dropkicks him right into the velvet room

[pyrrhicjustice]

[The Velvet Room is now host and occupant to a Goro Akechi who is lying flat on his back. It certainly seems he arrived that way, and he shows no sign of moving yet. His school blazer seems to have been rained on, although in the blue lighting of the Velvet Room it only seems darker than usual.

Maybe once he's been encouraged to move into better lighting, it'll be noticeable that the rain was of a distinctly red nature, but that's for then, and this is now.

Oh, and there's also a blue butterfly flittering nervously at Igor, who seems sad at its presence.

Poke the (not exactly) sleeping Akechi?]

Comments

[youngestdawn]

Akira-kun nods, trying not to disturb the butterfly. Blue!

Hmm…he can tell that this Akechi is sad. Maybe this Akechi is like the other one…he flips his notebook to a new page.

“We’re in a new, weird place where time and space are weird. I’m probably not the Akira you’re thinking of. Sorry…”

[pyrrhicjustice]

[If anything, those words make him wince. No, that's a good thing. You don't want to be him. You don't want to grow up to be him..]

Her name is Lavenza, and she's used to somewhere a lot like this. [He doesn't need to tell the kid that he mostly knows because she's excitedly - for a weak cognitive butterfly - babbling about the Velvet Room.] And it's- okay. You don't need to apologise for that.

[youngestdawn]

A small pause.

“Sometimes new people here get sad when they see me” he writes, showing it to Akechi after a moment. “I don’t mean to cause such an inconvenience.”

[pyrrhicjustice]

If people are sad when they see you, that's not your fault.

[In his case, it was his fault. He knows that damn well, and he'll own it... to anyone who's not as young as this.]

And you aren't.

[For all that he'd called Akira exactly that in the past, or... close enough. Why can't you just get out of my way, more than once. The frustration at - so much of what made him Akira.

But Akira had just stood there and took it whenever he'd vocalised any of that, and then he'd been gone, and this Akira was just a kid. "Not the Akira you're thinking of" was a relief in so many ways, but still... even so.

He gets himself sat upright, properly, and holds out a hand. Lavenza flutters off the kid's head and over onto his shoulder, and he awkwardly pats small Akira's head, pointedly ignoring the heartsickness that gives him.]

[youngestdawn]

Akira-kun watches the butterfly go with slightly-sad eyes, but accepts the headpat. Pretty blue friend...deserves to be with whoever they want to be with.

He tugs the blanket around Wet-Akechi's shoulders. "Do you need help?"

[pyrrhicjustice]

[Seeing the little Akira trying so hard to help him doesn't help him feel less conflicted, but... it's not as though he can explain that.]

I was knocked down quite badly before I got here, but I'm sure I'll be okay. [He's gone through- well, no, that was the worst he's gone through up to now. But still.] Maybe you can tell me about these doors I can see?

[He has to assume they all lead somewhere, and maybe it'll make the kid feel better, being useful. Although, the blanket isn't exactly unwelcome.] Ah... thank you.

[youngestdawn]

"They all lead to different places! Tokyo, Inaba, uh...Tatsumi Port Island, Sumaru City, and Mikage-cho!"