[open/intro]

[fireandfaith]

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!]

Comments

[herewardbound]

A snort. "He tried to kill the living shit out of you and, somehow, didn't imagine that fighting you eight or nine on one was a dumb fucking idea, didn't he."

[fireandfaith]

Ann's smile gets a little tight. "It was a one-on-one fight, actually," she says, just above a whisper. Their fight had been brutal and ugly, after all--she'd nearly died, and she's never stopped being aware that she's only alive because he fled after she'd awakened to Célestine; her Goro doesn't seem to share that same awareness, but he also thinks she still has access to Hecate. "He backed off when Célestine came out, though. I think the idea that someone other than him had two Personas broke his brain."

[herewardbound]

He blinked. "One on one, and you drove him off? I'm... genuinely impressed, actually." What had happened, there. Something would've had to have gone dramatically differently, if Ann had had an encounter with an Akechi- while having Hecate- and won, awakening or no. Also, She had Célestine, now. And his opposite number hadn't seen a second or third awakening. Interesting.

"There's a story there, definitely, it feels like. What do you say? You tell me yours and I tell you mine?"

[fireandfaith]

"Sure," Ann says, because--it feels good to say it out loud and admit to it, actually, when she's been keeping it inside for months; because this Akechi has been kind and friendly to her so far...and because, honestly? She's really curious as to what his deal is, and she holds firm to the sacred bond of tit for tat.

"I knew most of his tricks already, see," Ann says. "He was still stronger than me, of course, but--I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm actually a...time traveler, I guess. So I'd met him before, but he hadn't known me. So he'd been cautious, I think." Brutal, yeah, but cautious. He'd hit hard from far away, and when Ann's rage and desperation had forged Hecate into Célestine, he'd vanished like a ghost. Her jumping on that chance encounter as an excuse to confront him in the real world had spooked him, she thinks; part of her can't blame him. "We're working together now, actually...if a little reluctantly."

[herewardbound]

"Time travel."

INHALE. "Yeah, that's about par for the course. Why the fuck not? Cats can be helicopters, Hell has musical numbers, multiverse theory's a bitch, and Ann Takamaki's a time traveler. This. Might as well just happen." Now seemed like a great time to stand, and stretch, and finish his drink. Only when the bottle of Miscellaneous Blue Fluid™ was empty, did he speak again.

"Well, at least he's got someone marginally in his corner. The short version is I died and went to Hell. That's leaving out about... a year and a half's worth of details between the two events, but it's close enough to the truth it's easy enough to explain without going into the entire... everything that happened."

[fireandfaith]

Ann is a little amused by how thrown this Akechi seems by her confession of something that seems a little pedestrian compared to his casual drop of hell is real and I went there when I died. Like. Hello? What?

Ann decides she's going to accept that, and then not think about it, except for that fact that... "Well. Better make sure my Goro doesn't die, then." No offense to this Akechi, who has been nothing but friendly, but she doesn't really want her Goro to go to hell?

"Ah, I understand a long story," Ann commiserates. "My long story short is that friend of mine made a dumbass decision, and because I love him, when I was given the chance I decided to try and fix it."

[herewardbound]

A dumbass decision, huh. "Honestly, if you can pull him back before November happens, if things are happening in much the same way... there are probably ways out of his situation. I didn't get that chance, but if I've learned anything, spending time with the Phantoms... it's that you're all dumbasses, and I was Lord King of Dumbass Island for not realizing you were the best thing that ever happened to me."

He smiled, a little apologetically. "Like I said, there's a lot of details left out. I was in a place not unlike this one for a year and a half. Ran into Ren there, and Sumire, and Futaba, and... Ann. They pulled me out of a very... bad. Place, mentally. As for the going to Hell... that was by choice. In a lot of ways, it's not all that much worse than the living world. In a few very specific ways, it's much, much worse. But we're... working on that. On the plus side, got a home and a family that actually gave a shit. Got a life. So... more than a fair trade, in my opinion."

[fireandfaith]

Ann finds herself fighting back tears, a little bit. Her throat feels tight at the crude but clearly very true words; she's grateful that a version of her, somewhere out there in infinite worlds, managed to be there for this Akechi, for however long they were together.

She smiles, a little fond. "Working to make the world you live in a better place, huh...sounds almost like the actions of a Phantom Thief, wouldn't you say?"

[herewardbound]

"Yeah, well. There's a lot of red in my ledger. I can't pay it back, so all I can do is... forge ahead."

He didn't feel like they were behind him, watching his every move. No, ma'am. That would be crazy, and extremely sad, probably.

"Besides, you only say that because you haven't been there for the. Constant. Fucking up. Getting real good at that part."

[fireandfaith]

"I think I can relate to that. It's like a prerequisite to being one of us, isn't it? 'Must have fucked up at some point in their life.' You just got the...really short end of that particular stick, I guess." Ann shrugs. "I think anyone who tries instead of just giving up is worthy of a little faith."

(She's not thinking at all about the Akira of her original timeline, who chose to take the easy road--who gave up, and took Yaldabaoth's deal, instead of fighting.

She loves him. She's here because she loves him enough to fight for him; to fight for all of them.

She's not thinking about the fact that he didn't love them enough to do the same--or that fact that she's not sure she'll ever be able to forgive him for that.)

[herewardbound]

He snorted. "Shit, there was supposed to be a stick? Nobody told me. Now I feel like I should've filed a complaint. Who else got a stick?"

[fireandfaith]

"I mean, who hasn't?" Ann quips, "I'm juggling so many sticks I've got enough to start a bonfire, probably." A burst of laughter, before her smile melts into something a little more melancholy. "I've done things I'm not proud of," she admits. "But one of them meant that--in my current timeline, Shiho never had to go through what the prior her did. And Akira's criminal record never leaked, so he's been having a pretty good school year! That...when I'm feeling really bad, and really sorry for myself...that's what keeps me going. It's worth the fuck ups, if it meant I saved them, you know?"

[herewardbound]

... Ah.

"You killed Kamoshida, didn't you." There was no judgment. "I understand. Honestly. There was this... Overlord. A Sinner, a mortal soul that was sent to Hell and amassed power there. Valentino. He ran a fucking porn studio, and you can... imagine. What that was like. We considered taking him on in the Metaverse, but his Palace was too well-defended, too above what we could manage. Had to make a deal with someone who could do something about it, to get a friend out from under his control."

He hadn't been the one to take on Val, that'd been Dante, but the man had had... too fucking many guards. Thugs on his payroll, all armed. "He died screaming, and I look at how happy his victim is now, how much more free... no. I don't regret that. A Change of Heart is a powerful tool, but sometimes I think... the victims are the ones who deserve to make the call, whether or not a second chance is deserved."

cw: sexual assault, murder

[fireandfaith]

"...I didn't go into things intending to do that," Ann says, a little hollow. "I really was just going to clear his Palace, but he--" The way she'd frozen, for all her bravado and confidence, when Kamoshida's Shadow had loomed too close and there were no teammates with her to draw his attention away; his hands on her waist, on her skin, and then--fire. Fire, and his screams, until there was silence, and nothing left to burn. "I don't regret it, though." She'd gone home in shock that night...but she hadn't regretted it once since then. Suguru Kamoshida was not someone who haunted her. Sometimes, she wonders what that says about her.

(And when she wonders, she remembers: he was a piece of shit, and he deserved to die.)

"Yeah," Ann says, darkly, "I can absolutely imagine." With a bright, cheerful satisfaction that belies the context of what they're speaking about, she adds: "Good for you!"

[herewardbound]

His brow furrowed, slightly, catching her expression... And there was something there that sent a pang of regret lancing through him. Once again, that he hadn't met Ren Amamiya earlier. Hadn't had a chance to help against Kamoshida.

He'd seen that expression before, after all. Too many times, on a face framed with hair just like his. "Don't think about it in terms of whether or not he deserved it. Think about it in terms of harm prevented. He was never going to see justice. He was going to hurt people again. Killing to protect others isn't going to taint your soul or whatever, Ann. And if it's any reassurance at all... even if it did, I've got a team that could use you." He smiled, and offered his left hand, to shake. "Come on, let's quit talking about this depressing shit. I haven't lived in Tokyo for years, you should show me where those crepes are."

[fireandfaith]

Ann takes in a deep breath...and lets it go.

"You're right," she says, simply, because that's all there is to it and anything more is words and breath wasted on a dead man who isn't worth them. "C'mon--I have a few favourite crepe places, but there's this stall in Inokashira park that Shiho and I would stop by on days where she wanted to run..." She just keeps on going. Listing enough locations where one can purchase crepes that she could probably fill a travel guide with only that information.

[herewardbound]

"Here, this one's the Tokyo door-" he had to duck, to step through it, but that was fine, really.

"Ann, be honest with me, how much fucking sugar do you eat in a day-"

[fireandfaith]

Halfway through taking in a breath before she continues to ramble about crepe shops, Ann pouts. "Like, a normal amount!" she says. "I just like some variety in where I get it from." Plus she really, really hates being in her empty house all alone. Wandering around to different cafes is an easy way to kill a few hours before having to go to school or home. And it burns the sugar off, too! It's like...a perfect symbiosis. Or something.

She puts her hands on her hips. "You don't get to judge my crepes, pancake boy."

[herewardbound]

"Ughhhh. I don't want to hear. About the fucking pancakes. Okay? You know what sucks? I don't even like. Pancakes. I wasn't thinking about Metaverse shit, I was thinking about keeping up appearances and that fucking pop-up cafe that was trending and how I needed to write something for that fucking food blog but nooooo, Ren fucking Amamiya has a talking cat in his bookbag ready to fucking narc on me. This? This is why I'm a dog person."

[fireandfaith]

"First impressions last," is all Ann says, light and airy, before laughing. "Sorry, sorry, but it's never not going to be funny that pancakes were your smoking gun." And then, because she's on a roll and her brain-to-mouth filter isn't: "Really? You seem more like a bird person to me!"

[herewardbound]

"I think birds are fantastic, actually. Corvids are incredibly intelligent, social animals that are even capable of using and making simple tools to solve problems. I like dogs. I wanted one when I was younger, but... there was never really an opportunity for it."

A glint in his eye, as he glanced back at her. "Besides, could you imagine me as a hellhound? No thank you. I think I'd go insane with all the shedding."

[fireandfaith]

"But you could get a dog now, couldn't you?" Ann asks. "I actually always really wanted a cat, but my parents didn't want one in the house when I was too young. Now that I'm older, I'm alone in the house, so they extra don't want me to have one." If she ever encounters Morgana, that rule is so getting broken.

[herewardbound]

"I could, theoretically, but there aren't really any mundane animals in Hell, so it'd be a pain in the ass to get one... and also Hellhounds are people, not dogs. So for obvious reasons, that's out of the question."

[fireandfaith]

"Like Morgana!" Ann says. "Since he's a people, not a cat." And probably not a demon? Much to think about.

"Sounds like something else to add on to the list of things you need to make changes about," Ann says. "When I went to visit Shiho in rehab, there were therapy animals all over the place. I bet that could really be a big help for some people down there, if you could figure something out."

[herewardbound]

"I'd worry about the local wildlife eating them, actually," he muttered. "But it definitely sounds... nice."

A pause. "Wait, Shiho Suzui. I just remembered, I saw her here. We never interacted, but I knew the name and face from case files, I , ah. Sorry, I just remembered and thought you might like to know. Probably... not yours, though."