6/17 - Night - Velvet Room - Kotone
Kotone had reached her wit's end. She had been researching the Fortitude Arcana for the past two days to no avail. There was no such thing.
She had tried to ask the fortune teller in Club Escapade last night and Edogawa-sensei earlier today. The fortune-teller only mentioned something about wings of freedom, and Edogawa-sensei said that the Strength Arcana was once called Fortitude. While she did ask him about the Four Virtues, he only knew about them in passing, as Christianity was pushing beyond the occult.
Thus, it left only one choice left: Igor. She could ask Theo, but Igor would most likely know more, seeing as Theo was only an assistant.
And so, here she was, entering the Velvet Room through the back alley of Paulownia Mall.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room," Theo greeted. "How can I help you?"
"Hi Theo, good evening," Kotone greeted back with a smile. She quite liked Theo; he was like the younger brother she never had. "I wanted to ask Igor about something," she answered, looking at Igor as she sat down on the couch.
Igor's creepy grin and wide eyes stared back at Kotone. "Of course. How may I help?"
Kotone inhaled as she continued to stare at him. She was going to get some answers today.
"You told me before to bond with others to gain more power, " Kotone began. "Each of them connects to me through the tarot cards. You foretold my future through the tarot deck." At her words, Igor nodded. Kotone inhaled again. "So why is it that Ren's link to me is the Fortitude Arcana? I researched all that I could, and I never came across it. Not even the fortune teller and my teacher knew about it. What is the Fortitude Arcana, and why is it different from everyone else's?"
Kotone finished, but Igor stayed quiet for a moment before chuckling as he always did.
"To start, Fortitude is the old name for the Strength Arcana, although Courage is another name for it. Fortitude is what allows one to overcome obstacles in front of fear, intimidation, hardship, uncertainty, or injustice, among other things. The difference between the Strength and Fortitude Arcana is about where the Strength lies. Strength lies in physical strength while Fortitude is a more mental and emotional strength."
Kotone nodded at Igor's words. It made sense. However...
"As for the latter question," Igor began again, "who knows?"
"Huh?" Kotone asked in surprise.
"I never said that all are hidden within the cards," Igor said. "It could be that your connection has forced the creation of a new Arcana form. It could be that the boy is special. Again, who knows?"
"Then, what should I do?"
Igor chuckled again at Kotone's words. "Do remember our contract, my dear Guest. We can only help you; your actions are your own to make, its responsibilities are yours to shoulder."
Kotone clenched her teeth together. "Fine," she answered with a sigh and stood. "It's up to me to decide what to do. I get it.
"Thanks for the help, Igor," she said as she bowed towards him. "I'll get going now. I have to work tonight."
"Ah, please, allow me to escort you out," Theo interjected.
Kotone shook her head. "It's alright, Theo. I want to think on my own for now. Thank you, though," she said before passing through the Velvet Room door, now in Paulownia Mall.
'The Fortitude Arcana will just be an additional one. I will strengthen it, just like all the other ones,' Kotone swore.
-Take Your Time-
6/17 - Night - Velvet Room - Theo
Theo sighed. His Guest did not verbalize it, but he was not that naive; she was getting frustrated with the Trickster. As an Attendant, he knew what his Guest was going through when it came to her bonds. The cards that his Master dealt with were steadily growing stronger after all. However, it also meant that they had an idea about the emotion within them.
His Guest was frustrated with the Trickster, and he did not know what to do about it.
"Sister," he said out loud, "your Guest is, as they say, living in my Guest's headspace free of charge."
A chuckle sounded throughout the Velvet Room and a blue butterfly appeared before turning into a bright light. The light eventually dimmed as a young girl with long, platinum-blonde hair appeared in the Velvet Room.
Lavenza sent him a mischievous smile. "He has that effect on everyone that he meets. I suppose that not even another Wild Card is safe from his charms."
Theo sighed at her little sister's words. "You know that is not what I mean," he said. "He is so similar to her that their differences are causing her frustration. Him finishing his Journey is detrimental to her."
"And yet she has resolved to talk to him even more than before," Lavenza countered. "Believe in her, Brother."
"I..." Theo trailed off before sighing in acceptance. "I understand. I just- I just do not wish for her to fail."
Lavenza patted his arm. "I understand completely."
Theo smiled at her comforting words. 'Of course, her Guest was dealt a worse hand than my own.' "That said, how is yours?"
Lavenza hummed. "My Trickster has begun his own investigation now that he has heard the rumors about the revenge website. He felt that it was similar to the False Trickster's actions, and so, he has opted to be more proactive than before," she said with a happy tone.
However, as if remembering her purpose for visiting her Master, she placed a hand on her mouth, blushing in embarrassment. "I am terribly sorry, Master," she apologized as she faced their Master. "It seems that I became sidetracked."
Their Master chuckled. "Not to worry, Lavenza. It is great to hear that you are happy with your Guest. Now, what was it that you wished to speak of?"
"The Electric Chair is now available for use," Lavenza answered, and Theo choked. "When shall I place them here?"
"You can't!" Theo shrieked. "It would go against the aesthetics of my Guest's Velvet Room!"
Lavenza rolled her eyes. "This is for your Guest's growth. Will you deny her that?"
Theo flinched. There was nothing he could say to that.
"Not to worry, Theo," their Master placated. "It shall be a gift from me to your Guest. I can always change how it looks to suit this Velvet Room." Theo sighed in relief. "As for the functionality, let us introduce it later. Introducing it now would make the Trickster's appearance more than a coincidence."
Lavenza nodded at their Master's words. "Very well. I shall be within my Trickster's Velvet Room," she said before disappearing into motes of light again.
-Take Your Time-
6/17 - Night - Iwatodai Dorm - Ren
"Oh? Welcome back, Kotone," Ren greeted from the back of the kitchen, just finishing cleaning up the dishes.
"Hi Ren, Mitsuru-senpai," Kotone greeted back. Mitsuru nodded. "Got any food left for me?" she asked as she approached the dinner table.
"One serving," Ren answered, placing a plate of hot stew on the table. "By the way, Kotone, have you noticed anything about Fuuka recently?"
"Fuuka? Nothing weird, why?"
"She kept staring at me while I was cooking. I tried to ask her about it once, but I think she's scared of me or something. I hope I didn't do anything offensive to her," Ren replied.
"While you were cooking..." Kotone muttered as she took a seat. "Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed. "She did say she wanted to learn how to cook before I left tonight. I guess she was too embarrassed to ask you directly?"
Ren nodded in understanding. "Considering that she was a victim of bullying, it could be that she's afraid to reach out to others about her problem. I suppose it's a matter of time then," he said before focusing on Kotone. "Will you talk to her if she doesn't get any better? I would try, but well..."
Kotone nodded as she took a spoonful of stew. "Don't worry! I won't let it get in the way of the team."
Ren chuckled at her energy. "Sounds good. Guess I can leave your dishes to you? I want to go out and train." Kotone nodded again, but Mitsuru piped up.
"Training? Again?" she asked.
"Yeah. I need to get used to running around in the dark, if the reports about the Full Moon Shadows so far are right," Ren replied. "Don't worry, I'm only looking around for areas to do some parkour. I've already checked out some areas earlier today, so it's just a matter of seeing how they look at night."
Mitsuru stared at Ren for a few moments before nodding to herself. "Very well. Carry your Evoker, just in case Shadows attack you," Mitsuru warned. "Do not be afraid to call for help."
Ren threw a small smirk in Mitsuru's way. "Not a problem. I already have it on me," he said, patting the Evoker he hid under his clothes and began making his way out the dorm. "Have a good night, you two."
He closed the doors behind him and walked in a casual manner away from the dorm. He walked past the apartments. He walked past the stores. He walked far away from the dorm.
He checked his phone. The time was 11:57 p.m. Now that it was close, he walked into the shadows of the buildings around him, concealing him. Thus, he waited for the Dark Hour.
The sky became tinged with green and all lights stopped working.
A blue flame quickly swallowed him, but it dissipated as fast as it appeared. Amamiya Ren disappeared, and Joker came to being.
-Take Your Time-
6/17 - Dark Hour - ? - Joker
Joker leapt from one rooftop to another, his Metaverse Outfit's augmentation allowing him to do so with ease.
He slightly lied to Ikutsuki and SEES about his powers. His outfit didn't appear only in Tartarus, it can come out during the Dark Hour as he commanded. He had two theories. The first was that the Dark Hour was different from the cognition-based dimension that the Metaverse was. It would mean that there would be no distortion, so his Metaverse Outfit changed its own rules. The second was that the entirety of the Dark Hour was the distortion. Both did not explain why he could summon it at will during the Dark Hour. On top of that, Tartarus always forced him to summon his outfit, so Tartarus was a distortion at the very least. All of these were personal tests he had been doing on his own ever since two days ago.
He looked up into the sky and, with both his Third Eye and his connection to his Persona, he could see Yatagarasu flying about, scanning areas that Joker can't reach, effectively doubling the area he was currently patrolling. He tried to summon both Yatagarasu and Nekomata yesterday, but it gave him a severe migraine and he had to cut his patrol early.
So why lie to the others at all? Because he couldn't trust the others, not fully. He remembered Ichinose's betrayal, something no one amongst the Phantom Thieves saw coming. They saw Akechi coming, so it didn't count. His Wild Card ability was one card he hid. Being able to use his Metaverse outfit is another. If he did meet anyone not affiliated with SEES as he is now, they wouldn't know that he was Amamiya Ren nor that he was with SEES. Right now, he was a third-party with as much freedom as he could.
He jumped into another rooftop but stopped running. He called down Yatagarasu, turning it back into his mask. From what he saw in Yatagarasu's memories, there were no signs of anything he was looking for. Summoning the Persona again, his face flickered with blue flames before it disappeared again. Yatagarasu was back in the air and flew once more.
Still, he wasn't lying about training during the night. He was looking for paths throughout the city that would allow him to kite enemies or even escape with the others if necessary. It just wasn't the only thing he planned to do.
He did hear about the revenge site from his schoolmates and that's what he was doing now: finding any leads about them.
This was what he was doing with Yatagarasu, looking for any sign that something was off. However, so far, none at all. All he could see from Yatagarasu's memories were just coffins and blood. No one was appearing dead within the city so far, but it was going to happen. He just had to keep looking.
-Take Your Time-
6/20 - Afternoon - Iwatodai Dorm - Kotone
Kotone felt a bit more courageous after drinking that concoction Edogawa-sensei made, as always. However, visiting him made her come back to the dorm a bit later than the others. And so, she was alone on her walk back.
She couldn't go out to spend time with her Social Links because Mitsuru-senpai said that Ikutsuki-san was visiting for today and it was vital that everyone was back during the afternoon. And so, everyone had to go back today.
'I wonder what Ikutsuki-san is going to talk about today,' Kotone thought. 'There has been nothing new on our end, so could it be something new about their research? Maybe something new about Ren's powers?'
Ren still bugged her. In the past five days, he has not come to her to talk about something. He never sought her during lunch, asking if she was free. Akihiko-senpai, Hidetoshi-senpai, Fuuka, Yukari, Junpei, Rio, Bebe, and Saori all asked her at some point, but never Ren.
'If it comes down to it, I'll ask him out myself,' Kotone thought, before slightly blushing and then crushing those thoughts.
In front of the dorm, Kotone saw that Yukari, Fuuka, and Ren were gathered around something.
"Hey guys!" she called them. "What are you up to?"
Fuuka turned to her, but before she could answer, a bark sounded from where the three gathered.
"A dog?" Kotone asked, coming closer to the group. Within the group was a medium-sized albino shiba inu. The dog barked again, and Ren gave his back a rub.
While the dog's attention was on Ren, Fuuka stood up. "Hi!" Fuuka greeted her.
"Hey, you're back!" Yukari said.
Ren looked back at Kotone as his hand rubbed the dog's cheeks. "Hello there. How was Edogawa-sensei? Do you feel any better?"
Kotone shook her hand in a so-so motion. "Somewhat. Still tired, but better than yesterday," she said. She looked over Ren's shoulder and asked, "What's with the dog? Can I pet him?"
"He was just down the street," Yukari responded. "He saw Ren and decided to hound him. But now, it looks like Ren's got him under control."
Ren chuckled slightly. "He wasn't hounding me, Yukari. He was just asking for a rub. Ain't that right, Koromaru?" Ren asked as he kept rubbing the dog, Koromaru's cheeks, his tongue slightly sticking out. The dog barked in return.
"Hey, no fair!" Yukari said. "I want to pet him too!" Ren let go of Koromaru and Yukari began petting him.
"His name is Koromaru," Fuuka said, taking Kotone's attention. "I've seen him sitting by the steps of the shrine."
"Hey, Koro-chan, give me your paw," Yukari said, putting her hand in front of Koromaru. Koromaru followed her command, placing a paw on top of Yukari's. She squealed. "Aww, he's so cute!"
"Looks like we've got a lady-killer among us, hmm?" Ren said.
"Worthy enough to work in a bar?" Yukari asked with a raised eyebrow, glancing at Ren.
Ren grinned. "Oh, definitely."
From out of nowhere, a dog barked and ran towards the group, barking again in front of Koromaru. A housewife seemed to follow right after. "I'm terribly sorry about that. I'm not sure why... Oh," she said. "Is the dog still walking around by himself?"
"Sorry? What do you mean?" Kotone asked.
"He used to belong to the priest at the Naganaki Shrine," the housewife answered. "Every afternoon, the two of them went this way for a walk."
"Well, that certainly explains why he's here," Ren muttered.
"So, where is the priest?" Fuuka asked.
The woman looked at Koromaru mournfully. "That's the thing... The priest passed away."
All four teenagers looked at her with shock.
"That's terrible," Kotone commented, bringing a hand to her mouth.
"Oh, you haven't heard the story?" the housewife asked. "It was about six months ago. The priest was hit by a car while walking his dog. He didn't survive. Ever since then, that dog sits patiently by the site of the accident. And, he goes for a walk everyday, just like when his owner was still alive," she said, then her eyebrows shot slightly higher. "Shoot, sorry, I must be going. I have to prepare for dinner. Have a good day, you four." She waved good-bye and left with her dog.
"Aww," Yukari cooed at Koromaru, "you're such a loyal dog! Good boy!"
"I'm a cat person," Ren said, "but you're such a good dog. Hmm, you three think that Mitsuru-senpai would let us adopt him?" However, before anyone could answer, the dog began walking away from the group. "Oh, I guess that's a no. First time being rejected by a dog."
Yukari giggled at Ren's joke. "Come on, Ikutsuki-san was coming today, right? We should get going. I need to clean myself up. There's probably a lot of dog hair on us."
Fuuka nodded. "Then, we should get ready."
Ren walked up the staircase and held the door open with a little smile and bow. "After you."
Yukari snorted at Ren's antics and rolled her eyes. "Sometimes you're too much." On that, Kotone agreed.
"I'll stop if you don't like it."
"I never said that," Yukari said as she entered the dorm.
Fuuka bowed and quietly thanked Ren as she followed Yukari.
"Thanks Ren!" Kotone said as she lightly elbowed him. "All that time at the bar taught you to be a gentleman, huh?"
"Oh, please, it's more than just the bar where I learned this," Ren answered back before looking at Kotone with a gentle smile. "Are you okay? You went quiet back there all of a sudden."
Kotone stared back with a shocked face for a moment before smiling back. "Oh don't worry about it! I was just listening to that woman's story. Hearing it made me sad, but I'm okay now."
Ren stared at Kotone's smile before sighing. "I'm here to talk about it, Kotone."
"Later, Ren," Kotone said. "We have a meeting to get to and everyone is waiting. We don't want to be late."
Ren sighed. "Alright. But listen," Kotone faced him, "we aren't strangers like back then at the train station. I'm here now and I want to help."
"Thanks, Ren. I'll remember that," Kotone said as she smiled at him, hoping to hide away her thoughts from him.
'They all say that, but they all leave at the end.'
-Take Your Time-
Activities:
6/16 - Afternoon - Magician 6
6/16 - Night - Café
6/17 - Afternoon - Chariot 8
6/17 - Night - Café
6/18 - Afternoon - Priestess 1
6/18 - Night - Devil 3
6/19 - Afternoon - Star 2
6/19 - Night - Academics
-Take Your Time-
Social Links:
Fool - SEES - 3
Magician – Junpei Iori - 6
Priestess - Fuuka Yamagishi - 1
Emperor - Student Council - 3
Hierophant - Old Couple - 8
Lovers - Yukari Takeba - 5
Chariot - Volleyball - 8
Hermit - Health Committee - 3
Hanged Man - Girl at the Shrine - 3
Death - Mysterious Boy - 1
Temperance - Transfer Student - 3
Devil - Businessman - 3
Star - Akihiko Sanada - 2
Fortitude - Ren Amamiya - 1
-Take Your Time-
Author's Notes:
Fortitude Persona List is done. Movesets are basically the same from P5R. I didn't spend much time for this since it's not all too important.
Personas:
1. Ippon-Datara [Strike] (15)
2. Shiki-Ouji [Gun] (23)
3. Thunderbird [Elec] (31)
4. Futsuninushi [Slash] (44)
5. Fafnir [All - Support] (52)
6. Vohu Manah [Bless] (76)
7. Yoshitsune [Slash] (87)
I'm kind of saddened that no one didn't comment on the Invincible meme in Ch7 lol.