IC inbox

[very_elaborate]

Yo, it's Kanji. Leave a message and I'll get back to ya. If you want me to make you something, wait to describe it till we're actually talking.

[Call, text, whatever!]

Comments

[pancakeboy]

[Greetings, Kanji. A small, terrible child, with terrible hair, is investigating your shop to see if you're in it. He pokes his head in the door, and looks around.]

[very_elaborate]

[He is, in fact, in it.]

...the hell happened to your hair?

[pancakeboy]

[BAD START. He startles back, stung.]

My hair's fine! [...okay, no. Remembering his mission, and the fact that Raven really rates this guy, he reluctantly deflates, closing the door behind him.]

...my school made me do it.

[very_elaborate]

[...give him a minute... there it goes. If nothing else, Kanji is very good with visual details.]

Wait, shit, you're not Raven. Sorry about that, kid. Schools're dumbasses about hair, aren't they?

[pancakeboy]

I guess you'd know. My old school was fine with it, but then I had to move.

[He offers a grim nod, vaguely indicating Kanji's head of blond hair. Kanji is just as intimidating as his picture. But then, Magpie yelled at him, so they're kind of even, right?]

But no, I'm not Raven-kun, I'm Magpie. I used to be bigger?

[very_elaborate]

People thought I was nothin' but trouble, so I figured I might as well give 'em what they wanted. Then I got used to it. [And he hasn't seen much point in letting it grow back out, either. He's not sure he trusts a cognition to cut it properly at that point.]

Huh. Yeah, I think you came by taller, once.

[pancakeboy]

Really? [He comes a bit closer.] What was I like?

[He'll come back to the rest of what Kanji said, but !! People don't talk to him much about older-him.]

[fogboundcrow]

It appears a certain gas station attendant is trying to stir the pot.

I thought I'd mention it since you live relatively close to the station.

All that aside, I hope you are doing well.

[very_elaborate]

...fuck's sake, what're they doing now.

Yeah, I'm good. You?

[fogboundcrow]

Promising handshakes to anyone who entertains him, it seems.

Thankfully, most people here already have Personas, but Crow and I made sure to leave notes to the children to not go near him. I don't want to risk their safety.

As for me, well... another child appeared recently. A few years younger than me, has a very powerful Persona, but was utterly alone before his arrival here.

His name is Ken Amada, and he has brown hair and matching eyes. He's staying next door to Dojima-san's house... which we've kind of overtaken.

[very_elaborate]

Some people never learn, huh. Or... haven't learned yet, I guess.

Or both. We're talking about a god, so who the fuck knows.

[Amada... he wants to say the name sounds familiar, but also it doesn't? Persona shit gets weird sometimes, though, so he can leave it at that.]

Well, at least there's people nearby if he needs help. I can keep an eye out if he comes up this way, too.

[fogboundcrow]

I'm not entirely sure when in my timeline he's from, but apparently it is the version from my world.

And I appreciate it. Amada-kun isn't used to kindness from others. We get along well, but I believe it helps that ours are similar circumstances, having both suffered in the system and lost our mothers.

He's also ridiculously powerful and knows his way around Tartarus. We went near the top and ended up facing a rather powerful Shadow. I doubt I would have lasted without his assistance, to be honest.

[very_elaborate]

Wouldn't put it past a god to be from multiple timelines at once. If anyone can...

Sounds like this kid got into much deeper shit than he should've, but, you know. That's most of us.

[tricksterviolet]

[Kanji finds himself with a text message from Sumire!]

Hello, Kanji-san. I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could help me. I found an outfit, but I can't tell if it's very good or not.

[very_elaborate]

You're not botherin' me. What you got?

[tricksterviolet]

[Sumire sends an image of... oh. What IS that? It's multiple different leopard and cheetah patterns, a garish magenta scarf, a zebra-printed undershirt, there's lime green socks with bright pink sandals, and then there's some large-rimmed red sunglasses...]

[It's all set up on a fashion mannequin as Sumire took the picture of it.]

One of the cognitions helped me pick it out. What do you think? They said something about... carnivore energy, but I didn't entirely understand it.

[very_elaborate]

[...what the entire shit.]

Okay, normally I'd say putting something on a mannequin won't tell you if it would look good on you, but please don't put that on. That wouldn't look good on anyone. There's way too much happening at once.

Maybe one of those patterns at a time, but that's a big maybe.

The scarf is just gonna wash you out and make you look sick. Blue or purple would work better with your skin tone.

The socks clash horribly with the sandals, and socks and sandals are kind of a weird combo in the first place.

Whatever carnivore energy is supposed to mean, don't do it. And zebras don't even eat meat in the first place!

[tricksterviolet]

It's that bad?

I will admit I was a little confused, but the they seemed so confident. I thought for sure this would be a good one.

But this is a lot of good advice. Thank you, Kanji-san! I'll remember this the next time I'm needing to choose between colors and patterns. Or the next time someone tries to recommend I wear socks and sandals together.

[She's actually very disheartened, but she's trying her best to keep her spirits up. Don't give up here, Sumire...! You're not going to get something perfect the first time!]

[very_elaborate]

If all I told you was 'wow that sucks,' how're you supposed to do any better the next time? That's pretty dire, but you learned more from trying to put something together than you would've by not doing anything.

[mountainfoggedlotus]

Inaba is such a weird place compared to Fujikawaguchiko. But it's weird in like...a weird way. In the "if I don't look right at the buildings I can almost pretend this is home" way. Inaba is so close to Fujikawaguchiko in a ton of ways, but it isn't quite there yet, so it's...weird.

Unnecessary valley, or something?

Anyway, Ren sometimes walks around the streets of Inaba and doesn't look at anything too close and sticks his hands in his pockets and pretends he's back home.

It's cool. The homesickness isn't getting to him.

His legs eventually take him to a part of town he hasn't seen before, and-- huh. A textile shop on this part of the shopping strip. That definitely isn't something they have in Fujikawaguchiko...

Ren decides to investigate. (Anything to get his mind off home, really.)

[very_elaborate]

There's not a whole lot on the shopping district's main drag that looks like it's inhabited. Most of it isn't, unless you count cognitive people, and it's probably better not to think about them too hard. Just makes things even more unsettling.

But the textile shop? That does look like there's someone hanging around. Especially if the bin of adorable stuffed animals - and the fact that the small children have suspiciously similar toys back at the house - is anything to go by.

The handiwork looks a lot like Raven's little stuffed crow.

[mountainfoggedlotus]

Ren pokes his head into the shop. "Uh...hello? Anyone there?"

[very_elaborate]

"One sec!" That is... probably not the kind of voice Ren was expecting from the back of a textile shop with adorable plushies out front.

And then Kanji emerges, looking very much like a giant punk. And with a half-finished knitting project in one hand. "Oh, hey. You new, or am I just not gettin' out enough?"

[mountainfoggedlotus]

Ren blinks at the new person and stays quiet, looking kinda like he's got caught doing something bad.

[very_elaborate]

...well, that got awkward fast. "You good, kid?"