A Dance in Vivacissimo for the Velvet Room

[stringmods]

Who: EVERYONE
Where: Velvet Room
Summary: The blue door appears and it's time for a little field trip
Warnings: DJ Velvet?

This time, there didn't seem to be a crisis, but nevertheless, the Velvet roomed showed up once again. As usual, policemen and WAND operatives protected the door, the rendezvous point was well guarded.

As they stepped in, the group weren't given much information as to what exactly you were heading into. Unless you've been a Guest before or had visited two times prior, this entire experience will be completely new...and even if you've been here, the experience is still new.



The bar is spacious and large. The place is oddly calming; as if all the troubles of the city have melted away and you're just drifting in the sea. A multitude of blue butterflies are flying on the ceiling overhead.

Now, for some of those who had been here before, there was something different this time.

The lights were mostly out, the dim bar setting made even more evident. The remaining lights, however, pointed to a musical setup. In the back, a single dark figure bouncing his head back and forth, as the sound began to fill your ears. The voice, for those who have heard her speak, sounds like Caroline was doing the background vocal work.

The Aria of the Soul...just served a little differently.

Now the full meaning of the Velvet Bar comes to fruition.

If you can spot Igor in the farthest corner (it's hard to see without the lights) he has...a pair of sunglasses? He seems to be pretty quiet this evening, and instead Caroline is there to great everyone as the music continues to play.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room. My name is Caroline...and this is DJ Velvet, my brother William."

He responds by raising one of his hands in the air and giving a V sign, before going back to mixing.

"This place exists between mind and matter... A room for those who gave forged a contract... For those who are here for the first time, you now must know that in awakening to the power of Persona granted to you by Philemon, you are bound to a contract. You are all now guests of the Velvet Room. You all have the ability to hold multiple Personas and wield their powers...a wildcard ability. However the rules of this world are rather...unique."

Her tone of voice was clearly much better than the previous two times. Caroline was gaining, slowly a bit more assurance in herself. She also seemed much more relaxed with William around.

"As you continue to live here longer and aid this ailing world, the connection and bonds you forge will reinforce your Destiny String, and allow you to truly unlock your full potential. As stipulated by the contact, we will aid you to the best of our abilities. I hope you find your stay tonight enjoyable."

Caroline then goes behind the bar and awaits for those who might wish to talk with her. Or perhaps you'd like to go see William first?

[OOC : Welcome to the Velvet Room. There but a few instructions here:
▶ Go to the [PERSONA UPDATE LIST] and fill out the information for your character.
▶ To get a new Persona, you go to [HERE] (althought the post is still in migration, you can find the old list [HERE]) and pick a public persona, then fill out a request [HERE]. Remember you cannot get persona that belongs to someone else! You can request a Persona (or two if you are a previous Persona user) until the 29th of November.
▶ This time, requests can be given from either Caroline OR William [HERE] and remember you only get one request per month. You can request a Quest until the 29th of November, or wait until next month. You can only as one request and it can be either Caroline or William.
▶ You can talk with Igor, Caroline, William, hang around, have a drink (what is in that drink anyway?) or just talk between yourselves.

Comments

[the_usual_stuff]

"Hello," Pharos greeted him cheerfully, undaunted by the older boy approaching him. He stood near the edges, not too far from the brightly-lit bar scene with Caroline bustling behind the counter, passing out drinks and rewarding other Person-users for the successful quests they had undertaken by the attendants' request.

The soothing lighting that lit the Bar with a blue luminosity cast faint shadows over one side of his pale young face when he tilted his head of curly black hair to the side for a moment, thoughtful. His unnaturally bright eyes glanced over Levi before his lips quirked up into the beginnings of a smile. The shadow cleared. "You're another Guest in this Room like myself, right?"

[not_a_leviathan]

"I guess I am. My name's Lev. What's your name?" He did his best to try to ignore the music. He knew other people liked wild music like that, but he hadn't been brought up with that kind of music at all.

There was something about this boy that unnerved him, but he refused to let it bother him.

[the_usual_stuff]

"I'm called Pharos," he didn't mind the music himself. His containers had always have a very diverse taste in their music, ranging from modern rock blasting away in their headphones to listening to a soothing classical piece. Pharos had picked up on that, like he had done with many other things with them.

There's nothing particularly wrong with being unnerved by Death, Lev. It's universal, to be a little unsettled by it. "Hey, is this your first visit? To this Room."

[not_a_leviathan]

He's been close enough to it, considering he was basically born to be a sacrifice to God, thanks.

"It is. I only... I guess they call it awakened? I only got my Persona recently. It's still strange." And he still wondered if he was really worthy of having his soul reflect an angel of all things.

[the_usual_stuff]

Pharos leaned forward, body language strange but non-threatening. The music, a background rhythm that throbbed and bounced through the air, continued playing and the droning voices of the many Guests speaking provided a secondary source of noise over that music.

"Is that so? Well, that's good," His smile widened a little. To awaken a Persona, meant that the user had feel the need to defend his life, to keep living, to prevent themselves from simply submitting to their demise. That was good. Or to protect themselves or another from a threat. "And what was its name, can I ask?"

[not_a_leviathan]

Lev thought for a moment. Well, telling it to a little kid couldn't do too much harm, probably. And really, no one here knew what he did at home. He wasn't 'The Clapper Who Didn't Clap' here - he could just be Lev, without worry of Juvey cops or parts pirates.

"Zadkiel. He's an angel of mercy. It's a little strange that he would be the one who was my Persona, though."

Though he considered himself merciful, or at least someone who attempted to be so, he really didn't deserve that kind of honor.

[the_usual_stuff]

There was a curious gleam in Pharos' bright blue eyes as he stared back at the older boy. His Persona was Zadkiel, angel of mercy and freedom? One of those angelic creatures who was programmed to adore the divine and smote his enemies. It had amused him once, the contradiction of the angels, who consider being freed a fate so much worse than Death that it became the origin of the concept of eternal damnation and yet had an angel of freedom in their ranks.

"Zadkiel," he repeated aloud, softly. He held up an finger questioningly. "Why should such a being—an angel—be unfitting for you?"

[not_a_leviathan]

"... Because I was raised for a religious purpose, and after a certain event in my life I didn't want to do it anymore. Even recently, there were people who thought I was more of a sort of divine figurehead, instead of just being me. I still believe in God, but I... I don't know that all of what I was taught was true."

He felt suddenly vulnerable in front of this little boy. He didn't normally talk about this sort of thing, but there was something about this place that made him just want to talk about what he felt. Maybe it was the calming atmosphere - or maybe this place really did have something to do with the unconscious mind.

[the_usual_stuff]

"Ah, is that so... ? You're uncertain," Pharos observed. Uncertain of what he represented, to both himself and other people. Uncertain of what he supposed to do with himself. The boy still had his belief in his God, but it was shaken. Mercy, he thought to himself. It comes from the Latin word 'merces' meaning the 'price paid'.

He had never learned something he had found to be entirely untrue, simply variations of one's perception. Everybody have their own idea of truth. The young boy said softly; "It requires great courage to look at oneself honestly and forge one's own path. I can't say if what you were taught was true," Humans, and their stories, really. The calming music droned on in the background. "Or not. But you have plenty of time to decide that for yourself, right?"

[not_a_leviathan]

"... Here, I do, at least." At home... well. It remained to be seen how he would wake up - if he did at all. He hoped he would. He still had people he needed to help. But he didn't want to burden this boy with all of his troubles - he was too young, even if there was something about him that just didn't feel right.

"What's your home like?"

[the_usual_stuff]

"You wouldn't be going anywhere else for awhile," Pharos observed simply. However, the older teenager's next question causes him to pause for a second. Home? .... ??? Home... Home was wherever Minako and Minato were, the place he'd scraped out of their souls for himself when he'd been locked away inside them, where he'd been dormant for a decade, home was at their side. But he wasn't asking about that.

"It's a lot like this world, actually," he mused. And, well... He'd existed only in the Dark Hour back in his own dimension. He'd liked it well enough, since it was mother's realm. The trouble was finding the words to describe it. "But if you're asking about when I dwelt, it was dark and green and much much quieter than here."

[not_a_leviathan]

"I guess so."

Dark and green, huh? "You lived in the forest or something?" That... actually sounded kind of nice. He'd like to live in some place like that, if he ever got a chance to settle down, which was unlikely.

[the_usual_stuff]

"No," Pharos shook his head, still smiling innocently. "It was a city and all the water in it was blood."

And weirdly enough, he didn't sound like he saw any issue with that. Actually, he sounded more wistful than anything, recalling the hidden hour with the sickly yellow moon and the streets of coffins. The silence had been boring, but pleasant.