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[ open ] a river will flow

Who: Guren Ichinose & YOU!!
Where: All around town
When: Anywhere from 8/15-8/31
What: Guren around town! Some open prompts and also this will be a catch all.
Warnings: None really? Prompt D may have more gore mentions depending on how it goes, tho.

A. Siren follow up

[On the day that everyone returns from the island, Guren gets to the docks looking like an even hotter mess than when he'd left. His injuries may be gone, but anyone might catch that he definitely faceplanted on the docks and stayed there for a minute before being convinced away to take a nap somewhere.

Immediately after that, he comes back to make sure everyone's had something to eat and been bandaged, if not healed. He looks a little less filthy, thanks to Dextera's purification, and his wounds are all completely healed! His uniform sure is torn up, though. It seems like he's nonstop even now, going between people, bringing plates of food or just sitting next to anyone who looks deep in thought.

If you don't catch him then, he stays at Dextera's house the night of, and the following day, he's back to wandering around the town or working on his laptop in his own house. Feel free to catch him if you want a follow up thread from the event!]

B. Training montage

[As always, Guren doesn't let up on his training. He can be found close to the forest for things like this, usually as early as 5 in the morning. Stretches, jogging, exercises, things like that. It seems like he's taken to altering some of the peasant clothes to be workout worthy. Sleeveless, loose pants, and so on. When he's not doing that, he has a number of fuda (paper spell tags) that he's shuffling through, taking some sort of inventory of what he has on him. His sword is currently leaning against the base of one of the trees, and though no one else can see her, Mahiru is watching on with a curious gaze.

Don't stare for too long, though, or you'll get roped in. Hiding or not, Guren can sense someone looking his way, and he sighs, stopping whatever he's doing to stare over in that general direction.]

[He'll put you to work!!]

C. Cooking...?

[What's a little more rare is seeing Guren walking around with a bag of what seems to be... vegetables and various foods hanging over his arm. He's stopped at one of the gardens, crouching over one of the food plants and holding it in his hand, brow furrowed like he's trying to figure something out.]

[Eventually, he bites back some of his pride and turns to whoever he sees next.]

D. Anime rooftop prompt

[It's funny, but sometimes Guren seems to appear out of nowhere in the middle of the town, looking worse for the wear. He's definitely wiping blood from his mouth as he leaves from his hidden apothecary this time, but more than that, he's carrying himself a little differently. Shoulders heavier, eyes tired and dark. Testing drugs on yourself isn't a fun time, it turns out, even if your demon heals you.

After that, he heads back towards his house, but it's one of the buildings with a flatter rooftop that he ends up on, instead. He's watching the sunset, leaning back against the wall near the doorway to the roof, looking lost in thought. But he won't chew out anyone if they want to join him.]

(OOC: As always, if you want to plot anything, I'm

zeloser and zlos#3826 on discord! Feel free to make up your own prompt if you want something different, or work something out with me if you want.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Minato didn't use to be an early riser--he likes to sleep whenever he can, and not having to wake up early for school felt a bit like a sweet, sweet gift. But. They've been stuck here for six months now, and the longer that went on, the less Minato wanted to stay in bed until nine or ten in the morning.

He does morning runs now with Lupin, but he's found himself waking up earlier and earlier, wandering restlessly or going through the motions of the training that Tonbokiri and Mutsu have offered him, trying to improve.

And so it is that when he spies Guren near the woods, he slows to a stop from his jog, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a sleeve as he does, in fact, watch unabashedly.

So when Guren calls him over, Minato goes, tilting his head.]

Ichinose-san... hey.

[A quiet beat of contemplation, brief as it is, and:]

Actually, I had a question for you. If... you don't mind.

[It's about time that he can take a break, anyway, so Guren slows his movements and stops, stretching a bit more before he falls back on the old trunk of a fallen tree.]

Sure. [A question, huh. That's not what he expected... and actually, he didn't expect to see Minato out here, at all. But it's good.]

What is it?

[That's good enough for him; he didn't really want to interrupt if Guren was too busy, but this seems fine. So he comes closer properly, and.... hesitates for a moment.

In truth, this is something that still bothers him a great deal, and it's not like it's fun to have to bring it up to people, but Guren's the sort of person who probably would have some good advice, right? Minato can't just sit here and twiddle his thumbs and wish for it to change, he has to change it himself.]

... You mentioned before that you've seen someone use a Persona before, and I'm sure you've seen it more than once by now.

[There are plenty of them around here, after all.]

And I'm sure you've noticed that their summoning didn't involve...well, this. [He'll make a faux-gun with his thumb and forefinger, pointing it to his temple.

He's the only one stuck summoning his that way. It's not like he enjoys it.]

I know it's possible to summon them in a different way now. But-- [... It's harder than it seems. He can't do it. He's been trying--no, that's all just excuses, and he's here for advice from someone he trusts won't sugarcoat it.]

No, just--I wanted to ask. How do you stop relying on a crutch that you've always used? [Because isn't that what his Evoker is? A trigger, a crutch, to make it easier, and now he's too reliant on it.]

[Minato is asking him for genuine, deep and difficult advice. That's enough to get Guren to pay full attention to this, without pretending that he's not. He gestures for Minato to sit on the log next to him, if he wants.]

Before I can answer that, tell me why you use that crutch in the first place. Is it just that it's easier? What do you feel?

[And sit he will! This is something that's been gnawing at him slowly, bit by bit, ever since having come here...he can't just leave it alone as "just how it is".]

Back home, this was the only way we knew how to summon. I didn't really think of it as a crutch then, because it was the only way we had now.

[He shrugs a little, hands shoved into his pockets.]

... But now I know that's not true. I know it's possible, I just... [A brief, frustrated huff of breath.] I don't know how they do it.

Have you tried having one of them explain it to you?

[Another question before he answers the first advice question. Summoning personas is such a new thing to him, after all. He's not sure what it involves.]

Yes... I asked Maya-san and Kitagawa-san.

[They both summon their Personas in different ways, and he trusts them both, so it seemed like a good choice... that said, Jungian philosophy is hardly an easy thing for anyone to grasp, much less seventeen year old boys, so while he's doing his best here, there's a lot he doesn't grasp.]

What we had in common was that we all summoned our Personas for the first time when we were in danger. But otherwise... for Maya-san, she said it's always been completely natural. Kitagawa-san said his Persona is a symbol of his "spirit of rebellion".

[... Minato does not have a spirit of rebellion, look at him, he's a scrawny loser nerd.]

But if it's that easy for them, then... I wonder if the fact that I'm so used to using the Evoker is what's making it harder for me. [Too reliant... maybe? He has no idea.]

[Hmm. In that case...]

Have you ever considered that the method may vary by different circumstances?

[He gestures with a hand to his sword that's just a few feet away, leaning against a tree trunk, looking as menacing as ever.]

It's magic related, isn't it? There are different categories of demons. Possession type and manifestation type. The way they work is completely different. Who's to say that your Persona aren't categorized in the same sort of way?

If it's something that comes naturally to you, that you've been struggling to go against... There may not be an answer. It may not be a crutch at all. It may be what you're stuck with.

[...Vary by circumstance. That might be accurate, and when he thinks about it, it...makes a bit more sense than he'd like to admit to. It's grim, really, to think that he was always meant to summon his Personas in the way he does, but...

He can't say that isn't fitting either, all things considered...

So while Minato frowns a little to himself... he nods, too.]

... You might be right. It might be that this is all I can do, and I don't have any other option.

[That's...altogether too possible. But even so...]

But... somehow, I still want to try anyway. Even if it's a waste of time... [He's tired of the looks, the fear and pity and worry and concern when he uses his Evoker. And maybe he's tired of staring down the barrel of a gun, too, which he didn't realize until he saw that for some people, there's a better way.]

No, you're right to try. It's not a waste of time.

[Guren drops his hand to rest with the other in between his legs, and they curl loosely together.]

It's important to know that it might be impossible before you try. That's all. [He lets that sit in the air for a few moments before he continues.]

If it's that you can change it, then that means you're in a comfort zone. Maybe it's harder to face why you're doing this in the first place. It's too much to think past how it happens aside from it being "natural," and so you can't get to the starting point.

If you want to change that, you have to push past your comfort. Think about it from a different angle. What actually summons your Persona? The danger? Fear? Something else?

[It's true that that's...probably something he needed to hear too. Minato's not used to accepting that things might be impossible, not like that--but he needs to accept that there might be nothing he can do here.

Still...

Sans a quietly accepting nod, he focuses on the rest of what Guren has to say. Think about it from a different angle, huh...?]

... It was explained to me as--Personas represent the inner self, that you can use to face hardships with. So... Personas appear when you need them most, to protect you. That's why the Evokers were designed the way they were.

[It's grim, but if you need a surefire way to make your Persona appear, and it only appears when you're in danger, putting a gun to your head will be pretty damn consistent.]

But even if Maya-san was in danger when she first summoned her Persona, she doesn't have to be in danger now, so... maybe that wasn't completely right all along.

[A faulty premise...? Or something like that. He feels like Guren is onto something with trying to look at it from a different angle, but he's so entrenched in how he's always looked at it that that's certainly easier said than done.]

It may have been right for the initial summon. When you're dealing with anything of the occult, there can be a special way to unlock something. Once it's unlocked, it's a door that's open, that you can go through again at any time. Usually, it's not a door that you can close, either.

[He's comparing it to things like this. And yes, Persona count as the occult to him, thanks.]

So, you're accessing your inner self. And I'm sure you've become more and more aware of just what that inner self is. The tricky part is that you're going to be the best one to know how to reach inside of yourself and access that.

Can you talk to your Persona?

[Personas are thoroughly occult, so he is right... and everything he's saying here makes sense to Minato in a way that rings to him as accurate. He was opening that door, and now... now he just has to figure out how to access it properly, right...?]

Hm... yes, more or less.

[It's kind of an odd experience since he knows he's technically just talking to himself, but...]

In my head, I can. It's not like...full fledged conversations or anything like that, but we can communicate.

[He doesn't really seem to know where Guren's going with this though, from the blank look on his face.]

Then I'm not sure if this will work. I can communicate with my demon for long stretches of time, if I go to sleep... we can discuss plans like that. I've also used that mind space to ask questions.

You'll have to see if communicating with your Persona can give you any insight to what it really needs to come out, now.

[... Huh.

It's not that far off from what Maya had said--that he needed to get more in touch with who he was on the inside, who he is as a person to call on his Persona more easily--but... it's more concrete. It's funny that he never thought of something so simple, but on the other hand, maybe it makes sense. To him, talking to his Personas is like talking to himself...

But maybe that's what he needs to do to get to know himself better.

So...after a brief pause, he nods firmly, expression easing up a bit.]

Hm... that makes sense. I'll give that a try.

[...And then, a brief sigh.]

Thanks, Ichinose-san. Sorry for dropping that on you all of a sudden. [But he was right about Guren having useful advice.]

It's fine. I wasn't doing much.

[Just his normal routine, lost in thoughts. Mahiru is still there, beside her sword form, watching with some kind of knowing smile, but she only gets a glance before he's looking back to the ground in front of the log.]

If it doesn't work, you can come talk to me again. We'll try to figure it out together.

[... Maybe he will. Guren gives good advice, but on the flip side, he doesn't really want to add to the things on Guren's shoulders.

So quietly, he just shakes his head.]

I'll see what I can do, but... it's not really that big of a deal. [Despite everything...] I can still fight fine.

I guess it just seems like there's a lot of potential here... so it feels like it'd be a waste if I didn't at least try to improve. If that makes sense.

[They're in a different world, surrounded by people from different universes and experiences--and he has time here, too. But it's certainly not anything he wants Guren to add to his pile of things to think about.]

It's bugging you enough that you brought it up in the first place. If you don't come to me, I'll just have to bug you about it myself.

[There's no going back, Minato!! It's already on his mind.]

It's good to always improve. It's not a bother, so don't worry about it and come to me if you need it. It's better than me sitting here and getting lost in my own head, anyway.

[... Well, Guren's got him there. If it's going to come down to Minato keeping Guren updated himself, or Guren adding even more tasks on his own shoulders by checking in with Minato, then there's really only one option if he wants to cause him less trouble, not more.]

... Mm, okay. I'll report any changes to you, or let you know if I get stuck.

[For a generous description of "stuck", he might just try to figure it out for a couple of weeks for himself first, but!! This is compromise.

MORE IMPORTANTLY... Minato just tilts his head, looking at Guren a little curiously. Getting lost in his own head...?]

What's been on your mind, then?

I guess you could say I'm on a time limit for fixing things back home. It's been nearly six months, here.

[So, is that passing back at home? He's assuming it is, because he has to, or he could lose everything.]

Even setting that aside, there's the whole issue of why we're here. If they want us to bond and create color, why is it coming in wrong? And why were people kidnapped, showing that those bonds can make us ill? Even if that last part was out of the control of #FFFFFF, it doesn't make any sense.

I'm not any closer to figuring anything out.

[... Oh. Yeah. That is definitely something that would be troublesome. And they can really only theorize, only try to figure things out for themselves while they're here, because they have no guarantees, but...]

I wonder... about the bonds thing.

[He thinks it makes sense--Akechi had postulated that theory, and Minato believes it. That it was their bonds to those people that made them sick while everyone was kidnapped.]

If us bonding together is what makes color, then...those bonds being strained or torn apart--what does that do?

[Is that what that illness was a warning for?]

We haven't seen that yet except for people going home, because... even if you hate someone, that's still a bond of some sort.

It's what makes the most sense. The varying levels of sickness, the onset timing and the worsening of it... Those sirens might not have been planned, and so we were penalized, whereas when a planned separation occurs, like the town being split by colors, it was fine.

It's just a guess.

[But, it lines up, to him.] But you're right, even if you hate someone, that's a bond. People going home hasn't troubled anyone, so that could be planned, too.

Or, it could be something entirely different.

[It lines up to him too. They need these bonds in some way or another--when they're stretched or severed, bad things happen. Is that right...?

People going home is still a sore topic for him--he still worries, every day, for if Mitsuru is okay (and Ryoji, of course, was never going to be--). But still...]

If it's the town sending us back, then, like people thought...that would make it "planned", right? Then it would all make sense and line up with that theory. If...our color isn't needed anymore, or something like that.

[If they're meant to be restoring color, it could make sense that some colors are needed more than others, maybe.]

Something like that, yeah...

[He doesn't like that factor in things, either. It's good if people are going home, but it's not controllable by them, which means that people who are assets can vanish, or...

Or people he cares about. Selfishly, he's thinking along those lines, and his lips curve a little more into a frown than usual.]

I want to find us all a way home... but one that we know for certain, that we can control. Some people don't want to go back to their own worlds. I want to help with that, too.

It's like a kid's dream. [He sighs out a laugh at himself.] And I'm not any closer to it.

...Some people don't have anything to return to.

[Like Ryoji, who's already lost his chance at another, better life.

... Minato drags in a slow breath, and shakes that thought away.]

That's not true, though. Every day, we learn a little bit more. Maybe... it feels like you aren't making any progress because the progress is so small, but...

I think we've all come a long way since the first day we arrived here.

[They can't look at it like they've barely made any progress at all--it'll get to be nothing more than a weight around their neck then. They have to hold onto that hope that they're doing something right.]

B.

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