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[paysforall]

1. What's without

[To long time residents of this closet of a dimension, the figure leaning against the base of HachikoBuchiko's plinth is a familiar sight. The Goro Akechi, Age 21 who is there is dressed in mostly the same fashion as the last time anyone saw him - it's a different pair of black skinny jeans (these ones have a silver chain with skull charms hanging from the left hip to the knee, with just enough give to swing as he walks) and a different too-fancy shirt, but how many Akechis are there, even, who would even consider dressing like that? The only spot of color, aside from his hair and eyes (have they always been that red) is that the gloves he wears are bright red on the inside, palms and fingers. A memory he doesn't want to lose.

He's playing games on his phone with half-attention as he people-watches, which in this place is more an act of looking for people to watch. In the sea of cognitions, real people stick out like a sore thumb - and he's probably spotted you in the crowd before you even approach, with a faint smile or frown on his face, depending on who you are.

And if you're more than just a familiar face - someone who he actually met, the last time he was here - he'll actually stop leaning against the statue's base to give you a proper wave. It's been a while, Velvet Room Dimension, but your Reaper has returned.]

2. What's within

[And no trip through the old stoimping grounds is complete without a trip to Mementos, directly through Shibuya Station.

He doesn't wear a mask - indeed, even as a former Phantom Thief, his clothes don't change. But unlike on the normal, uncognitive side of the world, his wings are fully visible, moving like a natural extension of his body. And in place of the chain dangling from his jeans is a holstered pistol - neither the toy laser gun nor the real one he used as Shido's weapon, but at least at a glance, it seems real enough.

Akechi lurks for a while at the entrance of Mementos, sitting quite illegally on one of the turnstiles just because he can, perched like a particularly strange bird, one knee tented up against his torso and the other dangling as he watches in the direction of the depths. Eventually, he slides off his seat and deeper into the depths.

In Mementos proper, he spends a bit of time getting a work-out - that gun is in hand, though what it fires can only be loosely called bullets. Fireballs, lightning bolts, shards of ice, and of course laser beams once more - he uses all of these in various combinations, rather than summoning a Persona for combat. Combined with the fact that he's clearly much faster than most of the Shadows, it's usually a quick clean-up if anything tries to bother him.]

Comments

So two birds walk into a subway

[herewardbound]

Bluntly: he had been stressed the fuck out.

Way too much had been going on, and he needed to do. Something. Futaba was fine for a few hours. The naval coat and mask settled onto him as familiar, comforting weights, and a brief check over himself showed that yes, everything was where it was supposed to be.

"Fucking hate these tunnels," he muttered, before proceeding. Mementos was so much more stifling than the skyscrapers of Pride or Greed had been, and even Wrath was so wide-open that he could at least breathe, or feel wind on his face. Mementos was nothing like any of them. It was an endless labyrinth of constantly-sifting tunnels, and the wind was often hot and humid and rank- like the breath of some predator.

Knowing what sat at the bottom, that wasn't even an inapt comparison.

Although...

Hm.

A proper Navigator he might not have been- but after enough time, you picked up a certain sensitivity to the atmosphere of the cognitive world that could serve something like it in a pinch. And, when he was alone... Something down here that wasn't a Shadow. Nor a Cognition, but wasn't the tiny supernova he'd expect from a Persona. Which... meant he had no idea what that was.

What fun.

He made his approach; time to go greet the neighbors.

do they start tweeting?

[paysforall]

Personas are a flash and burst of cognitive power, not unlike fireworks.

In contrast, a Reaper - or, frankly, a Player - in combat was more sustained; still fluctuating somewhat, but more like a fire that rises and falls as fuel is added and burned away. In some ways, it's more flashy than a Persona user would be, at least as far as what's happening to the enemies.

A brightly colored cartoon bullet leaves the chamber of his gun, bursting when it hits the center of a group of weak Shadows into pieces that take down the rest. The Akechi - maskless, taller and older by average - holding the gun spins, facing but not quite pointing the weapon at the new arrival.

He takes a moment there, before lowering the gun entirely to his side. "Not a Shadow," he observes, eyebrows raised. "Though I think I would definitely remember that outfit."

nobody tweets anymore, it's called X-ing now.

[herewardbound]

Huh. One more 'Goro Akechi' for the list. Funny, the way the world worked. "No, definitely not a shadow. Demon, by some metrics, but it's a long story."

He tilted his head, taking in the other man's appearance. A couple years older than the mean. And the wings... No mask, either. Weird.

Well, nothing for it. Test the waters with a joke. "Goro Akechi, I presume?"

[paysforall]

"Indeed. It's a pleasure to meet you, Goro Akechi." The shared joke is enough to bring an amused quirk to his lips, one that's reflected in his eyes - the expression is more open than on their younger selves, generally.

"Shrike, if you want to be more specific on the codenames front." He holsters the gun at his thigh, confident at least for the moment that he won't need it. "And I daresay we have quite a few long stories running around. I tend to get a few raised eyebrows on age alone, as you might guess."

[herewardbound]

"Phoenix. Too goddamn many of us, apparently. You do look older, though. I'm going to hazard a guess, and suggest that both of us have been through a great deal of additional bullshit compared to the others, which probably explains why we're both so far out of the norm."

1

[cybermask]

Futaba caught the sight of a Goro. Her brain looked over his clothes, before she made her way over. It was pretty clear he was people watching, a skill she had been taught by him several years ago. Here it was much easier, and less dramatic cognitions didnt have the same feel and drama as humans. She much preferred being able to over hear things about people's lives vs quiet scripts.

It was hard for her to hide her gremlin idea. She might as well get the shocking news about her out of the way.

"You know, I never thought I'd see my brother dressed like this." A loose smile on her face. It was clear she was sizing him up. Her brain running its own version of a scan on him. She was curious what he was looking out for.

i do not have a good ALARM!!! icon

[paysforall]

Anything and everything interesting - he's not to the point of capital-S Scanning the crowd, but mostly because he has noticed that if you put yourself out there in this place, someone interesting is bound to show up.

In this case, he keeps half an eye on Futaba as she approaches - her presence in itself doesn't startle him, but the words -

He recovers quickly. He'd been warned. But the surprise was still there, far more open and honest than that of the younger Akechis. He catches himself, to some extent, and the smile he gives her over his phone is mostly not feigned.

"And I never thought I would hear such words from my younger sister's mouth," he says, before stowing his phone. "Though if you were hoping to blindside me, I'm afraid that surprise in general was ruined for me some years ago."

It's nothing world-shattering to him. Just a painful fragment unresolved from a life he left behind.

[cybermask]

She did startle him a little, earning a small giggle. "At least your the first one not to be so shocked by it. Didn't share that with them?" She hummed.

"You don't act new here, but I've been here a couple of months and frankly I don't have a clue who you are other then the famed Goro Akechi." She scanned him again. He was a lot older than most of the others here.

"They don't call you old man right?" She teased.

[paysforall]

"I never saw the point in sharing it," he says simply. He killed his half-sister's mother; the murder itself is the only reason he knew, because if there was one thing Shido was bad it, it was keeping his mouth shut when it came to being smug about how he fucked people over.

Whatever clouds his expression for a moment there clears as he adds, "I've been away for some time, but it's not my first visit and I doubt it will be my last. If you heard any references to one of us codenamed Shrike, that's me."

[cybermask]

She shook her head. "No, there's no mention of a Shrike." Sorry, not sorry, was he even on the board? She should probably look again, make some note of what's on there. It had good information.

"Are you on team: murdered my mom, saved my mom, or no relation to mom?" She needed to keep a tally, but it seemed most people were teams one and two. Owl being the only one who potentially fell into three.

[nyxavatarmakoto]

Makoto was heading back out to Shibuya to get a present for Ren. Mainly as a thanks for being a decent friend, especially after the shit that had gone down a few days prior. When heading through the train station someone standing by the dog statue sticks out like a sore thumb, if not for being a face Makoto thinks he recognizes as one of many Akechis then definitely for the gothy shirt he seems to be wearing.

Whether he's new here or just knows his way around Tokyo better it would probably do well to travel with someone in case he ends up somewhere like that lab Ren called a palace again. He approaches, not sure if this Akechi wants people to introduce themselves to him or not.

[paysforall]

He doesn't look that different from the bog standard Akechi aside from the age and the outfit - the haircut is much the same, perhaps a touch longer. He looks up at the approach of an unfamiliar figure with raised eyebrows.

"Now that's an unfamiliar face," he says, not trying to disguise his interest.

[nyxavatarmakoto]

"Yours is familiar since there's a lot of you around." Makoto figures that comment is standard, and that this Akechi is familiar with the workings of the Velvet Room. "How long have you been standing there?" He's not judging, just curious.

[paysforall]

"Today, or in general?" A faint expression of amusement. "I'm afraid this is one of my favorite places to people-watch in any world. I've only been here around half an hour so far today, but I'd rather not tally them all up."

Because oh dear god that would be. So many hours. Just so many, over the last three years.

[nyxavatarmakoto]

"Half an hour seems like a long time for today." Not that Makoto could really blame him with the amount of time he just hung around somewhere with his headphones on. "Are there that many people to watch here?" Maybe in the real Shibuya but there weren't enough people in the Velvet Room to make that worth doing was there?

[willowandoak]

[ He catches Ren's eye for the same reason he did the first time they met. The clothes are hard to miss, and hard to mistake, now that he knows this Akechi. The red of Akechi's glove catches Ren's eye as he wanders over, reminding him for a second of being in Mementos with Akira.

He smiles easily enough when he reaches Akechi, but there are shadows under his eyes. ] Hey, man. Where've you been?

[paysforall]

[Ah, an actually familiar familiar face. Cue wave.]

Work, unfortunately. Disastrous long-term staffing shortage and all.

[He says it like he's a put-upon retail worker, albeit an amused one. Death is a part-timer forced to work extra hours.]

And then it took some time to find a way back, afterwards.

[willowandoak]

[ Wait, hold on. ]

You can leave and come back whenever you want?

[paysforall]

It wasn't my decision - I work for a sort of localized demigod with power over souls. He followed the thread of where I had gone and yanked on it.

[Not a comfortable sensation, from his tone. But we make do.]

[willowandoak]

Wish the localized god with power over my soul would yank me back home.

[ He says it in a lighthearted tone, and all, but he still looks tired. ]

2

[fogboundcrow]

[Raven had intended to visit Sparrow's Shadow, or perhaps train. Perhaps even both. He's clad in his princely attire, red mask and all, which probably looks a bit odd on a thirteen year old.

Consider his surprise, though, when he sees a winged, older Akechi attacking with elemental bullets. What the hell? This warrants much closer inspection.]

Impressive marksmanship. I don't suppose you know where to acquire a weapon like that?

[paysforall]

[...Ah. This one is small. Hopefully it's the younger self of the one he usually talks to, who awakened to his Persona in Inaba, because otherwise that means there are two thirteen-year-old Akechis wandering the Metaverse, and that's not ideal.]

If you mean a gun in general... Well, putting aside that I probably shouldn't be telling children where to obtain illegal firearms, I usually pick them up from black marketeers.

If you're looking for one that works as this one does, however -

[One more Shadow, in the distance. He sights, he fires - a bullet too large for the actual barrel of the gun shoots out in a streak of blue-green before exploding into ball lightning at the end.]

I'm afraid it's nothing to do with the weapon at all. It's simply my preferred tool for focusing psychs.

[fogboundcrow]

Psychs as in psychokinesis?

[Congratulations, Shrike, you have his attention...

He should probably stay on guard, though, and so it's not long before Raven draws his Proof of Justice, just in case more Shadows interrupt their conversation.]

Odd. I didn't realize psychic powers encompassed elemental abilities.

[paysforall]

Only on certain planes. I'm fortunate that the cognitive world is one of them, though perhaps it's not too surprising, since Personas aren't that dissimilar.

[There don't seem to be any more Shadows around for the moment - the thing about being as flashy as most psychs are is that it makes battle obvious. And Shadows do have some self-preservation.]

And pyrokinesis isn't unheard of in the 'real world,' now is it? Though of course, that's mostly middle-aged women affecting the air around candle flames with their hands or breathing and thinking they moved it with their minds.

[fogboundcrow]

Hmm... Would that make you the reaper? Crow had mentioned you before, though I admit I haven't gotten all of the details.

[Still, his logic is sound. In fact, the talk of fire brings to mind something else.]

Actually, now that I think about it, I suppose magic tricks could take on a more potent form in a world like this.

[So would that also tie into psychokinesis? Very, very interesting.]