personavelvetroomdr | if I could see all the symbols, unlock what they mean

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if I could see all the symbols, unlock what they mean

Yaeko... has no idea what to make of this. She's half certain Akira mentioned something about a Velvet Room once, but it didn't make any sense - to her or any of the others - so she'd dismissed it. Too readily, it appears.

She lingers at the conspiracy board for a while, since it's a useful source of information from the looks of things (thirteen variations of Akechi? Why on Earth did anyone think they needed that many in one place?), before proceeding onward. Her first stop is Tokyo proper; for all she has no idea where she's going to stay now, it's somewhere familiar.

People-watching isn't nearly as fulfilling as usual when the people have no substance to them, but she can still find plenty to draw.

Once she's found her bearings, she heads for Iwatodai. Yes, it's nearly midnight according to her phone; that's the point. She's not fool enough to go into Tartarus alone, but she still wants to see it. These other cognitive anomalies are fascinating concepts.

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As Yaeko walks through Tokyo, she may spot a girl nearby, looking around at some of the buildings as she passes through.

She seems to be trying to figure out what she wants to do, herself.

Honestly, Sumire's a bit indecisive. Maybe she could try to explore one of the clothing stores? She's been meaning to experiment with fashion, but...

Her eyes spot Yaeko from across the way, and she stops, processing her.

"...?"

She doesn't mean to be rude, but Yaeko *really* reminds her of Yosuke! It's uncanny!

At the very least Sumire should stand out a bit from the cognitive people, looking at Yaeko with a mildly surprised look.

Edited 2024-04-26 12:07 (UTC)

She does, a bit, enough to catch Yaeko's attention. "Did you need something?"

There's no accusation in her tone, just curiosity.

Sumire snaps out of her thoughts, shaking her head.

"O-Oh, no! I'm sorry, it was just... You reminded me of a friend of mine, is all."

Maybe they just have a similar aura...?

"I'm sorry, am I in your way?"

"Not at all. I'm just taking in the scenery, though the people-watching opportunities are... rather lacking, all things considered."

She must have one weird friend, if Yaeko's that similar. (She does not think this is a bad thing, as she'd much rather be weird than boring. But the point stands.)

"Ah... That does make sense... The people here aren't very lively, are they?"

That's not quite the word she wants, but it was the first that came to mind. They're not really the same type of 'alive' as a real person...

"Oh, I should introduce myself...! I'm Sumire Yoshizawa. It's very nice to meet you..."

Actually, what is this girl's name, she wonders?

Edited 2024-04-26 19:08 (UTC)

"They really aren't. It's odd." Tokyo isn't meant to be this comparatively empty.

"Kitagawa Yaeko. Pleased to meet you."

"...Kitagawa?"

She can't help but repeat that in surprise. That's Yusuke's family name! Surely he doesn't have a living relative... Does he?

"Um... You wouldn't happen to know a Yusuke Kitagawa, would you?"

It's so uncanny, what the heck?

"...No, I can't say that I do. Should I?"

"No, not necessarily! It's just... a funny coincidence, is all. That's the friend you reminded me of. You both have a similar energy to you. I can't really explain it..."

...Relatives? Counterparts? Sumire's practically got a question mark over her head.

"But um...! It's nice to meet you, Yaeko-senpai...! Are you new around here? N-Not Tokyo, I mean, but the Velvet Room."

Well, Yaeko certainly wouldn't know. Another mystery to add to the conspiracy board?

"I am, yes. I'm still trying to get my bearings, and I have no idea where I'm going to sleep, but I can work that out with time."

Sumire can't help but look concerned when she hears that.

"You don't have a place to stay? Oh..."

Maybe she should offer to let her stay with her...? There's plenty of bedrooms at her house, and it's pretty quiet there...

"Um... If you can't find a place to stay, then you're welcome to stay at my house for a while."

She hopes she's not being too forward with this...

"T-That's only if you want to, and if you can't find someplace better, of course."

"I appreciate the offer, and I'll be sure to keep it in mind if nothing else presents itself. I suppose it's more a matter of... not exactly being between places at home, as such, so much as not having a place I gravitate to as a home base."

She's not going back to that damned atelier, and she's at her wits' end with the Kosei dorms as it is, so that's out as well.

Oh, so that's what it is...

"In that case, I hope you can find someplace that speaks to you soon...!"

She can't imagine having no idea where to go to... It's honestly a kind of scary thought, not thinking of anyplace as home.

Even if her house feels empty and Kasumi's room remains untouched, it still feels natural for her to be there of all places.

"Um... What kinds of places do you normally feel drawn to? Maybe I can help you find something?"

"Somewhere with a lot of natural light, preferably north-facing windows, would be ideal."

Of course she has art priorities. When would she not?

Lots of light and north-facing windows... Where on Earth could that be...?

"Maybe you could use one of the fancier apartments with a nice view? The people here don't seem to mind if you claim someplace."

"That's certainly something to keep in mind."

It would feel odd barging into someone else's place like that, but if no one here has enough substance to care beyond a few select people...

Rise spots the girl walking along the streets of Tokyo when she heads there out of curiosity. She does want to know a little bit about what her future self might be up to, but that can wait if this girl is new.

She approaches the girl, not wanting to leave her in a strange place. "Hey, did you just get here?"

Yaeko doesn't pay much attention to idols, but the posters for Rise's latest album are a bit difficult to avoid entirely. So she has a passing familiarity, but not enough to go into fangirl mode (or, necessarily, answer Rise's burning questions, but that's another matter entirely).

"I did, yes. Unfortunately, the people-watching opportunities don't hold a candle to home."

It's actually kind of nice that not many people around here know who she is and just treat her like any other girl. That bird looking Goro hadn't recognized her either.

This girl mentions people watching, and Rise looks around. "Yeah. I think most the people just move in loops instead of doing anything...spontaneous." She did like to people watch sometimes for song inspiration, but that became way harder to do when she was as famous as she was now.

"There's no substance to them. How is one meant to draw inspiration from a crowd with no substance?"

Hm. Rise hadn't thought about that. "Yeah that's a great question. I guess I haven't been thinking about how there's not much artistic inspiration around here." Mainly because there were other issues that kept her from thinking about creating anything at all.

Yaeko sighs. "Inconvenient. Well, I'll have to make do somehow."

There's still plenty of good scenery to work with, after all.

"Are you from Tokyo? Maybe a change of environment would help." She suggests. "I had a lot more drive to write songs after I moved from the city back to Inaba. There's even some places here with demons wandering the cities."

Well actually, before she suggests that..."You do have a Persona right?"

"Maybe it will. That 'Dark Hour' thing in Iwatodai certainly sounds fascinating."

Spoken like someone who never had to deal with the Dark Hour personally, but she wouldn't take it back.

"I do, yes, but if you'd asked me that question a month ago I wouldn't have known what you were talking about."

"I've had my Persona for almost a year now, does that make me your senpai?" That's not funny Rise. Actually, Rise has no idea how old this girl is, it was possible that she was older than Rise herself.

The girl had mentioned the Dark Hour in Iwatodai, which Rise herself hadn't seen yet. "There's also the Midnight Channel where I'm from, I've heard they work like Palaces if that means anything to you." She assumes that it might, since she didn't know what the Dark Hour was and Rise didn't recognize her as an Investigation Team member. She could be wrong about that.

"I suspect the timelines are a bit relative, in a place like this." Is Rise older? Yes! But also no! It's complicated.

"Yes, I saw the note about it on the board, but... I think I prefer the phone app to having to climb through a TV."

"Yeah sort of-" Wow she's really literal. That's alright, Rise was the one who spoke without thinking.

"We tend to use the TV in Junes, it's a widescreen big enough to crawl through." And Rise's grandparents definitely didn't have a big enough TV for that.

"And no one who works at the store has noticed?"

Sure, it's presumably not a problem here, but...

"I have a friend that works there that can keep people away from the electronics section." Yosuke really was a godsend in that regard. Rise doesn't think that her team would get that far without him.

"Fair enough, I suppose. But I still think the app is much more convenient."

"Probably. I still haven't seen a Palace yet." She hasn't really been here that long, though. And somehow she doubted that any of the Akechis she met would show her one.

"Oh by the way, what was your name?" She's just now realizing that she forgot to ask.

"I was about to ask if they'd even be accessible here, given their apparent tendency to self-destruct when their cores are removed, but... it wouldn't be the strangest thing here."

That might be the place itself. Or the... Gorb channel, whatever that's all about.

"Kitagawa Yaeko. Pleased to meet you."

"I was told that the dungeons of Persona users are in the Midnight Channel, but they tend to linger." So it was possible that there were Palaces, but still not an assurance.

"Nice to meet you Kitagawa, you can call me Rise."

"Do they? Fascinating." It may well be worth checking out the TV world sometime, then, but Yaeko's not fool enough to do that alone.

Not least because if she gets distracted by something she needs to draw Right Now, she needs someone on lookout.

"Rise... ah. That's why you looked somewhat familiar."

"If you ever feel like exploring it feel free to let me know." She'd rather know than send Kitagawa with a literal 13 year old.

Kitagawa mentions she looked familiar and Rise nods. She's still glad that it's not a big deal. "I've had some people get really surprised that I'm a Persona user."

"I'll be sure to do so."

The odds of the 13-year-old tagging along anyway... depend entirely on whether Yaeko's met him by the time she wants to explore, probably.

"The fact that there are other groups... both is and is not a surprise, I would say. One would hope this sort of thing would stop happening eventually, but until it does, someone's going to have to deal with it. Would I be correct in assuming your involvement had something to do with your brief hiatus?" She's not up on idol news, but that was hot enough gossip to make the rounds at school, at the time.

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if I could see all the symbols, unlock what they mean

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