personavelvetroomdr | (no subject)

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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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"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.

Truth be told, the newcomer knocked Magpie off-balance right at the start, with that offhand suggestion of greater power, which was just a little too familiar and ugly to him. After that—and after the vampires who seem to have disappeared, which is also disturbing—a mention of inhumanity's no big deal. More of a confirmed assumption.

He's not unaware of the power of names in European myth and religion, but he also knows about kotodama, the idea of the power of words and naming that goes back to the dawn of Japan. In short, like a lot of things that turn out to be real, and like anyone who once awakened to a persona would know: whatever it might be, it's nothing to piss about with.

His glance turns a little sharper, more amused. "Well, that depends. Some might say information's something to be traded, not given away. Or perhaps I should feel more generous, since we all have to coexist here together."

Mostly. Mostly together; he can be cooperative. Except for that guy. His eyes harden, staring back at the board.

"I have nothing against trading. I assume there's a particular piece of information you're after?"

"Particular? Not necessarily. It's just that you seem quite... calm. For someone drawn into all this, with no prior context—though admittedly, that might be a common trait of you all." Of Ren and not-Rens, that is.

"Something up your sleeve?"

Akira shrugs. "Not really. It's no weirder than ending up in an unusual part of the Realm, just with more humans. Besides, if I couldn't think on my feet I wouldn't have lasted nearly this long."

He shakes his head, looking at the board, but listening to not-Ren—not just with his ears, but his peripheral vision, the way you look without seeing. The hair is rising on the back of his neck again, as it did before Shido's desk.

"It must be nice to be so unafraid." Perhaps an odd word for him, but. "So free of concern in such a situation. I suppose you'll say that's a mere human concern?"

Let's see if that shakes anything loose.

Akira could easily melt back into the shadows of the Velvet Room; in fact, in the peripheral view, it might be more apparent that he chose a spot just outside of the lights making the board readable to stand in.

"Oh, definitely not. I'm not even fool enough to assume I'm the most dangerous thing here, though I'm probably pretty high on that list. It's difficult to get the lay of the land when you're panicking, is all."

It is noticeable, especially when you're as used to choosing the optimal place to stand as Akechi is. But then, it's also something he remembers Ren doing—real Ren, with his infuriating gift for going unnoticed

—and in his mind's eye he sees him for the first time, not Ren but Joker, surveying Madarame's ridiculous palace from its low roof, silhouetted in the blaze of the floodlights, and a bitter shiver goes right through him—

Stopping to get ahold of himself, he turns back to not-Ren, tempted to lean on the board. What is there someone so free with themself could be holding in reserve? Who would come into such a place and hold so little back?

"Mm. You know, the fact you mix up concern and panic is the most interesting thing about you so far." Interesting. Sure.

Edited 2024-01-01 02:08 (UTC)

"I can be concerned without panicking." And without letting on that he's concerned.

... and part of him really, really wants to just—offer his hand again and introduce himself. He does it with everyone. I'm Goro Akechi. He did it before. He wanted to.

Is it really that simple? Is it really not just that this is some kind of weird entity, with some barely-concealed weird power, but that it's Ren? Shit.

"... I suppose so. Maybe you'd like a little panic, if you tried it the once."

"Bold of you to assume I never have before."

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