#quilna's asks

[quilna]

worldbeyondtheworld.

Shadow AU. I'm still thinking about potential forms Lanyon's Palace could take from his issues. I still like the Crime Novel setting, but I'm coming to like the concept of Sinking Ship in a Dangerous Sea under constant attack more and more. And the first can be folded into the second.

(Not to mention that my alternative idea for Robert's persona - the Count of Monte Christo - used to be a sailor.)

So much symbolism can fit into the metaphor. Drifting through life = staying in his cabin while his father used to steer. Or having his own, smaller vessel that Robert let drift in safe waters but always in the safety of a larger ship. Then he took over.

The ship's lifelike, based on the model his father showed him as a child. He also knows the entire lingo. It has an entire section that's basically a very comfortable prison in a cabin. Ships in bottles.

The sea itself is a metaphor on several levels. From Robert's feelings: On the surface everything seems calm; underneath is a maelstrom that can rise to the surface with storms. The sea is dangerous and treacherous because the weather and thus the waves can change any time (public society). Monsters lurk, both real ones as well as the metaphorical ones (prejudice, persecution, etc.) And then there's the power using the Instability => poisoning the sea / tearing it apart.

I'm still thinking about how the crew works. They'd might represent a bunch of different feelings. One of them gets murdered, as an echo to the danger of the Palaces.

Ooooh! A ship would be a great palace for Robert! Given his father's history and how much it links to Robert, a ship would be very fitting!!! I also love how it fits the Count of Monte Cristo too, I love it when multiple threads just connect together perfectly like that

The metaphors with it are great and really fit Robert's character! Robert's shadow being a captain but not wanting to be and is always struggling with the responsibility of it, unable to keep the ship afloat and all his crew members safe and everything running properly simultaneously, something is always wrong or imperfect and maybe his cognition of his father is always there to berate him for even the smallest slip up, representing how his constant criticism as a child always haunts Robert in whatever he tries to do

It would be interesting if the crew did represent his different feelings! Always trying to keep them completely under control and in line, doing his best to never let them step even a foot out of his control, maybe even keeping the emotions he doesn't want anyone to see working below deck where they hopefully won't be found. It also makes the idea of one of them being murdered interesting because there are symbolic Options for that. Like it could be his childhood innocence or his passion or any other number of positive emotions that he believes he doesn't have anymore, leaving behind just the colder, more ruthless emotions that will help their survival. Or maybe the reason he hides some of his emotions below deck is because they're more positive emotions like that and he's desperately trying to protect them at the cost of repressing and hiding them.

[lifedrake]

do not resist :) the army of boops is inevitable

embrace it.

embrace it so another of us boops the dust

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

BUT WHAT IF I DON'T WANNA BOOP THE DUUUUUUUUUUST

[quilna]

worldbeyondtheworld

Thinking about the mastermind kidnapping Jekyll gave me an idea, leading back to the idea of ‘investigating a mysterious death in a mansion’.

What if Lanyon’s investigations into the physical London side of the Instability leads and Holmes to researching a suspicious mansion? A mansion which Lanyon knows, to his surprise. He’s been regularly invited for boring parties to here before.

The owner, an old friend of Lanyon’s mother’s family, has been renting it out to other aristocrats after his move to France. The mansion*s high hedges block outside eyes. It’s a bit further away from the other houses. Some say it’s become haunted: Visitors hears noises with no source, and see monsters where there are none.

Before Holmes and Lanyon can investigate during a ‘social’ visit, a fire destroys part of the mansion and claims some victims. I have some ideas what it reveals, but they got convoluted fast.

Most straightword plot point: The mansion is the place the mastermind tricked / forced Jekyll going to. It's on top of an Instability they've been using. (The voices and sights were people sensing their Shadows.) It's the trap Palace's real world counterpart.

They had Jekyll dragged there to show him the Cognitive London and use it to spirit him away. Jekyll as the Instability's origin (which they don't necessarily know) unconsciously used this spot to escape, which also disrupted his memories. (Maybe had a semi-Awakening from the stress?)

Ooooo very interesting! I wonder what the fire reveals

I also wonder, if people's shadows were there, whether any of the shadows attempted to attack their counterparts given their nature. Whether or not the shadows can actually harm their counterparts is another question but it certainly adds to the haunting if someone gets clawed or otherwise injured by a monster from the cognitive world.

Man, it would also be really creepy if some of the residents thought they saw one of their friends wandering about only to lose sight. Then, later, when they finally found their friend again, said friend hadn't been anywhere near where 'they' had been seen. Not to mention if they even had a conversation with the doppelganger and thought their friend was acting weirdly only for the friend to have no knowledge of it later.

Lots of potential haunted house tropes here

Not to mention the fact that Sherlock would be present with all the cognitive dangers about. If it's half in the real world, half out, they might have to protect Sherlock from the various roaming monsters while he does his investigation. After all, Sherlock might be able to help them figure out who the mastermind is if they keep him with them but he also doesn't have his own persona to protect himself

[quilna]

Aaaww, thank you, I'm glad that you like hearing about my Persona AU ideas!

The Void didn't feel fitting for a Palace. These are a specific manifestation of parts of people's minds - here: How they view the world - born from the Instability. Affecting these manifestations affects the mind, but they are still only projections which can fall apart while the mind persists. The Void feels like something outside of Palaces, too.

Huh. This has given me the idea that when Hyde returns to Jekyll's body and fronts, it creates their mindspace from canon. Mindspaces as a concept distinct from Palaces?

So it being a restricted area where only Hyde as a party member can enter from the Unconscious World - the site of the previous Palace? - makes sense. Maybe the upper most levels are accessible for the entire party, but going deeper like this isn't possible. They'd need a different way in, which they don't have time for. Also, the upper levels could be guarded by intruders, too.

As for the intruding Shadows, the God cheated with their power to put them down there. Couldn't make them into Zosis, but made them into dog-adjacant shapes to hide them among the Zosis for the reasons you've mentioned. (And to avoid the Zosi Guardians mauling the intruders.)

While the conscious part of Jekyll's in despair, he also recognizes he wants out of this prison, the mastermind's a piece of shit, and he wants those intruders out now!! He wants his life back. When Hyde kicks the intruders upstairs, it sparks a bit of Henry alive, so the rest of their mind gets ready to get on the job. :D

Also, if the rest of the party is waiting outside, I like to imagine them whaling on the guards the moment Hyde kicks them out. It's like that meme where there are a bunch of people whaling on one guy and another person sips his wine and then joins in, except the initial people are the nightmares and cognitions that have been terrorising them all the entire time and the party just shrugs and joins in

LOL, I love that image. The party hears a commotion, they go looking, surprised where the guards have gone as well as Jekyll's cognitions and nightmares. They come across some familiar shapes, who used to lock on on only them, whaling on the guards and more Shadows that clearly belong to the mastermind.

There's Hyde's black tendrils reaching from the mindspace's ceiling window (?) into the Void, yanking up more Shadows. Like reeling out wriggling fish from a pond?? Tendrils which are crushing some of the weaker Shadows, including the ones which already broke apart, while smacking the stronger ones onto the staircase and against the other intruders. Repeatedly. The cognitions and nightmares glance shortly to the party before going back to business. Thus shrugging and joining in.

I love hearing people's ideas! I'm a fanfic writer, I practically feed off of fun plot ideas so thank you for sharing them!!!

A fair point about the Void! It was also a bit too empty in canon for the spectacular setpieces of the palaces so it works best as its own thing, whether as a section of the collective unconscious that only Hyde can access or an entirely different realm altogether.

Ooo, the mindscape being a different thing works well! The rules in Persona do vary from game to game so it's pretty easy to toss the mindscape in. Although it does make me wonder if everyone gets their own mindscape when they gain their personas or whether it's just Jekyll because of his unique relationship with Hyde. Either way, it sounds very fun!

I like the idea that the party can still access the upper levels of the mindscape. It probably means they can still encounter some of Jekyll's cognitions, looking a bit more normal with the distortions gone, which means they can all still encounter their cognitive versions. I think Lanyon would have a grudge going on with Mind Lanyon every time they have to go in because Hyde needs something, Frankenstein and Mind Frankenstein could have an absolutely insufferable friendship, and the others would probably have a lot of fun trying to find their own cognitive selves. What that relationship looks like after they find them, I'm unsure

Ooo the dog shadows hiding amongst actual cognitive Zosis. Hyde has to figure out which ones are Zosi and which ones are just regular dogs as quickly as possible before they attack him like a spot the difference game

I also like the idea of Hyde fighting for them and sparking a bit more life into Jekyll as a reflection of what happened in canon, it works a lot better in this context. Most of the character changes in the persona universe come from fighting after all hehe

The party must have been so confused at first, watching the nightmares beating up some random other shadows hehe

As an eldritch lover, I adore the idea of Hyde with his black tendrils. This is his head and, for the short while that he's in it, he can pull out powers that he would never have anywhere else. For a brief time, he gets to be the terrifying Spirit of London at Night (Spirit of The Night Circus? I feel like he would probably have a different nickname in this au given he doesn't even live in London) that he proclaims himself to be, smashing and flinging around the intruders like they're nothing to him

At least until he comes out and Rachel pinches his cheek and starts fussing over him like he's a kid again, ruining all the cool points he had. In front of the nightmares too, Cognitive Moreau will never respect him at this rate

[quilna]

Another person intrigued by my Possessed Jekyll I see >:)

I am doing grabby hands at you, I need the lore (/nf)

[quilna]

*squints at TGS and Umineko* if i had a nickel for everytime a character developed blonde alter to unleash all of their violent and hedonistic desires after a major life altering heartbreak I'd get two nickels, which isn't much, but it's odd that it happened twice

I have to admit that I haven't seen Umineko so unfortunately I only know one of the characters involved but Damn that is odd that is happened twice

We need to stop major life altering heartbreaks, it seems to create hedonistic violent blonde people

For all we know, maybe all blonde people might secretly be the result of major life altering heartbreaks

[quilna]

Hey so how's it feel to have predicted the "Jekyll surrenders to Hyde, suicide metaphor" all the way back in 2020?

This is a very unfortunate way to be right /lh

Never right about the fluff, only the angst

[quilna]

hello i just wanted to say that i love lying is a love language!!!!! absolutely peak

:D Thank you!!!! Glad you're enjoying it!!!!!