[It's training. That's what she tells herself as she stands in line. After all the late night horrors she's fought over the course of this month, she hardly needs any training of the physical sort. No, this is to try and toughen herself up mentally and emotionally, to get back to the girl who wasn't afraid of the dark before August happened. She needs that courage again if (when) things with Retrospec get worse.
Still. Walking into the funhouse, she's never felt so apprehensive as she does now. She hates it. She used to love these things.
Minako breezes through the beginning by virtue of the decorations being really terrible and fake. Which is to be expected. It's the dark corridors up ahead that take more fortitude to walk through. It's safe, it's safe. She hums the melody of Yu's song in her head to calm herself. You're okay, there's no Nyx here. Only actors, and really good blackout curtains. It's when she reaches the end of the corridor, with some artificial moonlight streaming from above, that she completely freezes.
There, sitting next to some fake skeletons, is a prop so unfairly lifelike and lifeless at the same time that it has her stumbling backward towards the darkness, unconsciously choosing to deal with her nightmares over needing to deal with this. Though it's undeniable this is a nightmare too-- the doll looks uncannily like Ryoji in the dim light, eyes closed and unmoving. A visceral reminder of August, the other elephant in her mental room that she hasn't truly come to terms with yet. Ice crawls up her spine, settles in her hands, and clasping them together to warm them suddenly feels so much like clutching Ryoji's hands as he died that she wrenches them apart again, wrapping her arms around herself and trembling badly.
Some of the guests walking behind her give her encouraging words, and it snaps herself out of her reverie. She won't remember what she says to them later. But she waits for them to go on ahead so she can pull herself together with relatively contained embarrassment.
It's just a prop, Arisato. Nothing to freak out over. Get a grip and finish your training.
She starts to walk away-- and that's the instant the prop moves, its leg jerking out. Minako trips, crying out and crashing hard to the ground.]
ii;
Still. Walking into the funhouse, she's never felt so apprehensive as she does now. She hates it. She used to love these things.
Minako breezes through the beginning by virtue of the decorations being really terrible and fake. Which is to be expected. It's the dark corridors up ahead that take more fortitude to walk through. It's safe, it's safe. She hums the melody of Yu's song in her head to calm herself. You're okay, there's no Nyx here. Only actors, and really good blackout curtains. It's when she reaches the end of the corridor, with some artificial moonlight streaming from above, that she completely freezes.
There, sitting next to some fake skeletons, is a prop so unfairly lifelike and lifeless at the same time that it has her stumbling backward towards the darkness, unconsciously choosing to deal with her nightmares over needing to deal with this. Though it's undeniable this is a nightmare too-- the doll looks uncannily like Ryoji in the dim light, eyes closed and unmoving. A visceral reminder of August, the other elephant in her mental room that she hasn't truly come to terms with yet. Ice crawls up her spine, settles in her hands, and clasping them together to warm them suddenly feels so much like clutching Ryoji's hands as he died that she wrenches them apart again, wrapping her arms around herself and trembling badly.
Some of the guests walking behind her give her encouraging words, and it snaps herself out of her reverie. She won't remember what she says to them later. But she waits for them to go on ahead so she can pull herself together with relatively contained embarrassment.
It's just a prop, Arisato. Nothing to freak out over. Get a grip and finish your training.
She starts to walk away-- and that's the instant the prop moves, its leg jerking out. Minako trips, crying out and crashing hard to the ground.]