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

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.

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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.

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?"

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.

"Got it in one." It'd been... years, since he'd seen Ryuji Sakamoto. It was strange to look him in the face and see someone who... hadn't changed at all.

Weird as hell. Even if it was a different Ryuji, almost certainly. "It's kind of a long story, but it's not as though it's something I'm trying to hide. Phoenix works well enough, though I think I'm allowed to be a little petty about someone getting 'Crow'."

He was definately happy with his choice of guesses, might not be good in school but he was pretty good with people. Or at least that's what he tells himself. "I don't blame you, it's what we gave ours. I'd want him to have it."

"That's..." He frowned, slightly. "Surprisingly friendly of you. Unless your past diverges significantly from the norm around here, I was a real fucking dick to most of you and more or less the worst person ever to the rest."

"Oh, no you were. You weren't the worst of the worst, but you did murder my best friend. Then you died. Then you came back. Then you died again. Now you are back again. He forgave you, and Haru and Futaba are working on it. They know it's not what you wanted but even being ordered to do so it hurt." He grinned. "I'm trying to be the one to bridge that gap."

Wait. Back again? Something in his stomach dropped.

He wasn't going to follow up on that. He wasn't. Different timeline. Different rules. They wouldn't have remembered, anyway. He wouldn't have remembered. All of his reasons for leaving Reverein- they still held true.

Even if one of the legs of that table was, now, seeming a little wobbly.

"Well. I know it doesn't mean anything, since I'm not the same person as that one, but for what it is worth... Sorry. It's been a couple of years for me, at least, but at the time I was too deep in my bullshit to realize you idiots were the best thing that'd ever happened to me."

He raised an eyebrow watching him. "Thanks? I guess that's encouraging at least." He seemed nervous or something.

"Man, are you okay?" Yeah, they might not have ben from each other's worlds, but he already proved that didn't matter to him.

Are you okay.

Phoenix snorted. "What? No. I'm isolated from my friends and family, I don't know how long I'm going to be here, and when I do get back I've got an entire gigantic pile of bullshit that needs dealing with. But... I'm coping. Least the community here's decent, even if half of it's made up of people who look like me."

A beat.

"Not exactly like me, but you know what I mean."

That was more honest than anything he'd ever think to get out of Akechi. "Do you need a hug or something? I can't do anything about your isolation, but if you need something I can be there for you."

He looked like a mess, and he never thought he would see him like this, but maybe that's because of the relationship he had with his Ryuji.

He blinked, staring at the other boy for... several seconds.

He couldn't... quite help the soft wheeze of laughter that bubbled up from within his chest. "No, sorry, I'm not laughing at you, just- that is. So far outside the realm of anything I'd have expected-"

He cleared his throat. "I wouldn't object to it, but honestly. I'll be alright. Talking with Igor was enough to put the worst of my fears to bed, it's mostly just wondering how long I'll be here, and if anyone from home will wind up here, too."

Did he say something wrong? How did he made the bird reboot? Was a hug such a foreign concept to him? Then he was laughing, and apologizing for it? That he certainly didn't expect, Akechi often laughed at him.

"Alright, it's there if you need it. The offer doesn't expire."

He smiled, faintly. "... You're sweet, Ryuji. Thank you."

"Uh, thanks?" That was a new way to say things. Also he's smiling, like a genuine smile not that fake one he puts on. It's a smile he very rarely sees.

Phoenix shrugged. "It's a compliment, not a blade. No hidden nefarious motive, I promise."

"Didn't think it was a bad thing, just not something I'd been called before." He smiled. He wouldn't put it past Ann to say something like that though.

"Yeah, well. Maybe people should tell you about your strong points more."

Alright. This was definitely a strange day. He found Goro Akechi complimenting him stranger than he was a bird. "I mean, they don't need to. I'm happy just being as I am. I don't need them to tell me. I only need to know if I've upset them."

He snorted derisively. "Take it from me, if all you ever hear is negatives, you internalize that shit. I recognize that sounds hypocritical, considering I just called your entire social circle dumbasses, but I'm allowed. I am Lord King of Dumbass Island. I know dumbass when I see it. I am a dipshit sommelier."

He couldn't help but laugh at that. "What a think to call yourself," he wiped tears away from his eyes. "You know that goes for you too, you can't be all that bad. Don't tell yourself such."

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

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