[She'd made her share of stupid decisions in the past. A quiet inhale, then she asks,] Did you complete it? Your journey. Before you came here, I mean.
[A sequel? Her eyebrows lift again, but that also probably means he survived his. She'd wondered if that was something they had in common, if that was just how it went but-- no. She's probably the only one with that kind of unique relationship with Death, huh?]
Is that something you're happy about?
[It's a quiet question, one he can choose not to answer if he doesn't want to.]
[Understatement for sure. She'd wondered that when she'd first arrived in Aldrip -- what she should do when she hadn't expected a future at all. And she isn't going to push Akira for an answer, either. Maybe just thinking about it is enough.
She gives him another look and adds,] Sorry for bringing it up. I've just never gotten to talk to anybody about this stuff before.
Mmn, it's okay. It doesn't really bother me, I just... really haven't thought about it. I was leaving to go back to my podunk town again when I wound up here, and didn't have much time between leaving Tokyo and coming back to really... ruminate, I guess?
[Maybe too much time. Her gaze goes a little distant as she turns her gaze back up to the clouds with a quiet sigh. The final battle had been January 31, but she'd promised to meet up with her friends for graduation. She'd tried so hard to be there, even as it felt like weariness was settling deep into her bones and making it hard to move. And then-- she was here. She'd missed it anyway.
But if she hadn't, she'd never have met so many of the people here. It doesn't quite balance out, but it does ease the sting somewhat. She turns her head again to catch his eye with that same barely-there smile.]
[Well. Her's is ending permanently, but it doesn't sound like his did. He even got to go back to it all, it sounds like. She blinks uncertainly, not sure how to respond, and eventually just shrugs.]
Huh? [she repeats again. Like... the chicken on the farm Shinji had named Scramble...?]
Oh, no, or like... maybe? [Okay, like the Tokyo Scramble. She hums thoughtfully, trying to imagine it.] I wonder if there's anyone else like us. [She flaps her hand tiredly to indicate the two of them -- wildcards.] If it's like a crossroads like that, maybe there are others who could show up, too...?
[It makes her head hurt to think about, honestly.]
[He just grimaces.] Hard to say, really. I hope there aren't too many, honestly... The stuff we dealt with... You, too, probably. Wouldn't wish it on anyone.
[He shakes his head.] It was gradual. Ryuji 'n I stumbled into the Metaverse on accident, my first day of school in Tokyo. Found Morgana, almost died, tore my face off, got a cool costume... Y'know.
You make it sound like the whole thing was an accident.
[She rolls over, just a little with a soft noise of protest as she pillows her head in her arm and gazes at him. That's... a lot different than it was for her.]
SEES already existed before I even came back to Tatsumi Port Island. The night after I arrived at the dorm, a big Shadow attacked the building. I was able to grab an Evoker and...
[She raises two fingers to her temple in the form of a gun and "fires" it, tilting her head with the imaginary recoil. She's leaving out the fear and the dread and yet, the desire to see what would happen if she pulled that trigger. The acceptance that if it didn't work, she'd die.
She just shrugs.]
Since I had the potential, they wanted me on the team.
Kinda was. I had no idea what I was doing, and then suddenly I was leading a whole rag tag group of misfits.
[He watches her pantomime the Evoker and frowns, sitting up.] Whoa whoa, wait. You shoot yourself in the head with that thing? [He gestures toward her leg, where he last saw the Evoker at the party.]
If you did it was at the party, and please remember how drunk I was, [He's staring at her in an alarmed, owlish sort of way, trying to process the whole "Yeah I shoot myself in the head to summon my Persona(s), neat huh?" mood happening right now.]
[His brain catches back up with her second statement, and his heart skips several beats, less leaping and more bodily yeeting itself into the back of his throat in a way that squashes his voice.] Res-- what sort of researchers? [Adam Kamon is on the backs of his eyelids when he blinks, Takuto Maruki's sweet, disarming smile and as he hands his team boxes of off-brand apple juice--]
[He looks so bewildered. It kind of reminds her of Junpei a little? But none of the others had really seemed to have difficulty comprehending it. Yukari had difficulty doing it at first, but it wasn't so strange. Why would summoning a Persona be easy?
As for the researchers... she shrugs.]
All that stuff was before I joined. It's a really long story about what they were working on... [She makes a bit of a face, rolling back over to stare up at the clouds. Please don't make her talk about it.] Just trust me when I say they're not really around anymore.
[For the most part, anyway. The people who'd been involved in the initial experiments had died in the explosion, but the Kirijo Group presumably still had staff on hand? Eugh, where's Mitsuru when she needs her...]
[Cognitive.... what? She's pretty sure she's never heard that word before in her life, but it's pretty easy to guess the meaning from context. Hmm... yeah, probably best not to mention the Kirijo Group, just in case Mitsuru shows up. That'll then be Mitsuru's problem to deal with.]
Yeah? [is all she says instead with another shrug against the rooftop before repeating,] All that stuff was before I joined... for me, it was just cleaning up the mess they made. Killing the Shadows, saving the world. All in a day's work, right?
[Her wry smile doesn't come anywhere near her eyes, but hey, at least she makes the effort.]
[The idea of coming into something already destroyed and being made to clean it up is... Unsettling, to say the least. He considers her a while.]
...I think I was basically the black chess piece in a really bad game of 5D chess played by Gods, or things that considered themselves Gods. So I guess we can both take solace in the fact that neither of us had a good time.
[She hums, turning her head sideways to turn that half-smile on him.]
It's nice to know I'm not alone, but it doesn't really make me feel better to know that you had a hard time, too.
[Regarding him a moment, she beckons him closer. Come here, you're too far away, she'd have to sit up to get within arm's reach and that's just too far away and too much effort right now.]
[He chuckles, smiling at the roof between them until she beckons him. He glances back up, then, almost meek about her beckoning, but scoots into her bubble with his shoulders bunched up around his ears.]
[As soon as he scoots close enough, she just rolls over and wraps her arms around his waist, smushing her face into his stomach for a hug.]
...Thanks, Akira. [It's a mumble against his shirt as she squeezes him with once again perhaps surprising strength.] Talking with you... helps. I hope it's the same for you.
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[She'd made her share of stupid decisions in the past. A quiet inhale, then she asks,] Did you complete it? Your journey. Before you came here, I mean.
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Is that something you're happy about?
[It's a quiet question, one he can choose not to answer if he doesn't want to.]
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Haven't really thought much about it, I guess.
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[Understatement for sure. She'd wondered that when she'd first arrived in Aldrip -- what she should do when she hadn't expected a future at all. And she isn't going to push Akira for an answer, either. Maybe just thinking about it is enough.
She gives him another look and adds,] Sorry for bringing it up. I've just never gotten to talk to anybody about this stuff before.
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Mmn, it's okay. It doesn't really bother me, I just... really haven't thought about it. I was leaving to go back to my podunk town again when I wound up here, and didn't have much time between leaving Tokyo and coming back to really... ruminate, I guess?
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[Maybe too much time. Her gaze goes a little distant as she turns her gaze back up to the clouds with a quiet sigh. The final battle had been January 31, but she'd promised to meet up with her friends for graduation. She'd tried so hard to be there, even as it felt like weariness was settling deep into her bones and making it hard to move. And then-- she was here. She'd missed it anyway.
But if she hadn't, she'd never have met so many of the people here. It doesn't quite balance out, but it does ease the sting somewhat. She turns her head again to catch his eye with that same barely-there smile.]
I'm glad yours brought us together, at least.
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Why mine specifically? We both got stuck here.
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[Well. Her's is ending permanently, but it doesn't sound like his did. He even got to go back to it all, it sounds like. She blinks uncertainly, not sure how to respond, and eventually just shrugs.]
Yeah, I guess so. Like an intersection.
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Oh, no, or like... maybe? [Okay, like the Tokyo Scramble. She hums thoughtfully, trying to imagine it.] I wonder if there's anyone else like us. [She flaps her hand tiredly to indicate the two of them -- wildcards.] If it's like a crossroads like that, maybe there are others who could show up, too...?
[It makes her head hurt to think about, honestly.]
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[Yet another understatement as she exhales through her nose and gazes up at the clouds.]
How did your team get together...? Were they already together before you became the leader, or did you bring them all in?
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[She rolls over, just a little with a soft noise of protest as she pillows her head in her arm and gazes at him. That's... a lot different than it was for her.]
SEES already existed before I even came back to Tatsumi Port Island. The night after I arrived at the dorm, a big Shadow attacked the building. I was able to grab an Evoker and...
[She raises two fingers to her temple in the form of a gun and "fires" it, tilting her head with the imaginary recoil. She's leaving out the fear and the dread and yet, the desire to see what would happen if she pulled that trigger. The acceptance that if it didn't work, she'd die.
She just shrugs.]
Since I had the potential, they wanted me on the team.
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[He watches her pantomime the Evoker and frowns, sitting up.] Whoa whoa, wait. You shoot yourself in the head with that thing? [He gestures toward her leg, where he last saw the Evoker at the party.]
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[Oh. Must not have. She blinks at him a few times, lowering her hand and pillowing her head back down comfortably on her arm.]
Yeah. The researchers said that summoning a Persona needed... intense psychological trauma, I think? The Evoker simulates that.
[Said like that's a normal thing. Honestly, to her? It is. If you can't access your own traumas at will, store-bought is fine.]
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[His brain catches back up with her second statement, and his heart skips several beats, less leaping and more bodily yeeting itself into the back of his throat in a way that squashes his voice.] Res-- what sort of researchers? [Adam Kamon is on the backs of his eyelids when he blinks, Takuto Maruki's sweet, disarming smile and as he hands his team boxes of off-brand apple juice--]
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As for the researchers... she shrugs.]
All that stuff was before I joined. It's a really long story about what they were working on... [She makes a bit of a face, rolling back over to stare up at the clouds. Please don't make her talk about it.] Just trust me when I say they're not really around anymore.
[For the most part, anyway. The people who'd been involved in the initial experiments had died in the explosion, but the Kirijo Group presumably still had staff on hand? Eugh, where's Mitsuru when she needs her...]
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Okay. That...'s a relief, I think. The research of cognitive pscience for me is... Bad news.
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Yeah? [is all she says instead with another shrug against the rooftop before repeating,] All that stuff was before I joined... for me, it was just cleaning up the mess they made. Killing the Shadows, saving the world. All in a day's work, right?
[Her wry smile doesn't come anywhere near her eyes, but hey, at least she makes the effort.]
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...I think I was basically the black chess piece in a really bad game of 5D chess played by Gods, or things that considered themselves Gods. So I guess we can both take solace in the fact that neither of us had a good time.
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[She hums, turning her head sideways to turn that half-smile on him.]
It's nice to know I'm not alone, but it doesn't really make me feel better to know that you had a hard time, too.
[Regarding him a moment, she beckons him closer. Come here, you're too far away, she'd have to sit up to get within arm's reach and that's just too far away and too much effort right now.]
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...yeah, I don't enjoy mutual wound-licking much.
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...Thanks, Akira. [It's a mumble against his shirt as she squeezes him with once again perhaps surprising strength.] Talking with you... helps. I hope it's the same for you.
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