Ren's eyes had locked onto the twins. What were they doing here? The door too...would it lead to that dream prison? The Velvet Room? The surroundings faded as the twins locked eyes with him.
"It's time inmate!" The twin sitting on the door frame, Caroline, declared.
"Approach the door." The other, Justine, stated, as she tapped her finger on her clipboard.
"What's going on here?" Ren asked in confusion as he warily approached the blue door frame.
"Don't ask questions! Go inside!" Caroline yelled in frustration, before hopping off the door frame and kicking Ren in the back, pushing him through the door.
BANG
Ren's face collided with the steel bars of his holding cell within the Velvet Room.
"Ouch! What the hell…" Ren complained.
Looking around the room, it appeared wider than what he remembered. The desk where Igor was seated in the past was empty. Large Guillotines, Electric chairs, all sorts of torture and execution tools were now neatly organized against the walls.
"Where is Igor?" Ren muttered to no one in particular. As the twins approached the door of his cell from either side.
"Our Master has important things to do." Justine coolly explained
"Our Master is an important being!" Caroline snapped. "It's none of your business where he is."
"Then...why am I here?" Ren asked in exasperation. The residents of this room really liked to talk in circles!
"We're getting to it!" Caroline snapped in frustration, before being stopped by Justine.
"What? I'm annoyed! He is a wildcard? Why didn't the Master tell us before? He just dumped it on us and left!" She growled at Justine in frustration.
"Even Master was caught by surprise."
"What's a wildcard?" Ren asked Justine politely. Caroline didn't seem to like him very much.
"You are a Fool." Caroline simply stated. Yeah, she must not like him.
"The Fool is the number zero... It is the Arcana that represents beginnings, and infinite possibilities. Just like the card, the inmate can wield infinite personas. We call that ability the power of the wild card." Justine explained calmly, her golden yellow eyes piercing through Ren.
"So Pixie became a persona I could use because of this power…?" Ren was confused. "But how? Why?"
"Because you are a Fool!" Caroline groaned, "We just went over this."
"According to these notes, the power of the wildcard grows alongside the bonds that the holder forms." Justine continued as she skimmed through the papers on her clipboard, her eyes narrowed.
"These notes...they're perfect to train the inmate in growing the wildcard…." She muttered. "Caroline, did you write this?"
"Hm?" Caroline walked over towards her twin and glanced at the papers.
"Huh? Isn't this your handwriting?"
"No I didn't write this." Justine confirmed. "Was it one of our sisters?"
"Sisters?" Ren echoed.
"But they left the Velvet Room…" Caroline sighed.
"You have sis-" Ren tried once more.
"Yes"
"NOT IMPORTANT INMATE"
Justine rubbed her forehead with a tired groan, "As you can see we are just as surprised as you are with your new power."
"We basically just called you here so you don't panic with suddenly having two personas!" Caroline added.
"The long and short of it is that Arsene is YOUR persona. He is the mask in which you identify. Your chosen form of rebellion." Justine explained. "Pixie is a representation of an aspect of yourself you have yet to integrate."
"Remember! Persona are masks! Using a different Persona as your primary 'mask', is like taking a walk in the shoes of a different Archetype." Caroline said seriously.
"...Okay." Ren nodded. Talking to these two has been significantly easier on him than talking to Igor. Although the twins seemed fed up and annoyed. He could sense the care from them. Dealing with Igor feels like there is a monster in the room listening carefully. He doesn't dare let his mind wander during that sensation.
"We will be placing entrances of the Velvet Room across the city. When they appear, come in once more and we will begin training your wildcard." Justine said, looking up from her notes and nodding at Ren with a small smile.
"How will we do that?" Ren asked curiously.
"Hehehe. You'll see." Caroline was the one to respond. Her smile unnerving.
"...Well, Thank you girls." Ren said politely, as Pixie appeared giving a quick curtsy. Arsene briefly materializing, giving the twins a bow and a spectral rose before vanishing.
"GET OUT OF HERE!"
Ren felt a kick to the chest and was knocked backwards.
"Haha! She's a tsundere!" Pixie had appeared once again with a giggle.
Ren felt himself jolt back to reality, Caroline's insults and yelling fading into the distance.
---
Not even a second had passed. Ren was fully ready to be pelted with questions about where he had gone. Yet everyone, save for the celebrating Ryuji, was still in the midst of recovering.
Removing his mask with one hand, Ren began to rub his eyes and bridge of his nose. The last of the nausea fading.
"Everyone okay?" Ren called out. His voice coming out sicker than he intended. Maybe the nausea was still there. Two teleportations in a row? One with dimensional travel and time dilation? Urk.
Ren gagged once more, before truly recovering.
"I'm good!!" Ryuji cheered.
"Let's not do that so suddenly next time." Morgana decided as he stumbled around in dizziness like an American cartoon character from the 1950's.
"I think I'm gonna hurl." Shiho got out.
"Don't get it on me." Ann pleaded.
---
RING
"Look, I need the tuna to fully recover." Morgana said to Ren as they entered Leblanc. "RPG remember? It's a debuff."
"Wow, he's really talkative in there huh? I thought he was upstairs." Sojiro said in surprise seeing his young ward come into the cafe.
"He has received a debuff and needs fatty tuna for it to be cured." Ren said absentmindedly.
"You sound like Futaba.." Sojiro whispered with a chuckle.
"Hm?" Ren asked
"It's nothing. There isn't fatty tuna but I put some fresh fish in the fridge for Morgana. Picky little guy won't eat kibble." Sojiro shook his head. "It's good you came now. I was getting ready to turn off today's curry."
Sojiro dished out the curry and the group enjoyed the stillness of the moment.
RING RING RING.
"Hey." Sojiro smoothly answered his phone.
"Huh? Okay fine." Sojiro said in surprise and confusion. "Wait... how do you?"
"Haaaaaa," Sojiro breathed through his nose in defeat. "Yeah, Yeah."
Placing his phone down, Sojiro closed his eyes momentarily before looking up.
"I'm gonna head out kid. Enjoy your night."
"Is everything alright?" Ren asked in concern.
"It's fine, just got something on the mind right now." Sojiro said nearly automatically.
"..."
"I'll see you in the morning." Sojiro said gently on his way out, flipping the sign on the door to closed as he left.
"Morgana?" Ren asked.
"What's up?" Morgana replied, yawning as he made the big stretching motion.
"Do you think we should keep an eye on boss when we can? He looked pretty stressed right there." Ren asked with a knit brow.
"I think he was just annoyed." Morgana responded. "I couldn't hear specifics but the voice coming from the other end sounded feminine and panicked."
"Well, Okay." Ren muttered.
---