White Light (me and FF only)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Once the vision ended, Palette groaned and walked back over to the tea table, dropping the notebook in Himitsu's lap as she did so. "Here," she said before sitting down at the table. She couldn't even remember what the vision had been about. That was another problem with her powers; she had to guess the contents based on the picture she drew.

She looked at Kaini. "You owe me 15 bucks for that little vision, by the way." She had been sure that it was about him; she hadn't felt a vision coming on until he'd appeared at the shop too.

As for the picture, it was rather vague and messy, with the pencil even tearing through the paper at times. Distinctively, there was something that almost looked like hair, and a featureless human figure. Wool and blood splatters covered the paper, and there was something like a shadowy ball with eyes in the corner of the page, obviously hastily added on. And covering the whole picture was something like a chain.

She sat down in her seat. "Don't mind me. Just here to watch the show now."

[mugenginga]

Kaini was having a hell of time keeping the rising panic under control. Himitsu broke her gaze to fumble with the notebook, barely managing to catch it. Under different circumstances it would have been funny how she seemed to contradict her grace at times. Kaini got even more panicked when Palette said "vision". Vision. As in a prophecy? He seemed agitated. Himitsu walked over and grabbed a pencil off her desk, flipping past the picture Palette had drawn and scribbling down the words she had said. She looked up, wondering what Kaini was waiting for.

He turned away as her gaze returned, "...yeah..."

She nodded, "I can help you train." she closed the notebook and set it on the counter, "I can't say I support either of you winning, but it seems those are the only routes that remain for your world. And I don't want A... Keiichi to win merely because you can't fight back."

Kaini hesitated, "Wha-what do you want me to do?"

Himitsu smiled softly, "I require no payment. Nor even a pledge of loyalty. You will be free to leave any time you wish. Because I don't expect you to believe I am doing this out of altruism, I'll give you my reasoning. When the revelations that will occur happen, I want you to be strong. And as I said, I want you to at least be able to try to win. Please, if you feel the need to leave and come back. Do not worry about finding this place, you will be drawn to it if you choose to come back. This I can guarantee."

Kaini looked at the door, "I'll..."

Himitsu shook her head, "Take as much time as you need." In truth she doubted it would hit that horrible time between one day and the next before he came back. It was through her sheer power level she could remain awake during it, although Eriol froze as his clockwork's required a level of technology the time did not allow.

Kaini nodded and quickly left the shop. Himitsu turned to Palette, who she suspected was getting annoyed by now, "I will cover the fee. Please charge your usual amount, you don't need to hold back on that. Even if it is not useful to your and I do not allow that boy to see it, it is useful to me," she sighed, "I suppose I should explain him to you now, but I can only justify doing so if you swear to not inform him."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Palette crossed her arms. Okay. She wanted answers now. This was insane. Once Kaini had left the building, she turned to Himitsu.
"How can I even tell him the contents of the vision if I can't even remember them?!" Palette asked. "And it's 20 bucks for a pencil sketch, 40 for a painting."

Eriol was refilling Palette's tea.

[mugenginga]

Himitsu had gone to the back of the counter. She ducked down for a moment before popping back up as the till opened. She pulled out the equivalent of $20 in Teriian money and grabbed the notepad as she walked back over to the table, sitting down. She carefully turned to what she had written and looked up.

"Do you want what you said or the explanation as to the boy, first? I can only attempt to explain what you foretold if you know the identity of his soul," she turned the notepad around and smiled, "And do not worry about what you said, I wrote it down word for word. Eriol, sit down if you like. I can manage the tea myself now."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Eriol looked up before sitting back down at the table. That worked too, he guessed.

Palette groaned. "Fine, explain to me what he is, then..." To tell the truth, she really didn't care either way, but she knew that this was probably important. That hedgehog wouldn't have sent her to the island if it wasn't important.
Damn him. He probably wanted her to use her abilities for this Himitsu lady and work for her too. Even if Palette was being paid for it, it was still a pain.

[mugenginga]

Himitsu nodded, "First, don't run around telling anyone. You too, Eriol. Kaini does not know it, and most do not know of Kaini's older twin, Keiichi and their cousin Naoya's connection."

She took a deep breath, "In many worlds, there is this deity known to most as simply "God". People don't even know his real name although some have speculated things like Jehovah. God created his home dimension in many of the universes across the multiverse, and a lot of them would have you believe he created all and is completely omnipotent. Hell, some of them might be. That's the problem with omnipotent entities, you never know if the chaos of the world was their intention."

"Anyhow, in the world Kaini comes from, God created Man, and when this man he called Adam expressed loneliness, he created a Woman named Eve. Legends say she was born from Adam's rib, but that's as likely not true as it is. Adam and Eve got kicked out of this paradise known as Eden due to their own trangressions. Some have argued God baited them by saying they could do whatever they wanted but eat from this Tree of Knowledge. It is similar to the story of Pandora's Box in that regard. Human curiosity causing issues."

"Adam and Eve had a son named Cain. After a while they had a second son, named Abel. Cain was put in charge of growing crops as the plentiful world of Eden had been lost to them. Abel was instructed to herd livestock, most notably sheep. Well, God at this time required sacrifices, and even communicated directly with Man. And for whatever reason preferred Abel's sacrifices of lamb. Cain assumed this had to do with the blood and got extremely jealous. His jealousy grew and eventually he bludgeoned Abel to death with a club made from a ram's horn. The story diverges a bit. Some say he quickly buried him, others say he tried to offer Abel off as a sacrifice."

"God, while not omnipotent isn't an idiot, figured this out and cursed Cain. Depending on the world, it manifests in various ways. The applicable effect in this case would be he would be forced to recollect the events in every life, and be trapped in an endless loop of reincarnation. That is to say, once he got past his toddler years he would remember every life he had ever lived, his first one with the most clarity."

"I swear this has a point, just bear with me. He was reborn fairly recently for who knows what number time. I can't claim to know the full events, but he managed to get close to Abel's reincarnation. From what I can tell, he is trying to corrupt Abel's reincarnation into completely turning away from God, who seems to favor Abel. This Keiichi I mentioned, who looks similar to Kaini but with messier hair and a darker wardrobe preference, is Abel's reincarnation. He is often seen with Cain's reincarnation, a silver haired man with a black cloak and neon green LCD numbers. Keiichi, that is Abel, worships the ground Naoya, that is Cain, walks on. They are both aware of their soul's identities, but I think Naoya earned Keiichi's trust too much for a fact he perceives as so small to interfere."

"Anyhow, after Abel died Eve had many more children, just how many varies on the legend but its enough to make your head explode. Her third child she named Seth. She viewed Seth as God's replacement for Abel, and doted on him as such. Apparently God sees him as a backup for Abel as well. For that boy who left? He is Seth's reincarnation and has been charged with leading man towards a new paradise under God's iron rule since Abel has been all but lost to Cain. The biggest difference, however, is that Seth doesn't know whose identity his soul bears. Nor do Abel or Cain, although Cain is extremely suspicous."

She took a deep breath and grabbed the tea pot. She tried to poor more out and noticed it was empty. She chuckled, "I guess I did go on a bit there. I can guess at a lot of that prophecy from this knowledge, but I wouldn't swear by it. Prophecies have this funny way of evading understanding until its too late. I want to know your opinions on it with the knowledge I've just given you. Eriol, please put forward any input you might have as well. And don't worry about the tea."

(OOC: JUDEO-CHRISTIAN MYTHOLOGY CRASH COURSE IS GOOOOOOO! Sorry about the long post. XD)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Eriol had been moving to pick the tea kettle up to go boil some more as Himitsu put her last comment forth. If he wasn't made of wood, his face would have flushed with embaressment when she said that. He sat back down, and stared at the table the same way someone trying to set their salad on fire would.

"...All I know about prophecies is hitsuzen. 'A naturally foreordained event. A state in which other outcomes are impossible. A result which can only be obtained by a single causality, and all other causalities would necessarily create different results," Eriol recited. He'd read it in a dictionary once.

"Well, that's bullcrap. I know for a fact that prophecies can be changed. That's the whole reason I had to put a disclaimer on my stupid sign back home, saying that my prophecies are not the future and they can be changed if you work hard enough." She grumbled. "Alright, tell me what I said, then. I might be able to figure something out that way."

[mugenginga]

Himitsu nodded, and turned the notepad towards herself.

"The shadows of the blue hair's past are brought up again. Blaming himself, he throws himself once again to be sacrificed, as the sinner and the lamb are left to the lamb's replic, their helpless lives in his hands. All small events compared tot he chains of Death, weakening with every moment," Himitsu put the notepad down, "I didn't think to transcribe your pauses though. I hope they weren't important... Anyhow, I want to hear your thoughts before I taint them with my own. Eriol, I have some thoughts about your definition as well, but I want to hear Palette's houghts first."

Himitsu turned her full focus back towards Palette. She had caught the slight shift in Eriol's expression. His construct didn't allow the emotions to express quite right, but she was observant enough to pick up on it. If either Eriol or Palette looked at the notepad, they'd notice that "Death" was indeed capitalized, something that would not have carried through to the spoken word. Himitsu had done this on purpose, or at least her subconscious had.

It had seemed as if Palette had meant Death to be an entity rather than a concept. This wasn't a thought on Himitsu's surface mind, and in fact she wasn't aware that she had capitalized it. But she'd come up with that reasoning if it was asked of her.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Palette seemed lost in thought. Being an oracle, she was used to having her prophecies being read back to her, and it had lost its awkwardness long ago. "The sinner part's definitely referring to the reincarnation of Cain, then. As for the lamb... I'm guessing it refers to Abel's reincarnation. The blue hair part's got to be that kid who just left. No clue about Death, or any chains. Anyways, I'd keep an eye on that kid. He's obviously got problems, and if the 'shadows of his past' are referring to his past as that Seth person, then the 'sacrifice' means that he feels obligated to be a martyr for some reason. And Cain and Abel's lives being in his hands... I'm thinking they might be sacrificed too."

Of course, Palette, didn't know that there was more than one person with blue hair running around with "shadows" in his past. Nor did she know that there was more than two, either. Hooray dramatic irony.

"I think that the lives being in Kaini's hands means that he's going to sacrifice himself to save them, actually," Eriol cut in. Palette stared at him for a second before pulling on the wings on his hat.

"What's with this hat, anyways?" She asked. "You're really old, and yet you wear a hat even little kids don't wear. You'd think someone like you would be more careful about this."

"Owwww! Stop, it's glued to my heaaaaaad!" Eriol complained, trying to pull Palette's hand off as he said this.

[mugenginga]

Himitsu sat back. Both of their thoughtframes worked in the context they had. But she had been completely aware of the Arcana Shadow that had rested inside that building called Tartarus. She didn't know if those directly involved knew this, but that building had been summoned to many worlds before. Most of which never had the slightest chance to survive The Fall, as the ability to harness one's inner Shadow was not a common occurance across the Multiverse.

She sighed. In fact, she only knew of two realities that had survived that fate, and while she was sure there were more it was certainly less that a 1% chance. Even among the small portion of worlds within the Multiverse that had Persona Users. The realities, from what she could recall of her research, had been rather similar. But it did explain the part of the prophecy neither Eriol nor Palette seemed to get, about Death and chains. She didn't know what to make of it beyond knowing what Death referenced, though.

There were too many holes in her knowledge. She wasn't sure she wanted to know, fearful that it might effect this dimension's ability to survive the impending Fall. But she didn't think Kaini was the one mentioned in the first part of the prophecy, although she had no doubt about him being the "lamb's replica". But Cain and Abel being placed in his hands... Eriol seemed closer to the truth than Palette in that regard. As it was, she had drifted off into her own little world, her eyes all but glazed over as Palette and Eriol's antics continued.

(OOC: I say that the Arcana Shadow they fought was the Aion Arcana Shadow. I know you based it on the Fool one, but this way we can avoid having to deal with eleven other ones. XD

Also, yes that was a blatent reference to P3/P3: FES and P3P in Himitsu's thoughts.)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Palette let go of the hat and crossed her arms again. "Too bad this time my prophecy wasn't very detailed. If it was more, we could figure out exactly what's going to happen. I guess it was because I didn't have any paint nearby."

Well, in a way, she did. But it seemed that she only resorted to using her own blood when she didn't have anything else nearby. She thought her landlord was going to kill her when she enscribed some sort of magic circle on her wall on accident.

Eriol looked around. "...Ms. Himitsu, it's getting late. I think we should close up the shop for the day."

[mugenginga]

Himitsu slowly came out of her mind, nodding slowly. She stood up, "Palette, I'll show you to where you can stay. You don't have to stay here if you don't want to. Rylou said you should, but I'm not going to make you," she glanced towards the door, "A little later than I expected, but I think he'll be here after it gets fully dark. I'm going to stay up until midnight, just in case. Oh, and Eriol, please don't use any form of honorific with me. Mitsu is just fine."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Palette grumbled. "It's fine. I'll stay here for the night." She stood up. Stupid hedgehog. And something told her he would be coming to the island sometime soon too.

(OOC: HINT HINT.)

[mugenginga]

(OOC: Let's do the Time Jump Again!)

Himitsu showed Palette to her room, making sure to apologize for the furnishings and telling the Terrian that she would do something about it in the morning. After that she walked back out into the main part of the shop. She sat down at the table she had set up for the expected company and began drumming her fingers.

It was 11:58PM when she finally picked up on Kaini's presence again. Either the teen didn't know about the Dark Hour coming every night or had other issues she wasn't aware of.

"Eriol, stay here, I'll be right back," she said as she opened the front door, making sure to prop the door open. Kaini turned the corner at 11:59PM.

She had said he could find the place again if he wanted to go back. Well, he'd been looking for several hours, the emotions caught in the pit of his stomach telling him maybe he didn't want to go back. He had no idea it had been the fault of his lack of conviction that had made it hard for him to find the shop again. He looked up and saw Himitsu just as the Hour hit. He froze in his tracks, the color draining from his face. He jerked his head up, expecting to get "rained" on again.

Himitsu rushed over to him and grabbed his wrist. He jerked and yanked back, but she only tightened, "You do not want to be out her right now. Neither of us have the means to fight the creatures that lurk during this time. Come on, quickly."

Kaini was in too much of a panic to argue as Mitsu dragged him back towards the shop. She all but threw the teenager inside, quickly shutting the door and locking it. She held out her hands towards the front of the shop and Kaini fell backwards on top of Eriol's still form as he saw what could only be described as arcane sigils glowing in various colors around the walls of the shop. It was a ward against the Shadows, the only ones that could get past were the Arcana ones. And luckily she hadn't had to deal with that just yet, the only one she knew had awakened having been taken care of inside Tartarus.

She dropped her hands and turned towards Kaini, "I am sorry about that, but if they attack you it would not be pleasant."

"Who the hell are they!?" Kaini shouted.

Himitsu blinked. Right, "Shadows. Erm... think of them as simply monsters that rot you from the inside out. I'm glad you came back, but its late. You should go to bed."

"....b-but..."

"I won't hear any argument. And I am not letting you leave until this time passes. It will be over in an hour. If you would kindly get off Eriol..."

Kaini turned around and leapt to his feet. The doll looked inanimate. Especially compared to before. He turned towards Himitsu with a puzzled look.

"He moves thanks to technology, and it does not work during this time. Please take a seat. He is going to be startled to know you showed up, as I'm usually careful about going out of the room so he thinks I have only been gone for a moment when time kicks back in."

"Where's that rabbit thing?"

"Palette is in her room. Speaking of which, you should be heading to yours. Do not think I am going to go easy on you with training."

"Uh... isn't your shop awfully small for that many rooms?"

Himitsu chuckled, "Did I not tell you I was a sorceress? Please, come with me."

(OOC: Feel free to end the Hour. Kaini's going to all but pass out on the bed Himitsu shows him.)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Eriol's joints began to creak and move just shortly before the Dark Hour ended, the magical components that comprise them moving shortly before the rest of the body did. As the sky faded back to black from the green it had turned, Eriol pulled himself back upwards in a clear violation of how joints were supposed to work. The pools of blood from before had disappeared, Palette was once again sleeping in her bed, and Eriol was back to sweeping the floor. He did have to wonder why he'd suddenly fallen. Had his left foot joint broken? It had been a bit loose lately, but if that had been the case, he would have fallen forward. So why had he fallen backward like he had?

He sighed and returned back to sweeping. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. It was always around midnight that this happened, too... he had to wonder if something happened then that he didn't know about.