trickster.

@sinfulshells​ ♡’d for a starter

“Huh?” Her head lifts up mid thought when a stranger’s voice reaches her ears, a curious expression flickering up towards him. Ah, is this about the bag of birdseed that she’s lugging around— okay, that’s not quite the right wording given it’s small and hardly counts as heavy even by her weak standards. Maybe her expression had looked like she was having trouble? “No, ’m okay, thank you…is there anything I can help you with, though?” Ahiru feels like she should at least make the same offer in kind since she’s probably…interrupted his schedule. If nothing else, she’s good company and a nice listener!

Girl pauses, tacking on as an afterthought. “Did’ya think there was something suspicious about this? ‘Cause there’s not really, I promise. Pinky swear!” Accidentally cause issues for the public by feeding the local bird populations maybe, but no serious crimes. Had her hands been less full, she probably would’ve followed through with the gesture too.

– You had asked her if she was okay because she looked like she was upset about something. But now that you’re talking to her it’s easy to see that maybe she was just lost in thought? Either way, you’re glad she’s alright. It’s hard enough adjusting to life in this place without additional problems, and from what you can tell she’s not from here either. 

You open your mouth as if to ask her a question, but she doesn’t seem to notice. This is a fairly common occurrence for you actually, but you don’t mind. Good things tend to happen when you let people go off. 

Suspicious? Well. You didn’t think the bird feed was suspicious before. But now you do. 

“You were planning on sneaking a bite too, right?” Your delivery is flat however, you are absolutely and one hundred percent joking. A girl eating bird seed? Now that’s just silly. 

“I want in.” 

“ … ” – you hear that a lot, and that fact in and of itself makes you a little sad. Of course you stepped in when you saw there was trouble. You couldn’t just pretend you didn’t see anything and walk away. You’re not sure what the other guy’s problem was with him, but it didn’t require swinging a punch. You jumped in and took the hit, and once you got your bearings again you used the cover of shadows to pull you and this man out of the fray. 

– You’ve been exploring the city as much as you can, trying to uncover any information that may be useful, or a sign that your friends somehow made it here too. Occasionally you get caught up in running around. Every now and then you lose track of time and wander the streets at night, despite warnings and whispers that have advised against it.

It looks like you’re not the only one who got lost. 

“ . . . ! ” 

You bump into something and startle. Your facade as Joker goes up just about the same time the shadow magic you gained since coming here. Darkness envelopes both of you, about a twenty foot radius wide. You realize that if it’s a beast, it still might be able to see you- wait.

You squint. You think that’s a person? 

– You started working at a cafe in this strange world, but without the smell of curry and the chatter of friends... well. Naturally, it just wasn’t the same. While you haven’t given up the fight in trying to break free, to get home, you still have some living expenses. And so, you make the people their coffee. 

A year of training under Sojiro has made you fairly good at it, at least. The beans are different from home, but even without training it was easy enough to figure out how to bring out their flavor profiles. Since it’s a rainy day outside and business is slow you decide to practice. But the bell on the shop door rings, and so you peek up from your task. 

“Welcome,” you say dully. The owner would probably appreciate it if you smiled more. You’d appreciate it if you weren’t here. But that isn’t this customer’s fault, now is it? You soften your edges. But looking at her, something feels... different. Familiar, but different. It’s only a gut feeling though, so you let it drift on by. 

– When looking for answers on the streets doesn’t work, and all of the conversations you listen in turn up dry... the best thing you can do is research. You want to go home so you can make things right. If that means snooping around the castle library, you will. Of course you’re going to try reading some of the books. But first, you don’t think it would do much harm to see if pulling some out from the wall shelves would do any harm. If there’s a back door into this castle you’re going to find it. 

You look over your shoulder, making sure the librarian is gone by the time you start. First, you start by pulling out any that stand out. Odd shapes, colors, a lack of dust... Then you start pulling them out at random. You pile them on a desk, that’s easier. 

You were so focused you almost didn’t notice the person walking into this section you’re making a mess of. You don’t jump away fast enough to pawn it off as something you walked into. You’ve been caught red handed, absolutely trashing the place. 

Time to bluff. 

“  solid advice.  ”   there’s a tenseness to khalid’s neck that he cracks away, hands massaging after. talking to akira is like talking with byleth  ;  the silence, the abyss wide eyes, the way they answer as if going through a quiz.

so khalid drops his question, light as air, with eyes that piece like a shot:   “  are you ?  prepared for anything.  ”

– The way he looks at you, through you, makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. But this adult hasn’t proved himself to be rotten just yet, so you let things be easy. After all, it’s possible he’s all alone here too.

“No,” you answer truthfully. “I’m trying to get there.” 

You anticipated his reaction would be calm and collected, just like the day at the TV station. Granted, you did your best to text him occasionally since that time and even saw him at the subway station occasionally but you couldn’t possibly anticipate this sort of response from him. While awaiting a bland reply you are instead met with a shoulder touch–one that makes you flinch a bit in response. You pull away but not without noticing him shake and then- cry. 

Startled, you watched almost stupidly as the other’s tears continued to fall. What…? Why…? Soon, an uncomfortable feeling settled in as you found yourself at a loss for words. Had you said something? Had you done something? Even if you had, you doubted it was enough to spur someone to cry. You made painful strides to be a reliable, kind person. Making someone cry–in public– wasn’t your thing.

“H-hey…” Finally, you mutter, clearly at a disadvantage here. What could you say? You thought anything you’d say at this point would be too calloused, too out of your comfort zone. Instead, you reach into your coat pocket and pull out a small pack of tissues, extending your hand to him with a confused, almost hesitant expression.

“Whatever is troubling you, perhaps we could go somewhere less busy so others don’t see you like this.”

“Did you just arrive here too? I saw a cafe nearby, maybe we could get some coffee, if that’ll cheer you up.” 

– You really can’t see his expression that clearly. Since you can’t stop the tears, you decide to hide your face in your hands. It’s very rare for you to be loud at all, and so your way of crying isn’t much different. It’s silent, aside from the soft intakes of breath. Eventually he speaks, and you look up at least, wiping your eyes off on your sleeve so you can see what he’s holding out to you.  Tissues? Of course he has those on hand. You wonder how many times he cried alone. You wonder how many times he even let himself cry. And all the while, you never even knew.

You try to focus on what he’s saying, but your head is swimming. Does he really not know why you’re like this right now? Could he possibly be that foolish? You stubbornly continue to use your sleeve, but nod, grabbing onto his arm with your free hand.  

“Yeah,” you say, starting to steady. “Lead the way. I’ll follow you.” 

– You have a penchant for getting yourself into trouble, and desperation coupled with a lack of teammates has exacerbated your lack of self preservation. That isn’t to say you weren’t trying to be careful when you tried to scale the wall to the city. But you were apprehended by guards, and you were also stupid enough to put up a fight when you did. 

You managed to squirm out of their grip, but not without sustaining injuries. It lead to a chase, and you bleeding from the leg as you hide in a side street. You wrongfully think that it’s empty. Out of their range, your facade as the Joker falls and so you take a minute to catch your breath. 

Then you notice you’re not alone. You stare her down as you hear guards shout in the distance to split up and search. Did she see you switch? It doesn’t matter. You don’t make a move to attack her, but she could sell you out.   

“ . . . ” 

*    starter :      @sinfulshells .

“  how do you keep safe when your whole day is as wide and empty as the sky ?  anything could happen.  ”

“. . . ? ”  You look up, having been staring at the ground and lost in your own head. Oh. Is he talking to you, or is he just musing? 

> “Be flexible, and prepared for anything.” > All you can do is your best.   > It’s a good time for a nap?

◈ @sinfulshells​ [closed.] 

There wasn’t any use trying to figure everything out right now. No matter how many times you rattled your brain, trying to recall how you got here, nothing made any sense. You kind of just…appeared here? You think so. It was frustrating not knowing. You didn’t even know if that was the truth. You were ushered into your living quarters which was not all too different than what you were used to in Tokyo, maybe even a little bit bigger considering you now had a roommate. 

What’s more…your connection to the Metaverse was severed but you still maintained your Personas. They weren’t visible to anyone but you at the moment and for that you took slight comfort. With not much else left, you quietly left your apartment, ready to investigate this world. There was only so much the Princess, or your Patron Sage, could monitor over you right? It seemed you had a lot to go over before you were ready to adjust to this place. 

How irritating. 

Just before you could let out a sigh, you notice a familiar figure–someone from your world. In fact, not just any someone…

“…eh? Kurusu-san…?” 

And when the other turned to face you, there was no doubt– he was here too. Oh, how interesting. At least things weren’t going to be boring around here at least. 

“So you’re here too…?” 

– You were in a similar place as your former teammate: aggravated and hungry for answers. You had an important final mission as a Phantom Thief to take care of. Turn yourself in, spare your teammates, and make that bastard Masayoshi Shido pay for his crimes once and for all. 

Worn out, busted and bruised, you let yourself fall asleep on the car ride there. And as falling asleep so often goes for you, something strange occurred. You wound up here. 

The expression on your face is stony on the surface, but underneath that mask is something much more desperate. You need to get home. If you don’t take the fall, one of your friends might. That can’t happen. You explore and search, wooden dagger in your jacket, eyes sharp under your glasses.

All of your bravado shatters when you hear him. 

It’s not the first time you’ve thought you heard Goro Akechi. You even thought you saw him a few times in the weeks following his murder. Near the train station, in the underground where you’d bump into him sometimes. 

But it’s never been this clear before.