The Silence After the Storm

[vrdr_mods]

The Ken Amada who made certain threats, whom Igor didn't bring to the Velvet Room and didn't welcome, has been permanently contained within his other-world self. Many of the Velvet Room residents mobilized in the effort to neutralize the threat he posed, and now, in the moments after the devastating battle that sealed Ken away, perhaps you have business to conclude.

Maybe you're a fighter, left in the rubble the battle made of its surroundings—or maybe you were a noncombatant this time, left behind to wonder what's happening or prepare for the aftermath. Maybe you linger around the battle site, or maybe you have other things to do.

Or maybe you didn't survive. Maybe you're one of the glowing forms slowly coalescing in front of Igor's desk in the Velvet Room over the course of the subsequent half hour. Igor presides over them gravely, with no sign of his usual smile. Near his desk sits a box of snacks, familiar to anyone who's used the operation's training room.

[[ooc: This post is a general catch-all for the aftermath of the battle! It's backdated to February 26, the day Ken got got.]]

Comments

resident baby man...

[fogboundcrow]

Raven survived, partially due to his own training and partially due to the immense support of those around him.

However, that's not to say it was easy.

The entire fight, he was on edge, trying his best to hide his fears, but as the battle escalated and especially after "Doomada's" second wind, it grew much, much harder.

His Shadow, Shiro, hovers beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder and radiating warmth.

"It's going to be all right, Goro. We did it."

"I know. It's just..." He lets out a heavy sigh, drooping over. "I suppose it put a lot of things into perspective."

Fights like this are normal for Persona users and especially Wild Cards. It was bigger than anything he's ever faced before...

A lot for anyone to process, let alone a child. Care to approach?

He can be found both at the edge of the battlefield and later in the Velvet Room, looking aimless.

Velvet Room

[wipingallout]

"Raven..."

Hamuko's in the Velvet Room for a long while, even quite a while after regenerating from dying. She'd been paying attention to who came to the Velvet Room, so of course she noticed a familiar face looking lost.

She beckoned him closer. "Doing okay?"

[fogboundcrow]

"I'm..." He could deny it, but she's probably perceptive enough to see through him. So, blowing a small sigh, he moves closer. "What about you? You're the one who..."

He can't bring himself to say it.

[wipingallout]

"Tired, but I'd definitely be feeling worse if we'd failed," she admitted, picking out one of the bottles of tea that Ren had gotten when she'd asked. "You don't have to feel bad about feeling uneasy just because I or anyone else went through something. We're all together in this."

[fogboundcrow]

"But if Igor-san didn't resurrect any of us, we would have had to carry those losses with us." He knows that isn't the case, and it's useful to hang onto such hypotheticals, and yet...

"It feels like I should have done more."

[wipingallout]

"I know... I can't speak for anyone else, but I was willing to not come back if that's what stopping Fatalis meant," Hamuko assured, before leaning in a bit where she sat. "But listen - that is not a burden everyone can pick up and carry. And more importantly... there are a lot of battles to come, of all different kinds. There will be a chance for you to make a difference - it's okay to have been one of the people that we loved enough to protect with our lives this time."

[fogboundcrow]

"Mm. And I do appreciate that you thought I was worthwhile enough to save." Even still, his voice is soft, weaker than usual. "I just don't like being powerless to save people. It's happened too many times."

[wipingallout]

"I know what you mean..."

There were... a lot of times in her life where she had to confront that too.

"It's painful, and scary... but there will be a time where you find the strength to do it. We can't go back in time and change what was... but we can always try to pay the kindness given to us forward."

[fogboundcrow]

"I suppose we're fortunate." He crosses his arms, a small crease in his brow. "Since death doesn't stick, we don't have to grieve. Not that it makes suffering through it easy."

resident baby man's baby man!

[mountainfoggedlotus]

Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh.

Oh, god.

Ever since Goro told him about the fight...yeah, Ren's been scared. Waiting in the Velvet Room, he feels like someone waiting with bated breath in an airport for a family member or one of the spouses in those old war films...he's tugging at his hair like his older self does, in lieu of having a hankie to wave.

People start filtering into the Velvet Room -- bruised, beaten, but alive. Mostly. Spirits seem low, but...

Wormwood shudders inside him. Arsène just told me. They won.

"Where are they, though," he whispers.

Just a-- right there!

"GORO!!"

Baby man Goro, be prepared to get the hug of your life from baby man Ren launching himself at you at mach 3.

[fogboundcrow]

Oh! That's Ren. Ren rushing at him at ridiculous speeds, pouncing, annnnd...

Raven stumbles, but Shiro pops up behind him, keeping the two of them from crashing into the Velvet Room floor. "I hope we didn't worry you too much."

Raven blinks a few times, then places his forehead against Ren's. "It's all right if we did."

[mountainfoggedlotus]

"Worry me too much?" Ren laughs. It comes out hysterical. "You were fighting a gosh-darned avatar of death! And I couldn't be there!!" He's squeezing Raven, hard. "I feel so...ugh. Sappy."

[fogboundcrow]

"You deserve to be sappy." Here, he squeezes Ren, his voice weak and hoarse. "The important part is that we won. It's finally over..."

[mountainfoggedlotus]

"Finally? You promise?" He takes Goro's head into his hands. "We're going to Mementos as soon as you're good. I'm never getting left behind again!"

[fogboundcrow]

"Of course. I welcome it." A whisper of a chuckle follows. "...But not today. I'm much too tired for it."

[mountainfoggedlotus]

"You're not "good" right now, silly." Ren pokes Goro's head. "We need to get you back home."

[fogboundcrow]

"Well, lead the way, I suppose." He'll just... wait for Ren to lead. He is a tired lad, after all.

Velvet Room

[vampirethief]

Ren was considering going back to his apartment after having had come back to life and then getting some blood juice boxes to recover, but before he could enter the door towards Shibuya, he notices Raven.

He can't blame the kid for being upset. He and a couple others died during the battle. Hopefully he wasn't near if his death had caused some bloody explosion (he has no idea what a vampire dying looks like outside of media, which isn't accurate.) .

So he heads over to Raven. If Raven needs a hug, he can offer it. Though he's ice cold to the touch. Being undead does that.

"Hey there. I heard we won."

[fogboundcrow]

Raven had noticed that Ren wasn't among the victors, so when he spots him in the Velvet room, he rushes over, wide-eyed and a tad apprehensive. "...We did, yes. But are you all right...?"

That's, erm. A rather odd thing to ask a formerly dead member of the undead, but it's important!

[vampirethief]

"I'm okay now. I gotta say, what a way to find out that vampires can be killed the same way as zombies."

It made sense, but Ren's really annoyed that having had to find out this way by dying again. Though it did raise the question of can he be killed by a stake through the heart, or if attacking the brain really is the only way.

"In all seriousness, I'm just relieved that the threat is over now."

[fogboundcrow]

"I know, and I know that casualties were always a risk." He wilts, heaving a heavy sigh. "But I still wish it hadn't come to that."

[vampirethief]

"Me too. We knew full well he was going to be tough to beat and we pulled it off." Barely mind you, but it's over.

"At least this time was quick. Getting stabbed and bleeding to death is not fun. Neither is temporarly disappearing from existance."

Does that last one even count?

[fogboundcrow]

...Yeah, pardon his staring. "Is the latter literal or purely hypothetical?"

[vampirethief]

"Literal. To make a long story short, the God of Control was able to merge Mementos with the real world for a while, and due to people no longer believing we existed, we were erased from cognition. Thankfully we all ended up in the Velvet Room, and after Yaldabaoth tried to make a deal with me, I managed to encourage everyone to get back up and fight. We managed to get back and wake everyone up, as well as fight and defeat him."

It's very much the cliff notes version. Ren's not sure how much he knows about the future from Crow, as well as from being here for years.

[fogboundcrow]

That's...

Well, it's a lot to process, let alone imagine. It ended well, clearly, but even going through it temporarily... Raven shudders.

"Well, at least I know what to expect when I eventually face that godforsaken cup, though knowing certainly won't make it pleasant."