Tutting sympathetically, Alistair set the deck aside and patted Manami's hand.

He crooned softly, "There, there, dear heart, it'll get better." Manami sniffed and looked up at him. Alistair continued, refilling Manami's glass as he spoke, "A girl may have died, but because of it, you'll gain power and friendship." He smiled eagerly, ignoring Manami's look of alarm, and spoke ecstatically, "You can't tell, but it's already started! You've spun the strings of bonds, and your power is nearly ready to burst out of your chest! If you'll just let me-"

Alistair was interrupted by Igor slamming his stack of papers onto the coffee table. "Where is that damned contract?!" Igor yelled, grabbing onto his head and pulling on his hair.

After a flash of annoyance crossed his face, Alistair called sweetly over to his employer, pulling a folded paper out of his vest pocket, "You mean our dear guest right here's contract?"

He turned back to Manami, while Igor stared at him with a look of pure confusion, and explained, "Since you are not of the Wild Card Arcana, your contract is different than than most of our guests."

Manami raised her hand, then dropped it when she realized it looked foolish. Alistair grinned tightly and asked, "Yes? Is there something you don't understand?"

Squirming in her seat, Manami inquired, "Uh, yeah, what's a Wild Card Arcana?"

Breathing in deeply, Alistair closed his eyes for a moment before replying hastily. "A Wild Card is someone has the potential to use the powers of the twenty-one or so other arcana. It's not even technically an arcana, it's a culmination of all the arcana. The others are restricted to their own specific powers, but the Wild Card can utilize all the abilities of every arcana."

Manami nodded, her eyebrows furrowed. "I guess I get it. But, if I'm not a Wild Card, what am I?" She looked back and forth from Alistair to Igor.

Before Igor had the chance to respond, Alistair unfolded the contract he held and slid it to Manami. He purred, "Sign the contract and I'll tell you." Wiggling his fingers, he manufactured a royal blue fountain pen and handed it Manami.

"Now, hold on!" Igor was at their side in a flash. He glared reproachfully at Alistair, who crossed his arms and sniffed, and turned to Manami. She was glancing curiously at the two men, idly tapping her finger against the pen nib.

Igor gave a strained smile and placed his hand on the contract. He informed her, his voice taught with poorly concealed anger, "My dear, this contract binds you to following the rules of the Velvet Room. Should you fail in your journey, there will be dire consequences for not only you, but all those around you."

He leaned in, and Manami tried to subtly move away as his nose almost poked her cheek. "But don't be discouraged, you were chosen for this destiny. Through the power and bonds you gain along the way, you shall have all the tools you need to harness that future."

Removing his hand, he gestured down at the contract and said, "If you believe you can fulfill this purpose, then by all means, sign your name."

Manami was confused with everything that had happened (Persona? Arcana? Wild Cards?), and to be honest, she was half-delirious from the events of the day mixed with a lack of sleep and the equivalent of a manual of information shoved down her throat.

She figured that whatever would the consequences would be, she really didn't care right now, and hopefully if she signed the contract the two angry men would let her go and she could go back to sleep.

After a quick tap to make sure the pen worked, she quickly wrote her name, '荒川 愛海 (Arakawa Manami)' and handed the contract to Igor.

Alistair leaned over Igor's shoulder and the two of them scanned the paper. Alistair read aloud, in a questioning tone, "Arakawa Aimi?"

Manami shook her head and corrected him. And then she realized that that meant Alistair didn't know her name until now. "You didn't even know my name?" Manami looked between the two men that had essentially kidnapped her subconscious.

Exchanging stares, Igor and Alistair frowned at each other, trying to prompt the other into answering. Alistair broke first, and he sighed, turning to Manami and smiling gingerly.

"We didn't really know shit about you. That's why my boss was calling you that creepy 'my dear' thing-"

"Alistair!" Igor scowled, and continued hurriedly where he had cut Alistair off.

"Well, you see, the cards reveal who the chosen hero is, but they don't give specifics. We knew what you looked like, and the power you had stored, but we didn't know you name, or something like your age-"

"I'm not legal!" Manami exclaimed, leaning back her stool. The clock ticked by in the new silence.

As Alistair laughed in the background, Igor and Manami stared wide-eyed at the other. Igor opened his mouth and closed it repeatedly as Manami slowly edged onto the stool next to her.

Igor coughed and muttered hastily, "I think our business is done here, for now."

He regained his composure and grinned uncertainly. "Sleep, chosen one."

"Sleep, and prepare for the days to come."

Manami slipped out of the bar stool and was gone before she hit the floor.

Alistair spoke first, humor in his voice, "I forgot to explain about Social Links. Damn. I suppose I'll include something on it in the care package I send her."

Honing in on this, Igor frowned and inquired, suspiciously, "Care package?"

"It's just a few things to get her started, don't worry!" Alistair's eyes were big and his smile was innocent. Igor glowered at him before sighing and turning to sit down on his couch once more.

He rubbed his shoulder and called to Alistair in a tired tone, "Whiskey on the rocks, add in some sedatives as well." As he heard Alistair start to shuffle around, he added hurriedly, "And no poison this time!"

Alistair made a face behind Igor's back and put down the bottle of Liquid Conium maculatum.

Bit shorter b/c it was a technically a part two. Hey! At least we've got a chunk of exposition done.

Now we've just gotta introduce a character and then we can get into exposition on Personas and gloss over combat. And also meet the main villain of the story. Yeh.

Dang, this is taking longer than expected. I guess you can look at this part of the story as being like the hours long intro of cutscenes in Persona 4...