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Entry tags:
inbox / purgastory.
HELLO
"You've reached Elysium! Lost? Need an ear? I'm your guy! I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
GOODBYE
TEXT | VIDEO | VOICE | ACTION
inventory bc i don't know where else to put this:
cursed chihuahua papers
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Yeah, he's told me about Obikawa-san. It's someone who lives in his building and occupies a lot of his time, but there's a little more to it, too. Since Tokinaga-san works a lot, sometimes Obikawa-san's the only person around when he's not, it sounds like.
[ tokinaga can elaborate more, this is not his place. ]
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no man left behind…… matching socks for the entire gang… ]
It kind of feels like this place is rifling through the people in our lives and lobbing whatever it finds at us, hoping one of the hits sticks. For me, this was the first time it's been this… tangible. I was a little surprised. But the tail was meant to be my captain's, I think.
I say 'I think' when I absolutely know that was their intent. BUT! They mangled her resemblance so badly that if I let it slide, she'd probably find a way to reach through this purgatory and drag me into hers just to scold me for it——then send me back.
[ somehow says this all so fondly. ]
Was yours a close friend of yours too?
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but he's paying attention and he kind of goes "wait are you a pirate, too" because he remembers thorns mentioning elysium and knows thorns is a pirate, but he doesn't actually ask because that's not important. regardless! he doesn't disagree that it's obvious this place is throwing whatever will hit. ]
Hm... anything to try and get a reaction, and since the thing attacked us right away it's like this place wants us to fumble it just because it looks like someone familiar. I mean four people put together made it kinda gross, but some things were more clear than others. [ why did it need to have saki's face actually. ] It sounds like your Captain knows you pretty well.
[ or at least has a good handle of who elysium is and how to get him to behave. that's something he's filing away for later, because then he asks that question and yosuke has to think of what to say. ]
... it's a little different. I told you before how we were originally just trying to solve the murders that were happening in town before everything else happened. Saki-senpai's is whose I was trying to solve. [ ... ] We were co-workers, and I don't know if she'd really consider us friends but I... she was important to me, yeah. I wanted to get to know her better. I wanted to see her be happy.
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[ That isn't nearly as important as what Yosuke has to say, though, and he'll turn his attention to him even if he can't quite see it from his ridiculous positioning. ]
Mm. Did she look like she was struggling?
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[ it's still important to him to know more about elysium in general, because the other thing he'd said to tsukasa was that the best thing they can all do is remind each other of important things that may be forgotten. but then there's saki. ]
She was good about brushing it off. I didn't know how much it bothered her back then, and even when I tried to defend her she never said anything. [ he decides maybe some context is important though. ] My family moved to Inaba because my dad became the manager of Junes. It's a really big department store, they're kinda everywhere. But Inaba's such a small town that bringing a Junes meant all of the town's business started going there and the shopping district lost it. Saki-senpai's family has owned a liquor store in the shopping district for generations, so when she came to work at Junes, people started talking.
... there's not a single person in that town who doesn't know who I am because of Junes. I heard a lot of things behind my back and even to my face about how we ruined everything when the store first opened. What can you do but shut up and deal with it? [ granted, that suppression led to his shadow but he's not getting into that. ] But people started saying the same kind of things to her, about how she was a traitor to her family and everything. She hated it... and she hated me, too, because of it. And I was too excited just to be talking to her to even notice how bad it was until it was too late. I was just a pain in her ass who was too enthusiastic to realize she was only being nice, but... I still wish I'd had more time. Maybe things would have been different then.
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[ War flashbacks to the Holy Mother Cardi B… not like this. Makes a face like he's emulating the one lemon meme. ]
Makes you wonder if the real goal here is to get us desensitised to everything. They throw so much at us, push us close to the edge but not quite, then suddenly—there's a lull. Now that's what I'd call Purgatory: if they want to hollow us out until there's nothing left.
[ His thoughts wander somewhere grislier than that, and it's not hard for them to. The hazards of working in a squad labelled for special operations! Intel-gathering isn't exactly a lighthearted pastime when it involves people who may not want to cooperate with you. ]
It's pretty messed up, isn't it? How one of the first instincts people have under pressure is to lash out at whoever they perceive as weaker, like hurting someone else means they have some semblance of control. [ … ] Hate begets hate. It always has. But breaking out of that cycle is easier said than done, and not many people are capable of it. I get both sides.
[ Bleak how universal that is; how every civilisation finds its way to the same ugly solutions. They shouldn't count as solutions, but here they were. ]
If there were people who didn't need to experience suffering firsthand just to develop empathy, the world would be a far kinder place. But you're not a mind reader, Yosuke. You can only know however much a person chooses to disclose. It sounds like you did what you could with the knowledge you had at the time.
… You can't help people who don't want to be helped. It's something we all struggle to reconcile with, my man. Don't beat yourself up so much.
[ Though, for it to have ended with her death would've made it that much harder. He feels for Yosuke—he does. ]
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[ which, like. scary. he doesn't like the idea of being hollow actually.
on the other hand, this conversation and seeing that monster's kind of left him feeling that way, which is why he falls quiet again. it's probably for so long it would be fair for elysium to think yosuke really did fall asleep after all.
but, eventually: ]
... she was killed by somebody who thought she was weaker, just because he could. Didn't like something she said and decided to prove to her he was stronger than she was and make her beg for her life. [ people who like hurting someone else to have a semblance of control. ]
I know you're right. [ but? ] But it's part of why I'm trying to be more honest with people myself. I want... I was really excited when I got my Persona because it meant I might actually be able to do something to help protect people. And even if people don't want to be helped, I want to do my best to at least ask better questions now. That's true for home, and true for here. But I do get it.
[ he can't beat himself up so much but also the ghost of saki konishi apparently still wants to haunt his stupid ass a year later, so. here we are. ]
Best we can do now is take what we learned, and the parts we grabbed, and see what we can make of it all.
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A few beats pass, then: ]
… That's the spirit, buddy. You did do something today——you did a lot. So hold your head a little higher, yeah? That's your better angle.
Buuuuut! Not to get all sentimental; we've reached your terminus station. [ Like the chorus of meows weren't blatantly obvious enough. ] Hope you've enjoyed your ride with Elysium Logistics. Don't forget to leave a five-star review, hm? Your man deserves it.
[ being lugged like potatoes! very cool. ]
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Yeah, yeah. "Smooth ride, easy listening." [ he rolls his eyes but... you know. elysium did haul his ass all the way back here, so he can at least bow his head politely, albeit awkwardly. ] ... but thanks. Seriously.
[ everything is all fine and well, and then nothing bad happened to either of them ever again. ]
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How many times are you going to keep saying that when I say it's literally no problem? [ He's just going to lightly tap Yosuke's shin with his foot. Lightly——as Elysium's low-key wondering if he'll even make it back to his room. ] Seriously, man. It's just what bros do for each other. Call me up the next time you decide to do something fun.
[ They continue to live their happy and peaceful lives in Purgatory! Of course they do. ]