personavelvetroomdr | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

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."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She shakes her head at the first question. It's a first to hear about a version of herself that goes by a different name. She wonders if this is what most Rens/Akiras feel in this place.

The fact that he seems to be dodging her question does make her frown. She can't tell if he doesn't trust her, or if he has some other reason to be cagey. At least she doesn't feel like she's in danger.

"Hmm... do you have a preference in which name to be called?"

If he doesn't pick one, she'll use Ren to make it easier on herself.

The irony here is that he's not dodging anything, really.

"Not really. Doesn't sound like anyone's claimed Lotus, if that helps with keeping track of people, but I'll answer to either of them. What should I call you?"

Well that didn't exactly help but she doesn't think she'll get any real answers at this point. The question does make her hesitate. She has a gut feeling that maybe she should use a fake name for now. It's very likely that he'll learn her actual name later, but for now she'll use a fake one.

She quickly thinks up a name to use. "...Hikari."

Nailed it.

Akira nods - it's not her true name, which is wise of her - but then he frowns. "Have I done something to upset you, Hikari?"

That surprises her. "N-No. I guess I'm just a little jumpy because I miss Ren back home. I've been here for over a month."

Mostly she's uneasy because she isn't sure if there's a lack of trust from him, and if so, should she be worried?

"That's understandable. It doesn't seem like anyone I truly know is here, either." Not least because of the frequent use of full names on the conspiracy board - written, they won't do Akira a bit of good, but it's still the principle of the thing.

"If it helps, I've told you nothing untrue."

It would be nice if Hifumi, Mishima, Yusuke, Ren, and/or Morgana from back home did show up. Maybe there's some hope there.

"I didn't think you were lying. Just not seem to trust me, which is fair. We just technically met for the first time."

There's good reason to not blindly trust strangers. A lot of bad people out there, but much more good at the same time.

"I guess I can see where it might look like that. Just... a cultural difference, if you will." Which might sound weird, since Akira's perfectly fluent in Japanese, but.

"Names have power. It's the one thing about this board that makes much sense."

Cultural differences? He doesn't look like a foreigner, and his japanese is perfect. Then again, there's this weird vibe off of him, even if he seems friendly. Maybe there's more to him than meets the eye.

"So you're not familiar with personas and the metaverse? I can explain both."

She's not an expert, but she's been at it for a while.

"Picked up a little bit from other people here, but I'd never heard either term before today, no." Not with the capital P 'Persona' seems to come with locally, anyway.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only