Disclaimer: Fate and Persona are owned by different companies and I hold no ownership and all that jazz.
7/9
Hakunon: Exams are in five days, are you guys ready?
Tricky&Kitty: If I said that Morgana was going to help cheat would that be bad.
Makoto: Don't you two even think about it.
Tricky&Kitty: Yes Queen.
Pirateboi: Study session? Please?
Hakunon: 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th?
Tricky&Kitty: I have a … thing tomorrow
CatBurglar: Yeah, the 10th wont do cause Shiho needs a bit of help…
Pirateboi: Should any of us come with ya?
CatBurglar: … No we should be fine.
Makoto: So… 11th and 12th then? Would Leblanc be an acceptable place to meet up?
Tricky&Kitty: ill tlk to boss bout it.
Pirateboi: Thank god Makoto and Hakuno joined.
Art: We are truly blessed to have academically proficient friends.
Hakuno was walking to school, Ann had gone ahead as she typically did and she wasn't paying attention as she knocked into someone. "Oof!"
"I'm so sorry." It was fully Hakuno's fault, she held out her hand towards the auburn fluffy haired girl. She was wearing purple… Hakuno has been starting to wonder if she was one of the few people who actually wore her uniform…
"No no, it's also my fault." Fluffy Girl brushed the minimal amount of dirt off of her as she took Hakuno's hand. "I was taking a close look at the bushes… the students in charge of them need to pay more attention…"
"I'm not too sure anyone waters them…" At least Hakuno has never seen anyone water the plants, and to her knowledge there was no gardening club.
"I see… I'll have to talk to the student council about that…" She muttered, "Oh! But where are my manners?" She held out her hand, "I'm… Haru, third year."
Hakuno nodded, taking her hand, "Hakuno, first year."
"So you're my Kohai!" The now named Haru smiled.
"Yes… But I think class is about to start…" The bell rang. Causing them to glance around, all students were now gone.
"Oh no!" They both sprinted to their classes.
"... Run that by me again Makoto." Hakuno was currently in Futaba's room, the mess needed to be cleaned… and while she hated cleaning Futaba's room was starting to smell.
"... Akira and I went to the Red-Light district and saw one of my classmates… I only went to have new experiences and to find out if the rumors about students are true."
"Huh…" Hakuno paused, that sort of sounded like a date?…"So… you took him on a date?"
"NO!" She quickly moved her phone away from her ears, "I just… that doesn't matter! What do you think I should do about Eiko?"
"Maybe you should talk to her?" Hakuno switched her phone as she picked up a gross instant ramen bowl. Yuck.
"I know…"
"Bring Akira with you, he is good at getting people to open up."
"Hmm… You're right, I think both are still here, I'll go do that."
"Oh… and Makoto? Have fun on your next date!" Hakuno quickly ended the call, somewhat glad that Makoto was so far away though she did wish that she could see Makoto's face at the moment.
Hakuno sighed, the room was somewhat clean, Hakuno had to air out the room though, it was stuffy.
"Hakuuunnooooo!" And Morgana came up.
"Hey Morgana." Morgana's nose crinkled as he entered the room.
"This place reeks."
Hakuno sighed, "Yes yes…" Leaving the door cracked the two Phantom Thieves left the room.
The two walked in silence as they left the home, Hakuno didn't really have plans for the rest of the day. She did feel like Morgana had something to ask, so she decided to just keep walking around Yongen.
Morgana stayed silent until they reached a small park. The two sat on a nearby bench as kids ran about, "How did you do it?"
"Hm?"
"How did you handle not being human?" Morgana froze for a second before continuing, "Not that I'm saying I'm not human! But… you were an AI before… how did you handle finding that out?"
Hakuno sighed, "There were hints at first… Having no memory returned when the War started, not understanding anything that was happening… being able to save another person's Servant was the biggest hint." Flashes of the time, wandering aimlessly down the halls, afraid of her own shadow.
"I cried, I screamed, I denied it." Her two Servants were at the time unable to console her… Rin and Rani dragged her out of her Room, "I felt so alone but… people reached their hands out for me, they cared. My Servants my friends, the four helped me overcome my trepidation. Then I decided I still want to live."
"You wanted to live?"
Hakuno looked down at the human-cat, "I wanted to live, so I had to shoulder all the deaths I caused… the people I killed, all of their wishes and hopes their very futures. I had to live for them, though in the end… it was pointless as I died in the core, but this time this life..."
Morgana's face scrunched as if he was making a difficult decision "I… might not be human."
Hakuno patted her lap as Morgana laid on her, "That's ok… Even if you aren't human, I understand how it is…" Morgana refused to look at her, "We will recover your memories, explore the depths of Mementos and find out the truth."
"Thanks…"
7/10
"How did your talk go?" Hakuno and Makoto were sitting in the student council room eating lunch, apparently Makoto used to eat here alone to catch up on her student council work.
"It went well. Me and Eiko are now friends… though it is concerning how often she texts, especially during class." Makoto pulled out her buzzing phone, "Her spelling is worse than even Ryuji though…"
Hakuno nodded, "Sorry… How's your report going?" Makoto huffed and glanced down at her papers… Hakuno glanced quickly at the top, it detailed Akira's connection to each of the three known Phantom Thief incidents…
Makoto held the papers in her hand, slowly flipping through them… before shoving them into the shredder. "No need for that…" Why is the Principle so confident that there are Phantom Thieves? He has been pressuring Makoto since Kamoshida… could he know something?
"...You're going to meet the principal tomorrow right?" Hakuno had an idea.
"Yes I am…" Makoto's eyes flashed, "I think… Do we have the same idea, correct?"
"Having Morgana would help…" Hakuno muttered.
"I'll ask him later today." Makoto replied, a smile on her face.
Hakuno passed over the small package, "Stay safe."
"... You wish to pay me to do portraits?" Yusuke seemed flabbergasted.
"Yes? We also need to work on that Mystic Code you suggested…"
Yusuke bowed deeply, "Hakuno, my friend. If you are able to get that ready, I will not need a single yen."
Hakuno froze, she knew Yusuke was… passionate about art. But… Hakuno glanced at the large number of people milling about, a few were pointing at the two. Grabbing his arm, Hakuno half dragged him up the escalator.
Finding a blind spot in the camera the two entered the Metaverse. Caroline and Justine noticed them and hopped over.
"Hakuno… It's been a while!" Caroline smirked, "Couldn't resist coming back could ya?"
"Caroline here was sulking about the lack of delectable treats… which you rudely kept to yourself." Justine glared at the other girl.
Fox had his hand on his hilt, "I feel a presence…"
The Twins glanced at Fox, "The Emperor won't be able to perceive us unless we allow it." Hakuno nodded, ignoring the strange nickname the Twins had for him. Fishing out some Daifuku she saved, the twins happily began eating.
"Ok…" She glanced at Fox, "The Twins from before are here, give me a moment and we can work on your Mystic Code."
Fox relaxed slightly, "I see… You and Joker's sight is certainly magnificent. Invisible children!" Fox waved his hand, "I thank you for your assistance! Now…" Fox focused on Hakuno. "How do we… make Mystic Code?" The words sounded weird as he spoke.
Hakuno walked over to the counter, she brushed the dust off as she pulled out random tidbits. A handful of boards, a few random gemstones, and… the ether shards.
She was uncertain what she could do with the shards, their power to heal Servants might be able to channel magical energy as Servants are from her understanding creatures made of Spiritrons.
"Now… Did you bring your art supplies?" Fox looked offended.
"Of course! I never leave home without them."
Hakuno nodded, "May I see your palette?" Fox nodded hesitantly as he brought it out.
It was old, the wood was frayed there was tiny amounts of paint left barely noticeable if Hakuno wasn't looking intently at it with the help of the boost in her abilities for being in the Metaverse Hakuno doubted that anyone else would notice it.
"It has been with me for many years… Madarame bought it for me when I was a child who grew curious one day." Fox spoke slowly as Hakuno analyzed the piece.
"Would you be ok if I edit it?"
Fox looked conflicted, Hakuno waited patiently as the artist debated with himself before he ended up nodding. "Yes.."
Hakuno nodded before setting it aside, "We are going to test first… I got lucky last time with the earpieces…"
Hakuno chiseled out parts of a board to a rough palette shape, "I have been doing a bit of research, I'm unsure of how exactly this will work but…" Hakuno has been checking out runes. Rin had explained that Runic Magecraft was something her family did before the Great Collapse in tandem with their Jewel Magecraft.
She feels that Recover from her own Mystic Code could work with a rune, as long as she could figure out exactly how to incorporate it...
Hakuno was dripping in paint, "Well… Fehu is out."
Fox was sketching the disaster and Hakuno had well lost energy to try and get him to stop. She has tested a handful of runes and different gemstones to create a stable source of paint.
Her idea for the Mystic Code was to use powdered gemstones to fuel a rune to regenerate the Paint. Most of the gemstones were turned to powder to try and act as a sort of ink with her magical energy.
She was able to get one of the gems to slowly absorb the mana from the Metaverse, if going by her own speed of recovery in the real world it should slowly recover so as long as he doesn't overuse it it should keep up… She should probably add a container to store extra mana… Ether Shard.
Hakuno grabbed one of the smaller shards, it was bursting with energy… Slowly guiding her Od she leaked the magical energy the stone stored as it became dimmer and dimmer… Pushing Od into the stone made it brighter… so long as Fox didn't over extend it it should be fine…
Probably?
That is as far as she has gotten, the actual recovery of paint had been going poorly, anytime she connected a rune to generate paint it would either fail and do nothing, or… as the Fehu rune did blast paint everywhere.
The twins have long disappeared after the first paint explosion.
"Hmm… Runes have long been a source for inspiration, Magus… Do you find what you are doing as enjoyable?" Hakuno hadn't really thought much about it.
She hadn't really thought about it… she made the Mystic Codes to help, The communicators for now haven't been put to use too often, and the infinite paint would help Fox in getting actual food. But… "I think I do."
A single rune didn't do enough, two runes were well above her abilities to manipulate… If only she had an actual teacher…
Fox nodded, "I see… Perhaps… that is what I was feeling from you, a kindred soul," I could practically feel the passion bounding off of you, But… As Akira had once told me, perhaps you should look at it from a new perspective." Fox turned around his sketchbook, it showed an impressive sketch of her with absolute focus on a board, the knife carving a simple Ansuz rune.
Perhaps… she was looking at this the wrong way. She was working with Magecraft that she had little to no knowledge on nothing like the usage of Mystic Codes she has done in the past… But maybe…
Picking up an Ether Shard, Hakuno trickled her Od into it as she rooted into the framework of the healing item. Lines of code slammed into her mind as she felt Avenger's cooling presence.
Taking a deep breath she dove into the stone, searching for the conceptual core.
Finding the concept that tied gave the stone its healing potential, she slowly modified it to accept the paint.
A single rune didn't do enough, two runes were well above her abilities to manipulate without someone walking her through it… where in the world could she find teachers of Magecraft if the world didn't even have Magecraft as something that really existed.
Shaking her head, Hakuno analyzed the newly re-coded stone, it shined softly with prismatic light.
Slowly she carved the rune for Gebo, to maintain balance into one of the spare boards, she found that ink-dust made from Pearls worked slightly better with her Magecraft. Inserting the Shard into the center of the board over the Rune she connected a single Paint Well into the two.
Slowly she trickled her Od into the rune to begin with no explosion in sight… Time for the final part.
"Paint?" Hakuno held out her hand, the artist reluctantly handed over one of his tubes of paint, the cheap ones she had bought had long run out… or got too damaged to be used.
"I don't have much left…"
And… it paint slowly became more. Hakuno removed her hand as the paint balanced out, not exceeding the well.
Though without a way to recover the used Magical Energy it would be limited… it should be able to absorb the natural Energy in the air though as long as Fox doesn't use an excessive amount it should keep up…
"I believe… we did it." Hakuno felt something inside of her click. Fox's shocked and elated expression shined in the dim of Mementos.
"Now… time for the chosen pallet." Fox handed her the old weathered pallet, the wells long dry, the memories etched into its very being. The Gebo rune sunk into the center of the board, the Ether Shard resting in the center of the X. All written in her Magical Energy infused liquid gemstones. The rune softly glowed causing the Ether Shard to shine.
Hakuno hoped it wouldn't constantly shine…
"It isn't infinite paint… But from now on you will only need a bit of paint for an entire session. Or until it runs out of charge… If it does come back to the Metaverse, or find me… Or perhaps that Temple? The one I awoke in…" Hakuno vaguely remembers the Temple, Ann mentioned something about the Metanav needing power?
Fox carefully took the palette into his hands, "I will treasure this. Thank you my friend."
"Mhm, as for my portraits…"
Fox blinked, "Ah yes! I have already begun the sketches from your description." Hakuno glanced at the portraits, the three he showed all seemed so lifelike. "As I have seen these three I felt it would be best to start with them."
"This… is amazing..." Hakuno paused as she took in the details of Rin, Nero, and Tamamo, "By the way... you should name the Palette… names have power."
"Ah yes..." Fox blinked, before analyzing the Palette… "How about the Eternal Well? A bit on the nose but…"Fox's stomach roared.
Hakuno rolled her eyes, "It sounds great… I think we should go enjoy some dinner… Come on Fox."
"You have my thanks…"
Author's Note: So… originally had the idea that Hakuno would use multiple Runes, but without a teacher I can see Hakuno not fully grasping runes more so cause using actual Magecraft is still strange to her, in the games she has only used Mystic Codes…
Also, I do not intend for Hakuno to currently get to the point of just slinging spells around... She will still be a Persona/Servant and item user as she is in game. Just now she can kind of make the items as well...
Something else to note, I do think Morgana would be slightly less prideful to someone who walked in his exact same shoes. Having a connection like that would be a very important thing to him.
Mystic Code: Eternal Well
Effect: Can regenerate inserted paint, absorbs a minor amount of Mana from the World, more effective in Mana Rich environment. Can freely turn off if you remove all current paint. Can be fueled by a Person's Od.
