Wabbit Season [HABIT]

At times, Lucian could be a very sentimental man, and rarely did it show more thoroughly than when he shared moments like these with his family. After all the stress and hustle of Permanence’s events, Lucian figured it would do everyone present good to relax and unwind a little; they’d done a job well done, after all. It was only natural that celebrations be in order.

“Maybe that’s cuz you ordered the literal cheapest one available.” James chided from the other side of the table as he ate away at a plate of ribs. What animal did these ribs belong to? He had no idea, but they were verified non-toxic to him by the waiters and verified delicious as hell by his taste buds. “Seriously, the Junction stipend is nice and all, but you seriously should look for a job. Heck, even I’m trying.” It was nice of Lucian to invite them out to dinner, but just how much money was he lacking?

“Didn’t they pay you for… y’know, the stuff we did the other day?” Alice asked cryptically from the third corner of their seating arrangement, her burger and fries half-eaten through already. “I mean, they must have given you a lot considering how much you contributed, right?”

“Surprisingly enough, I made more off of the Stipend than off of my paycheck for that particular endeavor.” Lucian took an absent-minded bite off of his sandwich before continuing. “I’m almost tempted to sue, but then I remember I don’t have enough money for that."


“Marxist fantasies aside…” Alice began before looking around to make sure nobody was paying directed attention to their table. “… are we gonna talk about your… multitasking that day, dad?” It was a subject that had been on her mind since they’d taken care of Gaia. Really, at this point she was more surprised that they hadn’t addressed it yet.

Lucian took a little bit to understand what his daughter was referring to and why she was masking it with other words, but he did suppose this conversation was inevitable “I’d talk about it, but frankly I’m just as lost as you are. I wasn’t even aware I could do that before I tried it on impulse, and even now I still don’t understand how it works or why it works, but… back at the Fungeon, you two mentioned meeting a strange man, correct? Well, I didn’t. I was subjected to something entirely different, and well… my last experience with the man you met was less than welcoming. I can only assume that my… ahem, ’professional skills’, are somehow different to the rest of those in my field.”

“So long story short, you’re suffering from a bad case of protagonist syndrome?” James teased, knowing full well Lucian didn’t like to be thought of or upheld as more important than others, despite the past four plus years having proven his point. “You think you might be able to get more ‘workers’, or are you just stuck with those three?”

“Again, I have no idea, though I did some research into the aspects of it all and… I think the flags I used might have been bearing designs based on the two first Arcana from the Ryder-Waite and Thoth Tarot decks respectively. If that is in fact the case, it’s possible I might somehow be able to find more ‘workers’ tied to flags bearing the rest of the Arcana, though this is all just a theory.”

“Dad, you’re just proving his point.” Really, Alice would be lying if she said she wasn’t jealous, but she had the peculiar trait of summoning her own Persona through a flag too, so… maybe she had that hidden power as well and just hadn’t unlocked it yet? “You really don’t know anything about how or why it’s a thing? Anything at all?”

“Well…” Lucian hesitated for a moment before deciding it was best to let them know. “…when I first met the two extra ones, I felt an intense pain on the wound on the back of my head. Similarly, the wound also burned a lot when I called them into action for the first time. That, coupled with how it just absolutely refuses to heal makes me think it might not be just an ordinary wound of any kind.”

“Woah! What the fuck?!” Alice exclaimed as she forcefully propped herself up from her seat, James and Lucian following suit soon after. “Who the hell are you? When… how…?”


Lucian was about to have a very similar reaction, but… when the eldritch happening standing before him stated that nobody would believe them, Lucian took a look around the restaurant. people were definitely staring, but not at the mystery person that had materialized out of seemingly nowhere; rather, they were staring at James and Alice, and to an extent, him. If not a single person noticed this man appear out of thin air, not even the close-by, neighboring tables… then he’d definitely done something to trap them into this situation. It would be best to play along for now, lest they walk straight into a trap, assuming they hadn't already been fully submerged in one.


Begrudgingly, the president sat down before signaling his daughter and best friend to do the same through a concerned glare and a few downward nods of the head. As soon as they were all seated, both Alice and Lucian kept one hand ever-so-slightly behind their backs each, while James kept his combat systems at the ready. “So… what’s this about a ‘dog of the traveler’?” Lucian began as most of the people that had begun to stare returned to their own muses.

As the mystery dinner invader continued to talk, the trio listened and contemplated his questions with high contempt but a median sense of urgency. It was only when he brought up the Horsemen that the three seekers’ glares sharpened like knives on a grinder.

“You… what the hell are you?!” Alice asked with shaky anger in her voice as her hand reached towards her hip, trying to draw her lightsaber. Lucian noticed this movement in time, however, and made an effort to stop it. “Alice! Not here, not now””

It took a few seconds for Alice to put both of her hands back on the table, her anger now having turned more to something like scorn. A loud grumbling noise coming from James’s stomach interrupted the tension of the table like a stake through a thin sheet.

“…Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

“What is it?”

“…I need to excuse myself real quick, but don’t think you can pull anything funny, rabbit.”

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?! Now of all times?!”

“H-Hey, I don’t control my digestive system, alright? Just fill me in when I get back.”

“This doesn’t bode well.”

As James made his way towards the restroom, all the while keeping his eyes locked on HABIT, the two remaining seekers turned their attention back to the matter at hand. “So, a Persona User with multiple facets, huh? What does that even mean? And more importantly- who are you, exactly?”

“More importantly than even that–“ Alice began, slapping away HABIT’s fry-stealing hand. “- how the hell do you know about the Horsemen? You better choose your word’s very, very carefully.”

“When you say Humanity’s bad habit… are you being cryptically allegorical, or are you speaking literally?” Frankly if he was humanity’s bad habits personified it wouldn’t really surprise the president at this point; a lot of concepts were going around getting personified lately.

“If you weren’t willing to answer the question, you could have just said so, you know.” That way she could have reiterated it sooner. “Just know the more cryptic you are the less cooperative we’re going to be inclined to be.” Really, for someone who apparently wanted them to loosen up and not be on the edge around him he was being fairly counterproductive. Either that or he was just in it for shits and giggles. Most likely the latter.

“But how is that even possible?” Lucian asked. “I thought a Persona was the physical embodiment of one’s ego. Are you trying to say that I have more than one ego?” He severely doubted Liber of all people… or, well, of all speaking, thinking entities would lie to him, considering he is him and himself. “And furthermore… if you’re second to the party, then who was the first?"

Alice could only really grit her teeth as HABIT seemed to dismissively ignore her very existence. With the way things had been unfolding, frankly she’d been wondering when they’d stumble upon a reality-warping-trickster archetype – or at the very least a wannabe – but that didn’t make this situation any less infuriating. HABIT insisted on putting on a non-hostile demeanor, but if his influence over the crowd was any indication, he was the one holding the deck in this scenario. Attacking him head-on would be a grievous mistake. Don’t be confused; the casual mention of her life’s most absolute antithesis followed by disrespect and ignorance left her absolutely livid, but rather than alleviating her hands’ desire to strangle this man she decided to alleviate her general being’s desire to stay alive.

“While I’m open to the mathematical possibility of you not meaning any harm and just being inherently unsettling, I simply can’t afford to throw myself into this mess any more haphazardly than I already have so far.” Lucian began, crossing one leg over the other and adjusting his glasses. “First of all, you will show my daughter the due respect she deserves. Second, even if you insist on being this… direct, I expect you to realize you’re not exactly coming across as the friendliest of folk right now. And third…”

Lucian took of his glasses to wipe them with a wet towel. He’d gotten so caught up in managing the situation he hadn’t even realized his glasses had gotten dusty until the blurriness was stinging his eyes. “If that’s all fine with you… maybe I won’t consider you an enemy right off the bat.”

DO YOU REMEMBER BEING BORN?

"Do I what?" That one caught Lucian off-guard. "...No, I don't." Really, what kind of question is that? Outside of hypermnesia who would remember something like that?

The president and his daughter remained solemnly quiet as they stared at the masked man all the way ‘til he crossed the restaurant doors and left for good. While they had only gotten half-way into their food, they came to a unanimous conclusion that they’d lost their collective appetite. Even James, who was still in the bathroom, had lost his appetite, though admittedly that was for… more natural reasons.

Lucian sighed a heavy sigh and removes his glasses to give them a quick wipe, prompting Alice to do the same, as she hadn’t noticed hers were practically stained by the heat coming from her eyes and cheeks. Once Lucian had finished cleaning and had put his glasses back on, he turned towards the nearest waiter.

“Check, please.”

Lucian has forged the GOOD HABITS Social Link of the Blank arcana.

The gears of fate are ever turning.

REMEMBER WHO'S GOT YOUR BACK LUCIAN...