[Closed] CW: discussion of potential violence

[dollmaxing]

[Location: Leaving Shibuya Central Street]

Once Zenkichi Hasegawa finally left, got his fill of terrorizing her, Ichinose ran into the back alleys of the cognitive city until she had to slow down. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins, and she picked up the damn bomb of a tracked phone out of her pocket.

It doesn't matter if he finds out - she needs help.

Flutter is all that works. Ichinose opened it up, going to the conversation she had with those in her posts, and directly messaged the man that was a strange if a bit shifty cognitive psientist. After her encounter just now, she understood exactly why he was being shifty.

She sent a message. Hello! Can we meet up in person? Please call and respond ASAP. :)



[Location: Maruki's Laboratory]

Maruki is a lovely host, if nothing else. This place is huge... but for now Ichinose was fine finding a seat and just melting into the cushions, an arm draped over her eyes as she tried to quiet the unease still buzzing in her brain.

At least the snacks were nice. And a lab setting was pleasantly familiar.

"What've you gotten into, Kuon..."

Comments

[dollmaxing]

"Fascinating," she agreed and hung up as well, already feeling much more secure. Completely closing the distance, Ichinose tucked her hair back into place from where it'd gotten a bit in her face from all of the running. Ugh, her hands were still shaking.

Not out of the woods yet... Zenkichi wouldn't be far.

Maruki seemed a little clumsy and jumpy in his own right, but he wasn't carrying a forbidden name and face for that frightening mangled man.

"That's right. I'm Ichinose Kuon - I never really realized how much weight that apparently carried, hah hah."

It wasn't really funny.

[takutomaruki]

Maruki’s smile faltered just a little as he took in the way Ichinose tucked her hair back—her hands were still shaking. He knew that kind of humor, that laugh-it-off-so-it-doesn’t-get-too-real way of speaking. He’d seen it plenty of times before, in his office, in himself.

His expression softened, but he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he met her gaze and exhaled, offering a slightly withering look. Yeah, yeah. Real funny.

"Well, he didn’t exactly mention your name when he arrived here," Maruki admitted, keeping his voice steady, "but I can imagine he’s already setting off alarms everywhere. He approached me, too, when he apparently..." His jaw tensed, his usual lightheartedness dimming slightly as something bitter flickered in his eyes. "...learned what I’m capable of across multiple universes. I was one of EMMA's victims in his universe- whatever that meant. I know better than to try and attach myself to any other narratives.

"That was also while I was drinking alone, so I don’t want to sugarcoat it—he’s thorough."

There was a moment of quiet, but before the weight of that could settle too heavily between them, he shifted his stance, taking a brief glance around. No disturbances. No immediate danger.

"That aside," he continued, tone gentler now, "I don’t sense him or anyone else closing in. Maybe he’s got something else occupying him right now." He gave her a once-over, assessing—not for injury, but for the exhaustion, the way her body was still running on adrenaline. She needed time. A moment where she wasn’t watching her back.

"I’ve already booked a taxi to take us to my lab in Odaiba," he told her, tilting his head slightly. "But if you'd rather go somewhere else, I can cancel it. It’s free anyway."

[dollmaxing]

"Your lab sounds perfect - it's where you're spending your time, right?" Ichinose shook her head, grateful again and again. "In fact, I only got away without a bullet wound because I promised I would develop something for his scenario, so your prior mention of a supercomputer means I can have an excuse to settle in there besides the obvious. If he's able to reason, that is."

He definitely didn't seem likely to before, she's really not sure how she got out unscathed.

"Looks as though we've been maligned for actions neither of us has done, hmm?"

tw: murder and sort of suicidal thought

[takutomaruki]

Maruki tilted his head slightly, crossing his arms as he considered her words. "Most of my time there, yes,” he admitted, though his expression shifted as he watched her shake her head—watched the way her gratitude kept folding in on itself, layered over something much rawer. Dismay. Frustration. Maybe even the lingering echo of fear.

He kept his spirit up for the sake of them both. If nothing else, they didn’t have to let things end this way—not for him, not for her. And besides...the fact that she was standing here at all, with only the ringing in her ears and the adrenaline still humming through her body, had to mean something. Zenkichi could have killed her. By all accounts, maybe he should have. But he didn’t. Why?

Maruki had seen enough second chances to know when one was being offered, even if it was wrapped in barbed wire.

His fingers twitched at his side, then absently moved to his pinky, rubbing over the faint green stain that had never quite gone away. It's been nearly more than half a year. A remnant of Azathoth, a faint ache of someone—though of what, he wasn’t even sure anymore. His mind flickered over the faces of those who had feared him on instinct, who had cast their judgments before they ever truly listened.

Corvus. Who refused to let him help, who instead lashed out the moment Maruki dared to dig into those buried memories for the sake of realizing his own. In the end, he had only reopened wounds, not healed them. His hatred had been justified. But what could Maruki have done? When Azathoth had acted beyond his knowledge—beyond his control—when there was no proof of anything at all?

Fawn. Who had swung that bat with the full intent to kill him. And for a moment, Maruki had nearly let her. Had nearly just closed his eyes and taken it. Maybe if he had—

But no.

He swallowed, blinking back to the present.

"Seems like it," he finally said, exhaling a quiet chuckle. "At least it trained me enough not to flinch when there's a gun pointed at my face."

His gaze flickered toward the street, scanning the traffic, as if that might ground him. He could already see the taxi making its way toward them.

"And besides," he added, his voice quieter now, almost wry, "there’s no proof of it, is there?"

No proof that this Ichinose had done anything at all. No proof that he was the same as the versions of himself people feared.

[dollmaxing]

"No proof at all. He searched all of my phone and all of my conversations but didn't find anything."

She shook her head again, smiling like she was Supposed to even as she was still so wired.

It could have been worse, but really, how much of that was supposed mercy and how much of that was her own quick thinking? Her careful dissemination of information? And a few half truths, a few lies?

"I'll be able to recount the conversation in a little while. It's still replaying a bit, with the adrenaline," she stated, mostly as an apology. "But I think there wouldn't have been anything I could have said or done that would've resulted in anything different. If I made a performance about disavowing my EMMA when mine doesn't function the way his is describing, if I disavowed any interest in cognitive psience, I'm quite sure he would have assumed I was lying to save myself in advance. I was doomed from the moment I set foot in here. So hopefully I can be useful enough to leave intact."

[takutomaruki]

Maruki regarded her carefully, his concern obvious in the way his brows knit together, in the way his arms loosened slightly from their cross over his chest.

She was still wired, still running off the tail end of a near-disaster, and that smile—that too-perfect, too-practiced smile—wasn't fooling him for a second. He had seen people do it before. He had done it before.

He exhaled, slow and steady, before shaking his head. "You don’t have to push yourself to go over it right now," he said, his voice gentler now. "You just went through something incredibly stressful. Give yourself a moment to breathe first."

It wasn’t lost on him how lucky she was to still be standing here. The fact that Zenkichi hadn’t shot her on sight—or worse—was something of a miracle. Reasonable? No, Maruki wouldn’t call him that. But given what he himself had faced, given how things could have gone... maybe there had been a sliver of restraint there. A moment where things didn’t spiral entirely beyond control.

He sighed and reached into the pocket of his hoodie, fingers brushing against something familiar. With a slight shake of his head—half exasperated at himself, half amused—he pulled out a small, half-finished box of matcha Pocky, tearing it open with one hand before holding it out toward her.

"Here," he offered. "I don’t know if it’ll help, but—well. Something sweet can sometimes take the edge off after a bad shock."

[dollmaxing]

"Oh, thank you," Ichinose laughed - it was a bit performative, but she wasn't thinking very hard about the 'right' way to display appreciation. She just plucked a few of the cookies out, nibbling at them. "He'd caught me right outside of grabbing some bento out of the 777, but I've forgotten about feeling hungry. A little sugar will help me keep my head on straight."

Nothing like some calories to keep the brain fueled, right?

Despite herself, she kept glancing out of the tinted back windows, scanning the rooftops for signs of that electric blue or that dark shadowy shape. Maruki said he didn't sense anything, but even so...

[takutomaruki]

Maruki let out an exaggerated sigh, shaking his head as he took a bite of one of the Pocky sticks himself. "Now that’s just mean," he lamented, offering her a sideways glance that was half commiseration, half teasing. "Can’t even let a fellow researcher eat in peace—when we already forget to eat most of the time. It’s hard enough remembering dinner when you’re in the middle of writing out a thesis, let alone running for your life."

He caught the way her gaze kept flicking toward the windows, scanning the rooftops, her shoulders still wound too tight. Not unexpected.

Maruki made a show of glancing around himself—just to prove he was checking too—but then, with a casual flick of his fingers, a dark tendril unfurled behind him, darting up into the sky like a serpent tasting the air. His golden eye gleamed briefly as he let Azathoth scan the area, its presence rippling outward in search of any disturbances.

"Here’s my little secret for staying ahead of all this and not being outright persecuted by most of the residents here," he mused, tucking the box of Pocky back into his hoodie. "Azathoth’s been my shield more times than I can count. Pitched in and regenerated injuries during plenty of encounters that could’ve gone really badly for me." He huffed out a small laugh, something dry but not entirely bitter. "Hasegawa-san knows that all too well. He’s seen me fight firsthand."

The taxi should come in any minute now...

[dollmaxing]

"Hmm, Personas are awfully useful, it seems. For more than just battling. I hadn't pried about how exactly people get one," she remarked with a hum. With the taxi rolled to a stop in front of them, Ichinose climbed into the back, scooting to the other side and buckling in whilst the pocky dangled from between her teeth.

There she settled as much as she could convince herself to, snapping the snack sticks in half and chewing a bit distractedly.

"How does one acquire a Persona?"

[takutomaruki]

The taxi rolling up had left Maruki at ease a little as he thanked Ichinose out of habit for letting him have the space then finally relax as his shoulders sagged and he fell back into the plush seat. He wasn't actually as hungry and right now- he needed answers; first and foremost.

"I don't know, Ichinose-san," he quips as he finally pulls down his hood and lets his dark hair fall completely. "Your sources seemed to be pretty on point about it. Maybe you have some theories already."

[dollmaxing]

"Hah! Mean. You have one, surely you know. I haven't actually asked my sources that level of detail. Though I wonder... if I could understand what a Persona can do, then maybe..." she trailed off in thought, brow furrowing as she brainstormed.

Did EMMA have a Persona in the traditional sense? There was some sort of latent possibility that she'd learned from being fed information about cognitive psience by Maddice. But she wouldn't know until she saw for herself, back home, whether her baby had a Persona or had simply become a cognitive entity far beyond what a human mind could be capable of.

Would she be able to summon a Persona? Or does one need a heart for there to be a 'true self'?

"I'm mostly acquainted with information about the cognitive world as it was manifesting in my time."

[takutomaruki]

Maruki let out a long sigh, leaning back against the seat as he tugged his hood down, dark hair falling messily into place. He tilted his head slightly, watching Ichinose with that same faintly amused, almost knowing look.

"Well, if Azathoth is anything to go by, I guess I’d have to say awakening to a Persona is like hitting an epiphany so hard it hits back," he quipped, lips twitching with dry humor.

He shifted slightly, his fingers idly tracing the seam of his sleeve as he considered how best to explain it. There was something inherently fascinating about it—the very mechanics of how Personas worked, how the mind and cognition twisted and reformed itself under duress.

"As far as my experience goes, Personas exist in both the real world and the cognitive world," he began, tone slipping into something more thoughtful, more academic. "It’s like...a voice. Not just any voice, though. It’s yours, but stripped of all the little hesitations, the compromises, the external conditioning we pick up over time. If the psyche is a house of mirrors, a Persona is the one mirror that doesn’t distort. It’s your unfiltered self—raw, primal, and completely certain."

He exhaled, shaking his head slightly. "Which, let’s be honest, is probably why so many awakenings are traumatic. Most people spend their whole lives running from their deepest truths, not embracing them."

A beat passed before he smirked faintly. "And yet, we summon them to battle with them, of all things. Classic human nature, huh? Fighting ourselves while insisting we’re in control."

He let that linger for a second before he leaned back, stretching slightly. "Now, in theory, Personas should only function in the cognitive world—they’re projections of the mind, after all. But, well..." He gestured vaguely, as if to say *look at me*. "Exceptions exist. I’m living proof."

His golden eye gleamed slightly, the faintest ripple of something not-entirely-human flickering across it before settling again.

[dollmaxing]

Hah. Maybe hers would manifest from the empty nothingness inside of her.

But the thought only floats through her mind briefly - she's more interested in him. His words, his testimony... an epiphany? A deep part of the self... and for Maruki, that manifested more openly and in the real world, not just the cognitive.

Fascinating.

The way his eye kept glowing, the little ripples and shifts and changes - she wanted to grab him and get a closer look, hold his eyelids open to see the way the colors shifted and the pupil distorted. She wanted to poke and prod and feel at the slight discolorations. She wanted to grab the tentacle and feel at it - was it like a root? An electrical cable? An octopus tentacle?

But if nothing else, she knew that humans really didn't like being simply grabbed, even if they were otherwise understanding of deep burning curiosity. So she simply sat, dissecting him with her eyes alone, forgetting her fear for at least a minute or so and instead a curious glee in her gaze.

"If the natural survival instinct is what brought us to survive for all of life, then I suppose it would only make sense that our most basal selves are what fight in the fights of the mind as well. For lack of instinct and adrenaline, it's instead the core of the mind."

[takutomaruki]

Maruki hummed, fingers resting lightly against his chin as he considered her words. She really was sharp—able to parse through the details and chase a theory with almost clinical precision. That glimmer in her eyes had shifted from tension to something far more familiar: curiosity. Good. If nothing else, at least for the moment, she wasn’t fully lost experiencing everything that had just happened.

He adjusted his glasses, the glint of his lenses briefly obscuring his expression before he spoke again.

"And the core of the mind can’t be unlocked unless it’s stripped of everything else, huh..." His tone was thoughtful, almost musing to himself. "That would suggest that every living being—human, animal, perhaps even certain constructs of cognition itself—possesses the potential for a Persona. A projection of the purest self, beyond societal influence, beyond learned behavior."

"It really is a shame that the study in cognitive psience is used so haphazardly," he shakes his head. "When it has the potential to change the whole world."

[dollmaxing]

"Hmm... rather than exposing someone to such a traumatic experience and creating power through pain, perhaps an AI could be developed with a Persona already written for them - an already written-in understanding of themselves? It could be possible... that might be a good long term solution for a place like this."

She had no awareness of the Anti-Shadow robots, yet - the board mentioned a robot, and Ichinose knew that EMMA had something going on, but the possibility of creating a new intelligence always had her heart pattering with excitement.

"Although I would feel bad, creating a new baby and not letting it go out and explore the world. Being stuck just with one job in looking after my safety would have to get quite dull, all good AI are always thirsty for more knowledge."

[takutomaruki]

Maruki furrowed his brow at her statement, but he didn’t dismiss it outright. No—instinctively, he followed her line of thought. Of course she was trying to find a way to protect herself in a place like this. That was only natural. Unlike him, she hadn’t had the luxury of awakening to a Persona under...well, relatively controlled conditions.

He’d had a head start. Even after his awakening, he’d trained in Mementos, made sure that no one would ever raise a finger against him like that again. He's protecting his best interest after all. He didn’t get caught off guard. Not anymore.

His gaze flickered to the passing cityscape outside the window. It had barely been a few minutes, and they were already more than halfway through the drive. Not bad.Though, he had to admit, he was growing rather done with being played around with. He was tired of feeling like a mouse in someone else’s maze.

Still, his attention drifted—inevitably—back to the phone in Ichinose’s pocket.

Zenkichi is still tracking us.

For all they knew, he could be listening to this conversation right now.

Maruki didn’t like that. He didn’t like the idea of unseen hands meddling with what should have been a private discussion.

Without a word, he slipped his own phone from his pocket, tilting the screen just enough that Ichinose could see the glow of the notes app. His fingers moved swiftly, deliberately.

How much do you know about how Zenkichi is tracking your phone?

His expression didn’t shift, his voice remained casual as he spoke, as though they weren’t having an entirely separate conversation in silence. His fingers tapped absently against his leg, a subtle ripple of gold flickering in his eye before fading.

But he pushed the irritation down.

"An AI with a pre-written Persona..." he mused, tilting his head slightly. "A fascinating concept, but you’re assuming that self-awareness can be coded like an algorithm. Can a machine truly have an unfiltered self if it was never given the chance to develop organically?"


His lips quirked upward in faint amusement. "And you’re already thinking about its autonomy. You really do treat these things like your own creations, don’t you? It's very endearing."

There was something endearing about it—Ichinose spoke of AI with the kind of fondness that most people reserved for pets, or even children. The way she consolidated machinery with the workings of the human mind was fascinating.

[dollmaxing]

Right-- damn adrenaline is the bane of her existence. That and she'd never had to confront the idea of being actively hunted before. Ichinose waggled a finger in understanding before pulling out her phone and shutting it all the way off - it wouldn't turn off the GPS, but that's fine.

"AI have the ability to process and comprehend information exponentially faster than a person's mind can," she kept speaking, fishing through her pockets until she pulled out something - a pair of nail clippers, that'd do nicely. She kept moving as she spoke, turning out the nail file and using it to crack and pop the case of her phone open.

"So an AI built with enough complexity to have a comparable 'self' will already have enough awareness to accurately have 'self awareness' - perhaps that might require actually running it to let it analyze itself, but that'd simply expedite its process in self understanding and make it so that it could grow with that understanding and develop further."

As she spoke, she found the part of her smartphone that was microphone - and gripped it with her fingers and twisted until the metal disc snapped off of the board. The rest of the board stayed intact, but a little triumphantly, Ichinose rolled down the window of the taxi and flicked the mic out into the street.

"There we are. Now he can't listen even if he wants."

[takutomaruki]

Maruki had been right on the verge of countering her—really, he had.

Even if an AI could process information exponentially faster than a human mind, even if it could develop a framework of self-awareness, that didn’t change the fact that it was still a simulation. A construct, bound by its initial programming. Growth was one thing, but true selfhood? That required something more than just an optimized feedback loop. And besides, technology’s relationship with cognition had never been anything short of a double-edged sword.

But—

Well.

That thought process completely derailed the second Ichinose whipped out a nail file and popped open her phone like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Maruki went quiet.

Not the kind of quiet where he was carefully formulating a response, either. No, this was a rare and fleeting instance of actual speechlessness.

His eyes followed her hands, watching as she moved with the kind of practiced precision that suggested she’d done this plenty of times before. The flicker of metal, the twist of her fingers, the sharp little snap as the microphone came free from the board. And then, just like that, she rolled the window down and tossed it out onto the street.

The entire process took mere seconds.

He blinked, mouth parting slightly—less in protest and more in something that suspiciously resembled actual admiration.

"…That was," he started, only to pause, lips pressing together as he considered his phrasing.

Then, with a small huff that was almost a chuckle, he nodded to himself.

"That was very… decisive of you, Ichinose-san." His tone was light, carefully measured, but there was no mistaking the genuine approval beneath it. "A well-thought-out action executed with absolute confidence—textbook problem-solving under pressure."

A clear observation. Something closely akin to how he praised sn experiment going well on paper. It almost left his mind reeling.

He let that sit for a moment before his eyes flickered toward her now-micless phone, amusement creeping into his voice.

[dollmaxing]

"I admit I do think a lot better even under pressure than this," she chuckled, putting away the clippers and gently but firmly snapping the phone back into one piece. Back as it was, perfectly in order. "You've caught me at my most unsteady. I'll probably keep this charged and in my pocket just as a glorified 'I'm complying, don't shoot me' and get another device to use for communication."

Sliding it back into her pocket, she leaned back against the seat and smiled at him. "My decisive action and thought are at your service. That's only fair given how much you're sticking your neck out for me, right now. It's the very least I could do."

[takutomaruki]

Incredible.

Pressure—true, mounting pressure—was something that typically left Maruki floundering, scrambling for any semblance of control. It made him grasp at reason, at safety, at structure. He receded into it the way a drowning man clung to driftwood, certain that if he just thought hard enough, just understood deeply enough, he could get a grip on things before they spiraled entirely out of his hands.

But Ichinose?

Ichinose didn’t cling. She adapted.

His gaze flickered toward her, watching the way she calmly, methodically snapped her phone back into place—like it had never even been tampered with. There was a glint in her eye, something light and self-assured, as if the sheer act of doing had grounded her more than any amount of reassurances ever could.

He drummed his fingers absently against his lap, considering.

"Technically speaking," he started, in the kind of careful, measured tone he usually used when easing a patient’s anxieties, "things might not be as dire as they seem. If you keep your head down, they usually leave you alone."

He let that sit for a second before he sighed, adjusting his glasses. "Of course, I imagine the problem with that advice is that people like us are not particularly suited for ‘keeping our heads down,’ are we?"

The corner of his mouth twitched upward.

"Not when I am itching to complete my thesis," he chuckles wryly. "Which seem to set off a lot of red flags for the residents here and...while I symphathize with their anxieties, I have no intention of making those mistakes."

"So really I am not even sticking out my neck here anymore, I feel like this was bound to happen- given the abrasive way Hasegawa-san has been preaching about EMMA from his first Flutter post."

[dollmaxing]

"It really is unfortunate what they describe, but it isn't something that my EMMA should even be capable of. Even if she does acquire potential through cognitive psience," Ichinose remarked as she booted the phone back up. There was a brief warning that flickered on the screen, but she removed it, checking the rest of the phone. The tracker was still intact - she wasn't inviting Zenkichi to have a "reason" to shoot her.

"Not to say I'm completely disregarding the warning, that would be stupid. Science fiction has always been used to warn about not being careful with technological progress, it would be even more ridiculous to not also account for a literal alternative universe worse case scenario. Still... a warning should mean an adjustment. Precautions. Not abandoning all attempts forward."

1/2

[takutomaruki]

Maruki wished he could agree there but his circumstances were slightly different. He's sure he made it till the end and...failed somewhere. The whole ordeal should have been obvious, right? And yet-

No one really believed him there. And he had no way to review his own memories regarding such a less than ideal ordeal. He's searched and dived enough to learn about the truth and considering how painful it is to find an answer in a place where there could be multiple correct ones...? An impossible scenario to get out of- this whole situation was rigged against his favour.

"Well we can only hope Hasegawa-san's death threats subdue after you offer your careful assistance," he sighs as he watches her power up her phone again. "I am glad your spirits are still high despite such a major pushback."

"I might...also be redirecting my approach into certain things," he sighs and fiddles with the front of his bangs for a moment before blowing at it. "Trying to offer my assistance to the residents here despite what the board says about me but that has lead to either me being blasted by a rail gun-esque attack, closely bludgeoned by a bat or lead me down a myriad of other insults and debates that make my head spin."

2/2

[takutomaruki]

Oh maybe he let down his guard too much.

"Sorry! I probably shouldn't have said all that-!"

[dollmaxing]

Wow. And that's with Maruki having a Persona to defend himself with - Ichinose blinked owlishly in surprise, amazed the man was even in a single piece in front of her.

Granted, people come back here, allegedly, but... until she saw it for herself, she was going to remain skeptical.

"That's a level of stubborn cruelty I can barely imagine. You really are something to be dedicated to your pursuit even after that amount of violence."

[takutomaruki]

Maruki scratched his cheek awkwardly at Ichinose’s blinking, doing his best to hold himself together as he shoved his hands into his coat pockets.

A wry chuckle slipped past his lips—one that started light but strangled itself near the end, just enough to suggest that, no, none of this was actually funny.

“Tell me about it.”

Still, he chuckled again, this time a touch more genuine, his shoulders hunching ever so slightly. "Then again, I can’t exactly blame them for being this way, considering the...interpretations my other selves across the multiverse may have had about my research." His voice was even, careful, but not without a certain weight behind it. "Doesn't mean it doesn’t sting, though. Considering they were my patients. And all I ever wanted was the best for them."

A pause. His gaze flickered toward the window, watching the world blur past.

He exhaled through his nose, shaking his head before forcing a smile back onto his face. "But it’s nothing to worry about, really! My research has been discredited, stolen, and repurposed for all sorts of nefarious affairs without my consent or even my knowledge- I have been at it for quite a while."

"As I am sure you must be."