open || greek fire from the sea of her soul

[complementing]

WHO: Minako and YOU!
WHERE: Peach Beach late at night, Birch Hills apartment complex in Apprassage
WHEN: All month, excluding certain event days
WHAT: Feeling like she's going down a path of no return, Minako tries to summon the two beings that have recently settled into the depths of her soul...and on a more lighthearted note, she also gets involved in cosplay.
WARNINGS: Hints of Persona 3 related suicide and death. For anyone tapping into the Persona threads, I will be writing Seth in prompt 2 by default, but Card is also available to write Thanatos!Ryoji if you want your character to interact with him instead, most likely as an accidental summon on Minako's part. Let us know if you'd be okay with threadjacking or even a complete three-person thread if you want to go that route. Oh, and if you'd like an Evoker thread and a Persona thread all in one, please mention that in the header too!

I. I CHOOSETH THIS FATE OF MY OWN FREE WILL
Evoker use; Peach Beach late at night

[Okay, Peach Beach at night should have less people around than Hollingberry Fields at night, right? Right. Or so Minako tells herself, staring out into the ocean with her Evoker in her hand. The scenery is all wrong, but there's definitely no way she's pulling the stunt she's about to pull anywhere in public. Nobody needs to freak out over her looking like she's about to shoot herself in the head.

Because that's exactly what it looks like, the Evoker cradled in her palms and then lifted to her temple with an audible click of its mechanisms in her right hand. Her left is clutching at her wildly beating heart, and her finger is on the trigger. Her visions tell her that this won't end in death, logic tells her it can't because the gun doesn't fire bullets. But she's almost hyperventilating anyways, so so so afraid that she's making a mistake.

But she has to know.

Do you catch her before she pulls the trigger? Or are you drawn to the area by her cry?]

PERSONA!

II. YOU'RE GONNA HEAR ME...
Persona regains; Peach Beach late at night
See note about Thanatos!Ryoji under Warnings

[Or maybe it's none of the above, and you encounter her mid-summon. Her head violently jerks to the side, the sound of glass shattering, and where one would presume a bullet would escape, there's instead what looks to be glowing blue fragments, suspended in the air. The wind picks up around her in a self-contained tornado, and a figure bursts into existence behind her with a deafening roar.

Seth, the fire-breathing dragon, spreads its wings wide as it responds to Minako's voice, head thrown back to gaze on the moon that represents its Arcana before throwing all its fury and weight forward. An explosion of fire escapes from its mouth, parting the ocean water before them. And though it's right above her head, hot enough for her to feel like her skin is blistering, Minako doesn't flinch. She kneels wearily on the sand, yes, Seth snapping his jaws shut to return the fire to the furnace after a few moments, but she doesn't flinch.]

Maragidyne...sure takes a lot out of me. Was that four or five in a row?

III. CARD CAPTOR SAKUYA
Cosplay progress; Minako's apartment

[It might be that you don't even realize all of this Persona stuff is happening late at night, and instead you encounter Minako right outside her apartment on a sunny day. She'll be either practicing cosplay poses or perhaps walking around in a pretty white dress, and while how finished it looks depends on what time of the month you stop by, she'll be more than happy to show off what the end product is supposed to look like by practically sticking her phone in your face.]

It's Card Captor Sakuya! You know, the magical girl anime. Kiyomitsu-kun is helping me make it, but I'm breaking in the heels right now.

IV. WILDCARD
Throw me a starter, or find me at Plurk on raynestorm to work out a different scenario with me

Comments

[accordance]

[ They've already checked the gun, it's presumably safe to use. And yet it seems like there is that need for symbolism, the acceptance of death to move forward. That's not something one demands of a child, no. ]

May I?

[ He indicates the pistol again. If it really is dangerous, then perhaps they should put it off. ]

[complementing]

[She looks up at him, something akin to defeat in her eyes. When all of this started, she swore that she would stay her own self, that she wouldn't become the other Minako despite all the memories and abilities. With everything that Retrospec is throwing at them, it seems less and less likely that she can. It's not even just because she's inheriting so much of the other Minako. It's because the other Minako-- the Minako that she could never have been without Retrospec's help-- seems to be the Minako that is more capable of handling everything that Retrospec throws her way. She was a tactician, a warrior and a healer, a beacon of hope and strength and courage for her team. She was a leader, and a hero. Someone who faced everything that came her way head on. Even death. This Minako is insufficient. It feels like there's no other way to protect her precious people other than embracing everything that the other Minako used to be. She doesn't realize she's admitting all of this aloud to Lucian until she feels the butt of the Evoker biting into her palms from how tightly she's clutching it. Not wanting to give up, but still unable to pull the trigger, either.]

[accordance]

[ Lucian listens.

He listens with quiet, night wind ruffling his hair, expression muted to be almost unreadable in the darkness. He listens, because it is listening that brings wisdom, and it is the only thing that he can do.

A man who had solutions. That was his reputation since a long time ago. But every mortal has their limits. Every human is fallible in some way, and he's been brought to feel it so very immensely in these weeks. What use is a person without a plan?

Finding strength within oneself seems too much of a shadow to say at this moment. So instead he tells her that she is in no way inferior to her past life. People are shaped by those around them. That girl was born in some other time, with different situations, that allowed her to find her strength. Minako also has that strength. The matter is not in whether the strength exists, but finding a way to express it.

In his experience, it is the bonds of friendship and trust that bring out the best in people. A person cannot do it alone. Minako has no reason to take on everything by herself. She may have the tools from her past, but she can use it in her own, unique way.

In this world, her will should not be defined by whether she would be willing to die. It should be defined by how much she is willing to be kind.

Lucian lets the silence return, listens. Of course, these are just words from a quiet old man. Perhaps these are empty promises in the end, but perhaps they will make a difference. ]

[complementing]

[Empty promises only stay that way because nobody has the power or strength to fulfill them.

Minako has that now in spades. In fire born of dragon's breath. In a guardian who delivers the eternal end.

Hadn't she discussed this with someone back when she first got her spear? The ability to fight, this ability to summon. It's a skill just like any other, like her knitting and her baking. If it isn't used, it will go away, simple as that. The alternate is to continue to practice, to hone that skill-- and from there?

It's a choice in how she uses it.

So how does she want to use it? The other Minako had used her power to fight Shadows. Was willing to die for that, even, as explicitly seen in all her visions. This Minako isn't sure where that leaves her, though, other than the sure thought that she doesn't want to die.

She's...not sure if she's afraid of death or not.

But she knows that she can't die because she would be leaving behind too many precious people if she did. She doesn't want them to cry over her, to make them sad that she's gone. She only wants them to smile around her, and she wants to be the source of that happiness, if she can be.

Minako wants to protect everyone she loves, and everything they love in turn.

Is that the kindness Lucian is alluding to? She isn't sure. It probably isn't. And yet it feels like a decision either way, to look at it from a positive point of view like she always tries to do. A glass half full and not half empty. The determination to live on for something else until the end, not an acceptance that the end might come while living.

...granted, putting a gun to her head is still morbidly symbolic in a way that doesn't follow her line of thinking. But she feels a little better about it all.

Prepare for the worst. Accept that the worst may come, and that things might not happen how you want them to turn out. But hope for the best. Protect the future. Live. Isn't that much better than remembering that death might come at any moment for you?

She doesn't need to be reminded. She's known that since she was a little girl.]

Lucian, stand back. I'm going to try again.

[accordance]

[ There is a sense of a hanging stone being lowered, though he knows that her trial is not over yet. If it is needed, he still has to find solutions for support. ]

Of course.

[ So he nods, moving a few paces backward to give her space. And watches. ]

[complementing]

[She breathes out slowly, and much like earlier, she brings the gun to her temple, her hand to her heart, hearing the thump of her blood in her veins. But this time, she keeps that mantra in her foremost thoughts, trying to push the fear away.

Prepare for the worst. Hope for the best. Live, even though she's pulling the trigger, because it's her choice to, because she wants to, because--

Now then, there has been a change in you recently. Have you noticed? And I'm not referring to your change in circumstances. I am referring to the change in your mentality. That is why I have summoned you here tonight. Going forward, there is one thing you mustn't forget...I see you recognize it. Shall I remind you of your commitment?

Minako parts her lips, her eyes opening again and staring out ahead of her, clear and determined.]

I chooseth this fate of mine own free will.

Persona!

[Her finger pulls the trigger. It might seem that something might've gone wrong at first, because her head jerks to the side from recoil, as if a bullet had really entered her brain. But bright blue fragments of light explode from the other side of her head instead of blood, and the sound of shattering glass pierces the quiet night air.

With a roar of triumph, a giant and sleek black dragon whirls into existence above Minako, wings unfurling and whipping up the sand at her feet.]

[accordance]

[ It's only due to decades of self-control that Lucian is able to remain completely still. The gunshot sounds very much real, the same sounds that had shattered the glass of field hospitals, the bodies of fleeing men. But he is not weak, he reminds himself - a staunch will prevents his body from reacting, though not quite enough to stop him from backing away when the dragon appears. ]

Is this...?

[ Not quite what he had been expecting, but Minako is alive and well, and that is what counts the most. ]

[complementing]

[She turns around to look, too, and even though the image of the dragon had come to mind when she'd called for whatever had been resting inside her soul, it still startles her all the same. It's huge, an actual dragon that is capable of great power, she knows, and looking at her like it's...annoyed? Relieved? She can't be sure. She isn't even sure how she can tell.

Again almost unbidden, words tumble from her mouth, not knowing how she knows but speaking them all the same.]

Seth, of the Moon Arcana.

[And a small voice in her head murmurs in response.

I was born of thee, and I shall walk by thy side.

Minako breathes out-- and then clutches her chest a little, grimacing at the twinge she feels there.]

So this is what summoning feels like...

[accordance]

[ He's interested in Seth, for more reasons than one. Summoning seems in line with what she has told her, but - ]

The Moon Arcana?

[ What does she mean by that? ]

[complementing]

[Her brow furrows as she sifts through the information the visions have given her, and what Ryoji has told her.]

It's...the type of Persona he is. All Personas are classified by an Arcana, and I still don't know much about them, but it seemed like the other Minako could fuse stronger Personas from weaker ones, so long as the Arcanas were compatible for fusion.

[accordance]

[ How does the Arcana even define such a thing? But then again... ]

I see.

[ This is very abstract to him, so he just hopes she has an idea of what she's doing. ]

Do you know of any others?

[complementing]

The ones I know exist for sure aside from Moon are the Magician, Star, and Death Arcanas. They seem to have been connected to the monsters we were fighting, as well as the other Minako's friends...

[It's all very complicated and it shows on her face, but she physically shakes her head to move past it.]

Anyways, I'm assuming that since the Death Arcana exists, most if not all of the others should exist in the other Minako's world too.

[accordance]

[ It seems like an arbitrary system, at this point. ]

We will know more in the future, I am sure.

[ Since it's completely out of his field, there isn't much for him to say except: ]

How do you feel>

[complementing]

[Her smile is a little weak and trembling at the corners, but it's a smile.] Still terrified out of my mind...but better. It'll hopefully get easier with practice.

[accordance]

[ And a smile, is a smile indeed. ]

I am sure it will. But - if you feel tired, do take a rest.

[complementing]

[She nods wearily, the full extent of the physical and emotional stress of summoning finally hitting her. Minako sinks down to sit on the sand as Seth disappears.]

...will you stay here until I'm ready to try again?

[accordance]

[ He'll crouch down to be on her eye level. ]

I will stay with you for as long as you need.

[complementing]

[The way he does that, how seriously he says it-- it has her throat tightening with a burst of soul-deep gratitude and affection, and she throws her arms around his neck to bring him into a hug.]

Thank you.