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[pancakeboy]

[Text him! Or do whatever, I'm not the police, and neither is he, thank God. Just specify if you want the more-fun-but-less-stable pre-11/20 guy or the grumpy third semester/postcanon guy. Pancake only for VRDR guys please, he's not third semester yet]

Comments

[pancakeboy]

[The what?]

Why Takamaki? Or, no, that's the wrong question. Yes, I'll take them for breakfast. Raven will help.

[Raven, after all, will do whatever he says. And vice versa, as he's not quite prepared to admit.]

"You both", that's you and...?

[fogbornphantom]

My Shadow. Ren needed to see him, to know that he was still intact.

Not that it was an instant fix. Not long after we got up, he had another panic attack.

I cannot understate how poor his mental state is at this time, so it's going to be effectively a 'sick day' for him.

I'll bring him down soon, and I can help with breakfast, but Ren needs to rest today.

[pancakeboy]

It sounds like he needs significantly more than a day.

[Ugh. Ugh. Ughhgggughghughhghguughghuhughguuhghghuhgh.]

No, you won't be needed. I'll take them to that awful—[pancake]— place Raven likes. Maybe the berries will keep his Ren quiet.

What upset him so much?

[If Crow's Shadow was in the dream, too.]

[fogbornphantom]

His fusion process involves putting Personas through a guillotine.

It's deeply scarring and uncomfortable, which I'm sure is Yaldabaoth's intention.

He's afraid that one day, he may do the same to our Personas. Since my Shadow is also a Persona, I believe he's had horrific visions of beheading him.

It's bad enough when it's your friend's Persona, but not only is he my Persona, but Ren is just as much in love with him as he is with me.

[pancakeboy]

[Yes, and that still makes zero intuitive sense to Magpie, thank you. And yet....]

He ought to know that violence isn't transferrable like that.

[That is, because you hurt some people in some circumstances, doesn't mean you hurt other people in other circumstances. Or Personas, which is what they're talking about. Yes.]

[fogbornphantom]

He's afraid because Yaldabaoth usurped Igor. That alone makes him wary of the true depths of his power.

And even if it isn't logical, that doesn't make the nightmares any easier.

I can't even begin to imagine what it feels like to have to execute Personas in such visceral ways.

Igor would simply take the tarot cards, swirl them around, and summon a new Persona. It was nowhere near as heinous.

[pancakeboy]

I wouldn't know. Back home, Ren certainly never discussed the Velvet Room with me.

[But did that happen to him? Is that part of what was lurking behind that blank mask, so often?]

Plenty of others here say they defeated Yaldabaoth.

[fogbornphantom]

We will defeat him. I refuse to accept any other outcome.

But even though we're safe here, Ren's experiences in his Velvet Room still linger.

I wish I could chase the nightmares away. It's heartbreaking seeing him in this state.

[pancakeboy]

Ren is strong. He'll survive this and be better for it.

[Though, again, he glimpses the grey, broken Ren from his future.]

[fogbornphantom]

I know he's strong.

But in moments like this, I feel so powerless.

We'll be coming downstairs soon. I told Ren that I'd make him breakfast, so at least where he is concerned, I have kitchen duty.

[pancakeboy]

I can fetch him breakfast first, if you like. I've been up for hours.

[The lesser-spotted concerned Magpie.]

[fogbornphantom]

I appreciate the offer, but I do think it might help ground him if I made something myself.

That being said, it wouldn't hurt to pick up additional carryout for lunch and dinner.

[pancakeboy]

I'll see to that on our way back.

See you when you come down.

[He's still thinking about that "powerless" thing, though. It's one of the differences between them, isn't it?]