[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

[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."

[fireandfaith]

Ann stills at the news. A Shiho was here? She doesn't know if she wants to see her if she's still around...that seems like it would be a lot more painful than interacting with a dozen alternate Goro Akechis. She wishes she could ask someone, though, if she'd seemed happy.

"Probably not!" Ann manages to say, as cheerfully as she can. "That's just how it seems to be here, doesn't it? For the most part at least. We can talk to people we know, but it's not the people we know." Case in point, the two of them. "Does it ever get...you know, exhausting?"

[herewardbound]

"A bit. I'm keeping myself sane knowing that this time it's not- that we don't forget everything if we leave, and won't lose any time. Or so Igor says. And I've never once known him to lie. It would be nice if I could see my team or my family, at least."

[fireandfaith]

Yeah, it--it would. Ann's settled into her new timeline, she's accepted it and grieved what she's lost...but if she could somehow see the friends of her prior timeline again; if she could somehow just make even one of them remember the time they spent together and the shit they went through...

Ah. Well. No point in thinking about it, is there?

"I understand that," Ann says, soft. "At the very least, there is some comfort in knowing that this all won't just--get erased. I'd hate for it all to end like that for us. Again."

[herewardbound]

Again.

He found himself staring, at her. There was that word. Again.

"Feels like they stay with you, doesn't it. You remember, but you know even if you met them again... it wouldn't be the same. Because they wouldn't."

[fireandfaith]

"It's like being haunted by ghosts," Ann says, "except you're the one that's the ghost, not ready to move on. Clinging to the past like denial."

Her fingers twine together as she stares down at the ground, clinging to the only thing she's had since this all started: herself.

"I could meet and love a hundred Shihos, or Akiras, or Ryujis, and it would still never be them. The only place they all still exist...is in my memory. And you have to walk a fine line between cherishing that or wallowing in it."

[herewardbound]

It was exactly like that. There wasn't a day that went by he didn't feel eyes on his back. His Magician. His Faith. Others, that Igor had said he hadn't forged 'blood oaths' with- but he remembered them. All the time.

Ann. Futaba. Others, too, not quite as close, not as readily trusted. The horned woman who'd invited him to her wedding. The ancient sorcerer who'd taught him dreamotion. The witch who'd pulled him out of his nightmares time and again. The pale boy who'd so excitedly taught him to sign.

Lovers. Justice. Chariot. Death. Moon. Sun. All gone, passing daydreams that fled with the first light of morning.

And yet... because he'd cheated, he remembered.

It was an awkward gesture, really, with all the practiced grace of an ox with anxiety in a china shop- but he put a hand on her shoulder.

[fireandfaith]

Ann sees the touch coming--someone of his size can't really do subtle movements when they're so close and facing each other, is the thing--so she doesn't startle when it lands on her shoulder. Instead, she settles into it, placing her own hand atop his own and letting the gesture, the warmth and solidity of it, speak for itself.