sumarusfinest | Keeping Promises [For Schon]

"Mister Schon." If Katsuya was startled (he was) he tries very hard not to show it. He gets up and pulls open the door to his world without wasting time.

There is a dichotomy to Katsuya's world. A tale of two alternate universes so inexplicably close to one another it's almost jarring to one of the mind to see worlds for what they are. Set up like chess boards still in play. One a victor for white, the other a victor for black.

From the darkness a Madness echoes, weaker than it once was but never truly beaten down and cast aside. Biding its time until the next game. The Crawling Chaos never sleeps. It only waits.

They step out onto the streets of Sumaru, Katsuya apparently none the wiser of any of this world business. For such a modern world it teems with magic, with rumors, with demons. Katsuya's apartment is not very far from the police station, which should come as no surprise.

It is fairly large for what one would assume is a bachelor as far as Japanese homes are concerned. Yet there are signs someone else lived there. Not now, not anymore, but once. Old magazines for mechanic enthusiasts, gardening books. A spare motorcyclist's helmet tucked away in the front alcove. Face down photos on a shelf.

"Please, make yourself at home." Katsuya gestures Schon inside before heading directly for the kitchen. His sanctuary. His place of safety. The officer puts on a pot of coffee.

"Would you like coffee or green tea?"

Schön was, in a way, born of two universes laying inexplicably close to one another, and his senses tingle with the strange magic in the air. This is going to make for an interesting day, to be sure.

He probably looks something of a tourist, looking alertly this way and that as though trying to catch a glimpse of everything. Katsuya's apartment, too, is a wealth of insights. "Thank you," he murmurs, at Katsuya's offer of hospitality, removing his hat and hanging it somewhere convenient (he does, also, remember to observe the custom of leaving shoes by the door, he's not a barbarian).

Having been invited to "make himself at home," (someone must teach Katsuya the value of careful phrasing), Schön prowls the living space, examining the furniture, stroking the air just over those discarded magazines, even lifting the downturned photos a little to peek.

"Coffee, please," he answers.

It's just a thing people say when they welcome someone into their home in Japan. There's a lot of obligation speech you use, and usually proper etiquette from the guests. Katsuya is unaware of Schon's actions however, as he is ~~hiding~~ preparing refreshments in the kitchen.

Two former residents. A rebellious youth--relative to the Sergeant. Touched by the Darkness of this world, but also of the Light. A rather unfortunate young man nearly consumed by Darkness. The shadow of the brother. His other half. Friends? Siblings? No. Lovers. Yes.

But only two bedrooms, and the couch doesn't show the wear of someone staying longterm. They shared the brother's room. Was the Sergeant aware? Possible. Improbable. There is much turmoil within the family.

The face down photos are a treasure trove unto themselves. A group of people standing at a shrine. Katsuya's comrades in arms. Fellow Persona users. A photo booth strip of a boisterous woman in gaudy dress dragging a very embarrassed officer halfway in with her. The same woman from the shrine photo. A former love interest, They never got together. A petite brown haired American giving a peace sign outside the Konan PD. From another world. The Nexus.

The only lover the officer has ever truly had. The picture is the only proof. A sad splitting. Alas, that is all the information the livingroom gives away in latent memories before Katsuya comes back with a tray. Two mugs, the pot of coffee, cream and sugar. He'll set it down on the coffee table before pouring himself a cup straight up and settling into a chair.

"Let me know if there's anything else you require. Food, et cetera." Katsuya murmurs, mug held close to him. To keep him from fidgeting nervously.

Having completed his circuit of the room, Schön sits opposite Katsuya. "Thank you." He takes a moment to pour his coffee--he likes it heavily dosed with cream and sugar, and his movements have the brisk precision of long habit. Settling back, he holds the handle of his cup lightly with the fingers of one hand, cradling it in his other as though his palm were a saucer. "I imagine we will both feel our appetites in time."

He takes a sip of his coffee, then asks his first question: "do you feel ready to begin?"

"Yes." Katsuya nods slowly. "Although...I hope where my knowledge has limits you will not think I'm lying. There is much I don't know about.." He struggles to explain and then gives up.

"Everything."

Schön nods, accepting this with equanimity. "Do you mind if I record our conversation?"

"..No." A record of their transaction. It probably wouldn't hurt Katsuya to have proof of a task completed, either.

"Thank you." Reaching into his inside jacket pocket, Schön withdraws a slim silver phone, prodding it a few times before setting it down, leaning so that its lens is trained on Katsuya. "There. Now, a few preliminaries, for the sake of completeness. Would you tell me your full name, where we are, and when?"

Katsuya glances at the device for a few seconds before straightening in his seat.

"Suou Katsuya. We are in my home in the Konan ward of Sumaru, Japan. 2003."

He's self-conscious when he knows he's observed? Good to know. "The creatures who recently attacked the Nexus: what were they?"

"Demons. Several varieties of. My world has been plagued with them for years."

A pause.

"I was first made aware of their existence in 1999, during an investigation of criminal suspect #501. The JOKER killer."

"Please, elaborate."

"Sudou Tatsuya, an escaped mental patient. Otherwise known as JOKER. a serial killer who kills by request when someone calls their own cellular number. At the time, his identity was unknown. He wore a bag on his head with a crudely drawn jester's mask on it, used a sword in his killings, and was never witnessed at a crime scene. No one knew how he was finding the people who 'requested' his services."

Katsuya steeples his fingers as he talks. This he could do. Facts. files. Criminals. This was no different than testifying in court, or preparing a report.

"There were rumors that the suspect had been requested at Seven Sister's High school. I was on scene to gather what information I could. It happened to be the school my brother attended, as well, so I thought I would check on him if I could. He was never around at home. It was there that I met Amano Maya and Seirzawa Ulala, the women who would become instrumental in the days to come. JOKER held a grudge against Ms. Amano, for some reason we could not figure. Kept begging her to remember this 'Other Side'. Summoned demons to force her to fight."

This was where things got strange.

"It was that day when all three of us awakened our Personae."

"Your Personae," Schön prompts. "That would be your... combustive feline shadow? How does it differ from a demon?"

"That....I would say is probably it's source." Katsuya frowns thoughtfully,

"A persona doesn't exist on its own. It's still...me, even though it isn't. It's an extension of my soul, as my hand is an extension of my arm. How or why some people develop them I have no idea. Fate, perhaps." The officer shakes his head in confusion.

"Demons have autonomy. They exists on their own and sustain themselves without help. Some can be contracted to aid humans, or what those individuals would refer to as 'devil summoners' through rituals or technology. I really don't have much knowledge of how it works, only that I know of devil summoners existing."

Schön nods thoughtfully. "If a demon is contracted to one person, is that relationship exclusive? Are they able to also contract with another, simultaneously? Is the human able to contract with several demons at once?"

"It's certainly possible. Sudou, the JOKER killer, held sway over veritable swarms of them. Then again, he was but a pawn of an elder god, so that may not be the extent of an average human. Whether or not traditional devil summoners can contract multiple demons....they might? I think it depends on the summoner's skill. Let the record show I'm postulating here. I really don't know."

It's not something Katsuya's given a lot of thought to, before now.

Schön accepts both the admission and the answer with a nod. "And for the demons? Could one demon contract to more than one person?"

"I've yet to see as such. We talked our way out of many a fight with demons. Whether it was to gather information, or just avoid bloodshed because we were tired, hurt, or really just trying to sneak into a particular location."

The officer shakes his head.

"Again, you'd have to ask an actual devil summoner. All we ever did was fight or talk to them." And really, Maya was the one who came up with that. She was always resourceful that way.

Again, he accepts this answer, although he is starting to think Sergeant Suou may not be the treasure trove of information for which he was hoping. "Tell me of the magnetite that interests these demons. It is not, I presume, the common mineral?"

Magnetite.

This was a word he had heard before. Baofu spoke about it once. Or was it Ms. Ellie?

"We would have to barter with demons, on occasion. When distraction or manipulation didn't work. They asked for blood. For SP magic ability. for trinkets. I never understood why."

Pause.

"I asked an ally once, a knowledgeable woman with interest in the occult. She said that taking a part of us was like eating, for them. That they required...magnetite...to survive. It must be present in humans for these demands to have been made, and I agree, it must not be what you or I call a mineral."

"She said it was also why demons target humans as prey. We are unique among the living in some way, and that is what they need to survive."

"Hmm." He's going to have to pursue different lines of inquiry, for those answers. He'll change tacks, for now. "Who are your allies, in this struggle?"

"Amano, Maya. A journalist for a teen magazine Coolest. Serizawa, Ulala. Ms. Amanos room mate and department store clerk. Alias: Baofu. A rumor monger who operates outside of the law in order to gather information. Myself. And..."

Katsuya glances toward the hallway of the apartment, toward a closed door at the end. There's a storm cloud of emotion on his face before it gets swept under the calm facade he normally operates under.

"Suou, Tatsuya. Third year at Sevens High school. My younger brother. ...A version of my younger brother, at least."

Oh, Katsuya. You had to know, with an answer like that, this follow-up would be inevitable. "A version?" Still, Schön voices it as delicately as he's able.

This was inevitable if they were discussing what had happened. The officer was prepared for this.

"This is not the first time the events that I was privy to have happened. Apparently. In another version of my world, this also happened."

Katsuya tries to sort out what he knows about this. He's heard most of it from Jun, but then, that's a pretty credible source, considering.

"My brother and his school friends. And Ms Amano. All knew each other when they were younger. One of their group was selected by an elder god to be his pawn in a dispute he was having with a second god. They were arguing over the value of humanity."

"The events that unfolded were similar to, yet unquestionably different than what took place here, in my world. But while they fought valiantly. They failed. The world was destroyed, with only Sumaru in tact. And as a final blow....Ms Amano was killed."

"Philemon, the God who granted us our abilities, wanted to thank my brother and his friends for their fight. He could not save their world. But he could use what was left of their lives to create a new one. The price....was that they would never know each other. If they remembered, Nyarlathotep would become aware of their new world. That they had 'restarted' as it were."

"They agreed. All but Tatsuya. He did not want to disappear. Did not want to lose his friends, the only people he had ever been close to. Didn't want...to think his world was gone. The price was paid, however. Their world was left to die."

"I believe that is how this world came to be. I have no knowledge of my other self, or anything that transpired that was not confided to me by someone who had been there. My brother--my actual brother-- had a run in with this world's Ms. Amano at a train station. All of his former friends were there. I do not believe it was coincidence. Nyarlathotep set them up. So many familiar faces triggered the memories of the Other World in my brother. The brother I knew in that moment was gone. Replaced by the one who had lost everything."

"He knew Nyarlathotep would try this again. He set out alone to stop it. It took us a long time to catch up to him. He was trying desperately to keep Maya and his friends from recovering their lost memories. Believed it was his fault that things were going that way again. His friends did remember, but each of them assumed they were the only ones, and tried desperately to stop this world form meeting the same fate as the last."

"When...the crisis was averted. Tatsuya and his friends reverted to who they once had been in my world. Without memories. Scattered. Lonely. My companions and I agreed not to see each other again, so as to not risk triggering the latent memories in my brother. It was...difficult. My brother and I had grown closer during the struggle. To lose all of that again...made our relationship even more strained. And were it not for the Nexus, I believe that would be the end of my story."

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Persona characters aren't familiar with a lot of SMT rules sadly.

Not like Schön knows all the rules in Changeling.

Since they have their own summons, they don't have to make demon kill squads to survive :3

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Wall of text incoming.