[open] And in the end I'd do it all again

[skullandcrassbones]

Alright, Alright, this was fine. This was cool. Just vibing in the velvet room. It wasn't like it was his first time or anything. Still felt strange being here though. The doors were a new addition. Not to mention the bulletin board. Which he had yet to make sense of the most he got was multiple Akechis and code names. That was... okay. He was getting good enough at handling very-much-not-dead Akechi back home. They weren't best friends by any means but he would like to think they were on the way to actually pretty solid friends. Most of that was because he convinced Ren to stay.

So, what he had pieced together was: This was a relatively safe place, there's multiple Akechis, and there's doors. What was he supposed to do with this information. He hadn't really explored anything without someone else there, and no it's not because he was afraid, like the cat would like to tease.

1) He was staying in the room gathering the willpower required to explore the outside. But for now he was trying to put together the bulletin board. Sure was a lot of words. Ren could be called Akira, okay, he's got that down. Akechis and Ren/Akiras were together a lot. With how much Ren fawned over him, it wasn't shocking. It was at this point he realized he should probably take notes. He pulled out his phone, surprised to find it kinda worked. "Alright!"

Now back to finding out what was going on. He was scanning it over trying to piece things together. He had expected red strings, but blue worked fine too. He was reading and taking notes fine up until a particular one. "For real?!" He shouted, the first real thing he said in a long minute. "Siblings?"

2)With the courage gathered he stepped into the fifth door, glad to see a version on Toyko he recognised. He traveled around, starting to notice the almost scripted way others interacted. Creepy. He decided to start with the place he knew best. Le blanc. He hoped there wasn't anything out of place, boss would kill if he knew it was. Okay maybe not.

He was just standing at the door, looking through the glass. His hand on the doorknob. He didn't think he'd run into Ren, or an Akira. He just kinda felt weird going in there and not knowing what to expect.

Comments

[shujinacademyprince]

Goro steps into the Velvet Room from the Tokyo door to notice that there's a new face around here. Sakamoto, oh good. This Sakamoto probably doesn't know him but it's nice to see a face that Goro considers a friend. He steps beside the board, figuring to ask.

"Did you just get here Sakamoto?"

[skullandcrassbones]

Shujin outfit Akechi. What? That was something he was sure he'd never get to see. "Uh, yeah?" He was not hiding his confusion at the outfit. "Have you been here a while?"

[shujinacademyprince]

"Long enough," Goro says back conversationally. "Do you need me to explain the situation with the Velvet Room or has the board shown enough?" He points back to the bulletin board that he had seen Sakamoto examining.

[skullandcrassbones]

"I think I mostly get it. There's some weird things. Like the siblings." He sighed. "And the vampires. And the TVs. And the hell guy. Okay most of it is weird. I do understand there's multiple Akechis. And that there's cognitive worlds. That most of the people I'll see are not real." It's just really hard to get over the sibling thing. Like really?

"What's up the braids and Shujin outfit?"

[shujinacademyprince]

"The TV I believe is in reference to the 2011 Inaba murder case that apparently had its own cognitive world. The same seems to be the case for Iwatodai in 2009." That seems the simplest way to explain that. The siblings thing was not something that Goro really knew about however.

Sakamoto brings up his hairstyle and he shrugs. "Makoto insisted on doing this for me when I moved in with the Niijimas. I've just gotten used to wearing it this way." If Sakamoto knew Makoto then living with her would probably explain the Shujin uniform for itself. He hoped. Sakamoto could miss the obvious sometimes.

1

[very_elaborate]

Kanji's just passing through, on his way from taking advantage of Tokyo craft stores being in easy reach (so yes, that bag he's carrying is absolutely loaded down with yarn).

"...What's for real?"

[skullandcrassbones]

He turned to look at the voice he's never heard before. "Oh uh, according to this, my friends are siblings? Or half siblings." He said gesturing to the board. He recognized the craft store the bag was from, interested in it.

[very_elaborate]

"Oh, the kid updated his board? Cool." Kanji hasn't paid it a whole lot of attention - digging that hard into mysteries is way more Naoto's thing, but the kid does good work. What that in mind, he steps over to have a closer look.

"Huh. I don't know enough about what you guys are dealin' with to say whether that's completely weird or not."

[skullandcrassbones]

"I mean, they don't look or act alike. They both like featherman, and lost their moms... Okay maybe it is more believable."

He took a second, "Did you say a kid made this board?" Maybe that's why it was lower than he expected.

[herewardbound]

It was almost endearingly Denji-like, watching Sakamoto pore over the board, taking notes like it was just a day in class.

Also, Ryuji Sakamoto was here. He wondered, idly, when Makoto and Yusuke would appear to make his life more chaotic, as well.

Still. No time like the present to announce that he was present.

"All the weird shit on that board, but the fact that Shido has more than one bastard, that you find unbelievable."

[skullandcrassbones]

Oh great another ak- "What the fuck!" His eyes looked over the bird. That was definitely Akechi's voice. That was not a human. He was like a weird like bird suit thing. He looked like he was all one thing, and yep. Nevermind he's just a bird.

Right, Hell. That was on the board. The damn Bird demon. He's an actual bird, not just a bird motif.

[herewardbound]

To his credit, he didn't seem to take much offense to the reaction. That seemed to be par for the course.

"Yes, it's real, no, I'm not a Shadow, and no, I'm not hostile unless you intend to start shit, for which I don't think I could be blamed. Those are the usual questions, so apart from that... need a hand?"

[skullandcrassbones]

Okay, that answered a few questions he had off hand. "Yeah, defending yourself is pretty standard." Why would someone hold that against him?

"I've mostly got the board written down. If I had to guess your the guy from hell right? Phoenix?" Since he wasn't a shadow.

2

[fireandfaith]

Ann is still trying to find her footing here, and there aren't a lot of places she finds herself feeling comfortable in, yet. The Velvet Room is entirely out, given that she can't look at Igor without tensing and thinking of Yaldabaoth. It's fine for a quick trip through to elsewhere, but she doesn't like to linger.

So...Tokyo it is, even if it's a way creepier (and emptier) Tokyo than the one she's used to. She's actually been spending most of her time Yongen-Jaya; she hasn't quite worked herself up to the point of going into Leblanc yet, but even the streets surrounding it are homely in a way the rest of the city just isn't, even if the people in it are as fake as the rest. It's a nice place to sit and kill a few hours in silent rumination.

She hasn't seen anyone else real around yet--which, granted, she's barely been here for very long herself, so it's possible she just hasn't been loitering around at a time other people have come here--so it's a shock when she spots a familiar head of hair standing outside of Leblanc's door.

Her breath catches in her throat, even though she knows that it's probably not her best friend, from back home. "Ryuji?"

Re: 2

[skullandcrassbones]

He hadn't gotten very far in deciding if to walk in or not when he heard her voice. He moved quickly to look at her. It had been a while since he saw someone that wasn't an Akechi or Ren. "Ann?"

He was so damn happy to see her, smiling as he ran over to her. "You have no idea how good it is to see you here."

[fireandfaith]

Ann's smile is so wide her cheeks hurt; she resists the urge to fling herself at Ryuji and squeeze him until he yelps. "Oh believe me, I know."

Her smile falters a little. "I...am probably not exactly your Ann, like. We're probably not from the same world. But back home, you're my best friend, and it is so, so good to see you."

[skullandcrassbones]

"Who cares? You are still Ann. I'm going to care about you no matter what." She still had the little tells she used to, so he opens his arms for a hug if she wants it. He hoped that was enough to get the smile back on her face. The one he loved so much. "Don't worry too much, you are still one of my bestfriends back home."

1

[fogboundcrow]

Hello, stranger. There is now a thirteen year old Akechi standing beside you as you admire his board. When did he get here? Good question. But he's here. He is watching. He is observing.

"I see that my handiwork has captured your attention."

Re: 1

[skullandcrassbones]

Kid. Child. Akechi? Child most certainly. "You're so small." He was confused, though that quickly turned into a smile. "If this is your work than it's really good. It's got a lot of information, a good landing place."

[fogboundcrow]

"I'm not that small." A little scowl that absolutely isn't a pout takes hold of him. He's over five feet, after all. That's... well, not as tall as Ryuji, but still respectable for his age!

Ah, but praise. Praise is good, and it seems enough to calm the grumpy child. "Heh. But thank you. I pride myself in my efforts and ensuring that the residents here are informed of this world's many oddities."

[skullandcrassbones]

Yeah yeah, he's still small. He might be as tall as Futaba tho. "I see, that would be helpful, but aren't you a little young for metaverse stuff. You could get hurt." He was in the velvet room which meant he had to have a persona, which means he wasn't helpless, but his point still stood.

It seemed if he fed this Akechi with praise it was too easy to win him over, maybe he should try that back home. He might get shot if he does that.

prompt 2 (1/2)

[unfoggedlotus]

Ren is, undoubtedly, loitering in LeBlanc -- whatever version of it this is, anyway. Too many to keep track of, frankly. Wonder why mini-Goro even bothers.

Speaking of "too many"...Ren's mindlessly scrolling through his mostly-nonfunctional phone, not doing a good job of hiding his glare at the contacts list. Too many people rely on Goro for help. Some part of him realizes that sounds kinda yandere, but. Fuck. Half the people here have all the emotional intelligence of a flock of headless chickens, and Goro's made himself king of the roost in true knight-in-shining-armor fashion. Ren tries to keep himself positive, he really, really does, if only to avoid getting dragged into the quagmire of depressed stupidity (that's something Goro would say...hah) running rampant around these parts...

One of these days I'm gonna drag him outta here and into the woods and chuck his stupid phone off the edge of whatever world this is and then he'll havta actually do some relaxin' fer once in his life and if anyone tries t'be interruptin' us immuna put my boots where the sun ain't shinin' and--

Ren freezes when he hears someone at the door, incoherent ranting in ancient farmer instantly forgotten. "Hello?" Well. That's not gonna do anything. He gets up, putting his cellphone away...

(2/2)

[unfoggedlotus]

"Ryuji!!"

[skullandcrassbones]

The bell brought his attention back to the present. "Ren!" It was said in half shock as he didn't expect the door to open. The smiling face staring back at him. He guessed LeBlanc really wasn't empty. There he was standing right in front of him. Just like any other old day. "Oh man, it's so nice to see you."

He didn't expect Ren to look so happy just seeing him, he must have been here a while.

[unfoggedlotus]

"It's so nice to see you, too! It's been a long time since I've seen a really new face around here," Ren grins. "Do you want some curry, or something?"

[Yep, all traces of doom and gloom have been erased from Ren's mind. C'mon in, Ryuji, my man!]