If You Throw Things At Me, I Swear I'll Break Something. (James)

Posts : 1468 Join date : 2018-09-15 Age : 33

She'd thought about this place, just like James had told her, and now she was here, chains wound around her wrists and the prison garb hanging loosely from her small frame. She said immediately as she entered, before she'd even seen him yet. "Mr. James? Please don't throw anything at me, I'd just like some advice if you have some time..."

Nadia took a few tentative steps into the room, looking around.

The place was just like the last time, with some small differences. The surfaces were clearer this time, no longer covered with various articles to indicate they had been in use. The TV was off, and one of the reagent shelves held a new article - a golden goblet that shimmered beautifully in the light, entangled and encircled by vibrant flowering vines. It was placed just in the perfect place for it to catch the eye of the prospective visitor, a tantalising sight left within reach...
It was probably a bad idea to touch it.

James himself was laid out on the couch that rested before the tv, seemingly asleep in the middle of the room. His hand twitched toward a pocket as he heard Nadia's voice, a trained, ingrained reflex ready to betray his waken status and send objects hurtling across the room with a precision and accuracy that shouldn't have been feasible.
Recognising the voice, James let out a much-beleaguered sigh and let his fingers twine behind his head. "I have all the time in the world, Marquee. It's one of the more pleasant parts of my residence here."

Posts : 1468 Join date : 2018-09-15 Age : 33

Nadia made her way around the couch, looking at his tables and the turned off TV, and then finally at the man laying on the couch. She cocked her head to the side curiously. "Hello, James. I wonder, do you know what is going on in the real world in Endymion? The Cadets and Playhouse, and whatnot?" She asked with a casual smile. She made her way back around the back of the couch and leaned over it's back, looking down at him with a curious expression.

There wasn't a hint of motion from the attendant as Nadia moved about the room, not even the flickering of an eyelid, and yet she would feel an intense scrutiny from the figure on the couch. "I know a lot of things. You're entitled to know precisely none of them you don't already. Long Nose's edict." He lazily cracks an eyelid open, one brown eye looking up to the girl. "Just spit it out, Marquee. You can go anywhere else to dance around things and fish for shit nobody will tell you." The gaze of his eye focused to a sharp, apathetic point. "Save the games for the laughing man unless you plan on ruining your back on the floor while you're here."

Posts : 1468 Join date : 2018-09-15 Age : 33

Still looking down at James, Nadia pouted a little. "Okay, then. Sorry to bother you. I'm curious if you have any of the Cadets as um...guests, here." She asked quizzically. In truth, she did have other questions, but she hadn't expected to actually find her way back here so easily, and wasn't sure exactly to say. It sounded like he knew a lot of things, though, so whatever she could learn from him would be more than she already knew, and that was a win.

She wondered idly if she found something on one of the tables to dangle about if she could get him to talk even more... no, she'd save the black mail for a last resort.

James scoffs and leans back again as he hears what she has to say, shutting his eyes and ceasing to look at her. "Of all things, you're trying to peek at the guest list? Really?"
He contemplated completely ignoring the question, but hell, this should be fine. He'd entertain her.
That said, even if he told her to stop the games, he had some of his own he'd prefer to play.
"The Velvet Room welcomes all like you into its confines, Marquee. That's the clientele we cater to, and somebody has to keep you people from fumbling about blindly."
There. Make of that what she will.

Posts : 1468 Join date : 2018-09-15 Age : 33

She'd told him exactly nothing. Clever, but it wasn't missed on her. She narrowed her eyes, giving him a disapproving frown. "Maybe we fumble about blindly because we never get any straight answers from anywhere." She propped her chin on one hand, looking around at the collection of things on his shelves and tables, before looking back at him. "You didn't actually answer my question, Mr. James. Do you see any Cadets in here? Or members of Infinite Jest? I don't remember signing a patient confidentiality contract. I don't remember signing any kind of contract, really. So, there shouldn't be any reason you can't tell me." She chided him a little bit. She wasn't sure exactly where the boundaries of this place were, or the boundaries of what it meant for her. It was about time she found them.

It was at that point he burst out laughing. "Are you serious? You're in a dream world of supernatural beings, and you're trying to say I have to talk to you because I didn't give you a piece of paper?" He looked properly at her this time, grinning smugly. "My job is letting you know how your powers work, not getting involved in the power struggles of the world. Same for everyone else here. We stay out of it, and Long Nose would have my ass if I didn't." He raises an eyebrow. "And for the record...I believe I did answer you. You don't seem to have grasped the information needed to pick up on the details of what I said...but hey, I guess you wouldn't, would you? How could you?"

"Let me elaborate on that. You, and everyone else like you comes under our umbrella. Everyone unlike you doesn't. And that includes even a great many of your fellow terrorists." He brings his hand up and pushes his glasses up. "There's a lot of variance in the supernatural, after all."

Posts : 1468 Join date : 2018-09-15 Age : 33

Nadia ignored his jabs. She'd heard worse, anyway, and she was looking for pieces to enlighten herself. So the denizens of this world didn't meddle in the affairs of the real world? Well...that didn't help much, did it. But, if the answers were that simple, then someone else would have done it before her. She leaned forward on the back of the couch with her elbows, contemplating.

"Anyone like me...but not every Terrorist. So...anyone with a Persona? There are those like Cylla who don't have one. I suppose that's what you mean by people who aren't like me. My powers manifested on their own randomly, but the Cadets...some of them have Personas, correct? But you can sign up to be a Cadet. Do they have some way of forcing people to have Personas? What would that take, I wonder?" She was half asking, half thinking out loud. She didn't think he'd really tell her anything useful, but if he did she'd be all the better off.

After a moment of thinking, he shrugged. "Almost. Not quite. You're right about people without personas, and only sort of right about people with them." He didn't really intend to tell her anything she wouldn't find out by some poor soul walking through the door, but he'd humour her a little. "A lot of personas are different to those of you and your friends. Lots of different factors that affect the manifestation. Keep an eye out, and you might see one do something unlike anything you can."

Posts : 1468 Join date : 2018-09-15 Age : 33

Nadia pushed herself back away from the couch a little, looking up at the ceiling. She supposed asking "what kinds of things" would get a pretty hard no from him. Still, being aware of it wasn't nothing. If Personas were another side of yourself, then perhaps the reason that Terrorists were brainwashed was to get rid of the Persona. Perhaps to replace it with one of these other kinds of personas. Now that she'd had the thought, she couldn't shake the feeling that the Cadets had some other kind of power that was different from her own. or at least had different origins. If it was painful or inhumane, surely people would be talking about it, though, with people still signing up to become Cadets.

It was a new train of thought, even though he hadn't given her much to go on, he'd saved her a little bit of leg work and experience in telling her that there were different kinds. "Oh, I have a question you might be able to answer. Why is it that we can only use our Persona's power at night?" She asked, the question having just come to her.

James took a moment to hum as if he was thinking about it.
He wasn't, of course. It was mainly just to see how Nadia would respond to the display.
"You can use it during the day too. Just not in the walls." He closed his eyes again. "Try it yourself. Leave the city, call it out, try not to get taken out by a Cadet or one of the many, many demons."
He snorts. "Or just take my word for it."

Posts : 1468 Join date : 2018-09-15 Age : 33

Nadia didn't show any outward signs of irritation. She was beginning to expect this kind of response. "I know there are demons roaming around out there during the day, so I assumed the powers could be used outside the walls. I meant why can't we use them inside the walls. You know, don't you?" She asked in adulation.

"Magic."
He waved the fingers of one hand in the air, smirking.
"I can't tell you how it works. It's not my job to divulge state secrets. But the basic, simplified answer is probably exactly the one you and everyone else thinks it is. It's short, it's simple, but that doesn't make it necessarily wrong."

Posts : 1468 Join date : 2018-09-15 Age : 33

Nadia smiled a small, but delighted smile. "State secrets. So it's the government that makes it happen. Considering most "magic" comes from people, could it be a person's abilities? What amazing power that would be... Then taking down the government outright might put us right back where we were five years ago." She tapped her chin, thinking. It was as she had suspected. True it was the only answer that made sense, but having it confirmed drove a new spike of clarity into her vision of the future. Peace was the right way. She just knew it.

"Thank you, Mr. James. You've been very helpful this evening. I can't think of anything else I'd like to ask at the moment. Would you like to watch a movie with me?" She asked, gesturing to the TV, and smiling politely.

» Random.... Demon Hunting.... Thing? [James. Just James.]
» Throw away the Key [Velvet Room Opening]
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» Its not what it looks like I swear. (A non canon open thread with Lupin and Triboulet)
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