personavelvetroomdr | [open/intro]

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[open/intro]

Ann knows this place.

This shade of blue, and the song...though its notes flow far more harmoniously than they had the last (and only) time she'd heard them, the melody itself is enough to make Ann's heartbeat kick up a notch. That song only plays in the Velvet Room--and the Velvet Room is not a place she wants to be. Lavenza had said it. Her gut had said it--and Elizabeth had confirmed it. The Velvet Room was in the control of Yaldabaoth, wearing the skin of Igor.

Ann had never met Igor, personally, but both Akira in the previous timeline and the Attendants she'd encountered had painted a vivid picture of him. Taking in her surroundings carefully (this Room matched neither the descriptions of a prison Akira had once given her, or the crumbling ruins Lavenza had pulled her into at the End of a World), Ann eyes the man she can only assume is Yaldabaoth. And, even if it is truly Igor...

She's never met the man, and she doesn't trust anything he has to say to her. She might not be garbed in her will of rebellion, currently, but Célestine is always with her, and steeling her spine with a little of her flame, Carmine stands tall and proud.

Ann takes in the doors. Makes a split second decision that she shouldn't just be rushing into making a decision; Lavenza, and Elizabeth, she trusts--and she's heard Elizabeth describe their siblings enough that she feels as though she can trust them too. She'll poke around in this unfamiliar Velvet Room for now, and see if she can't encounter one of them...or at least someone who can tell her what's going on.

[OOC: check out Ann's AU info and perms here!]

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My, it's been busy in the Velvet Room today, hasn't it? This Akechi walks out of the Inaba door, doing his daily round to check for new arrivals and update Raven's conspiracy board as needed. With Shrike's return, there is some pertinent information to update, but that can wait.

He knows that face. And while it's true that a version of Ann appeared at least at one point, this one seems... confused. Certainly not the same one, but it's comforting all the same. So many of the Phantom Thieves have been absent from his life for nearly half a year now.

So, he takes a chance and approaches, clad in his shujin uniform, black turtleneck, gloves, and... a ring? A rather pretty black ring fashioned after Joker's mask with red gemstones.

"It's a lot to take in, isn't it?"

Ann has encountered what could be called a generous handful of Goro Akechis in her time spent loitering in the Velvet Room, trying to gather her bearings, but it's somehow this one--this one, clad in a Shujin uniform, and not the surprisingly friendly demon one--that succeeds in (briefly) breaking her brain.

Stop. Reboot. What?

"Okay," Ann says, a little dazed, "I've seen everything now, I think." And that is not a challenge, universe!

She shakes her head, as if to get her thoughts back in order. "Um, yeah," she says. "Am I wrong in assuming your name is Goro Akechi, or...?"

"One of at least a dozen, yes." To his credit, he remains rather calm, even chuckling at the reaction. But, ever the helpful one, he gestures toward a nearby conspiracy board. "If you need more information, my younger self assembled a board that covers most of the basics in more depth, seeing how our host errs on the side of cryptic."

Following the path of his gesture, Ann spots the board across the room, and valiantly ignores the mention of a younger self. If she encounters him, she encounters him! But until that day, for the sake of her own sanity, she does not want to know.

His final comment gets a little smile from Ann. "I've heard that," she agrees. "He is the real Igor, then? Not Yaldabaoth?"

(Though, if he had been Yaldabaoth, Ann's not sure how she would have gotten here in the first place? Lavenza had promised her protection from his sight, and so far, that protection has held up faultlessly)

Crow follows her, nodding at her question. "At the very least, he's more accurate to the Igor that I knew when I was younger. Whether or not he is the same Igor as the one that Yaldabaoth usurped is a tad more nebulous, given the intersection of different realities here."

He rests his left hand on his hip, surveying the board for any new additions before casting another glance at Igor himself. "He may not be the most forthcoming, but he's been a benevolent host these past few months. The worst thing he's done is transform one of the other Akechis as well as one of the Rens into children to impart some vital life lessons. Both have since returned to their prior states, and their child selves returned home, armed with the knowledge to change their futures."

Ann ruminates on the information this Akechi has given her. So, he's not evil, which is a win, she supposes...all the same. She doesn't think she's ever going to be fully comfortable in any Igor's presence, thanks to Yaldabaoth--unfortunate for the man himself, but it is what it is. The revelation that he can apparently mess around with someone's personal time--it shouldn't be shocking, really, considering Lavenza was the one who sent her back in time, so it's something within the realms of what the Velvet Room can do...but it is unsettling. Even if it was for a 'lesson.'

(Ann, it must be known: is a little judgemental, these days. And a lot paranoid.)

She's scanning the board and taking in the headache's worth of observations that have been pinned up across it, when she comes across a particularly pertinent piece of information. "You're Crow, then?"

"That's right. A few of my duplicates were disappointed that I claimed it first, but it's not as though there were very many of us at first." So he shrugs. That was quite a while ago, anyway. At the time, Akiras and Rens were far more prominent, and now the tables have turned. "And for what it's worth, it is good to see you, even if you aren't the Ann from my world. We've had a distinct shortage of Phantom Thieves here... that is, if you are a Phantom Thief."

Far be it from him to fully assume when so many familiar faces are decidedly of different backgrounds here.

"First come, first served!" Ann notes cheerfully. "And...that. Is a question with a complicated answer." She shrugs, a little helpless. "You have time to hear it?"

"I think we all have nothing but time here." He would lean against the board, but given that it's mounted on wheels, that would risk nudging it around. Alas, he'll just have to settle for standing by it instead. "My own story is a rather complicated one, anyway."

A story for a story, perhaps? Well, time will tell.

"Well..." Ann frowns. Where to start? "I guess...the first thing you need to know is that I'm a time traveler. In the original timeline I lived through...someone made a decision, in the end. It was the wrong one, so Lavenza called out for help, and I...I was the one that answered." She resists the urge to make jazzhands at the end of that statement. If she doesn't joke about it she's just going to get sad, you know? But like, there's a time and a place, Ann.

"From there, I've mostly just been trying to fix things, as best I can...I'm not a thief, in my current timeline, though they're still around. And--oh! I'm going by Carmine, now, if you're used to Anns using Panther."

(She considers, for a moment, saying: and I killed Suguru Kamoshida, just to see how this Akechi would react. But the words are hard to say at the best of times, nevermind to a stranger for what would essentially be misplaced spite.)

Crow listens closely, chin in hand. Another time traveler... That makes at least two. How interesting. "For what it's worth, I'm no stranger to realities where the wrong choice was made. There's actually a version of me whose Ren chose a reality that was 'perfect' at the cost of that Akechi's wishes and agency. The end result has left him... pleasant, but unable to process anything related to Personas or cognitive spaces, while everything he was festers in Mementos as a vengeful Shadow."

He takes a moment to let that sink in, harrowing as it is. "But I do think it's admirable that you're using the knowledge you've gained to fight for a better outcome. If you can, try to ensure that your world's version of me survives, as otherwise I suspect Dr. Maruki may try to use his life as a bartering chip when he rises to power."

Ann's just opened her mouth to say oh I think I've met that Akechi, he was creepysad in a pathetic wet puppy way, when Crow says Dr. Maruki and she can't help the "WHAT?" she shrieks out.

"Like, my school counselor?" she asks, baffled. "What on earth does he have to do with...anything?" He hadn't even been hired in the original timeline? How could he have anything to do with Yaldabaoth or Shido's conspiracy?

He'd just...seemed so normal. A waste of time, and kind of pushy, which is why Ann hadn't gone back after the mandatory session Shujin had made every student sign up for, but like...a regular guy???

Crow pinches the bridge of his nose. So she doesn't know... Well, he can't blame her. He didn't have tangible evidence himself until he arrived here. "As it turns out, Dr. Maruki is a cognitive psientist and has the ability to alter cognition. If you want another example, look no further than 'Kasumi' Yoshizawa... or as she's truly known, Sumire. It would appear that Maruki made her truly believe she is her dead sister, and in time, may gain the power to alter reality itself."

Ann has. No words for that. Like, literally no words. She has to take a moment to conjure some up.

Kasumi Yoshizawa, first year. The underclassman that sits with them at lunch, who she considers a friend--that's she's like, 100% certain is a Phantom Thief; the one called 'Ember,' from overhearing them talk when she followed them through Mementos.

Kasumi has never mentioned a Sumire. But Ann doesn't know her as well as the boys do.

"That's...terrifying," Ann says. "Something I'll absolutely have to look into once I get home." She grips the bracelet that sits, unbreakable, on her wrist. Lavenza's boon grants her protection from Yaldabaoth's sight...not people who can fuck with reality. Confronting Maruki would likely be extremely dangerous, but she can keep an eye on him. Sincerely, she tells Crow: "Thanks for the heads up."

"And what about you?" She asks, honestly curious. "What's your story?" The Shujin uniform means he can't be any ordinary Akechi, after all.

Ann's reaction is understandable. It's a lot to absorb. Maruki is, after all, by all appearances a bumbling bleeding heart of a counselor whose suggestions border on the idealistic at best and actively regressive at worse. Even with Futaba suspecting him before, Crow wasn't entirely sold.

Funny how swiftly that can change.

But, onto more pressing matters, he supposes. "My story begins not too dissimilarly from other versions of me. My mother worked in the red light district, abandoned by my monster of a sperm donor, and though she tried her best to make ends meet, it... wasn't enough, and in the end, she could no longer take it."

He averts his eyes, squeezing them shut for a moment.

"So I cycled from orphanage to shitty foster home. Years later, I found myself in one of the worst homes yet in Inaba, but it was also in Inaba that I found my salvation. A boy by the name of Kanji Tatsumi saw me, reached out to me, and reported the abuse to the authorities and, somehow, it worked. I found myself in the care of Detective Ryotaro Dojima, living with him and his daughter Nanako, though in time complications piled up, between the start of a supernatural serial murder case and the arrival of Dojima-san's nephew, Yu Narukami."

He'll let that sink in before he continues. That is, after all, a lot of information.

Edited 2024-01-28 02:39 (UTC)

Ann lets herself really properly think about what she's going to say before she says it; Crow just shared a lot of really personal things with her--things she doesn't even know about her own Akechi, assuming at least their early lives are mostly the same (things she is, guiltily, going to store in the back of her mind for later use. Or leverage. Once she gets home).

"I'm sorry that happened to you," Ann says sincerely. "And I'm glad you've found a better home now...even if it doesn't quite sound like that's all there is to it." Supernatural serial murder case? ...Though that's not all that different to the mental shutdowns plaguing Tokyo. Assuredly with a different perp behind them, though.

"Ha. Far from it. After all, there was the Midnight Channel, a mysterious broadcast that aired on rainy nights, where you'd have to stare at a powered off TV screen to witness it. Then there was the TV world, full of Shadows and dungeons born of people's repressed emotions..."

He rattles it off with an amused tone of voice, though his smile soon fades, giving way to something more serious.

"Both were deeply intertwined with the serial murder case. Two innocent women lost their lives after being thrust into the TV world. It could have been more, had our ragtag team not pursued the truth both in and outside the TV world. It was a busy year, but in that time I found lifelong friends, awakened as a Wild Card, and fought a literal god." He pauses. "...One of many. Golden Week the following year nearly led to another apocalypse, and a few months later, we had to save the world by dancing."

What a ridiculous turn of events that was.

"That's, a lot..." Ann's struggling just to deal with her one Persona incident. She cannot imagine having to live through more as a just, continuous thing?

"You're a Wild Card, then..." She'd been wondering for a while, because Goro was the only person she knew besides Akira to have had more than one Persona at a time. She herself technically has the potential now, but only because of her contract with Liz. "Is that common, for Goro Akechi?"

(And. Damn. She wishes she could save the world by dancing. She's not half bad--it'd be a hell of a lot easier than all of this subterfuge.)

"As far as I know. Any time a Persona user wields more than one, that typically makes them a Wild Card, though the lack of additional Personas may simply be a result from a more distant relationship with others."

Hmm... On the other hand, that might not be a fully accurate statement. "Then again, there are cases where entire teams of Persona users could wield multiple Personas. Evidently, it was much more common in the 1990's."

Yes, Ann. Persona business has been going on for that long.

It's startling, to have a date so far back confirmed as a time where Persona users were active--the Velvet Attendants had always felt a sort of timeless to Ann, but the whole cognitive realm had not. If any of the Persona users from back then were still around...

Ann doesn't trust adults. But if there was anyone she could ask for advice, or help--anyone who Yaldabaoth didn't have his eyes on--it would probably be them. Right? She makes a mental note to ask around about locations and names, later. Just to cover her bases.

"I wonder how they pick their Wild Cards," Ann muses, "I guess I technically am one right now, but it's sort of a proxy thing? I made a contract with Elizabeth, and she 'loaned' me her potential."

"Oh, you've met Elizabeth?" How interesting. Crow tips his head down, stroking his chin. "In my world, she ceased to be a Velvet Room attendant, though she did appear during the 'P-1 Grand Prix' to test Yu's potential and again after we defeated Hi-no-Kagutsuchi. As I understand it, she also reached out to Labrys-san around that time..."

Quite the enigmatic one, that Elizabeth.

"Regardless, I believe you can trust her. For as eccentric as she is, she generally has good intentions."

"I think that happened in my world, too," Ann says. "The entire reason I met Elizabeth is because she wasn't in the Velvet Room when Yaldabaoth took it over. She ambushed me in Shibuya because she sensed the deal I'd made with Lavenza, and offered a deal of her own--her aid, in Persona fusions, and in turn I would tell her everything I know and work to free her siblings from Yaldabaoth." Ann would never forget the way Elizabeth's eyes had burned when Ann had told her of what had been done to Lavenza...and that she had no idea what had befallen Theodore or Margaret.

"She's been helpful, so far," Ann admits. "If...enigmatic, I guess, would be the best way to put it." Elizabeth functions on a wavelength the rest of them can't hope to tune into, most of the time.

"Yaldabaoth trapped them? In my world, Margaret and Theodore were forcibly ejected from the Velvet Room, while Lavenza went missing..." Either way, they were 'dealt with,' but it seems that fate was kinder to the two of them than in Ann's world. Crow makes a mental note about this.

"But enigmatic certainly is an apt way to describe her. Elizabeth is fiercely independent, coming and going as she pleases. I always had trouble assessing her actions and intentions. Then again, part of being a Wild Card is being adaptable, and she certainly has taken to her life outside the Velvet Room rather well, all things considered."

"We don't actually know what happened to Theodore or Margaret," Ann says, "but Elizabeth thinks that something must have, otherwise they would have contacted her when the Velvet Room became inaccessible." Ann, sadly, hadn't been much help on that front--she hadn't even known they'd existed until Elizabeth had asked her if she knew what had happened to her siblings other than Lavenza; Lavenza, Ann had had to explain, simply had not had enough time to tell her anything that wasn't vital.

"I mostly see her in Shibuya, when we meet in person. I have no idea where she goes when she isn't there, but I do agree that she's probably not doing anything bad."

"At most, she's probably just throwing ridiculous sums of money into wishing wells." He'd heard about that in passing. Other odd little excursions here and there as well. A quiet little chuckle slips from him at the memory, though it's fleeting.

"Margaret and Theodore have effectively gone incognito as ordinary humans. Kirijo-san has helped them acclimate as best she can, even pulling some strings to plant Margaret at Shujin. It's certainly been beneficial to have a homeroom teacher who knows me and is familiar with metacognitive phenomena."

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cw abuse mention, suicide mention

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