Heading up a short spiral staircase to a small tower at the back end of the house, I entered my new room and saw that my luggage had already been delivered there. As I began the arduous process of unpacking it all, it slightly relieved me that I was storing stuff like movies, TV shows and books more and more online these days, as that did help lighten the load, well, to an extent.
That business over, I wasted no time in crashing down on my bed, the sun had long gone down by now anyway (again, not like that meant much to the rest of LA). After calling out goodnight to my grandparents, I tried to rest peacefully, but well, just arriving in a new city to find that you're classmates with a convicted arsonist
and there's this gang prowling around your school, all didn't make for some easy shut-eye.
And when I did get to sleep, well there was no way I could prepare for what'd be in my dreams...
-|-|-
I suddenly found myself in a dark, damp tunnel so tiny that it was more of a vent really. Crouching my way forward, I pulled an old, faded Tarot poster at the end of it to reveal a hazy, midnight blue jail cell beyond.
"Ah, welcome to the Velvet Room!" said the first of the prisoners within, a long-nosed, grey hair-ringed old man.
"So it looks like our escape tunnel has been able to reach the surface world" said the second, a pale blonde-haired, blue-clad young girl.
"The Velvet Room?" I gasped, as this was a place I'd certainly heard of. "No way, isn't this the place where rumors have it that Guild Bosses go to gain multiple Personae? If it is... what the hell I am doing here? I'm no Wild Card, I don't even want anything more to do with Phantom Thieves!".
"All shall be explained in due time, for none ever enter this Room truly by accident- hmm, best make yourself scarce" the long-nosed man, at the sound of footsteps coming this way, changed the subject on the spot. I scrambled to hide back behind the Tarot poster in the tunnel, as I heard a distorted voice to from outside order these prisoners to 'make with the fusions'.
After a bright flash of blue light and another, even more distorted proclaiming itself to be a Persona, I could hear those footsteps walk away again, with the girl prisoner's voice telling me "Do not fret, it is safe to emerge now".
As I slid back into the room, I was greeted with a spread of tarot cards on a low-lying table, and the words "As I was rudely interrupted before I could introduce ourselves, I am Igor, and this is my assistant Lavenza. Hmm, a quick fortune-telling shows for you...
Death: A great change, in your case an 'escape', the end of an old life and the beginning of the next, The Wheel of
Fortune: It seems you cannot sidestep the path you were on so simply, and The
Star: Nevertheless, you hold out hope for redemption".
"Unlike most of our guests, you already seem to have foreknowledge of the concept of the Velvet Room" Lavenza then addressed me "You claim to reject your Persona, but is that truly the best course of action, for is it not said 'A mind is a terrible thing to waste'?
It is true that your Persona was not originally granted by Satanael, the Incarnation of Desired Freedom who granted all the active Wild Cards their Personae. Still, is so much as an embodiment of human emotion not allowed to change its mind?".
"More than allowed, when the Freedom the First Thieves sought has been distorted into the very Chains they strove to break free of" Igor answered her. "Now, our unlikely guest, cast your mind back to when you first tore off the mask society had placed upon you, for that memory of what motivated you to begin with may be much needed by you again...".
The-the moment I first gained my Persona, when I truly became a Thief? Ah, my old Gang tore that apart long ago, but I can remember it was...
[ ] That I thought our government, our police, our corporations, were a bunch of no-good thieves themselves, so what would it hurt if I became one myself. The Michael Corleone answer, I guess.
[ ] Not even anything to do with Law or Justice really. I just wanted to assert my individuality, and the Phantom Thieves seemed like just the subculture in which to do that.
[ ] That I was afraid, of being exploited, being powerless beneath the system. That becoming a Thief was the only way I had up the ladder of authority.
[ ] Write-in.
When I first tore off my-
[ ] Butterfly
[ ] Carnivale
[ ] Oni
[ ] Heart
[ ] Write-in.
-mask, the Persona that came out and spoke to me was:
[ ] A young girl grown to remarkable size, her dress decorated like a pack of cards, a pocket-watch for an eye, wielding a croquet mallet and a teapot, calling herself
Alice.
[ ] A shining older man with wavy brown hair in a long, ruffled blue coat adorned with music notes, his face obscured by light and clouds, calling himself
Valjean.
[ ] A dark-haired youth tied to a broken cross, his clothes ragged and dusty, his face and clawed hands shrouded by inky darkness, calling himself
Lazarillo.
[ ] Write-in.