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[undyingcrow]

[A message appears on the network one morning, not long after a certain Ren appears.

Not long after it goes up, some parts are edited out.]

Attention, "Crow" and "Joker."

With the arrival of my Ren, we formally challenge you over your precious codenames. Let us prove to you that we are the ones worthy of the titles, while you are mere variations from a simpler, happier world. despite the power you wield.

You may have seniority within this space, but we were forged in the fires of our hardships and have emerged on the other side of Maruki's reality.

You two have likely grown soft from your domesticity. Perhaps you'll find us worthy opponents after all this stagnation. They say the spirit of competition can bring out one's best and their worst.

[Is it bold to proclaim the challenge over the network? Yes. But he'd have it no other way, really. Everyone deserves to know how serious they are.]

As for the rest of you, I'd like to start a little bonding exercise.

Tell me something about yourself, and I'll tell you something about me in turn. Won't that be fun?

[It should be a simple way to start and prove that he's just as capable of "bonding" as Ren is.]

[ooc: Original parts of the message in strikethrough, with the edits after, if you want your character to have seen the original version.]

Comments

[undyingcrow]

He said he'd hold on to my glove.

[He'll let that sink in.]

But I suppose how much that means to you depends on if you challenged him to a duel.

[pancakeboy]

[Again, he knows the story, had been cherishing the image himself. A way to truly rub his disdain in Amamiya's face? What wasn't to like?

He just... never got around to it, somehow.]

Are you telling me you stood there and threw your glove at him? Face to face? Really?

[It's lucky this is text, so Karasu can't hear how wistful he is. And Ren had done what, turned it about? Said he'd keep the glove? What?]

[undyingcrow]

After he beat me in pool with my right hand, I invited him to a proper match.

However, we battled in Mementos, rather than at Penguin Sniper. Annoyingly, he defeated me, though he only battled me in my princely guise.

Still, I took it as an opportunity to throw the proverbial gauntlet. I challenged him to a duel after declaring how much I hated him.

[...]

I "had" to hate him, and I "had" to sever my "weakness."

[Ha. He wheezes out a laugh at his own expense, unheard by anyone else.]

A word of advice: find another way forward that doesn't involve shooting him in an interrogation room.

[pancakeboy]

Oh? But I really want to. I dream of it every night. [Karasu can likely hear the deadpan tone.] I know I have to discuss it with him. It would be a lot easier if I'd go back there, or if he would come here.

I was going to ask him to play billiards with me, the day I left. Had a whole speech prepared. It had elegant metaphors. I was even prepared to throw the game. You probably remember.

[undyingcrow]

I do.

He stuck to his principles. I was... happy, despite what it entailed.

Perhaps what you need to beckon your Ren is to send a wistful enough text message that Igor takes pity on you.

I suspect that's what happened to me.

[pancakeboy]

You're saying if I embarrass myself sufficiently, Igor will take pity on me?

Hold me back.

[Imagine that, though. Ren stuck to his principles, despite everything. Outwitted him, despite everything. There's a paradoxical sort of peace in that.]

[undyingcrow]

He literally replied to one of the most embarrassing messages I could have sent.

The timing feels far too deliberate.

[Imagine that. Waiting for a moment where he's, gasp, vulnerable...]

[pancakeboy]

I can imagine some fairly embarrassing messages.

[But it's going to have to be both embarrassing and revealing, isn't it. Yeah, he knows.]

[undyingcrow]

For added efficiency, use the subject "I'm alone right now."

Pour your heart out, and await results.

[pancakeboy]

I don't have a heart to pour out. I think we both know that much.

I would never have put it that way if I hadn't been so nervous.

[Probably. He'd rationalised it away afterwards, of course.]

[undyingcrow]

Likewise, but it worked like a charm.

It's funny. He likely knew we were full of shit for quite some time, yet he still humored our invitations.

[pancakeboy]

Of course he knew. He knew from the start. Right from the damned pancake thing.

Please tell me you know about that. I'd hate to have to break bad news.

[undyingcrow]

There's a reason I've sworn off pancakes for the foreseeable future.

[pancakeboy]

I couldn't believe that, when I learned. It was considerably more public than your earlier *faux pas*, put it like that.

Hardly an experience I'm anxious to repeat. Though I'm sure Ren could find a way to make it challenging.

[undyingcrow]

Well, look at it this way.

In the event that he does arrive, you'll have all the knowledge you've gained to impress him with.

For once, he isn't one step ahead, and you hold all the cards.

[pancakeboy]

You paint an attractive picture. There's only one small flaw I can see.

[undyingcrow]

Then by all means, reveal that flaw.

[pancakeboy]

Thank you. I shall:

That's exactly what I thought last time.

[undyingcrow]

A fair point.

Perhaps a more mild version of this mindset, then. One with less hubris.

[pancakeboy]

I suppose the psychology is basic enough, when you get some distance from it. We never really wanted to beat him, did we? We wanted to impress him. To prove ourselves.

[Just like Shido. But he won't be the one to say that.]

[undyingcrow]

I tricked myself into believing I wanted to kill him. That it was the ultimate victory, that it would prove I was superior.

All excuses to lessen the cognitive dissonance that our bond created.

[pancakeboy]

I believe I felt the bond, once. He visited, just once, for an evening. More than a year ago, now.

Our eyes met across a crowded Hallowe'en party. It was quite the cliché.

[undyingcrow]

How cruel to bring him here, just to send him away.

The more I hear about this place, the less I trust our host, and my trust was already at rock bottom.

[pancakeboy]

"Cruel" wouldn't be exactly how I'd put it. Like a laboratory worker with its subjects.

He was from my future. Your present or past, I believe.

[undyingcrow]

A possible future, I assume, and not one set in stone.

Wagtail is proof enough that it can be changed.