ᴅᴀʀᴇᴅᴇᴠɪʟ, ʏᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ʜɪᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʟʟ.

[chemex]

Who: Akira Kurusu, Goro Akechi, Nikolai Gogol, and anyone interested in some shenanigans!
Where: A handful of locations around Aldrip
What: Akira and Goro have decided to do some people-watching to determine the identity of Gogol's farce to fake his death.
Warnings: There's a closed prompt that's gonna result in half a centimeter from death, but otherwise the only real warnings are that Goro and Gogol are involved in this log. ...probably a lot of innuendo and stupid teenager bullshittery, also.



[Picture this; it's a normal Wednesday in Aldrip, the weather is reasonable, you're going about your daily life. There's been some craziness lately, hasn't there? Some clown stole some organs, some people got messed up getting those organs back, and then some more people got messed up killing the clown. Yikes!]

[What you may not realize, is during the Killing of the Clown™️, some more things were stolen. Goro took it upon himself to steal Gogol's cloak and tablet, and... Well. As it turned out, Gogol's death was merely temporary, try as he might to convince others he was gone for good. He'd like his things back, but he's currently under the guise of an unassuming Salaryman...,]

[Cut back to this perfectly pleasant, normal Wednesday! Goro Akechi has opted to attempt to sniff out Gogol's trickery, once and for all. With the help of his partner (in crime and everything else), they have stationed themselves in separate areas of the city, connected by a seemlingly innocuous phone call, enjoying the weather and doing some good old-fashioned detective work by way of people watching. What could possibly go wrong?]

//ooc; please do not reply to this main post! comments will go up shortly for both goro and akira, as well as a third closed prompt. pick who you'd like to interact with, or hassle them both! reply to their comments for any and all sort of shenanigans, centering on your character's basic daily life in aldrip. :>

Comments

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[izanagis]

[Yu has always kept himself busy; on a surface level, that much has not changed about his behavior recently. But there's something tense in his demeanor, and the pace at which he goes from one part-time job to the next is busier than usual. Bookstore, delivery errands, stopping in at a few other places -- he's busy enough that, if he notices Akira at all, he doesn't acknowledge him.

He disappears for a while in the afternoon. Maybe to another job? Hard to say. Whether he'll be back is also in question--]

What're you up to?

[--oh, wait, there he is. He's approached the bench from behind and he's curiously taking a look at the papers Akira seems to be working on.]

[chemex]

[Akira is actually affords a bit more scrutiny to the people he knows. If their behavior is aligned with what he's used to, he relaxes, but given they aren't sure who to look for, or if Gogol would be posing as someone else who already exists in Aldrip, he's careful to make sure nothing seems off.]

[He reports that as usual, Yu seems to have every possible iron in the fire, and doesn't think much of losing sight of him. He's actually rereading a recipe when Yu fucking materializes behind him, and his spine jolts straight, arm swinging around. He thwaps Yu with his sheaf of papers.] What! The hell, don't sneak up on me, damn! [His tone is good-natured once he realizes it's just Yu behind him, and he affords a little laugh, scooting over to allow Yu space on the bench.] You're a ninja.

[izanagis]

[He doesn't even try to avoid being whacked by the papers; bonk, right on the forehead. A small ghost of a smile pulls at his expression -- it's not all the way there, but he's working on it, at least.]

Don't tell anyone my secret. [See, that's a joke, because he's not actually a ninja? Anyway, he takes the offered seat and kind of. subtly glances at the papers. Listen, he's a curious guy. Akira can probably relate. Just protag things, being unable to stay in your own business, amirite]

Recipes?

[chemex]

[He lays a hand over his clavicle.] I'm sworn to secrecy.

[A wordless hum, and he passes the folder over.] Went on a road trip with my team just before I got here and made a bunch of new things with local ingredients from the places we went.

[izanagis]

[For a second, it's hard to tell whether the feeling twisting in his chest is homesickness or jealousy. That's the sort of thing that sounds amazing, to him -- amazing, but impossible, given everyones' commitments. Given his being in this place.

But rather than dwell on that, he looks at the papers with renewed curiosity.]

I didn't know you cooked. [His expression lights up a bit; clearly, he enjoys finding things in common with his friends.]

[chemex]

[His smile is a touch self-conscious, and he fiddles with his hair.]

Just by hobby. I lived above a cafe, and the guy that took me in taught me some basics.

[izanagis]

Hierophant, right?

[There's a bit of softness to his expression, almost nostalgia. It was a while ago when they talked about that, but -- somehow the arcanas seem to stick with him.]

That sounds nice.

[chemex]

[Akira's expression is pretty soft, too-- he's so fond of Sojiro. He nods, humming affirmatively.] One of the first bonds I maxed who wasn't a classmate.

[izanagis]

Mine, too. [He breathes a soft chuckle.] ... not the cooking part, though. The only thing my uncle could do was takeout.

[chemex]

's funny how we all have little similarities like that despite our lives being so different. [Akira is a pretty good-natured kid, but he doesn't actually smile especially often. So the fact that he's bunched up on a bench smiling so hard his face wrinkles up is definitely Something.]

[izanagis]

Mhm. [It's a rare thing, a smile like that. Yu's glad he sat down here.] ... I kind of like it. The similarities. It's like a reminder that none of us are really alone.

[chemex]

[The smile creases just a hair too far in the corners, and he purses his lips.] ...yeah. [Hit him right in the insecurity, Yu. Good job, actually, he needs an ass-whooping.]

[izanagis]

Yeah?

[He nudges Akira with his shoulder. He sees that expression. Tell him what's up.]

[chemex]

[Caught, he just looks tired, shaking his head.] I get stupid about it sometimes.

[izanagis]

'Stupid' how?

[His tone is gentle, but thoughtful. Like he's really trying to understand.]

[chemex]

...y'remember the maze? [He's leaning on Yu's shoulder, now.]

[izanagis]

[Yu shifts slightly, giving him more shoulder to lean on.] Yeah. Hard to forget most of it.

[chemex]

Nothing I encountered manifested physically. It was all in my head. [His posture becomes smaller, not as sprawled and comfortable. It's a subtle thing, since he's still slouched all to hell, but he hooks one foot behind the opposite ankle and it draws him inward.] Still bugs me sometimes, even knowing it's not real.

[izanagis]

Just because it's not physical doesn't mean it isn't real. [A slight nudge. Isn't that the whole conceit of their cognitive worlds, anyway? Conception becomes reality. Perception changes things.]

What'd you see?

[chemex]

[He shakes his head, laughing and fussing with his hair.] Nothing, that's the thing. I just heard stuff.

...and none of it was untrue, just. I know better, it's not actually how people think.

[izanagis]

[He's quiet for a moment, not because he has nothing to say but because there's too much. Yu has thought a lot, a lot, about the things they all saw in the maze. The similarities to the Shadows at home.]

You're right. It's not actually how people think. But... the insecurities are still part of you. It can be hard to accept them.

[He can't help feeling slightly hypocritical. He's helped his friends face their Shadows. And yet he never faced his own.]

[chemex]

[#JustWildcardThings.]

[Akira's own maze situations were uncomfortably similar to harsher versions of his friends in Maruki's ""perfect"" reality. Some part of him had to take a little pride in the fact that Maruki couldn't make his life perfect, that for all the shit he'd been through in the true reality he was still happier there than some augmented bullshit made by the hands of a self-proclaimed God, but... Well.]

[Insecurities, indeed. He hums softly in agreement, sitting slumped there a moment before he sits back up.] But that's over with, no sense in dwelling on it.

[izanagis]

[It doesn't occur to him that they've never talked about the particular differences between Shadows and Personas between the Midnight Channel and the Metaverse. Or even in Tartarus, with Kotone or Minato. It's not that Yu assumes they all worked the same way -- he just doesn't think much of the differences.]

On the Midnight Channel, those insecurities where what manifested into Shadows. Facing them and accepting them was how Personas were born. For the most part.

[A slight frown. It's fine.] ... What I'm trying to say is, they don't go away if you just ignore them.

[chemex]

[Akira mulls that over a moment, tilting his head to look at Yu with a slight frown.] Yeah? Shadows we faced were just Personas warped by the desires of the Palace we found them in, in the Metaverse. So I'd collect them by talking to them during battle, or while beating them up they'd beg me to make a mask of them instead. [It kind of sounds worse than it is, when he says it like that.]

[izanagis]

Masks, huh...somehow, that seems appropriate. [Poetic, even. Don't they all wear different masks at different times, anyway. Leader, student, athlete, "Joker," fighter. Getting the full picture of a person is hard for that reason.]

I guess "warped desires" is a similar description for the Midnight Channel, too. Most of the smaller Shadows were like that. It was the bigger ones we encountered that seemed to manifest from certain people. I... [He exhales a quiet laugh, rubbing the back of his neck.] I learned a lot about my friends that way. Things they probably wouldn't have wanted anyone to know.