persona_uni | (no subject)

a. A day in the life

Welcome to yet another day at Vanderhall University. The sun is up, the trees are green, and it’s a little cold but not all that bad. Go to class, or don’t! It’s your day, to do as you want on this perfectly normal college campus that has nothing wrong with it. Clearly.

b. When the clock strikes twelve...

It’s college. Almost no one is in bed by 10, 11, or even midnight. Currently it’s 11:59, and many students (and non-students) are out and about. Some are at the library, working on late night projects or cramming for a test (or several). Some are probably a little, or more than a little, drunk, wandering around with friends or alone. A few might be in their dorms, watching Netflix or just trolling the internet.

But then the clock strikes midnight...

...and suddenly, everything changes.

That computer you were working on, or that phone midtext? Shuts off. It looks like it’s died, but looking around... no technology around is working. Worse, any people you were talking to, or who were even nearby, are now replaced by coffins according to their height. The moon hangs pale and large in the sky, and the entire world is cast in an eerie green light.

Anyone who’s left awake will have maybe a few minutes to take in their surroundings and panic as a result before something else appears. No matter where they are, they will attract creatures like nothing they will have seen before. Even though they’re completely foreign, anyone with a work sense of self-preservation will have their instincts screaming one thing at them.

Run.

[ooc: The game is open! Please feel free to make a top level for one or both prompts; tag around and have fun!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Naoto does not think she is the one being ridiculous here. She is not dignifying it with a response, continuing to pull him along. She's not very big, but she has a feeling that even for her lack of strength she has more practice than Alec.

Her lack of response just irritates him all the more. "Surely people who need rescuing are in the path of these things, and you're therefore bringing me into danger."

"And here I thought that was what you wanted," Naoto responds dryly, "It's safer if we stick together. Are you going to stop arguing, or shall I drag you the entire hour?"

"An hour of this?" He's moving with her now, at least, but he's not going to stop talking. "Why that interval?" And what happens after?

"I'm not sure why it is an hour, but that's how long it lasts." As long as he moves, she doesn't care as much about the talking. Until he starts being a pain. "Everything will go back to normal at the end."

"Unless we die? Or even if we do?" These are very important questions. There is absolutely no point in dying if he's just going to be brought back to life.

Naoto pauses, having to think of a way to explain that. "You won't go back to normal if you die," she opts for saying, "But not everyone dies in the... traditional sense." The Lost definitely come to mind, even if she never saw examples herself.

"You've gone back to not making sense." As though this is her fault rather than the situation's, but for all Alec knows it very well may be.

Naoto sighs. "I'm aware. If you remember all of this, I'll see if I can come up with a better explanation later."

"If I remember this." He's stopping in his tracks, again, voice getting louder. "What do you mean by that?"

Naoto looks back at him, expression deadpan. "Exactly what I said. Some people don't remember the effects of the Dark Hour. We'll find out which you are when it ends."

"Then you have to tell me. If I don't remember. I can't not remember." This is his life and his mind that they're talking about.

Naoto... understands that. She really does. She would hate that knowledge herself, that she was forgetting something as big as this. "I... can try," she says, sighing, "But I have a feeling if you chose not to believe, you would make it very difficult." Don't lie, Alec.

"What does that matter?" He could be very difficult even if he did believe. He's a difficult person. Does that mean he's not allowed to know the truth, or be trusted with it?

At some point, Naoto might have been concerned about her reputation, especially within the police apartment, but... well, when you are being sought out as the detective to look in to such matters, that stops looking like less of an issue. "To me, it doesn't. But it's far-fetched while it's happening; it might not do you any good."

"It won't be a problem if I don't survive the night." And that sounds as much like a convincing argument to him as anything else.

"You're going to survive the night." Naoto will make sure of it.

"Empty threats." Because he doesn't know, not any more than Alec does. If he did, Naoto wouldn't be so worried about protecting Alec.

"It seems pretty dangerous out here."

"It is. Which is why you're staying with me." Naoto has no doubts what would happen if Alec wandered off on his own... likely try to find a Shadow on purpose. He might be a pain, but Naoto won't let any more people fall to that.

There's a heavy sigh, but he's not going to explicitly argue this any longer. After all, it's almost..intriguing in a way, and if he remembers it then there will be something new to learn about.

Not explicitly arguing Naoto will accept. She gestures for him to keep following her as they head out through campus, passing more than a few of those coffins as they go.