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( open ) may catchall

WHO: ryoji + you!
WHAT: post-surgery wuh-ohs, ducks, and some gardening
WHERE: around base
WHEN: first couple weeks of may
WARNINGS: cw for discussion of surgery, needles, etc.

a. post-op glitches

[ So, as it turns out, the only thing worse than signing up for two enhancement procedures at once is dealing with the aftermath when your brain is fried.

No matter how approachable and grounded Ryoji is, even he can't escape from his hubris, and having never experienced significant pain in his human form, he didn’t…think it would be all that bad. Uncomfortable, maybe, inconvenient, yes…but he completely did not anticipate the way that the pain fully overrides any other cognitive thought in his brain. It hurts, to move, to think, to simply be conscious, and he has only stumbled out of the medbay for a few moments after being released that the impact of the double surgeries fully overloads him at once.

For a few long, untenable moments, it’s like he blacks out completely – and when he comes to again, staring at the hands that caught up, it’s like he doesn’t recognize them. Are they his own?

A simple question carrying a lot of weight, when he can’t remember anything about who he is or what he’s doing here. All he really seems to recall is that he was going somewhere, and given he just received a nice teleportation upgrade, well.

In attempting to find his destination by testing out this new power he can’t even remember how he got in the first place, he may just wind up in your room, looking half-dead (ha) and delirious. While he's usually in his human form, he may appear as a Shadow instead, without consciously making the effort to change. Whether you’re awake or asleep or even just heading back to your room yourself, he hardly seems to register another’s presence, instead muttering to himself: ]

No, this isn’t right…

[ He needs to go to…the top level of Tartarus, right? So why can't he remember how to get there? ]

b. duck tales

[ Well! Those were events that sure transpired, and while Ryoji is still feeling out some of his new abilities, he’s at least recovered enough from the surgeries that he’s back in his right mind and up and about again. Whether or not he should be, strictly speaking, remains to be seen! But whatever, it’s fine. Violet needs walkies.

Around the base, Ryoji can be encountered walking…a duck. A beautiful, newly acquired mandarin duck, wearing a jaunty little bow around her neck. Since Outsiders aren’t, you know, supposed to keep pets, strictly speaking, Ryoji has taken great care to plan routes for them that will hopefully avoid crossing paths with LILITH officers. However, Violet is as inquisitive and independent as her owner, and also a duck, so when she catches sight of your shoelaces or anything shiny you may have dropped on the ground, she waddles right over to pick at it with her beak, chirping with enthusiasm.

…Or that’s how it sounds to Ryoji, anyway. ]

Ah, hello there. I’d love to chat, but we have a schedule to keep…oh, but if you’d like to join us, you’d be more than welcome!

[ Who wouldn’t want to walk a duck?? And Ryoji is there, too, I guess. ]

c. flower gardening

[ At various points during the month, Ryoji can be found in the greenhouse, tending to some flowers. It’s a curious hobby that he’s picked up, one he didn’t expect to find himself so captivated by, and one that’s perhaps a bit ironic for him, all things considered – yet even given his proclivities, there’s something so captivating about the way life can bloom from a seed, with just a little sunlight and water, a little currency of time...

...and whatever mutant fertilizer they use in here, but that’s not important.

Whether you’re enjoying the plantlife independently or have approached to peek at the flowers that he tends to, Ryoji swiftly plucks one of the blossoms, sweeping down into a bow, and offers the flower to you with an outstretched hand. ]

Please, take this. You deserve it, as the only thing here that eclipses its beauty.

[ He’s feeling back to his usual self, it seems. ]

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[ At the mention of Malkuth’s name, Ryoji only brightens further, a veritable star in the sky. Oho, little does Raidou know… ]

Actually, it’s all thanks to her that we’re both the proud parents of a set of ducklings. This is Violet, and hers is Mauve!

[ They’re a matching set, and yes, they may have gotten a little too into this duck adoption thing. ]

Would you like to pet her? She's very gentle!

[Raidou was definitely enabling her when it came to the duck situation. He's all about having a pet for the base.]

That's great. I'm glad you both decided to do this. Your secret is safe with me. Keeping them in the greenhouse, then?

[That was his suggestion. At the mention of petting her, Raidou kneels down to do so. He doesn't have a lot of duck experience, but the best things seems to pet her on the back. He makes sure to do it slowly and deliberately enough to not startle her. Non-pet ducks out in the world are on the cautious side, so he should be too.]

Oh... she's very soft.

[Since they're basically waterproof, he expected the feathers to feel differently.]

Most of the time, yes. Though we did get beds and pools for them in our rooms, too — and I've found some nice places to take them outside the base, too! Still want to make sure they get plenty of fresh air and sunlight, and get the chance to swim their hearts out...

[ A fond little sigh, as though he's been an experienced parent for awhile now and not a novice who's only been doing this for a handful of days. Similarly, he beams when Raidou complements the softness of her feathers, as though he had anything to do with them.

He's just been working really hard to take good care of her! ]

Isn't she?! And quite the snuggler! When I go flower-watching in the greenhouse, she likes to just nestle right in my arms.

[A lot of people make the assumption that Raidou, as the stoic and hard-working type, would also be a stickler for the rules. That's not quite the case.]

If you ever want to get them off base and hide them somewhere safe, there is a pond at the shrine. You can bring them there.

[His coworkers would be delighted, really. Raidou wouldn't mind doing some duck babysitting. Ducksitting.]

Aha! The perfect hiding spot. Is it close by? I don't think I've been there before.

[ Though not for lack of interest. Ryoji finds spiritual sites fascinating, particularly when they persist in a near-apocalyptic world like this one. If the ducks can spend some time swimming there, that's just a bonus! ]

It is. Not too far from the base at all. [It's quite possible Ryoji's walked past the entrance stairs many times, tori gates tucked under trees.] I can tell my coworkers that we will have some special visitors coming, and I'm sure they would be glad to see them.

Perfect! Mauve and Violet will be local celebrities before we know it.

[ And then LILITH surely wouldn't take them away! ...Though it's good to know there's a backup place they can stay if they struggle to keep them on base long-term. ]

What's it like there? At the shrine, I mean.

[Raidou gets a bit of a fond look on his face at that question.]

It's nice. Quiet. It's also the only place in this city that even at all resembles something from my home. You should come by sometime, I can give you a tour, if you like.

[He's there a lot.]

[ A swift nod. ]

I'd like that a lot! Thanks. Back home...there was a shrine near the dorms at Iwatodai I visited a few times. Perhaps it's a bit ironic, that I would enjoy spending time somewhere that people pray for life and prosperity and peace, but...I always liked how quiet it was, too.

[ It was a place you could always hear birds sing and wind blow. ]

[Maybe he would have thought it was ironic if Ryoji had said the reasons were because it's a quiet, reverent place, and he seems like such an outgoing person to Raidou. But... life, prosperity and peace? That earns a curious, confused look.]

Why would that be ironic?

[ Oh, that's right...it hasn't come up with Raidou before, has it? With a sheepish chuckle, Ryoji clasps his hands together in front of him, while Violet offers an almost knowing quack. ]

Though I appear human right now, I'm actually something more like an avatar of death. So you can see how a shrine might not be the sort of place you'd expect to find someone like me.

...Oh.

[Raidou could detect that Ryoji was something, but he hasn't known what. His own detection skills as a summoner told him that many among the Outsiders were somethings, supernaturally powered people of varieties he'd never had encountered before, and never would have back home. Was he a death god then, like Ereshkigal?

Maybe this would be concerning news to other people, but not to Raidou Kuzunoha. He's encountered all manner of things in the last two years as a summoner that he's even less flappable than ever.]

Yes, that makes sense. I had no idea, though.

[ Once again, Ryoji is struck by just how...accepting people can be. Many would — should, really — flinch away and keep their distance when finding out what he is, but most people here have just accepted him as he is. Maybe a little surprised, but just rolling with it, all the same.

It's never what he expects, and yet...it's nice in a way still new to him. ]

Sorry. I try to be more upfront about it, so I don't surprise anyone with an uncomfortable truth. It's just been...easy to forget I'm not human around here, sometimes.

[ He's grown comfortable. ]

I'm sure it's a strange thing to discuss.

[It's no big deal to someone like him. So long as Ryoji wasn't hurting anyone, then there was no problem.]

I am a summoner. I'm quite used to dealing with those who are not human. Until I came to Neo Tokyo, I think I could say that... well, I was more comfortable dealing with demons than humans, despite being human myself.

[ A...demon summoner? Ryoji's brows perk up at that, even if it's not quite the same as what he's familiar with. ]

Really? That's not too unlike why my friends could do. What sorts of demons can you summon?

Really? [That really perks him up. In that subtle, Raidou sort of way anyway.]

You know summoners? I can summon all manner of demons, normally. I had a wide range on my side. However, LILITH wasn't able to bring any here with me, otherwise I would be more than glad to introduce you. Youkai, spirits, myths, legends, even some gods. [It's a point of pride for him.]

[ Even gods? Maybe Raidou would be able to summon something like Ryoji himself, which puts him in the same class as Minato. And so many of Minato's Personas were based off the very ilk that Raidou mentions...

Nodding along: ]

That's not unlike the summoners I know, though instead of demons, they use Personas — put simply, the manifestation of cast-off human emotions that have been tamed. Many of them take similar forms to what you've mentioned. For instance, one of them took after the form of Orpheus, the figure of legend who played his harp and tried to lead his dear Eurydice out of the Underworld. There are Shadows that capture every emotion conceivable, and thus there are Personas that do the same.

[There's a flash of recognition on his face at the word "Personas", as well as surprise.]

Ah, like Amamiya-san? [This was a strange coincidence yet again.] His Personas were eerily similar to my demons. Down to the part where he even had a black Jack Frost among them.

[Raidou's more than familiar with the concept of alternate worlds and just how big the universe is, but sometimes the coincidences that pop up are still incredible to hear about.

He's thinking, though, putting some ideas together.]

Cast-off emotions... Any similarity to the curses the jujutsu sorcerers here? Ah, like Yuji, or Fushiguro or Kugisaki.

[ Amamiya-san, too? When they had met before, Ryoji hadn't had a chance to see his abilities in use, but next time he sees him, he'll have to investigate. How many more Persona users could there be right under his nose? ]

We have Jack Frost, too! [ Loveable little shit that it is. ] I'm afraid I haven't spoken to Yuji-kun or the others at length about their curses...what are they like?

[ He at least saw Yuji in action at the arcade, and he hadn't used any method of summoning. If their curses are similar to Shadows, then their method for combating them may be different. ]

Yeah? That's incredible... The universe is so small and so big all at once, isn't it.

[He might be the tiniest bit jealous. He misses his demons buddies a lot.]

Ah, well, I'm no authority on it by any means. But as far as I know, curses where they come from are negative energy and emotions taking form, and causing more harm. Sounds similar, but you different ways of fighting against it.

[It's pretty fascinating, really.]

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