personavelvetroomdr | [CLOSED] won't you shine in my direction

It isn't long before Akechi finds a certain other Ren next to the counter, eyeing him with a bit of a vague sense of surprise.

She had just come down from upstairs, and was initially going to make herself some lunch, but it seems like Akechi already beat her to using the kitchen...

"...Hey."

Judging by how tired Akechi looks, she just starts by trying to get his attention, first, leaning against the counter slightly, staring at him with a level, but somewhat serious look.

"Everything OK?"

"Yeah." Nothing wrong with his smile. It's just the slightly febrile look in his eye that gives the game away. "I'm putting some beef and potatoes together for later. Am I in your way?"

Why would there be anything wrong with him, after all? It's other people who have problems.

Ren actually frowns at that, getting a better look at him. She doesn't respond to the question, and instead responds with:

"Nice try, but you're exhausted. It's obvious."

It's probably not as obvious to others as it is to Ren, but in the moment it feels obvious to her.

She straightens, eyes narrowing just a tad as she thinks back on the last few days... He's been heading to Mementos and staying out late, hasn't he?

So she makes her way a bit closer, walking around the counter and instead near the kitchen. Not quite in Akechi's way, but she's close enough that it's clear Ren's ready to get involved.

"You need help? I've got time."

Just getting straight to the point. She knows it'd be a bad idea to just tell him to quit cooking, and go rest, so she's trying to meet him halfway..

...That and they can discuss this while working on the food.

Edited 2024-05-05 18:59 (UTC)

"I'm not exhausted." There it is—a sharp edge to his voice, one that almost only comes out with his own Ren. His own Ren, with the Palace.

But he deflates. He knows he's doing too much. That he ought to be in the Metaverse once a week, not every day or even twice a day. Yet what option does he have? He doesn't have his team. He needs to build another, yet how is he to lead it, as piss-weak as this?

He picks up a large bowl, fills it with water and sets it down by her with some potatoes. "Forgive me, Amamiya-san. You can help me with these, if you really want. If you weren't all talk, that is." It's a bit of shadowed teasing.

Ren doesn't flinch at the sharper tone. She lets him get it out of his system, and watches as he deflates. The deflating is honestly the part that bothers her more. Seeing him look so... defeated, almost.

"Trust me, 'all talk' would've sounded very different coming from me."

She cracks a small smile at him before stepping closer, beginning to deal with the potatoes. She doesn't look at him at first, instead focusing on the task at hand...

"You've been going to Mementos. A lot."

She's not oblivious. Akechi may not have told her every time he went to Mementos, but she's dealt with her own times where she and the Thieves felt the need to visit Mementos a little too frequently... January being a good example, given the circumstances.

So she does know that feeling of wearing yourself out a bit too much in that place. It sucks. It really sucks.

And that's what leads her to look at Akechi with a slightly concerned look.

"...I get it. Wanna talk about it?"

Edited 2024-05-05 19:15 (UTC)

Damn. That's his line. He's the one who asks, the one who listens; he doesn't talk about his own shit. Just part of being the leader, he thinks; you have to be invulnerable.

But he considers her again, resisting the urge to rub his eyes, to run a hand through his hair. Eventually, he hands her a small knife. "Quarters, by the way."

Absently, he goes back to his own potatoes, slower than he was before. "We've never talked about your team, have we? You are the leader? It sounded that way."

With a small nod, Ren gets to cutting the potatoes. Quarters, just as requested.

As she's doing that, she actually can't help but let out a small, small chuckle.

"Yeah. In my world I'm the leader. Codename's Joker... Trickster here though. Joker was taken."

She's focused on the potatoes, making sure not to cut her hands or slip up as she continues speaking.

"Been around since the start, all the way back in... hell, April. Long time since then."

She spares Akechi a glance.

"...Why? Need some input?"

She actually seems a bit confused. Akechi's the leader of his own group, right? Makes her wonder what the relevance of her being the leader could be... Could he just need another perspective?

He offers her another little smile over his shoulder, slightly weirder, taking his eye off the potato he's peeling. "Heh. I feel I should commiserate with you instead, especially given everything you've shared with me."

Maruki, he means. Her own Akechi, who's gone, except possibly not. The strains of leadership that had only begun to come to him over the last month, since Haru's father died. Since he was murdered.

"There was already an Ace too, by the way. That's why I'm Frog. That and frogs being cool, of course. Excellent animals." And, after all, an amphibian is almost a dragon; almost a drake. "You were the first on your team? To be the leader, I mean."

Ren turns back to the potatoes with a small 'hmm'.

"Commiserating, huh? Leaders need to let off steam, too, so why not?"

She cracks another smile as she works with more of the potatoes, still cutting them as requested.

"...Frog and Ace... Not what I expected, but you're right. Frogs are cool."

But she shrugs. After all, it's the multiverse and there are different timelines. There's no telling about how it'll be in any given world.

"And yeah, first and only leader of the group. No co-leaders, but I don't act without the rest of the team's input."

She properly turns to face Akechi this time, giving him a bit of a knowing look. Not harsh or angry, just knowing.

"I'm guessing you've got a point you're getting to with this?"

'You're not making this about me again, we're talking about your problems this time', in other words.

Edited 2024-05-05 20:10 (UTC)

Tch. She got him. He laughs a little, under his breath. "This really isn't fair, you know. You know all my tricks." He drops a potato into his own bowl, with a bit of a splash.

"I thought they were personal to me, you know. I didn't know they were"—he gestures with his knife, with a bit of aplomb—"leader things. At least, until I got here."

"Being the leader means trying to help everyone else... Make things work, keep it running, keep the morale up, think on your feet, know the plans... Try to bottle up your own problems for the sake of getting everything done. Making sure everyone's happy."

She says that with a very, very small hint of tiredness. She knows full well how exhausting it can be, even with the thrill of being a Phantom Thief and the side of herself she's able to show through it.

She's finishing up with another potato as she continues, actually trying her best to word what she wants to say.

"...But you're human, you know. Sometimes you've got to let it out. Trust people. That's not part of being a leader, that's humanity."

Ah, how often did she, herself, bring up the false charges? Not often whatsoever. It just sort of got tossed around for context between the team...

...But it's not like she really minded at the time. They all had their problems, and it was clear it helped the newer members feel more welcome, knowing they weren't the only ones without a place to belong.

There's a plop as another potato goes into the water.

"So you've got a problem, right? There's no shame in getting help when you need it. Personal problem, leader problem... Doesn't matter which. Hell, even just talking about it can help."

Damn it, and because he's who and what he is, he can't help but hear the trace of tiredness in her voice, see the creases in her face. His future. Unless he dies. Or lets Ren die, in which case—what?

"Well, it's stupid. Probably just an excess of testosterone." His hair tumbles round his face as he peers down at his potatoes. "Morgana picked you out, right? That was how it was for me. He was the one who called me Ace. Told me there was something special about me—just buttering me up, obviously.

"Don't tell him I said that," he adds, looking sleepily around for their resident not-cat. "I mean, I awakened first, before we met Morgana. That's all it was."

"'Stupid' or not, I'm still all ears."

She flashes a small smile at him, doing a pretty decent job of hiding her more tired look from before.

"Right on the money though, Morgana also called me Joker. Said I was the 'trump card'. Not gonna lie, I thought it was badass at the time."

Not that she doesn't like the codename now, just it's lost the fresh, newness it had. The flashiness of a codename doesn't feel so flashy anymore, now that she's used it for nearly a year.

She starts with another potato, still keeping up a pretty decent pace...

...But she can't help but pause slightly when she hears Akechi claim that it's just Morgana buttering him up. Honestly? She thought the same thing at that point, but now, knowing everything she knows...

"Hmm. You really think that's all?"

He hesitates. Something in her voice... "I mean, it seemed obvious. He wanted something from us, right from the start in the Palace. That was the deal we made. He agreed to teach me, to make me stronger, to go everywhere with me—and in return I'd help him explore the Metaverse, to get back his memories, and his true form...."

Though he's as sure as he can be that that "true form" is a cat, right now. Anything else would almost be a kick in the teeth. "You're saying there was more to it than that?"

And now she has to wonder how much she should say for sure. She stops, debating with herself for a solid second.

"...Yeah. If it's like my world? It's not an accident you ended up meeting."

Surprisingly, she doesn't say this like it's a bad thing, necessarily. There's some weirdness mixed in, but overall she doesn't seem to consider it a bad thing. Perhaps that's odd... but that's the way it is.

"How much you know about what's ahead? You heard from other people here, right? About Maruki... What about before that?"

The skin at the back of his neck prickles; he sets his knife down in the bowl and turns to face her, drying his hands on a cloth. "I got some of the basics from Crow. What he considered to be critical information, no doubt. I know that in many worlds, after Shido we face a godlike entity called Yaldabaoth, who is the one I've known as Igor to date, and who gave both me and one other our Personas."

A humourless grin touches the corners of his mouth. "So, you know. Your average week, by the sound of it. A piece of cake."

She sighs, turning to face Akechi as well. She tilts her head slightly as she looks at him, a tad annoyed that he got all of it dumped on him so suddenly. Really, they couldn't even give the guy time to breathe first before dumping everything on him?

...Though she's guilty of it, too, so she can't judge too much. Ugh.

"That's how it was, yeah. Morgana is... actually, not my place to tell, but trust me. It's nothing bad on his end."

Just a small, sort of positive thing among the load of stressful information Akechi's gotten. It's not great considering he could have used a guide without amnesia, just as Ren could have, but still.

She rests a hand on her hip, thinking for a moment...

"...You keep getting swept up into things, don't you?"

There still seems to be something she's missing. Something bothering Akechi that she still isn't picking up on...

"Anything I can do? I get you not taking a break, but at least let me help you out."

Edited 2024-05-05 22:52 (UTC)

But he blinks at her a little, touched in a way that's far less foreign than it used to be. "You're angry for me. You don't think they should have told me?"

Well, maybe she's right. But Goro wouldn't have wanted it any other way. And as for Morgana—what if he hadn't just seized on the closest mark? Could there even have been some reason he so obviously resented Ryuji's presence in that first Palace?

She shouldn't be surprised that he picked up on that, and yet she finds herself surprised anyway. Akechi's always been sharp.

"...Yeah. You haven't been here long, and what, you're getting bombarded every step you take? It's no wonder you've got circles under your eyes."

But she cracks a small, sympathetic smile.

"But also, I get it. The info will help later, you can prepare, and knowing is... you know the quote."

There's a second she pauses... She finds herself thinking of her own Akechi again, as much as she hates it. She knows that this is an entirely different one, but it's still hard.

"...There's only one Frog though. So don't take on more than you can handle. Not by yourself."

He shifts, again, against the sink, with a sudden sense of longing. That veiled expression, that soft tone—of course she sees her own Akechi, the one who's gone, perhaps dead. Just as much as he sees Ren, now, with every step he takes. As if distortion spills from his every move out here, and not just in the Palace.

"There's supposed to be two of me," he says in the end, throwing out a probe to see what she does, taking a chance on her. "My Ren's here."

Edited 2024-05-05 23:25 (UTC)

She blinks, not quite expecting that response... but she responds by doubling down.

"No. You're you, he's him... You might share a lot of things, but you're different. So only one Frog. Unless you want me to call you something else."

He's not her Akechi, he's his own person. And she's going to respect that.

But she can't help but lift her head slightly when he says his Ren is here.

"Really? You found him here?"

He nods at her, though he wants to shake his head. "Ah, we're not as different as people think. Certainly not as most would say. Maybe you've even seen him? He's the one without—"

And he gestures to his eyes, with a hand that's never gloved. They all wear glasses. Like, every single Ren or Akira I've ever met except the five-year-old. Ugly fake glasses.

"I don't really think we're the same person," he adds, a bit awkwardly—or, okay, very awkwardly. "Just, we ought to be a team, you know. And we aren't."

There's a confused look on Ren's face for a solid few seconds... before she quickly shifts to recognition as her brain catches up with what Akechi's saying.

"One. One without glasses. Yeah. I met him. Before I ran into you."

She's also feeling awkward now. Wow. Uh. Social awkwardness and confusion sucks. What the heck did he think she implied? Same person-- A relationship? Oh, that's extremely awkward, oh crap.

"No, yeah, you should be a team."

There's a quiet beat as it finally clicks into place for Ren. This is what has been bothering Akechi. There's something going on with his Ren, and it must be weighing on him.

"...Why aren't you together-- I mean as a team then?"

Oh, the confusion on her face. He almost starts to laugh, until she says she met Ren. One without glasses. He wants to grill her for every detail; he wants to strip her down to bone and tendon like a starving wolf. His eyes are wide and hungry before he forces himself to look away.

And he doesn't answer her question right away. "You must be pretty strong, right? If you already beat Maruki, and Yaldabaoth, and Shido. If you have it all behind you."

She goes quiet, hearing him say that. From the way it sounds, there's something serious going on involving his Ren. Something very serious. Combat-worthy.

"...Yeah. We won."

She looks straight into his eyes, seeing that look of desperation that he broke away from her. She honestly can't blame him, she'd probably look the same if someone ran into her own Akechi.

"I'll warn you, I don't have a way to summon a Persona outside of the Metaverse, but in it?"

She lifts her head up a bit higher, and she gets a confident, but also sharp look in her eye.

"In it, the Phantom Thieves and I have overcome everything we encountered."

Except your Akechi, he doesn't say. You didn't save him. He just meets her eye with his own determination—the same that's driven him to Mementos over and over, that will drive him till he drops.

"You should talk to Crow about your Persona problem. Summoning outside the Metaverse, I mean. He might have a solution for you." His mouth is dry; his lips stick together. He takes a breath before he goes on.

"Between you and me, you understand—Ren has a Palace. And it's big. Big, and extremely hazardous." In other words, he already has the keywords, and has been in there, and got his ass handed to him.

Speak to Crow, hmm...? Is he the one that has those Evoker things she's heard about? It's just a matter of actually meeting with Crow that may be the problem though...

But to remain focused on the task at hand, her eyes narrow a bit when she hears that he's gained a Palace.

"A Palace... So that's what you've been training for."

That explains it. Every single bit of it. She'd be doing the same, in his shoes...

"What can you tell me about it?"

She crosses her arms, leaning against the counter now. She needs the details. At the very least Akechi's been scouting... but she hopes that he didn't go alone. Surely he didn't, that'd be ridiculously reckless, to say the least.

Edited 2024-05-06 01:07 (UTC)

Certain of his path now, he joins her at the counter, leaning over it in turn. What does he need, after all, if he's to take this Palace on? He needs allies. "It takes the form of a deserted house, in the middle of nowhere. A desolate landscape—England, I think. I went in as part of a pair, which was for the best, because"—and he glances down, remembering how the whole of his cognition had screamed with one voice—"I certainly would not have got out again alone. It was like...."

He shakes his head, meeting her eye, almost jaded. "Did you ever have a dozen Personas all scream at you at once, to run for your life?"

Edited 2024-05-06 01:18 (UTC)

...Oh. That sounds bad.

"I'm gonna have to see it for myself, but from the way it sounds... this is making me think of Maruki's Palace already."

That place was always leaving her mind buzzing with an underlying unrest. Her Personas were varying levels of disquieted, not to mention the rest of the party...

But this sounds worse. So she needs to be on her toes for this one, and put her best foot forward.

"You've got an ally already. Good, that's a start. More allies, the better. Who've you got so far?"

"Just myself and one of the Futabas. But she can both fight and navigate. She took on the Shadow pack we ran into and got us both out. She's an asset." And she's close to Ren, which makes her essential—but this Goro does not mention.

"It's only been four days or so since we scouted. Since it unlocked. I was considering asking Crow, as a first step." Whether Crow's meant to be sitting on his ass or not. He sighs. "And, of course, away and above everything else, we need to talk to Ren. Who certainly must know he has a Palace."

Who'd used a Persona Goro had never seen, every time they met since Goro arrived here. Did he do that voluntarily? Would he be able to do it now? Goro suspects not, and the idea fills him with horror.

A Futaba took them on? It takes a second for Ren to wrap her head around a combat-oriented Persona belonging to a Futaba, but she manages to do so quickly enough to keep up.

"So you've already got the first steps sorted out..."

She thinks for a moment, considering it. This is only... what, four people? That's enough for a main party, but frankly, she's not convinced four people alone would be enough to handle it.

"...We need more people. There's no way just four of us would be enough."

From everything she's heard though, Crow seems like the kind of guy that knows everyone. So chances are that if he gets involved, then there's going to be someone else involved as well.

"You think Crow would know some people?"

"Crow knows everyone. I've barely been here a week, and I know that." But his lips purse. This is the nub of it—the reason he's driving himself so hard, the reason he's torn about bringing others in, far and away above his concern for Ren's privacy—which is considerable.

...It's true, entering a Palace is certainly a rather serious thing. You'd see things this Ren never wanted others to see, something that's understandable.

"...I get you. No easy answer to this. Less people means less privacy breached, more people means making it through easier."

So what to do then...?

Is it just a matter of having to make a choice? Less or more people?

"And the more people we bring in, the greater the likelihood someone will try to steal this from under me. Which I absolutely will not stand for." Perhaps rather unexpectedly, his voice has dropped to a growl.

"He's on my team. He's my—" and he breaks off, changing track almost without a beat. "I'm responsible for him! I won't let them run riot through his Palace doing who the hell knows what without me!" And yet, even after days of work, he's still too weak to even dream of going in there.

Huh, look at that. His hands are trembling on the counter. Maybe he really has been overdoing it.

Edited 2024-05-06 02:00 (UTC)

Well, she wasn't expecting that sudden shift... but she takes it calmly.

"Breathe."

She doesn't rest her hand on his shoulder or anything, not without permission, but she does look at him with a slightly softer expression.

"Nobody's going in without you. You know him better than anyone, you're going to be there."

She knows he wouldn't have it any other way, either. That's why she's not fighting against him going at all. He needs to be there, for both of them.

Heck, if she has to, she'll act as a bodyguard for him during the Palace visits if she has to. She just knows that he needs to be there.

But even so... She can tell he's not in a good state. He's getting riled up, he's trembling... He's wearing himself thin.

So she speaks a bit more softly this time.

"But you do need rest. You've been pushing yourself way too much."

She doesn't bring attention to Akechi's trembling hands, though she does clearly see them.

She just looks at him with that vaguely concerned look, eyes remaining on him as she straightens herself up off of the counter.

"...Go get some sleep. We can talk more later. I can finish dinner."

And he looks up from his now-tightly clenched hands to glare at her, except now his lips are quivering instead. The patronising—

He takes a deep breath. He's better than this; he's got this. And, shit, he really can't do it alone. Isn't that the lesson this whole year has taught him?

"You're right," he admits, looking away. "I just... I've never been carried, you know. Even before the Metaverse. If I don't do things, they don't get done, and if I can't do them, or won't do them...."

The potatoes in the pot stare back at him with their countless eyes. "I can't leave all this cooking to you, Amamiya-san."

And she accepts the glare, letting him do so until he finally breaks said glare away from her.

No point in getting angry about it on her end, she knows he has to feel like absolute garbage about this, and she's not going to add more to it if she can help it.

Honestly, trying to get him to rest is adding enough as is.

"...I get you. That was the way things were."

She had to do a lot on her own, too. Maybe not like Akechi ever had to, but when your parents are always busy and then you get dropped like a sack of hot potatoes because of a false arrest... well, you kind of have to be self-reliant.

"But you don't have to do it on your own. You've got your team. The one back home and the one here."

She glances at the potatoes in the pot... but shrugs nonchalantly.

"This? This is nothing. Easier than taking orders at Ore no Beko. Besides, I've got a knack for it. Cooking."

She cracks another small smile at Akechi, stepping towards the pot of potatoes, looking it over properly.

To say she has a knack for it might be overselling it, but she's learned quite a bit about working in the kitchen since living at Leblanc. Mostly about curry, but she can make the meal no problem.

"...I mean you can stick around if you really want, but I'm convinced you're gonna fall asleep standing up if you do."

She can't really stop him, she just doesn't want him suffering for it. That was the point of her telling him to go get some rest.

His lips purse again, as he struggles with his pride. Taking a hand held out, rather than offering it. Being part of the team, rather than the leader. Letting go.

He doesn't let go. But, looking into her face, of course he thinks of Ren. Ren, who Goro is asking to do this exact thing—to at least depend on one other for everything that matters most, if he can't bring himself to trust them all.

Taking off his green apron, he hands it to her, passing the baton. "Um. Don't forget the mushrooms. Most people don't add them, but the added umami...."

Edited 2024-05-06 18:36 (UTC)

She takes the apron with a small smile. There's a quiet look in her eyes that says something she doesn't.

'I won't let you down'.

Instead, she says something else along with a small nod.

"Mushrooms. Umami. Got it."

She gets to putting the apron on, carefully making sure the collar goes around her hair all right.

"Anything else?"

She wants to make sure he shares everything he needs to. Let him have that.

Again, he scans her face. There are a lot of things he could mention, but won't. "I don't want to make work for you. Besides"—and his smile begins to creep back—"I'm anxious to see how you do it. I've tasted your curry, after all."

And he liked it a lot. He heads for the stairs. "I won't be long. I'll just nap."

Once he's gone, she may or may not notice, next to the carrots he's already peeled, a sakura cutter that he neglected to mention.

"OK."

She watches him go, knowing full well that things were left unsaid... but she can't help but crack a confident grin. She's going to knock his socks off with the food, he can count on that much.

...But as she turns back to the food that needs to be handled, her eyes linger on the sakura cutter that happens to be there.

"..."

She picks it up, looking it over... before the smile fades a bit.

'...Looks like you didn't tell me everything', she thinks to herself. She has to decide how to go about this... Try to surprise him with its use and possibly use it for the wrong thing, or just keep it quiet and know for next time...

...

...Maybe she should ask him about it later...

As for Goro, he steps out of his shoes, falls onto the bed, and blacks out almost right away. But as he does, he hears the butterfly voice in his head again. Sanctuary, rank two.

Huh, he just has time to think, before he passes out entirely. He'll sleep far longer than he meant to.

[CLOSED] won't you shine in my direction

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