Appeasement [Nyra]

The church was dark and long closed until the next day, but Kogami was still there. Lori was also getting frustrated, and they really tried at it with this team work thing. Kogami was a simple man, things didn’t always come easy for him, he was slow. But Kogami just had to know, he had to speak to Nyra. “Dad, I know I disappointed you numerous of times.. but…. I tried my best. Right now, I was attempting to find the smiling man, simply for the sake of the religion that I based around you. There is only one savior to these people, and only you can offer them salvation. I might of set the record straight for the other children, but I am still your loyal servant. “ Kogami looked around, nothing was happening. He wondered if he should speak some more. “ This is your church, where people worship you. Where I continue to go on with praises of your name? Are you not pleased with me? I failed in the past, plenty of times…. But there’s no one who would give as much of themselves to you as I am… I am truly your child… and I am asking for your help. Im not Vera, who can come up with some grand plans all the time to kill the users… im not even lori… with all of that charisma and charm…. Im only me… all I know how to be is me… i have not earned this meeting… I doubt you want to see me… but everything I do now is in your name… and to honor your will… a man claiming to be a savior renounces your existence as the one true god…. I won’t accept that… but father… I am but a dumb stool in comparison to your knowledge…. I cannot do this alone… I don’t know…what to do anymore….” Kogami then kneels down, quietly and unmoving. Nyra didn’t have to appear before him, but for Kogami to call him father, Nyra was the only thing Kogami had left. He truly had nothing else…. “ Please…. Do not forsake me…”

It was a bit late. But, Jin thought this might as well be the time to check out this strange religion this boy had told him about. Nyra? Did he mean Nyar? A small name for Nyarlathotep? If so, then why is he naming it this way? It's just so utterly strange and somewhat... mind-searingly irritating at the way he's using the name. However, it couldn't hurt to see what's going on in there.

He finally arrived, after some research from asking around on the web. And it turned out to be some abandoned opera house. It seems closed like it's dilapidated appearance. The teacher wasn't sure if he was duped or not. Regardless, he simply knocked.

"Hello?"

OOC: PMed to Kogami if I could join. And he said yes.

Suddenly, the knock broke his concentration. “I guess you abandoned me after all… nyarlthotep..”  Red mist engulfed the  opera as Kogami assumed the form of the prophet and Raiza hid in the shadows among the opera. A Garu would then blow open the door, followed by the majestic, and almost demonic voice of the prophet himself.



“You may enter, even at times like this, if a confession is still needed, I will be happy to oblige.” A man without the backing of his own god is nothing buy an extremist, even Jesus in the stories had a communication with his own god. Hercules with Zeus,  and in a sense, they were relationships between a father and his child. Was he not his child then? Then what was the point of having such a misleading name to label him? However, none of that mattered now, for he had a visitor. Even if Nyralthotep abandoned him, he still had to run the church.  “I am the prophet, and welcome… to the church of Nyralthotep…”

Kogami wasn’t the usual one to work the late nights. As a matter of fact, it has  been a while since he assumed this form. It felt comfortable to him, because it gave him a chance to be someone other than himself. Free from the lies, free from the doubts, he felt as if this was the role he was born to play. It was only simply towards the fact that he assumed an identity that he created for himself.  He thought things could have been different, but he was wrong. Not much change, not as much as he wanted to change that he tried to  change with his power alone.  What did this mean? Was he to stop trying all together? He ponders, but his face would never show it.


Strength

Spoiler:

With a strong winds, the doors opened for Jin in an eerie way. It was somewhat like that same moment when he first met Hashashin. With careful deliberation, he walked inside. The hallways were empty and quiet like the outward abandoned state of the opera theater. Once he reached the main hall of where a show would take place, the sight of a man greeted him. All in red and naked. But strangely enough he had no genitals.

"Right... Nyarlathotep, huh?" he responded with a tone that tinged with skepticism, "I'm not exactly one to confess for any sins that I have. Though I do indeed have a small interest about your... religion, 'prophet'."

The Chinese took out a cigarette and held it between his lips while trying to draw out a lighter.

"You mind if I smoke here?"

“This establishment is a smoke free zone, id prefer if you would do it outside of the church. So, if your not here to worship…and your not here to confess….then what are you here for?” The man that Kogami has seen lori with as appeared once more? Who was he, and what did he want? That was what kogami wanted to know, but he doubt it even mattered. Theres only three ways that this meeting could end, by default in this form, he would prefer that things would end peacefully. If he was in his usual form and caught up in his emotions like he is now, it would of ended a bit rash and violently. It’s a good thing that the chaos form suppressed his emotions, another reason why he was addicted to it.

So smoking was prohibited here. What a pain. Jin simply pocketed the zippo lighter back into his pocket along with his cigarette that slid into the carton. He simply walked around the dilapidated state of this opera. There was certainly some signs of life that were here before. However, he didn't have much to garner much information about these believers. So, that said, he may as well just come out with it and answer.

"Curiosity," Jin replied coolly, "So if this is a church that worships the Crawling Chaos, then you must know quite a bit about him. I was wondering if it's normal for someone like that to be going around giving people... powers, if I must say. Just curious if you know something about it."

He never bothered to summon Hashashin yet. Just a little bit of information and then he would be off. In the first place Jin wouldn't have come here. However, the tight-lipped nature of the ethereal spirit refused to give much that he wanted to know.

And besides, he wouldn't have summoned him first anyway. If this "man" didn't possess any knowledge of what his visitor was looking for, then this visit was for nothing. Of course, he might know something given his unworldly appearance. Perhaps it was really great costume-making at work? Who knows?

Though, if that form is actually real... he must sure feel breezy between his legs.

OOC: He doesn't know for sure if Nyarlathotep is really the one who gave the Persona to him. But Jin does know that the "facade" who gave it to him was Yuuto. At least.

“Powers? You seem to be mistaken; those are blessings…and nothing more. Getting into the eternal struggle with the butterfly of calamity and the soldiers he pits against us, those chosen by the crawling chaos have an obligation to fulfill a quota. His will, is within his name. He desires chaos in every way, shape, or form. People misinterpret it as evil, but doesn’t a revolution come with chaos? Doesn’t a coup d'etat come with chaos? These forms of chaos happen all around the world, and stands as the representation for many things. The chaotic ending of a dictator and their rule, the chaos of world war two, these forms of chaos… are nothing more than a means to an end. Chaos is the tool that brings about change, what is birthed from chaos…. Is change. The chaos of the current society, the destruction of poverty, the elimination of discrimination, what will be birthed to its end? “

Kogami was quiet for a moment, then he back tracked towards the question about power. “There is no power that is granted, this is a power we possessed through the earliest of time, which has been awakened within us. If you claim to be blessed, the only thing that happened is the fact that you gained access to the personification of your soul. You’re Persona, your psyche, the embodiment of your will that has taken shape, that is what you possess, if you are blessed enough to possess it…

This person did have a lot to say. Rather, he is pretty grandiose himself in speech. Whatever he said about chaos, there was some truth to it. But that's not what Jin was here for. Blessings? Persona? Is that what kind of creature Hashashin is called? Interesting. Perhaps he may as well summon him anyway.

"I see. Well, I may as well call upon it then. I wish to hear more of your opinion about it."

The teacher remained quiet for a second to search through his mind for the entity that lay within. Then he called it out.

"Hashashin."

At that moment, Jin felt that same dull splitting sensation in his head and winced slightly. As his pupils turned golden from calling forth this Persona, the red mist came about to coalesce into the skull-masked assassin of the Middle East. There in macabre splendor of darkness that matched the lack of lighting of the opera theater. It almost seemed as if only a skull mask was floating about as its whole body was masked by the black.

"So you call this a blessing, huh?"

He flitted his golden eyes back at the Persona bestowed upon him. With a hand he gestured it to stay down and that Jin wasn't going to use him or her for a fight. The mask remained motionless and silent in response.

"So this is a Persona? I suppose I'm "blessed" under those standards."

“Yes, what stands before you is the true reflection of your soul. The essence of your potential, made to take shape and form, and invoked throughout the limits of reality. That my friend, is your persona, the extension of your will. But I must say, your soul takes on quite an …appearance. “ How bold of this man, to summon his persona so casually. I guess he had no real thing for being discreet, but it didn’t matter in this given point and time. “So, you are one of the chosen of the lord of chaos itself. And now you appear before me… tell me… brother…. What is the true reason of your visit? Raiza stayed hidden amongst the shadows of the opera house, prepared for any worse case scenario. However, the church was sacred grounds in a sense, and a place he called home. He would be upset i it was destroyed.

So that's exactly what a Persona is? Interesting. In a sense, Hashashin did represent a facade of himself that he never really displayed to others. But that aside, it just verifies that the one who gave him the Persona was Nyarlathotep himself after all. This was getting a little bit more interesting.

"I just wanted to learn more about the Persona is all," he shrugged nonchalantly, "If you were suddenly given something like this out of nowhere, it's only natural that I try to learn more about it."

But if there's power like this. And then there's the strange recent disappearances and the Principal's murder. Perhaps he could ask this person about it?

"So that said, I'm curious if you know anything about students disappearing and the principal's murder. I have some suspicion that it has to do with these powers or something relative to them. Mind sharing the information, please?"

The prophet was quiet for a moment, and then replied with a simple answer. “No” In reality, Kogami knew of what was going on. The principle was murdered at Kizuna academy? This was something new to him, he had no knowledge of that. So there was a killer on the loose? “ But I will say this…. Stay away from limbo for the time being. This is also the method of the killings, that’s for sure. The distortions of limbo is starting to seep into the world of the living, until it is resolved, using it deepens the hole. On that matter, the source of the killings or disappearances….Seek the entrances used to do so, the entrances of limbo around the area of the time the individuals went missing. That is one place to start…” Kogami would of personally searched all of the doors around the academy, he knows of one that he used to escape back then with the altercation involving the student council. Checking all of the doors, he would check for something, a piece of cloth or something, he would even go as far as to set up a camera or audio recording around every door to mark down who goes in and who goes out. Being an adult and a well-respected citizen, what kind of suspicion would you acquire when you walk into radio shack? But that was just kogami’s idea, he still contained the miniature camera from the time he found the planted bug in the girls locker room. In truth, Kogami now knows where to find it if he ever wanted to buy it.

Strange. So he was not interested in giving some help on that. Well, so be it. Jin called back Hashashin back into the nothingness to dismiss it. The teacher wasn't here to force it out of him after all. Though he did have a bit of useful information at least. Limbo? There's another world somewhere? What was in there that this red-skinned thing told him to stay away from? What would come into their world?

"Well then. Advice taken, Prophet," he replied with a small nod, "If that's all, then I suppose I can bid farewell... for now. Thanks for the info."

With a more deeper bow of farewell, Jin started to leave this abandoned theater of worship. But he stopped in his tracks with his back still facing him.

"Oh, one more question. How many others has this pow-- no, "blessing" like me?"

OOC: Grantus, I think it's about your time to come in.

The dark evening persisted when Lorielle left work rather early. It would be a good opportunity to meet a friend she had in order to establish a possible way of communication. It was growing rather annoying lately. In Iwaigodai, people were no doubt inside, and anyone still ouside was either on their way home, or just getting inside. She had brought her small pocketknife in the event that something were to happen, as with Iwaigodai, it was usually always dark. Dark meant concealment, and concealment means you could get away with certain illegal things. Though, the walk itself was uneventful on the way to the church. Interestingly enough, when she got there, the door was still unlocked; which was not unusual in and of itself that it was a church. But Lorielle was not aware how many people knew it was a church, and not an opera house. Still, she intended to see him, and thus opened the door.

She would walk in on a rather unusual situation. The opera was just as nice and large as ever, but it was the people in there that made Lorielle raise one of her eyebrows. Kogami, in his red form; in the form of the prophet remained standing on the stage, talking to a familiar man. It was Jin Zong Wu, her new recent sensei who had agreed to teach her some things. He of all people was the last person she would expect to see at the Church of Nyarlathotep, the god who had given her and Kogami these Personas. Could it be that Jin was into this odd religion? Or even more interesting, could he have been given a Persona by Nyarlathotep themself? She would give Zong Wu an intrigued smile, probably unnoticed as it left in a flash. She would give him a chance to explain, and if not, remain silent. She would however, walk past him to where she was in the middle of both him and Kogami, and face the latter. “My friend,” she said to Kogami, keeping his identity secret for the moment until he revealed his real body himself. “It seems you have a guest. Forgive my intrusion, I came here to speak with you, but I did not know he was here. Do you know if this man is like us?” she would ask. If anything happened before she arrived, she did not know, hence why she asked. If Kogami explained that he indeed has a Persona from Nyarlathotep, Lorielle would turn to him and give another intrigued smile, which remained longer than a flash. “Interesting….Don’t worry Zong Wu, you are in no danger of being harmed here, by me or him,” she would say only if Kogami told her he had a Persona. If this was true, could he make an ally? What a lovely convenience. It seemed that even after every dark cloud, a silver lining indeed was there.

“Your current hypothesis is correct about that man over there; he is indeed a chosen child of Nyarlathotep. I suppose you could take it from here with the explanation if you like… or wasn’t you heading out? Mr Zong Wu?” There was a definitely a choice in the matter, he was free to leave If he wished, but then there was his opening to be in the knowing of what was going on. Raiza was still hidden amongst the shadows, simply waiting and staring at Zong Wu as if he was a worm. So kogami’s sentiments were on the mark this time, this man was special. There had to be a reason why lori was talking to him. Maybe she knew, and the only thing is that he didn’t know she knew. IT works that way sometimes when your careless, like knowing Kahn was a persona user, but Kahn didn’t know he was as well. Or maybe they both don’t know that they know. After a while, it could definitely be confusing, but that wasn’t the matter at hand. Maybe after Zong leaves, Kogami would tell her about the room he was working on deep within the opera. Kogami stood with his arms crossed, waiting for the mans answer, and Lori's reaction to that answer.

He heard a very familiar voice. Turning around, it was no other than Lorielle Rutherford. The girl who had asked him to practice with her in using polearm weaponry. Why was she here? Did she also have a Persona like him as well? It seems there was much more to this than he thought. Especially when this red-giant had initially said he didn't know anything about the disappearances. Perhaps of his own protection? This intrigued him.

"Actually, I'll stay," he voiced the change in his mind, "Sounds like there's more going on than you let on."

The teacher crossed his arms to show he was waiting for either to start their explanation. Looks like this would take a whole night of talking, it seems. But it was good to note that Lorielle didn't try to address this "prophet" by his name. It was something to keep in mind at least.

"Well then. I shall be the student as you both lecture me on the situation. Don't worry, I won't fall asleep," he declared with a small smile at both.