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[lakebrat]

Hello. You've reached Goro Akechi, known as Frog. Please leave a message.

[Beep.]

[[ooc: WARNING that threads with willowandoak may contain unmarked NSFW. Tread lightly. Blame Sunflowren.]]

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[lakebrat]

"Later." He tugs on Ren's sleeve, leading him upstairs, half in a dream and half in a stupor.

[willowandoak]

Once they're in the attic, Ren takes over. He takes Goro's hand and pulls him over to the bed, where he sits them both down, with Goro tucked against his side. Instead of saying anything, he pulls Goro close again. Goro can talk or not, whichever he wants.

He hates this. He's doing a pretty good job of remaining outwardly calm, but he hates that someone's made Goro like this.

[lakebrat]

Goro, for his part, isn't really aware that he's "like" anything. He just needs to sit down. And sure, it's good to have Ren here with him. Close by. Leaning in, he reaches, a little absently, for Ren's hand.

"You think I need babying," he observes. Ordinarily, his pride would have got the better of him.

[willowandoak]

"I dunno," he says, matching Goro's tone. "The amount of times you've done this for me... Were you babying me?"

[lakebrat]

"No," he murmurs, brushing his cheek against Ren's ear. "I... not at all."

He looks slowly around the attic, from the bedpost (he has a bedpost!), to the shelves, to the table by the stairs. "I just. Really didn't like him, you know. He's so earnest."

Goro himself, of course, can be pretty fucking earnest at times.

[willowandoak]

Maybe so, but Goro's not a cop. Ren grimaces. "In person too?"

[lakebrat]

"If anything, he was even worse." Goro leans on Ren a little more. "Went on about how he didn't want to be the lead authority. As if he would ever have been given the option."

fantasies of violence

[willowandoak]

Ren hisses through his teeth, stiffening in outrage. And then, inevitably, his mind goes to Crow's promises of talking Suou around, making him act like less of a dick. There's no way that's possible. Lead authority his fucked-out ass. If he tries to take authority away from Ren because he's an adult or a filthy dogfucking cop, Ren will stab him. Right in the gut. No one will be able to stop him. Suou's body will separate under his knife so satisfyingly as he screams and blood spills over Ren's hands, as flesh parts to show the guts beneath—

He sits there seething in silence, his arm clamped tight around Goro.

[lakebrat]

"Hey." The rage steaming off Ren is as tangible as a knife to the gut. Goro turns in his seat, to turn Ren's face toward him; to rest a steadying hand on his shoulder.

[willowandoak]

...Fuck, that's right, Ren was supposed to be calm and shit. He struggles to focus on Goro's face through the haze of fury. "Sorry," he manages.

[lakebrat]

"No, you're good. He really was a piece of shit at times," he murmurs, running his hand into Ren's hair. "I thought there was a spark of something, back when he talked about his own time under Igor. Actually, not under Igor at all, but someone named Philemon. Igor's boss."

The patter of detail may be calming, or it may not. Goro tries to hold Ren's attention, as he speaks.

[willowandoak]

The last part does focus him a little. "Igor has a boss?" he mumbles. "What the fuck?"

[lakebrat]

"So he said." Goro leans in further, weaving a charm with his voice. "He said Igor operated the Velvet Room on behalf of this Philemon. That he was the source of Personas."

[willowandoak]

"Huh...?" Ren says, intelligently. His head still spins a bit with the aftermath of his rage, but he can actually think now, more or less.

That said, he's always been susceptible to Goro's voice, and words, and face, ever since they met. And it's only gotten worse with time. "They have a source? Which isn't us?"

[lakebrat]

"That's exactly what I said." He traces a hand through Ren's hair, leaning in to kiss him lightly on the nose. "In fact, it's exactly what the twins told me. Persona potential is inherent to everyone. It's just that only a few can access it. We could examine that further, of course."

Goro's mouth twists a little. "This Philemon, anyway, was Nyarlathotep's opposite number. They made a bet to determine humanity's true nature."

[willowandoak]

Ren's eyes sharpen with annoyance. "A fucking bet? This is a game?"

But, though he's pissed off about it, it's not the billowing fury of a moment ago. If anything, it's brought him back into the room.

[lakebrat]

"It's worse than that. Didn't I tell..." He sighs, looking down. "When I first got here, Crow told me about Yaldabaoth, right? He said he was playing a game of sorts, where he pitted a trickster"—he touches his chest—"against an agent of chaos." He indicates Ren, with a quiet gesture.

It hangs there. Even their experiences in this Velvet Room have had a lot of the flavour of a game.

[willowandoak]

Ren doesn't look as stricken as Goro might expect. "Yeah, I knew about that one already. Hadn't heard the agent of chaos part before, though." He reflects on that for a moment, brooding, before he brightens again for a moment. "That's me. An agent of chaos. But we're not against each other anymore, so he can get fucked.

"It's more. Igor himself. Not this asshole, the one back home. I thought he was an idiot, but... I don't know. I don't know why I'm even surprised."

[lakebrat]

"Aren't we?" With a grin, Goro slides behind Ren's back, pressing against him and pulling him close. But then he frowns.

"I haven't even met Igor back home, I suppose, not the real one. I can't speak to his motives, though there's no reason to think him benign. Crow did say that Yaldabaoth had to wrest control of the Velvet Room from Igor to begin the game, though—which would suggest he wasn't involved. But who knows."

He kisses Ren's neck. Overthinking always makes him feel better.

[willowandoak]

...But now that Goro seems less breakable, Ren has to bring up the next issue and ruin it again. He drops his head back onto Goro's shoulder and stares up at the attic's ceiling beams, and tries to figure out how to broach the topic.

[lakebrat]

Goro looks down at him, reading the room and the droop of his head. "Hm?"

[willowandoak]

Yeah, there's not really a good way to say this.

"Crow messaged me apologizing for Suou. He knows him, apparently. He'll be less of a dick in ten years, not that that helps us now. ...He wants Suou on the Amada team."

[lakebrat]

Yeah, that... that's not....

He presses his cheek against Ren's mop of hair, making a reluctant sound through gritted teeth. "Crow's judgement is good. Is Suou that strong?"

[willowandoak]

"He fought Nyarlathotep. So he must be."

He reaches up behind him to wind his fingers through Goro's hair. "I couldn't just... say no because I think he sucks. Amada is too strong." And he sounds as happy about that as Goro might expect. "But I don't know if it's a good idea. If Crow manages to talk him into being less of an asshole, I'm still gonna have to ask everyone if they could fight on the same team as him without it distracting them."

He turns his head a little, listening for Goro's answer to that question.

[lakebrat]

Again, he makes that discomfited sound, flexing his spine against Ren's back. "That doesn't necessarily make him stronger than any of the rest of us. You and I are as strong as Crow at this point. All of us who went through the Palace are. And we have the benefit of not being goddamned cops."

He almost spits that last. "But ... Ren, you know ultimately it's your call, right? You're the leader on this one."