Reverse Tarot - entrance

Well, this individual certainly seemed to be sneezing a lot. Interesting. More so though was how willing they seemed to be to trust her immediately. The offer to help escape did not go unnoticed, and as such, Saori kept her pace slow enough that her target would be allowed to catch up. Not too close of course, but at least enough to facilitate conversation. This misplaced trust could be an incredibly valuable asset if she played her cards right. She walked with apparent purpose, though not fast enough that a brisk jog would not close the gap. She also refrained from turning her head too far over her shoulder when she eventually did address the other, opening the exchange once she felt they were at a suitable distance. "Your friends are in grave danger, if we hurry, we may be able to help them." Hopefully coming off as eager to help would enforce the idea that she was on their side for the time being. Obviously that was nothing more than an act, but all she really needed was for this person to follow her as far from help as possible until her master was ready to take care of things. @Ribbon

Running after the mystery person, Teddie was glad to see they weren’t going too fast. He did not have the condition for a long chase through a maze! Slowing down once he finally was somewhat close to them (but still a safe distance away!) he curiously eyed them over. They seemed to be covering most of their face, so no real sneak peeks for him. Aw. Considering the slightly odd outfit though, was that a persona costume? “H-huh? In danger?“ That was… alarming! That was bad!! Safety rules forgotten, he quickened his pace to walk next to them. Was that true? Ahh, he missed being able to smell! Then he’d at least be sorta able to know where everyone was! “How do you know? A-are they okay? -ACHOO— Who are you?“ There wasn’t any real suspicion behind the questions- moreso just concern. It could be a trap, of course! But he hadn’t been attacked yet, and he couldn’t really afford to doubt the new person if they were right. He’d never forgive himself if anyone got hurt! He was meant to be the healer here! Besides, his plan overall didn’t change. If they tried something weird, he’d teleport away! Foolproof! Or bear proof, at least. Looking around the maze, all he could see was more walls. “How do you know where we’re going? Are they close by?“ Ohh, he really wanted to go home. This entire place reeked of creepy! Also it reeked of allergies, and neither was making him feel better.

She couldn't help the proud smirk that came to her lips. They were quite the inquisitive one, weren't they? Good. A curious mind was a terrible thing to waste. Still, there were many questions now placed before her. She could only hope to answer them as clearly and concisely as possible. "You may call me Scribe," she began. That made sense as the first order of business she reasoned. After all, the first step toward trust was establishing a rapport, and what use was that without introductions? If the other wished to do the same, that was solely their prerogative. "But yes, they are in danger. The fog alone is oppressive enough, but the shadows here are much stronger as well, not to mention the presence nearby." She'd refrain from naming any names, but maintaining the colloquialisms the other was likely used to was also of import. Confusing them would only lead to distrust, or so she presumed. "I imagine the direct distance to them is quite short, though unless you have the ability to walk through walls, that method is not viable. That being said, I have gotten the chance to study this place quite a bit. The layout isn't random. There are clear patterns to it, and no path remains cut off from the others for long. Even as it changes, there's still a method." Yes, that was it, confidence enough to make it convincing, while still vague enough that there was still room to work with. That was the sweet spot she aimed for. All the while, she walked as she spoke, her unfaltering stride leading them through one turn after another, deeper and deeper into the spider's web.

When Teddie got his mystery friends name, he smiled. A codename, probably, but still. Getting a name was the first step! At the very least he could drop the mystery part of their title. Her title? Scribe seemed like a girl. Well, otherwise she could just tell him. “I’m Teddie! Or, um, Ursa. But my names Teddie!“ The codenames were all good for the chat, but he didn’t really get their purpose in real life. The others were using them and it made him feel like a spy, so it was cool, but he wasn’t going to introduce himself with that. Besides, the deity here already once stole his name and face before. What was Scribe gonna do to top that, commit identity theft harder? “Oh… Hmm, I s-“ He had to stop for a moment for another sneezing fit. “I see! Have you been here for long then? You’re not trapped too, are you?“ Scribe sounded like she knew a lot about this place. Hooray for finding a guide! But… to figure out a pattern to whole walls shifting…. That made it sound like she’d been in here forever. Was she trapped? To be fair, she didn’t seem too alarmed. Maybe she just explored here every other day then? …Geez, in that case, maybe she should find a hobby- Hey, wait, that was rude. Bad bear! Surely she had many other things to do in her life. She must just be smart! Besides temporarily stopped every so often to sneeze, Teddie stuck close by his new friend. She seemed confident in the direction she was going, so he’d happily follow! Hopefully they’d find the others before too long… Especially if they were in danger. Poor Nozo-chan... This had to be the worst first expedition anyone could go on. (edited)

"It's very nice to meet you, Teddie," she said pleasantly. She was beginning to feel bad about all of this now, they seemed too nice to be caught up in this little scheme. And the addition of their codename also made her hesitate a bit. Of course she recognized it from the chatroom. They had a child they had to return to when this was all over. It almost made her want to abandon the plan and lead them to safety. Almost. At the end of the day, Saori knew that Kagutsuchi was in her head. Even if he was currently preoccupied, she couldn't be certain that he wasn't paying attention. If he was, she didn't want to know what the consequences of letting her quarry escape would be. "No, I am not trapped, simply curious. I found my way to this place some time ago, and as a scholar, I saw it as my duty to document my findings. I have been making regular excursions in an attempt to study this place. Funny enough, in all my adventures, I had only ever crossed paths with one other person. That makes you the second." The best lies were those grounded in truth, and every statement that left her lips was nothing but truth. That didn't change the fact that a lie of omission was still a lie, but they didn't have to know her true objective tonight.

"Ehh? So did you awaken here? Who else have you met?" Maybe she should team up with them- going alone into any shadow domain was dangerous. Especially one where the walls were shifting!? That just seemed like asking for trouble. She must be pretty powerful if she could fend off the shadows here herself, but.... Either way she was getting a lecture once they met up with the others and got out of here. He didn't want to find her body hanging from a pole! As they walked, he stared up at the shadows overhead. It was... ominous, to say the least. Why anyone would willingly join the Shadow Operatives, he'd never know. Still, them existing saved everyone else a lot of having to do this exact thing, didn’t it? People like Scribe… Giving her a sad look, he hoped they could set things right soon. She was a scholar! So she could probably do whatever she wanted with her future. She shouldn’t have to spend in chasing after shadows. But she was here now- she deserved to be informed. “How much do you know about shadows and stuff? I can’t imagine that’s easy to figure out on your own.“ Not that he was particularly good at explaining, but he could just get her in contact with someone who was smart later. After they found everybody again! He did hope that'd be sooner rather then later.

"If by 'awaken', you are referring to the acquisition of a Persona, then indeed." The exact details of said awakening were better left unspoken however, for both of their sakes. "On one of my earlier jaunts, I encountered a man calling himself 'Viper'. The meeting was quite brief, and we only exchanged a few words before going our separate ways. Or I suppose it would be more accurate to say Viper chose to take his leave." It was quite the awkward meeting all things considered. She would've liked to not bring it up at all, but claiming that Teddie was the first person she'd met could only lead to complications if they decided to cross-reference their stories later. Better to be up front regarding that little detail. As Saori led the other, she rarely slowed down, only doing so occasionally at crossroads and forks to give the impression that she was attempting to read the path ahead. In truth, she was the one manipulating it just beyond sight in the fog, but keeping up appearances was vital here. "You assume correctly, it was not easy at all. I know enough. Knowledge of psychological principles has given me the indication that they're beings formed of subconscious cognition, and that likely means that this place could be equivocated to the collective unconscious. I also understand that shadows are nigh impossible for ordinary humans to combat without use of a Persona, so I would say my 'awakening' as you called it was quite fortuitous." It was a classic rhetorical tactic, use verbose terminology to give the indication that you were quite knowledgeable on whatever subject you were talking about, regardless of your actual basis of information. Despite her not knowing much more than what she'd stated already, hopefully she could give off the impression that she'd studied them quite extensively.

So she awakened all on her own?! Wow! Ultra impressive. “…Ahh! Viper! He’s in my team!!“ Wow, ultra unlucky. That’s the only other person she’d seen here? At least she was still alive. A low bar to clear, but a bar nonetheless. ....Even if he did leave her alone here apparently afterwards. Who leaves a new persona user on their own to?- Whatever, it happened. Nothing to do about that now. “He’s… a little grumpy. Don’t take anything he might’ve said to heart.“ Oh, she kind of hoped they’d find any of the others before they met up with Adachi. She didn’t want him to scare the new girl! It’d explain why she was going in here alone, at least. If Adachi was the only person he’d met back in the day, he probably wouldn’t be too excited about teammates either. Big words thrown at her aside, Teddie knew enough about the topic to at least follow mostly along with what she was getting at here. Which were… The very very basics. She seemed quite proud of it though, so she certainly wasn’t going to rain on her parade- even if calling it ‘enough’ was debatable. . It was still pretty impressive to figure out on your own anyhow. As long as she knew more about the way then about the shadows, that’d be okay. He happily nodded along- discouraging her now wouldn’t help either of them. “What’s your- CHOO- what's your Persona like? Does it have any navigation powers?“ She appeared to be leading him herself, but she had found him basically immediately! So maybe she had a little passively? That’d be reassuring. (edited)

"On the contrary, he hardly said a word to me. Were merely introduced ourselves and before I knew it, he was on his way." It was rather disappointing. She was hoping to try and pick his brain for more information, but it simply wasn't fated to be. Though if he was as grumpy as the other said, perhaps it was for the best. Questions regarding her abilities were another topic entirely. If she could help it, Saori would rather not summon it in front of her new traveling partner. It was, frankly, a horrid thing to behold. She was certain they wouldn't want to see it. But what could she get away with sharing? Not much, likely, though she also didn't know much. "Navigation? I wasn't aware they could have such abilities. Mine does not, unfortunately. During my first few treks, I attempted to draw maps of the outer layers, but the frequency of the shifting corridors made that quite difficult. I mostly navigate based on calculation at this point." Another lie at the very end. Navigation was hardly an issue for her with the gifts granted by her patron. What need was there for a map when you forged the path yourself after all? "My Persona's strengths lie in avoiding a fair fight. Mostly, I just cause shadows to flee without having to destroy them. I understand this may reflect on me as cowardly, but if I were truly craven, I would not have forged this deep to begin with."

"Mm, that sounds about right... In that case, I'm sorry he left you behind like that." Adachi... Wahh. Honestly, at that rate, he might've just gone straight home already- if the maze hadn't trapped him, that was. It sounded like an Adachi-ey thing to do. So no navigation. That was... too bad. He really hoped her calculations were right in that case. For now, he focused on the latter half of how she described her persona. Avoiding fights... That would explain why they hadn't run into any shadows here. Huh! Neat. "Don't say that! It sounds like a really useful skill to have, you know? Especially- ACHOO- on your own! Almost no one can cover all elements by themselves, so it's important to know when to stay out of fights. If you ask me, knowing when to run can actually be more important then knowing how to fight! I've got a similar skill, kinda? But I can only teleport away from trouble- avoiding being in trouble in the first place is just an improved version of that, hehe.~ You should be proud of yourself." He hoped that sounded as encouraging to her as it did in his head. A Persona was a part of you! Being ashamed of it was no good. No one should have to worry about excuses for their Persona's skills. He wasn't lying either- that did sound like an incredibly good ability to have access to. It at least would've prevented the shadow attack that got them all split up here. "I can fight if we really need to! But, uhm- avoiding them definitely sounds better." He did not want to take on any shadows this deep in while he had a case of the sneezies and with an inexperienced fighter.

She made a note of what they said. The fact that Teddie could teleport out of danger was crucial information. Knowing this placed an even greater emphasis on building a line of trust. After all, she had no way of stopping them, barring a last resort panic on her quarry to prevent escape, but even that would not be a permanent solution. However, Saori was almost tripped up by that next statement. 'You should be proud of yourself.' Gosh, when was the last time she was told that? Probably high school, it seemed like something She would say. Great, now this nostalgic melancholy was clouding her mind. Sympathy wasn't something she should be focusing on, and she was beginning to have second thoughts about this. It had been different when she was digging up dirt on corrupt officials. Teddie obviously wasn't a bad person, the way they were so blindly supportive. Perhaps a little naïve, but certainly not bad. "I suppose it is quite useful, isn't it? After all, without it, I would never have made it this far." Perhaps that statement would be true if she wasn't able to simply dismiss shadows at will. She could at least see the merit from an outside perspective. "Oh, make no mistake, I can fight if necessary as well. I would prefer it not come to that however." For more than one reason. The appearance alone was ghastly enough, but the powers it possessed may be a tad too convenient of a connection back to her master. Furthermore, the brandishing of her Persona in a situation like this would have likely meant that she was compromised, and would be fighting against other users. Perhaps against a single opponent she would fancy her odds, but against a full team? It seemed unlikely, unless she was exceedingly lucky.

Good! She agreed with him. Score one for the bear! Hopefully she’d remember that next time. She sounded very cool about it, but he felt like she just liked to act that way. At least she wasn’t being negative anymore! “Mmmmhm… Especially if he's- I mean- it’d be best to conserve our energy anyhow!“ It didn’t take a genius to guess the voice they heard ring out earlier. If he was out and about… Well, best to save as much as they could for him. ….Him….. Teddie was very glad he hadn’t shown up to them, but… That just meant he was busy elsewhere, didn’t it?… Scribe had been right there- the rest was in danger. His face fell thinking about it. They still hadn’t run across any of the others and who knows how they were faring at this point. Naoya-san could heal, right? Maybe? He had access to multiple persona’s? Hopefully he was making sure everyone was okay, but… It was best to prepare for a worst case having-to-fight/flee-out-of-here scenario. No wasting resources on regular shadows! “Do you have any idea how long it could take to find the others?… Otherwise it might be better to regroup with- Oh! There’s another group here, I should’ve mentioned that. They should be in another part of this place, though! But, uh, they have someone who can navigate! So if-“ COULD THE SNEEZES STOP! AHHH! After a few seconds of another sneezing fit, he could continue. “So if it’d be faster, we might be able to find them and ask if they can locate everyone?“ That was a pretty sound plan! Maybe? His head was full of fuzz and not great at planning- but he should try his best here. He came along to help! Sneezing or not, he should try to be smart here! Truthfully, he also kind of didn’t love this endless maze and wanted an excuse to leave. It was disorienting and knowing what was walking around in here- kind of terrifying too. Best not think of it too hard.

Hm... this was turning out to be quite the situation she had found herself in. There was more than one way to proceed here, but nothing seemed to be very viable at the time. She couldn't just walk forever after all, eventually her companion would begin to get suspicious. Something would have to happen eventually. Leading them back to their allies would not work, not only would that invalidate the purpose of splitting them off, but it would also be unveiling herself to all, and thus she'd lose her advantage. The option of placing shadows in their way was also there, and could be a means of not only delaying them, but also tiring them out. However, that would also mean she would have to "fight" as well, and if she overdid it, Teddie may just leave on their own volition. Perhaps she'd mull it over a bit while she attempted to gather more information. "Unfortunately I can't say for certain how long it will be. Whatever presence decided to show it's face today, it seems quite intent on making it's labyrinths even more winding." Hopefully that explanation would do for now. Again, it wasn't viable long-term, but it should be sufficient for the time-being. "I see, so you had the foresight to break down into smaller groups. Smart. A larger group would have been much more conspicuous. Though, perhaps it wouldn't have made a difference. You mentioned this navigation ability before, if I may, how exactly does it work? Can they track individual people?" It was something she was wholly unaware of, so it would be in her favor to learn more about it, and whether or not it would prove problematic for her. God, she knew that her patron had a flair for the dramatic, but a sense of professionalism would really help move things along right now.