Fandom Persona 5: The Meta War CLOSED

[TreasureSniper]

"A crepe run? And here I thought models had a strict diet." Sougo couldn't help but snicker a bit, finding it mildly amusing that the girl was out and about just for a snack. "Well, rest is important, just don't let him slack too much on his training. And please give him these when you get the chance." Sougo handed her a packet of cat biscuits he had just purchased. The young man could only hope that the girl was taking care of the "cat" well enough.

Listening to Ann speak about needing a beach day was strange. Seeing as the Phantom thieves were on the verge of a great conspiracy and yet her focus lies on finding time to relax. Of course, he couldnt fully blame her for seeking brief moments of respite since he was doing the same thing. "I am sure all of you will have plenty of time to do that when you wrap things up." Assuming all of them would be able to finish this ordeal of course. As it stands, there were a lot worrying factors surrounding this specific target.

Sougo remained silent for a while, hearing other people approaching the both of them while Ann continue to have a conversation with herself. Based on the content of their conversation, the blonde quickly determined that these people were likely her acquaintances from her modelling career. While somewhat entertained, Sougo was ready to leave the scene, wanting to retreat to somewhere more quiet.

That was of course until an aquamarine-haired girl stepped forward to speak with Ann before eventually moving over to him. The blonde boy did not recognize her face, nor her voice, but he couldn't help but feel there something familiar about her. The way she spoke, and carried herself around people was distinctive. It reminded him of a person he very much regretted hurting. His mind was trying to put together the pieces, while there are similarities, there still wasn't enough evidence to confirm his hypothesis. And yet, even the mere though of her being the person froze him in place momentarily, holding a neutral expression.

Eventually, Sougo finally registered, what the blue girl had said, prompting a reply. Sougo smiled at the girl, thanking her for the compliment before returning the favor. "My my, a compliment from a model, I am touched or do you say that to everyone you meet? You are quite the head turner yourself, Ejiri-san." Slipping back into his usual cavalier persona, Sougo extended his hand to her for a handshake. "I am Sougo Agata, Takamaki-san's acquittance, pleased to meet you." While this was common gesture for Sougo, there was another purpose for this. Having shaken many hands in his line of work, he felt that he could tell a lot about a person from simple handshake as well as how they respond to his own grip.

"Let's see if its really her..."

 

[Anthem]

Imato

The white-haired boy was grateful for his physical ability as getting to the second floor was essentially a breeze for him thanks to it, not even working himself up that much as his breath was still steady. Pulling a pin from his pocket he prepared to pick the window open, but hearing a rampant shuffle would make him stop dead in his tracks. From the corner of his eye, Imato saw his partner in crime waving frantically like their lives depended on him getting noticed by the other. Swiftly, the rogue was away from the window and pressed against the wall beside it. He felt his chest rising and falling a touch more dramatically now, getting caught was something he knew was a possible outcome but one he didn't wish upon himself or Isao due to the legal consequences that could follow. But being one too stubborn to give in, he closed in on the window once again.

Though before he could commence picking at it once again his eyes would look up and through the glass. One figure in the room, but... it didn't have the stature that Prophet or Dascal had. Was it perhaps a family member? The fool was certain that this was the home of their unknown ally, so despite the unknown he was unshaken. But he would adapt his plan, being bull-headed in a moment like this was a sure way to get caught. Moving fast, causing a shadow for only a moment, Imato moved to the other available window. He would start his work, only letting out a few curses as he was trying to jimmy the window. It had been a while since he had to do something like this...

---

Morgana

`That regal bastard! Are all the ladies just magnetized to him, not only Lady Ann but now he has three more on top of her around him! No number of treats can repay for this betrayal Sougo, no amount!` Morgana would think to himself as he felt some of the hairs on his back rising, and a mean grumbling coming from him causing some passersby to glance at the cat with confused looks. Quickly but efficiently, he would start to groom himself to ensure he looked top notch. After using a vending machine as a mirror, Morgana held himself high and started to strut his way towards the group. Meowing melodically, Morgana approached and wanted all eyes to be on him. He sat by Ann's feet, looking smugly up at Sougo.

 

[That Weird girl]

The way that Sadako was accusing her of hogging all the hot boys was typical of her. Ann seriously thought they were friends...was she a fool for thinking this? Most likely. But. she could not help but feel a little bit of whiplash as Sadako shook her. The blond girl eyes widened and was going to say something in defense but was interrupted by Sougo and Sadako talking to each other, or more like flirting. Ann made a face and crossed her arms as she was not a fan of Sadako's way of introducing herself to males. Sadako had a way of making herself known to the opposite sex like she has done so many times. Did the pragmatic Sougo know Sadako?

"Ugh, at least get to know him first," Ann said to Sadako, clearly expecting her to get all over him. At least Sadako did not know Ryoma yet...Ann felt a hint of anxiety that she was talking to Ryoma, even though that was impossible for them to know each other. But the blue haired girl was the least of Ann's worries right now, as the Phantom Thieves were in the last phase in their plan to infiltrate the palace. She had to worry about what would await them once they would return back. Then they could have a beach day!

"Do you two know each other?" Ann asked, confused.

Of course, Morgana had to strut over and make his presence over. The cat was very adorable. Ann looked down at Morgana and gave him a pat on the head, "There you are! I've been wondering you went off to."

Maeve Valor TreasureSniper Anthem Azurian Dream

 

[Azurian Dream]

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~Bad Decisions Indeed~
Anthem Azurian Dream
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Quickly, the window Imato had abandoned swung wide open as Futaba let out a bored sigh, wiggling past the curtain that was still oddly down. With a few annoyed grunts Futaba finally got the damn container open with her science project now wide open into her grasp. Mumbling to herself momentarily, the orange-haired girl sighed, looking out the window. She enjoyed the breeze but stayed on her side of the frame.

Without warning, she unleashed a loud, ear-piercing scream before chucking the useless container outside, grumbling her grievances of being inconvenienced as she closed the window. Isao, who had immediately ducked behind a small tree, held to a perfectly still, awkward one-legged stance to hide behind said tree.

Though he winced at the sound of the scream, the more petite boy was met with a clonk to the head as he was snipped by the container Futaba had thrown out. This caused him to lose balance as he fell left, rubbing his head immediately, looking to see what had happened to Imato. A rather evident we need to retreat look was plastered on his face.

The window was filled with noise from loud rummaging and scattering of items as Futaba worked on her school project. The more significant issue was that Isao could see Futaba's shadow leaving the view frame.

"Abort mission, abort mission," Isao quickly but quietly, with a pace of moxie, used his hand signs to warn Imato to go back to the other window before diving behind a shed, this time to be entirely out of view. Imato, though, would only get a few seconds to see Futabas' silhouette entering the other room of the window he was at. If he was going to break in, he needed to bolt stealthily to the other window and hope it was left unlocked.

....

Kongo Burst, Ann and Masami had craftily protruded past its halls a few days ago to get information from Kagura Koga. Now Dascal found herself sneaking near the edge of the building directly below the woman's office, starting up his phone's Wi-Fi/Bluetooth functions. Looking like he was just some random kid doing homework by the building. It wasn't a gated or restricted area; the worst that could happen was him being shooed off.

Quickly, he opened his laptop, connected the phone to it, and activated Futaba's program for the double-prong kill switch. With the plastic bag he had brought, he hid the burner laptop behind a banner hammered into the side of the building. He needed to play his part—trigger Koga to spring the trap.

Before that, he pulled up the Meta app and typed a message straight to Swan. If he were right, there would be undeniable evidence of what had happened to Asahi that could trigger the police to get involved. If they could get that in play, they could force the secondary unknown group to play a hand for the Phantom Thieves to snatch at information-wise.

With a soft sigh, he pulled out a burner cell with only one saved contact. Selecting it, the phone rang for less than a minute before someone answered.

"Hello, this is Kongo Burst Headquarters. How may I direct you?"

"Hi. This is the lead agent on the Phantom Vs. Riot movie contract. I was told to call Ms. Koga about moving forward with the current stalemate." Dascal pinched his nose, creating an entirely different voice for a guy with so much going on. The secretary was quiet for only a moment.

"Sorry, sir. I do not know of or see any listing of such a deal you may have."

"Nay, trust me, ma'am. You're going to want to mention it directly to Ms. Koga. She will immediately know who it is, I promise." Dascal responded with well-played annoyances to a man with dozens of other calls today to make.

"I... see, give me a minute," the line went on hold as he checked his phone to see if Swan had responded before texting Futaba to begin her side of things.
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~Leashing The Duo Storms~
Maeve Valor That Weird girl TreasureSniper
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"Charming as ever, Kiku, hehehe," Miu sighed with a jovial, annoyed laugh as her hot-blooded friend begrudgingly spoke; who would instead have stuck to insulting their airhead friend over interactions. No wonder Kiku couldn't find a decent boy. However, as she was about to defend Sadako a little, the blue-haired girl pushed the white haired girl right out of the way, gunning for Ann.

Miu stumbled a bit to the left, quickly fixing her footing with an impressive twist of her legs in heels with near flawless reflexes. She placed a hand on her hip, and her other hand pinched at her nose, rubbing it as the chaos quickly took off between her friends. Though as Sadako gushed about hot guys, there was a pause as the boy introduced himself, Sougo Agata... where had she heard the name Agata before? Miu pondered for a moment, looking at the boy, but nothing came to mind, causing her to shrug it off as nothing more than maybe a common last name, or a whisper with little meaning.

However, as Miu dropped the thought, she was met with the sight of Kiku about to clobber Sadako. The extreme imbalance of the scales on which Kiku and Sadako stood for acceptable socializing with one being indeed slutty, and the other violent was vast as what had started as a chill talk quickly turned dangerously hostile. As Kiku took a full swing at Sadako, who could dodge with little effort, Miu gave a quick scowl as she rushed over with one quick step.

Before the blood thirsty girl could go for another swing, the redhead was dealt a karate chop to the head as the white haired girl also swung out a clipboard, blocking Sadako's ability to shake hands with Sougo, going even so far as to...

"Shoo, shoo away from the boy, bad super popular model that makes me loads of money. I am still dealing with the damage you did by getting way to close to that American boy in your last shoot rubbing up on him like a bear trying to scratch her back you know how many stupid dumbass boys were hurt by that... its called damage to the image of availability," Miu scolded Sadako before turning her "deadly clipboard" towards Kiku. It was hard to say whether or not this was a friend protecting another friend or a business person keeping their product unharmed... it was more like a bizarre mixture of both, not helped by what followed next.

"And you no touchie of the face, and hair that's her biggest selling point. I have already given you a diagram of where you can hit her. If you could hit her hehehe, SO. STICK. TO. IT. You know how hard it is to make this hoe marketable... don't make my job harder than it is just cause she can get under your skin. Your a strong independent woman who needn't be so quick to claw out someones eyes your just as beautiful, and powerful so stahp making my day hard... both of you," Miu finished her sentence before turning around wacking Sadako upside the head as she had tried to slip past the white haired girl to get touchy with the blonde again. Accept this time, and a chokehold followed it as Miu continued.

"What did I just say about making my job harder, hussy? I will feed you to the ultra-violent boyfriendless piranha," Miu said, still impressively holding onto Sadako, with a devious smile still plastered on her lips. Was she enjoying this chaos? It was hard to tell.

"Though it sounds like you want to bring more than a few to the beach, Takamaki? I could help you with that if you're willing to play a bit of a game with some risk, hehehe," Miu's devious smile grew as she continued to chokehold Sadako.
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~Trigger The Chase~
Maeve Valor Nellancholy
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"That's too bad. Oga is just as much a part of this crew family as anyone else. We wouldn't have gotten such amazing shots without both of you. Yumi, you brought more passion than any stunt actor I've worked with before," Tabano praised Masami with a genuine smile of appreciation as she hugged the girls from the side like a fellow coworker she had come to enjoy being around. However, there was a quick tug on that reality as Shiro slipped a major mix-up.

"Masami, Imato?" Tabano and Sakura tilted their heads in confusion as Shiro called the girl they had known as Yumi this whole time Masami. There was confusion for a moment, but as Sakura looked at "Masami" for a moment, a realization hit Sakura as quickly as it hit Tabano, as she let go of the green-haired girl. Tabano looked at Masami very directly. It seemed the cascade had been broken. Masami was quick to try and mend a way out, but instead of a severe scenario, both the woman started to chuckle gently.

"I see... pfftttttttt... well, we sort of already knew that. Well, I knew you were under a false name, that is. I think I get the better picture now, you look more like a Masami than a Yumi," Tabano laughed half drunkenly as she slapped Masami on the back, and Sakura chuckled gently.

"All applications come with photos of the people applying; it's an industry standard. We have to avoid vultures trying to steal special shots of the unseen movie, after all," Sakura explained, genuinely not conflicted with the matter, as Tabano added. However, the conversation shifted back to Shiro for a moment.

"At first, we were going to have you escorted out after a bit of a verbal reprimand, but there was something in your eyes. A need to do this; I can't say if it was passion per se, but I can tell you wanted this job legitimately, and well with a bit of haggling I got Sakura to agree to giving you a shot," Tabano explained proudly like a older sibling who had picked up their little siblings favorite snack for them from the top shelf.

"I believe in taking risks in the sand even amongst the approaching stormy waves that would denounce it otherwise. Everyone's grain of sand should be allowed to be built into a beautiful pearl. Thus, we put you to the test and all your desires to perform? Well, they sang loudly for themselves... thus we looked the other way. Besides, name errors are very common in the movie industry., It's an easy fix," Sakura chimed sweetly. It was such a warm acceptance of the true talent of the skills Masami and Imato had showcased, and an acknowledgement of potential and talent.

"Volunteer work is wonderful. Though it's interesting, Miss Shiro, that you don't see yourself fitting in. From where I am standing, you have a picture-perfect face. I could see you in a shrine maiden role; maybe you should do a documentary about your shrine. More exposure does places like that really well for restoration projects. It sounds like Yumi... Masami has made your aspirations arise just like ours," Sakura suggested, looking like she was about to talk the night away with the girls until Tabano giggled again, catching the director's attention.

"Also, it's not the first time in movie history that someone entered under false pretenses, and it is not rare for the youth to take crazy risks, heh... reminds me of Asahi, and... oh, what was her name...Ishibiki Honago..."

snap

A sharp crack of glass breaking could be heard. No one would notice it in all the hustle and bustle of celebration, but for both Shiro and Masami, looking towards Sakura, they would see it. When Asahi's name had slipped past Tabano's lips, it had created a snap of the wrist reaction in Sakura's face, a contortion of something mixed between happiness and sadness simultaneously.

Yet it only existed in a flash of a moment, hard to catch as it was quickly replaced by something more akin to regret mixed with... anger? Again, the face was as gone as quick as it came to being; however, what remained was the now broken glass handle barely held still in Sakura's hands like that of someone pulling the trigger... on a gun. Sakura looked like she was quickly about to intercede with something else, but Tabano kept gushing in her drunken stupor.

"I thought she seemed sketchy because of how quickly she clicked with Asahi. We had a competition in Kongo Bursts' younger years as a team trying to secure a contract. However, she was like a one-woman team, putting in much effort. I was pretty sure she was trying to steal him from us. Still, Asahi kept trying to win her over to join us, as she flaunted her practical effects skills, similar to someone he once was mesmerized by," Tabano mumbled for a good chunk in coherent babbling of a happy time of memories in her youth. Sakura Yua, however, was a torrent wave of mixed emotions no one else could see, as they were so fast again, swapping wildly as everyone cheered and drank merrily. Rage, sorrow, happiness, the three emotions cycled wildly like a spinning roulette wheel of a barreled gun that her glass-breaking hand continuously tried to pull the trigger on breaking the glass' handle further into skin-cutting pieces.

"He could never find her, so he latched onto that Ishibiki girl, as the other girl had dropped off the grid after some issue with the industry. She produced skills comparable to Alien movie-level practical effects. Hilarious story. The girl's name is why Asahi chased me down. Apparently, my name was just one letter off hers, so Asahi mistook me for her temporarily. Hehe. I remember the goofy apologetic look on his face when I spelled my name out for him. Now, what was that girl's name?" Sakura gripped tightly to a dangerous tipping point, repeatedly performing that trigger-pulling action with her hands as Tabano tried to remember the other girl's name. Her eyes now dilated wildly as she was about to say anything to kill the conversation.

"Tabana Oniko..."

"STOP."

Sakura's voice erupted like a wail of a banshee's cry, causing Tabano to jump a bit, clinging to Masami to a suffocating point as the people around were broken out of their dreamy states, turning to see what was happening. Sakura's face held a frustration of tears that ran down her face as if something was trying to bubble out of her. Before anyone could understand anything, Tabano's eyes went wide.

"Sakura, you're bleeding." Sakura turned to where Tabano's gaze was. Finally, one of the glass shards had cut deep enough to nick a blood vessel. The commotion was fast as people came to her aid. Things got chaotic as Masami and Shiro were overwhelmed by the wave of people moving in. The crew tried to help but were too inebriated to handle the situation appropriately. Then, Masami's meta app buzzed as a text from the Prophet appeared on her phone.

Text From Prophet:
After re-evaluating the memory footage from the strange paper bag man, I realized something. That silver case Asahi had... the person who cornered him/shooting him. She had snatched it as hers... I doubt the mysterious people involved even gave it a thought.

Given how Asahi brought it to that scenario, there is an off-chance that it contains proof of the crime, real-world evidence we could use in this matter and in a potential future matter. If you can find it, we might be able to gain an advantage. I doubt she would keep something like that at home; it is probably somewhere she is more likely to be consistent in keeping an eye on it.

It's an off-hand chance, really, but I thought you would want to know. ​

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[Nellancholy]

"Ah..." As Masami noticed and reacted to Shiro's faux pas, Shiro couldn't help but feel hotter. Like the temperature in the room was rising, about to burn her. She'd made a mistake; of course there was something missing from their preparations despite the attention paid to simply getting them in there in the first place. Of course, of course they were using fake names...not that their real names would have been considered notable to begin with if they were already showing their faces? And yet they did. It was a simple mistake on Shiro's part, but one that came at a critical moment. Perhaps the real mistake was agreeing to participate in this way. But...

Masami tried quickly to smooth over Shiro's misstep, but it did not go unnoticed.

However...instead of closing up, driving them away like might be expected, Tabano and especially Sakura, seemed to show a certain amusement at the truth they had been given. As they spoke effusively about past experiences, Shiro could hardly feel relieved. She had unwittingly given them something they could use. They were hardly foes in the grand scheme of things, but certainly no friends either. But as the two reminisced, emotions began to rise. And more importantly, Tabano in turn let two names slip. Ishibiki Honago and Tabana Oniko.

These memories, apparently, were too much for Sakura, and the glass in her hand broke, her subsequent exclamation shaking up what most probably expected to be a fairly relaxed night. Several people rushed in to help, and Shiro was one of them, intent on making up for the awkwardness she had caused.

In such a situation, there was certainly no real danger to Sakura whatsoever. But the Thieves could not afford to lose a lead, at least in a metaphorical sense. Quickly, Shiro pulled out a packet of tissues from her pocket, taking out a few sheets and holding them gently but steadily against Sakura's wound as a thick pad. "I'm...sorry. Sorry..." She mumbled. "Let's get that bandaged..."