(no subject)

[fruitknife]

"Oh, what the fresh fuck is this."

Next to Shinji, Koromaru whines. He has no idea either, but it doesn't smell dangerous.

Shinji sighs. "Good to know, I guess..." He maneuvers his coat around in his hands until he can reach in the pocket - okay, keys are still there, he should be able to duck back out to Liminal Space whenever he wants. Cool.

Now to figure out what the fresh fuck this is.

He ignores Igor entirely, and almost does the same to the conspiracy board until the word 'Tartarus' jumps out at him. Well, shit, that's not a good sign. Oh well. At least he knows where he stands with the Dark Hour, and he's actually way better equipped to handle it than the last time he had to.

Anyway, that gets him to stop long enough to scan the information, and then he's off to Iwatodai. Reading can only tell you so much, after all. Actually seeing what's out there is going to work a hell of a lot better.

Comments

AND ANOTHER! iwatodai

[paysforall]

Rare bird sighting: a Shrike outside Shibuya.

Which, of course, to Shinji, just appears to be a third permutation of This Guy, this one dressed distinctly different from the rest in a way that seems out of place in Iwatodai because skinny jeans are not in fashion yet. Admittedly, the whole kit looks like he wandered out of a Harajuku goth club.

He's eyeing one of the storefronts thoughtfully. It doesn't seem to change as he's considering it, but it's a bit vaguer than Shinji might remember - although his own memories will tell him what the restaurant should be, the restaurant itself doesn't seem to know, the signage looking like a garbled image put together by a generative AI (not that either of them knows what that is yet).

Eventually, the one real person in front of the shop sighs and seems to give up. "Probably too linked to being in Shibuya in my cognition," he says, mostly to himself, before glancing up.

[fruitknife]

At least he stands out from the others.

"The fuck happened to the sign?"

[paysforall]

"I was trying to see if I could convince whatever cognitive world this is to make me a ramen shop." The disappointment is palpable and a little bit feigned; he's not actually that bothered. "Unfortunately the cognition of what should be there seems too strong, or perhaps my efforts are too weak. Are you a local?"

The sign has resolved back to normal the next time Shinji's eyes move away from it and back.

[fruitknife]

"If you want ramen that bad, you could just go to Hagakure."

So yes, he's local.

[paysforall]

"I'm from Tokyo, that means nothing to me, I'm afraid."

Sorry, Shinji. You probably had a good idea from the outfit, though.

"The point was more to see if I could than actually wanting ramen, anyway."

[fruitknife]

"I'd say just make your own, but that probably doesn't work here, does it."

[paysforall]

Raised eyebrows. "Out of nothing? I'm afraid I don't have that kind of ability. As for cooking... Well. My partner doesn't let me do more than chop vegetables."

[fruitknife]

"More outta liminal goo than nothing, but I just don't think too hard about that part. And apparently getting to real food's tricky." But Shinji kind of speedran that part, so he wouldn't know.

"Didn't figure it was still on the table here."

[paysforall]

Liminal goo. You know what, he's not going to ask.

"Well, I've never heard of such an ability, so I wouldn't be able to do it. You're certainly welcome to try, though."

He's curious to see the outcome. For now, he turns to face Shinji fully, wearing an easy smile.

"Goro Akechi, Shrike edition. And since I'm fairly sure that that kind of thing isn't possible for any Persona user, is it a good guess that you've also have experience elsewhere in the middle?"

[fruitknife]

It's better not to, really. At least Thorne's not here to report on her Special Interest.

"Name's Shinji. That's Koromaru." Because Koro-chan is absolutely important enough to get introduced. "And yeah, we do."

[paysforall]

"Welcome, that makes you the third of fourth members of a very exclusive club composed of me and the even more distinctive looking me, Phoenix." Of course the dog is important enough to be included. Why not? He'll roll with it, and even lean down so Koromaru can give his hand a good sniff.

[fruitknife]

Koromaru does so. This one smells... a little funny, but he can't really place it. Kind of like Minako's friend Ryoji!

"Some club, huh."

[paysforall]

Good boy.

"Not much of one, but that just means we don't charge dues. Anyway, the world I've spent the last few years in has some similarities to the cognitive world, so I ended up starting with a bit of comparison study and broadened my investigations from there."

[fruitknife]

How does he keep finding all the scientists? "So it's all just props?"

[paysforall]

"For the most part. A few places are more 'real' than others, but I suspect that's just the accumulated weight of how the real people here expect them to behave."

It's because Akechis have a high baseline curiosity stat.