[musebox] clockwork maze, end unknown

[xxii_thefool]

"Aaaaah, stop screwing around!" The uncharacteristic shout rings through the twisting corridors; whirling around where she stands, Minako hauls off and kick the wall with enough force to halfway dislodge her shoe from her foot.

This whole excursion is really starting to seem like maybe it was doomed from the beginning. It was scraped together on the shortest of notice - Minako came clattering down the stairs of the dorm at all of a quarter after eleven to announce that they needed to go to Tartarus tonight and could not be talked out of it - and to make matters worse it's one of those nights when the maze is even more unstable than usual. Practically every other floor, it seems, has been a trick floor, as though the tower itself is throwing obstacles into their path, resisting their upward progress.

Maybe it is. Minako hasn't said anything, but there's a certain edge of impatience in the way she's torn through the Shadows they've encountered, as though the fighting is purely an inconvenience to be gotten quickly out of the way - a focus like she's looking for something, something more specific than the way up to the next level or whatever internal marker it is that she uses to decide when they've gone far enough for one night. Whatever it is, it's important, enough to keep her pressing stubbornly on even after a near-miss with the Reaper forced them to scramble madly for the stairs two floors ago.

Now Tartarus is playing its tricks again: they've come up the last set of stairs to find the maze blanketed in darkness, the team scattered. Even their contact with Fuuka has gone out, the last straw that drove Minako to kick the wall and yell at the labyrinth to stop screwing around! like she thinks it can actually understand her.

The fit of pique passes quickly; she draws in a deep breath, huffs it out again in aggravation, and takes a moment to collect herself and get her foot properly back into her shoe. Then she straightens and starts looking around, taking in the situation with calmer eyes. "...it's okay," she murmurs. "We've done this before, just gotta be careful..."

She adjusts her grip more securely on the haft of her naginata, propping her other hand against her hip, and the butt end of the weapon strikes a rhythmic little tap-tap-tap against the tiled floor as Minako peers into the darkness and considers which direction to take.

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[xxii_thefool]

At his shrug, Minako began to lift her chin, clearly prepared to be stubborn - a side effect of spending the past several months dealing with Akihiko and his tendency to try to "walk off" injuries in outright defiance of common sense - but seeing Shinjiro at least willing to take something gave her pause. In the end, she made a dissatisfied face but elected not to say anything more about it.

For now, anyway.

Instead, she occupied herself with taking her own medicine - literally and metaphorically - making a whole series of exaggerated ick faces at the bitter taste of the powder. Eugh.

The grimace had yet to leave her face when Shinjiro spoke again. "It really is," she agreed, the words coming out on a rueful sigh. Crumpling the now empty packet in her hand to stuff it into her own pocket, she turned an apologetic look toward him. "Sorry."

[axeboyfriend]

It was really a struggle not to smile at the faces Minako kept making at the medicine. Fortunately, Shinjiro persevered with what he hoped was no traces of the softer emotion on his face. It would be an awkward explanation, to be sure, and not one that was needed right here and now. Instead, he turned his gaze back to the leader, his eyebrows raising up until they disappeared entirely under the brim of his beanie.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" he asked, a mild edge of surprise tinging his voice. Truly, he didn't know.

Even as he spoke, his eyes were darting around for a sign of— something. The others, a Shadow, whatever there might be. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy spending time with her— far from it— but... there was a "but" there, but he wasn't sure how to define it. Just a vague feeling of some kind of anticipation whenever he was around her. Good? Bad? Who could say.

[xxii_thefool]

Minako met his eyes earnestly, a bit surprised herself that he'd asked - she'd half expected him to be at least a little bit annoyed, would not have blamed him if he had been. "I'm the one who said we had to come tonight," she pointed out.

That it didn't seem to have even occurred to him was encouraging, anyway. The beginnings of a smile flickered across her face, relieved and grateful and still apologetic in equal measures, before she too looked away. Counting floors in her head, she searched for some sense of orientation in the dark maze.

"Even though it's been a mess, we can't call it a night just yet, either." As she spoke, Minako shifted her grip on her naginata back into both hands... just in case. "We need to find the others, and then..." Her voice trailed off for a moment, before her face turned back towards Shinjiro again. "Just a few more floors. It shouldn't be any farther than that, I hope."

[axeboyfriend]

Shinjiro huffs, faintly amused. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be," he said. And maybe she didn't know all of his reasons for wanting to, but it was nevertheless the truth. He hefted his axe against his shoulder, using it to carry the weight. "I don't have anything better to do, anyway."

He glanced back at her again, again fighting off a smile when he sees hers forming. He shakes his head to himself, and then goes back to searching the darkness. There wasn't any sign of anyone yet, but... He strained his ears. He thought he could hear something, but if it was another Shadow or one of the others, he just couldn't tell.

"So, what is it you're looking for, anyway?"

Minako had her benchmarks, and hell if he could figure out how she came up with them, but she hadn't led them wrong yet. Still, he had to wonder... What was it this time that had her pressing forward?

[xxii_thefool]

"That's--" But then Minako stopped, and rather than say anything else right away she turned to look behind her, venturing a few steps down the corridor for as much of a better look as she could get while still remaining within sight.

"We probably shouldn't keep standing still," she said when she turns back to face him again, as that were all they'd been discussing. "I don't want to run into that Reaper thing again. I think I came from that way, so..."

'What are you looking for?' Simple question, complicated answer. There were a lot of things Minako hadn't been in the habit of explaining her reasons for, but then again, of everyone she thought that Shinjiro might understand what it was to have things one couldn't answer questions about.

To be trusted, you had to offer trust.

"There's someone lost in here," she said, with no more than a brief hitch between that statement and the one before as though it were all part of the same thought. "Like Fuuka was, but with no Persona to protect them. If we don't find them in time, they'll end up like all those other people, without their minds."

[axeboyfriend]

The Reaper. Now there's a guy Shinjiro had absolutely zero interest in facing. He nodded his agreement at that statement, falling into step behind her so that she could lead the way. It's funny how he'd gotten into that habit in such a short time, but he honestly didn't mind. She was so level-headed in a fight that it made it easy to listen to what she had to say.

Like now... "Now there's a damned good reason," he acknowledged. And a thousand more questions sprang forward— how did she know they were here, how did she know where— but he let them stay in his head. It was enough that she had answered.

And frankly, it was more than he'd expected. Not that she seemed like a secretive person so much as one who wasn't often questioned in these matters. Whatever reason she'd found to explain herself, it was appreciated. He opened his mouth to thank her, but—

He strained his ears again, listening. He was certain there was someone or something around here, but with the damned darkness around them, who could even tell? Damn Tartarus anyway, stupid tower and its stupid shifting twists and turns and tricks. They'd be well enough rid of it once their mission was ended.

Not that he'd be there to see it.

[xxii_thefool]

She couldn't even have said what it was that made her so happy, or why it seemed to important that Shinjiro should think of her as someone he could trust. Maybe why didn't matter. Buoyed by the reassurance of having him at her back, Minako flashed him a quick smile that lit up her face, and for a short distance along the dark hallway her steps had a bit of a spring to them that hadn't been there before.

Caution reasserted itself quickly, though. It didn't do to be careless in this place, especially with only the two of them and without the benefit of Fuuka's guiding voice. Pausing at a junction that branched off to either side into the darkness, Minako glanced back to Shinjiro again, and whatever she saw in his demeanor was enough to cause her to pitch her voice a little lower.

"What is it?" she asked him quietly. "Did you hear something?"

[axeboyfriend]

Shinjiro found himself thinking Her smile looks like sunshine and was suddenly pathetically grateful that Persona didn't give people the ability to read minds. He turned his eyes away from her, the thought that he could end up just staring at her lingering in his mind. He took a deep, steadying breath before answering her question.

"I'm hearing something, but I can't tell if it's one of the others or if it's another Shadow," he responded, glancing around again. "The way our luck seems to be running today, I'd bet on the latter."

Just in case, he gripped his axe a little tighter. It didn't hurt to be prepared, and if it was one of the others, they were probably just as wary. It's too bad Fuuka didn't seem to be in contact with them right now. It's strange how quickly he'd grown accustomed to her backup. This team really did work well together.

[xxii_thefool]

A wry little laugh hitched out of Minako as she dipped her head in acknowledgement of his point. "No kidding. Well..."

Facing the intersection directly, she squared her stance and drew in a long breath. The spark of humor from a moment before left her expression in favor of a look of intent focus; visualizing the face of the Priestess card, she brought Parvati back to the surface of her mind and closed her eyes, listening intently for the hint of sound that Shinjiro had heard. Her own Priestess Arcana Personas were no substitute for Lucia's true sensory powers, but in this kind of situation you worked with what you had.

The right-hand passage, she decided, and opening her eyes she looked over her shoulder toward Shinjiro and shrugged. "There's only one way to find out, right?"

And with that, she started forward again, turning to the right and striding along the corridor with purposeful energy.