Drac-onion - Drac

Beneath Their Masks Chapter 10 is Up!

It feels a little weird to put up a chapter taking place on Christmas in October but...here we are, I guess? This is kind of where things diverge from just being about Makoto and Ann, kind of like I said before. I hope it's not too distracting or out of character, but I do want to mix things up a bit. Let me know what you think!

Ann carefully freed herself from Makoto’s grasp as she slid out from beneath the covers, not so gracefully ending up on the floor in the process. Grabbing her phone, she picked herself up and quietly exited Makoto’s bedroom, silently closing the door behind her. When she turned, she didn’t expect to see anyone else up in the Niijima household. Messy red hair filled her view as she almost bumped into her, herself leaving the other Niijima sister’s bedroom.

“Um…”

The woman before her tensed, and she slowly turned around, but relaxed when she saw Ann.

“Oh, I thought you were Makoto for a second. Good morning.” The woman said quietly.

“You’re…Sae’s friend, right?” Ann asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“Why don’t we go out into the kitchen? Wouldn’t want to wake the Niijimas, right?” Sae’s friend(?) said.

Ann nodded and followed her out to the kitchen.

I can handle a lot of the "being sick" experience. Sore throats put me on my ass and that's all it takes to completely destroy me.

sore throats might be the stupidest response to illness i've ever experienced. oh you want to eat? drink?? breathe air??? TEN THOUSAND KNIVES ATTACK

So I sleep on top of my covers, right? (Don't ask, I don't know either) and I woke up this morning (afternoon) under them.

Am I trying to tell me something?

Seriously though I haven't slept under my covers in months. I sleep on top of them with a smaller blanket. Why? I don't know! All I know is that it started during my fucked up sleep schedule days of going to bed at like 10am and waking up in the middle of the night. Then when my sleep schedule skewed so much that it was actually normal, I just kept doing it.

Fuck, another weird thing to add to the list of weird shit I do.

-sleeping on top of covers

-talking to myself

-*insert symptom of undiagnosed ADHD*

Beneath Their Masks Chapter 8 is Up!

Ah, and here is where Sae gets more screen time. You may notice that although this takes place at the beginning of November, Sae seems to be a lot nicer. This was by design because uuuuuh I don't like conflict. Sue me.

Makoto was clinging to Ann’s leg, much to both of their surprise. In the middle of a break from their study date, despite the lack of actual studying (much to Makoto’s chagrin), they had gotten up to make some coffee. However, the current weather had other plans for their evening. With a quiet pop, the apartment was pitch black, only illuminated by the surrounding buildings through the windows, casting long, rain-textured shadows over everything in sight (or lack thereof, in this case).

“Hey Makoto, you alright?” Ann said, suddenly surprised by the girl clinging to her leg. “I think the power went out.”

Obviously, she probably noticed that.

Realizing her involuntary show of fear, she quickly removed herself from Ann’s leg and stood up from the floor.

“Y-Yes, it appears so.” Makoto said, clearing her throat to distract from her stammering. “Hopefully it comes back soon so we can get back to studying.”

“I agree, although we weren’t exactly getting a whole lot of studying done.” Ann said with a chuckle. “Does this happen often?”

“Yes. Especially during inclement weather.” Makoto explained.

“Hmm, how long does it take to come back on?” Ann asked.

“If it hasn’t come back by now, it usually stays off for a few more hours.”

An uncomfortable silence came over the pair. A silence that would only be broken by the flash of lighting and booming of thunder, causing Makoto to jump with a yelp and Ann to flinch slightly.

“Oh Makoto, I forgot you don’t do well during storms.” Ann said, fumbling in the dark over to where Makoto was clinging to the kitchen counter for dear life.

Ann’s touch caused her to recoil, before recognizing the familiar warmth.

“No…I don’t like the dark. I feel better when you’re here with me, though.” Makoto confessed.

“Well…” Ann trailed off. “Does Sae have any candles around? I always light a bunch of candles when the power goes out at my place.”

“I think we may have some in the closet.” Makoto said, pulling away from Ann to check.

Using her phone to light the way (and showing Makoto how to do that on her own phone), they arrived at the closet. Opening it, they spotted a shelf full of candles, some still brand new.

“Wow, your sister is really into these things, isn’t she?” Ann mused.

“No, I believe these were all gifts.” Makoto said, picking one up off the shelf. “Either white elephant gifts from various office christmas parties or coworkers.”

“Well, maybe she’ll be relieved to see them get some use?” Ann said.

It's kind of upsetting how much Akira appears to miss Morgana when he leaves the party for a while. I believe that Morgana and Akira are genuinely very good friends, especially since they spend practically every waking (and unwaking, I guess) moment together.

It's nice to see some of Akira's inner voice come out, especially since Morgana is usually the one talking for him. I imagine that in his hometown, Akira was very isolated and lonely, so he was able to easily welcome Morgana into his life. I'm sure he found it comforting having someone to look after him and keep him out of his head, at least in my opinion.

I think that if Morgana had stayed gone for any longer, Akira's mental health would have begun to seriously decline, not having someone around to care about him and make sure he's staying on track. At least, that's what I think. It's been a while since I played the beginning parts of P5, but it reminds me of when Yu first shows up in Inaba in P4TA. He's very closed off, not really willing to open up until he makes friends and discovers his powers. He just wants to keep his head down and let the year pass by without incident.

Ah, I'm rambling again. I just really think this part is interesting. I don't think it was handled properly, storywise, since it basically all hinged on the shit way Atlus characterized Ryuji and Morgana's relationship, but it is what it is. There's not even any closure or anything. Just this throwaway line in a safe room:

Like come ON JUST TALK. Oh well. In my heart, they're buddies that happen to butt heads a lot without really meaning anything. Except here it did? I dunno.