[Open] Nobody knows the trouble I've seen

[theshowsover]

WHO: Akira and anyone
WHERE: his house mostly
WHEN: Punishment week
WHAT: Akira is stuck in his Velvet Room outfit for a week (complete with shackles and ball and chain!). Come help him (or make fun of him).
WARNINGS: none atm

A: Open to roommates/anyone who visits his house in Ruga

[Waking up in a thin prison uniform, shackles on his wrists and foot chained to a heavy iron ball, had become so common to Akira that when he first opens his eyes, he thinks Igor must have the power to pull him into the Velvet Room from even here.

But the then he realizes he's lying in his orange room in his home in Ruga, and he bolts up in bed. Something is very, very wrong.

Attempts to remove the shackles or the ball and chain are futile, even with his lock picks and and skills honed during his time exploring Palaces. He attempts to get the shirt off by tearing, but it repairs itself. Even his glasses appear back on his side table any time he attempts to put them on.

He gives up quickly enough; he's stuck like this for the foreseeable future.

Thanks to the ball, he's pretty immobile. For the next week, he thumps around the house, the ball thudding on stairs and clanging against furniture. He doesn't move much because it takes a lot of effort, and he turns into himself more than usual.

It's a little embarrassing to be seen this way. Really, not cool at all.]

B: OTA

[On the first day of punishments, a post appears on the network that I didn't want to make a separate post for, in Akira's font color.]

This is Akira Kurusu. My mobility is limited at the moment so I won't be able to help patrol Bluo. Carry on the best you can and let me know if there's anything I can help with from here.

Thanks.

B: OTA

[Eventually, Akira misses... well not the sun, since there isn't really one, but he misses the outside. So he clunks his way out, and manages to make it to the stoop before he gives up and sits down. He's already regretting this when he thinks of how hard it will be to get the ball back up the stairs...

Oh well. Might as well hang out for awhile now that he's come all the way here. Anyone walking by the house in Ruga late in the week is liable to see him on the stoop, leaned back and rubbing at his shackles.]

Comments

B then probably C

[totheno1]

[Considering all that has happened in the span of a day, Kei is only half-surprised at the other's post.]

You cannot move? Do you require aid of any sort?

C

[doublecrowss]

[ That piece of shit.

"If something more happens, I'll let you know," and yet here he is, having to learn about these so-called mobility issues from from the fucking forum! That shit!! Akechi knew he couldn't trust his word, knew he would keep it all to himself again-- and what the hell mobility issues did he even mean, anyway? Did he break a leg? Maybe both legs? God, Akechi wishes he could break his legs...

And yet, what he finds upon arrival is... Akira, sitting on the stoop, in what looks like a full prisoner attire, complete with a ball and chain. What the actual fuck, man? ]

Kurusu-kun? Are you... practicing for Halloween, perhaps?

[ It's impressive, really, how he can still chuckle and make light jokes as though he weren't fuming inside. If he plays it like he's trying to help Akira out of those shackles, is there any way Akechi could at least break his ankle...? ]

[theshowsover]

I can move, just not fast.

I'm fine.

[theshowsover]

[Akira glances up from where he's leaned forward on his knees, his shackled hands resting in the middle. What is this... hostility he senses? It's usually not this strong...]

...I think this is my punishment for stealing.

[He'd thought, if he could get something for Guren, or one of his other friends, it would be worth it, but in the end nothing came of it. And so now here he is, stuck in full prison attire, ball and chain and all.

It's not fun.]

[doublecrowss]

[ Oh, boo hoo. Is the poor baby upset because he misbehaved and didn't listen to instructions like a fucking moron? Clearly he hasn't rolled down any stairs and cracked his head yet, maybe snapped his neck, not even drowned himself in the well-- nope, he's still alive and kicking! He's doing just fine!

But Akechi? Akechi listened to the bird's warning and kept to himself-- hell, he even legitimately tried to help others stay in line, though he was only successful with Caramia. And his reward? He gets to see a ghost-- one that never was, one that sings his praises and lavishes attention on him, an allegory of a proud father who mocks existence and Akechi's own sense of reality. He did everything right, played by this place's rules, and still got ripped off in the end.

So, yeah. Cry a little harder, and die a little faster, Akira. You're just another lie the world has bestowed upon him. ]

Your punishment for stealing is to dress like a prisoner... This place surely has a peculiar sense of humor, doesn't it? Haha.

[ The mask is still here, as firmly held in place as ever. He even goes as far as faking concern and kneeling down to inspect the shackles from up close. What a good and helpful friend he is!! ]

Hmm. These are definitely real, but your Personas should be able to handle this. Unless-- ah, are these preventing you from summoning them?

B

[queenofminiskirts]

[She was going to check in with him but before she could she saw this. Akira, why.]

where are you?

B

[good_ideas]

limited
how exactly?

[theshowsover]

[Akira watches Akechi kneel to inspect the shackles, and tries not to flinch. He doesn't want to appear upset, lest he tip Akechi off, but the last time he was in restraints around people who weren't Igor, it was because of Akechi, and it was a nightmare.

Being like this makes him feel more vulnerable than ever. But he swallows it back, puts on a nonchalant face, and shrugs.]

I don't want to waste all my energy. Hopefully it goes away soon.

[His shackles clink as he moves his hands and tries to stretch out a little.]

Anyway, it's not just like any prisoner. The Velvet Room I told you about; this is how I appear there.

[In the world's most unsubtle metaphor.]

Somehow they know even that much.

[theshowsover]

[Because he has sticky fingers.]

My house.

[theshowsover]

My leg is chained to a large metal ball.

[doublecrowss]

[ "Doesn't want to waste all his energy," the idiot says. What kind of weakling is he, that summoning a single Persona could possibly exhaust him like that-- and Akechi has seen him in action before, it definitely didn't look like that was an issue in the Metaverse or in this place. Is he really so apathetic that he would really rather have his hands and feet tied? Is he willingly punishing himself?

Had he been in a better mood, he might have offered to try and set him free. But he isn't, and Akira is steamrolling past that with a change of topic, so Akechi will thank him for the excuse to promptly leave that aside. ]

You're a prisoner in the Velvet Room...?

[ Huh. So it was different for Akira, but not too different. More and more mysteries-- though, for the sake of his disguise, he'd better not start acting like he's too familiar with the concept. ]

Honestly, this place you speak of sounds far too puzzling, even for me. [ Well. There is some honesty in there, but he's still acting like a Regular Single Persona User, of course. ] Do you... dress like that every time you visit it? From my standpoint, at least, you always look like Joker...

[queenofminiskirts]

give me the directions! you're in ruga, right?

[She could--no wait. Damn it. Shiho lost her psychometry as her punishment. THIS IS SO INCONVENIENT.]

[good_ideas]

i promise not to judge but why?

[theshowsover]

[The funny part is that Akechi thinks summoning a mere Persona could somehow break him out of this. If that had worked, surely he could have escaped inside the Velvet Room. And whatever magic this place is as strong, or stronger, than anything Igor could do.

The best he can do is get one of his Personas to cart the ball so he can move more easily, but that kind of sustained summoning would surely tire him out quickly. It's one thing to summon a Persona and do a spell in battle, another to keep it here in the tangible plane for extended periods.]

Every time, yeah.

[He nods.] It's not so much that I dress like this. I change as easily as I do from my school uniform to my Metaverse outfit. I think... it's also because of my cognition.

[In the Palaces, he's Joker, the rebellious leader of the Phantom Thieves, afraid of nothing. But in the Velvet Room, he's still just Akira, the criminal, stripped bare of even his glasses to hide behind.]

[theshowsover]

Yeah. I live with Guren and Yata.

[And insert some more coherent directions here.]

[theshowsover]

Probably because I stole something while we were all separated.

[doublecrowss]

[ This isn't the Metaverse, or even the Velvet Room, though; this is a whole new world in its own right, and as far as they know, these could be ordinary shackles that he could break free from with a well-aimed strike of a Persona. Akechi could even offer to try it out for him, but maybe he shouldn't be trusted with a sword or a gun around Akira in his current mood... ]

So, in your cognition, you are a prisoner... [ This is said more to himself, as he makes the correlation with his own experience. Yes, that is definitely a plausible hypothesis, but: ]

While I can't ascertain the accuracy of your conjectures, I would find it to be a rather surprising connection to make. You don't strike me as the type who would be so deeply affected by your conviction, or even the perception of others.

[ Because of course this isn't just about his false charges and unfair probation. It wasn't for Akechi, anyway. ]

[good_ideas]

huh
what did you steal? [And is it worth the ball and chain?]

[theshowsover]

[This is also a magical world. Maybe breaking the chains would cause something even worse to happen...]

Hmm... [Minato said something similar to him. And it's not just those two - Ryuji and some of the others from home often made it clear that being with Akira felt freeing to them, too.

He'd like to believe that that's the case, that his heart is truly free... but something feels like he's not there yet.]

In the beginning, though... I was chained by what others thought of me. It took meeting Morgana and Ryuji and Ann, and all the others after that, to break me free.

[And yet, he's still locked in the cell.]

But Igor says that I'm still chained to my fate. Ruin.

[doublecrowss]

Ruin...?

[ Well, that's a word he had heard before, but in a completely opposite context; to him, Igor had only ever told about overcoming ruin, about coming victorious and changing the world, like a hero of the common masses. As long as he proved his worth, as long as he could surpass whatever obstacles came his way... he would have everything he wanted.

Huh. So even from Akira's perspective, he was supposed to lose. Fate truly is too powerful. ]

And what do you suppose that means...?

[queenofminiskirts]

right. i know where guren-san lives.

[And she's flying there as fast as she can because she's worried. And the moment she's there she doesn't even bother knocking on the door. It's fine! She's sure everyone will understand why manners aren't exactly important to her right now.]

Akira!

[theshowsover]

Medicine for someone. [And considering he didn't get to keep it, no.]

[theshowsover]

...I don't know.

[He'd thought at first that it meant Akechi's attempted murder of him, and the coming of Shido... but both of those threats are gone now, and yet Igor still seems certain that ruin will be his.]

...I think... something is coming. Something bigger than I've had to face yet.

[Something that might be too big for him to handle.

He hopes Akechi doesn't get a big ego thinking he's the force, though.]

[good_ideas]

wait
from guren?

[theshowsover]

[Akira is sitting in the kitchen, and honestly it's better for him that she just comes in instead of knocking. Getting around takes so much time...]

In here.

[When he stands, the audible clinking of chains can be heard.]