[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]

That's a lot to take in. But Ann's very aware that she's a time traveler and Morgana is a cat, so maybe she doesn't have much of a leg to stand on, here.

That...that is a wild list, though. And a pretty long one, too (mascot costume???).

"So...sort of like if we'd dragged Sojiro into the Metaverse and he'd awakened a Persona, I guess..." Ann muses, before shuddering. She doesn't think Boss would have taken that well--even if he would have enjoyed being able to understand Morgana.

[fogbornphantom]

"If Sakura-san was a detective on a supernatural serial murder case that you and your friends were investigating behind his back, yes." Which, naturally, added an extra layer of complications that may have hit differently in Sojiro's case. Heh.

But for as amusing as it is to think about on paper, Crow's smile soon flattens, and he sighs. "Regrettably, we didn't have much leisure time to properly acquaint him with the TV world. Almost immediately after we rescued him, we had to plunge back into the TV world to save my sister."

Tension grips him at the memory, and he cringes. Deep breaths. It's fine. It's fine.

[fireandfaith]

Ann frowns, seeing how Crow tenses. It really seems...like this affected him in a strong way. "I guess your situation...was a lot closer to home," Ann says. "Makes sense, if you consider a small town compared to Tokyo..." Every request and every Palace had hit hard, for Panther. She'd never forgotten even a single one. But it's not like they'd really been personal, except for the one that started it all; all of the friends she'd made, she'd made during or after the fact, so it didn't really count.

"You saved her, though." It's not a question. Ann says it with confidence, meant as a reassurance to the boy who looks so shaken by his memories before her.

[fogbornphantom]

"She's still alive today, thankfully, but I..." He averts his eyes, wincing. "Let's just say that in the aftermath, I chased the killer into the TV world, fully determined to end him, and it didn't go nearly as well as I had hoped. It was a rather rude awakening, both in the metaphorical sense and in the literal sense."

Loki... certainly knew how to make an explosive entrance, at least.

[fireandfaith]

"Ah," Ann says. "Well. I certainly understand rushing into impulsive decisions like that." It's how she got Carmen in the first place, after all--filled with righteous wrath and right on the heels of the boys she knew had answers.

It's why, back home, Suguru Kamoshida is dead.

"As long as you made it out in one piece," Ann says bracingly. "A win is a win, right? Even if it's not exactly the win you were hoping for."

[fogbornphantom]

"Well, the funny thing is, Adachi got away. It wasn't even the real version of him... just a life-like illusion. My friends and family bore witness to me under the influence of Call of Chaos..." And here he hesitates. The memory remains unpleasant, after all. "They didn't reject me, at least, but I felt so ashamed. Loki's power was useful to fight Adachi, but it wasn't a power I wanted to rely on."

[fireandfaith]

"That just means you're strong," Ann says firmly. "Like how being brave is standing your ground, even when you're afraid. Knowing that power wasn't something you wanted to use again..." Ann can admit to herself, if it had been her in Crow's place; if it was her in Crow's place...she doesn't think she'd be able to make the same decision. She'd wheedle herself into using it because it's so useful, because she's always had more in common with the Black Mask than most of her friends--and especially herself--wanted to think about.

"That's strength, Crow," Ann says. "Of course your family didn't reject you. They knew you, and they would have known that no power could change who you were really."

[fogbornphantom]

"Thank you." Aw, look at that. The barest trace of a smile reforms, and he wheezes a self-defeated laugh. "Rationally, I know this. Any family that's worth a damn wouldn't disown someone over righteous anger, but the heart and mind often wage war with one another. Doubly so when you've lived as I have."

He looks down, bringing a hand over his chest. "I can only hope that your struggles haven't been nearly so dire."

[fireandfaith]

Ann smiles back at him, before shrugging. "Well, I've certainly had less troubles," she says. "You've been going since you were just a kid! That's crazy, to me. On the whole...I think I'm doing okay. Mostly things have been good, honestly." It's amazing, that for all the hardship of solitude...when she's not in the Metaverse, when she's just Ann hanging out with her friends? This new timeline of hers shines in a way the last one didn't, because that's literally what they are. Just...friends, hanging out. None of the Thief stuff looming over their heads because they can't talk about it around Ann; none of that hollow feeling because Shiho is there with them.

[fogbornphantom]

"If you think that's crazy, Ken has been at it since he was ten." Crow remembers being so envious of that. So competitive. Ken had a head start! Naturally, that meant he had to catch up. The memory brings a nostalgic whisper of a laugh forth. "But it's good to hear that things aren't too terrible. I know enough about the situation to have a broader idea of the pieces on the board, so to speak. Yaldabaoth is certainly going to be a tricky hurdle when we return..."

[fireandfaith]

"Maruki too, apparently..." Ann sighs. "Forewarned is forearmed, at least? If you know what's coming, you can brace for it a little bit." It's what's gotten Ann as far as it has--knowing things from the prior timeline. She never would have gotten this far without having already lived through the year; she's not dumb, but she's not fooling anyone (especially not herself) by claiming to be smart. There's a reason she wasn't in any sort of leadership role in the Thieves, after all.

"The key to Yaldabaoth is his arrogance, I think," Ann offers. "There's a reason Lavenza made him blind to me, over any other gift she could have given--because he's too above it all to think he can't see everything, and that gives me wiggle room. A head on fight...might work, if you have the manpower behind you, especially since you know so many more Persona users than I do...but the best bet is probably trying to find a way to lead him into a defeat of his own making." That's what Ann's trying to do, at least. It's slow going, but it's going.

[fogbornphantom]

"It's good that Lavenza was able to assist you. Regrettably, she is still missing in my world, replaced with two strange children who act as wardens." He's seen them with Ren on occasion. There is a likeness to them, but he's not wholly sure what to make of it. "My Ren does at least know that the Igor he's faced is an impostor. The trouble comes from maintaining the ruse of ignorance so that Yaldabaoth does not realize how aware we truly are."

They've found ways. Workarounds. "I've also heard that targeting the grail's cables may be a useful way to defeat him when the time comes, but I've yet to put it into practice."

[fireandfaith]

Ann--stills. Does he not know? How doesn't he know? Aren't there a bunch of Akiras here? Or Rens? Hasn't even one of them mentioned the truth of Caroline and Justine?

Carefully, wary--not wanting to say something upsetting if this is something that is different between their worlds, too--Ann asks: "Those girls...are their names Caroline and Justine?"

Ann nods at his second point. "That's what we did, at least. But as for what comes after..." She shrugs, helpless. She wouldn't be here if there was an after, after all.

[fogbornphantom]

"I believe so. Margaret found them rather... concerning, as did Theodore." But it's odd. A fake Igor creating his own fake attendants? How did he even begin to achieve that?

Still, the way Ann describes what ultimately happened with Yaldabaoth gives him pause. His brow creases in equal parts confusion and concentration. "But I take it that shortly after, this 'decision' came into play that sent you hurtling into the past?"

[fireandfaith]

Ann's mouth open and closes, jaw working fruitlessly as she tries to figure out how to tell him...what she has to tell him. "That's--they're Lavenza," Ann rasps. "Caroline and Justine...they're her. Yaldabaoth tore her in two. That's how it goes in my world, at least."

Ann nods. This question isn't any harder to answer, but...the matter of it is a little less harrowing, right now. "Mementos and reality started...blurring into one," Ann says. "It's really hazy for me after that until Lavenza pulled me into the Velvet Room, but she said that that's the moment Yaldabaoth revealed himself--and he offered Akira a deal. We didn't have enough time for her to explain everything, but she was fairly confident that, had he not done so...we would have been able to fight Yaldabaoth once and for all." But he'd been too afraid, and he'd made the decision he had.

[fogbornphantom]

Give him a moment to stare as he tries to process all of this.

"They split..." And yet, is that truly so shocking? Izanami and Marie were once one entity and became independent existences. When he looks at it from that angle, it starts to make a little more sense, and the shock slowly subsides. "Actually, I have met another being in a similar situation. I suppose the question then becomes how to restore her..."

The rest... hm. It's dire, certainly, and Crow cups his chin in hand, thinking it over. It's not an unfamiliar scenario, at least. "In any case, I imagine whatever deal he made must have appealed to Ren's emotions in a similar vein as Maruki's deal in Sparrow's world. I am glad that you at least got a fresh start to set things right, whereas things didn't end quite so fortunately with Sparrow and his Ren."

[fireandfaith]

Ann grimaces. "From what Lavenza told me, it's as simple as fusing the twins back together. Like Personas...but maybe you can find a way to do that that doesn't involve guillotines?"

Ann nods, thinking of Akira's Compendium, open on Lavenza's lap; thinks of the shattered remains of all the linked him to Justice. "Yaldabaoth told him we were all dead, I think," she says. "Or at least implied it. And...after the engine room, on Shido's ship...I think he was more afraid of that than he would have been." She's wondered, several times, if Akechi had made it out of Shido's Palace alive--would Akira have taken that deal? Was Akechi going to be alive in the new world Yaldabaoth was making; was that what tipped him into saying yes, in the end?

Cruel thoughts, with no resolution. She pushes them down into the garbage where they belong.

"It all could have been...much worse," Ann agrees.

[fogbornphantom]

"...I assure you that fusion typically doesn't require such barbaric methods." Ugh. But then, it is fitting for a malicious entity to operate in such a manner. The talk of gallows was one of Crow's first hints that something was amiss.

Hmm, but that description does align with the other timeline, doesn't it? "That stands to reason, seeing how it was Sparrow's life that Maruki used as a bartering chip. Perhaps the trick, then, would be to ensure your world's version of me survives. Do that, then even if Maruki does ascend in Yaldabaoth's stead, he will have one less tool to use against Akira."

[fireandfaith]

"Yeah, thank god," Ann says fervently. If she found out that Elizabeth was beheading Personas in an alleyway to help her out, she'd cry.

"And that's the plan! Obviously I wasn't going to let him die regardless, if I could help it, but..." There's a reason Lavenza made sure that the sight of the broken chain of Justice between Akira Kurusu and a very dead Goro Akechi was burned into her mind. "It really does seem like a tipping point across universes, huh."

[fogbornphantom]

"Many universes, at least. I believe our circumstances make it less of an inevitability, but obviously Ren and I intend to take matters seriously as leaders of the Phantom Thieves in order to ensure we all make it out in one piece."

Though... heh. Another thought crosses his mind. "Meanwhile, one of my counterparts took quite a bit of prodding before he finally accepted to not try to kill Ren in November and, more importantly, that his life is worth living and that he shouldn't expect to simply die when all is said and done."

[fireandfaith]

It's weird, thinking of them being co-leaders. Cute, though.

"Yeah," Ann says, in a tone that says what she's about to say is an extreme understatement, "you're all a bit hardheaded like that." Goro Akechi, in general, has more in common with Ryuji than she thinks either of them would like to admit...

[fogbornphantom]

"I'd say I'm an exception, but I have it on good authority that I exhaust way too much energy trying to keep the peace around here and making other people's problems my own." He shrugs, as if it's no big deal, really. "Such is the fate of a Wild Card, I suppose."

[fireandfaith]

"Yeah..." Ann sighs. "It makes you wonder: what came first? The chicken, or the egg? Either having the Wild Card makes you like this, or being like this is what grants the Wild Card in the first place."

Ann, herself, isn't a 'Wild Card' like most of the people here who can claim that title probably are; hers is on loan, contracted. So she's an outlier on that front.

[fogbornphantom]

"In my case, it's more... conditioning, honestly. I was taught that in order to heighten my power, I had to reach out to others and build bonds. So I had to make myself do just that, and now it's almost muscle memory."

This, of course, presents its own share of problems, not the least among them being how worried those around him get.

[fireandfaith]

"Bonds," Ann says, and thinks of the shattered links of Justice, dark across Akira's Compendium. Thinks of her own bond to him--the chain of the Lovers, now sitting perfect and unbreakable about her wrist, ten links strong. "Mm. I don't have any of my own--I think, Liz hasn't been really forthcoming unless I ask stuff first, and I've had other things on my mind--but I've seen the sort of strength they have." She holds her hand up in example, chuckling a little to herself at her joke, because the other side of the Arcana that keeps it clasped to her is Lavenza's, offered freely--Strength, heh.