recolle | SPOOKY HAUNTS AND TRAILS

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SPOOKY HAUNTS AND TRAILS » OPEN

WHO: the infamous nasty crimeboy, Akira Kurusu, and you!
WHERE: Places in Recolle
WHEN: Spooky Month of October
WHAT: EVENT STUFF and mundane stuff if it comes up. if you would like to plan anything, hit me up via

halloway or hei#2323 on discord.
WARNINGS: Persona 5 spoilers for last boss battle and late-game conspiracy unveiling. Will update when necessary!

NOTE!! You can leave an empty comment with the subject header of your choice or even RANDOM for something unlisted/miscellaneous (lighthearted) and I'll write the prompt. For nightmares, it may skip around and make no sense very much like how actual dreams are.

nightmares

[ When you enter the dream, you're engulfed by darkness until you hear a deep and unfamiliar voice. It speaks in a language you are most comfortable with. ]

The contract has been sealed...

You have agreed to provide the Trickster support
in his journey to oppose fate and seek change.

CASINO
It's filled with a variety of gamblers from talking fish to actual people. Shadows are also gambling? But they're aggressive due to their mass losses. There are several elevators and it seems like the treasure is on the VIP level.

If you choose to enter the CASINO, you may appear outside of the structure or on the first floor in costume and mask. Akira will accompany you in his Joker outfit.

VELVET ROOM
Are you a prisoner? Or a keeper? You can stand behind the bars with Akira, withstand the abuse and rebel alongside him, or on the opposite side—ushered by two wardens and a man with an elongated nose to carry out discipline. Rehabilitation is important.

If you choose to enter the VELVET ROOM, you may appear inside or outside the cell. Your attire will change into prisoner wear or officer uniform respectively.

MEMENTOS (SPOILER)
In the city of Recolle, you notice there's something strange. People walk past the blood red rain and the towering skeleton pieces. The irrelevant become forgotten. The forgotten vanish. Is it your hand that's disappearing? Or is it Akira's?

If you choose MEMENTOS, you'll be in your normal attire or in your underwear. Whichever your character feels less attractive in if you want. Once again, Akira is beside you.

CODE CREDIT

fog

[ Akira has been having a hard time with his nightmares. Some of them he remembers bits and pieces (all useless), but he's thinking a jog in the ungodly time where the thick fog rolls in is a good idea? Unfortunately not... He ends up running away from one of these three tormentors in his pajamas. What's with his luck?

As he looks behind him, he crashes into someone. Sorry. ]

TWIN WARDENS (SPOILER)
Their names are unknown to you, but they're two girls with silver hair with a single golden eye (an eyepatch covers the other). As attendants of the Velvet Room, they have this ethereal aura to them, even menacing as they shoot various skills into the fog.

"Come back here, inmate! You can't hide forever!"

"You're only delaying the inevitable."

IMPERIOUS ANGEL (SPOILER)
An angel appears with an abstract body shape. Wings scaling wide and halo spinning over its head, it spreads its several hands that hold instruments. With the rise of the triangle, the angel rings it with a clear ding. In a matter of seconds, a flash of light magic strikes near.

"I am what humanity desires. Why oppose me?"

You can hear the sneer in its voice.

GOLD PIGGER
This silver piggy bank may seem cute, but it's also massively large and rolls without end. What does stop it from rolling are valuable items. Throw something expensive and it'll take a break to appraise it with a series of oinks. The one in control is a half-fly guy throwing out some mad rhymes.

"Yo yo yo! You think you can just walk into my neighborhood and disrespect me like that, dawg?"

CODE CREDIT

wildcard

[ THROW ME WHATEVER! Baby haunts from the new ghosts or even the Retrospec Maze! Even anything normal. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[........................ This is so weird, he immediately feels guilty, he's ducking his head down. He's not even sure if there'll be a response like this? If not, then he can just resume it from before, can't he..?]

I'm sorry, I... no, there's no excuse. I don't mean to intrude, Aki-- Kurusu, I simply found myself curious and didn't think of what it might feel like to you.

[... Dream you? Something like that.]

[ Akira only smiles at him, breaking through the frozen world. Unfortunately, the rest doesn't follow suit. Everything remains frozen in place, letting them keep this bubble of time to themselves. ]

... It's fine. We're all just puppets, aren't we?

[ A prisoner, chained by fate and destiny—a life that he has no control of. This dream self represents feeling hamstrung, the part he long accepted and abandoned, but it still stuck around the back of his mind ever since he learned about Goro this month. His body language lacks confidence and his mannerisms are little more sheepish, reflecting the person he used to be long before he met Goro, even before his oldest friends. ]

But you've been gifted, right? You gave me that memory. There must be more you can do... Can you change me, too?

[ And the checklist turns into a character sheet, listing parameters with standard Persona 5 stats. They're also editable with sliders as if you can build a person from scratch and break them down. The stats seem all normal, except there are two extra categories: helplessness at max and alacrity at zero. ]

[What a different Akira. It's startling, in a way, and he taps his foot a little restlessly in response.]

... I'm not certain I would call it a gift per say...

[But there's a character sheet in front of him, stats and all, and Goro glances between Akira and it uncertainly. The biggest thing he'd change would be helplessness, but he's going to lean on his hand instead, smiling softly.]

I don't have a right to change you, you know. You're no more a puppet than I am. If there's anything to be done, it needs to be done by you.

[As he says so, he'll be reaching over to take Akira's hand, place it on the character sheet.]

If you need help with that, I'm here for you no matter what. We're friends, after all.

[More than that, but he's very much keeping cards closer to his chest.]

... But I can't.

[ The cat cafe actually starts melting, degrading into this black goo. The counter, the tables, the cat furniture, the cats themselves, the people—seat Goro is using? Slowly melting into the ground. Akira's gaze is downcast where the character sheet is, but it seems like he can't see it.

Once again, it's something he can't control.

The screen between them still shows the heist in production, but the red text starts shaking rapidly. However, the audio is still clear and it seems like they're looking straight at Goro. While the world around them is frozen, melting like they're wax figures under the sun, the video continues to play... Joker reaches out before a red gloves comes to grab Goro by the collar and pull him into the screen.

WELCOME TO KAMOSHIDA CASTLE...
Akira is there with his phantom thief outfit, raising his eyebrows at how he just pulled him out of... Well, nothing? It doesn't seem like Mona, Panther, and Skull are here. However, Morrigan is. The cat has blue eyes in this dream and an orange bandanna around his neck. Hand on his hip, he tilts his head. ]

Where were you?

[So trying to do something outside what the dream allows results in this... Goro touches the goo awkwardly as it melts, glancing up at Akira and flinching at the sight of the screen between them, suddenly uncomfortble by the stares.

And then he's being pulled in, the world suddenly changing to a scenery he's entirely unfamiliar with. There's Akira (Joker, his mind corrects, it's Joker here) and... Morrigan? Goro glances discreetly at himself, noting his own phantom thief outfit and being a little relieved at the whiteness there.]

Um, elsewhere. Sorry, my mind wanders.

[Which is a rookie mistake, he knows, but maybe it'll be forgiven..?]

I was waiting for you outside the Velvet Room.

[ Akira remembers that much before things drastically turned for the worst There's something that feels off about Goro, but he doesn't point it out for now. Morrigan doesn't seem to mind and rubs himself against the familiar person's ankles. It's better that they continue the heist except they're starting from the middle of the infiltration route, very different from what the screen first depicted.

To be specific, they're in the dining hall where several translucent women, dressed up as meals, splay themselves on the long dining table. Kamoshida really is detestable—the sight only makes Akira exhausted, heaving a sigh. ]

You left me here...

[ With this. ]

[... Is that what the place was called? No, maybe not. Best not to appear too dumb.

Which is easy when dealing with this display. Goro looks at it with disdain, then lightly touches Akira shoulder, smile sincere.]

My apologies. I'm alright now, so let's continue forward.

[Even if. He has no idea what way to go. Or how to actually deal with this? Is Morrigan going to fight with them. Fuck. Dreams are so weird. Let's... exit the hall, hopefully not from the way we came? Ohhhh this is interesting.]

[ Morrigan meows as he follows after Goro only to nip on his pants and drag him back. It doesn’t seem to be the right way? Not like Akira knows, either, since he followed only to find the blue door on the side. Beside it is a downward stairwell where they can make out moving parts, kind of like clockwork. With the flanks and clink, they can hear the wheezing of young boys. Volleyball slaves, probably. ]

I don’t think I would ever come here again.

[ Back to the dining room, there’s only one exit and entrance. However, the candleholders all shine except for one when they return. ]

[That

is disgusting. They're on death's door, yet they're still being forced to practice..? It rides uncomfortably close to his fear of his mother overworking herself, really, so he is more than happy to return to the dining room. Even if this is just as gross. Augh.

He wouldn't be a detective if he didn't notice every detail, though, so the lack of shine catches his attention. Let's investigate.]

[ The dining ladies are at least quieter than the sound of overworked young boys. Of course they utter a little noise, maybe a moan in between their investigations, but otherwise it's Fine. Akira follows after him as he looks at the candle holder.

It seems like you can twist the holder a bit, so he does that. It extinguishes half of the lit candles. ]

... It is kind of weird that the candles are lit when there are chandeliers in here.

[ They may or may not need to twist more holders. ]

Chandeliers feel more like decorations to me than actual light fixtures, but perhaps that's because I've never grown up around them... though this place is gaudy enough that it isn't too weird, I guess.

[Like, look at it??? Gosh. This Palace is ridiculous. Did Akira really traverse something like this..? What sort of person has this distorted a view of the people around them? Sae-san (whoever she is) had a perfectly normal view of them...

Let's twist some more. This is like a rubix cube of candles.]

I do have the undeniable urge to shoot them, though. Like in the movies.

Really? It seems much to keep adding though... It's not like this dining hall is that large.

[ Which is strange? Dining halls this extravagant should be spacious, but here we go. More twists until all the candles are extinguished. Nothing happens for a second, however. Hm.

A gun appears in Akira's hand and bang bang—there goes the chandelier. It drops right in the center of the dining table and the girls instantly vanish into a black smoke after they screech in terror. The table breaks in half and the room finally expands. On one side where the exaggerated portrait of Kamoshida rests, the wall lifts up to unveil a dark corridor. ]

Maybe I didn't need to do that.

[ It was going to open whether they shot the chandelier or not. ]

Perhaps, but it was very satisfying to watch. Don't you think so? Though I do feel a little bad about the collateral damage, cognitions or not...

[That's his Akira! In... some form, he supposes? He doesn't want to think to hard about this, but he is curious to know the sort of relationship they have at the moment, in this... apparent twist of fate.

Goro'll gesture the two along, trying to find the words to broach that topic. Asking bluntly wouldn't work at all... he should probably be focusing more on the dark corridor ahead, but it's alright to split attention half and half, right? Akira and Morrigan can handle it.]

I’m sure Kamoshida will get his maids or slaves to clean it up... If he gets the chance.

[ Cause they’re here to steal the teacher’s treasure, aren’t they? Morrigan meows before leading them through, Akira following diligently behind. It allows Goro all the time in the world as they unlock Kamoshida’s distorted heart. On the opposite side of glamor is the nitty-gritty torture dungeon area. It’s grim, dark, only lit by the few torches.

It’s also swarming with Shadows that take the appearance of knights. They pace around areas, sometimes whispering dumb chatter you would expect from humans—some dumb, some pretentious, others loyal...

“Those meddlesome thieves have to get through me if they even think about laying one grimy finger on King Kamoshida!”

Then there’s “when will the next guy switch out with me? Nothing’s even happening.” ]

Morrigan says the treasure is a couple of floor up.

[ Uhm. Morrigan said nothing, but he looks up at the both of them as if understanding the situation entirely. Yes, they’re hiding in the shadows like criminals. ]

[... Maybe dream logic dictates that only Akira can understand his cat. Goro nods, curling his hand uncertainly around the hilt of his sword as he wonders the sort of Persona that might appear in battle -- Robin Hood, in all his heroic glory, or that strange striped one he seemed more familiar with? Which was Akira more accustomed to? Would it shift around him?

Stupid things to worry about with Shadows on the lookout for them. He breathes out softly, observing the path of one close to them. When it moves off again, he glances at Akira and then at Morrigan.]

Are we going to conserve our strength for necessary fights, or are we going to clear them out completely?

[ Goro is allowed to dream whatever Persona he wants, but Akira is very much used to Robin Hood... Though he has seen Loki, too. Morrigan squints at the Shadow like he would at a mouse, ready to sink his little teeth into them.

"It would be best if we conserve it, but some battles can't be avoided," says the cat in a rather boyish voice. It's that of a child, but sounds rather confident.

Seems like they can both understand Morrigan? Or maybe this is Akira's idea of Morgana and how that cat is comparable to his own. ]

All right. Let's go.

[ When the Shadow comes closer to them, Akira circles it before pulling off its mask. It disperses into separate Shadows, a party of three: a floating pumpkin witch holding a lantern, a green sea pony, and a pixie.

"All hail King Kamoshida!!"

They seem ready to fight for their king except Pixie notices Goro? She bats his eyelashes at him before sending an air kiss, mwah. ]

[He

cannot be distracted by understanding Morrigan. That is not the sort of voice he would have imagined? Maybe something more like Binx from Hocus Pocus, that's a good cat voice. He jerks away from Pixie with an awkward laugh, stepping more beside Akira out of habit.]

I'll leave that one to you, she seems more your type than mine.

[Time to dance with the witch instead! Robin Hood appears to shoot some Bless arrows at the pyromaniac, focusing on pinning it down so it can't cast any spells. As witches do. Goro couldn't be more relieved to see the buff Persona.]

[ Morrigan is barely over a year old?? Why are you having expectations of him, Goro. Seeing Goro shimmy away from Pixie makes Akira raise his eyebrows. It's funny, but they have to take care of these enemies quickly.

Pyrojack hee-hos in fear as it's pinned in place by the arrows. Of course the Kelpie neighs before casting its own skill... Which is summoning another Kelpie. Then that Kelpie summons another Kelpie. ]

How so?

[ With the number of enemies, Yoshitsune doesn't seem like a good choice. He summons Satanael and inflicts the Shadows with a rain of bullets. It hits them all, but not enough to finish them off. Pixie seems offended that she's being mishandled like this!! And heals herself.

"There's no time for flirting!" Yes... They're being lectured by a cat. ]

Flirt-- What do you know, you're still a child!

[Robin Hood's Kouga doesn't work on her so well, so it stands to reason that Eiga does; down onto her ass she goes, complaining squeakily but alive, and Goro dashes forward to finish off a Kelpie or two, though there's another summoned quickly in its place. A healthier one.

... Satanael is still #aesthetic and #ideal btb. Has not changed.]

[ ”Uh... I’ve watched you flirt with Akira all the time? I don’t need to be an adult to call you out.” Morrigan is sassy... No one is surprised, probably.

There are only Kelpies left, so Akira forgoes another skill to engage in close combat. He clears the second one, leaving the last healthy one cornered by them. It seems to be backing up, planning to flee instead of fight. ]

I always thought you two got along.

[ Like the amount of attention Goro has showered Morrigan is vast like the ocean. ]

[Maybe it's no different than home then..? Intriguing. He'll save his energy and just lay into the Kelpie with his gun, huffing softly in amusement at Akira's words.]

I was surprised, that's all. I adore him on a good day. Just like you.

[the cat just sassed you about flirting goro.]

[ This is actually Akira, Goro... Morrigan is just squinting at Goro before looking up at Akira like why are you with this guy? He's rubbing his neck sheepishly from the cat's stare. Stop judging him, Morri. You are his precious cat. Please.

"He just said he doesn't like you on bad days, Akira."

GOD. There's just an exasperated sigh as they go down the corridor. They're going to scale up to this medieval vent, all right? ]

This should take us outside, I think.

[ And when they squeeze through, there's an open area with strong enemies based on their color... Why. Quickly, Akira hides behind the haystacks that create the makeshift maze.

"This Kamoshida guy sure is paranoid." Meow meow, licking his paw by the vent. ]

I'm not sure how we'll get out of this without having to fight all of them.

[It's Goro, of course he's going to overthink it?? Who do you think he is.

He'll sheepishly follow himself, peeking over the haystacks at the enemies. That is handy and also a little intimidating. There's so many of them? How are they supposed to get through this...]

... You don't think we could get them to fight each other, do you? It would prove an ample distraction for us to sneak by with.

[ An idiot? Akira scratches his cheek as he watches them. They don't seen to be hostile towards each other, not even haughty. They're rather sullen, quiet, and almost feel programmed.

Would they be able to make them fight each other? ]

If we have a spell that can do that, it would be great.

[ "A confusion spell?" Morrigan mews as he peeks around. ]

Do you have something like that?

Not that I'm aware.

[He's so useless. Hmmm. Well, in that case--]

One of us could be a decoy and gather their attention so the others can get through with more easy, if neither of you have one either. We'll meet up again... hopefully.

[... Maybe not a plan they'll agree with.]

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