Velvet Moments

by I.W.P-chan

It's not strange that the Thieves get curious about what Joker does every time he stands still and stares at the distance blankly while somehow acquiring new Personas.

Summary: It's not strange that the Thieves get curious about what Joker does every time he stands still and stares at the distance blankly while somehow acquiring new Personas.

Note: so, a Velvet Room reveal-ish fic. In other words, the PT get curious and ask. Joker answers. In great detail? Not necessarily so.

Warnings: Lots Of Questions And Answers, Basically Info Dump By Nature Of The Premise.

Disclaimer: Don't own P5.

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"Hey, Joker," Panther started as she leaned forward in her seat, bracing her forearms on the backrest of the front seat, "I was wondering about something."

Joker made an inquisitive sound at the back of his throat as he maneuvered the Monamobile around a corner in Mementos, the area clear of Shadows after the Thieves had wiped them all out in the name of practice (and money).

Skull leaned back in his seat and tilted his head towards her in curiosity.

"So, we know that when you zone out at the entrance of a Palace or Mementos, you end up getting new Personas. How does that happen?"

Skull's eyes widened, "Yeah, how?"

Although Mona didn't say anything in response, he was radiating curiosity as well.

Joker hummed thoughtfully, "Well, every time that happens, I go to a place called the Velvet Room."

"Oh? What's that?" Skull asked.

Joker shrugged with one shoulder, "I don't know myself, and the master of the room isn't very forthcoming with details. I vaguely recall the first time I went there in my sleep, he said that the Room is a place between dream and reality, mind and matter."

Panther frowned, "Huh. You said you went there in your sleep? How many times?"

"Only a couple. The rest I just use the door."

"There's a door?" Mona wondered.

"Yes. At the entrance of Kamoshida's castle, at Mementos' entrance, there is also one in Shibuya Central Street, down an alleyway. None of you can see them, it's why you think I just stand there and zone out."

"Huh."

Joker parked the Monamobile, and tapped a finger on the wheel, "Or I do just stand there and zone out, but I don't realize it? And the whole visit is more a mental experience than it is physical? Or is it both but for some reason it affects other people's cognitions to-"

"So, you enter through the door?" Skull hastened to interrupt before Joker went on tangents.

Joker nodded, getting back to driving Mona.

"And what happens after that?" Panther asked, "How do you get the new Personas inside?"

Joker seemed to space out for a moment before he answered, "There are two attendants there, they take two of my Personas and fuse them into a new one. According to some hints they mentioned, sometimes they may take a group of Personas to fuse into a powerful new Persona, or use one Persona to enhance another, or train Personas."

Panther's eyes widened, "So, you can get very powerful Personas there if you fuse strong ones? Or multiple ones?"

Joker shrugged, "I can't just fuse anything, though, they won't allow me to fuse anything that overpowers me. The only way I can get past that rule is if the resulting Persona gets a boost after it's fused."

"Oh." Panther tapped at her mouth thoughtfully.

"What about the Personas you used to fuse a new one?" Mona piped up, "Do you lose it forever?"

Joker shook his head, "They have a book, they call it the Compendium, and it contains a register of every single Persona I possessed, no matter how shortly. And I can use it to summon a Persona I had before."

"So you can get back in there and get any of your Personas whenever you want?" Mona's tone of voice was thoughtful, "That's handy."

Joker shook his head again, "It's not that simple. You know I have a limit of how many Personas I can carry at a time, and aside from that, summoning a Persona from the Compendium isn't easy. I need to pay money for it," Joker said dryly, "The more powerful, the more expensive the Persona is."

"Seriously?" Panther was miffed, "Oh, well, I guess that means we should do our best to collect a lot of money for that whenever we are in Mementos and such, then?"

Mona hummed in agreement and Skull nodded, "Yeah, sounds like a plan."

Joker tightened his grip on the wheel slightly, "That's. Thank you."

Skull grinned unabashedly, "No problem, dude. I mean, you cover up our weaknesses and the Persona skills we don't have between us three, so you're helping us out a lot. It doesn't make sense not to help you out for it, too."

Joker smiled slightly, but his gratitude was evident, "Thank you."

Skull patted him on the shoulder, "Like I said, no problem!"

Panther nodded enthusiastically.

"Hate to interrupt guys, but we reached a platform!" Mona called out.

As the Thieves piled out of the van to head to the escalators, Skull piped up with another question, "So, those attendants of yours, how do they look like?"

Joker led the way down the escalators, "Twin girls, they look like they're seven or eight years old. One of them rarely speaks and always has a stoic expression, the other is loud and almost always angry. At least towards me. But they always do their work diligently. The first is Justine and she's responsible for the Compendium, the other is Caroline, and she's in charge of fusions.

"Well, that's all I have to say for now, we'll continue again later, we have the rest of the area to explore."

"Right!"

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With each new member joining the team, the earlier Thieves would find themselves explaining what they knew about the Velvet Room.

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"What does the Velvet Room look like?" Fox inquired, gaze set on the back of Joker's head.

Panther made a shocked sound, "Oh, we forgot to ask about that, before."

"I must admit," Fox started, "I grow curious about how such a room looks like, with such a name like 'Velvet Room'."

"You're right." Skull scratched the back of his head, "Velvet Room sure does sound fancy."

"Ooh, ooh!" Mona piped up, "Is it full of luxurious furniture? Paintings? Does it look like a library? Or a museum?"

Joker shook his head, amused, before he grew thoughtful, "It's actually simple. More bare than you think. It's circular and made of stone, the floor is cobbled, if that's the term for it. The sparse furniture that's there is done in blue. The master of the room sits at his desk in the middle of it. I don't interact with him much, though. I usually just stay in my…" Joker trailed off, for a moment, as if he was wondering what to say next, "My room. And interact with my attendants."

Fox hummed in response as he retreated back into his thoughts, and he wasn't the only one, as the other three Thieves, Skull, Panther, and Mona, also were thinking about how the room looked like.

"There is always music playing," Joker spoke up again, "It's always the same song playing. Sometimes I suspect someone else beyond the room itself is singing it."

"I wonder how it sounds like," Panther murmured.

Joker smiled faintly, "Well, I don't think I'm qualified to sing it to you."

Panther poked him in the shoulder, "A shame."

"Hey, Joker?" Mona's voice echoed around them.

"Yes?"

"Is that the same melody you hum under your breath sometimes after you leave the Room's entrance in Shibuya?"

"Maybe."

"Ooh, spill!"

"Nope, we are in the middle of Mementos, this is not the place to be singing."

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"So," Queen started as she turned the wheel in her hands to turn a corner, having taken the wheel from Joker at some point after he sustained a lot of damage in the fight against one of their targets, to let him rest as much as possible, while also avoiding Shadow confrontations for the moment, "I've heard from the rest about the Velvet Room, but there is something I want to ask about, if you don't mind."

"What is it?"

"Is there a specific guide to how you fuse your Personas? A way of knowing what Persona you will get from the fusion? Or is the process randomized?"

Joker frowned thoughtfully, "There may be a guide, but I have yet to figure it out myself. And neither of my attendants told me anything about what to do beyond just picking two Personas or more to fuse together." He crossed his arms across his chest, "Personas fall into groups, each group is under a specific Arcana. I'm still trying to figure out which Arcana combinations get me which Arcana as a result."

"Do you just get surprised with what Persona you end up getting when you fuse?" Mona sounded incredulous, "How would you plan?!"

Joker shook his head, "I don't get surprised by the end-result, unless a fusion accident happens and I end up with a different Persona, but that's rare and only happened with me twice so far. I pick a pair of Personas, and the attendants give me a run-down of what Persona I'll get if I fused them, I can accept it and continue with the fusion, or decline and look for a different combination."

"I see." Queen nodded, "What kind of run-down?"

"Name, Arcana, strengths and weaknesses, skillset, what skills the Persona can inherit from the Personas I fused to get it."

"That system doesn't sound so bad." Panther tilted her head thoughtfully.

Joker hummed in agreement.

"Hey, remember when I first asked?" Panther leaned forward, "You said there were kinds of fusion you couldn't get access to back then, what about now?"

Joker blinked back at her, "Fusing more than two Personas. Using one Persona to strengthen another, or leaving a Persona behind in the Room to train it, so to speak."

"That's a lot, dude." Skull stretched his arms in the backseat, "As fun as this is, how long until we get to a platform?"

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Oracle flopped down on one of the seats at the rest area, "Hey, so I was wondering about something."

Noir blinked at her inquisitively as she gingerly sat down a seat over, as if worried Oracle wouldn't want her to sit so close, knowing very well how particular Oracle could get about her space.

"What is it?" Skull, on the other hand, had no such qualms, throwing himself on the seat directly next to Oracle's on the other side.

"I heard from Queen that Joker mentioned his Personas fall under specific Arcanas." Oracle laced her fingers together and stared intently at Joker, the weight of her gaze unmistakable, even with her mask obscuring her eyes.

"Oh, right!" Noir nodded to herself, and Oracle swung her feet for a few moments before calming down.

"So, does it have any specific benefit or is it just categorization?"

Noir tilted her head to the side inquisitively, "Like the possibility that Personas under specific Arcanas could teach Joker something?"

"Or anything else, really." Oracle shrugged.

The rest of the Thieves stared at Joker in curiosity, and Joker gazed back at them silently, seeming to gather his thoughts.

"Indirectly," He answered after a while of silence, "That particular aspect of Personas is more social than you'd expect."

"Huh?" Oracle tilted her head in thought, "Do they change your social stats depending on the Arcana?"

"Do they teach you people skills?" Noir wondered.

Joker seemed amused by their questions, "It's more like what you're suggesting, Noir. In a way. Personas are like aspects of one's self, so having different sets of Personas on me translates into which aspects of my personality are at the forefront."

"Oooh." Oracle leaned forward.

"Each Arcana matches with one of the people I'm closest to, and the specific aspects these Personas push to the front help me understand and get closer to the person with a matching Arcana."

Oracle pouted, "That's almost like cheating."

Joker shook his head fondly, "The closer I get to someone with a specific Arcana strengthens any Persona of the same Arcana after I fuse it."

Noir's mouth turned into an 'o' shape, "So, as they help you understand other people better and get close to them, your bonds give your Personas strength?" She tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Thinking on this, it's almost like your bond strengthens the aspects that helps you get close to someone?"

"Huh." Panther stared thoughtfully at Joker, "That sounds neat."

"You don't have to answer this if it makes you uncomfortable," Queen spoke up, "But is any of us included in that web of bonds?"

Joker didn't hesitate to answer, "All of you are. Each one of you has an Arcana that matches."

For a moment, all the Thieves stared at Joker in stunned silence, feeling like they should be blushing as their minds ran overdrive with thoughts about what such a bond implied.

Skull cleared his throat too loudly, startling everyone and rising to his feet, "Yeah, are we good to go to the next floor?" He scratched his cheek in embarrassment.

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Crow blinked at Joker when he stretched his hand out with a lightsaber's hilt.

"Leader?" He tentatively accepted the weapon, eyes going over the intricate details engraved into the handle; it was done in black and shades of red, looking sharp and angry. He could sense an aura emanating from within it, which was strange, he never felt something similar from any of the other weapons he used while in the Metaverse, "I thought you said my equipment didn't require replacement, as it was among the most powerful in the group."

"Yes," Joker said while he went around the rest of the Thieves, either bestowing them with a melee weapon or a firearm, "But this one I just gave you is even better."

"Something is different about these weapons, though." Panther pointed out as she observed her new whip. Crow nodded in agreement.

"I gained access to another kind of fusion lately, so I took the chance to get new and better equipment, just in case."

"Another kind of fusion?" Crow murmured, ears perking up; it was fascinating to hear about the Velvet Room and how Joker handled his multiple Personas under his disposal, and Crow would take any chance to absorb any new information about the topic.

"What kind of fusion?" Fox questioned, and Joker shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Itemization," He answered simply, and Crow found his eyes widen as they wandered back to the weapon in his hands, the aura within it gaining a new meaning in light of what Joker just said.

"Itemization?" Queen repeated, sounding choked as she stared at the weapon in her hands, "You fused your Personas into weapons?! For us?!"

Joker nodded and jerked his head towards the escalators, "Let's get going." With that said, Joker sauntered forward to head deep into Mementos, the Thieves trailing behind him awkwardly, suppressing blushes at the thought of their new weapons.

Crow swallowed thickly, hands clutching tightly around his new lightsaber.

Joker was clearly very adept at 'kill them with kindness'.

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Panther smiled at Joker as she made her way out of her cell, and he nodded at her, pleased.

"What about the rest?" She asked.

"Most of them have been freed, just a couple more remain. I'm going to get them right now. The rest headed to the Velvet Room proper."

Panther nodded, and Joker turned to jog away, clearly heading to get the remaining members of the team out of their own cells.

After he disappeared down the hallway, she gazed thoughtfully at the area around her and inspected her cell.

They were in the Velvet Room, a place she didn't think they'd ever end up in. Also, she seriously hoped the rest of the Velvet Room was more hospitable than in here.

Making up her mind to rejoin with the rest, she walked in the same direction Joker had disappeared to, taking the turn leading her towards a vast room.

Most of the rest awaited her there, their gazes solemn. It didn't take her long to find out why.

The Room was just as Joker had described, with its round shape, cobbled floor, blue furniture, the music echoing around the place. Even if the little girl who awaited them there next to the Room's master's desk was one they never heard of before, she certainly resembled the twins Joker described.

However, what bothered Panther, and clearly bothered the rest of the Thieves, were the rest of the Room's aspects, aspects Joker had neglected to tell them about.

Locked cells lined the walls, with only one of them left without a door (she had a sinking feeling that it was Joker's 'room'), and off to the side, execution equipment stood ready- multiple guillotines, an electric chair with a chainsaw propped up next to it, and a raised, wooden platform, with a noose dangling down from its frame.

She looked back at the Thieves, and their gazes caught hers.

What did Joker not tell them about the Velvet Room?

Suddenly, all the conversations the team had had about the Room jumped to the forefront of her mind, leaving a bitter taste on her tongue. Her hand reached to the whip hanging at her waist, fist gripping its handle tightly.

She looked around the Room again, and the girl caught her gaze, golden eyes looking at her regretfully.

And that- That was the worst confirmation she could get of her worries.

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End