Animas Duo
A/N: Welcome to a horrible idea! Not that this idea is bad, but writing this and Path Of Valor at the same time will probably bite me in the ass sooner or later.
Yes, the beginning of this and Path of Valor's first chapter is identical for a reason. A reason other than me being lazy, I mean.
–
Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring, Banana Phone!' Chimed my cellphone. The ring tone already told me who it was, my good friend Daniel. I clicked the green button, and another one to put it on speaker.
"Oi, you coming yet Larson?" Daniel's deep voice comes out of the piece of plastic with only the slight hint he's moving. "No, I'm not. You told me seven thirty." I reply annoyed. We were headed up to play laser tag with some friends in the city, and apparently I was late.
"So, you ever plan on coming? Or are we gonna walk there?"
"You're a track star, I'm sure you could handle it." I snark back.
'Well, I'd rather roll up in a bomb-ass caddy, if you get what I'm saying."
"It's a Bonneville, bro." I reminded him.
"And there is a house in New Orleans too, you wanna know what it's called?"
I sigh. "Could it be called The Rising Sun?"
"Good guess. Have you left yet?"
"Yeah, Yeah..."
It didn't take long before I got to his house, and soon we were on the road again, singing Lonely Island songs. Daniel was sitting beside me, wearing a white tank-top and black sweatpants, for ease of movement. I was wearing something between a sweatshirt and a polo, and a dark pair of jeans. After a rousing rendition of Boombox, Daniel turns down the radio.
"Hey, you ever finish reading Fairly English Story?" I distinctly remember talking to him at lunch about it, having finished it for the second time recently.
"Lol nope." He responds, smirking.
I groan, "Goddammit Leroy. Why not? It's just as funny as The Endurance Run."
Dan leans my passenger seat back, "Ehh. I don't want to read all of that, though."
I roll my eyes, and continue driving, "Whatever. That shit's the most epic thing I've read, though."
I don't think ether of us will forget what happened next. Time slowed to a crawl as the pickup in the other lane swerved to avoid some animal, putting him right in front of us. We finished the final chord of the song around the time of impact. Last thing I remember was the smell of burning gas.
And the blackness, that too. To be quite honest, my first thought was how many balls was I tripping and when did I get that way? Too bad some guy's voice broke me out of my haze.
"Hmhmhm, Kangei-"
Fucking hell, my head. I groan loudly, as the feeling of the worst splitting headache in my life invades my senses. Sounding like a beached whale, I regain enough feeling to notice I'm sprawled across the floor of something. Something moving.
"ARGHHH, Fuck me." I say, massaging my forehead with my entire palm. Whatever tried talking politely waits for me to sit up. When open my eyes, I'm surprisingly not blinded by sunlight. Everything was a soft purple, and it seemed like we were in a very...familiar place...There was a piano off to the side, but I can't...focus...
…
I look around, and find more or less exactly what I'd suspected to be true. An impish man with a long nose was steepling his hands at a small table, and a smaller-than-I-imagined girl with short blond hair and a purple-blue jumpsuit outfit was standing next to him, looking quizzical. Turning my head the other direction, I see Daniel is just getting up as well.
"Anything broken, broseph?" I ask, checking myself for the same.
After a pause, Daniel opens his eyes and rubs his head, "Nope. Or at least, I don't feel it. Where are we?"
After making sure no bone fragments were sticking out of my body, I answered deadpan, "The Velvet Room."
Dan looked puzzled for a moment, before catching sight of the other occupants of this...elevator?
"What, like the Persona Velvet Room?" He asks, uncharacteristically dumb.
I roll my eyes, again. "No, the other Velvet Room. The one King Henry was assassinated in."
Dan flips me off, "Fuck off, you're making that up. If this is the Velvet Room, where's Margret?"
Igor lights up as Margret seems to flinch, her presence acknowledged. "What interesting guests you seem to be! I must ask, how is it you know so much of us already?"
I raise an eyebrow, "You don't already know?"
Igor was still smiling, "Well, it seems as though a sharing is in order. Do not worry, you are fast asleep in the real world..."
Dan and I exchange confused glances, "I think you got the wrong guys, Igor. We just got in a crash, we...don't really know how we aren't dead." Dan says, finally catching up.
Igor's smile dips a bit, "Oh my. You ARE interesting guests, indeed. Tell me, do ether of you believe in fortune telling?"
"Only when you're doing it, Igor." Wow, way to be a kiss-ass, Dan.
Igor keeps up his perpetual smile, and summons a deck out of fucking nowhere. After shuffling it, we places three cards each face down in front of Dan and I.
"Interesting, isn't it? Every reading is done with the same cards, but the outcome is always different. Now, for you." Igor flips Dan's leftmost card.
"Ah, Strength. You've had a history of gentle, but firm power, being ever-virtuous with it."
He flips the second card, and an image of an upside-down skull greets him.
"Death, in the reversed position. Contrary to what the literal meaning might be, it does not actually signify life. You are quite skillful and mature, yes?"
Daniel nods, while I laugh, "No doubt. Man's the most grounded being i've ever seen."
Igor nods, creepy smile still adorned as he explains to Dan how reversed Death works. Now, I'm well aware Igor is pretty much the only other-dimensional creature in the entire Shin Megami Tensei series what won't use you for his own ends, but that doesn't make him less creepy. Still, rock on you creepy, magnificent bastard.
I almost miss Igor turning over Daniel's final card, "Ah, The Sun. Quite simple compared to Death. Hmhmhhm..." I tuned Igor out once more to take a glance at the woman standing beside Igor. Margret, older sister of Velvet Room residents Theodore and Elisabeth, the one who goes AWOL after Minato seals NYX away behind The Great Seal and goes dicking around in her own personal story in Persona 4 Arena. As I examine the Velvet Room resident, she meets my gaze. As I try and figure out what that means, I feel Daniel jab me with his elbow.
"What?" I ask, before realizing that everyone was looking at me. Igor was still smiling, his hand poised to flip over my first card.
"Oh. Carry on, Igor. My apologies." Igor says nothing as he flips the first card. A wheel decorated with elemental symbols and surrounded by different animals wearing wealthy and beggar-like clothes greets me. Fortune.
"Your past, as shown by Fortune. Life has been easy for you. Have you many connections, or a stimulating intellect?" Dan and I chuckle at the same time.
"Both, actually. Adoptive Mom's a community idol, and my Birth Mom is a Medical Researcher."
Still, calling my past fortunate would be quite apt. I was indeed adopted, and I often hear stories how kids have an acute dislike of their 'unnatural' parents. Of course, that's probably not even close to how a lot of families are, and some kids who aren't even adopted still have terrible parents. But my parents got me Fortune, so go Mom and Dad.
Igor flips over the middle card. A young dude in a wizard's hat was looking right at me, holding symbols of the suits and had the Infinity mark on his hat.
"Ah, the Magician. The guiding Arcana for the consultant, signifying action, initiative, self-confidence, manipulation, and power." I chuckle involuntarily.
"Do you fancy yourself a...manipulator?" Igor asks me, ever smiling. There seemed to be a bit of an edge to his words, though.
"Yeah, kinda. There's a certain art to cultivating and influencing a rumor mill. Which should be really helpful with all this Social Linking business!" I laugh awkwardly, as Igor continues smiling and faux-glaring at me.
"Indeed..." Igor says as he turns over my final card, There was a crowned and bearded man sitting on a throne with his crossed legs in the shape of a four, and holding a scepter.
"The Emperor is the symbol of your future. It seems you will grow into a strong, reliable man. How do you feel about your reading?" Igor asks me.
"Good. But I have a few questions to ask you Igor, if that's okay." I say, a bit nervous. Good guy or not, Igor is the Master of Persona, basically.
He waves me to continue, "Well, the first question is; How did we get here? How did we get sent to the world of Persona?"
His eyes light up. "Interesting...it seems as though you regard our world as something foreign to your own. I shall assume the same attitude extends to the world beyond this Velvet Room?"
I nod, "Yeah, probably. So I take it you have no idea why we're here?"
"I must confess, both of your residences' purposes are unknown to me. I take it you know much about us, then? You've seemed to demonstrate peculiar knowledge since you have awoken in this place."
Dan nods, "Some of us more than others." He glances at me.
Igor seems delighted, for whatever reason. "Interesting. We shall have to explore this knowledge some other time. But for now, I believe you had another question?"
"Yeah," I answer, "Aren't Fools only able to come here? And only Fools who signed a contract, at that? Not that I'm ungrateful, or anything, but..." What would be the penalty for trespassing? Does Igor capture your soul and turn it into a Persona?
Igor sounds incredibly interested, "Indeed, all the guests I've had the pleasure of entertaining were those of the Wild Card, obligated by a contract. Your presence here is a mystery, as I've said."
We sit in silence for a while, with Margret fidgeting under its awkwardness.
"So..." I throw out, "...what are our Personas like?" I mean, if we WERE just pulled from a car crash, I'd say the fear of death hit us both hard.
Igor pauses for a moment, before making a hand motion towards Margret. She takes out the Demonic Compendium, no doubt searching for the only two cards in the book.
I see her flip the pages super-humanly fast, not even using her hands. After it seems like she's gone through that entire book, she starts flying though pages again. Then she goes though another furious round, her eyes frantically searching for anything at all. After a forth pass, she sighs and closes the book.
"I cannot find any personae, master." She lays the thick book down on the table. Igor's smile droops ever so slightly, as he places a palm on the book. After a short moment, the book and Igor's palm begins to glow.
"Hmm, it seems my assistant was not entirely correct. I see two..." Igor's palm shoots up suddenly, as the book wrenches itself open and two blue rectangles fly out of the book. As the book's pages continue to flutter, the cards float over to Daniel and I. We reach over and take them at the same time.
My card had a blue flame aura around it, but it didn't even feel hot. Turning it over in my hand a few times, I'm noticing it looks a lot like an old Yugioh card. Intricate-ass designs on the back, and a boxy-ass front. At the top, there's a long rectangle, with some glowing gray scribbles I can't make out. Right below that, a big black box showed off precisely jack-shit. I'mma go out on a limb and say that's where my persona's picture would be. Below that were six rounded rectangles, the bottom row divided by an arch with the same luminescent gray lining that was across the top. However, this writing was actually legible, glowing and alternating between an X, IV, and I, probably the numbers of the Arcana Igor divined to me.
I peer over at Daniel, who's studying the back of his card very intensely, like it will reveal the secrets of the Universe to him. I switch over to Igor, who is studying both of us just as intensely. I hold my card out to Igor with two fingers.
"It's empty." I state the obvious. Daniel nods his assent, still puzzling out the patterns on the back.
Igor chuckles, then reaches into his suit jacket. As he pulls out a rolled up piece of paper, I realize what is about to happen.
"I believe," Igor begins, "...you are indeed not of any world I know. Regardless, fate has called you here, so we shall do our best to provide. What do you know about this?" Igor rolls out the parchment, which has only a few words and a signature line the the bottom. I didn't even need to read it.
"I give my word that I will take full responsibility for the consequences of my actions." I say, without glancing at the paper. Around this point, Daniel actually rejoins the conversation, laying his card on the table.
"So, we sign the paper, we get our Persona?" Dan asks, bluntly. Igor smiles.
"I feel as though it will be that way, yes." Igor says, reaching into his coat again. He grabs a blue pen, and lays it down in between Daniel and I. I stare at the pen, trying not to knock over the table by launching my arm into it.
"We take the blue pill, the story ends. We wake up in hospital or morgue beds and believe whatever we want to believe. We take the red pill, we stay in Wonderland, and Igor shows us how deep the rabbit hole goes." I quote, solemnly.
Dan and I lock eyes. I motion to the pen, and he takes it, scribbling 'Daniel ********' to the left of the line. I sign Adam Larson to the right. After I lay the pen down, our cards begin to glow furiously.
"Now, as there are two of you, I'll not air out your heart's contents. So why not...build your own?"
Both of our eyes light up like kids in a candy store. Immediately the questions flow, 'What skills do we pick from?' 'How many?' 'What level do we start at?' 'What kind of resistances do we get?'.
Igor silenced us with a waved hand. "Your heart will answer those questions." We both took that as a cue to shut the hell up, and watched as our persona took shape on the card.
The top box on the front side of my card had writing that was swirling about, and the black box on my persona's picture was contorting. The black of the former portrait was now aligning itself along the edges of an emerging flesh-colored polygon. Slowing, the angular shape of a head was becoming clear, with nose and one visible ear near fully-formed. As the black cowboy-looking hat became clearer, I realized who my heart decided to create.
Twisted Fate, of the Tenth Arcana. Has Cleave, Agi, Bufu, and Zio. Strong against Dark and Fire, but Weak to light, physical damage, and Ice. I knew I was holding a real winner, despite the...minor weakness to physical attacks. Lady luck was indeed smilin' on me.
I saw Dan grin almost maniacally as he showed his card to me. It was a black background with a green smoke design, and a man poised to strike with a long, multi-bladed sword. The man was wearing tan body armor, and adorned with a headpiece that had no less than seven glowing green viewing holes.
Master Yi, of the Eleventh Arcana. Has Double Strike, Assault Dive, and Tarukaja. Strong against all types of physical attack and Ice, but weak to dark and Fire. Another winner.
I feel the edges of my vision become blurry, so I suppose it's time to go.
"Thank you Igor, Margret." I say. Daniel stands up, if a bit wobbly, and offers his hand to Igor.
Igor shakes Daniel hand, "No, thank you. I look forward to seeing your journey unfold. I trust you'll know when to come again?"
I salute him, "You got it, boss mahhhh-"
I'm interrupted by blacking out and slumping to the floor. Oh well.
I will,
Burn my dread...