WEEK 1

[strangerpeople]

WEEK 1

[Awaken.

Fifteen strangers have been gathered to the Depths.

When the strangers awaken, they will feel nauseous in their stomachs. No doubt confused. Maybe a little sick, Perhaps, even terrified. And certainly, there is a good reason for it - they are not where they were before. If they had powers back where they came from, they seem to be all gone. And it appears that someone has left...guidelines for them. All of them addressed to a specific Title.

Their Title. Somehow, each person knows, upon seeing this, this is their Title, even if it seems to make no sense whatsoever. And its clear that whoever wrote these things knew it as well. Who was it?

Its uncertain. So far, there seems to be no one else save for them, and those who dare to venture out of their rooms - save, for some reason, the individuals in rooms 1, 8 and 7 - in this hot and stuffy place. No...'intercessor' to be seen yet, certainly. No outward signs that there's anyone else aside from the people with 'Titles'.


So, Titled: welcome.

There are fifteen strangers in this place.]

Comments

[pursuitofbeauty]

At first, Yusuke is hesitant, because how can he write in a language he doesn't know? Then again, he shouldn't be able to read it, either....

He puts pen to paper and, after another moment's hesitation, scrawls his name in the strange letters, followed by I am a second year at Kosei High School on an art scholarship.

"Can you read it without difficulty?"

[carries_war]

[He nods.]

Yeah. Even though there are words there that weren't in my note or that book...

[pursuitofbeauty]

"How is this possible?" Yusuke reaches up, delicately touching one of his temples while a disturbed frown furrows his brow. "Did they do something to our minds before we awoke here? If so, what else could they have done to us?"

Maybe that's why Futaba knows him while he doesn't remember her. The idea that someone has tampered with their brains truly is horrifying. Could it be used to force them to kill if their captors desire?

[carries_war]

They must have. I think...they might've made us forget stuff.

[He reaches up to touch the earring dangling from his left ear.]

I'm not supposed to have a pierced ear. And... [He sits down to take off his left shoe and sock to show a thin, black anklet tattoo in tribal style lines.] I didn't have any tattoos that weren't read. They're too healed to be new, unless someone used nanotechnology.

Plus, we didn't have any clothes like this at the Institute, and they don't match any of the stuff here.

[pursuitofbeauty]

"Futaba Sakura and I apparently know one another, though I don't remember her. According to her, I seem to be missing a very large chunk of my memory. The thought is... disconcerting, to say the least."

Yusuke glances down at Rubedo's tattoo. Though he's very traditionally Japanese in his mindset, that doesn't look like a yakuza tattoo. Besides, Rubedo is from another world, and their culture must be different. Regardless, Yusuke can tell the ink isn't new.

"So it's not only me that's lost memories. Most likely, all of us have, some more than others. But there's no way to know for certain."

[carries_war]

That's gotta be why we don't know how we got here, too. Even if we did fight back, we wouldn't remember it because they erased or suppressed those memories.

[He pulls his shoe and sock back on and stands back up.]

They must have an impressive telepath to be able to feed us entire new alphabets and languages that fast, so that's probably how they did it.

[pursuitofbeauty]

An idea springs to mind, the same one he keeps having and yet is unable to completely dismiss. But to speak of it to someone who isn't part of the Phantom Thieves, especially when he barely knows much about it himself....

If Rubedo can help, then perhaps he should say something. Clearly Yusuke is struggling with it, biting his lip delicately before speaking.

"There is a strange phenomenon present in the world from which Futaba and I originate. It is not something I speak of lightly, but perhaps you can make something of it with the theories you've already crafted. I must swear you to secrecy before I continue."

[carries_war]

If it's important to getting out of here, I might have to mention it. This is kind of like a battle, and none of us can win it on our own, we've gotta work together. But I can keep anything that isn't useful for escaping a secret.

[pursuitofbeauty]

"I understand. Though it pains me to think what could happen if someone discovered a way to use this information against us, I will tell you what I know."

Yusuke takes a deep breath, lowering his voice to better keep anything from being overheard if someone should wander by. "An alternate reality, one my teammates call the Metaverse... from what they've told me, it is a world completely shaped and controlled by cognition. Certain areas of it, called Palaces, are twisted and ruled by a single extremely distorted heart. With the strange form of this place, I'm left to wonder if our prison might be something of that nature. Perhaps our separate consciousnesses were drawn into a Palace as water is caught by a whirlpool."

[carries_war]

That sounds a bit like the UMN, and Subconscious Domains. It's possible, something like that would definitely explain how they can change what languages we know. If they have a direct connection to our consciousnesses, they wouldn't even need a telepath to do stuff like that.

[pursuitofbeauty]

"So what I've experienced is a similar phenomenon to what you know? If such a thing exists across different worlds, it becomes a more and more viable explanation for this prison and what is occurring here."

Yusuke tucks a lock of hair behind his ear, eyes growing distant as he mulls something over in his mind.

"How much else could they affect in our minds? Memories? Personalities?"

[carries_war]

[He's quiet for a moment...but since Yusuke shared a secret of his own...]

Back home, I was called the Red Dragon, and it wasn't just a fancy nickname. I've got something called the Red Dragon Drive, it's real hard to control and usually makes me want to fight and kill people. I didn't realize it at first, 'cause I was scared and mad, but it should've stirred up when I got here and thought my brothers were dead. But it didn't, I was mad and wanted to hurt whoever attacked them, but it was easy for me to stand down once I knew everyone here was a victim too.

So our powers aren't just locked up...they got rid of the ways they affect our minds, too.

[pursuitofbeauty]

For a moment, Yusuke can only stare at Rubedo in shock. For someone who looks so young to bear such a monstrous burden....

"Such a fearsome curse! You must be relieved to be rid of it here, despite the power it must lend you in battle." He's giving the redhead a sympathetic look, not one of fear. "And for you to tell me about it when you know it risks raising suspicion toward you shows trust. For that, I thank you."

A faint smile touches the artist's lips. "Trust is one of the best tools we have. That and hope are what our captors cannot take from us, no matter what. Only we can relinquish those tools from our own hands and hearts."