Perplex Street, Cyber City

Evening

After safely making it back to the "good" side of the city through the sewer, the red wolf proceeds to walk on towards home. Coming around a street corner, he'd soon come across a policeman leaning on the side of his car and speaking to a senior citizen.

"...My boys will be sure to look into your case whenever we get the time." The policeman said to the civilian, finishing up writing his notepad. "You have my assurance."

"Thank you. That's all I ask." The civilian with the walking stick nodded. "I expect nothing less from the city's finest."

"Of course sir." The green lizard policeman smiled to him. "Now, I suggest you should head on home if you don't have anywhere else to be. After all, street criminals tends to be more active in the evening and one might try to mug you if you stay out too long."

"Will do. Goodnight." The senior civilian hobbled away and eventually left his' along with Akira's lines of sight. The officer then shook his head to himself.

"...'Whenever we get the time'..." Akira through his hearing could overhear the policeman snidely mutter to himself as he tear up the freshly-written report. "As if you old senile bastard..."

When the lizard sensed the wolf's existence just he was about to step back into his cruiser, he turned to him and greeted him with a smile as the college student tried to wordlessly walk past him. "Good evening civilian. How may I be of service?"

Akira thought the smile felt rehearsed and the way he said civilian along with the accompanying gaze gave the wolf an intimidating vibe from him but he didn't let it outwardly show on his face. "I'm just heading home sir."

"Is that so?" The policeman said with crossed arms. "Well, you be careful to watch yourself when you're near the city border at this time. These streets can be unsafe at night."

"I'm sure they can be but that's what the law is for." Akira gave a curt nod, stuffing the hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Right?"

"We do try to help make sure the city can be as safe as it can be in spite of the criminal population over the border." The reptile tells him. "You new here? Haven't seen you before."

"Just moved in this week."

"How's it been treating you so far?"

"It's been alright to me as far..." Akira said vaguely. 'Aside from dealing with an obsessed gang leader and his relatives that is...'

"In that case, welcome to Cyber City..." The older mobian told the red wolf. "Hope you enjoy your new residency here. Just try to keep your distance from Geno City if you value your own safety and personal belongings."

The wolf's eyes wandered over onto the policeman's name-tag and mentally restraining himself from letting off a reaction when he saw it reads 'Ken Krouch. Captain'.

"Anyways, I should be getting back to my duties..." The lizard says to Akira as he got into his cruiser. "Have a safe trip home."

"I will..." Akira said in a slightly monotone response, looking back at the lawman before he pulls away in his police cruiser and drove off. Letting out a sigh of breath he didn't realise he was holding til after the policeman was gone from the scene.

'Does he put on that face for the folks in this side of the city or is it that he hasn't yet found out about my association with Manic yet?' Akira ponders to himself as he starts walking again. 'Whatever's the case, I don't trust him one bit and I doubt he'll be as "friendly" next time once he connects the dots...'

He'd continue on his way til he happens to come across a familiar face in the form of a rabbit mobian heading in the opposite direction of him over by a road crossing junction, almost missing her if he hadn't been looking up ahead rather than eyeing the pavements. Thought it looked like Vanilla with the hair tuff she has.

Sure enough; Vanilla clad in a dark brown leather trenchcoat with a fur-lined collar, a pink french beret, a pair of pink-tinted round-framed sunglasses and what appears to be a pair of black flat-soled leather ankle boots was heading the other way on the opposite street across from of Akira's. Heading in the direction of the border checkpoint and clutching her purse close to herself as she did so while constantly checking around herself as if to make sure she wasn't being stalked.

Akira wondered what exactly she does at night and why in Geno City. Himself thinking about greeting the mother rabbit, yet a part of him decided against it.

'Probably trying to avoid a run-in with street hoodlums and muggers...' The wolf reasoned to himself. Even if the attire seems strange and oddly attractive to him.

'Should I greet her or would I be holding her up on her way to work?' Akira pondered to himself as he kept walking. Recalling that she mentioned working a job in Cyber City on the train ride to it.

Vanilla looked around but then spotted Akira, blinking a moment as if debating whether or not to approach him. Finally, one side of her gave in as she approaches Akira and greeted him politely. "Good evening Akira."

"Good evening Vanilla." Akira greeted back with a smile, figuring he may as well speak to her when she's speaking to him. "Didn't think I'd see you around these parts on this late evening."

"Well, I work a job around here. Rather, I work a job in... The other side of the city. The one with the negative nickname."

"Apparently mainly those snobbish people here derisively calls it Genocide City because of a massacre or something and it stuck since." Akira noted. "Anyways, how have you been doing these days?"

"I've been doing good. My new job has been paying well."

"Beats being paid in chump change and bouncing cheques when you got a child to support. I assume you go to it through the designated safe-zones?"

"You could say that, yes."

"With the recent extortions going on and the general rate of crime from the slums, I'd be concerned for you if there aren't any. I hear it gets especially rough around night time." Akira said with hands in the pockets. "Heard what happened on the news?"

"I did. Terrible thing that. To be so full of life one moment, then suddenly be robbed of that life in the next."

"Another victim of the psychotic breakdowns..."

"Indeed… And what's more, he was transporting the plates for the new mobium bills; rumoured to have Sonic on them."

"And we all know how Informative Global News feels about Sonic..."

"I tend to tune them out personally. Too sensationalistic and gossipy for my liking."

"Nothing but journalist tripe. Anything Sonic does that's slightly seen to be negative or flawed on his end, you can count on them to be on the case to "critique" him as a "public" figure." Akira said in quotations as he then comments on Vanilla's attire. "Bit of an unusual outfit you got on there. Work uniform?"

"Not exactly." Vanilla answered vaguely, secretly hoping he wouldn't ask that question. "It's what I wear while on the way to work more like."

"Ah. The fur-lining on the coat, the glasses and the beret caught my eye the most about it."

"They're gifts from my new boss. Wearing them out of curtsey."

"They look pretty good on you if I'm being honest." The red wolf wondered if he should had Omega equipped rather than Pixie or the other Personas he acquired from Anton's Palace when it comes to social interactions as they each seem to have an effect on his personality in the real world including his responses to other people. "Almost giving off a raspberry vanilla type of look."

"Aww, how sweet of you~" Vanilla said with a smile. "My boss said the exact same thing when he gave them to me."

"Beauty is only as good as the person that has it and how their personality goes with it for good or bad. Judging from what I could remember of your daughter's mannerisms on Sunday, I would say you're been doing well on both ends if she turns out well like that." Akira smiled back. "How is she by the way?"

"She's good. She just started the third grade, although she's had trouble making new friends lately."

"Sounds like me and her are in a similar boat. I've made a few new friends here but not without issue and they're not the ones causing it. I'm sure she'll eventually make some friends and hopefully ones that don't attract social troublemakers like a bad cold."

"Indeed…" Vanilla agrees with a nod. "I guess that's to be expected… A lot of people look at a single working mother like myself and they automatically jump to extremes without knowing the full story first."

"Telling people you're from Geno City and they'll think you're a no-good two-bit crook from the streets. Telling people you're from Cyber City and they'll assume you're a well-off jerk. Folks assumes the worst before they even get to know you. It's a lose-lose either way." Akira slowly shook his head with a sigh. "At least you're around for her. There's plenty of people out in the world who either have deadbeats for parents, don't have one anymore or worse, they never knew about their own family and never get to spend a life with them."

Vanilla nodded, finding Akira good to chat adult topics with and he can keep up. "I always make a note to do whatever I feel I need to do in order to give my daughter a good life. No matter what it takes, I will give her a good life by any means possible within reason. No school could never prepare you for this type of life and you got to adapt to the new requirements as you go."

"She'll come to appreciate everything you've ever done for her whenever she's old enough to understand it the true value of love as a concept. It always comes in hindsights."

"She will indeed..." Vanilla said with a nod, adjusting the collar of her coat.

"I'll leave you to be on your way to work but it's good seeing you again. Maybe we'll see each other around another time. You ever go to Dynamo Galleria?"

"On occasions. I tend to go clothes shopping whenever I have free cash as well as get a few housewares from the Bed, Bath and Afar there."

"Think I've seen that coming past with a friend when she was doing her clothes shopping."

"Is that so? When I shop for clothes for myself, I typically shop at Tri-Khik. It's a high-end woman's fashion boutique that I usually shop at when I have extra money."

"Quite a wealthy place to shop at. Though, I question on if it's been built off the backs of people in Geno City and how little that trickles down to them or much is it as a monument to their poverty living. The new housing scheme gives me the impression that Mayor Fumfer is doing it less for the good of the city and more just to start turning Geno City into another commercialised half of Cyber City while those who don't fit the new vision gets hauled off like they're unwanted trash."

"I've often gotten that impression too." Vanilla admitted to him, amazed he sees it too. "If he actually cared, he would likely would have tried to build homeless shelters or soup kitchens to help the poor. Do something to reduce poverty and not cast them aside as blemishes on his perfect city."

"Or maybe do something about those recent extortions and putting a stop to gang crimes; save the youth from getting caught up in a lifestyle where the young dies quickly. Even Sir Nigel is doing more than him and he ain't in office himself."

Vanilla nodded, hugging her coat close to herself with the air being slightly chilly. She has coworkers from this very city that don't have as much of a perspective on the issue as him or just plain apathetic to the whole thing and he's only been living here for a few days.

"Anyhow, I should be going." Akira said to the mother rabbit. "I'll see you around another time whenever that may be."

"Of course."

"Stay safe."

Vanilla nodded before heading towards the border checkpoint, readying her ID card. Even though she was older in age compared to him, Vanilla still got a youthful glow to her. Bearing long elegant legs, luscious motherly curves and a walk where her hips sways from side to side in that outfit as the wolf mentally noted while watching her leave...

Then smacking himself there for that. His mother would disapprove for thinking of her that way and he already got himself in a spot once for staring. Vanilla probably already have enough creeps staring at her with worse thoughts. No doubt including ones from the Hooligans if he's learned is anything to go by.

Akira would head on his way back to his apartment. He'd soon get a text from Manic and he checked his messages.

Manic: I just wanted to thank you for helping me with Jean. She appreciates you and I helping her out so much.

Akira: You're welcome.

Manic: I know I say this a lot, but if something happened to her I will have failed to upkeep a promise I made to her years ago.

Akira: Then we'll just have to make sure nothing happens to her. Be it from him or whoever.

Manic: yeah.

Akira: I'll see ya around tomorrow.

Manic: Night, pal.

An emoji of a grinning face and another of a crescent moon were added to the end of the text. Akira smiled and proceeded on his way home...

Akira's Apartment, Cyber City

Evening

He'd make it back to his apartment and upon coming through the door, he'd be greeted by Tiara who's been making herself comfortable at his place. Surprising him as he wasn't expecting her to be at his place.

"Welcome home~" The female manx cat replied with a cheery smile, wearing a cooking apron over her clothes.

"How did yo—" Akira shook his head, knowing the answer on how she's in his apartment as he closes the front door behind him and taking off his shoes. "Never mind. Here on Velvet Room business or have you decided to make yourself at home in my apartment while I was out?"

"Th' boss came up with this idea where basically I would occasionally hang around your world to sorta keep an eye on your progress and report back to him. Not t'mention, I will act as a liaison between you and the Velvet Room while also helping around th' house an' whatnot."

"I see..."

"Plus, I figure it might be good for ya to have a roommate and for me to learn more of this world while I'm at it. It'd give ya some good socialization here at home. It was actually my idea to move into your fortress of solitude. Hope you don't mind."

"Whatever suits you as long as I'm able to study my college work in peace. Been here long?" Akira said as he goes to the fridge. He kept his actual feelings on the matter to himself.

"About four hours actually." She pointed to a corner of the main room where an inflatable air mattress bed, a folding screen, a clothing trunk, clothing rack and a laptop were all set up. "I pretty much appropriated that corner of the room for meself since this's a one-bedroom apartment an' all."

"But when people comes over, you're going to have to stay out of their sights unless you Velvet Room attendants can make them not see you and I don't want to open a can of worms on trying to explain your being here because they assume many things. I can explain away your belongings there with an excuse like them being charity donations."

"I can make myself a ghost to them but what's wrong with you havin' a roommate?"

"My social workers assumes I'm living alone here and so is my landlord. Explaining to them about this would be a pain in the arse because then they'll start asking too many questions on where you came from."

"Well, I guess I could hide my presence when they're over... My things will still be visible though."

"I'll just have to pass it off as me setting up an emergency accommodation for a friend of a friend or something..."

"And I assume you have a cover story for the woman's clothing I have hanging on my clothing rack, yes?" Tiara added with a wry smirk.

"They're for my friend's friend who used to be apart of the C.C.P.D before she got slapped with false criminal charges, lost her job, got sent to prison, the people who gave her the false charges selling off her house at a police auction and has been living on the streets for the last three years while routinely getting harassed by the very people who wrecked her life." Akira replied back as he closes the fridge to turn to her. "Her name's Jean, she has no relatives and I ran into her superior on the way home. Said superior who still harasses her to this day.

Then he added; "And just this morning, she was giving blowies to a drug dealer for some needles to help herself forget her own miserable life. A dealer who happens to be connected with Anton Vercua's gang the Hooligans and said gang seems to have her superior in their pockets to do as they please. Planning to kidnap a teenage girl in February to be sold off to a brothel to get their extortion money that her grandfather aren't paying them with lately plus "offering" a "deal" to another father to lower the "rates" in exchange for giving away his daughter to one... Would that be a sufficient cover story or is that too wordy?"

Tiara blinked. "…Seems rather specific but I suppose it could work as long as they don't poke it too much."

"And that's all true by the way including the kidnapping plan. But I assume you and Mr. Hedgehog would have known that already."

"We're aware of what's going on. Not always but most of the time, we'd be monitoring your rehabilitation from afar."

"Then you're aware of what's happened in the Metaverse. The door?"

Tiara nodded as she answered. "In order for the door to be unlocked, you must ensure that it's real-world equivalent is unlocked too. Most Palace Rulers have that as a security measure to keep out the likes of you from stealing their Treasures. That you already know."

"Thus to change his cognition, we'll have to approach him in the real world and do it from there. One team for that and another to make sure we have actual access to the lift. I figured it as such." Akira said, having the plan mapped out in his head. "Your boss wanting to see me now?"

"Not yet but you'll know." Tiara smiles to him.

"I want to know how come I can wield more than one Persona and the only one who can do so. How is that possible?"

"That could be because of your mask ability being the 'Wild Card', meaning you alone can store more than one Persona at a time."

"My mask ability? That mean the others have their own abilities too?"

"Yes, though it varies from user to user. Some more useful than others."

"Would that be dependent on the Persona they awoke with or their own natural talents but magnified?"

"Depends. It could be one, it could be the other. Sometimes, it's even a combination of both."

"I'll have to ask the others if they know about it themselves."

"That would be wise to ask them."

"Anything else I should know about?"

"I made three-meat pasta bake for dinner." The manx cat gestured to the foil-covered pan on the stove that smelled of said dish.

"Right." Akira nodded as he goes over to the stove. "Is it ready or needs more time to cook?"

"I already cooked it. I was just letting it cool is all."

"Then now is as good time as any to crack it out." Akira would get his oven mitts out to take the dish out and bringing it to a table before evening's feed begun. Tiara smiled as she got out a spatula to begin serving Akira and herself each a portion of the pasta bake as the pair ate together at the table.

Akira would finish up and put the dishes away in the dishwasher. As he cleaned up, Tiara was over in her corner and browsing the internet on her laptop.

"I'll be honest, mate... I don't get to go to your world very often. I'm usually stuck in th' Velvet Room most days."

"Then this isn't your first rodeo outside of it."

"Nope. Been in this world a few times and you all prolly never even realized."

"Because no one would think twice about seeing you on the streets if they can't see you and I doubt the people of the Velvet Room are biologically like us."

"I pretty much look like a regular mobian in your world luv. Be looked over in a football crowd unless I'm flashing."

"And the others?"

"They only sometimes come out into your world depending on the occasion."

"Velvet Room business?"

"Yes. As for me personally, I go out a lot more often than the rest and that's not saying much..."

"Based on my exchange with your boss, I get the impression that I'm not the first to set foot in it."

"You're not wrong." Tiara continued. "Many from this world and others have set foot in the Velvet Room in the past. Many who bear the power of the Wild Card like yourself."

"Is it common for more than one Wild Cards to meet up or cross paths with each other."

"Uncommon as it may be, it has happened before. It's less common for two or more Wild Cards to be on the same team together at the same time and more so for both to forge bonds between them but it has been achieved. Just so you know; the Wild Card isn't exclusive to the Fool Arcana. You could be a wielder of any other type like the Chariot and still get the ability."

"Interesting." Akira's curious to encounter another Wild Card if he can locate one and compare the difference based on Tiara's statement before moving onto the next question; "Has the Velvet Room really existed for that long?"

"In many times and in many forms... We exist on a different plane of existence than what you and others of this physical world would be used to." Tiara nodded as she explains. "Well, thanks again for allowing me to live with ya. Again, I kind of figured you'd want someone living with you so that you didn't get lonely and be about as your assistant..."

"I came into this city expecting to be living all by myself while I go spend my time attending class and studying away until I complete my course." Akira scratches his chin. "It's what I was used to back in Golden Bay City."

Tiara sits up straight on the airbed while crossing one leg over the other. "Maybe havin' someone livin' with ya might be a good thing? I could help out with housework, cook and even be someone to talk to when you need it."

"I'll think about it..." The wolf rubs one of his eyes with a yawn. "Just stay out of my room when I'm not here. That's my place of privacy and I appreciate it if you treat it as such."

"Of course. I, on the other hand have work to do."

"Then I'll leave you to it..." Akira leaves the kitchen to head towards his room. "Night Tiara..."

"Night Trickster~"

The wolf then heads into his bedroom and closes the door behind him to hit the hay early for the night. He hoped to have the apartment to himself to be away from the world but as long as Tiara isn't too much of a bother around his place and gives him space, he can handle a Velvet Room Attendant making herself at home with him.

Author's Notes: The challenge with doing a work of this is juggling the different elements while making it penetrable for most people to read.

Explaining what Sonic the Hedgehog is? Simple enough. Mad scientist meets world. World meets mad scientist. Mad scientist meets speedy hedgehog. Speedy hedgehog liberates an enslaved world. Speedy hedgehog beats mad scientist. Speedy hedgehog makes friends. Speedy hedgehogs finds magic emeralds. Speedy hedgehog saves the world. The nitty gritty details notwithstanding and Sonic fans knows the general lore of the series. Sometimes done really great (SA2), sometimes done really poorly (Forces) depending on who's doing the writing.

Game, Comics, Cartoons and so on melded together to make a narrative foundation. Pick the stuff that'll gel together and transmogrify other stuff to make something new. Just gotta dig around to find something that you know will make for great story material.

Persona? That needs an explanation to those who don't know what the series is nor know of Carl Jung's Theory of Personality which is where the series' concept of Personas and Shadow sprang from. Similarly, the Tarot Arcanas are apart of the series' overall identity from day one and act the basis for individual characters as well as their individual arcs in their respective games. To those who have played the games, you know what to expect here. Classic Persona elements of character interactions, magic, psychology and heavy subject matters all here.

Even making nods to both Classic (Persona, Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment) and Modern (Persona 3-Persona & onwards) Personas titles as well as the sprawling expanded media tied to them. Even make some nods to the wider SMT franchise.

Then as for everything else, you can make note of the references to other Sega works, literature, history, scientific and all that good stuff. When in doubt, grab a memory of something you've come across, read an article or recall something cultural and sprinkle it in to give a scene some good flavouring until you get to the key parts. Sometimes, great moments and ideas are born out of necessity for either filling time, to replace a dropped idea/scene in the rewrite or because it needed an extra kick.

Example: The Godfather's Leave the Gun. In the original novel and original shooting script, it just had Peter Clemenza say 'Leave the gun' which doesn't mean much. Then when his actor Richard S. Castellano got to that key scene, he added 'Take the cannoli' to the line and suddenly 'Leave the gun, take the cannoli' becomes far more interesting as a humorous but insightful remark to chew on. And no, I'm not talking about the sweet pastry itself.

With that rambling over, I'll see you all another time tricksters... Stay tuned and give this one a review to share your thoughts. As they say; Take the leave, gun the cannoli... D'oh!