@Mistress Dizzy@Suku@chukklehed@demonspade64@Zenphilvian@HereComesTheSnow@banjoanjo

School Side - NPC: Philemon

"It can .... be difficult to ... comprehend," acknowledged the being, voice continuing to fade in and out, starting and stopping with a tinge of static. A weakening sound. Yet strengthening. "All humans possess ... a ... persona, but ... only ... those with ... potential-"

Philemon fizzled in and out of view.

"You were ... not the ... original ones ..."

It was clear that there was something wrong with the entity.

Jin tipped their head to the side, listening intently. "Got a bad connection, Phil? I could fix that. I'll even give you a minor discount." There was a smile on their face full of pure confidence. But it faltered and died as the rest of the entity's words worked their way through Jin's mind.

"If we're not the original ones... what happened to them? I... are... are they still alive?" Yep. Bravery's gone.

City Side - NPC: Sasori Yoshinori

"Real bearcat, aint'cha?" mused Sasori. "Whose schnozz? Was there something in that flivver?"

His eyes were glimmering with interest. The gumshoe wanted to know exactly what went down. He hadn't spent all his time casing the joint just to get caught up in this wack piffle. If the kids knew something, he'd gotta ask.

"Well..."

The girl looked uncertain for the first time all day, and cured the look by putting a cinnamon stick in her mouth and chewing on it thoughtfully. The only other person who had seen it was DRU, who the others did not consider a person at all, merely a tool brainwashed by Kimiko. They didn't know him like Kimiko did.

<<I T 'S S O E X C I T I N G T O B E H E R E>>

His words filled her with courage.

"It was a mask. Or...or a whole conk, but giving it the up-and-down it sure spied like a mask. It was just bumping gums right in the back of the truck, and all that golden fog was breezing from it. Thought I was pooped for sure. But one sock to the beezer and it knocked right off. Should still be back in the heap where I gave it the kiss off - it didn't take a powder or nothing."

Your Voice

O, Hitomi, I drink to thee… Thank you, I was parched. You may awaken now."

The voice rang out, at first it was Juliet’s but by the end of the note that was being held ethereally it was Hitomi’s voice. Suddenly, she was the subject of exactly three stares and sitting up in the van. Delightedly she found that her hands were gripping her guitar case tightly. She saw the young man and girl from before and her eyes brightened up.

“Did… Did we win? If heaven is just a van I wouldn't be surprised. Although I guess with three of us we would be alright. Did anyone bring snacks? Can…. Can you bring snacks to heaven? Do they do take out? Is this the take out... No it looks like this just locks the car door.” Hitomi’s mouth and not unlike a destroyed dam. Shit wouldn’t stop pouring out. But it didn’t actually take very long for Hitomi to see over Kimiko’s shoulder. What she saw was the aftermath of their battle.

“Oh Shitake Mushrooms this has left me hungrier than the left out duck at the bread crumb rally.” An odd way to phrase her hunger but there it was out in the unreachable aether. She decide to readjust her spot, since her new best friends had basically laid her on the floor of the van. Instead she plopped herself down beside Kimiko leaving her guitar in the center of the van. She clicked her seatbelt in so that she felt safer and snuggled in beside her commander. It would be a long ride to the Promised Land.

@Plank Sinatra, @Krayzikk, @Crimmy

@Mistress Dizzy@demonspade64@chukklehed@banjoanjo@Zenphilvian@Suku@HereComesTheSnow

School Side - NPC: Philemon

"They are ... still living ..." replied the ethereal being as it continued to flicker. "However ... they are ... no longer themselves."

"They are ... still living ..." replied the ethereal being as it continued to flicker. "However ... they are ... no longer themselves."

"Those before us was the ones that went missing in our world than?" Senhime asked as it seemed so far it seemed though what happened was not meant to happen to them they somehow survived this trial and walked out better for it. "Those before us what do you mean by no longer themselves what we went through the confrontation of ourselves was what? A test a method to see if we can overcome what lies deep in our heart?" She continued all of this was making some sense to her now these guardians of there's was a mask of sorts that they wore to face hardships given form.

"Yo yo, soldier."

Gibson-chan looked pretty beaten up and had a stomach that growled like a scorned otaku. It was impressive stuff that she'd even managed to regain consciousness with the stress she'd been through. Did she have a Persona too? There had been so much sensory overload and stuff during the fight...all she'd had time to focus on was her increasingly successful strategies for staving off the robopocalypse. She would have to do better when it was the zombies' turn.

In the meantime.

"I managed to shanghai us a trip to McDonald's," the robot owner explained, handing over the remainder of the cinnamon stick order DRU had dispensed and plopping it in Hitomi's lap. Belatedly, she realized that she was being cuddled. This would probably be weirder if she hadn't spent sixteen years growing up in...well, her household. Luckily growing up around a pair of lesbian sweethearts had given her quite a bit of experience with being snuggled by women.

She put her training into practice - then hit the cinnamon sticks with a knee, pushing them even closer to the new girl.

"These will do in a pinch until we get there."

The girl reached, one handed, into her left pocket and withdrew her Bubble Tape. She emitted a noise of pleasure when she saw that the plastic casing had survived the onslaught; the tape rolled out in a long, uniform pink stream, which Kimiko tore off at a mathematically perfect length with her teeth as though she were preparing gauze for a wound in the jungles of 'Nam.

Roll it up.

Pop it in your mouth.

And chew.

As if it wasn't bad enough that Kimiko-chan had stolen victory from defeat's jaws...

She'd also stolen four inches of Awesome Original(TM) Bubble Tape, too.

Is this...what it feels like? The feeling of conquest?

She would have to usher in new apocalypses, if so.

Daisuke, all things considered, was happy to ride pretty quietly. He didn't have much to say, not that he could really understand what the detective was saying anyway, and he was still waiting for his body to stop hurting. Or at least hurt a little less. He'd rreally, really appreciate it. It had been ages since he felt like he'd gotten the shit kicked out of him so much, especially when it was a fight they actually won. Not that he really felt like it. Part of him, the part a little too dazed for real thought, was wondering how they got the DRU into the van. The things were heavy. Maybe there was a lift and he missed it.

He'd kind of hit his head, now that he thought about it.

Maybe giving in to the temptation to sleep wasn't a great idea.

"Can we avoid the McDs near the station? My boss'll be pissed if she sees me like this on my day off."

City Side - NPC: Sasori Yoshinori

"Ain't no beef if you eager beaver wanna duck your big cheese," grinned the shamus, doffing his hat. "Just go beat ya gums together, I'll be back in a real jiffy with that conker."

He disappeared out the door of the van.

@HereComesTheSnow@demonspade64@banjoanjo@chukklehed@Mistress Dizzy@Zenphilvian
"They are ... still living ..." replied the ethereal being as it continued to flicker. "However ... they are ... no longer themselves."

"Those before us was the ones that went missing in our world than?" Senhime asked as it seemed so far it seemed though what happened was not meant to happen to them they somehow survived this trial and walked out better for it. "Those before us what do you mean by no longer themselves what we went through the confrontation of ourselves was what? A test a method to see if we can overcome what lies deep in our heart?" She continued all of this was making some sense to her now these guardians of there's was a mask of sorts that they wore to face hardships given form.

School Side - NPC: Philemon

"T`--`-`"

The mask of butterflies dimmed, whatever it was about to say thrown into a disarray of strange, unintelligble sounds.

Then it flickered back.

"L-leave ...," it said, voice filled with static. "Take ... the portal to ... exit ... my form can ... cannot ... be maintained."

The world itself, in fact, was beginning to dim in colour.

"I ... cannot ... ensure ~.`// safety ... for long."

Hearing that their audience was being cut short Senhime decided to act first locating said portal before taking a deep breath and preparing for the worst. Things was interesting to say the least she somehow gained supernatural powers and yet before she could find the purpose of it she was given a exit. This sounded so much like one of her novels yet it was actually happening to her whats next she would somehow end up in a bet between gods on the fate of the human race? Laughing to herself at the absurd that she was placed on her feet in front of the tower the only remnants of what happened being the fact her burnt uniform was barely covering her dignity. The fire hurt a lot more than it had right it felt like it was burning not only her skin but her very being as well it was terrifying to say the least. Shaking those thoughts out of her head she quickly rushed towards her locker in the school building if anything her jacket should help cover the sorry state of her uniform blazer.

"I ... cannot ... ensure ~.`// safety ... for long."

Aki hastily turned his attention to the portal. As far as he could tell there weren’t any obvious signs of it collapsing. Not that he was willing to take any chances. He wasn’t going to wait around any longer.

“This isn’t going to be the last time we see each other, huh?” he looked back flashed a tired, resigned smile. It was less of a question and more of a bitter statement. As much as he wanted to, Aki knew that he could never leave the knowledge of this dangerous, alternate world behind, nor could he simply ignore the fact that he could now summon a humanoid representation of his subconscious. Yeah, all that deep insecurity stuff was something he’d prefer to continue repressing.

“I guess you’ll call us when you need to… I’ll see you then.”

And with that, Aki stepped through the portal. He emerged at the base of the clock tower, the place that bastard Yamamoto dragged them to and kick-started the fight for their lives. He briefly raised his hand to eye level. The remnants of surging power from when he crushed that card still lingered. Aki quickly shook himself out of that daze. He was never going back there, missing students and endangered classmates be damned. How much time had passed since they entered? An hour? Two hours? It seemed like a lifetime and a half. He made his way back to the art room to collect his things and head home. No more magic talk. After today, every thing would be back to normal, back to the peaceful school life he had always wanted.

Back to pretending.

Aki grimaced and kept walking.

After listening to Philemon rambled on about the group being summoned to danger in order to awaken their hidden power so they can fight some chosen ones Rena help made sure everyone got through the portal. Now with all that mess out of the way Rena wonder one thing. "Okay...anyone got any idea how we are going to explain all this that just happen?...without be sent to a committed to an insane asylum?" She asked them honestly. She then looked at Senhime and then sighed at her off time joke. Great,Senhime still seems to be burned. So the heiress picked the lock on the nurse office to steal some antibiotic ointment for both the poor girl and Aki before first finding Senhime. "Hey I just borrow some ointment from a friend(lie). Would you like me to help apply it?" She asked her.

@Suku

"Ah thank you" Senhime responded quickly to Rena it was a polite gesture and to be honest she could use a bit of ointment the burns despite being healed was not fully gone. So with all that said and done it was probably a good idea. "Honestly I kind of wish to put my experiences behind me. Still that was some occult stuff huh" She asked as she looked around to make sure no one was near as she took off her blazer revealing just how badly burned her shirt and herself was. The shirt managed to cover her chest area but some how burned off the rest of her stomach and back.

@demonspade64

City Side - NPC: Sasori Yoshinori

"Ain't no beef if you eager beaver wanna duck your big cheese," grinned the shamus, doffing his hat. "Just go beat ya gums together, I'll be back in a real jiffy with that conker."

He disappeared out the door of the van.

"I think I'm learning." Daisuke said casually, though it was more to make conversation than anything else. He didn't really like the quiet. It let him think about the day. And given how much time he'd already sunk into processing that clusterfuck, it was really something he preferred to postpone. "I understood a little over half of that. Progress."

"I know you get it, Kimiko-chan, but anyone else understand why he talks like that?"

Not a bad question, in all honesty.

Even her parents used it mostly just to make fun.

Kimiko shrugged, trying not to nudge Fukushima with her shoulder as she did.

"He's a dick."

Hitomi's curious eyes followed the detective(?) as he left the van. Flap her gums(?) Well, if he insisted. She began blowing a raspberry quietly but was interrupted by Kimiko's shoulders raising. She removed her head from the commander's shoulder and it looked into the empty space between all three of them in the van.

"You know if this were one of those movies, we'd probably be in danger right now. This van would be like a crock-pot for us. But more like a crock-pot of doom and all that." Hitomi sensed her own rambling once more and retreated back to her commander's shoulder. Her rest there felt safe. But one question did seem to raise itself as she quietly played with the handle on her guitar case.

"So you guys also have ghost friends?" She said thinking about the card that had appeared before her when she summoned... What was her name...

Juliet my darling.

Juliet! That's right. Hitomi supposed that made her Romeo. Hopefully commander wasn't getting any fresh ideas. While Hitomi was wrapped around an arm and shoulder of the commander's, she would need to be romanced before anything happened. And with a competitor as strong as Juliet, that could be difficult. Though it could be even more difficult for Juliet. She, of course, was a ghost.

Hitomi spiraled into thinking about ghost marriage and other such occurrences. Was there a ghost ceremony and ghost reception? If so what do they eat at ghost reception? Ghost chicken?

Then again, after seeing what the commander was like in battle who could know what she would be like in b-

"At least the weather is nice, huh?" Hitomi said glancing out the window from her sideways angle on the commander's shoulder.

"It's alright. I prefer when the world is windy. One time I broke out of home during a typhoon...it blew my mind."

Kimiko had popped open her case of Bubble Tape and was currently rolling the gum back and forth, causing a strip to jut to and fro in Daisuke's direction like the tongue of a serpent. Her legs kicked out, feet bracing against DRU for support as she got herself comfy and rested her scruffy head of hair against the hard side of the van.

There was an odd smell in the air. It smelled like...

Temptation. A little sweet. A little salty. Temptation.

Her eyes drifted over to Hitomi.

It's coming from you.

She reached over into the girl's lap shamelessly.

And pulled back two of the cinnamon sticks she had just plopped down for the guitar player, leaving only two remaining for Hitomi herself.

"I'll loan you some of my fries when we get there." A casual shrug accompanied her first lustful bite of food.

Loan, of course, meaning she expected to be paid back in due course for those as well. She didn't mind putting some food in Fukushima-chan's stomach, but she would need food of her own if she was ever going to grow up and be a bombshell like Bekah-sama or Dana-sama. And french fries, contrary to the opinions of dirty "health" "professionals" who sought to "warn" her of the "perils" of enjoying her favorite after-school meal, were totally a food.

May as well ask an Israelite to scorn manna from heaven.

"Pinky promise," said the hungry girl solemnly, taking a second bite of the dessert treat.

Jin stared at the almost-normal classroom outside the portal. They felt... unseated. Just completely all sorts of wrong. Sure, it looked like school, but their school didn't have some kind of bizarre mystical portal in it. Then there was the fact that... that creature was gone. Clotho, their brain provided, Clotho was her name, and Jin KNEW that like the Pythagorean Theorem to be hard fact.
Things like monsters and spirits and - those things didn't exist. The whole thing could not have happened.

Yet, the whole thing had happened, and it was real. Senhime's burns were proof of that. Jin found their mouth opening, words spilling out.

"You'll want to wipe that with a clean warm cloth when you get home. I would suggest a shower but it would probably hurt like hell. Keep it covered in clean bandages. If you want, I've got some stuff that helps scars."

Jin's mouth closed. Opened. "Does anyone else feel like they're still dreaming? Because I feel like I'm going to wake up any second now."

@Suku

Rena couldn't help but go wide eye when she saw how much of her clothes were burn off. "Jesus you were burned worst then Aki." she blurted out. She then gives Senhime a comforting smile. "But i most give you credits you're tougher than you look." She commented her to make her feel better. She then begins to help her applied first Jin like jin said before adding omit and wrapping her burn area in bandages like a profession. This isn't the first time she applied first aid to an injured person nor the second.

"Honestly I kind of wish to put my experiences behind me. Still that was some occult stuff huh"

"But yea, that got pretty crazy back in that realm never thought i would forget my own name like that. But stilled the instances if remembering who was pretty refreshing though things could have gone better for us huh." Rena confessed with a forced smile. Rena then took off her blazer, though it may have been a bit brown and blacken from putting out Aki it was still in a good enough shape to cover the young girl body. "Here, you could use this more than I." she told her before giving it to her.