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There's a new presence in the shadows of the Velvet Room tonight.

For a while, there's no obvious sign of this... presumably a person, just the feeling that something is watching from the darkness, listening to whatever cryptic platitudes Igor's spouting about the place tonight. Eventually, though, the presence announces itself as... an Akira, looking at the conspiracy board.

Or maybe he's a Ren? (He's both. He's neither. He's pretty sure Igor is the closest to a familiar entity here. Making connections? That's not going to be a problem at all.)

"...I have no idea what most of this means," he's forced to conclude after several minutes. "Cool."

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"Why not? I never said it wasn't impressive work. I just have no context for three-quarters of this."

"Because he'll give you a lecture fit to burn your ears. Though at the end of it, you'll know a lot more than you did."

He offers new-not-Ren a sideways look. "So what parts do you recognise?"

"The names thing makes perfect sense. Names have power. If you don't have the right name, how do you know what power you're invoking?"

He says it like it's a completely natural thing, because to him it is.

... Akechi looks back at the board, as if it's the most interesting thing in the room, which it's not. "Huh."

Names do have power, of course; how would you find someone in the Metaverse, without their name? And is there a greater human (okay, human-accessible) power than the one that gives him? But that's clearly not what's at issue here. No, this is something far more unnerving.

"Yes, it sounds like you're from somewhere quite unlike most of the rest of us. This must all be quite disorienting for you?" Or maybe it's not. Because why would you walk in somewhere, and talk so lightly to strangers about a power, unless you had no need to fear what they might do? You might be stupid, of course. But Ren is far from that.

"It's interesting, that's for sure. If I'm here, it must be because I need to be, but I haven't figured out for what yet." Of course, he also hasn't made it out of the Velvet Room, which probably isn't helping.

But that's all right. The connection will come in time, or he'll make it.

"So you don't know this place at all, other than the other lecture I'm sure you got?" He momentarily offers Igor a blinding smile, as convincing as Igor's own.

"Our friend there is a micromanager. To all appearances, he brings us here to interfere with our lives, one way or another. That may or may not meet your definition of need." The fact that it's working out really well for him (twice, in fact) is not something he clarifies.

Akira just laughs. "Strange way to get people making connections, I guess, but it's not the weirdest thing I've ever heard. But no, never seen anything quite like this before."

Not that it wouldn't fit right in, in the Realm, but.

"I hadn't seen it either, until I came here. But I'm assured it exists in my world. Or something similar, at any rate." Either that, or his younger self was sent on a wild goose-chase, which would surprise Akechi not one whit.

That laugh is so strange. It sends a prickle down his spine as it always did, and yet... "You make it sound like this isn't your first run-in with the power of friendship."

Please appreciate the ennui he infuses those words with, new-not-Ren. A couple of months ago he would have wanted to smash the furniture.

Probably not a wild goose chase so much as a question of relative timelines, but that's neither here nor there.

"I had to completely upend my life just to be able to make that kind of connection in the first place. Of course I'm aware of it."

That's... interesting; Akechi squints through at the board again, tracing the blue line between Okumura-san and Rose, in her unlabelled cluster that includes him, a pink flower next to a black-and-white bird. If he swore to anything about Ren Amamiya, it would have been that he picks up "connections" with the same alacrity most would pick up ten-thousand-yen notes.

Except that is what happened, isn't it? Didn't Ren's life have to turn itself upside-down before he could start picking people up?

"You sound as thrilled about it as I was. Are you telling me it's like what you said about names? That relationships, as well as people's identities, hold power in your world?"

"Yes and no. My previous line of work - my previous name - meant I couldn't make meaningful connections with anyone. Eventually, I couldn't take being that fucking lonely anymore, so I changed it."

It's a very simplified version of the story, all things considered, but it's true.

Well, isn't that just absolutely peachy? A sour laugh blows through his teeth. "So you're the ghost of Christmas past?... or something like that. How sickeningly appropriate. Though I don't suppose you have that story."

He gives not-Ren another quick once-over.

"I'm no ghost, and I don't really concern myself with Christmas."

But that response does tell Akira quite a bit. "I can't tell you how to live your life. I can only tell you that I'm happier for having some genuine friends."

Ugh. His face falls, along with his stomach, as he stares back at the board and mutters. Everyone he meets is trying to set him up. "This really is a conspiracy, isn't it."

Except... his sinking stomach comes to rest somewhere around the level it was when he was a child. When he'd been a different person. More flexible. Less likely to destroy the people around him without even trying—or just because he wants to.

He can feel Igor's eyes boring into his spine. Younger-him had been so ridiculously happy. "So, uh. What are you making of your situation, so far? Did you meet anyone else to start on your journey of connection with?" Blegh.

Edited 2023-12-31 02:05 (UTC)

"I don't know anyone here to conspire with, either." But this does track with having to save Crow's life three separate times before Crow finally, grudgingly agreed to the blood oath.

Some things just rhyme across worlds, huh.

"There's an awful lot of you here, aren't there?"

Akechi offers him a tired little glare. "What's that supposed to mean? I hope you understand you're not exactly a limited item yourself."

(Yes, there are a lot of him, and yes, it's increasingly bothersome, except when it's not.)

"You asked if I'd met anyone else, and it's mostly been you. One other of me, and a girl."

All right, maybe that's true, and maybe he's grumpier than usual. "Which girl? Those are a little rare."

"She has... pink hair? Which usually means wigs or dye, with humans. She said her timeline is something of an outlier compared to most people's."

But Akira's is an even bigger one.

... and yes, he turns, squinting. "Pink hair? She wasn't about so tall—" indicating Okumura-san's height—"rather demure, probably dressed in pink or purple?"

Not that Okumura's hair is pink, really. But it's the pinkest. What's that about an outlier timeline, though?

"No. There's blue stripes in the pink."

"Huh." There's an unnerving thought, if you'd like one. Anyone could be here. Shido, in fact, could be here. "I haven't met her. I suppose there have been a lot of people arriving lately, and I have been... preoccupied.

"Did you learn anything interesting? From your friend with the bubblegum hair?"

"Mostly that I seem to be an even bigger outlier, but that wasn't anything I hadn't already guessed."

Again, he glances from the side. "For the reasons we've established? Or something you're holding out on me with?"

"Is it really holding out if it's just something I haven't mentioned much so far?" He has, a little, if Magpie thinks about what Akira said regarding his mystery female conversation partner's hair. Or even how the way he talks about names comes together.

Maybe he wants to see if Magpie is Crow-adjacent enough to put it together himself. Maybe it just hasn't occurred to him to spell it out. Either way, the question's decently earnest.