Sinful Saviors [Rui's Awakening]

A thick and deafening silence permeated Seven Stars Academy. Though it was certainly typical of the night and at times reassuring in its own way, for a certain prince it felt much more poignant than usual, weighing down on his shoulders for the first time in many years. For a lesser man the atmosphere would've no doubt been suffocating, but even for Julius (who retained a calm and stoic expression as he sat alone in the shadowy classroom) it was uncomfortable to endure. Memories of the recent exam and the nights prior were still fresh in his mind and with news of a new recruit applying for entry he was left in a... difficult position. The nights in Endymion were changing and in troubling times like these he was left with a heavy weight in his heart, albeit not one which he'd dare show in the presence of others. While he held no doubts about his chosen path he still couldn't help but feel... worried for this potential newcomer, for the Soldiers of Order as a whole. Still, that concern was part of what made him captain of the Cadets, what kept him worthy of his position. If a new member wished to join the ranks then it was his role to guide them in seeing their desire realized; no matter how difficult things seemed, he had faith that Class Zero would pull through as it always had... and perhaps this fresh face could help ensure that.

Numerous files and stacks of paper were scattered across the desk in front of him. Some were merely unrelated bits of paperwork, but others pertained directly to the star of the show: there were countless files on the boy known as "Rui Terui" and the strange circumstances surrounding him. From piles of medical reports to a handwritten note from Principal Hughes himself, it was clear that for better or worse this wasn't an ordinary individual they were dealing with. The note in particular was of concern as well as the associated documents that came with it -- legal documents relating to an absurd incident in the Sorority Halls involving unauthorized use of alcohol. Looking over it once more prompted a sigh from the prince, although he did his best to expel any biases and doubts from his mind. Class Zero was a place for people to redeem themselves: they had accepted far worse in the past and that was excluding many of the terrorists who they'd successfully rehabilitated. A certain hooligan involved with a public display of animal cruelty came to mind, but he'd swiftly set his focus to the task at hand, expelling all thoughts of the man and instead setting his sights toward the present.

For now he'd simply wait for Rui's arrival. The would-be recruit should've already been supplied with proper directions following the submission of his application, but just in case Julius had dispatched another Cadet to guide him to the room. Hopefully with his assistance there wouldn't be too much trouble involved in reaching it.

Rui was in disguise mode. As in he was dressed in his normal school uniform, except with an inexplicable shiba-inu dog mascot costume covering his entire upper-head. Not a dog mask, but literally the head of  one of the tiger costumes that you would see at the local amusement park. It was apparently some kind of mascot.



He had in fact a reason for doing this. He was technically "suspended" from campus. Which was not actually so bad considering how boring he found classes. But he'd rather not have an awkward meeting with Principal Hughes. Thus the doggo head costume. Technically, the suspension didn't apply to official Cadet business, but Rui kind of forgot that. While even Rui knew that he looked incredibly suspicious, that wasn't the point. He wasn't trying to be inconspicuous. He was just trying not to be obviously Rui, which is apparently harder than it sounds.

Rui was actually excited for this. It really wasn't his idea at first. Because he certainly didn't make the application. For one, the application lacked much of Rui's..."unique" flair. In fact, he had no idea who actually did submit the application. However, rolling with life's punches was an important skill-set. And the more Rui read up about the Cadets, the more appealing they became.

Upon entering the room exactly five minutes before the scheduled time (Rui was actually very punctual), Rui's strange dog-head immediately locked eyes with an extremely serious, stoic looking man. That was alone to tell Rui that he should probably take off his mask. He quickly pulled it up over his head, before giving the man a smile with his now-maskless face.

"Yahallo! This place looks pretty official, for official business, and you look pretty official! In a good, very official way! So does that mean I'm officially in the right place?"

Rui paused for a bit, before introducing himself, "Oh whoops! Forgot to say - I'm Rui Terui by the way. Or Rui-Rui. Nice to meetcha."

Jackie's paperwork was interrupted by a rather disturbing sight. A person...wearing a mask. In Class Zero. Did a Psyche Terrorist REALLY just walk in like they owned the place? Normally he would've just opened fire on the spot, but he took a quick moment to payse and think about it. They were heading somewjere with purpose, maybe they were turning themselves in? At anyrate, Jackie followed them, Soulbound in hand, ready to arrest them on the spot if they actually WERE a terrorist...on further inspection the mask was painfully cheap. He probably should have been waiting for the Cadet Recruit Julius had asked him to guide, but really, this seemed more important.

Well, at least it did until the mask came off. Jackie almost wanted to facepalm. Instead a slight look of amnoyance crossed his face. Maybe he could play it off. "Your Highness. F-forgive me if this is a bit out of line, but I don't think people should be walking around with masks on in the building. Someone might panic and attack..." After the incident with T...who knew how people would react? "I was supposed to be guiding the recruit, but it looks like they found you anyway...I'm just glad Officer Azami i-isn't here to see this..."

It seemed the wait wasn't long at all. The sound of a doorknob turning alerted him to the early presence of the applicant, but when the entrance did swing open and the approaching figure became illuminated by the dim moonlight creeping through the windows, Julius couldn't help but be... confused. He was used to the oddness of the hidden side of Endymion City and had plenty of reason to suspect minor complications given the troublemaking he had been alerted of, but a dog mask? Its subsequent removal and the strange repetition of words in the boy's introduction would be met with silence at first, however, not long after a warm smirk would appear on Julius's face and he'd release a light laugh. It was absurd, certainly, though perhaps that in itself was something valuable; it was as refreshing as it was baffling to see such silliness following the glum revelations of the days prior.

Jackie would rush in not long after and the prince would give him a thankful nod before standing up from his seat. His smile would recede somewhat into a still-warm yet sterner expression, the prince resting his arms by his side as he took a more rigid posture. "There's no need to apologize Jackie. I doubt it would come to that, but your grievances are well-founded... Please, no masks Mr. Terui. We have nothing to hide here and neither should you." As he spoke the words, his eyes would glance down to the principal's written warning before he looked back up at the officially suspended student. "I'm aware you've been involved in some trouble lately Rui. I won't delay the proceedings to lecture you as I'm sure you've been reprimanded enough for what occurred, but I will say this: if you see this position as a means of getting away with acts like your recent stunt then leave immediately. Cadets may be granted special privileges on occasion, yes, but no one is above our city's Law. If anything you will be held to a higher standard if you're initiated into our ranks -- your recent behavior will not be allowed to continue if you become a Cadet. Am I understood?"

Relevant Weakness:

The voice that'd been previously rather gentle grew harsh and commanding as he delivered the last words. He cared deeply about the Cadets he worked with, but this was a task force, not a babysitting service. Rui would need to learn and exercise self-restraint if he truly intended to make a career out of this; if he was wise then he'd pick up on this and at least give an attempt at professionalism in the ritual and the tasks to come.

At this point, Rui had made it a point to reply to every lecture in a slightly different way. Not disrespectfully - but just slightly differently in order to see how people responded. This tendency also belief his tendency to be on the receiving end of many lectures in the last few months.

This time, he took a respectful bow, that was some weird hybrid of a traditional Japanese bow and a Western theatrical bow. It wasn't quite clear whether the bow was apologetic...or celebratory. Or both.

"Oh, no need to worry. We're like totally on the same page here." Rui lifted his head, revealing an almost predatory and somewhat uncharacteristic grin, "I'd love to replace constant, meaningless, hedonistic law-breaking with occasional, meaningful, instrument law-breaking. Now, I can't promise you I'll never ever break any rules, swallow a thousand needles..."

His grin softened into a more friendly, natural smile, "But I can promise you I'll only break them in ways you like. Or at the very least, ways you'll order." He left the implication unexplained.

He gave a quizzical, puzzled look that was clearly fake - more to just pantomime the act of being asked a question and answering, "So what is Class Zero to me, huh?" He opened up his arms and furled them slightly upwards to give extra emphasis, "Well, to me, Class Zero is our city's sword and shield against tyranny!"

He coughed a little and held out his hands like he was surrendering to someone, all with the same smile, "Well, now totally guilty as charged, I maaaaay be going a liiiiitle too far with my freedom. Dashing everywhere around town, breaking things, messing with classmates, getting lit at ragers, making heads turn all over the place, not sleeping. But the point is that I've had a lot of freedom. And fun." The emphasis Rui put on may and little implied fairly strongly that those were understatements.

"So like right? We've got these randos on TV complaining about tyranny, talking liberation. Rui dropped his smile and his vocal range with it, "But those dipshits wouldn’t know tyranny if it screwed them in the eye. Tyranny isn't a few reporters getting their worksheets pre-filled out. No, real tyranny is everyone else shutting ourselves inside, hiding from demons and thugs on streets. Tyranny is when living becomes something everybody reads about instead of something anyone does. In real practice, their "freedom" is only for the strong, the corrupt, and the criminal. Fuck that." Rui was openly seething by the end of his explanation.

He seemed to move his hand from the top of his head to his chin as he returned to his smiley face, almost as if he were wiping his face clean, "Anyways, where was I? Freedom is slavery? Oh yes, time to go back into character. Anyways, I like parties!" Rui chirped. He let that statement just randomly sit for a bit.

"And uh, running around in weird costumes! And messing with other kids! And parties! All very new and very fun! Me myself, I’m not like super 'oh no demons ahhh!!!' or whatever. But everyone else is. So if people are getting totally om-nomed, then everyone else goes hikki-NEET. And then we’re like, you know, a society of a gorillion solitary prisons! No fun or anything for anyone. Boooo!” Rui made a pouty face and made pouty hand gestures as he imitated a faux boo.

Rui made a weird thumbs-up sign with his hands to the stern man, "So like yeah, we like, need some sort of political order to stop that. And one topped by a true sovereign, not a bunch of squishes that fall into the typical useless anything-goes bleeding-heart poop. And we can see in Endymion whenever we go out to play - that we’ve got a real sovereign - the Queen’s reign. It even comes with a free side of nutritious Caesaropapism salad. Yum!" Rui pantomimed a maid cafe maid squeezing out ketchup onto an omlette in the shape of a heart.

"Anyways in short, no worries!" Rui just flat out did not explain that last sentence in any way as he bent forward and waved both his hands to express how there shouldn't be any worries. It was presumably in relation to his cryptic statement about ordered rule-breaking.

The implications Rui hinted at would fail to receive any sort of noticeable response from Julius. He'd just stare blankly at the boy without any change in expression; the promise was a start though at least. Cadets were supposed to be role models, but they were soldiers first... and more importantly, they were human, and part of being human was sinning. Everyone erred now and then: he didn't expect that to change anytime soon even within a perfect society. Regardless, Rui had received his warning and his future actions would be dealt with accordingly if they became an issue, the blue-haired man opting to believe in him for now. The most important thing was that no one else was getting hurt.


Yin and yang: Rui was someone who cherished his freedom, but he recognized if nothing else that such a thing couldn't exist without limitations. That was the impression Julius had gotten at least and it was one he could certainly admire. Freedom required Order to protect it and sometimes sacrifices were necessary to maintain that institution; he did his best to minimize such sacrifices, that was why they rehabilitated people in the first place, but something had to be given for something to be gained. That was a principle Rui would become familiar with soon enough. The people in Endymion were safe from realizing the true horror that the world contained at night, the fearsome forms of the beasts and conduits that the Cadets struggled against... To gain the power of Persona, Rui would have to cast aside that peace of mind and confront whatever truths awaited him in the darkness of the night. So, fetching a goblet from underneath his desk, the prince would place it on top of the files from earlier and gesture toward it.


It would be his first order as a new Cadet, but if he wished to back out now then no one could blame him. If he decided to comply though then the world around him (or rather his perception of it) would ultimately change. As soon as the first drop slid down his throat he'd find himself unable to pry the cup away, the sweet liquid taking hold of him and bringing indescribable pleasure unlike any other, a feeling of euphoria and relief that immediately rushed through whatever remained of his cybernetic veins. Yet near the end of the drink the sensation would suddenly shift from one to the next: there could not be extreme pleasure without extreme pain. It'd feel as though his skin was being burnt to cinders from the inside, as though something was festering within and clawing its way out desperately in a bid to escape, his head throbbing with an uncontrollable burst of agony unlike any other. Perhaps it was ironic that this drink would cause him to suffer as his own had done to Cecil, but whatever suffering the kombucha had brought to his friend would easily be overshadowed by the hell he'd find himself in now, the alcohol failing to near even a tenth of a thousandth of the anguish currently wracking his body and soul.

But even if it felt like it, this pain wouldn't remain forever. In truth, it'd only last a moment, swiftly subsiding as if it had never been there to begin with. With the dust settling though, Rui would find evidence of the experience resting before him, a tall womanly entity floating in the sky above and looking down on the Anti-Shadow-Suppression-Weapon.

Rui was oddly calm. Far calmer than he had any right to be. This was largely because Rui was horribly misinformed as to what awaited him.

Oddly, he was greatly comforted once he was told that the liquid in front of him was the blood of the queen. He merely conjectured that it was some sort of quasi-religious ritual that preceded the actual procedure that would initiate him into Cadet life. In his mind, likely some spin on Eucharist. Rui was not brought up to take Eucharist - his family was of all things Pentecostal - and it wasn't as if Rui had ever repudiated that. That being said, it is difficult to be raised in the country where Rui was raised without gaining at least some modest familiarity with how the Catholics did things.

Now, Rui knew that the blood had a very negative reputation. He figured it would be some very unpleasant form of alcohol. That being said, Rui was fairly experienced in very unpleasant alcohol. Both in production and consumption.

He picked up the cup, and gingerly eyed it. "Wow, it really does look like blood." He winked and smiled at the stern man, "What? No chaser? Uh...that was a joke. He suspected the man was not the joking kind as he started to kneel.

He was surprised that there wasn't a customary phrase he was supposed to repeat. But then again, he supposed that it did make sense to make Cadets swear their loyalty in their own words.

"Hmm. Rui did think about how to phrase this exactly. What would truly and honestly express...his brand of loyalty? He spoke in a slow, calm voice generally uncharacteristic of his speech patterns ."I, Rui Terui, ever covenant my fidelity, above all, to the Queen's reign as the sole, true, and supreme sovereign of Endymion."

He started speaking "normally" again, "So cross my eye, hope to die, swallow a thousand needles if I lie." Pinky swears were binding. Or so Rui concluded as a cihld.

He eyed his cup again, Well, bottoms up."

Rui practically threw the entire contents of the cup into the back of his throat, preparing to completely evade the taste. "Oh, this wasn't bad at all, it's almo-FUCKITY FUCK FUCK!!!!"

The first feeling to hit Rui was a feeling of utter confusion. He was utterly confused due to feeling something he hadn't ever felt in his current body. His mind then recognized what this feeling was. It was pain and delirium. He was promised pleasure. Instead, it hurt everywhere, like the inside of each part of his chassis was being electrocuted or splashed with acid. Or alternatively, splashed with battery acid. Rui thought it was awesome.

What made it better was every-time he thought he had reached his limits with regards to pain, the drink just happened to GO EVEN FURTHER. If anything, the most exhilarating part of this was just the experience of constantly letting go of things, predetermined barriers, and just going along with the flow. Surfing on a river of pain. And pleasure. Not that the two were any different, here or ever.

He had no idea how long the experience was. If anything, it was unusually long just due to the nature of his body. The pain built up, intensely coming in various contractions, before finally exploding in a crescendo and then all ending. Ending in a weird sense of accomplishment that seemed to surrounded by crying. But not sad crying. Just crying.

Accomplishment tempered by the fact that Rui was just a little out of it. In fact, so out of it, that his first reaction upon being able to form any words and even modestly move was that needed more of...this.

"Woo! Sweet! Gimme another shot." Rui held out his empty cup to the closest person he could see - which was actually not the stern man, but rather the dog mask that he had hung on a nearby coat hanger.

The Shiba Inu mask did not respond to Rui's entreaties. Yup, Rui was definitely out of it.

Rui's first instinct was to insult the partying abilities of the Shiba Inu mask, but then he quickly realized it was a Shiba Inu mask. And that there was a weird semi-womanly figure descending from the roof, with one hand cradling..."something", and another hand making the symbol of silence in front of her lips, as if she were going to keep Rui's embarassing conversation with the fake-Doggo a secret. And yet, none of that was surprising - his perception immediately opened up to the rest of the room as he realized that hand gesture was exactly how Rui would probably respond himself if he saw someone accidentally talking to a dog mask. This being coming down to meet him was clearly of Rui, from Rui, with Rui.

"I am thee, thou art me. I was born in wickedness, but ascended to enlightenment. I am the protector of children, Kishimonjin."

Rui turned back to the stern man about to utter something, until the words died in his throat. Actually, maybe it was better this time to not say anything. This time.

Stats:

Julius's hand would rest on his hilt as Rui went through the most intense stages of the pain, but the ritual's success would soon become apparent and cause him to relax, prompting a relieved and congratulatory smile... and a raise of the brow when he begged his dog mask for more, however, one couldn't blame him for his delirium after going through that. The prince would give him a moment to let his emotions settle before reaching into his pocket, pulling from it a crimson scroll, and after a few seconds ripping it in two and flinging the pieces forward. They'd explode in a large red burst which would wash over the room and fill it with a lingering fog, the brightness of the blast of color blinding the machines for a split second, their eyes inevitably opening to find two furious Demons hovering in their path.


"You know, I know I said I have a thing for bondage play, but that was sooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NOT WHAT I HAD IN MY MIND! YOU GOVERNMENT DOGS DON'T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT PLEASING A MAN, DO YOU?!" The creature cried out in vexation. His eyes shot over to Julius and he started to raise a claw, but his eyes would catch a glimpse of something (or rather someone) interesting first, the Incubus slowly rotating back to face the newfound object of desire. He'd lick his lips menacingly at Rui and gesture his partner over to whisper something in his ear, the two Demons gossiping with one another and giggling coyly while Julius looked toward Rui and Jackie with a calm gaze. "It's time to test your new power, Cadet. Execute these two and you can consider yourself relieved of duty for today; Officer Jackie will assist as needed."

Left Incubus, Level 9:

Right Incubus, Level 9:

Rui stuck his tongue out at the demons in order to immediately reply and disagree with their conclusions. "Naw, we're like super good at it. Don't be a hater just cuz we're too intense for you." Rui ran his tongue down the bayonet blade at the end of his rifle, which he was otherwise clutching in a way that made it actually sort of hard to use.

However, his strange spectacle was immediately interrupted by the stern man's order. Rui replied, "Oh, that's why you summoned them?" He coughed, "Uh yeah, of course. It'll be my pleasure."

He turned back to the demons to be fought, "So...intensity time?"

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