and talk to yourself if you feel you need talking to

[asaqueenshould]

Masako... has a lot of questions.

Where is Alice? Where are Akira, Ann, Ryuji or Shiho, for that matter? How is she supposed to properly check in with herself in real time? Since when does the Velvet Room have music?

But the old man isn't particularly forthcoming with answers, other than 'you're not missing anything at home so make some friends,' so she figures she'll have to find them on her own. The bulletin board looks like a good place to start, though it does raise its own questions, one of which she actually mutters aloud. "What is so interesting about a minor celebrity that one place needs a baker's dozen of him?"

After she's taken in as much of that as she can handle for now, Masako sets out into the cognitive version of Tokyo. The shortened travel times are weird, but not cause for complaint; the cognitive people are weirder, uncomfortably so. The fact that she can choose anywhere she'd like to live without consequence is perhaps a bit daunting, but she'll figure that out later. For now, her usual apartment will do fine, but it might feel too empty without her dad there.

It's not long before her wanderings take her to an abandoned storefront in an older part of the city. Masako just stares at it for a while before doing anything, long enough that it's very plausible for someone to catch her there. (The Velvet Room she's used to is still there, just as she left it, if utterly empty. It feels damned weird without Victoria or M in it.)

***

[Later, on the network:]

So where can a girl get a fucking haircut around here?

I could have asked that myself, you know.

Suit yourself. [What appears to be a conversation between two distinct people on one account goes otherwise unexplained.]

The question stands. Are the cognitive people trustworthy with hair maintenance, or would I be tempted to yell at them for trying to enforce something I don't want? Is it just plain better to ask one of the more substantial people here to do it? What are the odds I can think it into self-maintenance once it's at my desired length?

(Open/Intro) A New Odyssey

[odysseyandroid]

The look on Ulysses' face remains level, eerily so as he stares across the Velvet Room at Igor. No emotion crosses his face as he listens to what Igor says, before slowly looking around the room and stepping forward to get a better look.

He digs through his data banks for any sign of something known as the 'Velvet Room', but no such data can be found.

"...I have no data on the 'Velvet Room'. I need more information."

But alas, Ulysses doesn't quite realize that asking Igor is going to go nowhere. So he spends a good while trying to ask questions, only to be nudged slightly more directly to go pursue answers elsewhere, and actually make the bonds he's supposed to make.

'Bonds'... He means relationships, correct? That is something he's not entirely sure how to do. He knows people, yes, but... bonds are a human thing. He's not human, he's a machine, created to destroy Shadows. That is his duty.

But either way, he does still need to learn more about his situation.

Option 1: Ulysses finds himself staring at the conspiracy board, registering all of the information to his memory. So much is here, and it seems that everyone is aware of there being Personas and Shadows? It contradicts everything he knows about the Dark Hour, and yet, it seems time moves quite differently here...

Option 2: Ulysses steps into Iwatodai's door, and finds himself in front of Gekkoukan High School. He stares at it with blank eyes as he goes through his memory, and... yes, this is indeed where the explosion took place. This is where Tartarus appears every night. They rebuilt the school? He checks the time... The Dark Hour does, in fact, begin soon.

Option 3: He finds himself opening another door, this time finding himself near what seems to be Tokyo, particularly the Odaiba area. It's not far away from Iwatodai or Tatsumi Port Island, but the atmosphere somehow feels... different. He looks around, blankly staring as he walks forward.