personavelvetroomdr | Dimension Door

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Dimension Door

They had just finished a gig for an informant and were on their way home. She closed her eyes for just a moment and then everything was blue. This was weird, even for the crew she normally kicks it with. Ann pulls out a copper wire and tries casting a message, but it seems that nobody can hear.

Hm. Okay. Time to look around on her own then.

Others can find her

A) At the conspiracy board

She finds the board in this strange blue room, but very little of it means anything to her. Personas? Multiple names? Tartarus? Metaverse? This isn't helping at all.

B)In Tokyo

The next place is much more disorienting. The buildings here tower above her, there are all kinds of dancing lights, there's some kind of metal carriages, and the people don't look like they're really people. Wherever she was, Ann was a long way from home.

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As it happens, Yaeko's out and about with her sketchbook, looking for inspiration wherever it may strike.

And then, as it so often does, inspiration walks right past her. (It feels more than a little familiar, but this clearly isn't Ann as Yaeko knows her, and besides, she's learned a thing or two about imposing on someone's time.)

"You must be new."

The voice startles her, mostly because she wasn't expecting the people she was seeing to speak. A small crackle of a fire bolt flame pops up in her hand, fizzling out when she turns to see. This person reminds her of one of her party members, she looks a lot like Yusuke. Except maybe a more feminine presentation, and less pointy ears.

"Oh, um. Yeah, you could say that. I'm Ann."

"Yaeko. Pleased to meet you." That resemblance wouldn't surprise her. They do all seem to have a habit of finding each other, no matter the base timeline.

"Nice to meet you too. Can you explain a little bit about where here is? I think I'm lost." Might as well wring all the information she could out of Yaeko.

"It's a cognitive recreation of Tokyo, the city a great number of us call home. There are others who hail from the other locations the Velvet Room doors grant access to, mostly Inaba, and a few who don't come from any of those places."

Odd, that access hasn't opened up a bit further. But Yaeko supposes that's Igor's decision.

"I must fall under the 'none of those' banner." The word Tokyo doesn't mean anything to her. "Has anyone figured out what brings people here?"

"Primarily, I believe that's down to Igor - you would have met him in the Velvet Room when you arrived. There's one case currently that was... something else, but I don't know enough about that incident to speak to it."

Yaeko knows she's nothing like powerful enough to assist with that problem, so she's leaving it to the people who are.

"A...case?" That doesn't really mean much to her. Other than piecing out that someone had some form of incident, whether it was emotional or not.

"Someone got in without his knowledge. That's about all I know of the matter."

That and the kid killing someone (whether it's permanent or not, it's bound to be traumatic), but that's a bit much to dump on a newcomer.

"Sounds to me then like Igor's system is a little wonky." So then for all she could figure out there wasn't a rhyme or reason to her being here. She's not in a huge rush but still.

"Perhaps." What it is is a font of artistic inspiration (and a place with free food), so Yaeko's not worrying about it overmuch. Maybe this is a mistake, but she can defend herself perfectly well, if necessary.

"He seems to be invested in us 'making bonds' with others. I'm not sure if that's to a particular end, or just because he thinks it's a good thing for people to do."

"Yeah, that's the part that's sort of confusing to me. I have friends back home so I don't really need to make bonds per say." Not that she's against it, it's just that if there was an end to the means here she already should have found it.

Yaeko shrugs. "Most of us have friends at home, so it's hardly a limiting factor."

"Hm. Okay." If it was just people who struggled to make bonds she could understand, but bringing in those who had them?

She'll just thank her lucky stars that she's not in danger.

Ren can't always send Goro to harass Igor, unfortunately. He's come in person today, scowling at them as soon as he's through the door. Except this time, instead of going straight to Igor's desk to demand answers about the Amada situation, he's distracted by... an Ann?

He's pretty sure. She looks more like an Ann than Phoenix looks like an Akechi, anyway. The horns are pretty demonic-looking, but knowing Phoenix has taught him not to make assumptions about how demons act.

The unfriendly expression has dropped off his face as soon as he stopped looking at Igor; now he just looks curious. "Takamaki?"

The familiar voice is a comfort to her, even if Akira seems more formal than she's used to him being for a kid who grew up on the streets. She turns to look at him, relaxed until she realizes...

There's no horns, no fangs, no tail; why if she didn't know any better she'd say this boy with a striking resemblance to Akira is human. "Akira if you're playing a trick on me you better knock it off," she insists to him.

"Ren Amamiya. Not Akira. Don't know if you got to that part of the board yet." He tilts his head at at the board Takamaki was reading, with an easy, apologetic smile. "But I have two different names depending on the universe, for some fucking reason."

He looks chill, standing in a comfortable slouch with his hands in his pockets, but he's watching. A newcomer is always an unknown quantity.

"Oh, honestly I can't understand most of the board." All this Persona stuff and places that she'd never heard of were sort of confusing to her.

But if this boy insists his name is Amamiya she'll believe him. That's probably more likely than assuming that her friends are pulling her leg, as unfortunate as that means the alternative is.

"I can explain stuff, if you need it. I've been here a while." He glances up at Takamaki's horns again, then back down to her face, with its bright pink skin. "We have another demon here, by the way," he offers. "Not the same kind. He's, like... a bird person. But I bet he'll like company."

Well, she shouldn't be too surprised that Amamiya hadn't seen someone like her before. Still, it'd probably be good for him to learn the difference between a tiefling, demon and a devil before he goes around insulting other people.

"Oh no, I'm not-" her tail swishes as she explains. "I'm a tiefling, where I'm from calling us demons or devils doesn't really, well it's..." how to explain...? "There probably is a demon somewhere in my family line but I'm just a person." If that explains anything to him.

"Oh." He blinks, taking that in. "My bad."

Uh. How can he say this. "If it's something people shouldn't say, you should probably introduce yourself on the network? 'I'm Ann Takamaki, I'm a tiefling,' or whatever you want to say. And maybe put it on the board. Because most people here are probably gonna make the same mistake."

"Network like a thieves guild or...?" She's not really sure what he's referring to. As for the board well, she could leave a paper there but she's not sure how effective it would be or if people would know what she was referring to if Amamiya made this mistake.

He eyes Takamaki, her clothes and her horns. A thieves' guild, she's said. And there was that prince Akira he met once, who was from a world that seemed old...

"Do you, uh. Do you have phones? where you come from?"

What if she says no? How does he even explain a smartphone? Fuck.

She tilts her head, confused. She doesn't really have a clue what it is that he's talking about. "I don't think so." They wouldn't really need them where she comes from with multiple spells for communicating over long distances.

"Cool," he mutters. "Okay. Uh. This is a phone." He takes out his phone and shows it to her, presses the power button so that his lockscreen lights up for a moment. "You can use them for a lot of stuff. Talking to people with your voice, sending them text messages... you can use the internet, but I bet you don't have that, either. Anyway, you can grab a phone wherever, there are stores all over Tokyo. And the network is on phones. It's how we all talk to each other when we're not in front of each other. If you want to make an announcement, that's the best way to do it."

Hey, Ann. Don't look now, but there is a grinning fourteen year old, watching with intrigue.

"Impressed? Confused? Perhaps a bit of both?" He pauses. "You're certainly the first Ann Takamaki I've encountered with such a striking appearance."

She was about to jump before looking down and realizing that the person talking to her is just a kid. She puts on a polite smile. "Mostly confused. A lot of this doesn't really make much sense to me. Sorry."

"Is there anything in particular you'd like clarified? You wouldn't be the first I've encountered without any connections to... well, most of the information presented."

Come to think of it, there was that elf girl some time ago who faced similar struggles...

"I'm not familiar with this Persona stuff or these locations," she admits. It seemed like she might be the outlier with that, based on how prevalent it all is on the boards.

"You aren't the only one, even if the majority here do." Hmm... How to put it... One hand settles on his hip as he thinks it over. "Think of Personas as beings we can summon, manifestations of our soul and/or mythical heroes, demons, and assorted archetypes from the collective unconsciousness. These locations are based primarily in the country Japan on the planet earth."

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Dimension Door

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