ɪɴʙᴏx [ᴇxᴘɪᴀᴛɪᴏɴ]

[chemex]

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[chemex]

[He chuckles, quietly deciding he ought to meet this Chuuya guy. The smile lingers until she asks after Akechi's Arcana, and it fades into curiosity.]

Mmn, yeah. Justice.

[orphne]

[She makes a noise of recognition and realization.]

The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed, [she mutters to herself, lips twisting into another wry, humorless smile. A joke that isn't at all funny, but made for her own sake. It's what the Appriser -- Ryoji -- kept saying when they were fighting, changing forms and Arcana. Mentally, she shifts to the appropriate Persona, reaching out to the angel.]

Melchizedek.

[Which of course doesn't summon him, because she's not trying to; it's just a statement. That's the Persona she has with her that matches him.]

[chemex]

[He isn't so sure he wants to know what that means regarding her Justice Arcana, but he doesn't question it, just watching her reach inside and call upon, to the minimal extent she's able, the appropriate Persona. It's interesting. He doesn't call out to the demon, but he does close his eyes to think for a minute on who he had, of Justice.]

I had Metatron, for Justice, last time I was in the Metaverse.

[orphne]

[Her hand closes into a gentle fist over her heart. Melchizedek had been the Persona she'd been able to fuse after spending time with Ken. Briefly, she wonders if the key to his old house was still in her room where she'd left it. What injustice had Akechi faced, or what had transpired in his life to make him be that for Akira...? Questions that are a little too personal to be asked easily, she thinks.

But she blinks in some confusion, mentally flicking to Metatron herself.]

I have him, too, but he's not Justice. He's the Aeon.

[The Persona she'd gotten from Aigis.]

[chemex]

Aeon..., I didn't have that one.

[It's interesting, to talk to someone else with multiple. He wonders, idly, if that's a contributing factor to why he finds Kotone so easy to talk to.]

[orphne]

Mm... it was kind of special. It was the same number as Judgement, like... next to it. [She holds up both hands side by side as if that could somehow illustrate her point, but of course it can't, it's so hard to explain these kinds of things.]

By the time I unlocked it, things were kind of busy. I never got around to asking Theo about it.

[She drops her hands to her chest again, the XXII pins in her hair glinting in the sunlight. She'd had the pins for a long time, but never really got the significance of them until the past year. She'd just liked the design when she'd bought them.]

[chemex]

[He hums for lack of a proper response, and glances at the pins when they shine, taking a moment to read them.]

...ah, the Fool?

[orphne]

That's us, isn't it?

[She manages a grin, faint as it is. Sure, she gets the idea behind the Arcana itself -- that had been one of the few interesting lessons that weirdo school nurse had given -- but it had always struck her kind of funny with the double meaning.]

[chemex]

[He nods.]

Literally and figuratively, in my case.

[orphne]

Not just you.

[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.

[chemex]

[He nods, and looks immensely tired, suddenly.] ...yeah. Didn't really stick the landing, and got an unwanted sequel, but. I think maybe it's actually done now.

[orphne]

[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.]

[chemex]

[He scrunches one eye partially closed, and shrugs one shoulder.]

Haven't really thought much about it, I guess.

[orphne]

Mmhm. It's hard.

[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.

[chemex]

[He shakes his head, unbothered.]

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?

[orphne]

Oooh. I had plenty of time before I got here.

[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.

[chemex]

[He blinks, tilting his head.]

Why mine specifically? We both got stuck here.

[orphne]

Huh? Oh.

[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.

[chemex]

Like the Scramble, maybe. [Which-- is apt, given he first saw Arsène in the Scramble. Does she even mean street intersections, though? He's not sure.]

[orphne]

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.]

[chemex]

[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.

[orphne]

Yeah.

[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?

[chemex]

[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.

[orphne]

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.

[chemex]

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.]