avalar | [Video] ♪ 01 : FOOL ♪

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persona: chou yoshihisa (oc)

[Video] ♪ 01 : FOOL ♪

I don't think being dropped into a lake is very much of a welcome.

[The speaker is currently soaked to the bone, apparently not having thought to go dry out before using the orb he's gotten. Thankfully, the clip in his hair is keeping most of it out of his face, drowned rat look or not, and his dragonfly is making odd little melodic tones behind him.]

So, I took a look through the Guidebook... and it seems I'm here for a specific reason. A "fixing of a magical drain" or something like that? Does anyone else have any more information on that? It's kind of vague, and I generally mucked about with cards more than anything.

[While it's true in multiple forms, Chou carefully omits the fact they were magical cards.]

...Also, somewhere I could dry off and maybe get a change of clothes would be nice too. At least until mine dry out.

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Nah, not too weird, just something I don't usually get asked. [He's generally pretty memorable. Or at least, he hopes he would be.] I'm just some Fool with an mp3 player, really. [He puts just a tiny bit of emphasis on the word Fool, more than he normally would. But he isn't doing it for the personal joke this time - it's a test. Magic. Cards. Possibly knowing him. Sure, it could be a coincidence, but it's better to check.]

The natives are good to us as long as we're good to them. And you wouldn't have to worry about that even if you were. Apparently time stops back home while we're here.

["Fool." The way that Minato says it makes it stand out like a glowing beacon to Chou for some reason, and he carefully thinks how to reply. It could very well be a coincidence, or it could be some kind of signal...

...ah, of course.]

Well, Fools often had Magicians following them, didn't they?

[It would sound like a confusing, nonsense sentence to most people, but perhaps...]

Oh, well! That's a relief!

[That's it. The word "Magician" sounds like an alarm in Minato's head. That's definitely a reference to the major arcana. Someone else from his world then? Maybe from Seito's version of the world, or possibly something else... Nevertheless, you have to be from a different timepoint. He never knew a Chou, and it's not he has a future you could be from.]

Yeah, and a High Priestess would usually join them, too. [He tries to make it sound like a story they both happen to know. An old children's book or something. After all, he doesn't know if Seito's watching, and he doesn't want to give away who he is so quickly to the other teen. He doesn't trust him as far as he could throw him.]

It's been useful for a couple people here. It seems like it isn't too uncommon for Outsiders to be pulled from the middle of some huge catastrophe.

And that High Priestess answers to an Empress, I'm sure. Don't all of them?

[The other conversation is almost forgotten, but Chou manages to catch it just in time.]

Ah, well. Maybe it's a bit of a vacation with that, then?

Of course. And the Empress is never without her Emperor.

[It's entirely different from how this started. From being the welcome wagon, to this sort of circling, testing... How far will it go?]

Yeah, you could probably consider it one. We didn't know time stopped back home until about a month after we got here, though. [So there was a lot of worry. Minato's chosen to believe it because he refuses to accept the idea that the Seal may be broken.]

And the Emperor is bidden the same as any other by the Hierophant.

[Chou is willing to play this back and forth as long as he's needed. He has a feeling there's something important here.]

It must have been stressful until then.

Even the Hierophant can't rule the hearts of Lovers, though.

[Minato has some idea of what's being built up to. He gets the even numbers thus far, which means at the end he'll have to reveal the arcana that will tell anyone in deep enough who and what he is. The twenty-second arcana, the Universe.]

For some people, yeah. Though I doubt anyone would have even noticed I was gone if time did pass, back home... [Unless the world ended, then SEES would know. But he's a little too dead for anyone to notice if he's there or not.]

Though the Lovers have to make way for the Chariot all the same.

[Each of the Major Arcana... and it brings up someone in his mind from the Investigation Team. Or from who Azami knew, ones he hadn't met... but what is this feeling?]

Why is that?

The Chariot has more power, so they have to stand aside? Where's the Justice in that?

[First the package he received during the Year of the Dragon, and now this conversation... It feels like the Arcana are all returning to him, once again. He still hears the voices of all of his friends. He didn't succeed on his own, after all.

He shrugs. He can't say a lot in public - doesn't want Seito seeing it.] I'm just that one quiet guy in the classroom. Everyone would probably think I just transferred out or something.

Well, maybe Justice is only known by people who try to figure it out... we could ask the Hermit.

[Chou makes a thoughtful noise.]

I see. I guess hu--people do ignore others that don't make much noise.

[She has been lurking, she has been watching, and she just... well, she has to get in on it somehow.]

And yet all, even the likes of the Hermit are subject to the whims of Fortune's Wheel, are they not?

[She doesn't recognize Chou, but... well, this is making her curious. Could this young man be from their world as well...? That slip-up's got her attention too, but...]

[His eyes narrow just for a moment at that slip up. Hu... Humans?]

That's right. It takes great Strength to stand strong through that.

[Sup Naoto. Minato isn't sure, either.]

Being in the spotlight isn't really my thing anyway.

[The rest of the conversation is forgotten, especially now that Naoto has joined in.]

But sometimes, that strength just drags you down so you have to let it go... the Hanged Man likely knows that.

But the Hanged Man also knows from his new perspective that the greatest transition of all begins with Death.

[...Death... Minato's expression is particularly serious at its mention.]

Which isn't a bad thing. The turmoil can be made into something good, with Temperance.

But... the Devil is drawn by Temperance, and will always try to make trouble.

Naturally. The Devil's disruption then brings the ruin of the Tower.

But with the Tower fallen, people can reach for the Star again.

And when the Star's in reach, the Moon is beautifully in view.

And when the night ends, the Moon may no longer be seen... but the Sun rises once more.

We have to face the Sun with the pride of the living, because Judgement Day comes right behind.

But with that Judgement... the World becomes whole again.

[And that's it... the full Arcana. He wants to greet Naoto, but there's a weird sort of pressure on his throat, as if things aren't quite done.

But... that's silly. That's all of the Major Arcana, isn't it?]

And though in that world, Aeons may pass...

[Senpai is impressed, Naoto, most people don't know that one.]

...There remains one whole, greater than everything within it. The Universe exists beyond everything, and yet also at the core of everything.

[There's something distant when he says it. He understands the Universe intrinsically - he fostered each of the other arcana within himself and forged them into it, after all.]

[The moment the word leaves Minato's lips, Chou goes pale. "Universe." Aeon had confused him, but Universe had made something snap in the back of his head, a sudden burst of information, like one of his blocked senses was just fully opened again.]

That's my Arcana.

[His mouth goes faster than his mind and he blurts it out without thinking, just staring blankly at Minato as his brain tries to register this new information.]

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[visual] Minato -> Chou -> Naoto?

[visual] fine with me!

[visual] Sounds like a plan!

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