View source for 2026-19-07: Lone Wolves

*'''Log: Lone Wolves'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Hyousuke Suzuki]], Igor (played by [[Pachinko Silver]])
*'''Where:''' The Velvet Room
*'''OOC Date:''' 2026-19-07
*'''IC Date:''' Wed Dec 12 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Two hounds, wounded and exhausted, seek the aid of the Velvet Room in securing their fates.''

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 (|============================= The Velvet Room ==============================|)
 -======================================= Dream and Reality/Mind and Matter ====-
 There is a feeling of transition, and not merely in the material sense.         
                                                                                 
 Stepping within feels like it takes a second or two too long to cross the       
 threshold. Afterwards, you are met with praise in the form of an ethereal aria  
 accompanied by a masterfully played grand piano. The slash of a brush across a  
 canvas, violence in motion, breaks your queer introduction to this place.       
                                                                                 
 And a well-dressed, balding man with a long, long nose smiles at you from his   
 seat on a plush chair. Look around, and the room has the sense of a private     
 lounge--blue patterns across velvet, low lighting bringing the center of        
 attention not upon the performers but upon you.                                 
                                                                                 
 You are their guest here, after all. Despite his sinister appearance and deep   
 voice, the long-nosed man greets you cordially.                                 
                                                                                 
 "Welcome to my Velvet Room."                                                    
                                                                                 
 OOC: This description does not represent personalized Velvet Rooms. They are,   
 after all, specific to an individual.                                           
                                                                                 
 BGM - The Velvet Room - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9GkTgg-Ou4             
 
                                                                                 
 Alternate BGM - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk8lvG9huC8                     
 (|============================================================================|)

 <Pose Tracker> Pachinko Silver has posed.
<poem>
        This is no place for a dog, regardless of why it needed to be brought in.
        
        The curtained room is a deep, vibrant blue, with the middle being a set of two artfully skewed stage platforms where the Velvet Room staff are assembled. The first one is Nameless, a handsome man wearing a blue blindfold, who plays a grand piano a meter away from Belladonna, a statuesque woman with majestic hair, who sings into a microphone. In one corner is the Demon Painter in front of his easel, a scruffy looking long-haired man with shades, a black beanie, and a black outfit, complete with trenchcoat. 
        
        And lastly, near the center of the stage is Igor, sitting in a blue upholstered chair with his legs crossed. "Welcome, welcome," the oddly proportioned man says, with a long nose, ring of white hair, gravelly voice and all. "Welcome to my Velvet Room. How may I be of assistance, Hyousuke Suzuki?"
</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
<poem>
Under normal circumstances, Hyousuke might have felt some trepidation about walking into that room. There was always the sense that something was wrong, or that he didn't belong. That he was less of a guest there, and more of a client, making his presence known whenever he required the services the place provided. However, in that moment, there was wariness to his demeanour, no distance or caution to his tone or his mannerisms. There was simply desperation, restrained by exhaustion. He staggered in, his face contorted by worry and weariness both, before speaking.

"Help me. Please." Hyousuke asked, dropping any pretence he might have held up during previous visits. In his arms was the limp, unconscious form of a dog. A small thing with golden fur, there was no telling at a glance what breed it was. Mismatched features, a diminutive stature, a fur colour not often found on Japan's more popular breeds - it was, by all appearances, a cross of some kind. But he didn't care about that. He only cared about saving it. "There- there was a rumour demon, and I- we beat it, but it turned into... this."

His mouth moved before he could think, and the words practically fell from him. Staccato and stuttering, he could barely compose himself long enough to form a full sentence, level though his voice might have been.
"It's alive, but I don't know how to wake it up. I thought- I thought that maybe you could do something. Anything. I don't know if it's like the Joka or whatever, but there's gotta be something you can do. Please, just- anything."
</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Pachinko Silver has posed.
<poem>
        'It's alive, but I don't know how to wake it up.' Igor's eyes keep on Hyousuke with that steady grin, and bloodshot eyes; Hyousuke has his full attention, but that's been a constant since the young man entered. 'I thought- I thought that maybe you could do something.'

        "I see. Well, rest assured, your worries shall be put to rest." Igor raises a hand, all while his gaze keeps on Hyousuke. "We have two clients here."

        Nameless's playing slows to a quiet melody, and Belladonna follows suit, her singing growing to a lullaby.
        
        "By the power of rumors, your canine friend has become a demon of rumor. However, your suspicion is correct; we can intervene, and change this tragedy to trimuph. Being touched by the power of rumor is a heavy weight, indeed, but the fierceness of a lion can be quelled by the inner power of determination."
        
        He gets out his phone. "Please, set your friend down. It will need attention after this, but we can make sure that when it wakes up it shall be back to its normal self."
        
        Once Hyousuke does so, Igor begins speaking into the retro-looking phone, as a ring of glowing cards circles over head. His lips mumble something, and he nods, carrying on a arcane conversation as card shaped lights firm and spin into a circle, growing brighter, until, with a rush of sound--
        
        The dog will still be there, of course.
        
        "We have sealed away the influence, for now. It is up to its bonds to keep it to its path; you and your friends may suffice in helping it heal and pursue its original path in life, or find a new one. As always, it is on those with free will to decide what's best."
</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
<poem>
Whatever his thoughts on the Velvet Room or its occupants were, Hyousuke put them aside the moment that Igor confirmed that he could help. Nothing else mattered when he was asked to set the dog down, and he moved with as much haste as he dared once the order came. Gingerly, he let the animal rest, though releasing it took some monumental effort. Letting it go, even into the care of someone who seemed to have their own vested interest in addressing such matters, was something he practically had to force himself to do, if for no other reason than he wished to keep it safe.

Hyousuke watched like a hawk as Igor set to work, eyes switching from the dog to the cards to him, and then back once more. His hands were no more settled, unable to decide between clutching against his sides, drumming in some uneven rhythm, or clenching until his nails threatened to carve through the skin of his palms. Only when the sound subsided and the light faded did some mote of that tension fade, and he strode forward to lay his hand against its side. He ran his palm over its side, smoothing the fur and lingering on its chest to feel its breathing, half wanting to comfort it, half wanting to confirm it still lived.

"Help it find a path?" Hyousuke said weakly, looking up as the words began to take root in his mind. "How- How am I supposed to do that? I can't even find my own-" The floodgates, left open by a panicked mind, were slammed shut as soon as he realised what he was saying, and to someone he barely knew. He clamped his jaw shut and tightened his lips, looking back down at the dog with barely blinking eyes, as if he did not dare to take his eyes away from it fro even the barest fraction of a second.

He was quiet for a while. In reality, it was only some handful of seconds, but it felt to him like hours. The rush of thoughts that swallowed his mind like a flood left him scrambling for an answer, wrangling with emotions he thought he had buried too deep to ever unearth. His hand quivered amidst that golden fur, fingers twitching while his palm hovered over its side. He looked down at the still form that he had once held, and he remembered the anger. The howling rage, and the knife-clawed fury. But he remembered more than that.

He had seen the exhaustion and the fear written in its eyes that night as the brawled beneath the pallid moon. His mind raced with the memory of how it had run, and how it had only lashed out when he had cornered it. He saw a frightened, lonely, thing, wearing its anger like warplate against those it was scared would harm it, and it stirred something within him that refused to be silenced. Slowly, Hyousuke looked up at Igor, and nodded. It was a gentle and subtle thing, but the conviction in it could not be denied.

"I don't know how." Hyousuke confessed, his voice weak and wavering. "But... I'll try. I can't abandon it. Not after all that. It just... it just needs help, doesn't it? I think it... it just needed someone to be there with it. To keep it close and to..." He swallowed, and looked back down, unable to to look Igor in the eye any longer. "...To let it know it's not alone."
</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Pachinko Silver has posed.
<poem>
        It's hard to determine what thoughts lurk behind the admittedly eerie looking man's face-- throughout the process, his expression had remained a constant.
        
        It is not with any maliciousness or kindness, however, that Igor responds to Hyousuke's tightened fists. "Rest easy. No harm shall come to your friend. I take what happens here in my domain very seriously."
        
        The pianoist and the singer collaborate with a soothing classical piece.
         
        "You would be far from the first to admit that here," Igor continues in a neutral tone, bushy eyebrows bobbing as he switches from one leg to the other in his sitting position. "It takes a certain person to even enter this room, in the first place. What you do with that ability, and power, is determined by you alone. The same goes for your friend, now that he is freed by you and your friends' actions. What sorts of things could you learn from one another, I wonder?"
        
        The demon painter paints away at his canvas, his ideas for the blank white surface still unknown from the thin strokes laid.
        
        "You're coming to your own answer, I see." Igor leans his head on one gloved hand. "What you choose shall determine the bonds you create, and how you maintain them. If you see some of yourself in another's loneliness, that is something you decide to understand. I shall facilitate the boons of certain breakthroughs, should you come to me. That, too, is up to you."
        
        "Can you handle such a responsibility, Suzuki-san? Such answers will be borne of your own actions."
</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
<poem>
"I don't know."
The truth he spoke was not one born of any warmth, or a desire to bare his heart to someone that may have held some manner of insight. It was the uncomfortable, teeth-itching, stomach-churning feeling of long-buried feelings being dragged into the cold light of day. It was insecurities and inadequacies being dragged to the fore so that they could be addressed, rather than allowed to lurk within the depths of his soul. But no matter how it made him feel, it was the truth, and he had spoken it without inhibition.

"I just... I don't know." He combed his fingers deeper, but even so, his touch was nothing but gentle. Heavy hands, leather-tough and littered with wounds and calluses, coursed along it with tenderness that did not belong to the brutish, animalistic, man that they were attached to. Eyes as sharp and green and gleaming as polished gems looked down at it, bearing a softness that stone should never have held. His body exuded heat, but something had dimmed the hot-blooded blaze that fuelled him, and all that emerged was a comforting warmth.

"But I have to try. I can't just leave it like this. Not when I know there's something I can do." It was a scared and lonely thing. It had lashed out and hurt those close to it, and it had bared its fangs to protect itself against a world that bore down upon it at every turn. But it did not have to be that way, and the conviction that steeled his gaze made it clear he believed so. However, that did not mean he had no misgivings or questions.

"So what's it gonna be like when it wakes up?" He asked, looking to Igor expectantly. "I know you said you sealed it and all, but is it gonna be... You know, like me? Am I gonna have to worry about it fighting with a persona and stuff?"
</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Pachinko Silver has posed.
<poem>
        The sound of Hyousuke's uncertainty is allowed to stand without comment, as it needs none.
        
        Igor watches, an impassive specter, firm in his role.
        
        "Then let the world bear witness to whatever truths you wish to present, in due time." Igor gestures with a splayed hand. "I shall await your return, if your journey has need of me."
        
        What's it going to be like when it wakes up, Hyousuke asks. Igor's smile never dims.
        
        "That will depend on it. I sealed away what made it a demon, but it can always revert back, should circumstances re-align. Do take care to ensure that doesn't happen." 
        
        The cushions squeak as Igor shifts from palm to palm. "As for a Persona, that will depend on it. That is the burden you must carry, for your choice to become involved. It may not develop one, or it may."
</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
<poem>
More silence. Not a contemplative one like before, but a tense one rife with runaway thoughts. Hyousuke's anxiety towards what might befall him and the dog was writ clear on his face, twitching and twisting his features as they crept through his mind like tendrils. Responsibility already weight heavy on his shoulders, but to have the fate of another living being thrust into his hands like that. To be told that how it lived was under his control... It was enough to stun him into silence, as though he'd been struck with a hammer and left reeling.

"So I just have to wait and see while I take care of it." He murmured, more to himself as way to process what he'd heard, than as an actual reply to Igor. "...Fine. If that's what it takes to make sure it's alright, I'll do it." His conviction wavered, battered as it was by the waves of uncertainty, but it never broke. Not when he looked down at it, and it truly dawned on him that this was to be his responsibility. "...Shit, I don't even know if I *can* do it. He's probably got people looking for him. They're probably worried sick about him, and I'm acting like he's mine..."

The storm of thoughts never truly subsided. It waxed and waned, but his tired and busy mind was offered no true rest. What little it could claim was disturbed when he felt the dog stir in his grasp. It did not wake, but it seemed that such a thing was not far off.
"I'll... I'll figure it out. I have to. I've got some good friends I can ask for... help." The words felt strange in his mouth, and left an odd taste there. Asking for backup was one thing, but to beg help of another... He'd think on it in the morning. He hadn't the time nor the energy for it now. "...And, uh, thanks. For this."

Awkward and stilted as his farewell may have been, the gratitude it held was palpable.
</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Pachinko Silver has posed.
<poem>
        'So I just have to wait and see while I take care of it.' "Yes. It will need some care to recover; that much shall be left in the hands of a proper specialist of your choosing."
        
        Alas, no chests here to help pay for a potential vet bill. It may be up to Hyousuke and his friends to cough up the funds needed.
        
        "If that is what you desire, going forward. There are many paths available. Perhaps your friend has an owner; do you seek them out? Or do you treat him first?" Igor gestures towards Hyousuke as the other hand pockets his cordless phone. "Such is the meaning of having 'free will', and 'bonds'. Make of them what you will, Hyousuke Suzuki-san."
        
        Had Hyousuke ever introduced himself? All the same, Igor knows his name, and by the way the other attendants regard him, it seems to be the same. "Your friend will not awaken until you leave, rest assured. It will be confused, most likely, but not remember the previous events. This may change in the future, but... that is up to its and what it choices, as well."
        
        The spindly man leans back with confidence, crossing his legs anew and leaning his chin on one long-fingered hand. "It is my pleasure to assist you now, and in the future, should you come again." 
        
        It is? That face doesn't seem to hold an iota of what it may be at all, with that bloodshot, wide-eyed look the way that it is. No hint of comfort is found in the mein of this man, but neither is maliciousness.
        
        The dog may have less trouble expressing what it feels, once it wakes up, but for now, in this moment of stillness, Hyousuke is allowed to regather his thoughts before moving out.
        
        .... that is, if he doesn't mind Igor's constant gaze.
</poem>

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 2]]