TDM: AUGUST 2023

[citycenter]

TEST DRIVE MEME

A TRAIN COMES INTO THE STATION. You wake up on a train. Your phone is buzzing. It's in your pocket, in your hand, on the seat next to you. It's a normal phone, and you're on a normal train car. One of the lights flickers, a little further down. The world is very quiet. It feels like you're right where you're meant to be. On the phone's surface is a white screen and the words— WELCOME TO THE CITY. BEGIN ORIENTATION? ▶ YES ▶ NO Please take a moment to complete your orientation. Once you're finished, the subway doors slide open to let you out onto the train platform. To your right, the platform continues on and eventually ends; to the left is a set of stairs that will lead you up into the station itself. The platform is quiet, clean, empty—there's no one else around, and the only sounds you can hear are your own footsteps, your own breaths, and the occasional faraway sound of a creaking pipe or rush of air. The train you disembarked will stay there as long as you do, its doors still open, until you finally decide to venture up into this new locale. As you make your way up the stairs to your left, you find yourself in the belly of City Hall station. The station is large, a sprawling underground mini-metropolis of corridors and storefronts. Here, you may find others like you, freshly-arrived city residents from other realms (or even your own). There is also a subway map, which will give you an idea of the layout of the neighborhood, and ticketing machines, which can currently only be used to buy tickets to a handful of stations located on lines 1, 2, and 9. If you're hungry or in need of any kind of supplies, there are plenty of storefronts inside the subway station as well—snack stands, convenience stores, restaurants, clothing stores, a pharmacy, and a variety of empty shops that may or may not have ever been in use. Everything is unlocked, and you can take whatever you need. Characters may stay on the train platform indefinitely, and may re-board and re-disembark from the subway as many times as they like, but the train will not depart nor will the doors close. Once they go up the stairs into the train station, they may hear the train doors closing and the train departing. Another train will not arrive, no matter how long the character waits. Only once they come up the stairs into the station itself may characters encounter their fellow newly-arrived residents and take advantage of what the city has to offer. JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD. The station is located in the city center. It has three major exits that lead to areas of interest in the district, but there are several other smaller exits that lead in other directions around the neighborhood. You are welcome to use any of them, but may find the north, southwest, and east exits to be the most welcoming. TO THE NORTH The northern entrance to the station leads up into the sunlight and puts you out in a brickwork plaza. There's a modest building in front of you, three or four stories of stone with a welcoming facade. There's a sign above the entryway—it says City Hall. You may be tempted to explore, if you're interested in learning more about the city and how it functions, but prepare to find yourself disappointed—the folders in the records rooms are full of empty, blank sheets of paper, and the logbooks and balance sheets are similarly devoid of information. Immediately to the southwest of City Hall, you will find a small building that houses the tourist information kiosk. It looks welcoming, with an inviting glass facade and a sign above the entryway announcing it as the "TOURIST CENTER." It's a humble building with a receptionist's desk on the back wall opposite the entrance, empty magazine shelves lining the side walls, and a few spinning brochure racks full of blank pamphlets. Anyone is welcome to peruse the tourist literature, though they won't offer much information, being primarily filled with pictures of the surrounding area—City Hall, the park, a statue garden, and the surprisingly heavily-featured cemetery. There are a few sentences sprinkled throughout about basic offerings of the city, such as apartment complexes and office buildings, as well as a few maps with the same limited scope as the larger version on the wall behind the receptionist's desk. The main feature of the tourist center is the interactive kiosk installed dead in the center, right in the middle of a few rows of uncomfortable chairs that fill the small room. It's noticeably in the way of any would-be foot traffic through the tourist center, and something about the technology seems a little more modern than the computer behind the desk or the landline phone on the wall. The kiosk is a tall silver rectangle, about average adult height, and the upper half is a screen welcoming visitors to touch it to activate the kiosk. If you were to touch it, the screen would come to life with simple dialogue inviting visitors to ask it their questions. However, residents should note that the kiosk is only programmed to assist with exploration within the available areas of the city. It may not be able to answer every question, and tampering with the kiosk may result in unreliable or inaccurate answers! TO THE SOUTHWEST The western exit of the station takes you up into a city park, lush and green with a very light fog still hanging about the trees. There are lampposts on the walkways and benches where you could rest, and plenty of flora, although you can neither see nor hear any signs of animal life. You walk the paths that meander idly through the verdant grass and you feel a sense of peace, some of your unease about this place easing into a pleasant calm. The air smells fresh, like it's recently rained, and you'll find the grass ever so slightly damp should you decide to take a seat. As you make your way deeper into the park, the trees grow denser and the smell of soil and plant life grows stronger. This is the older part of the park, very nearly a forest, with ivy climbing the trunks of the trees and plants and shrubs growing riotously around their bases. As you turn a corner, you find yourself first in the statue garden, although the statues are harder to see now, choked as they are with ivy. There are many statues, some partially obscured, some fully—very few of them still stand free of the vines and clinging roots. (It doesn't feel quite as peaceful here.) If a statue's face looks a little bit familiar, you may not want to look at it too long. Continue down the path and you will find yourself in a graveyard, one that seems centuries old. Most of the headstones are worn away by time and covered in moss, rendering them impossible to read. The few that are free of moss are blank, or bear only suggestions of names too faint to be understood. (Was that the name of—no, it couldn't have been. Could it?) Many of the headstones stand at an angle or are toppled over completely, having been subjected to either strong winds or the roots of the trees that grow up from some of the graves, spreading branches toward the sky. TO THE EAST The final exit of the station, to the east, puts you out on a quiet surface street. Are you hungry? Or are you paralyzed by choice? There are plenty of restaurants, offering options of almost any food you can imagine. You could try a convenience store—it's well stocked, and the items there seem free for the taking. How about a restaurant? There's no one to take your order, but when you look in the kitchen, there's something on the stove, and it's just what you've been craving. Imagine that. A few blocks down, you come in through the lobby of a tall building and find yourself in a corporate office. The fluorescent lights are steady and unforgiving, and the cubicles and offices are empty. There are a few pieces of paper on desks, a few folders left in organizers, but everything is perfectly blank. Despite how empty and quiet the office is, it nonetheless gives you the feeling that just a few minutes ago, this place was bustling with workers going about their daily business. You enter another building and find yourself in the lobby of an apartment complex—finally, a place to rest. The first door you try opens easily into a completely empty living room, freshly vacuumed but without a single piece of furniture. It's a nice apartment, quiet, but with a little too much echo for your taste, maybe. Still, and perhaps oddly, you have no trouble envisioning what life here would be like. The second door you open leads to an apartment that feels lived-in. Why does it feel lived-in? It's fully furnished with items that seem to go together perfectly, true, but the feeling is more than that—the room feels like someone was just here, maybe standing right in the kitchen only moments before you swung the door open. The air is a perfectly comfortable temperature, and it somehow smells like home despite that you've never once set foot here before. The refrigerator is stocked, and the cabinets are full of spices and flatware and kitchen utensils. As you look around the living room, you find that there are pictures in frames on the walls and some of the flat surfaces—a seascape, a field, a shot of a city park bench. In each of the photos there's something just slightly wrong with the angle, as though the photographer were aiming for a subject that can no longer be seen. Characters are welcome to explore the district around the City Hall subway station to their heart's content. The City Hall building itself contains several floors of offices and file rooms, but none of them contain any particularly interesting information. Nonetheless, characters may wish to team up with other newcomers and try to find some hints about the nature of the city. They can also spend a while in the park, the statue garden, or the graveyard. In the blocks surrounding the station there are plenty of options for food and housing, as well as office buildings, storefronts, and alleyways to look around. There are no workers in any of the buildings, and there does not seem to be an honor system for payment, nor any consequences for taking food from the stores or setting up camp in an apartment or office building. JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM. Have you ever visited the ice cream parlor located in District 2? It's a pretty quirky little joint! When you walk in, what you'll likely notice first is the colors. Everything is bright, almost oversaturated—the pink of the leather seats, the teal of the walls, the red of the menu sign hanging over the counter. By all rights it seems like these colors shouldn't go together, but somehow they do, or maybe that's just because being in an ice cream parlor puts you in a good mood. It smells like waffle cones, and overhead, there's music pumping through the speakers at just the right volume, providing some nice background noise to your decision-making process. Wait, music? There's a jukebox at the far end of the shop, which seems to be where the music is being chosen. As you head over, the song comes to an end and the jukebox machinery shuffles through its options before landing on a new one. The song sounds sort of familiar, doesn't it? And the longer you listen, the more the lyrics really seem to speak to you. It costs money to pick your own song, so if you happen to have some coins on you—or if you're really, really determined—you can choose the next round of tunes. When you're done at the jukebox, you can go check out the serving area of the shop. Behind the counter you can see milkshake mixers and waffle cone makers; there are ice cream cakes in the freezers that line the wall; and when you approach the main counter you can see the tubs of ice cream in almost any flavor you can imagine. Pick a flavor, whichever one's your favorite! Do you want it in a cone or in a bowl? There are regular cones and waffle cones, and all kinds of toppings—sprinkles, syrups, gummy candy, mini marshmallows. Decorate your ice cream however you want, the sky's the limit when it comes to choices! You can even come back for seconds if you want, or thirds. Who's going to say anything about it, after all? But the more of your ice cream you eat, the more you start to feel… strange. Maybe you're starting to get angry, or sad, or giddy—maybe you feel romantic, or feel like you want to tell a secret to a stranger, and you're not really sure why. You also can't quite seem to stop eating your ice cream, and the more you eat, the less worried you feel about whatever's happening to your emotions. After all, why be concerned about that when you have something so delicious in front of you? Flavor Effect Strawberry You find yourself compelled to seek out strangers and tell them a hidden truth about yourself Rocky Road You find yourself compelled to seek out strangers and convince them of some egregious lie Vanilla You are overwhelmed by a sense of total calm, and can only speak in aphorisms and platitudes Rainbow Sherbert You are overwhelmed by amorous feelings towards whoever is near you and try to cuddle or kiss them Chocolate You feel suddenly morose about something in your past and cannot stop crying until someone consoles you Bubblegum You become uncontrollably giggly and giddy, and can only speak in rhyme Caramel Ribbon You become angry and perhaps even violent, trying to attack anyone who comes near Mint Chocolate Chip You suddenly have a common but exaggerated phobia (for example, a fear of heights where the step down off the curb is too much) When characters first enter the ice cream parlor, they may notice that there's music playing overhead! That's from the jukebox, and the lyrics of the song may sound like they're particularly apt for a character's circumstances. Players are welcome to choose their own jukebox songs for their characters—it doesn't need to have appeared in canon, but characters from modern times are welcome to recognize the music being played. (Players can also feel free not to pick a real song at all, and instead just describe the overall sound of the song and content of the lyrics!) This is an ice cream parlor, so of course there's also ice cream to be had. Characters can serve themselves whatever flavor combination they want, but shortly thereafter will find themselves suffering certain emotional effects depending on what flavors they chose. These emotional effects, shown above, will last for roughly an hour before slowly dissipating, and their intensity depends on how much ice cream the character ate and whether they were able to recognize what was happening and stop eating. Not every flavor has an emotional effect, so players can also choose to have their character eat a normal scoop and go about their day. JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS WILDCARD. The city is by no means small, and there are plenty of things for you to see. There's no rush in exploring, so feel free to take your time looking around and peering into various nooks and crannies and alleyways—and don't worry, you're not very likely to find anything peering back. If none of the above prompts appeal, feel free to check out the Locations and Maps pages and write your own freestyle prompt using one or many of the available locations. JUMP TO TOP ↑

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Ken Amada | Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

[whatsamada]

1. Graveyard

[Ken wasn't a danger to exploring strange and unusual places. If he had to explore the TV world and Tartarus, he could do it again here. Despite his determination to find some answers, all he was left with were nothing but blank pages and wrong answers. It was enough to make him feel frustrated when he had no clues about this strange place. With a sigh, he hoped that taking a walk around the park would do him some good.

And yet, as he continued further, he found himself looking at a graveyard. For a moment, he hesitated as he looked at some of the tombstones. However, there was one that seemed to scream something unusual...]

Wait, is that...?

[Was it his imagination or was it the name of someone who he knew?]

2. Ice cream parlor

[Why was there an ice cream store in the middle of an empty city? Ken really didn't know but he knew better than to try anything from a strange and mysterious place. However, he couldn't deny that hearing a certain song made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

How did this place know a song that his leader used to listen to? He didn't know but he couldn't help but look around the area.]

Excuse me, I'm not the only one who hears this song, right?

[He's not going crazy, was he?]

3. Ice cream!!

[Okay, Ken had to admit, he was starting to get hungry. After spending the day searching around the city and finding nothing, he found himself back at the parlor wanting to try something. He knew better than to try and eat something but it seemed that he'll have to risk it unless he wants to starve.

Taking the risk, he decided to go for something normal. Chocolate ice cream seemed okay, right? Of course, he should have known better as he took the first bite, he found himself suddenly crying. He didn't know why but the more he stared at the ice cream, the more tears coming down his face.

Now, why was he crying? He didn't know but he was sitting somewhere in the corner crying his eyes out somewhere.]

4. Wildcard

[Surprise me!]

2

[icanfixer]

[ by the wings....... a Youth. she loves youths. don kicks her feet beneath a booth. ]

Nay, I do as well! It is not to my tastes, unlike the ice cream here, but it has a most danceable feel to it.

[whatsamada]

So you can hear it.

[It wasn't just him imagining hearing a song that his leader used to listen to. With a sigh, he places his hand on his face.]

This place is getting weirder and weirder by the minute. How did they know that I know this song...?

[icanfixer]

That, I do not know. But it is not the first time such a thing has happened!

[ ... in a way. ]

Just a few weeks hence, 'twas a case of the bank in this city containing items of great import to those who owned the box -- I did not look into mine, for I had seen the effects on others and did not care for what lie behind me so long as the future is ahead, but many of my friends were more curious. This is rather harmless, comparatively!

[ to her, anyway. it'll be great for karaoke... ]

[whatsamada]

I'm not so sure, I kind worry what they want from messing around with people.

[Especially when he had no information to go off on. All he could do was look downward and mumble to himself.]

Maybe I'm overthinking this...

2 but wildcard flavored

[petsthedog]

[Two months in, and Shinjiro is...adjusting is the wrong word, but he is slowly growing less reluctant to explore his surroundings. Especially since he's happened to bond with a couple of people against his better judgment, and since he's been helping Don look for Gregor since his disappearance ...

Well, he at least figures he can take a look in the damn ice cream shop. If it's anything like the bank, he might have to deal with something stupid, but --

...

He doesn't even really hear the song. He knows that face, and suddenly his heart is racing an olympic marathon in his chest. That has to be him, doesn't it? It can't possibly be a coincidental resemblance. But if it's true...then it's been years, hasn't it? Just like that other person had said about their own death, and their friends coming from a time well after they were in the ground and being able to tell them about it. He'd thought the most awkward thing that could happen to him would be Akihiko showing up and crying over him, but this ...

His throat feels terribly dry, and suddenly all he wants is to turn around and flee before the kid sees him, but he's rooted to the spot. It's a good thing his hands are in his pockets, so he doesn't have to try to keep them from shaking.]

...Amada?

[whatsamada]

[The more that Ken thought about it, the more he wondered just what this city was doing. There was no way that they played this song by pure accident, they had to have known what kind of world he was from. Were they playing it because he was here in the parlor or was it some kind of trick? He didn't know but he really couldn't be overthinking it.

And yet, could anyone blame him?

Without his teammates to help him, he was all on his own here. While there were others in the same predicament as him, it felt a little awkward asking them for help when they had their own issues. Not when he knew that he could take care of himself just fine. However, in the midst of his own thoughts, he heard a voice. He could have sworn that he was hearing things. With the song playing in the background, it would be surprising that his own mind was tricking him.

But when he looked up? His face suddenly turned white. Not way, he thought, it couldn't be...]

Aragaki....san?

[What was he doing here? He shouldn't even be here! ...Should he?]

[petsthedog]

[Well then.

Shinjiro decides, then and there, that his old theory about this being some kind of purgatory or afterlife can go fuck itself. He'd already had his doubts at this point, considering the presence of immortals and demons from hell and such, but much more importantly, he doesn't want it to be true anymore. Not if Amada's here.

The trouble is, even with that decided in the privacy of his own mind, he truly has no idea what to say to him. When he'd been bleeding out in that alley, he'd gotten out everything he wanted the kid to hear from him, and he was supposed to be out of the kid's life, giving him some god damn closure. That was about the only thing in his life he'd felt he'd done right, and yet here he is now, face to face with the kid whose life he ruined, now apparently older. There's a part of Shinjiro that wants to know how he's been, if the group succeeded in stopping the Dark Hour, what he's doing with his life now, but it's not as though he has the right to any of that information. He's nothing more than a phantom, a dead man walking beyond his expiration date, and he should be firmly in Amada's rearview by now.

He still wants to run, and maybe the kid would think he just imagined it, a trick of the light, manifestation of anxiety in this strange abandoned city that is a little too reminiscent of the emptiness of the Dark Hour.]

Guess it'd be bad taste to say you look like you've seen a ghost, huh.

[...]

[Well, he hadn't anticipated the first thing to come out of his mouth to this kid to be that stupid, but at least now that he's gone and embarrassed himself they can get on with this and hopefully Shinjiro can steer him toward someone responsible enough to watch his back and then yeet himself back OUT of his life, like he belongs. It's fine. He's so fine.]

[whatsamada]

[Ken didn't hear what Shinjiro said at first. All he could do was stare at him as he wondered what this city was trying to do. Was this a figment of his imagination or was he truly here. As he continued to stare, he didn't know what to say. There were so many words he wanted to speak but he just couldn't. Not when the dead had somehow risen from their grave.

Unconsciously, he found himself getting up from the table and walking toward him. Face still pale as he felt a cold sweat. In the back of his mind, he wanted to say that Shinjiro wasn't here. His mind was playing tricks on him and yet, a part of him desperately wanted to believe that he was truly here.

It wasn't until that Ken got closer that he finally said something.]

Is...Is that really all you have to say when you're here? H-How am I supposed to react?

[He said in a low whisper as if he still couldn't believe what he was seeing. And yet, he could feel his eyes starting to swell up. He really couldn't be here, he just couldn't. Was this city just playing on his emotions and haunting him? Or were they giving him another chance to make amends with his teammate? And if that means the dead could also be here, what does that imply?

He didn't know but he couldn't think about it for long. Not when he found himself crying. Mumbling to himself, he wiped away the corner of his tears.]

This is so embarrassing...

[So much for trying to appear mature for his age, right?]

1.

[rainswords]

[ As a permanent feature of the city, the cemetery has more than once been explored. Certainly, he isn't the only person curious enough to visit the somber location. Aged statues are what greet the graveyard's guests first, most trapped under layers of overgrowth. Few have been disturbed after who knows how many countless years of existence. While he is slightly tempted to free them from the vines, there is something eerie about them, he just can't pinpoint what it is exactly.

Despite the uncanniness, he still makes the choice to pay the park a visit, he just finds himself at the cemetery once more. Walking further and past the statue garden he gets the view of the graves.

Weathered headstones dot the landscape, aged to the point that most names inscribed are practically indiscernible. More than once he has done a doubletake, catching sight of the few partially legible names. Some appear familiar but on closer inspection — he was still unable to clearly rule out what he read. Few letters missing or half the name missing... It's all a coincidence, right?

But the cemetery is one of the few places with some form of information — even if it doesn't help him further gain knowledge of this place. He expects to find himself alone and yet peering from behind an overgrown tree he sees someone at a distance.

He'll approach slowly — hopefully, they hear his steps. ] Did you find anything there?

[whatsamada]

[Being in a strange and creepy place wasn't anything new. He had seen his fair share of people in coffins and having mysterious creatures attack him at the dead of night. He wasn't sure if that's why he kept walking further into the park as its nature somewhat reminded him of the TV world and Tartarus.

As he walked closer to the tombstone, he wondered if he was creaking any sacred rules of this world. He knew better than to mess around with graves and yet, he couldn't deny looking at its name. While he could vague read some of its characters, he wondered if he was imagining everything.

This city was getting weirder by the minute.]

No, not really. I thought I just saw something but I think it was my imagination playing tricks on me.

[He said as he heard someone nearby. Of course, he wasn't the only one here. There were plenty of others who were trapped just like him. He just didn't expect to see someone else in the cemetery.]

3 (the worse justice boy is coming to bother the little dude)

[absurdgrudge]

[Goro Akechi is not what one would call a saint. He's not even what one would call a decent guy. Most people with whom he's interacted with as his genuine self would, charitably, term him a gigantic asshole.

Still, though, as he passes by the ice cream parlor doing his typical rounds of searching for an escape, information, or just a way to stave off the tedium of this banal utopia, even he is not so heartless as to leave a fucking middle schooler who's bawling his eyes out all alone. The sight actually messes with a very specific set of issues for him!

Sucking up his pride, he strides up to Ken with loudly telegraphed steps, and then in the softest tone he can manage (Which is impressively soft! He's a good actor.)...]

Hey. [Shit, this is awkward.] Do you want to talk about it?

It's all good!

[whatsamada]

[This is what Ken gets for eating something from this world. Of course they would try to do something to trick him. And yet, he was given no other options! As he kept on crying, he didn't stop why he was feeling this way. Why was he suddenly overcome with guilt?

He was sure that he didn't do anything recently that made him feel this way. But he couldn't think about it for long as he kept on crying for no real reason.]

I-I think so...? I don't know, why am I crying...?

[And just like that, he felt his eyes staring to swell up as he started crying even more.]

[absurdgrudge]

[Goro can feel his lips twitch downwards, but he doesn't let the frown form on his face as he takes a seat next to Ken. It really is so easy to project his own experiences onto this stranger, and Goro is already the sentimental sort.]

It's a terrible situation. Frankly, more people probably want to be bawling their eyes out, but nobody wants to be that honest with themselves.

[Tentatively, he's going to reach a hand for Ken's shoulder, slowly and carefully. As if he's reaching out to an open flame, or a priceless vase. Maybe one of those aquarium exhibits where you can pet the fish.]

That's just a guess, of course. Whatever your reason turns out to be, you don't have to wait this out alone.

[whatsamada]

[This is so embarrassing. While Ken knew he was just a kid and that there was no shame in letting his feelings out, it was another to show it in front of a stranger. And yet, the more he wiped away his tears, the more they keep coming down.]

...That's really kind of you, I just...

[He said as he kept on sniffling.]

I don't know why, is it normal to be crying like this over here?

1 - it's thriller night!

[hardestbattle]

[Senua most certainly does not enjoy wandering in, around, or near, the graveyard. Out of everywhere around the city, this one felt the most restless to her. The most wrong. But it was also because of that that she felt the need to look around.

Even if doing so made her skin shudder. She's made it a habit to continously wear her blue body paint as a result. It made her feel stronger and more hidden than what she really viewed herself to be.

A comfortable known, in an uncomfortable unknown.

All that aside, Senua notices the look that flashes on the face of the young man she was walking past. The Pict stopped in midstep.]

...You noticed it.

Let's do the thriller dance!

[whatsamada]

[As Ken heard someone nearby, he gave a small sigh. He wasn't surprised to hear that there was someone else coming into the cemetery. However, it also greatly sadden him to know that there were others who might have frequently come to this place.]

What do you mean I noticed it?

[The names on the tombstones? Was she seeing the same name that he was...?]

🧟‍♂️ Darkness falls across the land~! 👻

[hardestbattle]

The etchings on the stone.

[Shed thought herself to have been the only one to see them. Names, familial emblems. Senua was uses to that. Seeing things others couldn't; hearing things others couldn't.

The voice chatted amongst themselves. Echoing her thoughts.]

...You see a name on it. One you think you might have known.

[She said it cautiously, slowly, in a semi-low tone. Most of the time she also keeps what she sees and experiences to herself.

But he saw it, right?]

Because it's thriller! Thriller night~!

[whatsamada]

[There was a moment of hesitation. He didn't want to admit it but indeed, he did see a certain name on the tombstone. With a mumble or two, he looked the other way before responding.]

Yes, you're right, it is someone that I had known.

[Which he didn't want to think about and especially as it served as a reminder of what he did 2 years ago.]

What about you? I'm guessing you seen some names you know too?

3

[miyagimagic]

[ It's not like Daniel hasn't come across kids in this place and instantly worried about them. It's just what happens when half the teenagers in the city are just about the same age as your actual kids back home and your paternal instinct kicks in.

But usually those kids aren't even doing anything that warrants worry. Nothing other than being on their own in a strange city like this.

Ken, on the other hand? Just sitting there by himself and crying? It makes absolutely every single alarm bell go off in Daniel's head, and he's already making his way over towards the boy before he even consciously decides to do so - running off sheer instinct and worry.

It shows, too, if not just in the way Daniel's eyebrows draw together into a concerned frown when he stops in front of where the kid is sitting. ]

Hey. [ He tries to keep his voice gentle, not wanting to further startle Ken, especially if he's already this upset. Daniel even leans down a little to be on a more even level with the sitting form. ] .. is something wrong? Do you want to talk?

[whatsamada]

[The moment he heard someone coming by, Ken found himself crying even more. There was nothing wrong with showing his emotions, there really wasn't! And yet, he still couldn't help but feel like the kid that he was as he didn't really know what was going on.

For all he cried, he didn't know why this was happening to him.]

I-I don't know, I just...I just ate something and then I suddenly started feeling really bad!

[He said quickly before wiping the tears away. It was odd, he never really cried that much before. The last time he did was 2 years ago and...]

Is this supposed to happen? W-Why am I...?

[miyagimagic]

.. no, it's not supposed to happen.

[ Unless someone is spiking the food with something now - which wouldn't be a total surprise to Daniel, but it is very concerning. It's why he opts to not linger on that thought, and instead try to focus his efforts on the boy in front of him right now. ]

But it's going to be okay, alright? I'll help you. [ Even if he doesn't know what exactly is going on, or how to stop it.

But the least he can do is stick by a kid's side when said kid is obviously distressed. Which is why Daniel is taking a seat next to Ken, the concern still very apparent on his face. ]

Are you just emotionally feeling bad, or does anything physically hurt too? [ Because in case of the latter, he might have to drag him to a doctor. Or get a doctor to come here. ]

1

[fullgauntlet]

[Luckily Izuku seems to be happening by when he sees someone lingering around the graveyard. It isn't the best place to be lingering around and Izuku's already seen how this graveyard can play tricks on people. It's never...great.]

Ah- Eh... Excuse me? Are you alright?

[He'll approach carefully! Not wanting to spook someone!]

[whatsamada]

[It was a good thing that Ken just came out of fighting a bunch of other people. Otherwise, he wouldn't have noticed Izuku coming from behind. With a sigh, he gave a nod.]

Yes, I think so. Just...I think I saw something I wasn't supposed to.

[How was he supposed to react to seeing the name of a dead teammate on a tombstone?]

[fullgauntlet]

[Izuku nods and looks sympathetic.]

To be honest that doesn't surprise me. This place has a way of playing tricks on our eyes. What we see isn't always real.

[So what he saw on the gravestones might not even be true...]