Meeting on the eve of the 20th was necessary. The four boys had bits and pieces together and had been in contact over the last couple of days, but Yu had deemed it necessary that they all get together at Hiro's workshop to talk about what they'd figured out.
After pooling all of the information they felt was safe to share (all four being careful not to attach names to certain masks), it became clear that some patterns were easier to figure out than others.
-The masks with bloodied fingerprints were tied to people who had killed someone in their past. This information was confirmed to Hiro by Mikleo, but Hiro did not share names. No names were shared by any of the group of people who possessed this mask for the sake of privacy. However, they were able to say it was a verbal confirmation and a solid explanation.
-The masks with the blood dripping down them were also confirmed to be tied to people who had died. The quartet figured out it was people who had died either at home (via Hiro's knowledge of Leon and Mikleo and Minato's knowledge of Shinjiro) or people who had died in Cerealia (Minato's own mask.)
-The cracked mask seemed obvious. It was clearly associated with masks that had been broken. However, there were other masks that were cracked that hadn't been tampered with the way Yu's had. Interestingly, they were all three girls and all closely associated with Yu.
-It was about that point that Minato pointed out that the masks seemed to be tied to traits of people or actions people had done. Murder, dying, or breaking the mask. That seemed like a great theory until they got to the next mask.
-Dipper spoke with Miles Edgeworth who reported that the mask he possessed was covered in bloody fingerprints. However, reports from Edgeworth also gave them the information that one Ema Sky had a mask which possessed a sad face that progressively became sadder. Minato reported that Mitsuru had a similar mask, and due to Hiro's conversation with Adelina (who had the bloody prints on her mask), Alice Lidell also possesses a sad mask. Hiro had no problem telling the group that Ruby and Tadashi also had a similar mask. With such a various group of people it was hard to conclude anything more than the fact that the mask was disappointed in these people for not doing something. The idea was shelved for later investigation.
-Hiro's own mask was another that perplexed them. With a barcode that progressively grew they couldn't think of what that might be associated with since it wasn't tied to anything. Ruby had told Hiro Yang had a similar mask and Inaba spoke with Yu and Hiro as well about the masks. It took time, but after offering the information that Yang built her own weapons and realizing Inaba also worked with computers, they came to the vague conclusion that it might be associated with tech. Arguably, that was a stretch since they were three varying levels of tech. There was not enough information to draw a firm conclusion.
-With three of the four boys taken care of, they turned to the subject of Dipper's mask. The ivy pattern was spreading wild and fast but like with the blood the mask was as smooth as ever. Yu had spoken with Jaune Arc who also had a similar mask. While Dipper and Jaune may have some similar personality traits, it wasn't something that could be considered evidence. Yu and Minato brought up that it may be tied to the jungle, since Dipper had been on both jungle excursions…but if that were true, why didn't the rest of them get it? There was not enough information to draw a firm conclusion.
-Rise had spoken to Yu and informed him that Rei Hino and her friends all had a feather-covered mask, which is the mask she herself possessed. Rapunzel had also reported having a feathered mask. The boys hashed out ideas of what it could mean (it could be tied to spiritual beings or people who are spiritual, seeing how Rei is a priestess), but due to too few Persona-users having a similar mask and Hiro not owning up to the fact that Rei and her friends are Sailor senshi (and not believing Personas to be anything spiritual), they were unable to really conclude what this meant at all.
-As a sidenote, it was about then the boys realized Rapunzel's mask was the only one with two different effects. It's ominous as hell and now they're all worried about Rapunzel. Thanks Rapunzel.
-The last mask was a gray one that progressively grew darker. Hiro had spoken to Mary and learned that she and Roxas both possessed this mask, but they were the only ones they'd spoken to with such masks. Hiro knew that Mary wasn't technically human, but he's unaware of Roxas's Nobody status. There was a joke that it was associated with people with blonde hair but again, there wasn't enough evidence to even try and figure it out (especially with Hiro refusing to talk about Mary being a Medusa.) There was not enough information to draw a firm conclusion.
Overall, they had pulled the data from over twenty people. It was more than enough to start with but the fact that there were some things they couldn't figure out disturbed all of them. They argued and discussed and hashed out ideas for a few more hours before Yu raised a hand and concluded that they weren't getting any further. This was the information they had, this was the information they'd have to give out to their friends. Hiro and Dipper had argued and tried to keep going but Minato was the voice of reason and agreed with Yu.
This was all they could do for now. It would have to be enough.
EVENING 5/20;
After pooling all of the information they felt was safe to share (all four being careful not to attach names to certain masks), it became clear that some patterns were easier to figure out than others.
-The masks with bloodied fingerprints were tied to people who had killed someone in their past. This information was confirmed to Hiro by Mikleo, but Hiro did not share names. No names were shared by any of the group of people who possessed this mask for the sake of privacy. However, they were able to say it was a verbal confirmation and a solid explanation.
-The masks with the blood dripping down them were also confirmed to be tied to people who had died. The quartet figured out it was people who had died either at home (via Hiro's knowledge of Leon and Mikleo and Minato's knowledge of Shinjiro) or people who had died in Cerealia (Minato's own mask.)
-The cracked mask seemed obvious. It was clearly associated with masks that had been broken. However, there were other masks that were cracked that hadn't been tampered with the way Yu's had. Interestingly, they were all three girls and all closely associated with Yu.
-It was about that point that Minato pointed out that the masks seemed to be tied to traits of people or actions people had done. Murder, dying, or breaking the mask. That seemed like a great theory until they got to the next mask.
-Dipper spoke with Miles Edgeworth who reported that the mask he possessed was covered in bloody fingerprints. However, reports from Edgeworth also gave them the information that one Ema Sky had a mask which possessed a sad face that progressively became sadder. Minato reported that Mitsuru had a similar mask, and due to Hiro's conversation with Adelina (who had the bloody prints on her mask), Alice Lidell also possesses a sad mask. Hiro had no problem telling the group that Ruby and Tadashi also had a similar mask. With such a various group of people it was hard to conclude anything more than the fact that the mask was disappointed in these people for not doing something. The idea was shelved for later investigation.
-Hiro's own mask was another that perplexed them. With a barcode that progressively grew they couldn't think of what that might be associated with since it wasn't tied to anything. Ruby had told Hiro Yang had a similar mask and Inaba spoke with Yu and Hiro as well about the masks. It took time, but after offering the information that Yang built her own weapons and realizing Inaba also worked with computers, they came to the vague conclusion that it might be associated with tech. Arguably, that was a stretch since they were three varying levels of tech. There was not enough information to draw a firm conclusion.
-With three of the four boys taken care of, they turned to the subject of Dipper's mask. The ivy pattern was spreading wild and fast but like with the blood the mask was as smooth as ever. Yu had spoken with Jaune Arc who also had a similar mask. While Dipper and Jaune may have some similar personality traits, it wasn't something that could be considered evidence. Yu and Minato brought up that it may be tied to the jungle, since Dipper had been on both jungle excursions…but if that were true, why didn't the rest of them get it? There was not enough information to draw a firm conclusion.
-Rise had spoken to Yu and informed him that Rei Hino and her friends all had a feather-covered mask, which is the mask she herself possessed. Rapunzel had also reported having a feathered mask. The boys hashed out ideas of what it could mean (it could be tied to spiritual beings or people who are spiritual, seeing how Rei is a priestess), but due to too few Persona-users having a similar mask and Hiro not owning up to the fact that Rei and her friends are Sailor senshi (and not believing Personas to be anything spiritual), they were unable to really conclude what this meant at all.
-As a sidenote, it was about then the boys realized Rapunzel's mask was the only one with two different effects. It's ominous as hell and now they're all worried about Rapunzel. Thanks Rapunzel.
-The last mask was a gray one that progressively grew darker. Hiro had spoken to Mary and learned that she and Roxas both possessed this mask, but they were the only ones they'd spoken to with such masks. Hiro knew that Mary wasn't technically human, but he's unaware of Roxas's Nobody status. There was a joke that it was associated with people with blonde hair but again, there wasn't enough evidence to even try and figure it out (especially with Hiro refusing to talk about Mary being a Medusa.) There was not enough information to draw a firm conclusion.
Overall, they had pulled the data from over twenty people. It was more than enough to start with but the fact that there were some things they couldn't figure out disturbed all of them. They argued and discussed and hashed out ideas for a few more hours before Yu raised a hand and concluded that they weren't getting any further. This was the information they had, this was the information they'd have to give out to their friends. Hiro and Dipper had argued and tried to keep going but Minato was the voice of reason and agreed with Yu.
This was all they could do for now. It would have to be enough.