wipingallout

So if he's not wrong...

"You know what's funny about that?"

Takuto turns to her, smiling almost bitterly at the way she explains herself. "We don't have anyone like that here."

"We don't have professions. We don't have a way of life. We live in an anarchy devoid of balance. It's simply an echo chamber for everyone else who are trapped in their pain."

"I think that's not entirely true, either," Hamuko shrugged, fidgeting and tapping her heel against the dirt in thought.

"A lot of us bounce off of each other pretty violently, that part is true. But I think there are those of us around here who can find solace in each other. Those of us who... needed someone that actually understands what the other person might've been through. Or at least come close to understanding."

She's thinking of SEES... how much it mattered after ten years to finally have others that could actually see the Dark Hour. To finally know she wasn't hallucinating or crazy. How her doctors before then were... unable to help.

"There's people that are at different stages of their lives, too. Who've gone through more of their pain and know the journey. Like Phoenix. And there's those who're younger, who need the help and understanding of people who have been through anything similar, like Wolf and Falcon... we were able to be there for them, and help them through the jaws of their painful pasts and they're moving forward, now. It's not hopeless."

Something in the doctor's expression softens at her explanation, remembering the days of how it all had started out before he found himself living with Morning and Kuon. They were a strange bunch, one who's situation was something he found himself being hopeless in and in the other where she called herself heartless.

...he needed to do something for them both.

"I did see the broadcast after reading about the network post," He admits- finding himself growing numb for people he had never even quite met aside from the younger Wolf- his heart grappling at the violent sighting of their shadow. "It's remarkable that all of you jumped forward to help them in their obvious time of need and from what I have read- they could end up being caught in a cycle of death if you weren't careful."

"It just...makes me wonder to what extent were they pushed to reach that stage. Was it fright? An epiphany? Radacalization? Or a culmination of everything and if that is so- what about those who don't have a visible shadow or a persona but are still hurting?"

"Well, I helped Wolf... he didn't have a Persona and didn't end up getting one, exactly. It seemed like... a lot of what was going on in his world had been building up stress. He doesn't have anybody in his world that he can trust, aside from Rookmon... and there was a good chance he might have gone down a similar path that a lot of the Akechis have gone. But here... we got to be here for him."

She gave him a soft smile.

"It didn't solve the core problem he's facing, but... he got to face his darkest feelings and understand them. He got to realize how important the friends he made here are to him. And I've been spending time with him, too - helping him have maybe a little more direction for what he can do once he's home. For now... he can focus on being a kid and figuring himself out, since he won't have that time or space to do it once he's back, it sounds like. Dungeon or not... I think people can get the emotional support from the right 'person' here, or are more likely to get it the more we have a variety of people around. Anyone has a Shadow, but I don't think we have to wait for a dungeon before we spend time with them and support them while they figure themselves out."

Maruki's expression doesn't flinch at all, in his eyes what Hamuko is saying still aligns with what he has been saying all this time.

He had figured that much was the case considering he's seen first hand how much trauma and rage can be held in someone's heart. Especially ones like Goro Akechi.

"So you do admit that our true reality poses us problems enough that we can't reach out to others when our mind is drawn to the helplessness of it," he points out. "And that's through people who don't have a biased slate, like you, who genuinely connect and empathize with others."

"Without any supernatural means possible, without bending the rules of our reality as it aligns- you know precisely what we need is a favourable environment to grow in and it will be by chance that people will decide to trust someone else and open up about their problems."

"That doesn't stop the fact that they are still hurting. That doesn't stop them from hurting others."

He hums, fingers pressed against his chin. "It's precisely what I have been working on and yet- people are drawn to persecuting me for wanting that outside this place. In our own individual realities." He chuckles lightly.

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