riverview | First (lack of) sleep note audio; un:pnws

[Because Alex is most comfortable doing audio (podcasts, they're radio on demand) that's what her posts are going to be. Her voice is soft and ready for radio, and there's a hint of a Canadian accent in it.

Also, it's two am so feel free to yell at her if she woke your character up!]

You know, I think I'm handling all of this rather well. Taken to a different world, okay. Might be in a coma or something back home but okay. Magic users and superheros, definitely okay. Still might be in a coma, but it's nice to know about.

My problem with being here is time. Back home, it was the end of September, not even proper Thanksgiving [Sorry, someone is from Canada where Thanksgiving is in October] or Halloween. And now suddenly it's Christmas. I've been here a month but I still keep feeling like I've lost all of this time. Losing this time makes me wonder: what do they know back home? Have they noticed I'm gone?

[That's a huge worry for her, she doesn't want people to think that she's just run away and abandoned them when the world may be ending. Or whatever.]

I'd like to think that when I go home, it'll be at the same moment but then I wonder: will I have all this extra time then? Memories of this place? I've been around more weird stuff in the last two years than I care to admit, but I think this might be the weirdest thing ever.

So, that's what keeping me up tonight. [Among other insomnia like things because she's Alex.] What's keeping you up?

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Wow, that's an even bigger time jump than me. How are you handling it?

[And she gets the next bit too.]

Yeah, my sleep schedule is messed up too. Insomnia?

Eh, it's a little weird? Missed my birthday but that's no big deal.

[Makoto smiles a little but shakes his head.]

Nah, my team and I used to run investigations around midnight every night for about a year. It's hard breaking the habit.

What kind of investigations?

[Makoto scratches at the back of his head for a moment, debating.]

We were exploring a tower that only appeared at midnight each night. And only ever for an hour at a time.

[Alex just flips on her camera, and she's wearing silly pajamas, and sitting at a table. But she's leaning forward with her head in her hands and her eyes are definitely interested and not at all judgmental.]

So, it was paranormal in nature?

[So long as their comfortable, wear the silliest things ever. Makoto won't judge.]

It was. We called it Tartarus. We were the only people capable of exploring it.

[Nope, Alex isn't making mental notes, not at all.]

Tartarus? Like the Grecian myth?

[Alex had done a lot of research into myths lately.]

Why was it just you guys who could explore it?

Maybe? I wasn't part of SEES when they came up with the name, Akihiko-senpai called it a 'shadow nest' when he and Mitsuru showed it to us.

[So... probably? Sounded plausible to him.]

We're capable of functioning during that hour the tower exists, the Dark Hour. And we can each summon a Persona, so shadow's can't feed on our minds.

[For a moment, Alex just nods, forgetting that he can't see her, and then she makes a soft noise to show that she's listening.]

Are the shadows like shadow people?

[That's... frighteningly familiar. And Alex doesn't takes steps of logic as much as she takes flying mile-long leaps headfirst.]

No. Shadows are monsters who exist during the Dark Hour, prey on those who are conscious. It would be impossible to mistake a shadow for a person, even the humanoid-shaped shadows.

So they leave the tower to do it? Or is it just people who come into the tower that don't have the persona thing that they feed off of?

They do, yeah. Them and the Arcana Shadows, before we destroyed them. Since most people aren't actually active during the Dark Hour, they have to be drawn into it by shadows or a Persona user.

How do they draw people into the shadows? Just like enticement?

Oh, no. They don't draw people into the shadows. They're called Shadows. And they kind of... wake people up, during the Dark Hour.

Normal people are safely transmogrified into coffins during the Dark Hour so I guess you could say the Shadows open them up?

Wow. That's... creepy.

[No kidding, Alex.]

I guess it kind of is? I never gave it much though.

[Of course, coffins, dying, none of that bothered him.]

It doesn't bother you?

[Alex is a little shocked by this, but you are so reminding her of Simon, kid.]

No? They aren't dead, just kind of asleep. And they're safe. So I don't see why it should bother me.

[He can't help that death is just kind of... there for him.]

You don't mind coffins at all?

Not really. They're not really scary or anything. They just... exist.

[Death and images or items related to it have never bothered him.]

I see. Does death have a different meaning for you? Is it really prevalent?

I know it can be really different in come cultures. Sorry, I'm just trying to understand.

Kind of. To summon a Persona, you have to accept that you're probably going to die. I've been accepting of death for a long time.

[He shrugs.]

It's fine. I'm not sure it's really cultural, in my case though.

Well, accepting you're going to die would probably do it!

[Alex believes anyway.]

If there's a group of you who believe it, it's probably cultural in that way.

First (lack of) sleep note audio; un:pnws

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