messianic | IC

[Oh... hi, Akira. Minato does willingly step back so Akira can come in, though he mostly just moves over to the stairs and sits heavily on the bottom step, running his hand over his face.]

I'm more or less okay now... it's just been really miserable.

[Fun Facts from Minato Arisato: do not drink poison.]

So... honestly, company is nice. [A beat.] Company that won't yell at me.

[HE FUCKED UP but he definitely scared Vriska and Guren pretty badly, so he knows he deserves it, but...still.]

...I can do company.

[He won't even yell! Partly because that's not really his style, unless he's dramatically yelling at shadows.

As Minato is not a shadow, he's safe.

Akira comes and sits down on the step next to him.]

Who's been by to yell at you already?

[Company is nice, really... especially not yell-y company. Akira's quiet generally, and really comfortable to be at ease around.

So that...makes it even better.]

Vriska-chan is my roommate, so...she wasn't very happy about it. And Ichinose-san... I wanted to give him the poison so that he could keep it safe. He figured it out. [Naturally.

Though Guren did do minimal yelling, for Guren.]

[That's incredible - Guren is loud on main.]

Hmm... probably enough yelling then.

[He lightly knocks his shoulder into Minato's.]

Anything I can do to make it less miserable?

[Well, in all honesty:]

It'd be nice to talk about something not poison related for a bit? I don't really know what, but...

[He's been dealing with a lot of scolding lately.

He might also fall asleep on Akira's shoulder, but right now he's just leaning comfortably against him.]

It'd be nice to take my mind off of it.

[He can lean all he wants. Akira isn't moving.]

Okay.

[He thinks for a moment, casting his mind around for a story, before...]

Do you want to hear about how I met my first friend, in Tokyo? ...And my cat.

[It's a wild ride. But not really a bad one - at least, not the first part.]

[Oh my god.

That sounds like exactly the sort of thing he'd want to hear to take his mind off of things; so that gets a small smile out of him, and a nod.]

I'd really like that.

[He wants to hear this story...!!]

[Akira smiles a little himself, settling back on the stairs to be more comfortable. Where to begin...]

It was my first day at Shujin, my new school. I hadn't known it was supposed to rain, so I forgot my umbrella. [Kind of embarrassing, really, but ah well.] It started to rain while I was only a few blocks away, so I ducked into a stoop to wait it out. A girl hid under it with me, but it wasn't long before she was picked up by a teacher in a car.

[It feels a bit rude to gloss over his first "meeting" with Ann, but for this story she's only a small part.]

He offered me a ride too, but I turned it down. And just as he drove away, this boy with bleached hair ran up, yelling after him.

[It's endearing....He can somehow imagine Akira running off to his new school and forgetting an umbrella on a day when it's supposed to rain. He listens quietly, eyes closed as he tries to imagine it.

The feeling of trying to find a new school is familiar to him, after all; he's all too used to it.]

... Yelling after him?

[That seems kind of strange.]

Did he not want the teacher to pick her up, or did he want a ride too...?

He wanted her not to get in the car with him.

[Ah, Kamoshida... that is an even longer story. But he'll leave that aside for now, giving a shake of his head.]

He stopped under the overhang with me. Figured out I was the new transfer student right away. [That would quickly become a theme.] He was angry about the teacher, saying he thought of himself as the "king of the castle" at Shujin.

He offered to show me the way, so I followed him... and that's how we stumbled on our first Palace.

Edited 2018-06-13 19:41 (UTC)

[... It sounds like a long story, but he'll take the cue of Akira's shake of his head to not ask about it. Instead--]

On the first day of school...?

[That's rough, buddy.]

That's the first time you encountered Shadows?

[He nods. Yep, the first day of school. It did wonders for his already lousy reputation, but that's something for later.

And it's also true, that this was their first time to encounter shadows.]

We didn't know what they were at first. Thought they were other kids in costume. But we learned pretty quickly they weren't. They knocked us out, took us to a cell.

When we woke, they said we would be executed, and that's when the owner of the Palace appeared. The teacher I had seen pick the girl up. Kamoshida.

[That's pretty brutal... Minato's frowning a bit, brow furrowed as he thinks that over.]

The teacher was the owner of that Palace...? Doesn't that mean he was some sort of...

[Very shady person...]

... Were you guys okay? You were in a cell?

[Very shady indeed, Minato.]

Kamoshida... wasn't a good guy. He was our first target - the first heart we changed.

[Akira gives another shake of his head.] But that's getting ahead of myself.

We were in a cell, and we were okay, but... the other guy. Ryuji, I'd learn later. He was furious. He was yelling at Kamoshida, and that's when the shadows attacked him. They held him down, pushed me against the wall...

[Akira shifts his weight on his hands, so he rolls his shoulders a little.] I couldn't let them keep hurting him. You can probably guess what happened next.

Edited 2018-06-17 15:39 (UTC)

[... Ah. That's... Yeah, he can guess. To protect someone else even more than to protect himself--that's inspiring, in a way.]

That's when you had your Persona awakening?

Right.

My first Persona was Arsene. He asked me if I would do anything to save Ryuji, and if my previous actions were a mistake.

[Meaning, of course, what led to his arrest... but he doesn't elaborate.]

I said they weren't... and that was when I awakened. I was able to fight off the guards, and Ryuji and I escaped the cell, locking Kamoshida inside.

[...Arsene, as in Arsene Lupin. He makes that connection a lot faster now that he actually knows Lupin, and wonders...what Lupin thinks about the fact that he's a Persona, if he knows.

But...

Really, when he thinks about this situation...]

I'm so glad you both made it out okay. [That sounds like it was terrifying.]

...But I guess that's what our Personas are there for. They show up when we need them most.

[He looks down at his knees, making a quiet noise of agreement.]

I wish... Ryuji hadn't had to go through that. But, for better or worse... that was the start of it all.

[He's quiet for a moment, lost in memory. But then he gives his head a light shake, and his expression lightens up.]

The rest isn't as serious as all that. [Well, other than seeing the shadows of the abused students, but...] My powers almost immediately fizzled back out after that - I didn't have control over them yet. So we ran, and that was when we came across... a cat.

[Ryuji is Akira's best friend, right? So Minato almost feels as though, in some way... it was always meant to happen that way. That they were meant to find each other and bond together in that way.

... Still, for now he keeps that to himself, instead tilting his head with a blank blink.]

...A cat? In the Palace?

[It is unfortunate, but Akira doesn't regret it, in the end. Theirs is a friendship forged through fire, after all.

But now onto the story of Morgana, an oddity all in himself.]

Well. He says he's not a cat. [A little shrug from Akira. Though he's happy to help Morgana search for his form and memories back, he's not sure he's really a human like he thinks.] But he looks and acts like one.

His name's Morgana, and he'd been exploring the Palace when he was captured and put in a cage, like us.

[A cat who says he isn't a cat...? This is just getting more and more confusing. Minato nods along, but blankly, trying to process all of that.]

... So he could access the Palaces too...? Does that mean he also has a Persona?

[It's not that farfetched; their dog has a Persona, after all.]

Yes. Zoro, actually.

[He has to admit, it's a cool Persona.]

We let him out of his cell, and he offered to help us escape.

[...]

Wait, so all of your Personas are famous thieves? [He's... just now picking up on that.]

Hmm... Thieves and rebels.

[He gives a little nod.]

Arsene, Captain Kidd, Zoro, Carmen... People who stole, but also defied the societies they lived in. That's what Phantom Thieves are - we steal, but only to try and help a society that is broken.

[... Minato doesn't entirely get it, of course, but he's not the sort of person whose Persona was born of rebellion. It's only to be expected, he supposes, that he doesn't entirely understand where Akira's coming from.

What he does know...is that Akira is doing his best to reform a society that doesn't make it at all easy on him.]

...Huh... That's really interesting.

[Right or wrong, that's not really up to him to decide. Besides, he trusts Akira.]

That your entire team's Personas have a theme like that. You've all definitely got the same goals, huh...?

IC » Inbox

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)