[ It's a sleepover party - as much as it can be in a place that doesn't have night or sleep. She and Ann are staying with Ren (and apparently Akechi), and there's chatting and snacking and drinking until the tiredness suddenly hits, a heavy weight that knocks her out. When she falls, it's on someone's ankles, but she barely registers that before she's out, eyes closing—

—and opening on the sprawling landscape of Mementos.

A glance down at her fingers shows the flared sleeve of her bolero, the bright red of her gloves, and when she reaches up, her mask is there, ready to be torn away. She's no longer Yoshizawa; she is Violet. She can hear Ella's pleased whisper in her soul as her hand moves to the rapier strung on a chain around her waist. ]

Was it a dream?

[ She murmurs it to herself, red eyes bright with curiosity as they search the area around her. That whole thing with the Void... But if that was a dream, Ella remembers it too, remembers being able to talk to her, present but powerless. So, not a dream, then. Perhaps they're still just in another part of the Void, another part stolen from their own memories.

And if this truly is Mementos, then there's only one way for her to go: down. ]

[ Three floors down and counting. She and Ella have been working hard; between healing the wounds that others have sustained and fighting off innumerable Shadows, Violet is already feeling the weight of exhaustion seeping into her bones. Or not. Rather, it just feels like she should be exhausted when she's not, both Ella's power and her own going strong.

A text from Joker has her ready to turn back and meet up with the others, but it's as she tucks her phone away that a noise from nearby startles her; she can hear Shadows nearby and what sounds like someone they're attacking.

Violet's fingers tighten around the hilt of her rapier as she dashes with a gymnast's speed through the tunnels, feet flying over the rails in long paces. ]

Look out! [ It's Yoshizawa's voice, but strong and commanding, unlike her usual stuttering shyness. And then, her left hand flying to her face as the blue flames circle around her, she rips her mask away, shouting: ] Ella!

[ A white-garbed woman appears wreathed in the same blue flames, and several twirling pillars of light appear, spiraling down into the creatures, which fade away into nothingness. Violet skids to a halt, her red eyes concerned behind her mask. ]

Are you okay?

[ She's meant to be meeting up with the others at the entrance. By now, everyone's probably waiting for her. But no matter how many Shadows Violet's taken down before now, there's one standing in her way now that she's not sure how she's meant to find her way past.

At first glance, she looks just like a girl of Violet's height and build, with brown hair and a beauty mark on her left cheek. Her eyes are a sickly orange-yellow where they should be brown, but her hair is tied back in that familiar bright red ribbon, and the smile on her lips is warm and inviting. ]

Aren't you happy to see me? I've been waiting for you.

[ Violet's fingers clench tight around the hilt of her rapier even as she feels the sting of tears in her eyes. She's just a Shadow - it's just a Shadow. Mementos is playing with her, pulling from the depths of her pain and her fear and bringing her right back to where Ella first found her, a girl who wanted to be brave but didn't even know who she truly was. ]

It's just a Shadow. It's just a Shadow.

[ She whispers the words over and over to herself, even as the creature comes nearer, her eyes glowing that unnatural shade of gold, the scent of sweet rot in the air. It's just a Shadow, but Violet can't make herself move. ]

[ as always, if there's nothing here that speaks to you, or you have other ideas, feel free to hit me up via PM or at denouements! ]