[ If he wants the Tokyo Xanadu kid who would tell him to stop with the robot-maneuvering bullshit, then he's going to have to wait for Kou to haul his tired butt through this way.
Rion, however, is usually the one being given the flat looks so she's going to be of no disciplinary consequence whatsoever. ]
Oops, my bad. You know I get you and your brother mixed up all the time.
[ With a nod towards one of the nearby robots who just so happens to look exactly like the one Ryuji's manhandling.
[Wow, Rion, are you trying to say all androids look like? That's droidist, you know.]
Uhh...
[SHIT... is the jig up? He can't tell if she's talking to him or Alfredo here, or the both of them, and he pokes his head out from behind its shoulder.]
I know, you're like. Practically flyin' by the seat of your pants right now.
[It seems kind of mean to just drop Alfredo on the floor and work on him in a bit, so he'll at least try to initiate the reboot sequence. Where's that damn power button...
Does it have to go through updates?
How much RAM do these things have?]
Even bigger plot twist, I'm the third brother. Beep effin' beep.
[He surveys her though, now that he's not trying to mess around.]
[ She's pretty scuffed up, but there are no broken limbs or lightning burns and she's very clearly alive, so Rion offers up a victory sign as a tried and true method of reassurance.
She'd also make herself useful and try to reboot these guys, but she has absolutely no idea how to do that and the last two reboots she'd witnessed herself had just been the guys collapsing lifelessly and doing it themselves. Probably better not to tinker with them and make them worse. ]
We had a few close calls and I kinda don't want to see another storm for at least a month, but-- well, we made it! What about you?
[Hey, to be fair, Ryuji had no idea what he was doing either. Things were kind of hit or miss with this entire thing, but he just didn't want to sit still and do nothing. Boredom easily gets under his skin, and it makes him start thinking too much about stuff. And nobody needs Ryuji actually trying to think about something too hard.
Also, it's a weird feeling, but if this is Akira's girlfriend, he instinctively cares about her well being, too. Not that he wouldn't otherwise- but it's more like a compounding feedback loop of "if shit hits the fan, two people are gonna be rekt."]
Yeah, 'm pretty good. I kinda hate that my actually cool powers got traded off for something totally effin' useless. Coulda absorbed all the electricity like one lanky ass lightning rod.
[He also doesn't know if she knows about personas, about their role before coming here- he's ruined this sort of exchange enough in the past that he's getting better at being cagey over it, even if Ryuji Sakamoto is not a cagey person.]
Ugh... man, you know what would be super chill right now? A really hot shower. [He raises an eyebrow up at her, noticing how roughed up she looks.
And, well, if she's gonna put up with him, time to start being relentlessly himself.]
[ Rion knows enough to not immediately get bug-eyed over the prospect of Ryuji getting to soak up electricity like some kind of reckless sponge-- though she definitely looks more than a little startled, because while she knows what personas are, they haven't ever really gotten to the nitty-gritty of just how useful they are in combat beyond "uses elemental attacks" and "probably looks awesome".
Huh. She's going to ask about that in a minute, riiiight after she's done grimacing down at herself and then at Ryuji, one eyebrow raised like "really, you're brave".
Then again, after spending tons of time in the company of "Testicular Fortitude"-senpai, "Look At This Shitheel"-kun and "Never Heard of SPiKA"-kun, Rion's learned that boys are just going to be boys. ]
I could use one for the next two hours, yeah. Maaaybe three.
[ and, as promised-- ]
So wait, your persona actually makes you immune to lightning? Are they all like that?
[ Why can't their Soul Devices be that handy!! Can they make an app for that, because that would be swell. ]
Aw, shit. You're gonna drain all the hot water outta Struxta with that sorta determination.
[HEY!!! LEAVE SOME FOR HIM!!! His joints are tired too. Except, not really, he's just been flipping power switches on and off all day, like he called the Struxta IT help desk this morning asking for some advice, and some dude on the other end was like "did you try turning it off and turning it on again" - and he took this idea and ran with it.]
Yeah, my persona's got control over lightning aspected magic, so--
[ ... Whoops. Fair's fair, she supposes, so Rion smiles a little apologetically and tugs at the end of her incredibly messy ponytail (but only because she went through a storm okay normally it's a perfectly capable and rather adorable ponytail and she'll fight anyone who says otherwise). ]
Yeah. It-- kinda came up when Kou-kun and I were trying to figure out why Akira had such a weird set of skills and we got worried. Ann told me a little more about it, too.
[ ... Hm. ]
Back home... we kind of have the same thing going on, but with different names. Dungeons brought about by people's emotions filled with monsters you can only fight through whipping out your soul as a weapon--
... This is never going to not sound weird, sorry.
[... well... he does think ponytails are kind of cute, but!!! that's within a realm he's not going anywhere near because of uh, well, the whole Akira thing. He's so goddamned awkward about everything.
But it's really weird that more people knew about their ability to control personas to begin with. It catches him off guard, since for the last year, it's been a continual struggle to keep this shit under wraps. And, to be fair, from his point of view, he didn't really know if he could summon or not. They killed Yaldabaoth. Was it a dumb assumption that if he was brought to the Circle to fight for Astoria's goals that he would still retain that ability? What else would she even want him for to begin with...]
Nah, I mean. Same. It should sound weird but it... yeah, it definitely doesn't to me. I dunno the details here, but it doesn't sound that different from bein' thieves.
We don't sound as cool, for starters. And we're kind of more mystery-solvers and damage control than anything. And the way we fight is with Soul Devices, not personas-- they're more like weapons.
... I'm not really used to explaining it to people, but it's kind of nice to not have to hide it from pretty much everyone.
A club, investigating the supernatural. Not really detectives, trust me. Like, we've got this senpai who's been called a delinquent but he really just cares about his friends. And a student council president who's really dignified but also kind of scary? And then there's our shut-in brat who's some kind of computer genius, and-- well, you've probably met Kou-kun by now.
[ But, more curiously-- ]
So you don't do it anymore? The whole... persona thing? Thief thing? [ etc.??? ]
You mean like those ghost hunter shows where these dudes go around with the infrared cameras and try to stay in haunted houses? That shit is. So. Cool.
[God...]
Wait, what.
[He counts those descriptions in his head.
Ryuji, Makoto, Futaba...]
We ain't like... some sorta parallel universe opposites are we? That sounds really effin' familiar. But uh, anyway, like. Yeah. We finished everything we had to do. Did the whole "save the world" bullshit and when that was done... so were our powers. And the heists.
[He can't be cagey about things when he's asked directly like this- Ryuji doesn't have it in him to really lie about much of anything.]
And then we started... doin' the natural thing friends do when they stop havin' a ton of stuff in common. Akira moved back to the countryside, Haru 'n Makoto were already a year ahead of us. Seein' him became something that had to be scheduled. Life kinda returned to normal, but, also... it kinda sucked.
[ maybe she can get Kou to agree to have a sleepover in a haunted place to see what happens. With their luck, it probably would lead to an Eclipse somehow.
But that's a thought to be attempted at another time. ]
I guess Ann and I have a lot in common, so who knows? She's cuter, though.
[ Coming from Rion, who has been Perfectly Indignant that Kou didn't take flirting bait not one single time, this is high praise indeed. ]
... But yeah, I know what you mean. When you lose your reason to fight, you also lose one thing keeping you together. And even if it's probably for the best, that things go back to normal, it's...
[ Well, none of them had moved away like Akira had. Shio and Mitsuki were a year ahead, but it was still only summer. The one thing that had left an impact was...
[Holy shit, an already cute girl is telling Ryuji that Ann is cuter than her, and he just.
Doesn't know how to handle that?
It's Ann. It's just. It's Ann!!! DON'T BE LIKE THAT. So he'll ignore it and try to hide the obvious disinclination he has towards continuing that statement via acceptance or refutation.
But, also, he really gets what she's saying here, and maybe some of the fire behind Ryuji's eyes dies a bit, because he nods in agreement to the response.]
And you feel kinda lost. Like you knew where all the streets in Tokyo were and woke up one mornin' not even knowin' where your feet were going, and you end up back in class. Feels like shit didn't even matter.
[The world would never know what they had done, how hard they had to fight, how much of their lives they had to sacrifice to keep them safe. To give them choices. But---]
But at least, I guess... we're here now, right? So you gotta make do with whatever kinda blessin' you were given.
[ Don't think she didn't notice that very subtle veer away from agreeing with her that Ann is totally hot, Ryuji. But she won't linger on it either, shrugging a little helplessly.
Because he gets it. And there had been nothing stranger than having to go to school, to go around Morimiya and realize that people didn't remember... the shape of a disaster. What had made them sick, what had really injured them, what had scared them.
And they didn't remember "her", either, and Rion thought she could understand now what a hollow victory was. Hardly anyone would know. And there had been a loss that no one else would have felt, so even the mourning had felt empty. ]
You're right. Whatever the reason, we're here now. So let's kick the crap out of loneliness and keep going.
[He parrots her in response, because- honestly, he's not that great about talking about this sort of stuff intentionally. His earnesty comes out in small bursts that he can't control and he might say some pretty emotionally charged stuff, but it's not like a faucet he knows how to turn on or off, kind of like his ability to turn things different colors.
But he does get it, and if she's some alternate universe Ann, or Ann is some alternate universe Rion, then, that's cool. At least they have a common ground to kind of walk together through. And man, does this kid adore Ann, even if he's absolutely shit at showing it in constructive, non-back-and-forth-bickering kind of ways.]
Yo, don't hold those punches back, then. I won't either. [He shadow boxes with a free hand.
[ Or his ability to blurt out his thoughts on her school uniform. It's okay, Ryuji, she knows someone just like you, except he isn't blond and Kou probably isn't in love with him. This friendship will go on. ]
Definitely. But maybe try and help out Alfredo first before you go punching anything.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Rion, however, is usually the one being given the flat looks so she's going to be of no disciplinary consequence whatsoever. ]
Oops, my bad. You know I get you and your brother mixed up all the time.
[ With a nod towards one of the nearby robots who just so happens to look exactly like the one Ryuji's manhandling.
Except this one is face down. ]
I'm not interrupting a bonding session, am I?
no subject
Uhh...
[SHIT... is the jig up? He can't tell if she's talking to him or Alfredo here, or the both of them, and he pokes his head out from behind its shoulder.]
Hey, it was just me all along.
[Surprise?]
no subject
Whoa, Ryuji?? This might be too big of a plot twist for me to handle.
no subject
[It seems kind of mean to just drop Alfredo on the floor and work on him in a bit, so he'll at least try to initiate the reboot sequence. Where's that damn power button...
Does it have to go through updates?
How much RAM do these things have?]
Even bigger plot twist, I'm the third brother. Beep effin' beep.
[He surveys her though, now that he's not trying to mess around.]
Everything go okay out there 'n all?
no subject
She'd also make herself useful and try to reboot these guys, but she has absolutely no idea how to do that and the last two reboots she'd witnessed herself had just been the guys collapsing lifelessly and doing it themselves. Probably better not to tinker with them and make them worse. ]
We had a few close calls and I kinda don't want to see another storm for at least a month, but-- well, we made it! What about you?
no subject
Also, it's a weird feeling, but if this is Akira's girlfriend, he instinctively cares about her well being, too. Not that he wouldn't otherwise- but it's more like a compounding feedback loop of "if shit hits the fan, two people are gonna be rekt."]
Yeah, 'm pretty good. I kinda hate that my actually cool powers got traded off for something totally effin' useless. Coulda absorbed all the electricity like one lanky ass lightning rod.
[He also doesn't know if she knows about personas, about their role before coming here- he's ruined this sort of exchange enough in the past that he's getting better at being cagey over it, even if Ryuji Sakamoto is not a cagey person.]
Ugh... man, you know what would be super chill right now? A really hot shower. [He raises an eyebrow up at her, noticing how roughed up she looks.
And, well, if she's gonna put up with him, time to start being relentlessly himself.]
I'm guessin' you could use one too.
no subject
Huh. She's going to ask about that in a minute, riiiight after she's done grimacing down at herself and then at Ryuji, one eyebrow raised like "really, you're brave".
Then again, after spending tons of time in the company of "Testicular Fortitude"-senpai, "Look At This Shitheel"-kun and "Never Heard of SPiKA"-kun, Rion's learned that boys are just going to be boys. ]
I could use one for the next two hours, yeah. Maaaybe three.
[ and, as promised-- ]
So wait, your persona actually makes you immune to lightning? Are they all like that?
[ Why can't their Soul Devices be that handy!! Can they make an app for that, because that would be swell. ]
no subject
[HEY!!! LEAVE SOME FOR HIM!!! His joints are tired too. Except, not really, he's just been flipping power switches on and off all day, like he called the Struxta IT help desk this morning asking for some advice, and some dude on the other end was like "did you try turning it off and turning it on again" - and he took this idea and ran with it.]
Yeah, my persona's got control over lightning aspected magic, so--
[. . .
...
. . . . ?!]
Wait, what the hell? You know about personas?
no subject
Yeah. It-- kinda came up when Kou-kun and I were trying to figure out why Akira had such a weird set of skills and we got worried. Ann told me a little more about it, too.
[ ... Hm. ]
Back home... we kind of have the same thing going on, but with different names. Dungeons brought about by people's emotions filled with monsters you can only fight through whipping out your soul as a weapon--
... This is never going to not sound weird, sorry.
no subject
But it's really weird that more people knew about their ability to control personas to begin with. It catches him off guard, since for the last year, it's been a continual struggle to keep this shit under wraps. And, to be fair, from his point of view, he didn't really know if he could summon or not. They killed Yaldabaoth. Was it a dumb assumption that if he was brought to the Circle to fight for Astoria's goals that he would still retain that ability? What else would she even want him for to begin with...]
Nah, I mean. Same. It should sound weird but it... yeah, it definitely doesn't to me. I dunno the details here, but it doesn't sound that different from bein' thieves.
no subject
... I'm not really used to explaining it to people, but it's kind of nice to not have to hide it from pretty much everyone.
no subject
How else do you tell someone you take your inner demon monkey king out to electrify the baddies into begging for forgiveness? You don't, that's what.]
M...mystery solvers? You mean detectives.
[...]
I don't really trust detectives, I kinda have a bad rep with those sorts.
[...]
I mean.
It's cool, you're cool. It's kinda weird, like... thinking there are people out there that know what we can do. [A pause.] Er... could do.
no subject
A club, investigating the supernatural. Not really detectives, trust me. Like, we've got this senpai who's been called a delinquent but he really just cares about his friends. And a student council president who's really dignified but also kind of scary? And then there's our shut-in brat who's some kind of computer genius, and-- well, you've probably met Kou-kun by now.
[ But, more curiously-- ]
So you don't do it anymore? The whole... persona thing? Thief thing? [ etc.??? ]
no subject
You mean like those ghost hunter shows where these dudes go around with the infrared cameras and try to stay in haunted houses? That shit is. So. Cool.
[God...]
Wait, what.
[He counts those descriptions in his head.
Ryuji, Makoto, Futaba...]
We ain't like... some sorta parallel universe opposites are we? That sounds really effin' familiar. But uh, anyway, like. Yeah. We finished everything we had to do. Did the whole "save the world" bullshit and when that was done... so were our powers. And the heists.
[He can't be cagey about things when he's asked directly like this- Ryuji doesn't have it in him to really lie about much of anything.]
And then we started... doin' the natural thing friends do when they stop havin' a ton of stuff in common. Akira moved back to the countryside, Haru 'n Makoto were already a year ahead of us. Seein' him became something that had to be scheduled. Life kinda returned to normal, but, also... it kinda sucked.
no subject
But that's a thought to be attempted at another time. ]
I guess Ann and I have a lot in common, so who knows? She's cuter, though.
[ Coming from Rion, who has been Perfectly Indignant that Kou didn't take flirting bait not one single time, this is high praise indeed. ]
... But yeah, I know what you mean. When you lose your reason to fight, you also lose one thing keeping you together. And even if it's probably for the best, that things go back to normal, it's...
[ Well, none of them had moved away like Akira had. Shio and Mitsuki were a year ahead, but it was still only summer. The one thing that had left an impact was...
... ]
It's stupid lonely.
no subject
Doesn't know how to handle that?
It's Ann. It's just. It's Ann!!! DON'T BE LIKE THAT. So he'll ignore it and try to hide the obvious disinclination he has towards continuing that statement via acceptance or refutation.
But, also, he really gets what she's saying here, and maybe some of the fire behind Ryuji's eyes dies a bit, because he nods in agreement to the response.]
And you feel kinda lost. Like you knew where all the streets in Tokyo were and woke up one mornin' not even knowin' where your feet were going, and you end up back in class. Feels like shit didn't even matter.
[The world would never know what they had done, how hard they had to fight, how much of their lives they had to sacrifice to keep them safe. To give them choices. But---]
But at least, I guess... we're here now, right? So you gotta make do with whatever kinda blessin' you were given.
no subject
[ Don't think she didn't notice that very subtle veer away from agreeing with her that Ann is totally hot, Ryuji. But she won't linger on it either, shrugging a little helplessly.
Because he gets it. And there had been nothing stranger than having to go to school, to go around Morimiya and realize that people didn't remember... the shape of a disaster. What had made them sick, what had really injured them, what had scared them.
And they didn't remember "her", either, and Rion thought she could understand now what a hollow victory was. Hardly anyone would know. And there had been a loss that no one else would have felt, so even the mourning had felt empty. ]
You're right. Whatever the reason, we're here now. So let's kick the crap out of loneliness and keep going.
no subject
[He parrots her in response, because- honestly, he's not that great about talking about this sort of stuff intentionally. His earnesty comes out in small bursts that he can't control and he might say some pretty emotionally charged stuff, but it's not like a faucet he knows how to turn on or off, kind of like his ability to turn things different colors.
But he does get it, and if she's some alternate universe Ann, or Ann is some alternate universe Rion, then, that's cool. At least they have a common ground to kind of walk together through. And man, does this kid adore Ann, even if he's absolutely shit at showing it in constructive, non-back-and-forth-bickering kind of ways.]
Yo, don't hold those punches back, then. I won't either. [He shadow boxes with a free hand.
Can't let Alfredo go to pieces, after all.]
no subject
Definitely. But maybe try and help out Alfredo first before you go punching anything.