Private communications

[foolishjustice]

Moshi moshi!

Comments

after Minato recovers post-Bellmare

[hairpincurves]

[She's wandering over when she notices he's free, and... ah, that empty coffee cup on the floor...

... Well, that's... probably for the better, given the situation at hand anyway.

... That's not going to stop her from picking it up and sticking it in the inventory.]

Hey, um... do you have a bit?

[She actually... looks decidedly more nervous than she has since they got back from Bellmare.]

[foolishjustice]

[He looks over from where he's lying on the couch, looking...more than a little worn out. He manages a smile, though, albeit a sheepish one.]

I'm actually on an enforced break.

[hairpincurves]

... I can see why. You look exhausted.

[She lets out a soft huff before extending a hand to Goro.]

C'mon, let's... go to my room.

[foolishjustice]

[He looks at the hand for a moment before letting out a puff of breath and taking it. There's a slight groan as he gets up, of the 'gravity seems to be picking on me today' variety.]

A bed would definitely be more comfortable than the couch.

[hairpincurves]

No kidding...

[And with that, she starts moving towards her room.

... She's not normally this tense or fidgety, though.]

[foolishjustice]

[Even tired as he is, he can still tell something is off...]

Is something wrong?

[hairpincurves]

Um... can we talk about it once we're in private? I'd... rather not risk people overhearing... It's... [She pauses and glances to one side, frowning.] Something kind of personal.

[foolishjustice]

Alright.

[But he will wrap an arm around her to give her a light hug. She seems like she needs it.]

[hairpincurves]

[... Given the way she practically latches on, she definitely needed that.

She only lets go to shakily open the door to her room, and closes the door behind her when they're both inside.]

... I, um... saw some other visions in that sub-Fissure.

[She glances off to one side, rubbing at one of her arms.]

[foolishjustice]

[Worry intensifying...]

Unpleasant ones, I'm assuming.

[hairpincurves]

... Yeah.

[She sits down on the bed, hugging her knees to her chest.]

One of them was the interrogation room, with me and Akechi-san... but...

[She takes a breath. Might as well get it out there instead of...]

... I was shooting her, instead of the other way around.

[foolishjustice]

Ah...

[He sits next to her, draping an arm over her shoulders.]

A lot of what makes people who they are is their circumstances. That version of you...the fact that something pushed her to be willing to kill doesn't reflect on who you are, here and now.

[hairpincurves]

I... I know. [She leans against him, tearing up but not letting those tears fall.]

[foolishjustice]

[He hugs her close, leaning the side of his head against the top of hers.]

And...the fact that it's possible for a version of you to be pushed to that doesn't necessarily mean there's something wrong with you. Even I had noble intentions in the beginning...but traveling the Metaverse, seeing the worst of everyone around you, without friends to provide emotional support...it could turn just about anyone bitter and cynical.

[hairpincurves]

Y-yeah, I-I can... imagine... [Well, an effort was made, but she can't really stop the tears from falling now... She just leans as much into the hug as possible.

... She might be clinging a bit, not unlike how she did during their talk after her first finding out he was dead.]

... There were... other things that bothered me about it, too...

[foolishjustice]

[....Ah. He wipes some of her tears away, then nuzzles against the top of her head in...what he hopes will be a comforting gesture.]

If that truly was a role reversal scenario, what died was probably nothing but a cognitive being. Just a manifestation of Sae-san's mental image of that version of me.

[hairpincurves]

[She leans into the touch and nods, but she hesitates before speaking again. When she does, her voice is quieter than usual and... almost uncharacteristically small.]

The... the worst thing, though... i-if we'd first met in any other Fissure... I would've probably mistaken you for her, you know? S-so... seeing that cognitive version dead like that... it was like... like...

[foolishjustice]

...Like seeing me just as lifeless. And I'm sure the fact that I'm in female form just as often as male doesn't help that connection...

[If his female counterpart looks so similar to him, he doubts his own female form is much different from what she looks like.]

[hairpincurves]

[She nods as her desperate cling grows tighter and she sobs.

She just--she just needs to hold onto him for a while.]

[foolishjustice]

Here...

[He nudges her toward his lap, holding out his free arm to wrap around her as soon as she's in proper reach.]

[hairpincurves]

[She moves into his lap, without even the slightest bit of hesitation, leaning against him. As long as he's still breathing... As long as their clothing can hide his lack of a heartbeat... as long as she can feel his warmth... she'll be okay eventually.]

[foolishjustice]

[He is, in fact, breathing. He's perhaps a little clammy from fatigue, but nothing more than the sort of coolness that suggests someone might be feeling sick and should be resting.

And his grip as he moves his free arm to pull her tight against him definitely does a good impression of a living person's.]

[hairpincurves]

[Goro Akechi, you are so lucky she's too caught up in her own distress to notice that clamminess.

His grip makes her own hold relax, just a little--it's not quite as desperate now as it was before, but...]

[foolishjustice]

[Nightmares make it hard to get restful sleep, alright?

He'll just hold her tight for a while, then slowly loosen his hold to start rubbing her back.]

I'm here, I'm fine. I even have a Persona that would protect me from an attack like that.

[hairpincurves]

R-right, you have Rangda...

[She'll... try to take a few deep breaths to calm down.]