Gabe's Sick Day

As if the strenuous activity of being a psychic terrorist wasn't enough for Gabe, he managed to catch a case of the common cold in the process. He wasn't too happy about it, but if there was anything he had to do today,  he decided to push it off to a later date. He had to get better for the charity event, it was going to happen pretty soon. "What was that thing that people drink when they get sick? Apple Cider Vinegar"

He hated the smell of it, but Gabe couldn't afford to get bedridden under any circumstances.

While Gabriel was busy tending to his own maladies, a certain redhead stepped into his personal abode once the door to the Velvet Room opened. With a slight push, it shut and disappeared. Touko was curious as to what her guest lived in and how he lived within his own home. But she didn't expect this kind of sight. "Not a good day today, eh?"

"Huh?" Gabe turned around in a frightened manner as he slipped and fell on the floor, spilling his cup of tea as well. "Oh shi- hot hot!" It was all over his pajama pants, leaving it to be quite a steamy mess. It really did look like it hurt, but Gabe was more surprised at the fact that Touko was here. "Touko? How did you.... I didn't hear you come in... or... i'm sure the door was locked. " She was his attendant, that much was true, but he didn't know that she had those kinds of powers. However, before he asked any more questions, he started to sneeze a few times.

"Ah-Choo!"

After the third time, he decided to sniffle rather nasally and stand on his feet. "I should probably clean that up. I don't know if interdimensional attendants can catch colds, but I wouldn't want you feeling the way that i feel right now.

Touko blinked at his rather sudden and violent reaction to her arrival, but simply began to chuckle at him because of it. Sure, this would be the first time she tried anything like this. When prompted to answer how she came here, the attendant merely shook her hands and smiled. "Magic, my dear Gabriel. That's how I arrived into your ever humble abode."

Maybe that would get him to wonder her very capabilities, but she really couldn't lie to him like that for the sake of her own amusement. "No, but the Velvet Room tends to be helpful for us Attendants in such cases. Don't worry about spreading your current illness, I'm rather resilient. Now, do you want me to get you some orange juice?"

"If i didn't know any better, I would think you are making some loose reference to Mary Poppins. " Gabe would say with a small chuckle as he started to head on back to his room with a wave. "Well, at least I know that attendants can be as easily accessible to us as we are to them. Though, you are a bit different, still living a basic lifestyle while maintaining that service." Even though he mentioned that he was a bit concerned that Touko could catch his could, he doubted that the biology of attendants was exactly the same as him. Could they even get sick?

"I'll change out of this and meet you downstairs in the living room. I should be more...hospitable in the presence of a guest. Especially if it so happens to be my attendant. Speaking of which, what do i owe the visit? I think this is the first tiime you checked on me.

"Who knows? Maybe I am Miss Poppins," Touko smiled out of jest. There was a little bit of concern on her features, but nevertheless she was sure this young man wasn't debilitated by anything incurable or painful as far as diseases or syndromes go. "Hey now, there's no need for that. You're sick. Take it easy, you'll need to get back to full health if you're going back to your Journey. I came to check up on you, mostly out of curiosity of how you live. My apologies for the intrusion."

She looked around the place, trying to see if there was a refrigerator around or any paths that suggest the large appliance would be there. "Just stay down there and rest. Where's your fridge? I'll get that orange juice for you."

"It's downstairs to your left, cant miss it. " Gabe would say this to her from the comfort of his room. Since Touko insisted on gabe to stay in his room and rest up, he would leave it to her in order to get the orange juice. "Help yourself to anything as well!"

In the meantime, as Touko went downstairs, she would see a room that was slightly open. If she was to peek into it, it would seem like some sort of other master bedroom, as well as having a peculiar design to it. There was a few cobwebs , along with fine tailored suits and two sowing machines.

Upon his instructions, Touko began to survey her surroundings. While looking for the juice was her desire, she couldn't help, but notice the small opening that seemed to beg her to peek into. Of course, being inquisitive woman herself, she helped herself into the cracks and saw what laid inside. The Attendant was careful not to touch the door for fear that the slightest touch might betray her with a creaking whine from barely oiled door hinges.

All she saw seemed to be a kind of small workshop of suits. Touko couldn't quite remember if he had anything related to such a thing. There was that book he was working on, but perhaps the writing career wasn't quite working out? Whatever the case, she left it at that and retrieved the juice from the fridge before returning back to the man with a full mug.


She handed it to him so that he can finally drink to help soothe his current illness as he did, Touko crossed her arms while pacing around the room. While her Guest was still drinking, and assuming that he was, she began to inquire a bit, "How's your writing going?"

Gabe was quite thankful that Touko took the time to go downstairs and bring him a glass of orange juice. “Are all attendants like this?” Gabe would say jokingly as he thanked her for the glass. “Thank you Touko, I really do appreciate it. “Though, as he started to drink a bit of the orange juice that his lovely attendant has gotten for him, Gabe would stop halfway when she mentioned his writing. ”…..” After placing the orange juice on the table, Gabe would give her a bit of a weak smile.

“Sadly enough, I don’t do that anymore. All of my hard work didn’t amount to much as I brought in that I hit a critical flaw all those years ago. The rights to my work were suddenly gone from my control, like the rug was moved up from under me. It helps that they are popular, but the creative idea and twist that I put to them, it won't accept any of my style or pattern of storytelling after volume five. So there's that, too. But hey, count my blessings right? I still have to manage the casino branch. “

There was a hint of sadness in his eyes, but there was nothing he could do about it.

"Not necessarily," Touko replied with a small smirk spreading across her face, "I just happened to be one of those few who likes to use her spare time more creatively than the others. They're too comfortable being cooped up in there anyway."

Touko wasn't quite too sure about how the more recent Attendants were like in this world. But many of them were satisfied enough to remain within their isolated space. Her first time as an Attendant made her feel rather considerably stifled. There was a reason why she usually hung out at the Office. At least, different people would try to solicit for her attention.

She listened quietly to what Gabriel had to say and it was depressing news. It's not like something like this didn't happen to anyone. In fact, there was something about it that made her seem rather pensive and quiet about it. But she finally spoke again after lifting her glasses from her face before sliding them into her pockets.


Touko was aware that he was a Persona-User. And with Psyche-Terrorists committing their own acts of terror for their own ends, it wouldn't be surprising that having such power seemed really attractive to use on people that were of the troublesome sort like Gabriel's predicament. She wanted to learn more about this person. Perhaps to judge him, but she wouldn't be his judge to bestow a ruling on him at the least. "I haven't told a lot of people about this. But I've once had a dissertation that I worked on with a... friend. I trusted her, but it turns out she believed plagiarism and taking all the credit was her way of thanking my efforts. I was ticked off, that was for sure. So I decided to make her pay..."

To be completely honest with you, I thought about exercising my legal means a lot more than originally thought. However, no matter how underhanded, I did “agree” to this arrangement when I was younger without having someone around to look through the contract for me. I caught it in my early twenties, but I didn’t think that it meant that they would still take my deposit and pull something like this. To save HIT scrolls entertainment, I cut ties. The business still has the chance to exist, is that the bigger picture besides my pride? “

It was apparent that Gabe thought about this, as well as planning his next move in order to ensure that it wasn’t a total loss However, it wasn’t just him that was affected, it was also the investors and the people that worked with him and believed that his manga would sell. As long as he kept his distance, they would even be in the position to gain.

When Touko started to speak of her own experience, Gabe listened to the terms of the situation that Touko seemed to find herself in. It seemed more personal than Gabe’s situation, how could she find herself betrayed by a valued friend? Either way, Gabe tensed up a bit when he sat up on his bed. “ What did you do?”

There was a problem with starting out a career so young. Naivety was such a deep-setting poison that was rather debilitating for many. It seemed that Gabriel was no different in his case, but learned a lot much more from it at least and came out of it more unscathed than others. Though not enough to keep that dream alive it seemed. At least Gabriel had enough for a living to keep him around in Endymion.

The redhead didn't answer him, as if hesitating to share even more. Or rather, she wasn't quite sure how to even convey what transpired at that moment. But in the end, she gave him a tired look before pausing again, as if looking back at that same memory for one more time. The hard work and trust all sunk down into the drain when that happened. Nothing ever mattered in the end. The blood was still acrid in her nostrils even if her hands were clean even to this moment.


Then she smiled again, curling up in her usual smirk instead. But it was far more grim and yet at the same time nonchalant. It was almost as if daring him to react negatively to it so she could relish his response, but she never really cared. Normal human social interactions hasn't been a thing for her for such a long time. Society's norms didn't have a tighter leash on her like the others and she did whatever she wanted.

“I see, how unfortunate….” Gabe would say that as a response to Touko explaining that the person she mentioned was dead. Though, when he really thought about it, could Touko be capable of such a thing? She didn’t seem like the type, did she? Or maybe Gabe was wrong? There are all types of people, in many shapes and sizes. The majority of their personalities are hidden within the masks of society, and maybe this was also apart of Touko’s past that Gabe hasn’t necessarily had a chance to explore yet. Though, for something like this to come about involving a friend that she trusted, it was a bit cruel how fate seemed to transpire.

Either way, Gabe didn’t feel like it was appropriate yet to ask about the circumstances of her death. As a matter of fact, when Touko brought back the question involving his powers, Gabe would only sigh. “It truly does depend. When it comes to having a power that only you can command, you use it when the terms seem fit. It’s no fun hitting someone that can’t hit back. Plus, period of naivety or not, being alone as I was, with only a casino owner with a shady past be willing to show himself as a father to you, you learn to get up quickly and own up to your obligations…....”

Gabe’s voice drifted away as he remembered something in the past.” Remember that time during the big divide, it was you and a group of others that is surrounded by a sandman and a pyrojack. I caught it that time, you know? When it casually sets you on fire as if it was a gag, as if it was risible. I wouldn’t call you a hero touko, because I’m older now, maybe I understand a bit better. Because you felt like you had a lot less to lose, does it mean you should go out of your way to make yourself more of a target? Like you deserved it? Either way, from flames to flesh, I thought in my head very vaguely as to how it would feel if it was done to them? You already know the respite, but that setting was something distinct, and here you are, in my room.”

Taking a sip of some orange juice, Gabe would hold the cup firmly in his hand. “I didn’t think power like that was meant to be used on people that couldn’t fight back or was no threat to you. I’ve done bad thing, I know I’m capable of doing more bad things If I have to, but with everything being so subjective to the way of life of the user, whose to say what the right decision is anymore? It should end with me, involving the mistakes of my past, I’ll continue living in the present.

"Don't think too much of what happened to me that night. I only wanted to get answers for something. A shame I couldn't get anything else than a mere sunburn." Touko didn't think much about what happened back then. It was a time when the Attendant couldn't get any useful information and didn't bother to remember much about it. But she remained silent afterwards with her ears listening to what Gabriel had to say. There was a lot of things that was interesting about him. There was a lot of that sense of responsibility. Not for others, but mostly for himself as far as anything goes. The redhead nodded for a moment.


Touko began to turn and an azure door began to appear in front of her. She turned slightly to address the man once more, "My apologies for making my visit short. I have some business to address. Do get better soon, Gabriel. Your trials won't be waiting for you for long. Until next time."

She opened the door. In it was the very expanse of the Velvet Room. Touko gave him a wink before going inside. Once it was closed, so too did the entrance disappear.