[Not Shinji, bless him, but Akihiko. She can't imagine they'd get along, though; they're too alike in some respects, but very different in others. Akechi would probably make Akihiko angry, she thinks.
But she looks up at him, blinking once with some muted surprise, but taking it in stride. Oh. Okay. That's... good, she guesses? Or well, not good. But she understands that a little better.]
[Hm. She's never had to talk about the particulars before. Not even with Shinji. Dazai, and now Akechi, are the only ones who know.
She tilts her head, not refusing to answer, but taking the time to put her thoughts in order. Ah, it's kind of annoying to explain, isn't it...? She makes a bit of a face, scrunching her nose up.]
It's hard to explain. Do you know anything about Nyx, or the Fall...?
[Like, he's a Persona-user too, so maybe she'll be lucky and he'll have heard about all that. Akira hadn't known what the Dark Hour was, though, so... it can't be that easy.]
[He doesn't rush her. Instead he stands there silently, allowing her to take her time. Because god knows, these things if any take time. He's not even sure where he would begin himself. Akira had shared with him that Kotone was 'like them', which could mean only so many things.
If personas were truly involved with her story, he can only imagine it to be complicated and messy one.]
Yeah, pretty much. I figure Akira told you some stuff...?
[Oh, that's a relief, audible in her voice that it's one less thing she has to explain. But her neck kind of hurts from looking up at him, so she pats the ground next to her again.]
[Akechi would rather stay standing up, but he'll comply with her wishes this time. He steps forwards to proceed sit down on the spot she had just just gestured at.]
He only told me the most crucial information, I believe. He said that you're like us.
[She isn't sure if she should feel hurt or not that Akira had told Akechi after she'd expressly asked him not to. It seems so trivial now in the wake of everything else, though, and besides; she'd told Shinji that very same night.
Resting her head against her draw-in knee, she gazes sideways at him, once again wondering just which arcana he is to Akira. She doesn't know enough about him to guess herself yet, and there's no mysterious voice to give her any hints, either.]
Anyway, the short version is that Nyx was coming. My team tried to fight her, but she was impossible to kill. It wasn't that we weren't strong enough, it's just... it was impossible. [Her voice takes on a curious note, like she's telling someone else's story instead of her own.] The best we could do was seal her away. The best I could do was seal her away.
[There's a lot more to it than that, but he'd only asked about the circumstances, not her backstory. She just shrugs one shoulder as if to say there it is.]
[What she gives him isn't much but just enough for him to piece a picture together. An act of self-sacrifice of sorts for the greater good? Well, it does fit in with the idea of what Akechi has of her. And well, it'd be lying to say that they don't have anything in common on that front. After all, hadn't he sacrificed himself to help Akira and his team to escape unscathed, trusting them to respect his wishes and finish what they had started with Shido. It had been over for him anyway, so at least he managed to do something good in is life. ]
[Yeah, there's no humble way to say "I died to save the whole world, including your bitch ass." So she doesn't, and lets him draw his own conclusions from what little information she gave him.
She hums a little, keeping her head against her knee as she watches his face, trying to guess his thoughts or feelings. It's a powerful statement, lacking in context but easy to guess at. Someone who felt like he hadn't had any choice except to die.]
Do you regret it? [she asks simply, not prying for more details because he hadn't tried to pry into hers. There's no judgement in her voice, just an honest, soft curiosity.]
Does he regret dying? No, not really. Does he regret the events that led them there? Some of it yes. He regrets not being able to see through Shido's plans, being so consumed by his revenge that he failed to take into account that he, too, was nothing but disposable pawn to him. And more than that, he loathed how he allowed himself to be so blind and actually feeling good when getting twisted validation from his father.
He takes a deep breath and looks up to the sky where the sun has started to set. It's slowly getting rather chilly for them to be just be out there.]
Some of it. [a pause as he wonders whether he should follow up or not.] I did lot of things. If some of them hadn't happened things could be now different between me and Akira.
[She hums softly, nodding once. Akira hadn't told her their entire backstory, but it sounds complicated.]
What's stopping you from making them different now?
[Again there's no judgement, no lead. She's just asking, because it seems natural to ask based on her own experiences. She'd accepted her death, known that she wouldn't ever see her friends again, had been prepared for that -- but then seeing Shinji here, having the chance to make new friends. She can't say she wouldn't trade it for the world, because she already looked at the world and decided it was worth saving at the cost of her own life. But even if it's difficult sometimes, being able to meet these people means something, she thinks.]
['It's complicated' doesn't even begin to cover it.
His shoulders raise lightly as he inhales deep through his nose, holds the air in for a few seconds before letting it out though his mouth.
This.. is where they differ. Akechi still can't accept this world, to him it feels like an another prison where he's roped into without his consent. Here he has nothing. The only course of action to him is look ways return to back to his real world.]
There's a little point in that. Also, there are some things you can't fix.
[Maybe he's right, and she's wrong. She drops her hands to either side and lets her fingers trace idle patterns in the grass as she gazes up at the colors around the setting sun. It's a little chilly, and since that final battle, it's been a little difficult to stay out in the cold, but -- it's fine.]
Everyone on my team... we all had to come to terms with our own deaths, [she says finally.] We all had different ways of handling it, but we all reached the same conclusion in the end. It's better to fight for the chance to try to fix things and die trying than live in a way that's comfortable.
I'm fighting. It's just a different one than what you'd expect.
[Ultimately, he keeps fighting for his own free will and authority of his own person. To die and go back to being dead were choices that he made, and now it's like he's been robbed again. As far as he's aware Aldrip isn't some kind of afterlife or purgatory so he can't even take his presence here as a natural continuation.]
When Akira said you were like us did he just mean having a persona or is there something else?
[Again, said simply. She won't pry into whatever his battles are; if he wants to tell her, he can. But it isn't surprising at all. Now that they're talking somewhat more honestly, Akechi seems like the kind of person who's had to fight a lot.
Her eyebrow raises at his question, lip quirking up briefly.]
I'm not a Phantom Thief, if that's what you're asking. [There's a note of humor in her voice at the prospect. It just sounds so... dramatic? Showy? Sure, the English name for SEES was equally dramatic, but it's not like they went around announcing themselves as such.] We don't steal hearts or send calling cards or anything like that. We just fight Shadows.
I'm gonna guess you don't know anything about the Dark Hour?
[Said back with equal amount of the amusement.. He knows that Akira might see it differently but Akechi has never counted himself being part of the team. He'd only assist them out of necessity.]
No, I can't say I have. Is it a time when shadows appear? [because it would be logical]
Mm, something like that. Between midnight and 1AM, it was like... a secret hour. Most people transmogrified into coffins, but not everybody. Some people were like us, who had the potential to awaken a Persona, others were just... regular people. Usually Shadows stayed in Tartarus -- this tower that our school would turn into during the Dark Hour -- but once a month, really big ones would come into the city itself.
[Boy, that's a lot of words to try to sum up something very complicated that she doesn't particularly like explaining. She hesitates, reaching briefly for the hem of her skirt before deciding that drawing a gun in front of Akechi after what had last happened maybe isn't the best idea.]
My "gun" isn't a gun at all. It's an Evoker. It's how we summoned our Personas.
[Akechi listens to her quietly, taking in any information he could. What she's describing reminds him of Mementos to some extent. Could it be an occurring abnormality where the metaverse bled into reality like it had done during Maruki's reign?
He'll talk about this with Akira later, but more importantly:]
After Akechi's behavior in the bar, she doesn't really trust him not to do anything rash like try to steal her Evoker and use it on himself.]
No, I don't think so. [She shrugs.] There's no Dark Hour, after all. [It's not like the Dark Hour is required to use an Evoker -- Chidori's Persona tried to strangle her in broad daylight, after all -- but she doesn't have any proof of that. Akechi doesn't have to know that she hasn't tried to find said proof.]
[He finds that hard to believe. Personas are part of them, after all. Why wouldn't someone try to reach for that power and see if they could summons them.]
No. Our powers only work in metaverse. I can still feel them.
[No, she hasn't tried, because the consequences of trying to summon her Persona and not being able to control it here would be disastrous. People could be killed. And while she's accepted her own death, she isn't so willing to just cast others into that fate to satisfy her curiosity.
More importantly-]
You said them? [Her brows quirk up.] You have more than one, Akechi-san?
[Said ever so casually. He knows that's what sets him apart from the rest of the persona users, what makes him special compared to anyone else. Robin Hood and Loki were both proofs of his power and shortcomings.]
[Said very simply. Even if Akechi hadn't gone through that whole display with Dazai, she's not about to just hand her Evoker over. The risk is too great for something to go wrong. Forcing out a Persona when that's not normally the summoning method for him? Definitely not a smart plan, especially when she's the only one here.
Ha. Having Dazai around would make it less risky, probably, but she's definitely not calling him up here, either.]
[Well, he can't say that he's surprised to hear her answer. He'd told her the same if their roles were reversed. It's risky and potentially fatal if things got out off their hands. But he still needs to ask.]
Not right now, of course. We would have to establish a neutral and controlled space and plan for counter measures in case the worst happens. [He, too, almost suggests they'd call Dazai. His power could come in handy, although he's not sure how it would affect already summoned persona.]
Experimenting with it could help us understand the nature of this world better. I'm not asking for a definite answer right away. Just think on it and we can come back to this later if you feel like it.
[She hums in a decidedly neutral tone, the kind that implies that she's already thought about it, and the answer is still no. Akechi might be a fellow Persona user, but especially in the wake of his scuffle with Dazai, she has no intention of allowing him anywhere near either her Evoker or Shinji's.
...Counting her lucky stars that Akechi doesn't know about Shinji, and she has even less intention of telling him now than she would have before.]
Who are your Personas? [she asks instead in an attempt to change the topic.]
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[Not Shinji, bless him, but Akihiko. She can't imagine they'd get along, though; they're too alike in some respects, but very different in others. Akechi would probably make Akihiko angry, she thinks.
But she looks up at him, blinking once with some muted surprise, but taking it in stride. Oh. Okay. That's... good, she guesses? Or well, not good. But she understands that a little better.]
What happened...?
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[He shoots back almost immediately. Yeah, there's no way he's going to share the events that took place in the engine room just like that]
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She tilts her head, not refusing to answer, but taking the time to put her thoughts in order. Ah, it's kind of annoying to explain, isn't it...? She makes a bit of a face, scrunching her nose up.]
It's hard to explain. Do you know anything about Nyx, or the Fall...?
[Like, he's a Persona-user too, so maybe she'll be lucky and he'll have heard about all that. Akira hadn't known what the Dark Hour was, though, so... it can't be that easy.]
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If personas were truly involved with her story, he can only imagine it to be complicated and messy one.]
Nyx? As in the Goddess of the night?
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[Oh, that's a relief, audible in her voice that it's one less thing she has to explain. But her neck kind of hurts from looking up at him, so she pats the ground next to her again.]
Sit down, please? It's kind of a long story.
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He only told me the most crucial information, I believe. He said that you're like us.
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[She isn't sure if she should feel hurt or not that Akira had told Akechi after she'd expressly asked him not to. It seems so trivial now in the wake of everything else, though, and besides; she'd told Shinji that very same night.
Resting her head against her draw-in knee, she gazes sideways at him, once again wondering just which arcana he is to Akira. She doesn't know enough about him to guess herself yet, and there's no mysterious voice to give her any hints, either.]
Anyway, the short version is that Nyx was coming. My team tried to fight her, but she was impossible to kill. It wasn't that we weren't strong enough, it's just... it was impossible. [Her voice takes on a curious note, like she's telling someone else's story instead of her own.] The best we could do was seal her away. The best I could do was seal her away.
[There's a lot more to it than that, but he'd only asked about the circumstances, not her backstory. She just shrugs one shoulder as if to say there it is.]
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[What she gives him isn't much but just enough for him to piece a picture together. An act of self-sacrifice of sorts for the greater good? Well, it does fit in with the idea of what Akechi has of her. And well, it'd be lying to say that they don't have anything in common on that front. After all, hadn't he sacrificed himself to help Akira and his team to escape unscathed, trusting them to respect his wishes and finish what they had started with Shido. It had been over for him anyway, so at least he managed to do something good in is life. ]
I decided to exercise my own free will.
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She hums a little, keeping her head against her knee as she watches his face, trying to guess his thoughts or feelings. It's a powerful statement, lacking in context but easy to guess at. Someone who felt like he hadn't had any choice except to die.]
Do you regret it? [she asks simply, not prying for more details because he hadn't tried to pry into hers. There's no judgement in her voice, just an honest, soft curiosity.]
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Does he regret dying? No, not really. Does he regret the events that led them there? Some of it yes. He regrets not being able to see through Shido's plans, being so consumed by his revenge that he failed to take into account that he, too, was nothing but disposable pawn to him. And more than that, he loathed how he allowed himself to be so blind and actually feeling good when getting twisted validation from his father.
He takes a deep breath and looks up to the sky where the sun has started to set. It's slowly getting rather chilly for them to be just be out there.]
Some of it. [a pause as he wonders whether he should follow up or not.] I did lot of things. If some of them hadn't happened things could be now different between me and Akira.
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What's stopping you from making them different now?
[Again there's no judgement, no lead. She's just asking, because it seems natural to ask based on her own experiences. She'd accepted her death, known that she wouldn't ever see her friends again, had been prepared for that -- but then seeing Shinji here, having the chance to make new friends. She can't say she wouldn't trade it for the world, because she already looked at the world and decided it was worth saving at the cost of her own life. But even if it's difficult sometimes, being able to meet these people means something, she thinks.]
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His shoulders raise lightly as he inhales deep through his nose, holds the air in for a few seconds before letting it out though his mouth.
This.. is where they differ. Akechi still can't accept this world, to him it feels like an another prison where he's roped into without his consent. Here he has nothing. The only course of action to him is look ways return to back to his real world.]
There's a little point in that. Also, there are some things you can't fix.
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[Maybe he's right, and she's wrong. She drops her hands to either side and lets her fingers trace idle patterns in the grass as she gazes up at the colors around the setting sun. It's a little chilly, and since that final battle, it's been a little difficult to stay out in the cold, but -- it's fine.]
Everyone on my team... we all had to come to terms with our own deaths, [she says finally.] We all had different ways of handling it, but we all reached the same conclusion in the end. It's better to fight for the chance to try to fix things and die trying than live in a way that's comfortable.
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[Ultimately, he keeps fighting for his own free will and authority of his own person. To die and go back to being dead were choices that he made, and now it's like he's been robbed again. As far as he's aware Aldrip isn't some kind of afterlife or purgatory so he can't even take his presence here as a natural continuation.]
When Akira said you were like us did he just mean having a persona or is there something else?
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[Again, said simply. She won't pry into whatever his battles are; if he wants to tell her, he can. But it isn't surprising at all. Now that they're talking somewhat more honestly, Akechi seems like the kind of person who's had to fight a lot.
Her eyebrow raises at his question, lip quirking up briefly.]
I'm not a Phantom Thief, if that's what you're asking. [There's a note of humor in her voice at the prospect. It just sounds so... dramatic? Showy? Sure, the English name for SEES was equally dramatic, but it's not like they went around announcing themselves as such.] We don't steal hearts or send calling cards or anything like that. We just fight Shadows.
I'm gonna guess you don't know anything about the Dark Hour?
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[Said back with equal amount of the amusement.. He knows that Akira might see it differently but Akechi has never counted himself being part of the team. He'd only assist them out of necessity.]
No, I can't say I have. Is it a time when shadows appear? [because it would be logical]
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[Boy, that's a lot of words to try to sum up something very complicated that she doesn't particularly like explaining. She hesitates, reaching briefly for the hem of her skirt before deciding that drawing a gun in front of Akechi after what had last happened maybe isn't the best idea.]
My "gun" isn't a gun at all. It's an Evoker. It's how we summoned our Personas.
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He'll talk about this with Akira later, but more importantly:]
Can you use it in this world?
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>Lie
>Tell the truth
>Dodge
After Akechi's behavior in the bar, she doesn't really trust him not to do anything rash like try to steal her Evoker and use it on himself.]
No, I don't think so. [She shrugs.] There's no Dark Hour, after all. [It's not like the Dark Hour is required to use an Evoker -- Chidori's Persona tried to strangle her in broad daylight, after all -- but she doesn't have any proof of that. Akechi doesn't have to know that she hasn't tried to find said proof.]
Can you summon yours?
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[He finds that hard to believe. Personas are part of them, after all. Why wouldn't someone try to reach for that power and see if they could summons them.]
No. Our powers only work in metaverse. I can still feel them.
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[No, she hasn't tried, because the consequences of trying to summon her Persona and not being able to control it here would be disastrous. People could be killed. And while she's accepted her own death, she isn't so willing to just cast others into that fate to satisfy her curiosity.
More importantly-]
You said them? [Her brows quirk up.] You have more than one, Akechi-san?
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[Said ever so casually. He knows that's what sets him apart from the rest of the persona users, what makes him special compared to anyone else. Robin Hood and Loki were both proofs of his power and shortcomings.]
Can I try it?
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[Said very simply. Even if Akechi hadn't gone through that whole display with Dazai, she's not about to just hand her Evoker over. The risk is too great for something to go wrong. Forcing out a Persona when that's not normally the summoning method for him? Definitely not a smart plan, especially when she's the only one here.
Ha. Having Dazai around would make it less risky, probably, but she's definitely not calling him up here, either.]
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Not right now, of course. We would have to establish a neutral and controlled space and plan for counter measures in case the worst happens. [He, too, almost suggests they'd call Dazai. His power could come in handy, although he's not sure how it would affect already summoned persona.]
Experimenting with it could help us understand the nature of this world better. I'm not asking for a definite answer right away. Just think on it and we can come back to this later if you feel like it.
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...Counting her lucky stars that Akechi doesn't know about Shinji, and she has even less intention of telling him now than she would have before.]
Who are your Personas? [she asks instead in an attempt to change the topic.]
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