personavelvetroomdr | 🌒 [Open]

... ... ... ... ?

What is...?

I shouldn't... be awake...

[In the Velvet Room...]

[It's courteous of whatever's going on with Igor's plan here that Hamuko is dressed. She probably shouldn't even have a body... whatever she has going on now... did her body fall comatose without her? Did it die? If it was alive, she surely should be much older. ... ... ... Maybe that all doesn't really matter, right now. She's here, gifted a chance to be around others again. The pinboard catches her attention first, of course. Signs of other people... so many little notes, talking about multiple versions of the same person running around. That's... that's charming... that's fun. ...Even if the notes about Ken Amadas make her sad...]

Hmm... I don't see any other 'me' off the bat...

[She'll take a few minutes once given a pen and some pink paper to doodle a little version of herself, signed with her name and phone number, and add it to the corner of the pinboard.]

[Inaba, Central Shopping District]

[What a fun little town! A charming place... hey, isn't this the town she went to for the volleyball camp? She loved the accommodations, but it's so nice to actually wander the streets and see the little shops. This place is SO rural, Hamuko had never really visited a place this remote, even when jumping between foster homes.] Let's see... what's the good spot for the locals? [No point being a complete tourist shmuck!!]

[Shibuya, Underground Mall]

[Well, since nothing costs anything here... might as well get some cute new clothes, right? Who knows how long she'll be around here, and 'dreaming up' new outfits didn't seem to be a thing. No lucid dreaming here - somehow, Hamuko felt a lot happier with that in mind. Still... the fashion is so different!!]

I just want one cute orange top...!! Is orange out of style? Dang it...

[Iwatodai Dorms]

[Of all of the places she's been having fun goofing off and exploring in, the dorms... she couldn't quite get the courage to open the front. Not just yet.]

Not even Koromaru is out front right now. ...I've gotta apologize...

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There anybody you don't bully?

[Hamuko held up her fingers as she counted off a list,]

Little kids that don't know how to interpret teasing yet, someone that's crying, or old senile people.

Everyone else is fair game! Builds character! Heehee.

Yeah, dunno what other answer I expected.

Anyway, Ken's around - regular Ken, as far as I know the others all found different places to stay. [Just as well for everyone involved, really.] Don't think he's from a timeline with you in it. Makoto... think he's far enough along to know I was out of the picture, but not all the way to the end yet. Aigis is probably around here somewhere, but I dunno what all her deal is.

And one of the kids from Tokyo is crashing here. Said she needs people around so she doesn't get lost in her own head, and she's one hell of a cook. [And that's Shinji saying so.]

[GASP? Praise that high from SHINJI?]

Really?? Is she single?

You'd have to ask her that.

Heehee. Is she cute? I bet she's so cute. Girls are great.

[Hamuko giggles, squishing her cheeks in her hands excitedly before sighing a little and sitting at the table properly.]

I missed flirting with everyone. Oh well... another reason to apologize for disappearing, I guess. If anyone I owe that apology to is around, at least...

I guess she's all right? [What are you asking Shinji for, he's an ace disaster. Also in a proper timeline this girl is Ken's age. Matters less here, but he'd still feel weird.]

I wouldn't worry about it too hard. You did what had to be done. If it wasn't you, it was someone else - which you wouldn't have wanted - or everybody, from the sound of it.

Exactly... from the looks of it, it seems like the world kept going onwards. Maybe threatened by other things, but... never again by Nyx.

[Which was the most relieving thing out of any of this realization.]

It's hard to tell with the sort of... 'average person' walking around here, but there's been a few I've talked to. It's nice, seeing that they have that spark to them.

At least two more rounds of Persona bullshit after us, which I guess counts for something.

Gosh... I wonder how everyone looks, after all these years. Is Mitsuru still standing strong with the Kirijo Group, not taking any guff over her gender...? Is Aki still training and boxing? Maybe Junpei and Chidori are getting along well too...

[Their lives could march on, thanks to their efforts. A sacrifice worth fighting for].

Ain't really been home in ages, but I did pick up a couple things through the grapevine. Mitsuru's got a 'keep a squad of Persona users on call in case shit goes weird again' group going. Some of the people here won't just take our word for it that she's all right, but they've had the kinds of experiences where she'll need to show them herself she doesn't mean trouble.

[It's a trust thing, at that point, and several of these people have no reason to trust someone swooping in like that. Especially when her squad was apparently locked out of the Phantom Thieves shit.]

And apparently Aki had a 'shirtless guy in a cape' phase. If I run into that I'm flippin' him to the ground with the damn thing.

Shirtless in a cape?? What is he, a backyard wrestler??? Hahah!!

[People not inherently trusting Mitsuru... par for the course! She'd gotten her chewing out from Yukari over it, at least. And last she spoke to Mitsuru, that was something she wanted to move past anyway.]

Aki is such a doofus...

[It's a kind of distrust Mitsuru would completely understand, at least - especially in cases like Falcon's, where he was part of the fucked-up robotics program and badly traumatised by it.]

He's a dumbass, is what he is. Guess he fell back into the 'punch problems until they stop being problems' bullshit for a little while.

Well, at least it's got its place in some problem solving. It's part of his charm. All the studying in the world doesn't make him less awkward.

He's always been like that.

He's so cute... all my senpais are so cute.

[Basking. Sighing, swooning. Lucky her!!]

[Yeah, she's getting a side-eye on that one. Not that Shinji doesn't agree on two of the three, but his own self-worth is only somewhat less abysmal than it used to be.

He had a dungeon about it and everything.]

How much of the local info did you get before you came over here?

Hmmm... Different areas of Japan, accessible through the doors, that are sort of manifestations of the places and not the real place. There's a lot of two particular people for some reason. There's real mythical creatures around too... multiple universes and different times and years...

It's all very dream-like, for not feeling like a lucid dream.

That pretty much covers it. No idea what makes that Akechi guy so interesting the place needs like twenty of him, but whatever.

He seems fine so far... haven't had more than a few minutes of conversation though, yet, so I guess we'll see.

[She chuckles, completely undaunted.]

I wanna see that scary bird one.

'Seems fine.' Depends on which one you met and how much they're faking it. Most of 'em remind me of a mix of me and Ken.

[He does not mean a good mix.]

The bird's one of the least fucked-up of the bunch.

Oh no, poor guy... maybe Igor's bringing so many of them to give them a break, too. Give them a chance to make connections.

[Since... well, that's Igor's job.]

They could probably use it.

It's what helps people grow. It's what gives them strength...

[She can't fully help the distance in her gaze, as she trailed off. It's what she'd been ruminating on for all this... uncertain amount of time. Years? Minutes? It's not really like she could completely tell.]

I'll see what I can help along.

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