumi pointed out with concern, referencing when his metaverse scraps injured him a little. It could be just him being clumsily or careless but Sougo was anything but that.

“Anyway. I just want to know did something change between us?” She posed a question about their friendship since he was neglecting being social with her. She wondered if it had to do anything with her.

Sougo as always gave her the chance to speak her mind first, carefully listening to her words on the current topic. From what he summarized, she felt as though he had been neglecting her as of late, which he could hardly deny. He had to be careful with his words with the redhead, the last he wanted was to hurt her. “Yeah, I’ve just been really busy lately. School work and extracurricular activities leave me with little time for anything else..” the blonde spoke with a more relaxed voice, sounding much less confident of himself compared to his usual demeanor.

While he wasn’t lying per se, it still felt bad for him to hide things from her, not that he had much of a choice in the first place. “As for my injuries…well that has to do with my extra curricular activities. I am supposed to keep this a secret but…” Sougo looked around, making sure that no one else was close enough to hear what he was about to say. Normally he would be fine with just giving her his usual excuses but this time felt different and he actually felt like he should tell her. “I am involved with an undercover investigation. And….lets just say the places I go aren’t always friendly.” Sougo gave the girl a playful wink as he revealed part of the truth to her.

In the past, Sougo has never been a stranger to dangerous escapades, often charging head first into with reckless abandon. While most think he has mellowed out, some could still see the bravado of a growing youth within him. “No Yoshizawa-chan, things have not changed between us. I just have to prioritize things…and know that I am doing this for you too. I wanna keep the people I care about safe.” While he was vague about what exactly he was doing, he hoped that girl would be willing to take his answer at face value.

Kasumi nodded, his explanations seemed to be convincing her. Especially the one about the undercover investigation, because that could explain the injuries that she sees sometimes.

“Ok Agata-San,” the redhead smiled at him, she was reassured by him but she still had questions…just not urgent ones. She found it sweet that he wanted to keep the people he cared about safe. But, of course in Sougo fashion he kept things vague. She wasn’t going to ask any more questions about that, because she felt that he didn’t want to say more.

“So, how long will you be super busy?” Kasumi asked him, wondering when they could hang out again.

Despite how simple her question was, Sougo had a hard time giving her a definite answer. While he appreciated how understanding she was, he could not help but feel somewhat guilty about hiding the truth from her. “For awhile….but I will make time for you. I promise you that.” There it is again his vague answers getting the better of him. While he was willing to skip Phantom Thief operations, he was more than happy to miss a few student council meetings if it meant getting to spend more time with the redhead.

“Ahem besides. Now's not a good time for you to hang out with me anyway. You’ve got that competition coming up, don’t you? Some extra practice couldn’t hurt.” The blonde smoothly attempted to shift the topic towards her own day-to-day life. He knew the girl trained as hard as she could, but he felt that her mindset was the issue rather than her skills. “And some tests are coming up as well. Looks like we both have a full plate, one way or the other.”

Kasumi knew that he would keep his word and find time for her. But, she didn’t understand why he seemed so secretive about what he had been doing. Did he not trust her enough? For an investigation that could mean he was trying to protect her and that was admirable.

He managed to shift the conversation very smoothly and put the focus on her. She really had to train and get ready for the competition. “You’ll come right?” Her facial expressions seemed to perk up at this prospect.

When he mentioned tests, her shoulders sagged and she looked down at the ground. What would he say to her when he knew that she hadn’t studied at all for the tests yet? “Yeah I guess we do,” she said to him, knowing that her mindset was keeping her from studying. Kasumi couldn’t really fault him for being too busy when she was busy but decided to not do the tasks because she felt awful.

He knew he shouldn't make promises he couldn't keep, but at the same time, he strongly felt that he wasn't in a position to say no to the redhead. "Of course I will. I wouldn't miss it for the world." He answered in earnest.

"Alright..I don't have much time left for chit-chat. We will catch up soon, I promise. But for now, we both have more pressing matters to attend to." Sougo switched back to his much more serious demeanor almost by instinct. As much it pained him, he needed to draw this line. The last thing he wanted was to get her involved as well.

 

[Maeve Valor]

Once again, Masami felt a tug of belonging in front of the lights. The excitement. The drive to become one with the role as much as possible. The silent workers behind the camera all watching those who were involved in the scene, careful not to break the immersion that the lens captured. The tethers that were once foreign, now to Masami had become something she was quite accustomed to. In no way would they ever be comfortable, but she knew how to maneuver much better in them now. Masami would feel this heartening feeling until Yua Sakura's voice was loudly heard to stop the production, making her euphoria from performing go on a downward slope yet she retained the satisfying feeling of a job well down thanks to the others present such as Tashi, Oppai and... Tanbano.

It was already bad enough when she held onto both her and Imato, but when she acknowledged the large progress she has made as she slowly started to suffocate her the only thing that Masami could think of was that she was content if this is how she died. When Tanbano let her go and Masami let her head flop to the side blushing and dizzy from all the shaking and squishing, it was only then that she processed what Tashi had said. She then focused her sights on what Tashi was holding, realizing that the documents had fallen out. "Rookie mistake," she had thought before being thankful that they did not question her on the documents and instead went into a reminiscent state. "Time current?..." She repeated questioningly.

Right before she could inquire more on the topic of whether they were talking about the Asahi she is aware of, a sense of uneasiness left a sinking feeling in her gut as Masami and Imato were being summoned to one of Koga's office. As the two of them walked over, Masami couldn't help but remember Ann stating how she was worried about Koga potentially looking into their story on why they were there. Then she thought about the gun she kept in her desk which was also worrying to know that she held such a weapon close at all times. She didn't think Koga would ever use the gun in such a populated place but keeping this in mind, Masami still discreetly kept a firm hold on her phone, ready to press the Metaverse app at any time.

Her theory on why they were being brought in so urgently was confirmed when Koga addressed them by their real names, yet it didn't make the situation any less distressing just because she had an idea of what was going on. Especially since she didn't expect to see a Metaverse user there acting as some sort of bodyguard... or perhaps backup? Since Koga was kind of ruled out as the possible palace ruler, that left room for her to be possibly a metaverse user. Maybe even a Metamerc; And at this point, Masami no point in refraining from asking such a thing now that she knew her and Imato's identities. "Tch, more Metamercs then I take it? Wonder what your code name is. Ice Queen? Witch Bitch?" Masami taunted as she put her phone away since they seemed keenly knowledable of that tactic and would keep an eye out for it. This name-calling from Masami was an attempt to get a rise from her so that she focuses more on arguing back rather than letting information slip out.

Azurian Dream Anthem

 

[Anthem]

Unlike his associate, Imato only found small bits of joy when it came to being in front of a camera with his face being recorded for some sort of big performance... at least he had make-up and other things hiding his true identity from the device. The adrenaline from the general action of the scene made his heart pump and that's what he enjoyed the most, almost as thrilling as the battles the thieves partook in within the Metaverse. When it all came to an end though as Sakura called scene, the rambunctious young man took a few deep breaths to calm down so he could keep his facade going strong in front of the professionals.

Admittedly being a bit greedy due to his own hunger at that moment, the fool would take a few of the rice balls offered to the duo by Oppai. Though the poor guy could only eat a bit of the first one before being consumed by Tanbono's hug, which he had learned to just let happen instead of trying to struggle against it. Eventually he was released as his associate was left to suffocate in the woman's embraces which made the fool grin a bit wider. Knowing the crush (or at least expecting it) Ogawa had on Tanbono made the moment all the sweeter since it could be used to tease the mosshead in the future in a less professional environment. Though the joyous moment couldn't have lasted any longer, especially with Koga with an onset goal to tear the two teens away from the safety of the other cast members. Before they were officially dragged off, Imato gave a small pat on Tashi's shoulder to hopefully ease the gentleman just a tad if at all possible.

Within the woman's office, Imato simply just continued to chow down on the rice balls given to him without a care in the world. Even as their real names were addressed by Koga he didn't seem to even flinch as his eyes were locked onto the woman's odd associate instead. The mask, the features that weren't concealed, none of it seemed familiar which was what put him on edge even further since that meant this bodyguard was someone the thieves or himself had never dealt with before. He couldn't tell if she was a merc or the more likely option... a freelancer. So as Ogawa spit out a few insults to potentially anger Koga into spilling some vital information, Imato pulled out his flip phone and twirled the thin device in his fingers before opening it, having his thumb hovering over the "SELECT" option for the Metaverse app. He had his device pointed at the freelancer, his eyes locked onto the woman with a serious glint within them as his gaze darkened further. "Don't be arrogant, this one isn't a Merc... at least one of the ones we're accustomed to." Not giving info on just  how he would know such details, the fool simply trusted his gut as he continued to stand defiantly against the two opposing forces.

Maeve Valor Azurian Dream

 

[Azurian Dream]

~ The Femme Fatale Trio ~

Maeve Valor

In the epicenter of the marauding pirate palace town square, a sequence of festivities overflowed the streets. Bright candlelight encompassed the mood with the Moon as bands of masquerade shadows made to the streets dancing to the delectable delight of uplifting music. The pirate shadows seem rather drained for the day either knocked out drunk like shadow Oppai being used as a massive body pillow by his pack of drinking buddies, brawled out unconscious like shadow Tashi over a game of liars dice, or even in the case of Tabano's shadow maybe having a little too much fun in other venues upon the dance. The music was rather romantically set oddly enough flowing down with a rhyme much like that of the running water canales slow and steady with an eerie visage deep in them.

The pirate queen herself watched sitting atop a table with her legs in a figure 4 seating state and her back resting against a wooden plank that had been abandoned in the days earlier Abyss vs Heartbreak, & Tragedy fight. The candlelight and lunar gaze set forth a dominant afterimage against the wooden plank. With her captain hat currently covering up the eye patch half of her face she watched the denizens of her world be merry, and full of life as she herself seemed to be numb to it all only seeing what they themselves chose to... what they were scripted to do.

In the midst of it all a soft rustle amongst the woodwork of the destroyed house behind the pirate queen caught her full attention as her nonhook hand lifted up her imposing musket upward as two six shooter ruby red pistols with white webbing engravings sighted right back down at her. The surprise suddenly brewed a rather amassed chaotic smile equal to that of Arachne's who was currently upside down with weaved hair nestling her position against the very house that had been destroyed via Heartbreak.

"All those years of letting you strange bed folk about finally going to pay off in some entertainment is it," the pirate queen softly sneered in excellent all too ready to pull the trigger. That strange boy on the line Cryptid promised her fun and excitement of twists if she let them go that day... And yet for quite a few days there had been silence. Yet now one of those strange body-armored folk who had stayed silent for ten years had finally made contact with her and that was a surprise worth the wait. Whether a fight or new insight the palace ruler was all too happy it seemed to partake in this moment.

"Kekeke I heard you were a madly fun one. Arachne at your service. Though I am not really offering any services today those who entered the the theater before the fancy explosion a week back. Mind sharing what they want," Arachne asked all too ready to dine in another shoot or ever since that match with Panther had her trigger finger itching equally as entertained with this current target.

"Heh, the inspired ones you mean? Willing to explore the deeper depth," the pirate queen asked cutely in a teasing manner not about to reveal anything of worth with no desire to hide it. "Oh, they just want to bring me the perfect send-off. One that no one can see coming," she smirkingly chimed lowering her firearm in sync with Arachne who followed suit.

"Kekeke you're aware of what they aim to do. But you won't share. How rude, " Arachne sighed with a tsk tsk movement of her fingers. The upside-down spider girl pondered on this fact as the pirate lass laughed.

"Guilty as charged. It's a beautiful discovery the unexpected it's what keeps the viewer coming back for more. Burns the embers of the lamp of exploration after all. "Where can this go" is an intoxicating experience for use plunderers, and well these phantom thieves have me hooked," she smiled disturbingly raising her hook hand in an instant around Arachne's throat.

"Kekekekekekeke oh you an insane lady no wonder the contracts not with you. Yet... You're no fool either are you," Arachne hissed sweetly in kind as one of her mechanical spider limbs agonizingly etched the hook away from her throat slowly with neither part inching with any other movement. Yet the words earned a befouled and a bit annoyed scoff from the pirate queen.

"Yes, I have seen the storybook whale of your captain in action. In fact, I quite love his carpentry this building never looked better. Yet mind you your actions against my fun as the rest of your ilk are well within my reach of handling," the palace ruler threatened with a noticeable tremble of the passages of water rumbling something foreboding. Arachne simply kept her disturbing small smile as she sighed as she shrugged her shoulders seeing that this was going to go nowhere, and given the uniqueness of the contract at hand, well let's just say she couldn't use the more... convincing tactics the meta mercs would usually employ in this scenario.

"Keke is that so," Arachne hauntingly responded as her upside-down appearance rose disturbingly upward as she became consumed by the night veil of shadows. After that botched attempt for any insight unattainable Arachne found herself nearing the door that blocked the other half of the palace where two of her sisters seemed to be in talks of sorts. With her chaotic smile turning to a grin she quickly shuffled about silently across the building walls before retiring to the ground in a slow acrobatic touchdown. With a void of sound, she snuck up on the crimson matador Countess as her eerily sharp red nails went through the crimson-obsessed girl's hair.

"Now what are my favorite client, and favorite to toy girl up to kekeke," Arachne cackled as she tested against Countesses back looking straight at Syren ahead of them. The two seemed to be having a serious talk.. for once... over something that seemed important.

"Oh this wouldn't happen to do with the boys on your minds again, would it? Kek, here we are on a job and you girls are thinking about how best you want to get wet," Arachne raunchily teased as she shook her head over this over talked to death topic of Tragedy, and Prophet. Well, it could be worse at least they weren't fighting over one boy though that would be funnier a manipulation tease to work with for Arachne. Hey, these two males were a bit of an overkilled topic as of late with Countess wanting to corrupt Tragedy to their side as the Jester to which she would bathe in a bloody dance given the boy's similar psycho-fight mentality. While Syren ever since that loss of Fixer has for once been extremely concentrated with only one male on the mind wanting answers from the green holy man Prophet. Well wait actually take that back it was totally the type of talk to manipulate for fun for the spider merc.

...............................................................

~Marketable Collision~

TreasureSniper

As Sougo would finish his talk with Sumire barely dodging unique complications his phone would ring a bizarre buzzing bee sound from the metaverses app text mechanic as one name assisted... Sister Hornet. After the vision shown from Asahi's shadow a few requests of information had been sent out by the investor. A wide net of fishing for anything big that would have been taking place in the metaverse around the time of the incident. Though it was good to get results there probably would be some distaste as the informant that would come back in response meant the darker web of the metaverse would be involved with the question... The Black Market of the Metaverse. An unhinged mental gap area of the metaverse was built underground in the Shibuya area where the darker side of business went on. Most well known as a cognitive landmark where the first wave of metaverse users fought for control of the cognitive realm until all halted at the birth of Mementos. Yet it was still an important landmark now used by all for things outside mementos. Shadows, information, heavier contracts, powerful items of the mind, the big boy recruiters for the factions of the cognitive realm that is all that took place now in the Market. The message thus was relayed:

I have a trail that may be of interest to your posed request. Enter "The Nest" if you would like to collect.

The Nest, and The Meta Market the ultimate den where information was power, and currency a true understanding of how Baron saw the world as business. None of the other contacts would show signs of potential on this topic. Worse be it the giver was Sister Hornet who was only available at unique times meaning if Sougo wanted information he would have to go there now before she disappeared on one of her hiatuses from The Nest. It would be a hard decision as it meant he would have to break away from the thieves... but for his own goals, this would be a one-time opportunity to start expanding his plans if the situation bore fruit. It was indeed a burdened risk versus reward. If one were to partake though the meta verse app would surreal be activated.

To enter the Meta Market all one has to do is find the broken down hotel in Shibuya red light district unguarded, but with a macrame of shadows moving unnaturally around the hotel as if it was alive. Stepping into the Elevator doors would reveal a single button labeled: "For Those Who Risk It All" Pressing it would cause a bit of a shake as the building seemed to act more alive tilting left and then right before the elevator lights would go out revealing a illuminance of paint for those books enough not to run away at the first sign of extreme danger. The true elevator buttons were now revealed given different levels of the Meta Market some rather Nefarious sounding, some with strange names no doubt equivalent to shops, and others well reading them was enough to know that older society fun still rather existed in new society. The button the current traveler would want though was near the middle implied as "The Open" With a single press the hotel would let go of the elevator as its placement would correct itself stable as the illuminance light would be the only source for a few solid minutes before neon light took over.

The Open was the biggest as implied by its name area of the Meta Market with many accommodations, functionalities, pleasures, and a legit market encompassing its existence. The open web of shadows cast away by the neon lights reminded most of the dangerous nature of this part of the metaverse where only the strong, well-embedded, or manipulated ruled. The area one looking for information would turn to would be a bit more at the end of the excited get drifted away from the marketplace life filled with people selling exotic oddities, making packed deals, bounties, and even hunting parties forming to procure dangerous shadows. It was a lovely area for sure. Yet near the end, the liveliness died down with only those seeking dangerous answers remaining.

The Nest very much lived up to its name appearing as a wasp nest structure clinging to the edge of this level of the Meta Market much like the hotel entrance it strangely seemed to move in places that would definitely raise one's concerns. With only one notable entrance a wondered would see a well-known bodyguard denizen of the The Open level: Yellow Jacket.

​

Upon notice of a new arrival, this guard would respectfully bow simply posing one question.

"Who do you seek procurement from?"
..........................................................................

~Never Look Away~

Nellancholy

Dascal watched as the girl came into sight, the one he had been tracing, She looked warn out almost at wits end her body language gave it all away. Improper posing, a slouched back, stiff movement... this seemed like a down-on-their-luck discount version of Heartbreak... why was she living like this? Clearly, there was a story to tell, but given Heartbreak's reclusive nature with Prophet even if earning some points in their trio match with the meta mercs that didn't translate to help Dascal with Shiro. This was a clean slate after all thus just like the rain anything could wash away or come washing in terms of how this could go.

"I am me, and it's a pleasure to be known by a self-made girl," Dascal opened with a soft compliment while confirming her guess at his name which did actually surprise him given the only time they had met up to this point was during the school assembly he was introduced in. A sharp offense, a sharp defense, and a sharp memory she was indeed a triple threat right out the door. Her worth to the Thiefs was definitely evident, and given her living arrangements it was clear it was built over much sorrow and hardships. Her follow-up told him she was in a state of vulnerability causing some regret in this visit as now he felt a bit too intrusive.

"Well, I digress you're here. Thus there is something for me here at this time, and true is the reverse," Dascal pointed out walking over to her, but keeping a safe distance not wanting to spook her or give her reasons to be concerned. Well, how did one continue this? Well given the nature of things how about the truth?

"With that said I would like to get to know you, and your story," the truth came rather blunt, and probably a bit misunderstanding in potential yet Dascal wouldn't let it stay there long as he gave reason for such words.

"I sort of found the incident in the paper one evening. I sorta have a pension for mysteries, and well I can tell there is quite the story to be told past just an accidental fire. Would you mind sharing it over a hot meal with a very soft cushioned seat to rest one's weary back on perhaps? I promise I have no desire to hitch you your anything, but maybe I can help a bit or at least a shoulder to chat on," Dascal offered a few different avenues for Shiro to partake of all rather innocent openings with aid behind them.

.............................................................................

~Under Pressure~

Anthem Maeve Valor

"Well clearly you're the brains of this operation," Koga mumbled in response to the girl's childish attempts to sway a response. As such she turned her attention to the more enigmatic of the two Imato to which Koga now was sure had brain cells over the dull-witted Masami. More than likely he was the one to press between the two. As the two showed signs of willingness to pull this into the metaverse it was then Koga pointed out a base of fact.

"I remind you your little tool has a perimeter pull don't want to accidentally yank an innocent in now do we little welp," Koga sharply stabbed into their minds a dangerous fact. Koga clearly had no problem being pulled which meant she either had high confidence her guard could handle them, or was reading them as being unable to accidentally harm innocents given the care Ann, and Masami to work off their lie together concern was clearly an element to this whatever it was group. The room was silent up until Imato countered Masami's thought of legion to the bodyguard.

"So you're not a part of the Meta Mercs. So freelance then? Toys from the projects? Or maybe more troubled vibes? "He" isn't above using whatever means possible I would know," Koga spoke clearly talking about someone the two present were not aware of... almost as if they were the ones missing some informational gaps into what was believed to be going on. Suddenly there was a new layer of tension... the unknown. Subversion without detail to explain...

"Honestly I don't care where you come from or who you're a part of. I spent enough of my life slaving to talentless wretches. Using my skills to build this empire and at the cusp of my ability to branch off "he" aims to pull the rug on me, Oh no we are way past kindness of profession anymore you are now under my thumb not "his"," Koga seethed her nails again etching against a desk as a coping mechanism except this time Masami would no doubt notice a few bandaged nail missing fingers. She seemed fixated on this "he" that she believed them to be working with. A deep-seated hatred of someone unknown and unnamed was definitely being placed upon the duo some form of realm of rage built on her sacrifice it seemed, and for what didn't seem to be worth it in her mind.

"I have constructed this chain of events for much longer than you can imagine sacrificing innocence I can never get back... I gave him everything and simply asked for a cut myself but noooooo can't lose a minor toy among the sea of broken ones can we," Koga hissed dangerously as the bodyguard stood up off the desk imposing a subtle reminder of how quick or spontaneous actions could result in an unknown engagement with an enemy unidentified or read as gauged by Imato. There were two waves of the unknown from Koga, and the bodyguard... this was quickly becoming a shakedown completely not in their favor. Could they outwit or brute force out of this, but then again would attempting such gain or lose in the end? So many inexperienced variables were present along with the fact Koga was clearly not in a stable mind amped this alone. She hadn't exactly addressed them directly up to this point since the beginning of the conversation now she was just lamenting in hindrance to herself.

"So then what shall we do here hmm? I hope your contract wasn't binding 'cause it is about to switch hands."
.............................................................................................

 

[Nellancholy]

"Your offer is considered." This fellow certainly had a lot to say for the sake of it, a lot of breath spent on getting her to tell her own side of the story as well. She noted him referring to her as a girl. Now, she wouldn't have spoken a word about the situation to an outsider back when the kids were actually with her. But now...she was past that part of her life. Maybe it would help in some way, if she went over it again.

She folded her arms and leaned against a shelf. "You want a story? So. Some...people like to talk about the unconditional love they have for their family. Their...children. But that only lasts until their views are tested. They didn't like finding out that the son they raised was going to take a different path from what they expected. And so they made very clear that I wasn't going to be allowed to be like...this-" here she nodded down at herself "-and live with them. I chose the path of greater resistance."

"Didn't take long for me to run into Koyuki." She swayed her head slowly. "Don't even remember why her father kicked her out. Think it was about what she was going to major in at university or something. She's smart." She murmured. "Anyway, turns out it wasn't just us. Lots of kids who're...out on the street one way or another. Wouldn't have survived otherwise." Her face darkened a little.

"And when a crowd gets together like that, someone has to give the orders." Or maybe she just enjoyed being in charge. "I'd say the girls thought I looked like enough of a boss to listen to me. So we did what we had to. I just wanted to give them a chance. Keep them safe. We didn't do anything more than what we needed to in order to survive. Until..."

She stood up straight. Her eyes glanced over Dascal's shoulder, around the damaged building that no one cared to restore. "...things changed, and I had to make a decision. So I had a meeting with Mr. Director, and they ought to be back in school now, not running around out here with me."

And not in danger, was the implication.

Azurian Dream

 

[TreasureSniper]

Azurian Dream

Sister Hornet, a name he hadn't seen for a while now. He remembered this one, considering the circumstances of their first meeting were less than civilized. Looking back, he always wondered why he spared her in the first place. Thankfully, his mercy has been paying off quite well as her ability to find leads was second to none. Both before and after his metamerc days, the Sister has provided invaluable information for his interest whether it be personal or otherwise. Even after this time, he has developed a strong sense of respect for her, even if he still remains wary of her motives for staying in his good grace. Thus far, she hasn't given him a reason to distrust her, but allegiances in the metaverse can be a fickle thing.

Upon arrival onto the deeper and more secluded side of the metaverse, many of the denizens, whether it be strong or weak, parted ways, dismantling whatever stall they had and retreating at the mere sight of Baron. An apt response, considering his infamy throughout the echelons of the metaverse. Some do it out of fear, others do it out of respect for the allies that have been felled by this single user. Regardless, his arrival was similar to that of an entrance of an apex predator, forcing a once thriving ecosystem to a grinding halt and immediate silence. Glancing upwards for a moment, Baron would see a large digital screen that constantly displayed the top bounties of the metaverse. Unsurprisingly, he was still the first on the list. Considering the amount of enemies he has made throughout his career, he would be surprised if he would ever go lower.

Without bothering the other denizens, Baron made a beeline towards the elevator, lightly tapping on the appropriate button of a specific floor. It didn't take him long to arrive at a much more civilized and acceptable environment. Unlike before, the metaverse users on the previous floor, these people were much more respectful and were actually willing to do business with him. However, he was looking for someone else, someone of the insectoid variety. Thankfully, it didn't take long for him to spot a familiar silhouette of an insectoid associate. The bodyguard that stood in front of "The Nest." Yellowjacket. He always did like this guy, he had a cool codename, a design that resembled a hero from his old shows, and most of all, he wasn't rude. "It's been awhile, Yellowjacket. I am looking for Sister Hornet. I've been informed that she might have information that is of my interest." Aside from the casino and Leblanc, he always enjoyed the environment of The Open. The people here had an air of respect for them, unlike the other areas of the metaverse. Everyone knew their own worth, never speaking out of turn. And if they did...they wouldn't last long. Baron had thought about bringing the thieves here one day, though considering the lack of discipline and restraint of certain members, he would probably best to do it at a later date.

 

[Anthem]

~ Imato

Even as Koga had mentioned the perimeter pull of their Metaverse, Imato had kept his phone at the ready just in case. He was more than confident that there was no one else within it's pull, at least no one that they couldn't just pull some mind games on to trick into a false sense of dreaming or hallucinations. Though the confidence dripping from the woman's voice was scratching him in all the wrong places, in perfect tandem with a few chills running along his spine to add onto the tensions found within the meeting area. With her knowledge of the Metaverse and the pride leaking from her voice, the fool was certain that Koga was letting on more than she had been letting on in concerns to their "tactics" (which was further proved by her seemingly knowing of the Meta Mercs).

" "He" isn't above using whatever means possible I would know. "

Another variable that was unknown to the duo, another reason why this meeting could be all the more beneficial for their plans, as it is damning for the guise they'd been running along with for a number of days now. The fool would squint his eyes as Koga had started to rant, of her being just a tool for "his" plan and "his" amusement above all else. Her wrath towards this variable grew ever stronger towards the duo, even as it was misplaced due to her lack of knowledge of the two... but this necessarily a bad development at all. Instead it intrigued the red-eyed brute even further into just how crossed the people within this industry were with the current palace, and potentially ones even beyond their current sights.

But all the curiosity that plagued his mind had to be put on hold as the bodyguard suddenly stood in response to Imato's gesture and the ferocity held within Koga's booming voice. 'She isn't just a Metaverse brawler... She has skills in reality, and she's confident in them.' Imato's glare darkened as he let out a deep sigh, before tossing his flip phone to Masami as he started to take off his coat, it was getting clear that this could easily become ugly. "Keep it handy." Was all the teen said as he cracked his knuckles before entering a more readied stance if the masked bodyguard decided to make the first move. Masami would be able to notice how he wasn't being cocky, trying to eg on the woman at all, completely out of character for the brawler... He really meant business for once.

"We don't work on contract, nor for any employer such as yours. We also don't take well to the bitching type, so I'd kindly recommend you to hold your tongue." That, was directed for Koga.

---

~ Mona

When the time for the recap had come, Morgana was starting to get exhausted in general. When it came to the rants that fit Cryptic's namesake, Oracle's childish behavior when one went against her ideas or whenever she couldn't quite figure something out, and Panther... Actually, Panther was the only one keeping him sane and in line as every time he went to speak out of line against the two, he had received quite the glare from the lady in red. Though that didn't change the fact that he was growing more and more bored with every moment, he'd rather be out on the field gathering info! Or more importantly... snatching some sweet, sweet loot.

Dumbfounded when Oracle had turned to them for input about just what the Meta-Mercs connection to this palace if they had any at all, Mona took a few moments to actually realize that it was his and Panther's turn to speak after hearing Oracle and Cryptic rant on for what felt like an eternity. "Well, they don't stay by their own choices unless it directly benefits them in some form." Taking a moment to think about what he was to say, Mona actually stopped and decided to genuinely think... a rare occurrence. "I recall with previous incidents that some of those damned mercs talked about having contracted deals with Palace Rulers, a deal isn't complete if they don't get something in return." Going off track for a few moments, Mona's devious grin spread across the faux-neko's visage.

"I know if I was in their position, I'd be asking for all the treasure I could get my hands on!" After a few snickers, the Magician would shake his head before returning to the conversation at hand. "While their selves in reality may not have been the most influential, they had access to potentially things ya know! Like that cult lady's tulpas and machines! Or Kamo-shithead being able to access the school records, maybe finding recruits for those damned mercs!" Just the thought of what the mercs could be gaining from a case like this one really started to rile the cat up, to the point he needed to sit back and snack on some tuna to calm down.

 

[Maeve Valor]

After the blow to her ego by Koga's piercing sarcasm to her being the one in charge, Masami had come to the conclusion that trying to trick information out of her would be extremely difficult now that she knew they weren't who they said they were. Now she carefully listened to her wording as Koga speculated on who they really were. Judging by the guesses she threw out, Masami was able to deduce that Koga spoke as if she were neither a Metamerc or a Freelancer, which would back up what Imato was saying earlier. So what was she classified under as far as having connections to the Metaverse was involved? At this rate, there was the unlikely case that was possibly the palace ruler. Furthermore, she mentioned a man that wasn't above using any resource such as Freelancers and MetaMercs. This perplexed Masami. She now even went so far as to try to trap Masami and Imato into working for her instead so as to gain the upper hand in some way. If Koga herself was going on the defensive, thinking that Masami and Imato were subordinates of this man... just who was he to ilicit such a reaction like this from Koga?

"We all know you're about as innocent as a wolf in sheep's clothing Koga," Masami quipped before a phone was thrown over to her. Specifically Imato's. "What-" When Masami realized that Imato was gearing up to fight, her eyes swiftly went to the mysterious woman just in time to see that she did not falter. In fact, the woman seemed sligthly amused with the situation as she too calmly got herself ready by rolling her shoulders. Masami arrived at the same conclusion as Imato by reading the woman in her own way of deducing that this person was well versed in fighting when it came to the real world. Yet she could also tell that Imato didn't seem like his normal self as his eyes stayed fixed on the bodyguard. Normally, he would have made a smartass remark by now, but his focus was unwavering.

"Imato, it's no use pretending now and I don't think this is a good idea..." She girl hoped that Imato would pick up acting like they work for whoever this other person is while warning as she placed a finger over the button one of Imato's fingers was just hovering above just in case it served as a better option. "As for you Koga, do you really think trying to have us primarily work for you in secret will work? 'He' is more of a threat than you are," Masami taunted attempting to devalue themselves while also trying to gain more information on the man she thinks they are working for.

Azurian Dream Anthem

 

[Azurian Dream]

~Synergy~

That Weird girl (Honorable approval) Anthem

"Well honestly... I don't what he's talking about either Oracle," Panther cluelessly shrugged as she scratched the back of her head with no hint as to what the oddity Cryptic was speaking of at the end causing the Bufu user to turn to her now confused about how she the one he had been around the most had so forgotten his study of the cryptids in junction with the metaverse to be one and the same. Even with that brutal selective memory Panther herself currently chuckling hesitantly upon hurting Cryptic's feelings as she turned her view back to the information set up by Oracle.

"You know something bothers me though about Ko.... no... nevermind," Panther halted a little hesitant to try and enter the game of strategy. What had happened with Koga had rattled her nerves, and much like last time she was starting to blame herself again for her blunders. This time for potentially ruining Masami's raid for information. Giving way to probable future issues up till this point any time she thought she had a big idea... it blew up in her face and caused the others trouble. No doubt she didn't want to add wasting others' time to the list. Oracle tilted her head watching the red feline thief be hesitant, and almost seeming to back down from the assignment. Cryptic puzzlingly watched as Oracle stood up curious about what she was about to do she walked over before rather strangely raising both her thumbs up to Panther catching the girl off guard with a big smile.

"When building a theory there are no bad ideas. Even if it's on something we have already heard or reviewed it never hurts to double-check existing or prior ideas and let her rip. You're part of this team meaning your thoughts are just as important," Oracle cheered Panther not wanting to create an error of dissociation between them all. She couldn't guess why Panther was acting this way yet Cryptic had an insight of a guess. Though he was usually quiet, and reserved in the corner Cryptic had joined the Phantom Thieves through her on the day she in an insane manner had taken to charging into the cult of Metatron's business front blasting out in one gasp of air that she knew they were a cult. Isao still remembered the sheer first-wave experience of panic when he realized he had teamed up with a psycho girl. From his understanding, it had not been Panther's only hiccup as a team member... yet on the contrary.

"Panther if I may adjoin with Oracle. You in session are indeed a bumbling ditz," Cryptic brutally and bluntly exponged into the open causing Panther to take a received verbal stab to the gut as Oracle turned to him.

"THATS NOT IN ANYWAY ATTACHING TO WHAT I SAID," Oracle spoke out now extremely confused with what was happening and even considering slapping Cryptic silly as she leaned forward to pat Panther on the shoulder trying to do whatever she could to halt this sudden depressed wave effecting the dynamic and concentration. Yet she herself didn't really have the experience to handle this... really could use Prophet right about now crossed her mind.

"That's a big part of you, and honestly is your snag as much as your edge... I have concurred that within our journey of this mental scape of the other side... that one day I will prove is connected to many of my theories of shadows being the other side leaking into our world as numerous Cryptids.... that you are someone who has made things harder for use... in the beginning, but as of late efficiently has saved us within your flare to take action. I give proof to remind you that you liberated all of us in Kamashido's Palace when we were being overburdened by the Meta Mercs. You tour de forced the push back on the new Arachne, and Abyss saving our heavy hitters Heartbreak and Tragedy with rush conviction," he spoke turning away from the group as he mumbled some words to himself patting his notebook before turning his meaning around as Panther was attentively silent listening to what he had to say as he progressed his reasoning.

"You're a bit quick to jump, but you being you has paid off more as of late than been a burden. Your collection of experience gave way to use it to the upper hand. So don't hold back give your thoughts," Cryptic spoke leaving it at just that as he waited to see her potentially negative result given he had priorly enraged Swan with his blunt thoughts before. Panther looked between the two metaverse users, and Mona before sighing as she nodded patting Oracle's hands to signal she was fine. She then growled loudly in frustration causing Cryptic to flinch expecting to get beaten a bit this time. Yet to his luck she instead ruffled her hair into a mess truly coming to terms with her issue as of late... she had been overthinking it all. Letting it build each time she made another mistake she never considered the positives the group saw in her. She had always considered it more as a pity, but now that Cryptic said that she realized they weren't like that. If she was a burden they would caringly have told her wanting her to be safe by leaving the group. She was just as needed as everyone else as the ditzy nut job who took the stage aflame. Once she was done she gave a small ahem respectfully before giving her thoughts.

"If Ms. Koga joined around the same time as Yua Sakura wouldn't that mean Sakura knew her prior? As in she should have a whole prior life in the system right? I mean I know we don't feel she is the palace ruler, but why don't we see? Like, look up her background? If she disappeared around that event there'll be proof she's connected to the girl who shot Asahi right," Panther expressed hoping that her voiced concern wasn't the downtrodden label she had given it before. Oracle paused on that thought standing up straight again as she rubbed her chin. That was...

"Actually pretty solid an idea. It is better to check her off completely than be wrong later. Let me see what I can run off her," Oracle smiled clapping her hands together as she pointed them at Panther before walking backward to Necronomicon jumping into the cradle of its tentacles before being lifted back in to begin her search. As she did that Cryptic gave a nodding approval to Panther who simply smiled back at him before coming in with a sudden burst of positivity.

"SCORE ONE DITZY GIRLS, WHOOOOOOOO," She yelled triumphantly shaking the nerves right out of her system and rather befuddling Cryptic who even took a step back unaware of what was happening.

"Um...what really confounds me is why the fake identity: Ishibiki Honago? We know the palace ruler is part of Sakura Yua's Crew, or at the very least a Kongo Burst member so why pretend to be someone entering their competition if all they were going to do was enter the company later? It's rather an enigma in of itself," Cryptic mulled.

"Huh, I guess that is weird... maybe what Asahi had in his briefcase was worth the trouble," Panther posed.

"But he was just a writer what could have potentially been in their worth the trouble of such an intense sequence of events... I feel we're only scratching the surface of the mystery here," Cryptic muttered as Panther simply smiled.

"You know... you've changed for the better too. You've really opened out of your shell to us a lot more. Like you care about us as much as your research talking to us now as much as you do your notebook," Panther giggled once more causing Cryptic to be rather perturbed and blushing as he responded immediately to the claim.

"I don't talk to my notebook I simply confirm my facts with myself." Cryptic mumbled as Mona gave his weight to the Meta Mercs activities.

"So completely business, no emotion at all... that's dark," Oracle responded her voice reverberating out of her Persona finding the business-themed meta mercs to be creepy in the methodology suggested like a PMC. It was interesting to hear the neko creature talk about the palace ruler almost like he was infatuated with what they created... the Palaces.

"So Mona why are you so obsessed with Palaces," Oracles asked as she continued her dig on Koga's info.

.....................................................................................

~Reality be Damned~

Nellancholy

"I'll take that as a start," Dascal accepted Shiro's consideration not aiming to push anymore than that unless needed. At the moment she seemed deep in thought of said prior events no doubt building a case on whether or not to go over such with him. During this, he silently kept to himself wondering what could become of this in whatever direction it took off. The moment she leaned against the shelf though it was crystal clear she had come to a conclusion. As such he got a story... and what a story it was. A son dejected by their family for finding out who they were in the world as a daughter, family rejection was a similar pang held to Dascal on that he could connect with Shiro there. Though her trials were no doubt more draining and cruel mentally and physically. A soul weary out the gate, beaten down out of the comfort of the arms meant to hold it. Her physiology and broad shoulders made suggestion now that what she had revealed was backed up not noticed before as it was something he wasn't looking for.

After such a transition she met and formed a bond with others rejected into a small collective, a gang that Shiro never asked why they came, but treated them each as important as the next. A shield that faced the dark non-stop cuts all around her face, and what skin she showed was evidence enough as he gave her a new look over. Taking abuse so others didn't from her body language, and what he had experienced with Heartbreak it was clear it was not something she had expected to do... yet grew into. Decisions that tore at her each more survival than anything else that in no doubt caught the attention of other unfriendly groups... which must have led to what happened here. The look she made past Dascal told him all he needed to know... whatever happened here was a nail in a coffin to her prior place in society... the death, and rebirth of what she had to become. As if to poison her the rainfall starts to come down harder dissolving more of the charred remains of the building while seeming to potentially wash away the evidence of what Shiro had here. The sky was as gloomy and clouded as the shield of the phantom thieves at this time.

"Obviously I have no idea about the rest of the chain of events themselves, but you clearly gave what you could all the way to the bitter end. I feel those you saved see it differently though. You were what they needed, and you made sure they left when it was time to move on. Shielding them from as little scars as possible," Dascal motioned in his understanding of what was given to work with. That's why Heartbreak was so protective of the Phantom Thieves, she was the shield that would break before letting any other. She was genuine a martyr for self-sacrifice as one could get. Her persona the Valkyrie Thrud made every bit of sense. She had fought quite a long time to uphold her truth... he looked over her clothing, which was rather tattered at the seams at this point... with that, he started to walk up to her as he considered his next words.

"A friend of mine told me the best stores are those with mad reviews online. Just so happens a really popular Shibuya clothing store is having a big discount sale today," Dascal expressed with a soft tilt of his shoulder pulling out an umbrella for her to use if she would like before adding.

"And it is conveniently next to a great breakfast place if you would be so interested in experiencing being treated again. Though I will be fair and warn you I will want to ask about you, and about who did this" Dascal promptly admitted finding Shiro to be a unique soul much like himself. Given how much she has done, and what he pulled out of her treating her out felt like the right thing to do in some silly atheist to let Shiro live a little outside her shield's shadow.

...................................................................................

~Business~

"Affirmative. It has been quite a long while since you last made your might present among the rabble. Though I am sure the carpet was rolled out, all the same, to avoid it becoming red," Yellow Jacket's gruff, and smokey voice solemnly spoke very knowing upon how the denizens old, and new must have felt a tightening sequence of fear amongst the "The Cataclysm". Even with nothing as of late to still keep the fire burning of his weight in the metaverse Baron's accomplishments up to that event six months ago still held a grasp of dominance over them all. His silence of action didn't ease people... It made them anxious about what would happen next. Yet to be fair Yellow Jacket knew that's exactly the image Baron wanted. Though once Baron gave name to today's hostess Yellow Jacket swapped back to business-only mannerisms the small talk was short and brief as always. Yet at the mention of Sister Hornet, there was a silence.

"... Of course," Yellow Jacket turned around stabbing his hand into the living nest causing quite a notable and concerning amount of buzzing. As the disturbing movement connected around the entrance wound Yellow Jacket viciously ripped out a Sapphire embedded key in the shape of a honeycomb. The hole would only be open temporarily, revealing a collection of yellow eyes staring back before it sealed up, leaving its haunting image of what could be in there to one imagination. Turning around here went to our the key but not before bending down to Baron's level whispering something only the royal would hear.

"The Wild Beast of All Fathers Elite is in "The Below"s arena. Word of your arrival will travel fast no doubt," nothing else was spoken all Yellow Jacket did after was with a great show of force clawed open "The Nest's" entrance revealed quite the hive collection of info brokers going about trading in this level of "The Nest" small time information. Immense chattering so constantly jarring one would believe a bee hive was in their head. If Power was the ruling tool of the Baron's world then the information was its currency Upon the Barons visage to the workers a slow understanding chill out silence came in something that was extremely unnatural to "The Nest". Barons key would activate a particular bridge piece to ooze down like honey from way above solidifying as it touched ground.

There were five levels of the Nest. The first was normal knowledge trading which checked out rumors and the like. Most of which for derailed but some did click into better information. It was adorned with a theme of tunnel bar tables slew with gray coloring the beginning construction of a nest. The second level was adorned with comb-shaped cubicles attached to the wall all well above the ground level for the floor with an air of privacy and silence. This is where the birth of contracts, and bounties normally took place with a hint of orange coloring. The third level was more chaotic filled with message users running rampant. This third level was bright yellow and if confirmed valid level one's information ended up getting brokered to bigger clients for big payouts. This was usually the turn out of rare shadows, legendary equipment, and even bizarre occurrences of rumored existing other cognitive realms the theme was that of honey the source of survival and the breadwinner of the Nest. Yet this would not be where Baron's destination lay. No level four would be his goal.

Unlike the rest of the floors which were somewhat open to each other, the next level was completely cut off by a layer of the outside material that made the nest. Upon nearing it the key would vibrate causing again that unnerving buzzing sound as a hole formed where the bridge connected to it. Upon entry, the hole would close as a blur of luminescent blue light took over revealing the Honeycomb design where one would find royalty to be addressed in a hive. As the bridge walk would be over the dedication of solid flooring would reveal numerous doors hiding numerous routes and rooms. The blue shine revealed a hidden dedicated engraving design about the fourth floor of the Meta Markets history. This was the level where one would do private business reserved only for the most prized customers of The Nest. There was a fabled fifth floor but even someone like Baron couldn't confirm that as it in itself was a rumor a secret of the Nest where one could do direct business with the owner of the Nest... an unknown metaverse user. The only reason such was believed was there were two days one more than 15 years ago where it was said All Father visited the Nest and somehow disappeared once inside only to reappear leaving with no hint as to how he had exited. What he was there for... no one knew. The other was a similar sighting a few years ago by Baron's friend Ace...

Yet rumors were not what today was about only hard cold facts. Baron's door would appear near the end of the West Halls. If he were to enter he would find a lavish pillowed room with drinks and food to his specific tastes. Much like the rest of the floor, the room was shattered with blue luminescent light showing only what needed to be. The proper procedure was for the client to get comfortable to which the host or hostess would appear. When Baron reached that zone of readiness the door would open.

Most knew Sister Hornet as one of the first generational waves of metaverse users, and one of the first recruited members of The Nest during the birth of the Meta Market. She was a deadly info broker able to find out almost anything anyone ever wanted and what others didn't want to be found. However, what made her bizarre was she only appeared on rainy days like today which no one could guess why... her clientele listing was also small only reserved for the bigger solo players like Baron. A dangerous lancer who many quickly learned not to trifle with in the younger years of the metaverse even had a legendary weapon well known to the Meta Market as "The Queen's Stinger". Baron clashed with her once and had indeed shockingly put her on her ass yet... the door opened revealing someone... who was not Sister Hornet.

​

To the rest of the metaverse world, the dangerous and prideful broker Sister Hornet was alive, and fully functioning in the metaverse, but the very few like Baron knew she had been fallen about a year ago by the Meta-Mercs Elite Strider when she had taken a particularly dangerous request by an unknown contractor wanting to dig into their secrets. Yet as many knew while the Nest had other heavy hitters like Yellow Jacket even a small imbalance of power turned many hungry opportunists into blood-starved piranhas. Thus her banishment was hidden to avoid those who would take the opportunity to fight over The Nest and its irresistible resources. As such to keep up the lie those in contract with Sister Hornet, or the know dealt with the right hand of the Nest... Dragonfly. Much like Yellow Jacket, and Sister Hornet she too was an original first-wave metaverse user. Somewhere in her later 40's the woman was a well-known spellcaster who wreaked havoc in the Arena before moving into a secondary leadership role for the Nest.

"It has been a long while Baron," a very straight, and narrow voice with years of built-up authority spoke taking a seat before beginning to serve Baron some calming tea. The master of the serve, and flavor mixed was that of high-level technique suggesting someone with a mixology background, or maybe even a tea ceremony master. While the heat arose from the cups she got straight to business.

"Ten years ago there was indeed an irregular commotion in the Meta-Market. Information had a strange half-hazard ripple effect from a built-up rumor for a big function that was not funneled through the Nest. Constantly being fed misinformation things were in disarray for about a month as many were driven to their wit's end trying to figure it out. Yet that which came most disturbing is that nothing came of it causing so much distress it created a jarring effect so disorienting that it halted the information business in the meta market. Also caused level one in the Nest to come into existence to brutally fact-check everything," Dragonfly stated revealing quickly why someone his age would have never heard of it as It was considered a faulty line potentially caused to mess with the inner functions of the Nest in particular.

"However, at the end of that same month, numerous small-time bounty hunters, hackers, and trackers vanished off the metaverse map. People you wouldn't give a second glance to, or ever notice. That was about when palace hiding tech was discovered in fact making people not even notice it not. As such no one gave much thought to it... yet a year later after the event. The rumors of a well-known myth started popping up one that you are well obsessed with I hear," Dragonfly posed it in a way Baron would no doubt pick up. At this time Dragonfly was silent giving Baron time to process and build any questions, or inquiries he had in hand at this time before continuing with her trade.

.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

~Step Forward Yee Phantomed Fools~

Koga watched them both throwing out quite a bit of bate to get them to hook and stumble on now she simply needed to wait for responses to see their physical, and vocal true natures. As such the boy slipped up first. As he he immediately latched onto a concern with her bodyguard his impulsive nature revealed itself the bodyguard had barely moved he threw his phone to the girl... he clearly trusted her to hold back said impulse. The look in the boy's eyes mused someone who sought violence willing to place himself in harm's way yet there was a minor method of some self-preservation when he gave his full control to the girl. His words that followed suggested he knew he couldn't win in the real world... so why attempt? This suggested he was close to self-destruction no doubt caused by some intense trauma she could easily pull on the strings of. The cracking of knuckles was an intimidation factor used to gauge the opponent or get them to attack first in the means of countermeasure methods meaning he was used to combat, and probably getting good at it yet used their first strike to gauge how to take them on... multi-style perhaps? In the midst of her analysis, Imato finally took a jab at her... so gauche.

"I remind you, you have no power here little frightened boy. So best to listen to those you're beneath before you become another broken toy to his collection," Koga sneered back downgrading his bravery as an insulted case of trying to act like whatever he was in the metaverse could dare to hold weight here in this moment. Like a child pretending to act tough because they acted tough in their imaginations. Her attention now came to the girl... the rather surprising route of piercing shot of attempt to rattle the cage. This caused Koga to be cautiously silent for a moment creating a dangerous air to build as the sparrow-masked bodyguard, and Imato each stood ready for something to start.

"Hmph same could be said of you both. Imagine my surprise to discover I have two workers both with stolen identities, taking money under false identities. Not to add both of you have prior police-involved charges which are illegal not to report on an application, and don't you two have some interesting backgrounds," Koga scoffed throwing Masami's charge right back into her face while also revealing something more terrifying... she had legal connections. The tension in the room was at a darker tint as how deep this was turning to be was unfathomable in depth now. This case had evolved into something more now...

"Better listen to the child tool, don't commit to something you can't see through," Koga smiled maliciously at Imato now trying to gauge him where it mattered what that "man" aimed to gain by using these two. It was clear she didn't believe the lineup it seemed too intense to be coincidental the real reason they were there was way beyond what she could guess that it was a joke to even suggest the truth as truth, and no doubt be that more dangerous. The child tool was flung at Masami revealing Koga was well aware this wasn't the first time she had been used for the gain of others so why would this time be different? Koga was now positive she was just a crafty tool in this instance as well meant to back up the "muscle/brain" of the operation. Yet he too was easily caged it seemed... to a family that broke him down when he was forced to return to them... there was a limit to how much one would throw against when in the eye of someone who had almost everything on them like she did now. Yet when Masami threw her own threat out it seemed to earn the cold iron eye of hell as she picked up a pen in her annoyance with these two.

"You... have no idea. What that bottomless pit will consume," unlike the rest of the conversation where Koga held a demonic grip of confidence in this one moment there seemed to be a layer of knowing... of undeniable icy fear of knowledge... and experience. Koga's bandage fingers gripped into an extremely unhealthy grip as the pen in her hand cracked starting to release small droplets of ink. The woman's mannerisms seemed to calm down at this as she seemed to pull some grip of professional control as she was reminded what this was all about. With that said she readjusted her appearance sitting up straight and coming off again as someone in complete control. Though held back by the thoughts Koga moved her attention to them both again.

....................................................................................................................................................................

 

[Nellancholy]

"Very generous of you." Shiro acknowledged Dascal's offer in a matter-of-fact manner. She noticed him looking her over as he spoke, and so she did as well. Her hoodie, while intact save for a couple of stitches on one of the elbows, was faded, bearing the strain of the past year. Her trousers had patches sewn in over the knees. Indeed, if she happened to be living in a more stable position, she would consider replacing her old clothes now and then. Even spending thriftily, she could at least be a little neater.

Acquiring clothes was always a more thought-out thing for the group in the past. It wasn't like they went around snatching clothes off clotheslines or anything; that was part of why those who could land menial jobs did so. On rare occasion, once the need arose and there was money to spare, they'd go searching, what more well-off people might call "thrifting". Sturdy, plain items of clothing that would help them keep warm under the bridges or cool in enclosed buildings like this one was.

In any event, she had no reason to refuse an offer to take her somewhere. But of course... "I will be paying for anything I take."

Worry buzzed in the back of her mind, anticipating her obligation to recollect the night of the fire for someone else...

Azurian Dream

 

[Anthem]

~ Imato

"I remind you, you have no power here little frightened boy. So best to listen to those you're beneath before you become another broken toy to his collection,"

Oh how with every word Koga was digging herself an even deeper grave in the back of Imato's mind, it was rather sad that she wasn't the captain / palace ruler as the brawler really... really wanted to slam her head into the cold ground. While it was certainly true that he was not Tragedy whilst in the confines of reality, but that didn't change his own prowess beyond that of the Metaverse. And to be called a terrified child by the woman made his blood continue to boil further, the lion-hearted fool would accept many of insults but one of cowardice was simply unacceptable. Especially from one who hid behind the expertise of another and not her own, having to rely on the bodyguard for protection whether this confrontation remains in reality or spills into the Metaverse. Before the fool could open his mouth and speak out against Koga once more he was quickly shut down when she revealed her knowledge of both of the teenagers pasts...

Why the hell did they have to deal with someone so many god damned connections?!

Imato's teeth gritted as the words of her knowledge plagued his ears and mind, this was not only a job to achieve justice for someone wronged by the unruly adults who think they can hold power over others with no consequences. This was now becoming a battle against someone who had more than enough tools to put away the duo with ease, effectively ridding the Phantoms of two vital members. But at this point that wasn't what he was worried about, what if he was locked away for the violence he caused? What would become of the few he did care about? How would he be able to help them, save them? He'd be forced into role of an onlooker once again, allowing cruel fate to take it's course... and that was the last thing he'd ever dare to allow.

"Shut the fuck up." No compassion, no sense of justice, simple animosity. Devilish red eyes pierced through Koga as if they were lasers, the teen's attention temporarily diverted from the the bodyguard to address Koga directly. "He made your life hell? Oh boo-hoo, you should've expected it from the beginning, Koga. His hold won't lighten, nor will it ever do so. So whatever power you think you may have, know that it is simply pitiful. Pitiful." Imato's mood had completely changed from the laser-focused professionalism to that of a more threatening, hateful one. That change was all that was needed to spark the flames of combat, his fist darted towards the bodyguard suddenly as his focus diverged once more. He used Wing Chun, a style dedicated for close-quarters combat that primarily focused on quick, fist strikes.

---

~ Mona

The feline thief would listen the three go on and on, well he listened to most of it. For the parts that he wasn't exactly listening, he was instead giving Cryptic a nasty glare due to his inconsiderate words to Panther. How could he such things to Lady Ann?! Sure the odd boy had his reasons to have a few gripes about the flaming thief considering her ditzy nature and lack of thinking things through completely sometimes when in action. But that gave Cryptic no right to be so heartless! Luckily he did have a few nice... ish things to say before Panther spoke up with her thoughts which proved to be anything but foolish, earning the praise of Oracle. As Panther cheered for her successful questioning, Mona happily grinned alongside his fellow feline thief. "Nice one." The cat simply quipped before Panther and Cryptic spoke to one another.

When Oracle called out from Necronomicon, Mona would tilt his comedically large head to the side a bit as he took a moment to think of a proper answer. "It's fascinating how solely from people's desires, when they become corrupt or strong enough they can form a whole cognitive space to affect the reality surrounding them. It's also almost always guaranteed to find some loot within the palaces! It's like a gold mine for a master thief like myself!" The Magician snickered under his breath a little bit. While other thieves (most notably Tragedy) may not always approve of his greed, he just couldn't help it at times. After a bit more snickering, Mona would finally calm a bit. "But it makes me wonder if it's only those shitty adults who can create palaces like that, those masses of land within the Metaverse. Maybe if someone is strong enough or has enough influence they could also have one..?"

 

[TreasureSniper]

Though it has been a while, Baron found himself feeling nostalgic, talking to people like Yellow Jacket again. Not too long ago, he would consider this place and all its operations his "comfort" zone. He was no stranger to the bizarre architecture of this meeting hub, in fact, he welcomed it as a change of pace from the ever-mudane real world. The whispers of the All Father's "beast" being in the locale were not a cause of concern for Baron. "Worry not, I won't be here for too long....besides even the elites of the meta mercs have rules they need to follow," Baron spoke with certainty in his tone. He knew for a fact that the mercs were forbidden from taking hostile actions in neutral territory. The consequences for disobeying such rules would be severe, no matter who the culprit was. And if nothing else, Baron was fairly confident in his own battle prowess that he would come out on top, or at least have the means to escape.

Baron took his time admiring the lower levels of the unique location, enjoying the vibrant colors and unusual shapes of the furniture and fixtures that were present. To think all of this didn't even exist a few years ago. These intricate corridors and rooms were once more akin to labyrinths filled with many forms of the twisted human psyche. While no one can know for certain, there a fables and tales that exist, passed down from user to user. A story about the first adopters of the metaverse, the Pathfinders, the first individuals who explored and mapped out the more permanent and persistent structure of the metaverse. Perhaps one day, once things have settled down, he can devote some time to scribing a more accurate timeline of the metaverse. But for now, he had a job to do.

As expected he was allowed into the "executive" area, as per his previous arrangement. However, based on the structure of the rooms and the building as a whole, he has reasons to suspect there is another level. Perhaps for an even "higher" tier of membership? Did such a thing even exist? Was she still holding out on him? What was there left to hide? Baron took a seat in the lavish room, placing his firearms and blades on the table, a sign of respect rarely shown to anyone. It's a shame what happened to the original Sister Hornet, he was rather fond of her, and the fact that she was a reliable information broker was a good bonus as well.

Baron was no stranger to myths and legends, he often used these stories to gauge the capabilities of his opponents. How wide was this entity's influence? Was it even greater than the meta mercs? Was that even possible? "So do you have info about these "men in black" I presume?" Baron finally broke the silence, taking a sip of the tea. Most people would have some fear of poison in such a situation, however, given his strong resistance, and his tendency to retaliate with destructive force, no one has been dumb enough to try. The tea was rich in flavor, and was more on the exotic side, so much so he couldn't pinpoint the flavor. Regardless, he patiently listened to Dragonfly's info drop.

While he was aware of this piece of history due to his ties with the mercs, he never really looked further into it due to his focus on another campaign. At the time, he merely regarded it as just another attempt made by an outside organization, trying to seize power in the new frontier known as the metaverse. Upon hearing her mention something about a myth that he supposedly is very familiar with, Baron was visibly disturbed for a short moment. Trying his best to regain his usual cadence, the investor took another sip of his tea before speaking once again. "Perhaps, but please...do tell. Myths often come in a variety of flavors, and versions. I would like to hear your version." He was genuinely curious about what Sister Hornet's successor thought about this matter. After all, everyone tends to react differently do these stories. But now, he wanted to know her version. The version that was supposedly closest to the truth.

Azurian Dream

 

[Maeve Valor]

Syren did so like this palace in particular. Even though she knew that everyone present were just playing their "role", they did a pretty job at it. On the surface, they all seemed truly happy. Whether that was true or not, she had no idea and in true Metamerc fashion, this was a job and she didn't care if they were or not because they were just shadows. With this upbeat atmosphere, Syren usually knew how to occupy her time whenever she was assigned to this palace, but at the moment her mind was preoccupied by thinking about the last time she was at this palace. In the distance of the direction she was currently staring at was the location where she came face to face with the freelancer that banished Fixer... Prophet. The idiot. Why did do it? It would have made sense if one of the members of the Phantom Thieves did it. From what she understood, for some reason their threat level raised much quicker than most people so they wouldn't have been around enough to pick up just how much of a bad decision that was. Prophet on the other hand is a different story. Had he been around enough to know?

Breaking her view of the area she was staring in, the shadow of a young man that was slightly well-built approached her and asked, "Hey, I saw you at the brothel the other day, right? You did a pretty memmorable performance. Mind if I buy you a drink?"

Syren smiled warmly at the fellow. "What a sweet thing. Why thank you, but I'm kind of waiting for another friend of ours to show up. Maybe the next time we meet you can order me one... and possibly dessert afterwards," she said referring to the presence of Countess while waiting for Arachne as her warm smile turned to a sly one.

"Deal, I'll look forward to the next time we meet then," he winked at Syren before taking his leave.

Countess this whole time was sitting boredly on a barrel as she occassionally stabbed into the barrel with her "claws" before retracting the blades and repeating the process. She did notice that Syren seemed a little bit off, but it wasn't until Syren had turned down the passerby before she raised an eyebrow, "Well, that's a surprise. He looks like just your type, usually you would leave Arachne and me in the dust if it meant having a good night. I highly doubt you've raised your standard, so are you finally getting tired of sleeping around?"

Not reacting offended in the slightest like most would be, Syren kept a smile on her face as responded with, "Oh trust me, I'm definitely not getting tired of it. What about you? Have you visited my domain of expertise with that delicious newbie Jester?"

The scarlet merc slightly scoffed with a smirk, "Unlike you, I don't throw myself at someone I like with the first opportunity I get. He's still a Phantom Thief and everyone should be cautious of him, that includes myself."

"Hm, if it were me, I'd say there's no hurt in having a little fun in the process of figuring out if we can trust him. Sounds more like an excuse to cover the fact that you really have no game with getting laid," Syren shrugged nonchalantly.

At this, Countess was offended and immediately got off the barrel to stand in front of Syren who was noticeably taller than her. Regardless of the height difference, Countess hunched her shoulders in a domineering way, "Oh yeah then what about you and if you've stepped in my domain with that Prophet guy? If it were me, I would have slaughtered the wretch bathed in blissful revenge by now. None of this truth-seeking nonsense."

Normally, Syren was able to not let Countess get under her skin, but like Countess, she too instantly reacted by squaring up. "Careful Countess, do you really want to test that threat level gap I have over you?"

"Bring it. I've tasted the blood of enemies, I'm curious what the blood of an ally tastes like," Countess growled before she heard Arachne come up to them and touch her hair. This made Countess revert to standing neutrally as Arachne inquired so perversely on what they were speaking about, guessing correctly.

"As a matter of fact it was, but that conversation is over now," Syren's stance had also relaxed by this point, although with this statement she still held a glare that threatened Countess if she were to force the discussion to continue.

Now that Countess was starting to calm down, she recognized just how out of character it was for Syren to try to intimidate her like that. This was something that she would need to keep an eye on. "Whatever, what were you able to find out from the palace ruler?"
Azurian Dream
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Masami took note of the impulsive behavior that overtook Koga momentarily which led to breaking her pen. But this was not at the forefront of her mind since their freedom was on the line now. The fact that Koga knew about her criminal background kicked Masami's fear into overdrive. Considering how influential Koga is, if she were to go to the authorities and tell them about how Imato and her took the identity of stunt doubles, she would also be able to bring up her criminal background; thus ensuring an arrest for if not Imato, then Masami at the very least.

In the distance, Masami was able to hear some light chatter from a couple of people walking by meaning that if some commotion were to happen here, it will most likely grab the attention of someone outside which would make them look even worse once brought to the authorities. Yet even with all this at stake, Imato remained stalwart by continuously mocking Koga and furthering her angle to make her keep thinking they were working for someone. It was at this moment that she was thankful to have Imato there with an impervious attitude. The fact that he was undaunted by what was going on, helped Masami to stand her ground as well regardless of how petrified she really was and prompted her to do what she did best which was think quickly. She had already asked Imato to back off and that didn't seem to work. At this point their best option would be to use the MetaNav. Though she didn't want to enact it so early. Masami wanted to wait until someone had made a move before pressing the button. "We knew the risk we were taking by getting into this. The question is, do you know the current risk?"

Anthem

 

[Azurian Dream]

~Following The Flow~
Nellancholy

After an agreement had been met Shiro, and Dascal would lounge about at the clothing store the sleuth had suggested. From it, Dascal was able to observe Shiro a bit in an unfamiliar element as it seemed shopping for fun appeared rather foreign to the girl in the popular areas of the district. As such it was humored to say that try as she might Dascal still paid for everything she picked out having no problem bringing the cost... besides he was treating her in a fair exchange of information. The least she could allow was for him to ease a bit of her financial burden if not only once. It was interesting to see a phantom thief something the rest of the meta users treated as such a big deal in the metaverse be simply a normal person with problems of their own... it reminded one how much of a difference there was to living when you went looking behind the mirror.

After the intended shopping was done the two found themselves a table with a few bags of clothes taking some seating space as Dascal pulled out a notepad with leather binding. When opened it was revealed to be rather brand new holding no information to its name at this time on its pages. Yet Dascal withheld starting a conversation until they had both ordered their food. When such was accomplished and the waitress headed off he pulled out a pen spinning it between his fingers rather slightly skillfully as he asked with a soft voice.

"Obviously if at any time my questions make you feel like I crossed a line or you feel you can't continue, you can terminate this query of mine," he expressed respecting her personal want on this matter with no desire to push past what she wasn't comfortable with. When it seemed that was acceptable he began with a few minor questions.

"I noticed the burning marks at the theater had a serpent-like path outside. This suggests an accelerant was used. I bring this up in notice that it wasn't mentioned in the original report by the newspapers labeling it as an accident or quoted "old electrical" fire. Would it be correct to assume this was a malicious attempt by a hostile element you have had issues with prior with your gang," Dascal asked straight to the point, but still easing into the conversation rather than immediately forcing her to give everything up. It was clear this incident had caused her to make a big life change, and as such he didn't expect her to be so open about it from the get-go. With that in mind, he followed up with an easier question more on a separate sequence.

"If you want to ask anything in turn of me by all means feel free. I don't want this to feel like I am interviewing or investigating you I am genuine just wanting to learn, but I am terribly a curious individual. It's only fair I give equal insight to you if you deem yourself as curious to a stranger who would elusively look for you to hear your story that is," Dascal offered knowing sometimes it was best to tell a story before hearing a story. She had started to share at the theater, but now from now on this would be heavier territory. However, a different thought also came to it as he closed the notebook.

"Or if it suits better you can talk and I will just listen," Dascal proposed maybe the best way to handle this was to keep it at a friend reaching a hand out rather than digging into someone's business from what he had witnessed of Heartbreak even amongst the Phantom Thieves she kept to herself... maybe what she needed was a hand of a friend right now someone who simple and clean just wanted to get to know her as he did.

.............................................

~Dine With Conspiracy~
Maeve Valor

Arachne watched as the two heated up at that beautiful ripe full point of explosion that normally would be orchestrated by herself. Yet to the disappointment of the spider girl, the two fizzled out before she could use her silky words to instigate them further with a bored sigh as Countess digressed to information culling. With a saunter of her own past the two she did an about-face back to them with a heavy-hearted sigh.

"Nothing. She's not willing to share. Seems to have more fun in the mystery of what those Phantoms are doing here. She's hooked on them like quite a few other "simps" as of late," Arachne jabbed not only at the two girls in front of her but quite a few other of the Meta Mercs as of late. It wasn't a secret that the buzz had been getting more concentrated as of late from the minor contract loss of Kajik, and Kamoshido, to the fall of Haze, Fixer even the elite-trained Tanuki, to the unexpected faction takedown of The Tulpas. Things were building up fast and the attention of the metaverse had its eyes on what the Phantom Thieves would daringly do next this time though was different... they had targeted a full operation a massive declaration of insult to the Meta Mercs... and damn was it all so refreshingly fun.

Before the Phantom Thieves, the Meta Mercs had been in control even with minor conflicts with other factions they for the most part were never contested with on this level... And damn was it lethargic a boorish death. Yet the moment the Phantom Thieves hit the scene and wrote a bit of beautiful drama followed. Hell had it not been for her girls Syren, and Countess it was hard to say she would even be using the metaverse. However now the drama of clashing with the PTs and the effect that it had on the girls... Now that was fun to be had, and the only reason she had an interest in the PTs herself. Fighting was a small itch for her unlike most, but the drama... that was the intoxicating factor. She loved watching her girls vent maliciously she loved it when people got upset... the Meta Merc's iron-clad will be well contested and upsetting people and it was so fun to experience.

"Jester, and Prophet. A monk for a vixen, and a nut for a psycho. Kekeke sounds like the makings of a deranged rom-com," she teased aiming to push buttons to see if she could reignite the prior conversation.

"Though maybe you two will get your chance sooner than later to test their "waters". The pirate seems to think they will be swinging back in soon to shake things up. If a girl wanted to wet herself with some holy water. I imagine a trap could be set to bleed out some answers if one were so involved to be inclined," she spoke pointing at the very wall she spoke of with a big smile directed at enticing Syren to talk about it. As such she quickly skirted to the blue-haired meta merc swinging a hand around her neck as she seemed to take Syren's side on the matter.

"Come on Countess don't be so bullheaded. Surrender to the call of your sister's plead for help. Besides this is a rare sight indeed to see our lovely Syren obsessed with a boy so much that she desires a second encounter," Arachne woefully played up as the play theme of the palace had struck her with an acting fever. Holding onto Syren like a victim of war she would turn to Countess with puppy dog eyes so disgustingly sweet it would be hard to ignore them as she suggestively held onto Syren into a tight hugging embrace.

"Regale her and maybe we will help clean you up to entice your target of affection. Heavens know I need to clean out the cobwebbed furniture I leave in your empty skull. Besides you love playing with our food don't you," Arachne asked in a disturbing fever of dramatic styling raising a thigh up Syren's leg knowing that either enticement or disturbing elements would eventually win Countess over whether it be to get what was happening in front of her to stop or her want of what was offered.

......................................................

~Theorems~

TreasureSniper

"These "Men in Black" as you call them are much a mystery to anyone potentially being nothing to note as irregular in the real world... but the memory manipulation you mentioned being performed. That sticks to a rather eerie grounds of research by the owner," Dragonfly visibly leaned back for a moment with her fingers entwined. The topic at hand was burning some embers on the Colosseum champion's mind. It seemed she was mulling over whether or not to continue this line of info broking which in itself was something Baron would have never seen before from the hardened woman. This was evidently entering some weighted knowledge that was hard-pressed to be shared. During this, she refilled Baron's cup before finally partaking of her own. With a heavy sigh, she entered some unexpected trade.

"The knowledge about to be exchanged will clear all prior credit with what you retrieved for us left of Sister Hornets belongings. This along with visual confirmation of the Sword of Storm Ace's blade being back on the streets to contest with someone clearly raiding the All-Father vault successfully will no doubt be with the weight of what will be shared. These are the parameters set by the Owner of The Nest direct trade with you on what I am about to divulge," Dragonfly explained now revealing the fact that this was no longer a trade with Dragonfly but from one legend to another with her being used as a proxy. The last time Baron would have heard of the Owner having direct input was when he gave something to them that had survived the battle Sister Hornet had fallen in. It would be foolish to say that this was no longer a simple matter as Baron was touching a wall of the metaverse no one had access to before.

"As you are aware for a faction to function in the metaverse it must accomplish two things out the door. One it must be able to make a massive impact in its first move whether that be of immense success in notoriety or new advancements in mental tech doesn't matter it must be memorable. The second is after such success it must be able to financially survive and grow to keep up with the aggressive market. A grand example of this is The Nest's Owner. When the first wave of Fame started to form he single handled made the first info network between them all allowing them to learn from each other, and make requests with each other without conflict... all the while never making legit physical contact with the most elusive shadow in there info broker business to the metaverse. This was followed by financial success which must funnel into the real world for someone to make it off any use. This is the most dangerous part for a newly forming faction as it can blow their cover or intentions in one fatal swoop," Dragonfly explained as the room's blue hue grew stronger in the indentations of carved history.

"Though if one has a will they every will find a way to pen to things that would be deemed impossible. Flooding money from the metaverse to the real world is no easy measure. It's the equivalent of money laundering if one were to be honest. As such flooding it into the real world causes notable financial effects. The owner of The Nest as you heard no doubt created a whole new line of info broker agencies all at once. To the real world it was an unexpected surge of an industry in demand to us at the time in the metaverse seeing the creation of the Nest we knew the Owner was clearly behind it a man obsessed with information clearly creating a new sequence of potential between reality and the metaverse. Yet no one could pin his identity down from the start as it was raised as a public business leading there to be many founders on file making identifying impossible," Dragonfly posed the strange scenario, but to Baron, it was a well-known function of the world he lived in. It was nothing new and yet Dragonfly took a pause giving Baron a moment to consider it all. It was clear it was somewhere in this natural flow that the mystery lay.

"Yet only one group never did follow this sequence of effect. The Meta Mercs... the group created by one of the first generation greatest legends The All-Father but no doubt you know of that," the dark hues of blue started to die down as runes started to appear symbolizing into form the Meta Merc logo. It seemed now that things would make sense as to why Dragonfly was so unsure of this topic as it was dwelling into a topic that saw most executed for poking the slumbering beast. Info brokers like anyone else in the metaverse steered clear of the faction, of course there was always the tussle here and there people would hear about the growing grounds of Mementos but that was naturally a battle for territory anything else was usually unheard of or ended extremely bad for the other side.

"Which to this day still befuddles most. Such a massive organization with so much industry control... And yet never has one felt a real-world financial impact of such magnitude to this day. One like yourself has gone mad trying to figure out the vein of their resource movement. Yet the Owner knows who truly pulled this magic off as he made the meeting between the All-Father, and... The Financier," that uneasy feeling Baron had finally made itself clear one of the biggest myths of metaverse denizens... The Financier. If one believed the rumors this was a person with deep pockets with hands in everything attached to the metaverse. Someone with so much pull that people in fact refused to believe the potential of their existence as it was chilling a thought. No signs, no traces, no witnesses, not even a single object of proof to their existence... and yet their myth existed. The most intense part of the myth was the shadow "Nakagusuku" the shadow building that protected the Meta Markets elevator was tamed and corralled by The Financier in dealing with owning a special hold on transactional tax in the market... No such thing was ever confirmed, but then again no one else ever laid claim to the accomplishment either. However, now such a thing was being told to exist and was very really deep into a mystery of the group Baron used to be a part of.

"The men in black you described are the very same ones the Owner saw that day. Along with a man unidentifiable amongst a veil of distortion," there it was the line of connecting information of the highest value in two different ways.

"Though the owner didn't know who they were in combination with your tale, that meeting, and one other instance... The Owner now believes that is who you are looking for. Whether or not they are truly the Financier though is unsure, but that is the Owners theory," Dragonfly surmised. However, when Baron asked about her theory on the myth of the Financier she gave a look of contemplation.

"If such a person were real it would terrify me. This person would already have an iron grip over a major industry in the real world to move so much revenue without it creating a financial effect. That means they would be so high it would be potential that they are even a political figure in Japan. Atop of being an influencing helmsman in the metaverse means they would be untouchable. Potentially having the highest of the high in their pockets on either side. From police to government, or solo legends to mighty factions. Approaching such a figure would be like a greenhorn approaching you... suicidal I dare say," Dragonfly divulged her whole opinion making it clear she was questionable on the potential truth, but also rather disturbed by the possibility of it. She again refilled Baron's cup before slightly tapping her own Dragonfly mask in pondering the weight of this conversation laid heavy on the middle woman's back.

"The reason the Owner believed this possible is it clicks with a third piece very well behind the shadows. Shadow taming or better yet controlling Shadows was a monument of accomplishment in the metaverse. The attempt of such was disastrous until a rising talent from the Vespers Bruja hit the field of study. Originally the research was of poor attempt with her prior group as funding and resources were hard for a starting group to uphold, most will tell you the story that the All-Father then swooped in recruiting her to the glory of the Meta Merc's standard seeing her proceed in success at a frightful rate, but if you were to believe that explain how than? How that shadow that guards the Meta Markets elevator was wrangled right before her faction swap," Dragonfly asked with a shake of her head revealing the misstep of historical inaccuracy performed in malicious contempt. A hidden step of the process believed to have been pioneered by the Meta Mercs.

"Back then Sister Hornet kept an eye on Bruja believing she would succeed wanting to see if she could find out how. Yet all her backlog shows she was obsessed in time where Bruja was seemingly leaving Vesper to work alone, but was approached by a distortion of an entity one lonely night," Dragonfly clearly didn't need to explain the connection with knowledge alone the links made themselves clear.

"Sister Hornet wasn't able to identify the figure either, and never again found head or tails of it. Yet it was clear some sort of bartering was taking place with the distortion trying to butter her up it seemed... Bruja understandably got heavy funding making her successful alone in that study and that's no doubt what got her recruited by the All-Father. After that nothing, no other sightings in years of a distorted man, no trails to follow unless you want to question Bruja of course. Though I think we both know that's a dangerous gamble for she is an "elite of the elite" after all," Dragonfly finally finished her informational flow leaving it now to go wherever Baron wished to question.


.........................................................

~The Collision of Reality~

Anthem Maeve Valor

With thus spoken the boy fell straight into the verbal trap with Massami. They admitted to being with "him" they were there to derail her plans. A demented cruel smile gleamed back at them both as Imato yowled back his feeble attempt to understand the situation. The smile contorted disturbingly to an unnatural twist as she laughed with a deep tone. The ink stained her bandages as she looked at them. She had what she wanted, and damn the squabble that followed it for control of the situation was now... viable again. Imato's words fell on deaf ears his threats... meaningless. What might have been more haunting for Masami in particular is how Koga and Imato shared a similar look in their eyes... madness.

"The real question is do you," Koga voiced in counter to Masami's question as Imato met his boiling point rushing to attack Koga head-on with no caution to the wind. The bodyguard's bodies started to fluidly react following Imato's movement until at the last second he pivoted on his thought-intended target instead now going straight for the bodyguard having already closed the gap wing-chun at close range was a brutal style, and as Imato's barrage neared contact the element of the first strike was stolen in a instance. The bodyguard's hands shot in between Imatos grabbing both his arms at the inner elbows locking them dead in the water of flow. Imato's attacks were canceled out right before they could make an impact. There was a deathly silence as Koga's eyes locked with the boys again as she spoke a brutal truth.

"Wake up child, you're in the realm of reality, not your dreamy escape," the bodyguard's left knee aimed to dig straight, and deep into Imato's gut calculating out compression to knock the wind out of the boy's sails in one merciless strike. The woman's left leg would then slam down hard top his right foot as she released his left arm converging the released arm's forearm to slam into his right shoulder, and with one nasty twist Imato's right arm could be excruciatingly heard dislocating out of place as he was released to fall backwards with his own weight as the guard turned to Masami expecting a follow up to what had just only started. No emotion, no sense of being threatened, they were out of their league here...

 

[Nellancholy]

Shiro scoffed, taking a few seconds to get started on her breakfast first. "Don't worry." If she didn't feel like answering, she wouldn't. "Perhaps it is time for an outsider to hear the truth." She hadn't gone to the police on this, nor did she tell the Director's office when negotiating the fostering of her gang. But she had the feeling they probably knew, given how they'd been monitoring her group.

"I...I wasn't there that night." She grumbled. That was the only sentence she said with regret. "I thought it'd be safe to leave Koyuki in charge. So I went out with...some people from school. Ann, Masami, probably don't know them. Turns out some people didn't like that we were scavenging on their turf. Felt threatened." She chose her words to give the impression that her little bunch could actually be a threat to anyone.

"They tried to set the warehouse on fire. With a bunch of kids inside."

"They made it out and put out the fire, because the one certainty was that no one was coming to help."

She had started sitting up straight, looking Dascal in the eye.

"I arrived after whoever did it tried to intimidate them and then left. Koyuki said...red hair, pantsuit...I don't care who she was, I just knew back then I had to do something." Despite her protestation, her face seemed to pale as she described her adversary, for reasons she didn't even know.

"Some of them...had their faith shaken. They left. I've yet to find them again."

"Now, your turn." She interlaced her fingers. "Are you a friend of Agata's? Why get involved with all of this? With...me?" Her eyes narrowed slightly, as she looked over Dascal. She believed him, really. But she wanted to see what he would confirm.

Azurian Dream

 

[TreasureSniper]

Bringing his fingers together, Baron interlocked his hands, mirroring his host, and silently listened carefully to the Dragonfly's info dump. There were a few new details being unveiled to him, he was honestly thankful for how comprehensive her explanations were. At times, he found it difficult to recall certain finer details from the past. Baron heavily relied on his network of trusted brokers to help him fill in some of the gaps in his memories. "That would depend on the "value" of your information." Baron countered upon hearing her speak about his "credit", being very careful not to let them off the hook just yet. The Owner of Nest had always been an enigmatic individual, who mostly worked through middlemen rather than in person, something Baron wasn't particularly fond of.

Money has always been the lifeblood of many of the underground operations and industry, including their metaverse counterpart. Making money in the metaverse was an easy task for the most part. The toughest part of it was the scalability and conversion. Users couldn't just take out a large sum of metaverse money. A large sum of money out of nowhere would cause suspicion from both metaverse and real parties alike. It needed to be processed, something Baron was well too aware of. Hence his preference for insider information over direct production of money.

As the conversation continued, he noticed a small shift in emotion from the host, it was almost as if she was afraid of giving Baron more than she already had. A peculiar sight, considering he had always seen her as someone above such emotions, especially in the face of a valued client. "You are uncertain?" Baron spoke, with a small hint of annoyance in his voice, a rare occurrence considering her information had always been detailed and accurate, and yet here she was using words that brought doubt to the information presented. Instead of speaking his mind, he remained silent for a bit longer, hearing the news of Bruja, a new addition to the MetaMercs's elite team.

"The Financier huh?" A person with a grandiose title with such a massive influence and sway in both the metaverse and the real world. All information about this enigmatic individual indicated him to be a formidable foe, with access to almost a bottomless pit of resources, further elevated by his alliance with the Meta Mercs. And yet, Baron felt no fear towards them, only a strong sense of contempt. Regardless of how powerful they may be, there is at least one certainty, that they are human. And like any other human, they can be killed. "I have brought down many supposed untouchable and invincible figures in the past. Your concern is unnecessary, but appreciated nonetheless." It was clear that he did not take too well to the supposed warning, but he would at least acknowledge that he understood where she was coming from. "I suppose giving me a name, or even the keywords for the palace would be out of the question?" Baron already knew the answer to that question, but he thought it was worth a shot.

"I suppose I can always find that "shadow" could give me some answers. But considering its reputation, a full frontal assault may not be in my best interest." While he wasn't of the threat level, of the shadow, it was safe to assume that it was on par with an elite, if not stronger. Baron paused for a moment before taking another sip of the lovely tea. "Bruja..the elite of the elites. Hm.." A small chuckle escaped Baron's normally stoic demeanor. "I have no doubt that she is worthy of that title, but I expected someone like her to have a much more "unique" title." Well, at least he knew he had a cooler title.

"In any case, thank you for the information. Consider your debt cleared....for now. I am sure we still have a lot of business to conduct. Aside from my main question, are there any more notable events that I should know of?" Aside from more secretive information, they were also a good source of metaverse news, both big and small. This could range from announcements of new groups as well as rare weapons in the market.

 

[Maeve Valor]

Both Syren and Countess frowned when Arachne referred to them acting like "simps". For obvious reasons Countess was irritated by this, but Syren was irritated because the mere thought of her situation being associated with infatuated with such a person upset her to the point where she almost lashed out at Arachne. Instead she folded her arms and turned away as a way to keep her emotions in check and not show how recent events has been affecting her more than she lets on. She tried to be dismissive of everything Arachnee was saying all up until she offered to help contain Prophet so that they may speak freely... Well as freely as two people in the Metaverse can without revealing who they are in the real world. Regardless, at this proposition Syren lit up giddily and held Arachne as well. "See? Arachne gets it!... Kind of. Come on Countess I... Need this," Syren seemingly was used to Arachne's suggestive contact as she was still hugging her and looked away almost as if she were ashamed to ask for help.

Ever since Fixer's banishment, Countess has noticed that Syren was distant from time to time. Even on missions, she wasn't focused like she usually was and her actions were even erratic. Countess understood that it was likely due to dealing with grief in some way. The girl was vulnerable. Getting too close to someone was always a liability as evidence from how Syren has been performing. Rather than truly having a connection with someone. For Countess it was better to constantly envision someone's demise in blood and already have the mindset that anyone can die or be banished at any moment. Having such thoughts preemptively in her mind prevented things like sorrow or anguish from occurring. To Countess, even her "alliance" with these two girls threatened this way of thinking, although would she ever admit it to them? Of course not. But nevertheless she still indulged in their antics such as the current one. "I do NOT need help enticing him, but I'll assist anyway. Anything to get Syren out of the state she's in. It's quite pitiful and annoying to witness. The sooner the holy piece of shit is banished the better. And if we need to trap him first so that Syren can have some sort of ridiculous closure then fine."

Unsure of how to take this response considering Countess agreed while somehow also fitting in an insult to her, Syren said, "Thank you?... Arachne I think we should still help her out. I mean- come on, remember the last guy she dated? Oh wait, I don't think you know how that one ended. She booby-trapped the hell out of his place without his consent and ended up in the hospital because she didn't tell him ahead of time."

"The guy was an idiot. He should have been flattered that I cared enough about his security to rig his place up and ensure a clean slaughter of any intruders," Countess added offhandedly defending herself.

"...... There is something seriously wrong with you girl."

Azurian Dream
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The look that Koga now wore was troubling to say the least and Masami got the feeling that she might have made a grave mistake by lying about her association with the man she had been referring to. Hearing the horrific sound of Imato's arm dislocating, Masami froze as she was caught in a fight or flight moment. Some more shuffling was heard on the other side of the door as there were curious footsteps getting louder towards where they were located. She had to make a decision, and unfortunately she felt like she had no other choice but to turn to the Metaverse.

"No, but we're about to be." Masami then pressed the button on Imato's phone then put it away and suddenly the world shifted to tint everything in swirls of black and red. As this happened Masami became silhouetted briefly until her Metaverse outfit took shape, her bird skull mask appeared, and black feathers sprouted over various portions of the wardrobe. Swan charged in towards the bodyguard, wielding her chakrams already charged up was enveloped in green cursed energy, as a few of the feathers detached behind her. Upon approaching the woman, Swan rapidly swung her weapons in several directions hoping one of the slashes would successfully land. All she needed was for one hit to land in order for poison to slowly take affect. Even though the poison didn't usually damage enemies heavily, Swan could tell that anything gained at all at this point could potentially help in the long run. Her other goal with this full frontal attack was to give Tragedy a chance to regain his composure after that vicious assault that was dealt on him.

Anthem

 

[Anthem]

He should've expected such an abrupt attack to fail, with no safety precautions to aid him and no quick alternatives Imato's attempt at sending a violent message had quickly been turned upon him from the moment the masked guard had caught his arms with such ease. The consequences of such an action were quick to follow as the air from his lungs escaped him, leaving the brawler breathless as his shoulder was removed from it's socket in a rather painful manner. Curses blared in the back of his mind, not from pain but rather that he allowed himself to become grappled and man-handled like a child's play thing. But the horrifying fact of it all was the only sign of real pain the teen had shown was when the air was knocked out of his diaphragm, even during the dislocation his crimson eyes were locked dead onto Koga.

The world around them swirled those infamous black and red hues as they were transported to the Metaverse, the downhill battle had started to really fire up as Swan took the chance to dawn her thieving wardrobe before striking the bodyguard. The white-haired teen allowed himself to smack against the cold floor and lay there for a moment or so, before a string of laughter started to come from him. Imato's feet would dig into the ground as he rose from the floor like a reanimated corpse, still chuckling while shaking his head. "Dislocation... Not bad. Not good, but I'll admit that was anything but a poor performance..." With a light sigh falling from his breath, the boy snapped the joint back into place with ease, not even a flinch glinted in his eyes as his grin was ever widening with madness fueling it. Starting to walk forward towards the combat from his fallen position, the earth around them came to life as even the air seemed to tremble from the rising energy coming from the Fool.

"Welcome... to my domain." No matter where it be located, when it takes place, the battlefield was where Imato thrived and basked in violent glory. Raising his hand to the sky, the teen plunged his fist into the ground as the tremors peaked causing light blue cracks to be created around him before a geyser of blue flame enveloped his body. The blaze grew only more intense before dissipating completely, leaving the horned madman himself standing tall, Tragedy. A mixture of smoke and steam circulated around him as he let out a deep breath, gritting his teeth as he launched into action. The blaz-blue devil of the Metaverse was ready to give both Koga and her bodyguard as much hell as possible, so when he bounded from his position it was clear there was nothing being held back at this moment, a crater left where the fool once stood.

Adding onto Swan's poisonous assault, Tragedy covered his fists in nuclear aspect to push back the bodyguard with an explosive aftertaste. Though he didn't end there, almighty energy started to charge into his arms as the fool pointed at both Koga and her guard. "Gatling." An intensive amount of small, yet loaded shells of energy were hurled at the duo to inflict as much damage as possible in a short amount of time.

Maeve Valor Azurian Dream

 

[Azurian Dream]

~Why Indeed~

Nellancholy

The snarkiness that immediately followed from Shiro unexpectantly didn't off put Dascal like it potentially would others. In fact in completely contrast as she dug into her meal a bit of a respective smile momentarily appeared on the boys lips. She was high spirited, no argument's there, but in the rowdiness shell there was still someone trying to figure it all out... he could genuinely harmonize with that sentiment. The smile faded out from the sleuths face as she started her next tale which was short yet spoke volumes straight to the point. Her mannerisms went from sociable to downright trodden duration. The impact that night had unable to be masked by her usually iron wall... she was baring her hurt to him, vulnerability that had been pent up... Dascal put his notebook away as he listened.

Evidently she hadn't been there during the incident yet oddly enough it strangely felt like that had been the reason for it. The regret that swiftly took over her voice for, but a moment made it clear she had felt the flames in her heart burning away her confidence to do what she felt was her only functionality from what he had conscripted up till this point: to protect everyone else. As Heartbreak she could play shield with little concern for herself with the armor of Thrud shielding her from all attachment harm. Yet here she was defenseless from this one scorching flame that had upheaved her life she used to avoid the pain. She had not been traumatized by it, but her metaphorical armor had been cracked. It was a personal attack whoever had did this. This was meant directly for Shiro the message those flames had made... they wanted her to break for some reason. Had to be, why else do something so dark, and monstrous like set aflame to a group of teens in shelter.

Shiro mentioned a girl name Koyuki who she clearly had trusted, and probably thanks to them had been why no one had died, or receive extreme harm. Yet the names that followed to the reason of her absence hit different... Ann, and Masami. It wasn't hard to immediately link Ann Tamaki to being the exact "Ann" mention. Nevertheless Masami's name caught Dascal off guard with his thoughts quickly formulating faster than he would like. To avoid signs of surprisal at the names mention he took a drink before finally taking a few bites as she continued.

It was here Dascal's concerns bore true. Someone in particular desired to see Shiro's group about that neck of the woods endangered. Clearly felt either threatened or insulted... it was hard to say which, but which ever it was was taken to the extreme in measure. What more though was the fact this person was aware they could get away with this as Shiro mention no one would react in that area. Criminal activity was rarely ignored by Japanese law they were a lot more strict than other law enforcement constructs. Yet like most others to keep a semblance of major piece there were dealings with some criminal elements like the Yakuza, or a crime family. If the police, and fire department would ignore such a endangerment so close to actual social area's especially near Shibuya there was no doubt Shiro had the attention of someone with a lot of prominence.

From here Dascal gave full concentration as Shiro stood up straight without reason making direct eye contact to which he gave respectfully back in turn no longer sitting aloof, and giving her full eye contact watching her somber eyes weave her emotions on the matter giving him a minor description of who had done it. Direct contact with the anarchy... Shiro was a personal challenge to someone... someone wanted to break her, and only her without care to whatever was damaged in the process. Shiro showed signs of understanding as she started to go a bit pale thinking about it... she was not the type to think of herself thus upon the pressure of such she clearly wasn't use to, and it was starting to weigh down on her from what he could tell. Still what came next was a combination of faith, and desire... she hadn't saved all the girls, and from the sounds of it she was still trying to find quite a few of them even now. She was staying at that broken home in hopes the lost would find their way home so she could finally protect them one last time to a better life.

Dascal remained quiet as the burden Shiro carried wouldn't stop no matter what was said it was self inflicted. Until she could do right by those wronged by that other person in retaliation to her being... she wouldn't get over this mental hurdle she barbed into herself. It was presently though it seemed it was time for another surprising name drop as she armed her own question striking Dascal with a name he again would expect to escape her lips... Agata. She seemed to believe that the student council's Vice President had sent him potential... well it made sense she was a troubled student, apparent of a gang, but at the same time it was very clear Shinjin Academy didn't care about it students given the Kamashido incident, and even the ones who did had been pressured down for quite a long time so to see effort now was unlikely. That combined with that one conversation he had with Agata... made it strange he clearly did stand on that precedence of interaction to the others. So why hadn't he reached out to Shiro already? Surely someone with Agata's mentality would have either aimed to correct her, or kick her out he made it crystal clear that judgement, and justice were black, and white to him so why leave something so grey alone? Why had they not done anything with her? Futaba's Baron theory was starting to carry some unexpected weight. Shiro's hand interlaced as she formed her questions she was now reaching out now for information, and oddly enough it didn't seem to be concentrated on him, but if he had collusion with Agata on this as if she was expecting something similar to his thoughts.

"The student council VP? No in fact I only every talked to him once after the Kamashido scandal. Seems like a extremely busy guy who is a bit to tense on his stance, and is rather strict on business mentality," Dascal's words ironically rang well as he realized Baron, and Agata... were very similar in approach. The irony was not lost on Dascal as he now leaned a bit forward closer to Shiro as he gave her a direct undeniable approach to his reasons.

"Honestly? At first it was because I am just extremely curious, and love to put my nose were it doesn't belong. I had heard a lot about you from others whispering at school," he explained which was indeed true not a single lie was told in fact it connected straight to the rest of his reason's as well he was curious who Heartbreak was, and what the Phantom Thieves were made of. The whispers of the students had lead him to discover Shiro was Heartbreak, and he did place his nose directly into their business. Yet now there was more to this as he sat with her being that shoulder for her to vent to as without warning he clasped his hands around hers as if to comfort her while aiming to snap her out of her despair. These Phantom Thieves, they were people... and a cat but ignore that fact for now. They did what they do cause they knew what it was like to be damaged, and to be lost. Not willing to stand to the sidelines anymore and let it happen to others.

"Yet now I certifiably believe I want to help you, cause you feel like a person I could come to care a awful lot about. So, consider this my friendship application. I am going to help you find those missing girls, and help fight back whoever has their eyes set on making you miserable. I refuse to let others be stepped on just like you that's why I am getting involved with you. To remind you their are people who want to protect you as much as you do others," with this rather fevered response he let Shiro's hands go leaning back into his seat as he mulled a few things over.

"Though honestly with that said as much as it would be easier to nip the bud of the bigger problem. I think its going to be rather unlikely something we can do with the rest unfound. As such we should probably focus on finding the other girls first, and you a new home. Cause once we start to cause waves to your predator we might quickly find ourselves with little room to breath," Dascal spoke completely jumping into his investigative mode clearly uncaring on the elements of danger that would no doubt come from aiding Shiro. He took a bite of his breakfast again as he pulled out his phone. activating the contact exchange app holding it across the table to allow Shiro to do the same. They would need access to each other once they got this ball rolling at all times.

....................................................................................................................

~Confliction Due to Course~

TreasureSniper

Dragonfly could see the disdain on Barons fingers knowing the fact the Owner wasn't here to forebode this tale in person. It was not something to the customers liking, but as such leading powers couldn't be just out in the open like solo operators like Baron. They had people to keep functioning thus risking their neck in the open was a dangerous move as a downfall of a leader in the Meta-Verse was equivalent to the downfall of a solo operator... it was instant silence of a whole function. Given Baron's conquest prior history it was a safeguard for the Owner not to be in the same room with him for many reasons. Though even with that said Dragonfly understood the level of Barons distaste of the manner of approach. Baron was very fluent with the old ways that even to this day was a custom most factions followed. Yet the persona user in front of her made people nervous as he didn't see it just as a custom, but as a complete way of life that people should follow, and that was one of many reasons to the respect of fear he held on the metaverse denizens.

"I am a middleman, and while a champion of the the Meta-Market I currently reside in this scenario talking of myths between two legends of the Metaverse about a legendary myth in the metaverse. The Owner believes the info, and chance solid. Thus I believe him, yet I myself find this talk haunting like I said if The Financier is real the potential being on par with you or the All-Father is disturbingly likely whether that be via power or control is to be discovered," she cut in as Baron professed annoyance making it clear where she stood on this. It had nothing to do with what was certain or uncertain it was the implications that followed that made her concerns. Figures like Baron, and All-Father were in their own category of omnipotent potential walking living nukes. Of course there were other denizens as highly regarded, and feared but those two in particular no one could hold a cup to at this time. Its why people fearedto tangle with the Meta-Merc faction their elites were trained, and tested against such elements. Dragonfly even at her most dangerous height in the arena knew she didn't stand a chance given weight to how her equal Sister Hornet was struck down by Strider.

Currently it seemed Baron was mulling over it all seeing no threat of it, and like many other times waving it off the looming potential of danger only holding some ire no doubt in the potential connection to the Meta-Mercs... and slipping through Barons grasp to gain the advantage. Dragonfly was aware that this had been a avenue the young man had traversed as potential originally with Sister Hornet. Back than it caught no line only now to appear visibly without a doubt so annoyance would stand to stem from it.

"More so a caution you may be meeting one who would think the same of you. We all eventually hit a wall Baron. Its the reason I left the Arena after my lose against the upstart Titan those years ago. Though you have a history for breaking each one that comes your way eventually someone will catch up," there it was again that strange air of warning Yellow Jacket had done the same to Baron warning him. These people knew his might his wraith, hell it was clear they both respected him professionally, and via fear of his accomplishments, but something was different. The air of respect hadn't changed, but the realm of his dominance... felt altered almost.

"No. Unfortunately no one knows if this Financier is a palace holder, persona user, or both they are a completely enigma Baron. Like I said I have my doubts while The Owner doesn't but if their is such a line to find the answer it will be with Bruja," Dragonfly let out a soft laugh to Barons remark on Bruja's title. From time to time it was clear Baron was afflicated with actions of a younger soul, but with the year of experience she had with him to her it was clear he was of younger age possibly not even of an adult. At the very least was a passional youthful adult his attention to titles and the requirement of them supposable needing to be badass gave it a bit away. From here though the topic came to its conclusion his mind no doubt set to check up with Bruja at some point in the future.

"I'll let the Owner know of your satisfaction," she bowed politely to his acknowledgment.

"Actually. yes your prior request of The Nest to look into a lost weapon... of a prior life's has bore some fruit. One particular high and rising individual from Karma a recent heavy hitter bounty hunter type named Dredge has been spotted with a rather... unique scythe seeped in ominous mists of purple. When I heard about this I looked into it personally, and while its appearance doesn't completely match up," Dragonfly paused pulling out a picture taken of the metaverse user with a very menacing scythe.

"The smaller details no doubt strikes familiar," Dragonfly asked placing down the picture for Baron to take.

"Speaking of concerns. I should tell you as you haven't been around in awhile. There have been notable shifts as of late amongst the denizens, whispers of intriguing conflicts caused by a new faction. Rowdy folk that out of nowhere disoriented, and fractured the Tulpa faction to a crumpled mess. Atop that a very fevered rumor that the Meta-Mercs agent count has dwindled a few steps for the first time in quite awhile," Dragonfly paused with it now being Barons turned to be gauged on reaction.

"Of course there is nothing valid, but the Meta Mercs of late have been looking for rather odd info. Information for greenhorns no ones even heard of before until recently after a unexpected palace take down in the Shujin School area," at first it was a strange topic to bring up, but suddenly the tension that Baron had build up on Dragonfly would slowly erode as a different strange tension of the unknown started to build.

"As you know its rare for the Meta-Mercs to be... concerned, or even annoyed for that matter they rarely put up with much at all like yourself. It seems someone's been rattling their boundaries, and still seems around to tell the tale. Not unusual is it to hear about anyone clashing in Mementos for growing territory, but outside no one messes with the faction. Yet no one has sighted Haze, or Fixer of the Meta-Mercs in quite awhile," Dragonfly expressed now completely in her normal uncaring stance as the prior topic was over, and her element of professionalism returned to the forefront of for sure knowledge brokering.

"Now suddenly there is talk that a elite in training of theirs has potentially... vanished. Yet again no confirmation, but for so many rumors to appear. Well... you of all people know we follow a strike set of codes to a certain older standard which can be interpreted in a few ways, but to go completely against it... is unheard of and may start to cause detrimental effects to the way things operate," the woman expressed in way that was clearly a caution rather than information. The effects the Phantom Thieves unique methodology were causing... were starting to leak out into the rest of the metaverse

"Newer generations are starting to smell rebellious waters. The kind that could make people act or attempt things one wouldn't fathomable consider sane," Dragonfly mused as no doubt Baron a believer of the old way would click where this was going fast as a prior unimaginable incident had accrued when the Tanuki's attacked him awhile back in a scenario that he would even consider beyond psychotic to what he was use to his position in the metaverse deterring.

"Someone's starting to push the unmovable mountain All-Father built after "The Cataclysm", and if one does it successfully enough times others will start to follow. Unraveling things against the older way, toppling that which we stand by... absolute order. Such a groups existence to be revealed that drastically in accomplishment would no doubt cause other groups to start enacting things they wouldn't dare before. Seeing how you wander this reality more than most would you happen to have heard wind of "The Phantom Thieves". Those that steal hearts, and make people confess their sins," Dragonfly ominously asked. It was crystal clear now, the outward effect had started, and now there was no stopping it the metaverse denizens were now all eyes on the Phantom Thieves aware of them, and what they had started. Waiting to see what would become dying myth, or living legend.

"Of course that might not be bad either. The metaverse of late has started to become stagnant. Mementos is the final frontier after all. Old kings, and queens living off prior conquests with nothing new to show keeping a reign to avoid change. Maybe it is time for certain crowns to fall, and let new blood take hold in this strange potential bold direction," Dragonfly considered making her own opinion known on the topic. It was clearly their accomplishments had been heard about, but what they were about or doing was up in the air... yet the effect seemed to deem a rebellion of change, and that was the message people were starting to take hold to about these Phantom Thieves. Other than that it was clear no strong solid information had leaked yet codenames, or descriptive information seemed relatively safely hidden... at the moment.

With such in mind a bit of a buzz could be heard as one of the shadow bees came into the room landing on Dragonfly's shoulder delivering some form of message as Dragonfly simply nodded waving the bee to leave as she turned her attention back to Baron. "Yellow Jacket informs me their is a bit of a commotion out in the marketplace... a group of people are yelling apparently claiming their here... for your beheadment," she informed Baron making weight to the talk of change coming faster than one would like. Discord was already in the works well past expectation the wheels of power struggle were finally turning again.

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~To Trap, & Feast~

Maeve Valor

Arachne could smell the festering waters of infuriation off the two girls to which a glee spread upon her lips. There it was the thing that made them so enjoyable to be around the complicated web of "friendship" as their frustrations vented a bit in looks given though Syren loosened up upon realizing what Arachne was offering as the water girl suddenly clung enthusiastically to the spider in tandem. Better yet Syren than went double down to place a form of guilt on Countess in her well versed play for help.

"You need all the help girl. Hell have you ever even gotten past first base before you harm/scare them off kekeke," Arachne teased letting go of Syren as the duo turned to Countess finally getting her to surrender before she went on her bloody "reason" why she would help to gut the Prophet boy.

"Awww assholes can care. Damn!!! see she's a menace to the realm of dating being the bull before suddenly becoming the matador to stab in to what she think she's won," Arachne smiled folding her hands at Countesses humor waving of the hands reaction. Though once Countess gave her counter to reason with her last boy friend Arachne, and Syren quickly shared a bewildered glance before returning to Countess.

"There really is isn't there? Probably should get are selves tested for something... like rabies being as close as we are with her keke. For now though lets concentrate on some preemptive strategy to something we can accomplish shall we ladies" Arachne snidely remarked as she started to talk shop with her sisters fading out the chatter as the moon set to fall on devious plots.

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~Gaze Into The Blackhole~

Anthem Maeve Valor

The situation twisted fast as reality bent to the will of the metaverse phase shift. The bodyguard held no reaction to its divine pull as Koga simply watched with fevered knowing now what would be to come now that she knew what they were. The girl was quick to change the scene upon her friends failed attempt to strong arm the situation as the red, and black hues developed everything the body guards image started to warp as well as something akin to a miniature black hole started to develop around her sparrow mask. During the change though both Swan, and Tragedy rushed in mid transformations not wanting to give any air to the situation. During all of this Koga, and Imato never broke eye contact the insanity, and hate for each other growing with each second with the desire to rip the other apart in tandem of operation went beyond the well of sanity.

Swan would make her mark first as she unleashed a fury of chakram swings in a complex signature of omnidirectional swings as the body guards attire was a sundered delivering multiple wounds produce black blooded mist form their marks as her clothes were quickly replaced by a strange glossy black futuristic esque rubber bubbling like tar around her whole body. Yet the sights of the poison oozing off the wounds as the mid transformation body guard confirmed Swans success. While taking a few steps back robotic like pieces of armaments' started to jet out of the rubber suit that had encased the bodyguard.

Right on the heels of his ally's flawless execution Tragedy came full steam ahead as the fissure caused destabilization to the ground a bit as he charged his nuke fist right for the woman making contact as the splash of the blast resounded all around the area in a blue fire display of destruction that made Koga finally tense up as she gritted her teeth... who were theses kids to throw around such heavy attacks at her body guard. Though she wouldn't have time to consider this as Tragedy came for her next unleashing a torrent of nuke shell blast... so her murder had been cleared to keep what he wanted... that man saw no further value of her it seemed as the reality of it all suddenly finally set into Koga's mind wiping the smile clean off her face in pure panic before a sudden beep like confirmation of full charge followed no doubt disrupting Tragedy's concentration as what he had made impact with violently flung him away into the air before a chilling voice spoke

"Not bad yourselves... ANPUT," the bodyguard finally spoke as ting of poisonic pain clearly hissing from her deeper tone as their futuristic transformation was complete revealing a dangerous mercenary like femme fatale who took aim. Her sci-fi helmet burned as a personw as summoned into the not so big room with a massive claw of a arm shielding Koga from the shell blasts. Anput the Egyptian Goddess wife of Anubis towered over the duo looking down at them like a wild cat its prey. yellow brimming eyes like spotlights flashed at the Phantom Thieves with a mouth lightly gapped open revealing a ferocious set of sharpened teeth. As the entity on all four barely fit in the room it was dispersing from existence returning to its owners mind.

​

With what appeared to be a energy rifle of some sort was quickly aimed at the phantom bird Swan as dozens of scatter laser blasts erupted from the weapon in a overwhelming blunderbuss bullet hell manner that started to move unnaturally chasing after Swan to overwhelm her with destructive force acting like a smart gun from a sci-fi movie. The bodyguard than turned her full attention to Tragedy as he would get a chance to see her gun having a strange charging line on it clearly at only a third charge... her firearm while extremely destructive clearly had a charge time per shot.

​

"Try again," the woman taunted Tragedy, and Swan as the nuclear flames residuals left from his fist extinguished off her face where he had previously made contact once again denouncing his attempt to claim control of the situation. A few annoyance hissing sounds escaped her suit as another wave of poison did its mark. Yet for now rather than self care it was clear she would not attempt to heal while they were around. With little words after she simply got between the Phantom Thieves, and Koga again. As long as she was around it became clear... Koga wouldn't be reachable. Yet Koga herself deemed fit to stay silent as she sat down literally mulling the confirmations of all actions taking place... she hadn't expect things to go this far... she though she could simply ease out, but now it was clear much like the work she had done for that man in the midst of it she to had apparently become his property, and he wasn't about to let go ever.
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