Logs: The Rabbit Hole Opens

The spear sinks into a monitor, causing it to explode in a shower of sparks. But it pierces much farther than expected, plunging deep into a conguit behind. This might be bad. The spear seethes with electricity. It's probably a bad idea to touch it. Nikolai looks over to Shirou in horror, his expression visible een through the fog. "You fool... You mad fool!" His eyes go wild as he looks back to the machine's screen in horror.

The sound of the spear shearing through steel plating echoes through the room, and possibly beyond, as if the entire world might have heard it. The ersatz and arcane machinery of the DVA System goes mad, screens displaying a massive amount of complicated information as crimson errors begin to rack up. The DVA System itself thrums in an inhuman heartbeat, the system churning faster and faster...

The screens go red, the entire complex ringing with strident klaxons that override even DJ Yosuke's phat beats. The DVA System itself crackles and arcs with electricity, the room shaking. The controls do not respond. It doesn't have power lines, it's running on a self-contained generator system. The emergency cutout crackles and explodes, shooting flame across the room.

The machine has been set in motion, and it cannot be stopped.

There is a pulse of force, the fog rushing away so all can clearly see what is about to happen. The noise and power grows, the door of the roomlike central cylinder opening and revelaing a warped, churning field of light and darkness that leaks out into the main lab. There is a sudden screeching surge, the noise becoming almost deblitatingly loud as the light washes forward, engulfing everything in whiteness...

Thoughts cease, washed away in the whiteness. Time and space lose all meaning as it warps and shifts around you. There is a vague feeling of motion, as silhouettes twist into something resembling a tube before you, drawing you forward into a new explosion of light and feeling...

Mikage-cho - West Side

At first glance, this is Lunarvale. It doesn't take long for people to know something about this place is not Lunarvale... or even their own world. It may have something to do with the flashing wall of colors around the perimeter of the city.

Fantastical creatures pulled from mythologies around the world, called "demons," prowl the streets. They are often hostile, but can be convinced to leave one alone or even give assistance... sometimes). The people here seem largely untroubled by them, though places have started selling firearms and body armor. Yet, violence between human beings here is unheard of. The Police Station doesn't exist, replaced by a forest of purple trees. The area is less developed in places, almost like a trip back in time.

A light haze clouds the corners of one's vision, giving the whole sector the sensation of being in the middle of a dream. Given the demons and the nightmarish black wall blocking the way to the east half of town, however, one could not confuse this dream as pleasant. Such is the nature of Mikage-cho.

Thought returns, as well as the pains of life as each of you find yourselves sprawled in a strange place. Many of you are lying in uncomfortable or unpleasant places. Everything is slightly unreal, as if it could disappear at any moment. It LOOKS like Lunarvale, however...

Lunarvale doesn't, however, have a Lilim and a Jack Frost chilling on a corner, talking.

"But how am I going to get his attention?" "Hee! Don't worry about a thing, ho! We're totally chill!" "I don't know, what can...." "HEE-HOLY #(&!!!!"

The pair look up to see the large number of people appear out of nowhere, gaping.

Guido appears, oddly enough, with everyone else. Dusting his suit off, the CEO looks around, appraising things. He appears to know nothing more about things than everyone else, at this moment. He turns his eye to the Lilim and Frost with a smile. That's better. Demons you can /talk to/.

Anise finds it in herself to laugh, of all things, as the orb of darkness slashes a graze into her left cheek. She chokes up on her bow a little to keep Yosuke from getting too comfortable, her back pressed up against his front. "Oh, don't worry Yosuke. You're far too fun to just break off our relationship now." She says with an easy smile. "So remember, I'll see you in class tomorrow and I'm not taking 'no' for an answer about that tour, alright?" Anise cranes her neck backwards to give him a playful (if mildly bloody) kiss on the cheek, before the building lurches and Anise loses her grip on her weapon. The thing flips around under the overtaxed string's tension and suddenly, mercifully, Yosuke can breath again.

SUDDENLY, TRANSLOCATION!

"What in God's name?" Anise asks in her native English as she picks herself up off of the ground, looking around to find out just what, exactly, happened. She gives an uncertain glance towards Yosuke, whom is no longer there and the two Itoh sisters, whom are /also/ no longer there, as if they were the cause of the mischief. She points a damning finger in a random direction, in the off chance that it is the direction Yosuke ended up in. "And this ISN'T going to get you out of giving that damned tour!" She announces, imperiously.

There is however a Pyro Jack waddling up to the Lilim and Jack Frost, "Heeey guuuuys." He says, "I'm sooooooo drunk...." He looks towards the humans, and then back to the others, "Maaaan it's like I see /humans/ here... Woaaaah."

Maybe the universe WAS destroyed. Good job Shirou. Maki isn't immediately apparent here either, neither is Aki. Those two have vanished.

Kanon sniffs at one of the arrows sticking out of her. "Are these drugged?" She asks unhelpfully.

The other Itoh sister is here as well, though at this point only her jeans can be seen. The rest of her seems to be head-first into a trashcan. "Unnh...." She'll never mock the trainride from Port Island to Lunarvale again. There are far worse ways of travelling. "... Ugh, it smells in here... h-hey!" A quick scrabble later and she flops back out of the can, landing with a tiny 'oof'. "My jersey's smelling too!" An ice cream stick pokes out of her ponytail. This night is starting to suck.

At Anise's cry, she hops right back onto her feet, ready for anything! Like a pair of demons staring at them. Or that she's no longer in a cube farm but in the middle of a city. "I- I don't think so, Nee-san," she stares about her unhelpfully. "Not unless we're all in the same dream and that girl shot herself and... uh..." She peers at Anise, "You don't know where we are, either?"

Confusion. One moment, SEBEC tower 3rd floor, about to teach two guards about how cover is only useful when faced with things slower than light. Next thing Himeru knows, she's looking at two demons having a chat.

"Something tells me I might miss a day of school..." Her perfect attendence was likely ruined now. Himeru shakes her fist with mild anger, only mild as she was planning to ditch anyway if she hadn't accomplished her goal, it's how serious she was about it.

Long glance on Anise for that sudden sky-aimed shout. "I don't think God has anything to do with this." is only her stating what may be a little obvious. The blackhaired girl places the wooden weapon on her shoulder, trying to make heads or tails to WHERE she is now, and who's with her.

"We are humans. But you might still be drunk." Or maybe she's drunk. These are...Personas? But with individual minds, like they're their own beings. Parallel dimension? Bizarro world? Maybe she's been taken out and plugged into some virtual reality world, for all Hime knows. Right hand is raised to rub the bridge of her nose as she closes her eyes momentarily, "I don't think drugs had anything to do with this. Maybe this is the hole Lewis Carroll fell into..."

Pleasant afternoon, getting to know a girl, she dozes off on him... Blaise has had a pretty nice day! He, himself, is starting to drift off in the serenity beneath the augustus tree...

And then, he's pretty sure he /has/ fallen asleep. Completely out of it! In this dream-like state, Blaise just sits up and takes in his surroundings, bleary. His head tilts to look down at the ground beneath - asphalt? Wha? His hand sets to it, then he looks around. People. And.. little critters.

Critters?

Shaky, Blaise starts to pull himself to his full height, still very much in a daze.

Hinata jerks a thumb to Anise, "And she's Alice?"

Himeru Namikawa looks at Anise again. "No. Too sane. Not bloodthirsty enough to slaughter the Red Queen and her army to form the United States of Japan."

That may have been a joke.

The centerfielder pauses, loses the reference, and shakes her head. "She wasn't shooting at you."

FOR THE RECORD.

DESTINED HERO Shiki Ichimonji... is nowhere to be found.

Yu returns to conciousness, a bright flash of white being the last thing he remembers. Promptly, he picks himself and surveys the area. Needless to say, he's more or less astonished at the surreal sight of two Personae chatting. Were they even Personae or something else? He decides to avoid eye contact with them for now and take account of those in his company. Where were his allies, and who were most of these people?

Well, there was Hana...that's about it. Hm, Anise was here, too. And isn't that that girl from the Lucky Seven? Oh, hey, there's Anise, too. But wait...none of these people were with him in the DVA room.

He takes a few moments to compose himself before realizing that Guido himself was also amongst them.

To no one in particular, though mostly at Kandori, he sternly asks, "Okay, what the hell is going on?"

Kandori looks around, marking the streets, and reaches into his pocket. He takes out... a piece of chalk? Walking to the nearest building, he makes an effort to mark symbols onto it in what appears to be luminescent chalk. Time to devise a grid system. When he hears Yu's question, he spins and walks toward the young man until he's standing basically chest to chest with him, unless stopped.

"This." he says with curious intensity. "Is the price for many things done and undone, the culmination of several people doing very dumb things in a short period, and a bold new adventure. YOU climbed down the rabbit hole, boy. You broke in to the underworld and ate a banquet and now you want to climb back out? TOO BAD!"

Kandori's laugh is bark-like and quick, one hand on his sword as he looks down to lock eyes with Yu and stares intently, his suit already ruffled and askew.

"Be careful, they'll attack you if they feel like it."

Not only are there demons, there's one Arisa Shiratori, chomping on an energy bar, naginata pressed over one shoulder and her duffel bag against her back. She looks behind her, crunching off a piece of the nutty bar. ".... But what I want to know is why you all doing here." Damn it, Mai shouldn't have ported in more people before- Arisa was sure she had a better assessment of the situation!

Of course, now that this mass immigration has taught Arisa a quick, rather important lesson- what it's like to go from no persona-users in the area, to... many. Too many to count them all.

She doesn't need a resonance to recongize one man- before she even realizes the presence of Himeru, as well as more briefly met acquaintances, she's going over to the suited CEO, a sharp glare in her honey gold eyes. "Mr. Kandori." Arisa frowns, shifting her naginata around so it's in a more ready position. "I'd like for you to explain further before you devolve into pointing fingers at everyone else. A few birds told me that *you're* the one responsible for this."

The Lilim looks shocked and scared of the humans, squealing as she hides behind the much, much shorter Jack Frost. "Aiiieee! Are they going to kill us?"

The Jack Frost shakes his head. "Hee, Pyro, you might be drunk, but those are definatlhee humans, ho!" The Frost tilts its head and blinks. "You have to get through me, hee, if you want her, ho!" It puts up its dukes, looking like a very cute, tiny snowman. "So what's it gonna be, ho?"

Masumi will reflect later that it actually began as a very pleasant evening.

The Inaban youth was entirely uninvolved and unaware of big dramatic fights and dangerous assaults occuring in other places of the town -- though he would have at least been very interested in the ramifications of so many Persona-users all collected together in one place. But no, he remained blissfully unawares. He was instead in Lunarvale for the much more simple reason of making some slight updates to his wardrobe, for this particular town offered certain styles and fashions which were so difficult to find elsewhere.

And Masumi had been generally very pleased with the selection he had been able to pick out; his personal choice in aesthetic was a very particular one that made finding the proper clothes often very difficult. Further, the conversation he had had with that one girl had been quite a refreshin opportunity, even if she herself grated harshly on his sensibilities. So yes. All told, it was a nice evening. He had just paid for his selections and was walking to the subway station when suddenly everything went to hell.

The first sensation Masumi returns to after the sensation of impossible whiteness is one of pain and discomfort. He must have blacked out -- though it felt nothing like it should have, and further the doctors had said he had made a remarkable and nearly full recovery already. He shouldn't have been blacking out. But what else could it have been? A brief spike of fear hammers through his heart as a thought occurs to him upon recalling the whiteness. Did he do something terribly Wrong when he discovered the new Persona the other night?

As he slowly rolled over on the painfully hard concrete to allow feeling to return to his extremeties, Masumi had to admit that he was treading on unknown territory that night. It felt right, but that didn't mean that it was. Had the healing backfired somehow, leading to a reversal and relapse? It would explain the whiteness. A groan escaped his lips as he finally opened his eyes and the painful tingle of returning feeling began to flood his limbs. He could feel his pulse quicking with fear at the thought of what could have gone wrong from treading where he ought not to have.

Anise gives Kanon a casual shrug. "You'll know in an hour or so if you don't bleed out first." But for all of that threatening talk she doesn't seem to be terribly interesting in continuing the battle, at least as of this moment. This is evidenced by the fact that she fishes into a side compartment on her quiver to extract a compact mirror and an embroidered handkerchief. By their combined use Anise starts to smear about the slowly drying blood that is caking on her cheek until it is in some mild semblence of order. She manages to cast Himeru a dirty look, before giving Yu a pleasent one, going so far as to offer him a polite wave with the bloody hankerchief.

Hinata just shakes her head, waving off both Hero and Villain with a hand. "Don't look at me. I get told that there's going to be a great trial that we have to pass otherwise all will be lost and somehow this involved busting into your offices and I'm sorry, uh..."

Slowly she turns back to the demons, then to Arisa, then to Kandori - /The/ Kandori!? - and then finally back to the very brave Jack Frost.

The choices they would make. The paths they would take. All would be lost. Down the rabbit hole.

Slowly, Hina swallows, the color draining from her face. "Oh god."

A brief sigh, "I guess not, but honestly, you took the elevator. You should have just hit the lockdown button and pummeled her to a bloody mess. She threw herself at THREE of you recklessly and you didn't even use the close quarters to make her regret it." so the very idea that Anise was given the CHANCE to use her bow struck Himeru as something the others brought upon themselves. But right now, further engagement seemed futile.

Kandori' sudden voice chills her spine, she had not seen him in the crowd, but there's something unsettling about his words. Sounds like it was their fault, according to him. She doubted it was so simple.

That voice, familiar, and one that brought a wave of relief. Head swivels in that direction to make confirmation with her own eyes. The lil' snowman, demon girl and pumpkin man may feel threatened, but it won't be her place to try and solve that diplomatically. "Shiratori-san, you're alive and well. You had me worried." states the blackhaired girl, her shoulders slumping a little and sounding relieved. "I can't speak with absolute certainty, but given Mr. Kandori's reaction, I am fairly sure this was not an intentional thing. You've been here since the Earthquake, I presume?" It was about when she stopped responding to text messages, it seemed like a logical assumption.

Yu waves politely, if awkwardly to Anise, shrugging off Kandori's mocking for now before looking back to the demons. They were getting feisty, but something gave him a strange thought: If they look like Personae, and this place was the creation of mind-manifesting technology, maybe they were -like Persona- aspects of the self and were thus somewhat reasonable. Even if that was only partially right, it was worth a try to avoid a needless fight at a time like this.

"Her?" He eyes the Lilim with a friendly smile before looking to the Frost, "She's a real doll, but not really my type, y'know? I'm sure appreciates your protectection, but all we're looking for are directions!"

Stagger. Wobble.

Blaise shakes his head a little, and the voices he hears around him are starting to ring bells. Some he recognizes. Others... not so much. Turning around again, he starts to make out the image of Yu, even Himeru, and...

/Kandori/.

Blue-gray eyes widened, the American teen attempts to stabilize himself and more quickly figure out if this is a dream.. or if something really, really bad just happened.

"Your birds were incorrect." comes Kandori's retort as he rounds on Arisa. One hand flicks to his blade, but he doesn't draw it. "Look, enjoy yourselves." Kandori bows slightly in the direction of the two Jacks and the Lilim, before turning as if to go, and preparing to leave without incident. He takes his chalk from his pocket once more, and sets off into the labyrinth of the mind to find somewhere to bide. Or rather, he tries to do that -

How far he makes it? THAT CHOICE IS YOURS.

"Ah." Kanon says, not terribly worried about bleeding out--that's what magic healing is for. The end of the world is a bit more occupying than her health anyway. She says, "You okay, sis?" She asks.

"...Maaan, what should we do with 'em? They're all slackjawed...ho." Pyro Jack asks of the others. "I'm totally wasted, man, hee."

"What?!" The Lilim says, looking indignant. "Are you calling me ugly?"

The Jack Frost looks up at the Lilim, and then back to Yu. "Hey! You netter take that back, ho! No one insults hee girlf- Er, friend, and gets away with it, ho!" The Frost looks over to the Pyro, and nods. "If they keep getting all uppity, hee might have to teach them a lesson, ho!"

Vague threatening motions! Arisa doesn't look like she'd be willing to spear Kandori through immediately- if he's here (and rather unceremoniusly so, judging from the state of his clothing), there's probably a reason for it. The reason, however, is not given.

A familiar voice distracts her. "... Himeru-san..." The girl looks briefly lost as she hears Himeru's voice, not sounding at all like the sort of crazed teenager that would threaten a powerful CEO that has shown a smidgen of what he's capable of to her. ".... There was an earthquake?" That seems to be a yes.

But she can't focus on reuniting with one of her few friends- Kandori is strolling away. "Mr. Kandori! Stop! Damn it- Olrun!" Olrun manifests herself above Arisa, a strange humanoid figurine that looks something between a ballerina and a warrior. Waving her hand, the persona summons a gust of wind the front of Kandori, hopefully stopping or, at least, slowing his progress forward. It's not strong enough to actively injure him, however, which may be telling as to Arisa's next intentions. "One of you guys. Try to trap him- I don't want him leaving until he answers to someone first!" She shoots a look around. "Don't hurt him, though!"

The demons are getting restless too. This is not good.

Hinata is brave on her own right, just inexperienced. Seven months ago she was just another first-year student at Gekkoukan. Now, if she's right, she's in who knows where on a mission to save the world. It just takes a moment for her to put her thoughts before fears, action before worries. Ironically, its Kandori's words that seal the deal. "Enjoy ourselves, huh?" There's a soft chuckle. "I think I'll do just that." Its not every day you have an adventure of this magnitude, after all!

She steps over next to Kanon, giving the eldest Itoh a reassuring smile and a squeeze of her hand. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are you OK? I can have Skuld, uh." Hey, that boy looks familiar. "Blaise? What-" And Kandori's leaving and, aw hell, that grey haired guy is failing his diplomacy roll. There's a wink to Nee-san, "I've got this," before she stands up, poofs her ponytail, and bounces happily over to the group of demons.

"Hi there!" she beams broadly, "I couldn't help but hear you talk about your problems while I was stuck in that trash-can!" Hands wring before her as she bounces up on her heels, smile as earnest as ever. "I'll tell you what, I'll help you out with getting his attention, but in exchange I'll need your help too!" Going on an adventure unarmed was a bad idea. "All I need is for you to bring me a baseball bat!"

Okay, so maybe they're not so rational. Well, he's in a tight spot now, so...Hm. He can continue his semi-honesty, or he can try to play to their emotions. Let's see. Jack Frost. Jack Frost. Bah! He doesn't know. He figures it a safe bet to play to the creatures ego.

"Not at all! She's lovely, but I don't want any trouble with you. Gentleman's rules and all that."

Masumi finds it a slow and painful process picking him up off the hard concrete, letting the feeling circulate back into the tips of his fingers and toes, and stretching out muscles that felt far more cramped than they had any right to be. He frowns slight as he notices that one of his favorite shirts is ruined from the scuff of the asphalt. And then suddenly it seems entirely inconsequential.

"Dear goddess," he breathes, all the color draining from his face as he takes stock of where he blacked out and sees that the world has suddenly become a very foreign and very uninviting place. Impossible colors dance on the horizon, while a strange haze that is not fog creates a feeling of heady surreality about the whole place. Creatures that should not exist as anything other than epheral manifestations of willpower...exist. Moving and talking and existing.

It's a dream, Masumi tells himself desperately. It's just a dream. He takes a nervous swallow and finds his mouth has suddenly become terribly parched. No. Calm down, Masumi. It's nothing more than a nightmare. Except --

Except that if it's a dream, and if he can recognize it's a dream, then he should be able to control it. It should bend and move and reshape itself at his will and the power of lucidity. But everything stubbornly refuses to change so much as an iota. This world is so much more real than a simple nightmare, but also so much more impossible. It should not exist. It /does/ not exist. Masumi's body suddenly feels like it doesn't belong to him anymore as his brain tries to disconnect itself from a reality it believes to be impossible.

The world spins, and he collapses to his knees and promptly begins dry heaving.

"Oh, they tried." Anise can not but help herself from correcting Himeru's mistaken beliefs about her tussle. She has little better to do as she slowly restrings her bow. Yosuke's neck had the termininty to strech her previous one, you see. "But they did try. In fa--"

Anise slams a foot into the inside curve of her bow, heaves the new string upwards, and a second and a half later, is turned towards Arisa with an arrow half-nocked in case Kandori wants issue taken with this; Himeru is temporarily forgotten.

Kandori turns around and stops his progress. "Alright. Look." Kandori draws his sword and it slides out with a silvery shink. "I have no objection to fighting for the benefit of the demons over there, I'm sure they'd like a show. But-" The shrug that follows is a complicated maneuver. "But really I have more pressing concerns. The way I see it, the road in front of me is empty and clear of obstructions, I don't need help to clear it. If you are going to stand on that road, that's a fine exercise of your principles - but is it really the best use? If you're going to strike, strike."

He lets the sword hang at his side. "Otherwise-" Kandori gestures to Anise in a "hold" motion. "Otherwise I will be staying for as long as my young associate over there wants to, and then departing this area for wherever I please."

Nodding at Anise with a smile, Kandori waits to hear a reply. The girl is excellent emphasis.

Pyro Jack says, "You're so beautiful, do you want to be my girlfriend?" to Hinata. "How about you?" He asks of the second Hinata that his booze-addled brain conjures.

Kanon slooowly looks towards Arisa. "I think we're a little too beat up to do much, is there a place we can... rest? Or are we gonna have to find nice cardboard boxes?"

People.. doing all kinds of things.. people...

Hinata people.

Blaise's eyes track her to the monsters, and he shakes his head again. Falling back a few steps unsteadily, he begins shaking his head, bangs akimbo. "What's..."

His head turns aside. That Arisa girl, with a.. a person-thing generating wind.

"What's.. what's going.."

Head turns the other direction. Kandori, sword drawn.

Instinctively, his right hand moves to his left hip and finds nothing. No sword. No scabbard. He's completely unarmed.

He looks again to Hinata, fingers starting to tremble. She doesn't see him. No one seems to. Finally, the mentally tattered, disoriented, and confused teenager belts it:

"What's going on here!?"

How DOES one react to being taken to another world where everything is different? Will you ever be able to go back? What's even going on here I don't even-

But Yu and Hinata attempt to talk the group of demons down. The Lilim looks like its been assuaged, settling for a demure smile, as the Jack Frost looks at the pair suspiciously. "Heeeee.... Well, I guess you guys aren't so bad. But we don't have any bats. You'd have to go to that school to get those from the other humans... If they'll even let you in!"

Well, those are directions, at least.

The Jack Frost blinks as if it forgot something. "Ho."

Anise holds her shot, slipping her thumb around the taught string to keep it in place in the Mongolian style of draw. She replies quite simply to Blaise, but keeps an eye towards Arisa. "You've gone to a different place and Mr. Wizard isn't here to take you home with his magic wand."

If it was any other place, Himeru might laugh at the notion that Arisa didn't even know about the quake. She was not laughing tonight however. "I guess we can talk later then."

Anise' claim is met with a simple "If they had used the emergency elevator stopped, they could have tried more. But there's no real point debating what's done."

Her gaze slowly turns toward Kandori-san, or Mr. Kandori. She's never quite sure which honorific fitted better given how Lunarvale was so gaijin at times. But the request came from someone she would trust in her judgement in how they currently need him more than he needs them. If anything, this sudden surge of purpose served as something to offset the still intense uncertainty and fear Hime felt deep down. Unknown land, little (some cute) demons, stuck with people who are some friend some not so much...even Anise' sudden Mexican Standoff approach does not really make things better. She doesn't WANT to fight, not right now...

And now Kandori claims that the choice of staying or leaving is with that pompous archer girl. Wonderful. "Cameron-san, not _now_. You wanted to be a part of this too, so for once, see just how much fun it can be." she states in mild irritation, before calming her voice. "Kandori-san, Archer-san, to violently stop you would be resource-depleting for both you and us, and in neither of our interests. However, if you walk alone with heaven knows what is out there, then it is a needless risk. You know the value of pawns, use us, and we will use you."

Blunt, harsh, but to Himeru's mind, absolute truth.

"I see," Yu nods politely to the demons before turning away, "thank you and good luck!" Well, at least that info was something. They may be interested in making their way to the school in the near future.

The silver-haired boy turns back to his group, only to find that everything's gone to hell. People have weapons drawn, and the new girl infatuated with him was standing at Kandori's side. That's just freaking great. Well, he can reason with demons now; humans shouldn't be too bad.

"Alright, people," he adresses just about everyone, "I think we all need to calm down and try to make some sense of this...and find some shelter."

His attention is them drawn to Arisa. Didn't she aid him against Kyrie? He nods politely to her regardless and approaches.

The wind disappates as weapons are drawn. Arisa frowns at the answer from Anise and Kandori. Outside of that, people are understandabley freaking out, or, thankfully, attempting to subdue the grouping of demons before they became too angered.

Himeru's words are a breath of fresh air, keeping Arisa from snapping Anise for her comment. The girl takes a breath, and speaks, kindly letting Himeru finish first.

"I think I should have been more clear. It's clear you may not have answers for me. You look like you were ported in randomly yourself- from what I've known of you, Mr. Kandori, you never seemed to be one to arrive with your suit looking like that." Her naginata is tilted downwards. "However, the person who brought me here may want to ask you some questions too. Probably not nice ones. She might even attack you, or ask me to do so." Blunt as always, Arisa is. "Or, she might just not be interested. Either way, she's in a better position to get answers she'd want from you."

But there are people to tend to. Mai... where can you be, right now?

"... The school'd work," Arisa says, over to Kanon. "Sorry- I'd just rather not let Mr. Kandori go immediately without trying to keep him around. If you go now, Mr. Kandori, I'll attempt to find you again. Or, you can stay with us, and face the very bird who accused you, liar or not."

That would be logical, wouldn't it? The ponytailed teenager winks to the pair, "A deal's a deal!" She then leans in to whisper to the Lilim, "Be yourself. You're really adorable, and if he doesn't like those wings, then he's not worth your time anyways! Trust me, there's someone out there perfect for you! I know you'll find him someday!"

Hinata Itoh, morale booster to demons. On that note, she shakes her head to the Pyro, "Thank you, but I don't make promises before the first date. I'll keep you mind, though~"

That done, she steps back and turns to Blaise. "Its what she said," nodding to Hime all the while ignoring her kinda-sorta constructive criticism. Seriously, it was a rookie, a tattoo artist, and Yosuke. They didn't have Bear Grylls along! "We're... somewhere. And we'll have to find our own way out," she switches glares between Anise and Kandori, "And maybe even save the world! Like he said, we oughta enjoy ourselves!"

"First things first, its Game One of the World Series and I don't have a bat. So, yeah, let's get to the school." Already she starts getting her bearings right and starts hiking over to give Masumi a smile and a helping hand up, "C'mon, everyone, let's get going. Then... we'll figure it out when we get to the school."

Himeru's response see Blaise curling his hands into tight fists. But before he can whirl on her and give her a piece of his currently rather fragile mind, Hinata pops in. He turns to the smaller Itoh and stares blankly for a couple seconds. "R-.. right.. school.." Sure. Why not. He begins trundling off after her, movement a slow gait.

Masumi does not have the benefit of knowledge which some of the others do. At least if he knew beforehand that a reality-warping machine had just exploded, he would be able to make some medicrum of sense of this new world. The specifics of said machine would of course be lost on him, as would the specifics of this world, but he would at least have some logical connection between cause and effect.

But this...there is neither rhyme nor reason to it. Going from simple clothes-shopping to reality itself warping around him without so much as an obvious trigger is -- it's almost too much for his mind to cope with. Just being a Persona-user and a seeker of truth does not prepare him for challenges to his worldview of such world-shattering magnitude. The Persona after all is merely the logical extreme of the sort of mind-over-matter philosophies which have existed since perhaps the dawn of civilization.

This is something entirely new. Even the world of the occult and neopaganism does not contemplate the possibility of alternate realities; even the idea of the astral plane pales in comparison to this.

Masumi spends several long and tortorous minutes shaking, dry-heaving, and pleading desperately with any god or goddess that will listen that he is hallucinating. (But of course he knows that he isn't. The pain medication is entirely out of his system by this point). His brain very slowly and very tentatively tries to maybe start wrapping itself around the idea that this is possible, and he can very gradually feel the sense of ownership of his body returning. The ability to think consciously and perhaps rationally also begins to return.

It's enough for his mind to recognize the existence of something sane in this insane world, at least, and he finally notices the other humans as he painfully staggers back to his feet again. Still shaking slightly and trying desperately to ignore the impossibilities around him right now, he slowly starts moving to catch up with them without even really thinking about it.

"I do not think that is where I ought to be just now." Kandori shakes his head. "Thompson. Your call. You may go with these lot. Be my eyes and ears, do not let your guard down. If you call my name, I'll find you." Shrugging his shoulders as if shrugging into a coat, Guido calls up a sudden wind that brings the Haunter In Dark sweeping out of his body to loom, wings flapping. He walks off, hands in his pockets, unless an attack or an attempt to block him is forthcoming. Aloud, he declares: "I'm not playing chess any more." And resolves to find a sweat shirt and work pants. Suits can be scuffed too easily, and a man's clothing is intensely relevant to his standing.

"Good luck." He calls back, removing one hand and waving. Then stops. "It has surely occurred to all of you that this is a consequence? That this is going to be a test of champions against the anvil of life?" This much said, the CEO weaves his way off, regardless of who follows him or not, periodically marking things with chalk and seeking out His Building, Aki, or some other haven.

Anise can only chuckle; she's the sort that loves getting a rise out of people. And she just got plenty of that. What Kandori says is 'spy on them for me'. What Anise hears is 'annoy the hell out of them'. "Certainly, Mr. Kandori."

She looks to her newfound companions. "Well. I'm Anise. And I do believe that we're just going to have a grand time together, just capitol." At least someone is taking this in stride and enjoying herself.