[ ic // like the memory of a warm smile shining at you from a dream... ]

[mamakechi]

It happens suddenly, if not all at once. One moment, Akako is fluffing out her apron from the folds of her skirt, rewarding herself for a job well done with her son's rather expensive laundry (including his limited-edition premium Featherman obi), and the next, she's...here.

In a strange blue room filled with velvet. (At least she doesn't have to wash this type. Hopefully.)

Her hands go to toy with her headband, adjusting it and making sure the flower is where she remembers it being. How do I wake myself up from a dream, again...? Pinching works, right?

Interact with the lost woman?

Comments

[rosemaudite]

It would have been, if... not quite like this. But certainly fighting Shadows produces quite a bit of money.

"I'm certainly not going to turn down company." Especially not that of someone who is, however adjacently, important to the most precious person in Haru's life.

A cognitive waiter comes by to take their orders; after they depart, Haru says, "Forgive me if this is an intrusion, but I'm getting the sense that you had... a rather dramatic change of fortunes, compared to the story as I know it."

Compared, Akako can reasonably assume, to the story as most Goros here have lived it.

[mamakechi]

Akako lets out a small laugh -- dainty, with the light current of dark basalt underneath it. "No apologies needed. I've lived long enough to have several, Haru-ch- er, Haru-san. I'd...have to know the story as you know it to tell you how mine differs, though." Her hands fold politely on her lap; her eyes are glittering, but genuine. "If that isn't too much of an intrusion."

[rosemaudite]

"It isn't." And it's definitely better that Akako hear it from someone with a bit of emotional distance from the events in question.

"I know Goro's father managed to be even more worthless than mine, since mine at least was married to my mother and claimed me." That hasn't stopped Haru from wondering, every now and then, if she and her mother would've been better off alone. "I know you did what you had to, to support yourself and your child, which mostly gave people another point to hold against both of you. I know that having no one in your corner took its toll."

And now the big one. "I know that most often, you were dead before Goro was ten. The method and whether he found you varies from one timeline to another, but generally speaking, if he has one parent in his life it's the worthless one, with neither of them discussing the elephant in the room. You can probably imagine how well that goes."

tw // implied/referenced sa

[mamakechi]

What Haru tells her isn't unexpected, but...

dead before Goro was ten. the method and whether he found you...

(catcalls and cursing and nights spent dirty)

...deep breath in. Deep breath out.

(nothing about the pit in her stomach that seeing the test opened could've prepared her for the hunger that would scrape it clean and call it home for years)

Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

(then, the sun rises and the cloud cover breaks -- no, she hauls the sun up and breaks the clouds herself. she fights back the tidal wave in the only kimono she has and somehow, she wins. it's not the belief in herself but the disbelief in her son's eyes when she buys them good groceries that makes the world turn again.)

"You...could say I had a massive change of fortune compared to the norm, then."

[rosemaudite]

"I'm glad. None of you deserved all of that." Sure, it hurts that the good turns don't happen more often, but at least they happen sometimes. Goro's not universally slated to die alone. Her father isn't always (or even often) so stupid as to let her nearly die for his own gain.

"But that would be why I changed destinations. Before you're confronted with the pack of them, you deserve to know what they're going to be thinking when they see you. I doubt any of them are your particular son."

[mamakechi]

"I'm sure all of them are my son."

Akako pauses. "Er." A small laugh. "Thank you for your words of support. It really was nothing short of a miracle...if only I could extend it to other versions of myself."

Their waiter comes by; she accepts her coffee and miso soup with a bow of thanks. "My son, the one at home...he sometimes talks about how he doesn't feel worthy of being my son, so it's a bit of a knee-jerk reflex to reassure him otherwise. It's my instinctive response to it, at this point. But I understand; it'd be a shock to most of them to see me, I imagine."

A wry smile. "I'm almost glad he isn't here, being honest...I don't think he could survive very long without a student council to terrorize. Or his boyfriend to spoil." A single sugar cube into her coffee and a dash of creamer; she stirs it elegantly. "He's still catching up with all the childhood he missed."

[rosemaudite]

"Oh, of course. Past a certain point they won't have common experiences with you, but that's hardly likely to stop you from caring." How well they'll respond to her is going to vary, of course, but that can be a Later Problem.

Haru can't help smiling herself, as she applies some cream to her coffee. "Gods know he deserves that catch-up time."

[mamakechi]

"He does. I assume even more so, in your universes...I can only imagine how horribly he was treated." (And there were times when, in her darkest moments, she would've wanted him to suffer. But it was never a genuine feeling -- just that creature called Hurt stirring up from her pain.)

"Don't know if I could not care about them, being honest." She takes a sip of her coffee, fond. "Pitfalls of being a mother, I suppose. ...I won't expect the same from them, though. I know it's a rather complicated situation."

[rosemaudite]

"In a couple distressingly rare instances, he was rescued. Slightly more often, he at least has some company to turn to. Most of the time, though, he's been utterly alone."

And she can probably imagine the sorts of things Shido would demand of a child desperate for approval.

"At the very least, maybe Magpie will finally believe me when I say he doesn't look like his father at all."

[mamakechi]

A somber nod, agreeing with Haru's statement. Then, Akako tilts her head. "Magpie?"

[rosemaudite]

"They've resorted to code names, with so many physically identical people to try to tell apart. I'm not entirely sure why the corvid theme is so popular, but it is." Haru will leave them to it, honestly.

"Magpie is... one of the most stubborn of the lot."

[mamakechi]

"There really are a lot of them here, huh...I'll have to keep track." She nods. "I assume they all like Featherman? He liked making up his own characters for the show when he was younger...Feather Crow, he called himself."

[rosemaudite]

"It's a common enough theme that you can likely start there, at least." Several of the Goros won't admit to it, but that doesn't mean they're not into it.

[mamakechi]

Akako lets out a laugh. "Mine only admits it to a select few...I know how it goes with him."

She takes a few prim bites of her sandwich. "And how have things been going for you here?"

[rosemaudite]

"As a rule, he's slow to trust. I suppose being secretive with an interest most people take as childish fits with that." Goro as Akako knows him might not be as guarded, but no doubt she can see how that's happened in cases where she's not present.

"It's been going well enough. It helps that half the real population is versions of someone I know very well, when it comes to socialising - opportunities haven't been common at home. There's another version of me here as well; if you need to differentiate you can call me Rose. We've been working together on a gardening project, as well as maintaining our own separate beds."

[mamakechi]

"He's always been slow to trust, as I know him." Akako smiles. "Thanks for the clarification, Rose. I'll have to stop by your gardens sometime. Where are they?"

[rosemaudite]

"Noir's is on the rooftop of Shujin Academy, in Aoyama. Mine... I set up shop in a love hotel here, because the beds are nice and it's not like anyone else was using it." Also, it's about as far away from her father's house, physically and emotionally, as she could get. "If that would be uncomfortable for you, I can take pictures."

[mamakechi]

Akako winces, instinctively, at the mention of a love hotel. "Very thoughtful to warn me. I...may have to decline any in-person visits for the time being. I'd love to visit the one on Shujin's rooftop, if Noir will ever allow me...the Haru in my universe grew delicious crops. I'm almost curious to see if they taste any different here."

[rosemaudite]

"That's quite all right. Mine is also a rooftop garden, so if you do want to brave it you can take the fire escape and bypass the interior entirely, but don't make yourself suffer needlessly." For all Haru enjoys the irony of staying in the love hotel, for her it's only irony; for Akako, it's a minefield. If she's going to walk through it, she deserves to go in prepared for it.

At least the cognitions aren't terribly interested in play-acting the whole... love-hotel thing.

"I don't doubt she would. Her relationship with her Goro is... more fraught, but most of that is down to the sort of things his father demands of people. She wouldn't hold it against you."

[mamakechi]

"The smell and sound get to me the most. And there are certain beddings that send my mind in the wrong direction...maybe one day, though." She sounds hopeful, hopefully.

And now...onto the ugly bald elephant in the room. Best to shoot it dead before it takes up any more of their oxygen. "And what kind of things did he demand of his son?" Akako asks, taking a sip of her coffee to steady herself. "I can imagine what he'd ask, but...it seems most versions of my son here haven't had the luxury of only imagining it."

[rosemaudite]

"Take your time." If she can swing an in-person visit, great. If not, that's perfectly fine.

And what an elephant he is. "Hurt people. In ways that cause their death or simply disgrace them, depending on what he thinks he can gain from it. Goro tends to go in thinking it'll be worth it to exact some revenge on his unknowing sperm donor, but he looks so much like you that learning Shido likely has his suspicions didn't surprise me in the slightest. It only makes him turning a teenager into his personal hit man that much more repulsive."

[mamakechi]

Akako's face shades deeper and deeper with disgust. "And he'd be using the power of cognition somehow to do it, too?" A snort, derisive. "I'd remark about Shido never changing, but it's more that he's changed like a glass of milk left out in the sun for far too long."

[rosemaudite]

Haru can't help laughing at that description. It's entirely apt, probably only more so from Akako's perspective.

"Via cognition, yes. I'm sure the only reason he's not doing it himself is so it's harder to trace back to him." Or because he doesn't have a Persona, and thank the gods for that. "I take it he's not in a position to cause you any more trouble?"

[mamakechi]

"Six feet under, with a significant part of his estate signed directly to me post-taxes." Akako's eyes glimmer brightly. "The best position for him to be in, if you ask me." Certainly better than any he had in bed.

[rosemaudite]

"...A change of fortunes indeed. Congratulations."

She certainly deserves it more than just about anyone else Shido would want that kind of money going to.

[mamakechi]

Akako lets out a laugh at Rose's reaction. "Thank you. The bastard's death was a great boon, but getting the court's ruling on the case was another pain in the ass entirely."

[rosemaudite]

"I can imagine - especially if you had to prove you had his unacknowledged child to pull it off."

He does, after all, have a habit if burying information he doesn't want found.