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WHO: Ryoji, OTA
WHERE: in woods
WHEN: May 25-ish
WHAT: unstatuing, aka meet Thanatos, aka Jorogumo's not the only monster in the woods
WARNINGS: none
NOTES: forest lake info

i.
[ Oh. This is weird. Ryoji's foot lands heavily on the ground, and stands still by the very edge of the woods, turning his head this way and that. He was just out walking, but he could feel that lapse throw off his sense of time-- stiff limbs, the imperceptible changes that that he can't ignore: the blades of grass are longer, flower buds dotting the path in greys and dark greys. It's hot, and he tugs at the scarf around his neck, because it's suddenly ten degrees hotter and almost suffocating.

Unbeknownst to him, it'd been three weeks since he had been turned into a statue and made to stand guard here, but no more. He turns his head to the woods, staring for a moment... he should go home and figure out what happened? but he believes he'd find his answers in the forest with the demons... and so then finally steps off the path, bounding lightly through the trees— darkness, shadow, and in the next clearing, a monster stands in his place: Thanatos, with its wide mantle of coffins boring into the packed trees around him as it takes off in flight- low enough to the ground that the toothed sword in its hands drags along the ground and marks its path.

Joggers, patrol groups, poor innocent people who just wanted to try foraging berries and didn't want to encounter monsters today, sorry. Thanatos isn't quiet in its approach, with snapping branches and cracking stone, a little path of destruction in its wake to warn people before and after. Run? Engage? It definitely looks evil, exuding an oppressive aura and drawing darkness towards itself until the woods drown in shadow. ]

ii.
[ Any blue characters... small prompt here for a Jorogumo if you want to play it out; Thanatos would be able to take it down like it's child's play, so whether it's your character happening upon Thanatos and Jorogumo already engaged in battle, or Thanatos coming across you and the monster, we can play something out o7 ]

wc.
[ meeting Ryoji himself and not Thanatos, inbox things, etc. I'm easing myself off semi-hiatus, so! waves hands, I can be contacted at

birdseed for anything ]

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[He really can't say what gives him the sense that he should be moving over towards the woods today. Calling it an explicit feeling would be a bit too strong, but there's a bit of a tug nonetheless, and he's found that there's no real point to avoiding those in a place like this.

So he follows the urge, hands tucked into his pockets as ever as he strolls casually, and he pauses at the edge of the trees, head cocked to one side. He won't go too far into the woods--he's pretty sure he's worried people enough lately--but... he's curious, so he steps into the shaded area and amongst the trees. It's noisy today, the sound of ground and trees alike being disturbed, and Minato should probably move, or be more concerned, but he's really not, standing his ground more curiously than anything.

It all...becomes very clear, of course, as soon as he sees Ryoji (Thanatos, but still Ryoji, always Ryoji), and then a sigh escapes him, relieved as tension he didn't even entirely realize he was harboring over Ryoji turned to stone bleeds away.]

...Ryoji. You're back. [A beat--and he amends properly:] Welcome back.

[ ryoji looks a little different today. ]

...!

[ dextera has been coming to check on ryoji since he learned that ryoji had turned to stone—with everything else going on, he hasn't been able to spend quite as much time with his lapidified friend as he would like, but today seems to be the day that things change anyway. he catches the last movement before ryoji disappears into the forest, and he's immediately running after him.

the sound of it all, the forest breaking behind thanatos, is louder than ryoji has ever been in dextera's presence. ]

[Exploring the forest was something Kei had done quite often the past few weeks. Sometime with others, but often alone, he carried his sword on hand and his persona ready to summon should any situation arise.

This was entirely different. He couldn't quite explain it, but unlike all of the creatures he had faced so far in this world, this one felt familiar and seemed to seep into a sort of primal fear. He'd felt this once before with someone else here, but the sounds in the forest weren't that of a boy, but something far larger. He stopped moving to listen, hand on his blade.

Briefly, Thanatos might spot a a bluish glow that disappeared just as quickly in the far-off distance. If he came towards Kei's direction, he'd notice a figure floating next to him, over twice his size. Nanjo for his part, had to be a mixture of curiosity and annoyance plastered on his face. Something had clicked when he realized what was happening, and he didn't like it.]

[ There's a saying about cats and curiosity, but sometimes, the payout is worth it— it's why Ryoji decided to step into the woods again, when Thanatos stops and turns to the sound of Minato's voice rather than continue his chipping through the woods.

The sword gets stuck into the ground like a marker where Thanatos stands, blank masked face tilted down to peer at Minato's face.

"I'm back." The voice filters through Minato's mind like any Persona's voice does, words for him alone. "How much time has passed? Was I not me?" ]

[ If he'd stayed himself, Ryoji might have been able to slip through the trees and disappear quietly, unknowingly to anybody else, but there would be very little else he could do. As Thanatos, he's confident he would be able to handle anything that he encounters, banking on the fact that things run and hide when they feel the oppressive weight of Death breathing down their neck, nipping at their heels.

What few animals in the woods scatter long before Thanatos catches up to them— it's a very linear path; there's no seeking another way around thickets or low branches even though it easily could, because it just as easily slashes through everything with its sword. ]

[ If Nanjo later follows the little path of destruction Thanatos had left behind in trying to squeeze through the trees without getting its coffins caught on warrant branches, he'd see that the path is straight and unwavering, like Thanatos had stepped in from the outskirts of the forest and just kept going forward. That's what it did, and what it had planned to do, even after it spots that flash of light— that same familiar feeling- Vishnu's dark form in the distance.

Doesn't matter. Keep going. Or so the voice in Thanatos' head whispers, but then it notices Nanjo's expression and ducks its head, almost out of what looks like sheepishness, and veers its course slightly, still straight, but just enough that it won't run directly into Nanjo and his Persona. ]

[Thanks for not chopping down all of the trees there, buddy. Minato peers back; it's harder to tell if Ryoji's in one piece in this form, but he tries anyway, eyes trailing along the form of a Persona that he's all-too-familiar with.]

You were you, but...in stasis, I guess. You were turned to stone. Like Vriska-chan and Elizabeth-san.

[A faint breath out, and he shakes his head; Ryoji seems fine, thank goodness.]

You've been gone for a handful of weeks now. [Three, he thinks...? It's hard to keep track of time here, but he's pretty sure it's been about that long.

[ There are no tells in this form. No soft hums, no tugging at his scarf, no glances down and off to the side. Thanatos just stares, quiet and still as this information is received and processed: stasis, stone, immobile.

"Good." It's not a cheerful "good," but a very firm one. Compared to the alternative, this is good.

"That means I was accounted for. There's no way I could move?" ]

[Ryoji............ that's true, that alternative would be Not Good.]

No, you couldn't move at all. You were stuck in place.

[He... knows why Ryoji's worried about that, really.]

You don't have to worry about that.

[ It's a fear he holds very close to himself, how many times he's woken up and it's a brand new world, a blank space in his past where he can't know whether, in that time, he had killed dozens of people breaking out of a laboratory, or simply spent his days chattering away at the foot of somebody's bed. And there's no way he can know until it's far too late.

"Good."

The same word, but softer this time, relief at the confirmation. Thanatos turns its head to look out past the trees, as if trying to see something, but then turns back to Minato.

"We don't know why this happens yet, do we?" ]

No... we don't.

[Minato frowns at that, hands tucked back into his pockets more thoroughly as he glances into the woods. It's dark in there, as ever, and it's impossible to tell what lurks--but really, it's also impossible to feel afraid at all when he's got Thanatos at his back.

That's just kind of how it works.]

We don't know how to gets fixed, either. You were just...suddenly awake again, right?

[Maybe Ryoji remembered something as he woke up...?]

[ For the most part, Maya's been fairly well-behaved. Not optimisming the grumpier souls to death, not jumping into forbidden areas on her own, avoiding the forest when she's without backup--

But some things just tend to fall into place sometimes, and occasionally it means that people who weren't meant to meet again meet again, and other times, it means that paths cross when they would have missed each other by mere seconds.

Like now.

She doesn't see the transformation, but Artemis stirs in clear warning, and the bruise on her torso throbs suddenly, prompting a quick wince. There's something-- familiar, and chilling, and as the monster(????) takes flight, Maya takes off after it. Calmly, carefully, responsibly-- ]

Waiiiiiiiit!!

[ NEVER MIND. ]

[He noticed the path as the other passed next to him in the briefest of seconds, Vishnu keeping a hand over Kei as if shielding him as they both watched Thanatos veer slightly. Memories of a school in ice came back into his mind, of three girls who had acted as guardians towards the final tower they had to climb.

He's not sure where the creature is going. Be it the familiar feeling or not, the closer he gets, the more Kei realizes something.

He needs to talk to it. It might be insane, but he's not too worried with Vishnu next to him.]

Wait. [He doesn't wait for the other to stop.] You're from my world, aren't you?...I can't ignore what my Persona is saying. This is a familiar feeling to when I met the Night Queen.

[ dextera is not afraid of death, when living is so much worse.

so he runs, chasing after ryoji—and soon, he realizes, he's chasing after the monster that ryoji showed him in the well. still, he knows who it is, he knows that his friend is back, and it doesn't matter what he looks like. dextera wants to see him, and make sure that he's okay.

that this monstrous form isn't because ryoji is hurting. ]

Ah... R—!

[ his voice is quiet and so small, unable to even yell, but he tries, the sound dying hoarsely in his throat. surely he has some way to get ryoji's attention... ]

[ The only indication that the monster heard anything is that it slows down, a lift of the head in lieu of startling, but slow enough that Maya can catch up a little, that Thanatos can continue making its way through the woods like it originally planned but at the same time, listen for what it thought was "wait" but surely that wasn't meant for it? There's no reason anybody would be calling out to it— the number of people who have seen Thanatos numbers to a total of two, and neither person is one to raise their voice. ]

[ "...If you can call it that." He's not sure whether 'awake' would be the right word, because he wasn't exactly asleep. There was no sense of time being lost- it was just one moment and then the next, a bit like those brief flashes of existence when he used to appear before Minato as Pharos.

"If I were indoors when it happened, I wouldn't have known anything did, with the surroundings being the same. But the passage of time is clear, outside... It's why I thought I would go to the forest, and see if the demons know anything."

Hence why he's in the forest now, and if Minato was wondering why he chose to take on this form, that is why too. ]

[ He could throw a rock at Thanatos' head.

But even that seems like it might not work, what with the barrier that Ryoji once showed he could put up against something like that— a voice reaches him much more effectively, even though it's a sound and not a word, it's so clearly a voice and set apart from the ground and trees breaking in Thanatos' wake.

The Persona is slow to turn, coffins jumbled in the tight space that it has.

"Dextera... Do you need something?"

It's Ryoji's voice, if a little more solemn than usual, but definitely his- nothing is said out loud, though, but instead it echoes directly in Dextera's mind, settling down right next to his own thoughts as if it were his own subconscious. ]

[ Like with Maya, Thanatos doesn't really feel like waiting and having a little chat when there's something more pressing on its mind, but there's a question being directed towards it, and that always makes it inclined to answer.

It's a difficult question, though, not one it can answer with a simple yes or no. Thanatos slows and comes to a stop, staying there with its sword resting by its side instead of approaching.

"That's difficult to say..." Ryoji's voice, soft and slow and potentially familiar filters through Nanjo's mind, as Personas are wont to do. "Some would consider my existence universal, after all." Not him as Thanatos, maybe, and definitely not him as Ryoji. But stripped of individuality, he is representative of Death, and what he does and what he brings won't change no matter where he is. ]

...

[ dextera didn't realize that he missed the sound of ryoji's voice, as little as he's heard it. ryoji has always been prone to silence around him, matching dextera's natural quiet, but it's a gesture he appreciates all the same. he can tell something is a little darker, however, a little heavier, in the way ryoji speaks to him now. he closes his eyes against the echo in his mind. he's learned a little sign language in the time since ryoji became a statue, so he puts that to good use now. ]

Hello, again.

[ That doesn't answer his question... But it does, too, sort of, in that maybe Dextera had only wanted to say hi and to check up on him— a kind gesture, one that reinforces the thought that something wrong had happened and Thanatos looks down at its hands.

The only way it can communicate with these hands is to swing its sword, or gather magic in its palms; they aren't used to speak or hug or mime sunsets in the sky.

...

"Hello." In the end, he falls back on the ease of telepathy instead of returning to a human form that could better express everything he needs, because this is one of those rare moments where he doesn't really want to explain. "It's good to see you again, but I really do need to go." ]

[ dextera doesn’t like this one bit, even if he understands—the sun can’t be out all the time, and for ryoji to have such a form in the first place means either he was a human that is human no longer, or he never was one to begin with. either option leaves them where they are now. ]

Together.

[ he says it quickly, urgently, his face expressing more than his hands do. now that ryoji is here... he doesn’t want to just let him fly off into the woods alone. ]

[ The gut reaction is to say no, for Dextera's sake. But the argument is already there in Thanatos' silence and Dextera's face— stubborn, mind seemed already made up no matter what Thanatos says.

"I'd advise against it, but you're free to do what you want," is what Thanatos eventually says, neither permission nor denial, but acknowledgement of Dextera's wishes. And if it's Dextera's decision to make, it's better that it's an informed one, so Thanatos elaborates a little.

"I intend to seek out the demons in the forest. Would you still wish to come?" ]

...

[ dextera faced no demons but his own in the forest last time, but he's aware there's something dark lurking among the trees that has already hurt so many of them. pointed, painful memories... the last thing he wants is for ryoji to see that alone. dextera is used to suffering.

he nods, and then, more firmly than before: ]

Together. [ however, then, a pause. ] Why?

[ Under Thanatos' mask, it's still Ryoji in the end, even if he'd like to think that taking on this form would harden himself against anything that the demons throw at him, and against anything his friends would too. But he feels the relief seem into him when Dextera insists, again, that he wants to stay with him, and himself relenting to the thought of having another person there. It isn't as if what he wanted to do was entirely private, but bringing somebody along wasn't exactly safe; that's why Thanatos.

"They're the only creatures in this town aside from us, who can speak. I want to know about everything I can from them." ]

[ that's true, perhaps—but they're still demons, and guren doesn't trust demons, which is enough to warn dextera against this path even if nobody should really like demons. it's not that he's worried about getting hurt physically, considering all he's been through in his life and the power of thanatos here before him, but...

the town knows so much about them. who's to say the creatures out here won't, as well? ]

Now?

[ there's nothing in him that seems to be stalling—he's genuinely asking, curious about why ryoji would take now of all times to investigate. he just woke up. ]

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