Oh How The Tables Turn [Paige]

Behind the blue door was none other than the place Selenus had visited earlier in his dreams. Though the first thing he noticed was that his limbs were restricted by chains, he could also feel something far worse; He could feel the lock-up program that he used to bear a long time ago inside of him, ready to restrict the use of his own body at the first sign of any movements unwanted by an external party.

He could handle being physically restrained, but that damned program... it affected him in more than just physical aspects: Simply feeling it in his processors made him want to scream and thrash about, flailing madly for any sign of freedom; You could call it a variant of a common Phobia: The fear of being restricted, encased, enclosed or simply denied access to freedom or the outside world: Claustrophobia, or at least a form of it.

He would've made for the door, but... what if the program activated? What if it went off and he was rendered paralytic again? "What if" after "What if" ran through his head, obliterating any semblance of courage the robot dog may have had.

Paralyzed with fear at scenarios that hadn't even yet taken place, Selenus simply sat in his cell, confined and alone. If he'd been able to cry, or've had the lacrimal need to sob, he would've done so.

    "Hello."

    Years before, they'd had a smattering of guests and the cells were almost always buzzing. Recently, however, silence became the norm. To break it, even with such a soft greeting, felt almost wrong. Paige half expected her sister to come stomping back down the corridor, whip in hand, face stony.

    Yet there was nothing.

    Ignoring the slight chill that ran down her spine, Paige gathered her skirts and sat gingerly on the stone floor, letting the fabric pool around her. The bars of the cell door chilled her palms as she wrapped her fingers around them, looking inside at the figure curled on the floor.

Coming here was a mistake. He shouldn't've trusted his dreams, or anyone, for that matter! He should've known they'd try to trick him into coming back the moment they found out about his awakening, and he should've known that they'd find out immediately! So was this it? Was it really all going to end with "Selenus was stupid and got taken back by the government. Newman spent what was left of his life in prison. The end."? No... it couldn't end like that!

After a few moments of regretting his decisions, Selenus heard a familiar voice calling out from the emptiness of whatever this place truly was. It curled its fingers around the bars of his cell, and within the proximity he could make out her features. Fuckin' hell...

After staring at her without speaking for a few moments, Selenus spoke whatever he could muster up. Even if he could remain silent while in extreme sadness or grief, whenever he spoke while in this state of emotion his words were coated by the artificial sounds of one who cried as he spoke.

    She blinked at Selenus's question, mouth opening slightly in protest. "No," she wanted to say. "Sorry" and "my apologies" were meant to follow close behind. That was never his (was this animal a him? She never asked) fault that she was so on edge that day. It was her fault, all hers.

   Without a word she let her mouth close quietly, instead offering a small, woeful smile. "Were it up to me, you would not be trapped here." Letting one hand fall from the bars, she carefully outstretched one hand towards the creature. "You were given a key to enter here, yes? Please, pass it this way and I can open your cell."

    Her face had softened considerably, voice taking on a gentle, almost cooing edge. "Please let me return the favor you did for me, Selenus. Let me help you."

The tone of her voice did indeed slightly soothe Selenus's nervous wreck of a mood, but it still didn't convince him that this was all an elaborate scheme from the government to re-claim him and put him back to work. Now that he had a Persona, he was an even more dangerous weapon than before, but he knew that the government knew perfectly well what they'd have to do to revert him back into his original state of pure brutality: They'd have to... to...

Wait, the key! He still had the key! He could still escape! Frantically stretching his tail unto the front of his neck, Selenus was about to grab the key when he noticed... that he was able to grab it at all. He swirled his tail around: No lock-up. He slowly stood on all fours: No lock-up. He cautiously approached the edge of the cell: No lock-up.

"If... If what I was told in the dream wasn't a lie... then in this place, the prisoners are those who are "restrained by society" right?" He asked with shaky breath. "If that's true, then who locked me in here? Who chained me? Who..." Selenus stopped to calm his mind. "Who reinstalled the lock-up program?" He asked, completely overlooking the fact that Paige would most likely have no idea what he's talking about.

    "There is no one here who can restrain you except yourself."

    Paige drew her hand back to the bars, gripping them gently as she sat back, watching Selenus approach. "This room is cut off from your world. There is no one here who can hurt you. No authorities, no false friends, no societal sanctions...Even I am incapable of causing you harm."

    With a slow, somewhat sweeping gesture, Paige motioned to the key back where Selenus once sat. "The only thing keeping you in this cell is you, standing between the key and this lock. That is what this room wants you to understand. There are limits and impasses you throw up in everyday life, reasons why you 'cannot' when it's just you standing in your own way to better things."

    "The choice is yours, Selenus." Paige said after a few seconds of silence, allowing her words to sink in. "If you wish, you can return home. All it takes is you wanting to. Or...you may remain here. You can choose to free yourself and explore this room and all it has to offer." She held out her hand again, watching the robot silently, impassively. "What is your choice?"

    As Selenus dropped the key into Paige's hand, she gave the beast a soft smile before slowly rising and fitting the key into the lock. It only took a few seconds before the door opened with a click, allowing her to go inside. She gathered her skirts and sat down again at Selenus's side, bending over and beginning to fiddle with the manacles on his legs.

    A gentle laugh came from the woman as she made short work of the locks on the creature's legs. "Has it been five years? Time passes differently here, so I cannot tell." When the last chain was undone, Paige sat up, gently raising her free hand to Selenus's head. Unless he made some gesture that showed he was displeased with it, Paige would gently run her fingertips over his head, then her hand, petting him gently and smiling.

    "Your bravery is commendable, Selenus. Not everyone can make the choice you've made today." She gave him a few more pats before standing and leaving the cell, waiting for Selenus to follow. "Now, you must be exhausted and eager to ask a great many things. Come with me; there is a place you can be comfortable."

    With that said, Paige began walking down a corridor, glancing behind her to make sure Selenus was following.

And just like that, it was over.

Once again, Selenus refused to refuse the pettings of a person. Any other type of belittling behaviour would not have been tolerated, but there was always something about the smiles on people's faces when they pet him (if they managed to pet him, that is) that brought joy of his own. That being said, it was the first time a non-child other than Newman had pet him.

He followed Paige out of the cell, allowing her to lead the way to whatever this "more comfortable place" was.

    How long the journey was, Paige couldn't say. It might have been minutes, it may have been days. But to her the time was short, and soon they reached the end of the dull corridor, a single mahogany door their reward. Without any prompting, Paige pushed it open, holding the door for Selenus to pass through.

    On the other side was a store, the atmosphere quite different than the prison they'd come from. There was soft lighting here and cozy carpeting, various chairs and pillows and even a sofa scattered about the room. On various racks hung a wide array of clothes in every style, every cut, every size one could dream of. From a set of drawers peeked gloves and jewelry and hats and other accessories. Other shelves held boots, heels, shoes, loafers, anything one could wish for. Even still were dress forms scattered about the place with half-finished pieces pinned to their fronts. It was a lived-in space, a happier one, a calmer one, and one that Paige treasured above most things.


    After turning on a few lamps, Paige turned to Selenus and smiled gesturing about the room with her hands. "Please, make yourself comfortable. Sit anywhere you'd like." Her piece said, Paige took a chair at the front desk, daintily resting her hands upon her lap as she waited for Selenus to adjust himself.

    Once the two were settled, Paige tilted her head and smiled at the new arrival. "Now...where shall I begin? What questions have you for me?"

Selenus took a seat on the floor, in front of the front desk, making sure his knives were retracted so as to not damage the expensive-looking tapestry. It was odd, to be terrified one minute and feel so... welcome the next. The place gave off an ambiance of shelter and serenity, which blended all-too-well with Paige's cooing, almost motherly mannerisms and behaviour to create what Selenus could only describe as the physical version of a lullaby.

"First of all, I'd like to properly ask for your forgiveness." He said as he swished his tail from left to right lightly across the carpet. "Back when we first met, I didn't take the hint and unintentionally made you suffer. Now we meet again and the first thing I do is distrust you. I apologize profoundly."

"Second, I'm curious as to how exactly Personae work. I, much like other citizens of Endymion, understand that they are manifestations of one's mind. Yet... if that's true, how come I've seen people almost get killed by their own Personae? And... can that happen to me?" The memory of Jack almost getting decapitated by his own Persona was not something he would be forgetting soon. Or ever. Memory banks have their curses too.


"And third... Why me? How come I get to have a Persona? I thought the ability was limited to humans."

    Paige listened to her guest speak. That was all she needed to do; her gift would take care of the rest. No need for notes or cutting in on his speech. All she needed to do was nod and listen, then speak.

    "You have nothing to apologize for, Selenus." She smiled, shaking her head slightly. "Your reactions in both situations are entirely understandable and, dare I say, natural. Rather, it is I who should apologize, first for appearing to you in such a unseemly manner-" here her brow twitched, almost as if she were unconsciously frowning, "-and secondly for being a part of the place that has put you in quite the predicament. Once more, on behalf of myself and the Velvet Room, my sincerest apologies." That said, she dipped her head in a kind of bow before sitting upright once more.

    "In regards to your persona...no, it should not, under any circumstance, pose you harm." This time she did frown, a myriad of other users and instances running through her head. A persona killing its user...? That shouldn't happen, unless... "I have never seen it myself, but I do recall my Master mentioning that there are unnatural personas. Ones that, unlike yours, have been forced to awaken. Forcing a part of yourself to do something it does not wish to do can, in some respects, be like killing a part of yourself. When that art is out in the open and wields great power, as your personas do...well, I suppose you can guess what may happen." Paige tilted her head slightly, curiosity crossing her face. "Have you seen such an instance? Is this why you ask?"

    The other two points cleared, Page opted to smile and shake her head. Why me? A common question. One she never had the answer for but was always asked. Eventually, it began to amuse her. "As did I. I have never seen a guest like you before, Selenus. But from what I see, you possess speech, thoughts, and can make your own decisions. Regardless of what you may look like, you appear to me to be very similar to humans in the sense that you are aware. So long as you are aware of yourself, you may grow, change, become something new." Her smile grew wider, more curious. "Tell me, if you can grow just as humans can, what makes you different from them?"

"As a matter of fact, I have." Selenus would say as he loadd up the respective file from one of his memory banks. "One of the people whom I awakened alongside to nearly got his head chopped off by his own Persona. It summoned itself from behind his back and tried to slice his neck clean through the middle by surprise. Luckily, he noticed and ducked, but the mark the attack left on the dumpster it landed on instead clearly showed intent to kill." Even if he had the memorization capabilities of a human, Selenus had a feeling that he wouldn't have forgotten that sight either way. To constantly have to coexist with- no- to be the one who wants to strip everything away from you sounded like the plot of an expertly written horror novel, yet it was reality for Jack.

As Paige's smile grew bigger, Selenus's metaphorical own shrunk. He'd look ever-so-slightly down as he spoke. "I may have the intelligence and ego of a human, but what point is there to being "human" if all the rest won't recognize you as such? Last I checked that kind of thing usually ended in genocide or slavery."

    "Good Lord..." Paige murmured, pressing a hand to her mouth at the thought. Personas were capable of tremendous power, terrifying amounts, even. She'd seen them used for near everything under the sun, but still, to hear of ine attempting to kill its owner...it chilled her, unnerved her.

     She watched the creature inquisitively for a moment. On one hand, she understood his words. Why struggle for something that the people around you may never acknowledge? On the other... "What point is there in following one god when those around you cry blasphemy? What point is there in believing and using powers that no one else can comprehend? What point is there in doing anything? Do not let yourself fall into this mindset. You are here because you allowed yourself to believe in something dear to you, not based on what others think or how they may judge you." She smiled softly again, the lamps' soft glow reflecting off her pale skin. "The world will always be full of those who do not want to accept others for one reason or another. It takes true strength, however, to rise above this and continue on despite their opposition."

"...I see what you're saying. Thank you, Paige. I needed that." Selenus would say. His thoughts, however, would betray his words; He ended that line of conversation there so as to not make Paige think that she's not being helpful, but that was a topic that Selenus wasn't quite ready to confront or come to any sort of terms with. As it remained (In his own mind, at least), Selenus wasn't human.

Taking a look around, Selenus would notice the large ammounts of decor and hatwear that adorned the room. For the first time in a while, Selenus didn't know what to make of his current location. "So... what is this place, exactly? Seems a little overdressed to be a simple office."