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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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."

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."

"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."

Ann flings herself into his arms, and squeezes him tight. Sniffles a little--because her best friend is an idiot, and not because he's made her emotional at all. No sirree.

"Well. It's good to know some things never change," Ann laughs, and pulls back, wiping her tears. She's absolutely smudged her mascara, oops.

He held her tightly, her grip was increased, but it didn't bug him one bit. He'd take anything she gave him. He watched her wipe her tears, giving her a smile. He noticed her make-up smear, he reached into his pockets to offer her a wipe and new mascara.

He'd been at the girls' mercy about make-up enough to know what went where, not that he was complaining, it was good gossip. He also kept some on him for Ann. "Of course, I've been with you from the start of this all. I don't plan on going anywhere."

Ann happily takes the wipe he offers her--smiles a little to herself, amused, at the offer of new mascara, but doesn't question why he's carrying it around; if this Ryuji is anything like her Ryuji, at one point or another she's started using his pockets as extensions of her own. But you've got so many and I've got none! had been what she'd said, back when she'd first started doing it, and had successfully turned Ryuji into an ally in the fight against girl clothes without good pockets.

We should go and change the hearts of all the assholes who think this shit is okay, he'd said, a lifetime ago now. He hadn't even been joking, really, which was both the sweetest and funniest part.

"That's good," Ann says. "We always need a Ryuji around to keep us from getting too serious." It's why he and Queen had worked together so well. A good balance. She loops an arm around his shoulders. "You were going in to Leblanc?"

He could tell she was thinking about something, but let her be, it was better for her to get her thoughts in order. "I was thinkin' about it. It's just weird, he's probably not in there. Boss probably isn't either." He really hoped things weren't that serious here. If it was he'd just have to help people relax. He was good at that, even if he had to play a little dumb sometimes.

"I haven't been into Leblanc, personally--" because it was either a cognitive Boss or a no one in there, and either was a weird thought, "--but it's a good bet, yeah. And there are a lot of Akiras around. Or Rens, I guess." Curious, she asks him, "is he Ren or Akira in your world?"

"Ren, you?" It seemed she had the same thoughts he did. It wasn't uncommon for the two of them. "I don't know that I've been able to work up the nerve. Even out here it doesn't feel as... happy as it used to."

"Akira," Ann says. "It's so weird that he has different names...there's like a million Goro Akechis here, but they're all still called Goro Akechi? And...yeah." She sighs. "You're not alone on that front. I haven't been able to work up the courage to go into a lot of places, haha." She squeezes his shoulder. "Want to try going in together?"

"Right? Why'd he get to be the only fancy one?" He turned back to the door. "Yeah, I think I can with you here." He smiled, it would be like home, but it would be with his best friend, they could bring the vibe back like home.

Ann smiles at him. "Let's go in, then," she says, and opens the door. It's not quite the same as it was back home, but Ryuji is with her, and that makes it good in its own way.

Sitting down at their usual booth, she poses a thoughtful question: "If we were like Akira--or Ren, I suppose--what do you think our 'other' names would be? Or what would you pick if you could choose, I guess."

It wasn't bad in here, just kinda strange with boss not there, and no one coming to greet them.

"I don't know, I like Ryuji, if I could change anything, it would be my last name." He smiled, "What about you? Ever thought about an alias to model under?"

"Ryuji does suit you," Ann says. "For me? Hmm..." She hums thoughtfully. "If we're talking about like, a professional stage name...I might drop the Takamaki, actually. Go just by like, ANN. It would make a statement, don't you think?"

He laughed, "I think it would. It suits you, just bright and big 'Ann' across all kinds of platforms." His best friend deserved to be recognized and he'd do his best to help her get there when she was ready.

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

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