'Amends' (Vel NPC Thread)

Azul had honestly not left his apartment for a few days after the battle. He had bought Ice Cream and donuts, and gotten back to his usual safer, yet still dangerous job of hacking. With his spoils and what not, he hadn't felt a need to do anything else. One meal a day, four hours of sleep in the morning, and staying the FUCK AWAY FROM WHATEVER WAS MAKING MODERN ART OUT OF BODIES. As a seeker, one might think it his job to investigate. As a human being with common sense, Azul would disagree. Sure, he contributed to Gaia's downfall, but that was in a large group. He wasn't single-handedly going to try and track down a mass murderer.

The last few nights had been spent making a suit that closer matched his own style than the ones Junction provided. He wouldn't be caught dead in anything not black and blue. Maybe he'd spent too long on it, but whatever. It'd be useful in the future. All it took was a bit of searching on the internet, and some parts from the slum. A bit of working, and it was finished. The last touches were some L.E.D.s and black paint. The part he'd gone overboard with was with the L.E.D.'s honestly. The suit was COVERED in them. But at least it was finished. Sure, leaving the apartment in it wasn't the best idea. It was a bit clunkier than he thought it was going to be, he'd have to make notes for next time

'...maybe freezing their legs was a bit much.' He had honestly just been trying to freeze their shoes to the ground. Things never worked out the way he wanted though. If there was one thing he hated it was admitting he was wrong, but it felt warranted this time. He was still learning how these powers worked. Considering they were strong enough to freeze a giant moth...well. He'd have to be more careful in the future with his Persona. The giant beetle was an asset and a curse. So far, it was leaning more to the former than the the latter, but it was still an issue.

The trip to the Bio Domes was uneventful enough. Azul found out tripping in the suit was a damn pain though. A clanging sound rattled through the helmet, and disoriented him. He needed to work out a fix for that. That was for later, for now he had to find *el and offer an apology. Not one he expected would be accepted, but the thought was what counted after all, yeah? Yeah. He followed the directions to the Permanence settlement he'd seen on the news. Before the honestly mood whiplash announcement about the fucking Mona Lisa of corpses.

Now just came the challenge of finding *el...man why couldn't Shiar have gone with them instead? She wouldn't know about his mistake, and he wouldn't have to waste time apologizing.

'Guess I can't hide behind an Anon tag this time...'

Vel... or could he go back to Fel?... Bel?... Forget it, lets go with Vel. There was no way he'd ever see Tel again so he might as well go with what it was last. Vel sighed as he wondered the streets of New Permanence. Frankly it was the nicest place he had lived sense they left Earth. No need to live in a suit twenty-four seven, no cramped spaces, open brown skies and fresh air... Yet something about it felt wrong, artificial, fake. But mostly it just felt empty. Without Fel here everything just felt half full.

Though today Vel was going to try and have a good day. Pretty soon he'd have to go live with that Cass kid, stupid promises... so he would enjoy New Permanence while he could. Today that means just walking around without a suit on.

Oh fuck, there he was. Alright, just needed to NOT be an asshole for one interaction. Easy, right?...right. Azul barely stopped himself from groaning. Honestly, this guy kind of pissed him off. Even ignoring the attempt on Azul's life (which probably wasn't intentional, but still.) he couldn't even handle the problem he created HIMSELF. Why the hell was he even trying to gas them, anyway? They'd gone to talk to him about Junction. They hadn't attacked him...yet. Honestly it had been on the cards for Azul if he hadn't cooperated.

"...Hey." That was how normal people started conversations, right? Azul had made his way over while thinking about if he had even been in the wrong. While he considered what normal people said next (was Fel even normal? He didn't know) he shook his head. 'Ugh why should I even be nice to this guy...I didn't do MUCH wrong. I just potentially gave people frostbite...' Azul bitterly thought, scowling behind his visor.

"...those guys from Town Hall turn out alright?"

At first, Vel didn't notice the short blue glowing robot looking man approach him for he was far to lost in his own thoughts on the unfairness of the universe... Or if the new world he found himself on was anything to go by, unfairness of the Multiverse. However, once he saw the aforementioned person who closely resembled a killer robot, his expression would quickly change from one of calm annoyance to utter terror in a fraction of a second. Just as he was about to start barreling though people in order to get away from the small murder machine however,  he would be stopped by Azul's voice. It took a second to place it, but once he did the horror on his face gave way, once again, to mild annoyance.

"Oh... Hey uh... Are you the blond one with the Insect Persona?" Vel would ask eyeing the shorter man with a mild suspicious contempt. His suspicions were confirmed by Azul's question... Right "Quite frankly I don't know... We left in such a hurry I was unable to check up on them. For all I know they could still be frozen there. However Targiser and..." Vel paused for a moment as he suddenly grew visibly uncomfortable... A short cough dispelled the thought though."and Shiar probably took care of it... Thanks for asking though. Also for saving my people. I suppose."

In hindsight, Azul probably should've figured he wouldn't be recognized in his suit, though really, it wasn't an issue. His voice was recognizable anyway, right? Meh, things to consider for later models. He already needed to update this one, and it had only been...however long it'd taken him to get from his home to the Bio Domes. He'd stand there in all of his killer-robot-looking Glory for a moment, feeling ever so slightly relieved when Fel actually started talking to him. 'Good...I wasn't in the mood for a chase sequence...'

"Yeah, that's me." Azul'd confirm simply, as if he HADN'T potentially frozen people to the floor forever. Upon listening to Fel's response, he'd...resist the urge to groan. Great, now he'd NEVER known if he'd done a mega-fuck up. "...They probably have. They have personas, right? There has to be some way to reverse it." Azul decided that was the explanation he was going to stick with to absolve himself of any guilt. "I wasn't the only one there, or even the one who did the most. So don't go thanking me." Azul wasn't in the business of being a Hero, and being thanked as one was...well, not a great thing, to him. Still,
he wasn't going to just say 'I was there for tha muthafukken papah m'boy'. "Look I just wanted to say sorry. I'm still learning how this thing works. All I wanted to do was freeze there shoes to the floor so they couldn't attack us."

"Heh, for as brash and head strong a leader he was, Targiser is a damn good Fleet Admiral and Persona user, I'm sure the people of Potts-Field are fine." Vel chuckled slightly and lost a bit of the tense air he had felt fill the space between himself and Azul. At the very least the kid was humble, a skill that Morgasimer would learn from this city... where ever the hell she is. Truth be told he had not seen hide nor hair of Morgasimer sense they arrived.... Strange.


Vel chuckled as he headed off towards one of the many taverns that had been set up in New Permanence. Turns out when people start settling down the first thing to pop up was food, the second... Alcohol "You're old enough to drink right?"

"Tagiser was your leader, huh?" Azul still maintained that what that guy had done was a joke. Letting a whole planet suffer over some broad. Sure, some people would argue love could transend all hardships, but Azul would argue that Love would have a pretty hard time defeating a big monster...who wanted Love. Ich. 'Dammit...I need more information on that black goop, but this guy probably doesn't know anything...'

Azul would follow Fel quietly. "Yeah, sure. Plenty old enough." On Gridd, anyway. Considering most were expected to be mature enough to enter their firld of interest by 14. "Fine, I'll buy you a drink. I got some good cash from this coty anyway. I heard once that after victories heroes would go get smashed anyway..."

Vel stifled a laugh before sitting down and raising his hand for the barkeep's attention. The barkeep simply nodded and poured Vel a straight whisky with two chilled stones in it. He slid the glass over to Vel who happily took it and sipped gently. If Azul had not already joined him at the bar, Vel would motion for him to sit down on the adjacent stool and raised his hand for another whisky."We sure didn't get hammered when we beat Gaia the first time... I was to busy chasing after Tel to really focus on getting drunk. By the time I saw Targiser again he was a literal walking gas bag and Gaia was dead... Or well as close to dead as she could get at the time." Vel shook his head and sipped again.

Azul took a seat at the bar, but didn't order anything. After all, he couldn't really take his helmet off to drink anyway. Instead he sat listening to Fel. "Eh. Amish is better than Gridd. So much black it was hard to tell the streets from the buildings sometimes." Azul paused. "...though I can safely say I'm tired of monster insects. My own Persona not included." He really needed to figure out how to get more-like that Red Suited guy.

"...any clue HOW Tagiser lost his body? If it's connected to Persona use I think I should know." Azul would rest an elbow on the bar and lean. This guy seemed more experienced when it came to Personas than he did, after all. Getting some tips might stop him needing to apologize again later.

As it was, his pride was already screaming out in pain.

Vel sipped away at his whisky and nodded along with Azul's sentiments about the giant insects. "You don't know the half of it kid. Our team fought those big bugs for over a year last time. And after that the giant bugs stuck around but just acted like... well... Giant bugs. Ya ever had a mosquito the size of a basketball try to get into your room at night? Maybe leaving Permanence behind was a good idea after all."

Vel shrugged in response to Azul's second question. "No clue... Morgisimer was the only one down there when it happened, and she hasn't had a conversation with me longer then a  few 'fuck off's' sense the whole Tel incident. Though I assume once Shiar... Targiser lost it and put all he hand into one attack. Or something, I'm not a combat guy. My persona is support only."

"There was light in the windows, I guess. And there was a system set up to stop cars going up on the curb. That didn't stop people from walking out into the street on accident, though." Azul would simply reply. "Our Prime Minister wasn't exactly the most safety focused. He was focused on other things." Azul mused.

"I can't imagine staying there would've ended well. All those things left in Gaia's cave ran off. They're probably all running around the planet now." Azul mused. He'd hate to think of how long it'd take to kill them all. If that 'Shiar' chick kept even half her power as Gaia though...it might be easier than Azul thought. 'Still gonna take forever, though.'

"...Fair enough." Azul mused. "I figured there were personas of different types." There were different elements, at least, there must be unlimited numbers of Persona variants. That...would make things harder. He paused. "...So back when you were going to summon your persona in your office, you were just bluffing?" Yes, a brow rose behind Azul's helmet.

Vel chuckled nervously before downing the rest of his drink and popping the chilled stones in his mouth. This... Was not the first time he had felt a little selfconcious about his Persona. Sure Kawaya is useful and all that, but it's not as versatile as Morgasimer's Typhoid Mary, or as out right powerful as Shiar's Tlazolteotl... And to even start comparing it to the freaken Zoo that Targiser had would be down right insulting. Sure Vel could scan and let the team know about dangerous things the enemy could do but... frankly that was about it. Vel Let out a sigh and eyed Azul's slowly warming drink"Not all of us can shoot ice from our hands ya know. Some of us need to be in the back directing guys like you. You combat types would be lost without support types like me."

"...there's nothing wrong with not getting physically involved in a battle." Azul shook his head. "I prefer sticking in the shadows, myself." There were other ways to defeat someone than by resorting to violence, after all. Secrets were power, and in that regard, Azul had been extremely powerful back on Gridd. 'Seriously, I'm not in the mood to listen to some old guy's self pitty...'

"I haven't tried shooting Ice from my hands yet." He sighed. "I...kind of can't drink it. I'm wearing this helmet for a reason."

"What?... your suit not doesn't have an emergency induction port? Huh... I'd get a refund from wherever you got that thing if I were you, they left it half finished. Probably doesn't even recycle waste." Vel Chuckled as he started on the second drink. A good suit could mean the difference between life and death, he knew that more then anyone. Or maybe it would be more proper to say that Tel knew that more then anyone. Or... once knew that more then... Ah forget it, to much remembering and not enough drinking to forget. To remedy this, Vel did the only sense-able thing and downed the second whisky in one go, even swallowing the two small stones that were chilling the drink.

"I know I said this before, but I think it bares repeating... Thank you."[/center]Vel stared into his empty glass, the bottom falling out of his stomach for a moment as he realized he swallowed the chilling stones. THAT would be a fun time in a few hours. No that it mattered now."And... Sorry, for almost killing you and all. In my defense I thought you breathed regular air and not poison."[/center]

"...I kind of made it myself." Azul stated awkwardly. No, he wasn't exactly mad. He was a hacker first, and an inventor like...fifth. "There are design flaws I still need to fix." He sighed. 'Inventing was always one of the other's schtick, anyway. The yellow one, probably.'

In response to Fel's apology, Azul would raise a brow. Not that such a thing was visible, but still. "...fine, you're welcome." Azul'd accept the thanks, deciding it was better than being an ass about it. "As for the second part...well, at least nobody got seriously hurt. So I guess it's fine."