#;;a place of FOG and FLOWERS [inaba]

[m0e-ru]

izanami is such a fucking asshole with Marie that she says—she's TOLD—she's a "spy" on humanity. a little fucking prick decided by the same bitch that lied to her face like it was breathing. I mean, you can't say iznmi's wrong right now because they know that you kept her alive. Which meant they were there at her tomb (BECAUSE THEY WERE THERE TO PERSONALLY CLOSE HER CASKET). BUT this fucking bastard laughs when they notice for the first time that you have the comb. the comb they should be full aware of where it's going, which hands it's being passed to—IF THEY WERE AWARE IN THE FIRST PLACE. if they actually USED Marie as the spy she was made to believe she is. She's the perfect vessel, the perfect walking nanny cam for Inaba, but NO. the ONLY time izanami has ever seen through her was in her tomb. has ever used her. has ever possessed her. in the realm definitely not for humans. the world they were born in and not an external factor to the nature of their birth.

BITCH gives a poor girl, dressed up as the representation of personality and rebellion and her poet aspect showing her loneliness and isolation, a false sense of purpose right when she was born. that she's just a trashcan for fog with a tomb adorned in flowers and memories at its dumpsite. that she was there to watch people and walk around the human world to remember nothing and be remembered by nobody. if yaldaboath can kick an old man out of his stupid blue office, what more than izanami using a child as a periscope in their guinea pig's dreambase of operations and understand the power of Persona and Truth and Bonds and counteract these meddling kids' and their Power of Friendship in stopping the formation of the New World where they can grant the majority's wish to live in lies and their stupid shitfuck fog.

not that I'm saying I do want god to make full use of their powers and have a better advantage at rigging their social experiment that already concluded by this point but like. fucking asshole didn't even need Marie. so why. put her through so much unnecessary grief. why not dispose her form the start when she'd be thrown away in the end anyway. why make her go through this field trip to remember the home she loves and protects if she could only remember.

why make her suffer through this humanity both of you were supposed to have. make her believe she's nothing and have her put herself to sleep quietly pushing away all the people she loves and who love her when you'll just make fun of her entire existence. did you do this to laugh? were the humans you born from give you the template to make people who search for the truth suffer? that anyone thinking of protecting these selfish masses should just die? that developing humanity is a bad thing? that that's your humor? could you not kill her yourself? was this only for your entertainment? a sick representation of the people who gave birth to you truly are?

[among-the-spider-lilies]

@clckworks liked for starter~ // Accepting

- A world of human consciousness shrouded in fog… A world that reflected the delusions of humans, so content with their false truths that anything that sought to overturn their beliefs was dealt with violently. This was, to some, the “TV world” - a place where some shadows comfortably lived within those lies, while others cried out to be heard and accepted by those who had had lies piled upon them by the public. But besides shadows wandering throughout this fog, there was one figure that stood out as unusual among them: One with long, wavy hair that was adorned with flowers, whose green eyes distinguished her from the humanoid shadows that often appeared on the televisions in the outside world, and yet were distinctly clouded over - foggy, like this world itself.

- It was in this state - a daze of sorts, mostly unaware - that Rei wandered in the evenings. Perhaps it was merely because she had nowhere else to go; there was no real place in Inaba for her now, after all, whether she was consciously aware of it during her days attending its school or not. Or maybe, instead, it was because she was like those shadows who seemed to ignore her existence, who didn’t care to attack her because like them she so vehemently denied the reality that had once appeared right before her eyes. She rejected it then, and when sometimes she wandered too deep - when she came before that yellow-eyed mirror of herself, dressed in a hospital gown, clutching that stuffed rabbit - she awoke enough to reject it again.

- It spoke to her every time, it pleaded with her to stay away. To go away from here, to look away. And Rei, her eyes now unclouded, her whole being suddenly aware of her circumstances, of the fog, unaware that she had realized it time and time again only to forget again when she found herself eating in class the next day, turned and ran. She ran away from that figure that looked like her, as far as her legs would carry her through the twisting labyrinth born of her own denial. And when she emerged back into that world of fog, she collapsed to her knees, barely able to breathe, burying her face in her hands.

- “Where am I…?” It was a question that escaped her on each rare occasion this occurred, each time her dreams strayed too far toward the truth and led her to the place where it awaited. And yet that mirror of herself, like the real her, responded with fear when their eyes met, for both of them knew deep down they could not handle that fateful meeting yet. “When… did I get here? Am I all alone…?” Those bleary, tearful eyes would eventually lift, peeking from between her dainty fingers into the world so foggy she could hardly see. And her thoughts, now clearing, would quickly go to the person that was oddly absent in the waking world, the one who had slipped out of her thoughts as she lived out her seemingly normal life in the daytime, leaving her trembling voice to call out, “Zen? Where are you? I’m scared…”

[aikotoweek]

A heaven before Heaven

[Cross posted from ao3] 

Aikoto Week 2020- Day 3: Reunions

Aigis finds herself in a field of sunflowers.

                             °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Her gears struggled to whirl as she desperately tried to clamber up off the floor grappling anything to pull herself in a last desperate attempt to stand. Her metal soles slipped against the hard cold floor and it wasn’t long before she finally collapsed back harshly onto her knees, if it wasn’t for the fact that she wasn’t human she was sure they would have bruised significantly. The last attack did too much damage and whatever strength she had left was purely gone. Orgia Mode just took too much.

Her mind was blurry, and so too her vision. 

After the events of her sister Labrys a thick red fog had followed soon after causing its own form of the Dark Hour and they were attacked by fake shadow versions of themselves. It’s where they met back up with the unofficial Investigation Team from the unknown town of Inaba to confront the red-haired man who was responsible for not only recreating the hour of shadows but the kidnapping of her older sister.

And when she saw her sister being hijacked in front of her and knowing there was nothing she could do to fight it, the way it took over her body just like that- it brought back so many bad memories to say the least…

They thought that when they had cornered him that it was all over: but it was far from over. It had happened almost in an instant. An unknown entity took over him and they all were attacked. It was strong to say the least, incredibly strong and without the help of the wildcard powers they were easily wiped to their feet. It didn’t help that they were taken by surprise.

The man, or entity had approached her more closely now. To see Aigis’s face more clearly. It looked around before it’s eyes finally moved away from the group and rested on her. It spouted ones usual monologue, about its goal in order to restore its body and most importantly to destroy the world: about how it was now nearly successful and the world was to end in less than an hour.

How many times has it been now that she had laid broken and completely useless when people needed her the most? She had learnt over the years to not blame herself for her short comings but that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt any less.

She tried to pull herself back onto her elbows but she could barely even lift her head. She fought tougher beings before- they had fought tougher things before, gone though so much to protect mankind. So why? Why now was they falling though? How did it get so easily though their defences that they had spent a long time to perfect?

Was this really supposed to be the end after everything that has happened..?

She couldn’t think anymore, her head slumped back down on the ground. Her energy was finally gone.

                                           .

                                           .

                                           .

Light.

And the smell of flowers. 

It was bright, too bright. 

And yet it didn’t hurt her eyes.

Was her eyes open or were they closed? She couldn’t tell but eventually her eyes focused and she was given the ability to see around her. But there really wasn’t much to see, in fact there wasn’t anything to see except an empty abyss of of white light. There was no ground and yet she was able to stand firmly on her legs. 

Even though there was nothing something inside of her told her to walk forward. 

She didn’t know where she was going. She couldn’t even remember what she was doing or why she was here. How did she get here? Where was even ‘here’..? 

There was no sound or colour. No voices or people. No objects or shadows. It was completely and utterly quiet. 

At first there was nothing; then there was something. 

It was something small and yellow in colour which laid ahead of her, and so that’s where she went.

It became clearer and began to have more clarity the further she neared towards it. It became larger and less blurry and soon she could make out an outline of it. Eventually when she was near enough she stood in front of it and kneeled to inspect what this yellow thing was that by instinct told her to go to. 

It was a sunflower. 

It was small but none the less impressive or as beautiful. It was a strange but beautiful flower that she had always adored. She never knew much about flowers because it was never necessary information for fighting shadows so it was never put into her programming, but after learning much about humans she became drawn to them along with many other things that fascinate humans in the attempt that one day she will be truly able to understand them. But as her human companions had always said to her ‘it was okay if you don’t understand the way humans act’, because not even themselves ever truly knew why humans behave the way they do. It’s just how they are. 

She could tell it was healthy and well looked after. It wasn’t wilted at all and its petals almost glowed. It was the most buetifulest thing that she had seen in a long time.

There was no water or soil so how was it that it was here? She moved her hand to the base of the flower to see how the plant worked and how it was that it had grown in seemingly nothing. 

As soon as she touched it she became completely startled. Not by the sunflower, no, but she became startled by her own self. Her hands, they were not normal… Because they were normal..?

Her hands weren’t made of hardened cold metal, they were made of flesh and they were warm. She raised these hands to the side of her head to find that where her gears once sat were no longer present. She felt the need to gasp for oxygen something that she had never needed to do before ,though she knew that even in this state she did not need it.  

The light, this flower and her seemingly human form: Did this mean that she was dead? 

But then did machinery go to heaven? It made her think for a bit but then she thought about something Mitsuru and her friends used to tell her back when they had first met 'anything that had a persona was proof that they were human no matter what it may be’, it didn’t matter if they were a dog or a shadow or even a robot. She was made from a fragment of Nyx’s wing but that small fragment grew into a soul.

What was she supposed to do now though if she was dead? All of her friends… She had left them alone to fight… Something. Where where her friends? They relied on her and she had left them. She was supposed to protect them and yet she had gone and left them… What if they were already dead… Wasn’t the world supposed to be destroyed soon… Or had it already ended..?

She slowly slumped her head and locks of her hair covered her face as she thought about her friends, how she most likely failed them. She hated being so weak. 

She sat there for a while before eventually moving her right hand to brush away the blonde hair and as she did she noticed something that sat a little further beyond the yellow flower. 

It was a small blade of grass. Even though it was small it seemed larger to her. She walked slowly on her knees and lent over to inspect it like she had with the flower. As she hovered over it she soon saw more green blades.

One blade became two and two became a few, and these few became more. She rose to her feet and curiously followed the charming green path. She noticed as she was walking that her feet too were human in nature and she was barefoot but only noticed when she felt how it was to walk on this grass and how the blades dug into her soles. It didn’t hurt much at all like she had thought, in fact it felt almost nice, it was much nicer than she would have imagined the feeling to be.

As she travelled along the green carpet of grass it wasn’t long at all before she came across another little yellow flower. It was just as pretty as the previous one and from there she found more yellow sunflowers except for this time they were slightly taller. It wasn’t long before she found herself in a field of tall sunflowers that reacted slightly above her head.

And then she heard sound. 

It was the chittering of birds and she could almost feel the sound of wings flapping in the sky and so she looked up. She hadn’t realised when but the view above her had turned into a sunny sky complete with a few scarce but soft pale clouds and birds of all colours flew in the sky leaving feathers in their wake. She couldn’t help but smile at this beautiful garden.

Then she didn’t know where to go next as the trail of grass was now lost in the towering stems. But then did it matter if she lost herself in this field, it was nice so why was there a reason for her to leave?

There wasn’t but when she had stayed there and looked at the birds for a long time a familiar butterfly had drawn her from her thoughts. It had fluttered for a few moments on a stem close to her for a few moments before taking back off and even though it couldn’t talk she had felt that it wanted her to follow it in the back of her mind.

Just like everything else she had seen she had followed it wherever it wanted to take her. She took twists and turns manoeuvring though the the flowers like a maze and eventually she had quickened her pace when she thought she had lost sight of the butterfly. She and the butterfly had emerged into a clearing, the flowers much less dense.

It looked like a well-kept garden in the centre of the clearing and following the butterfly she walked through many of thin white archways of thinly welded metal. Though it was a small stone birdbath and a white, wooden bench and a few scattered holes in the ground along with a garden shovel and bags of compost from someone who was most likely tending the sunflowers.

Before she took another step her line vision was blocked by a swam of familiar blue velvet butterflies. She had to hold herself back in order not to flinch when some got too close to her face.

The butterflies had eventually spread out into the neighbouring flowers and she was able to see again more clearly.

There on the bench was someone sitting with a large straw hat and a colourful T-shirt. She guessed they were the gardener of this place. She wasn’t sure if the other knew of her presence but when she got close enough to them they didn’t flinch but instead raised the large straw hat that had obscured their face. 

…It was him.

This time she couldn’t hold herself back and raised a hand to her mouth. He looked at her pleasantly and smiled. She should be feeling sad especially at this point, her head yells it but her heart just doesn’t cooperate. Instead she feels something she has yet to describe. It would be daring to say it was relief or maybe it could be described as satisfaction or fullness, but she does however feel almost happy in her own odd way.

She takes a seat beside him and stares at him in almost shock and surprise in a welcoming silence. Eventually though she couldn’t help but break the silence between the two of them to satisfy her own curiosity.

“…You’re really here aren’t you?”

He looked at her for a moment before giving her a small nod, but she was willing not to talk about its possibilities out of fear.

“It really is quite nice here. It’s almost… Like a paradise. 

May I ask where 'here’ is exactly.”

He looks a slightly less happy but far from sad. The answer he gives her sounds almost well-rehearsed. “Here. I guess you could call it in a way a 'heaven before a heaven’ or something similar I guess. If you want to know exactly, this is inside the seal.”

Her eyes widen in confusion. “How is that even possible..? Y-your seal… It was made in Taurus, it was supposed to an inpenadrable barrier. Nothing, nothing should be able to enter the seal. ” She said almost desperately, her voice raising slightly. It didn’t make any sense, was she only hearing what she wanted to hear.

He gave her a brief moment to calm down before replying. “That is true, but you are forgetting something. All living things are connected to the sea of souls; that also means that I am not exempt. ”

She opened her mouth but he cut her off(,something in which he rarely does). “It’s okay. You do not need to worry, nothing can enter here what I don’t will. She cannot enter here and so you do not need to worry about her.”

She wants to tell him though that nothing is alright, her friends are somewhere out there fighting and she is not and the world was going to end soon if it hadn’t already. How was anything okay..?

She moved her head slightly and yet those knowing grey eyes manage to meet her’s even though she was sure she had turned her head away to avoid his gaze. She’s always been drawn to him.

She scans the blue-haired boy over and she notices how he’s wearing sandals, she also notices how he looked better than he had ever been before February.

February… That was right, he had died in March. It had been years since she had seen him last.

He most have noticed her getting more sadder and so shuffled closer to her copying her same actions earlier.

“The world is not over and your friends are still alive, though they are struggling without you. ”

She feels slightly lighter but soon shakes her head. “I’m glad to hear it, but I’m- I’m dead. There’s nothing more I can do. ”

“No, you are not dead but that is only the case if you do not return. Right now you are only unconscious in the real world. Time does not fun function here as it does with yours.”

His response causes her to frown. “Why am I here though if I’m only just asleep; Why am I here?”

He doesn’t say anything for awhile: he only looks at the butterflies and the surrounding sunflowers around them. After several moments he says something to her again but does not turn his head back to face her. “I guess it would be because your resolve requires to be renewed or more simply you need to clear your mind of frustration and regret. 'Even a blind woman can tell when she’s walking in the sun’, but a blinded mind can’t. Your letting it control you, you remember when that happened.

I brought you here I guess because I wanted to show you this garden.”

She could tell he had put a lot of effort into this garden and she was glad that he had brought her here. She had her hands together in habit realising how strange they felt and soon her gaze travelled to Minato’s. She placed one of her hands down on the wooden bench. For some reason her mind was filled with the desire to touch his own hand, a desire that had long been buried in the back of her mind. He didn’t even have to look down but yet he knew exactly what she was thinking about and placed his hand on top of hers.

He sat there stunned for a bit nearly letting out a tepid gasp. In response however she entwined her fingers with his.

“If that is the case then may I do this.” She said not really in the form of a question but more of a statement than anything. 

“Of course.” 

They sat there for awhile her human hand together with his. With her mechanical hands she was never really able to experience the heat of a human body in the way that another biological being does, it was one of the few small things she was jealous of that humans had that she could not acquire. Eventually at some point her head had found his shoulder and he had not cared to mind the intrusion.

Time didnt really work here. For all she could know she could have been there for a thousand years.

But eventually no matter how satisfied and content she was there was anpther part of her that called out to a place far more distant than here and she knew exactly what it was.

“I see your heart is calling out to them. It’s time you return back to them. ”

Her heart saddened at the thought of leaving him again, she wanted nothing more to say by his side forever but she could not resist her calling. Though it hurt far less significantly than the first time he had left her. It was an almost calming thought though. If she had to leave him this would no doubtably be the best place to leave him.

She wanted to say goodbye but in her mind that always signified something permanent and yet a 'see you later ’ seemed too weak hearted. Instead she have him her warmest smile and lent her head on the back rest of the bench and closed her eyes as she let her heart be carried back to her friends.

                                           .

                                           .

                                           .

Her metal sole scraped along the ground as she pulled herself to her feet. 

She was right: They had fought harder things before.

[m0e-ru]

Before the split, it was worrying how the state of the people in Inaba was. Who they once were was averse to the idea of filling the forest with fog, rather than just the real world. Structures were subtly changing underneath her feet which she tried to stop every time it happened. But everything that was happening was too much and she tore apart.

After the split in which Mim took the mantle of responsibility and the name of god, they flooded the forest with fog, hollowing it completely and letting it turn into the labyrinthine TV station it is now.

The other one wandered the streets of Inaba, to remember nothing and to be remembered by nobody.

It was spring when the winter snow melted but before the flowers bloomed did they find their first pawn. All they had to do really was welcome him there, and what better way to do that than as a gas station attendant? It looked like he was heading there anyway. They decided to keep this facade to welcome the rest of their pawns. It was perfect, really. Who would remember a silly employee at a gas station of a shopping district in an economic slump?

It was before the month of April before their final pawn would appear, at that time they were simply spreading rumors, acting and observing, wondering when the other two would discover their new powers.

As they waited, they played the fool of a gas station attendant, or however much an idiot one was meant to be. Humans are foolish at their core, after all.

The attendant is a friendly young man. Amiable and charismatic, he gives off a presence of optimism and is generally a nice guy to be around if you're waiting for the rain to stop. Unless you inherently don't like people. Or him. Once described to be the sun itself, who comes to the ground when the clouds block the sky. Dangerous to be at a gas station, though.

A hardworking little nut, and would do well if he actually knew how to do his job. More often than not, he's more polite than snarky. His character seems so socially unaware, where has he been before this? 'Says he's been in Inaba for a long time, his whole life, actually. Still unsure how Junes' layout works and probably just as knowledgeable as your grandparents. If you ever asked for his number, he'll just give you the central shopping district's Moel's hotline and he'll probably answer at the night shifts.

Knowing the old, cracked, unpaved streets of his home like the back of his hand. If you're ever looking for someplace to go, on a trip and need tips, or lost in the fog, your friendly gas station attendant is there to help. It's what they're supposed to do, right? It's in the customer service policy too, you see.

He happily enjoys the rain, from the sounds, the smell, the general atmosphere of it. Even once being seen away from the canopy standing underneath it, good thing he was noticed soon before he got too wet...but how many times has he been doing this? The most he does now is teeter near enough the edge of the canopy, where the rain would hit the bill of his hat and his shiny orange shoes.

He has an ear for gossip and a mouth to rumormonger. It's a blessing he's good at keeping secrets, too. As if he has ears all across the city, or that was probably the Housewife Network at work, too. Meeting customers coming from different places, hearing their thoughts and views also helped. It was fun to hear from a variety of people who could remember you, or not.

He'd smoke every once in a while, if it was safe enough to do that of course. To smell the scent of tobacco mixed with rain, what a peculiar experience. Is it even smoke?

The "first" victim was thrown into the world of the unconscious. Mim met the lady's Shadow and immediately got to work. The other Shadows responded accordingly to help broadcast a show at this newly scheduled "Midnight Channel." Working as hard and as efficiently as possible, only for this show host to meet her human self all too soon. That was the very first broadcast and they got to the end so quickly, a pilot episode? They didn't even feature the title card.

Ah, but that's showbiz isn't it? With its ups and downs, the risks and rewards or whatever they say. Just wait for the next host with a new show idea or read the viewer suggestions and give them what they want, no matter how bland it may seem.

Another young woman showed up, ‘same thing happened. The cameras got nothing but a girl dancing to her death. The scripts and rehearsals were so exciting too. The pitch was ambitious but I guess there were scheduling problems.

Silly Shadows thinking they could separate from their selves, acting free after being rejected. But ultimately forgetting they're looking at a mirror. I am thou, thou art I; they said it themselves, didn't they? Blatant self destruction.

Heartlessly watching as Shadows meet the same fate as their human selves. They've done it to themselves. A truth already so obvious it was pathetic. Yet it shows nobody would be able to accept it. They should embrace the fog, that way no-one would even be able to see it.

Well, back to the drawing board. See if any little princesses want to fill in that 12am timeslot.

And there was? Her whole pitch included a castle, and she wanted everything red! She wanted statues adorning this room, and winding staircases in the next. Hidden cameras and mics would be here, and spotlights would be there.

She was bubbling with energy and her laugh was youthful. So childish and ideas so free from the pungent smell of alcohol or unsettling idea to hang up a scarf for dramatic effect. She was a child, all she wanted to do was dress as a princess and run away with a prince, who would be the winner of her whole show.

It was...certainly new. But new development's always good for the ratings, right?