Glamour Failure

[animusmods]

Characters: any
Setting: all around the Tower
Format: any/party-style
Summary: A general mingle log for the reaction to the beginning of the Idealism event.
Warnings: PG-13; please include any more detailed warnings in your threads if necessary

Comments

[pitiedthefool]

[He offered his wire hand, glad for some familiarity. Funny. She still felt real as ever.]

I'm alright. Or, as well as I can be.

[Considering things that happened...before even the masquerade.]

I've only run into Minato and Yukiko-san so far. Both are taking it as well as you'd think.

[fuhgeddaboudit]

I found Yukiko earlier too.

[Labrys shook his hand, faintly surprised at the sensation. She'd expected cold metal like her own touch usually was.]

I ain't really blamin' them for freakin' out. I know how it feels, gettin' a shock like this.

[pitiedthefool]

[He nods, glad for that.

...Guess that part of the illusion (or, maybe it was just expectancy) was still active. It's almost funny, really.]

Yeah... I guess it's our turn now, huh.

[and on a...rather large scale. Not going to lie, but if it weren't for the fact that he saw what Jason could do with this film and wires before now, he likely would have flipped his shit, too. The fact that this is paaaartially his fault kind of helps, too.]

[fuhgeddaboudit]

I'm sorry 'bout that. It ain't the kinda thing I'd wish on anybody.

[She folded wire arms and sighed, shaking her head. All in all, she was taking this incredibly well.]

Hey, I can't hear Ariadne right now...you ain't got any a' yours, do ya?

[pitiedthefool]

Don't worry about it. If anything, we could have been cheap copies of our original bodies in another way than some wire container.

[He's silently impressed, really. They're both taking it rather calmly, too-

Aaaand then the mention.]

...They're silent, too. Even Izanagi. [a beat] Though I can't say I'm surprised; we are just souls.

[fuhgeddaboudit]

But I don't get it.

[She put her hands on her hips, tone genuinely confused instead of upset.]

A Persona's part of our soul, ain't it? ...Actually, I still ain't sure what a soul really is. But I thought that was right.

[pitiedthefool]

We are. But... we can't exactly summon them like this.

[He looks a little bit puzzled, but tries to put it together audibly.]

I don't fully understand it either, but since before I arrived last "spring", the administrators have been able to manipulate not just our bodies [which is... kind of obvious how, now] but our way of interacting, too. Like an elaborate illusion. Not only that, but some of us have been downstairs. I believed the automatic voice referred to disabling our abilities as "decontamination".

...

My guess is, they're really confined to a part of our soul somehow, or something is going on that we don't have all the answers to yet.

[But how? A projection of what they expect, or-?

...Ugh, sometimes being a truth seeker sucks.]

[fuhgeddaboudit]

[Labrys put a hand to her head, tapping one wire finger thoughtfully.]

I guess that'd kinda make sense but...I still don't get what a soul really is. It sounds like it's the same as the kinda heart I was programmed t' have, but I ain't sure.

You're real smart, ya know--maybe this ain't the time, but can you explain it at all?

[pitiedthefool]

I can try, but... what exactly a soul is depends on the definition. They do use heart and soul interchangeably, after all- and in our language, 'kokoro' can be translated into English either way.

[Things he never thought would come in handy from his many part time jobs!]

It's normally considered the immaterial part of a human or animal, or their emotional nature and sense of identity. Either way, it's what exists even after the body's dead or destroyed.

[Which is... taken quite literally, here.]

[fuhgeddaboudit]

So it is kinda the same thing, I guess.

[She nodded in understanding, paying close attention.]

I ain't sure anyone at the lab ever brought up anythin' like a 'soul', so I've been confused for a while. I wasn't sure if it was just somethin' humans had or what.

[A pause.]

Except...mine wouldn't exist if I was destroyed, would it?

[pitiedthefool]

[Yu nods back.]

I think every sentient being, 'real' or 'artificially made' has one. If you can feel, then you have one.

[He pauses, too.]

Considering we're the same underneath their illusion... something tells me that it would, unless you lost it. [Like Dax did, and what it felt like he nearly did back last year...] I've been completely destroyed three or four times by now, and, well... you can still see it glowing, can't you?

[That's when he points to her soul, too.]

See? Yours glows brightly, too - same as everyone else's.

[fuhgeddaboudit]

[She looked down at herself, and if there could have been a thoughtful expression on Labrys' face there certainly would have been.]

I guess there ain't any arguin' with that, huh?

[pitiedthefool]

[They'll just pretend that it is a thing just like his smile is. Because really, it is in their hearts.]

Guess not.

[fuhgeddaboudit]

...Hey.

If ya got a minute--I mean, this ain't anythin' that I haven't seen before, but it's still kinda a lot to process. N-not that I'm gonna panic or nothin, but it's kinda freaky.

So if it's okay...would ya mind if I asked ya for a hug?

[pitiedthefool]

That it is.

[....Labrys. :C He doesn't say anything after that, because he really does feel for her. While she may have had a similar reveal before, this is incredibly unnerving - even for him, as much as he won't admit it.

What he does do, however, is spread his arms open. Okay fine, but just this once and however many times his friends need one.]