"Nevermore" (Akuma/Gabe)

The Backlight was an interesting area-- one that Akuma had yet to explore since he came to this city. Having thought Suzie Q was the slum of Endymion of all places, this one was a slight step up if only just. He had made his way through allies and other shadowy places, unsure if he was followed or worse.

He couldn't make sense of it. First, some demon bitch whom he had ended up almost getting eaten by appeared-- then his own dormant power, his Persona, emerged. He barely got out alive. However, as he emerged victorious, he was met with more questions than answers. These demons were everywhere and most seemed to have it out for humans probably even worse for those actually who could see them.

There was no sure way he was safe or not, even with this power he barely understood. But the voice told him to seek out the "Playhouse" so that was what he was gonna do.

As he transversed the street, an odd set of eyes watched him from above. The same odd bird from the alley when he awakened. The raven just followed him-- as if to expect him to drop dead so he could feed off him.

Or so it would seem.

Either way he soon reached the road that led further into the district. It seemed Akuma was lost-- unsure where this "playhouse' was, and to ask around might be more risky to do. If this was a 'terrorist' den, he may very well cause the wrong kind of attention.

With the familiar that Akumu was following, he started to realize that he was being taken to a more abandoned, and yet, secure part of the backlight district. Along with the raven leading the way, Akumu would come across a door that it seems to circle around, signifying that this was the place that he needed to be. Either way, there would be a sense of safety and security emitting from the door, which could mean a number of things. But more importantly, it meant that this was a place that could possibly have answers for him, as well as with it signifying that the people inside had meant him no harm.

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If he so chose to enter, Akuma would meet a man with a top-hat working the counter of the platinum playhouse. The face itself would seem a bit familiar if he saw the broadcast. After that fateful encounter, Gabe tried to spend as much time at the playhouse as possible in order to guide the others.

"Hello! Welcome to the Platinum Playhouse. I'm Gambler Shotaro, and you?"

It first started with a greeting, Gabe never necessarily met this terrorist before.

As he ventured into the general direction of the warehouse-- it was then he heard the caw of the black bird above. Akuma looked up to see the nosey raven cock his head at him and flap his wings. "Caw, caw!" he squawked as if trying to get Akuma's attention.

"What you want, Buzzard?" Akuma spat in annoyance.

The crow just took off further down the ally and stopped in a lamp's light before a door. Akuma saw the door and had an odd feeling about it. It felt alluring, a sense of safety within it. The crow just continued to hop about in front of it and glanced up at AKuma.

Trying to ignore the odd bird, Akuma reached for the door and opened it. The odd bird hopped in-- only then knowing the odd bandana tied around his neck. Someone was probably not happy to have a stray fowl fly into their home, but Akuma didn't care and just continued inside...

... Inside was an unusually elegant room of dark colors and gentle lightning-- like some sort of parlor or jazz bar. In the middle of the room, was the guy in the tux and magician's hat. He wondered if he even noticed the odd raven fluttering around the room and who landed on the bar to the left of him.

Akuma stared blankly at the person who introduced himself as Shotaro. He was still confused, almost half awake considering all he endured that night or otherwise. But he recognized it. "your the guy from that broadcast... but..." Akuma stopped and shook his head, trying to make sense of what happened.

"Where am I, exactly? And who are you?" Akume asked.

Unable to hold it back, he soon manifested the chains-- the gauntlets that appeared in pulledh of fire and he puleld them apart. With the sudden burst of the chains, his attire changed-- to the back-ally punk clothing of leather and jeans. His fiery mask also appeared-- but most of all was for a brief moment, Akuma's Persona-- Icarus-- appeared in a few seconds, revealing his power to the magician character.

"What-- is happening to me? I don't understand... "

"Jeez, take a chill pill, pal." A voice said in a high pitch tone. "What a noob. You're lucky to get out of that crap alive..."

Akuma looked around, not sure where the other voice came from. "What the fuck was that?" he asked.

"Oh.....well.... i'm pretty certain I made sure to introduce myself as soon as you arrived. "

Clearing his throat a little, Gabe would start once more.

"I go by the name of Gambler Shotaro, I'm the self-proposed leader of the Platinum Playhouse. We stand to go against the unjust rule of the government, as well as looking to expose all of the terrible and illegal things they have been up to and...."


Stopping a bit short while looking at the man summon his persona, he wondered if the lad was a bit sane or even functioning properly to hold this conversation? Either way, he seemed distressed, and all Gabe was doing was providing patience and a bit of understanding for a man in his position.

"I see that you are under a lot of stress. What happened is a supernatural reaction you had in face of a demon, the defense measures that your body produced gave you access to a persona. You always had the potential, you just never had a reason to use it. But right now, you need to calm down an get a hold of yourself. "

Realizing he had jumped the gun on a few points, Akuma took a calm breath to steady himself. Too much had happened, and he was not a 100% sure how his powers manifested. He needed answers to this as soon as possible...

"I'm... sorry," AKuma said, rubbing a hand against his face. "This has not been an easy night. I was attacked by that cat-bitch demon and this happened... but what exactly is a Persona? Is that what 'Icarus' is? "

Clearly, Akuma didn't know as much as Shotaru assumed. He literally only awoken an hour ago, and guided here by the odd raven.. who was talking now. The raven flapped his feathers on the bar stool and looked between Akuma and Shotaru. "Jeez, don't get your feathers ruffled. " the crow chimed in sarcastically.

Akuma groaned as he was starting to feel a headache. "Could you please explain this a little slower...?" Akuma asked Shotaru, unsure what else to do. As about the goverment well... I get what you are saying but I'm still not sure what are you getting at here. You--" It was then he recognized him. The TV broadcast he had seen , even only part way. It was him. He had been on that broadcast before it had been removed from the air. Even the internet had no other capture of it. "Yeah... that was you on the televison. But What corruption are you referring to?"

Akuma's time in Endymion was not as long as others, and due to his personal issues, he was not aware of the true depths of the corruption in this city. He would need to be explained what was going on.

"Yes, a persona is basically the potential of your mental and spiritual altitude, taking form as a direct counter against supernatural threats. Unless you have been recently taking strange drugs, you don't have anything to worry about in regards to your persona existing. "

Calling his own personal, the pryoformer floated around behind Gabe before vanishing at Gabe's command.

"Take charge of it, it's a reflection of your soul. You can call upon it and send it away."

However, Gabe had no clue what this talking bird was, or who. It could have been a demon for all he knew, but anything associated with the playhouse was pretty much safe for the time being, there was no way for this thing to be deadly for either of them.

"Ah yes, the corruption..where do i start? Forgive me, i might be a little all over the place."

Coughing a bit, Gabe started with his explanation.

"Here is the deal, there were government members who had a weird look to them, they fused together and created demons. I ended up facing such a being before. Humans becoming demons, the governments involved in that. The district leaders also seem to be in cahoots with some sort of angelic being granting them their powers, with the queen at the center of it all. But don't think angel and automatically believe that they stand for good. Invidia instigated cannibalism and brainwashing through music. Superbia blacked out the truth from the populus and manipulated media. Anyone with half a mind of a real journalist that tried to report the truth before, probably even before terrorists were a thing, has gone missing. This is only the little bit of the big picture, i'm sure there is more that the government is responsible for. "

Akuma soon was able to get this clear-- a persona was some sort of natural manifestation of one's own personality-- their soul when meeting the 'supernatural threats'? It wasn't the most accurate way to describe it. But it explained why it felt so familiar to him-- and natural to just call it forth and away at will. It was a part of him, something that he always had but only became aware of it then.

The little blackbird looked on, curious and smug with himself as he hopped on the stool.

"Well, that is interesting. It just felt like it was alive too... " Akuma said and listened to Gabe's explanation-- and it made AKuma's eyes widen. He was aware there was something wrong with the world around him. As the son of a crime boss, sure he was held down by society with their own views of him-- but this was well beyond anything he thought. The government wasn't holding out demons-- but enforcing them. Brainwashing, concealing the truth, and manipulation of people.. it was enough to make his blood boil. He ground his teeth in anger. Even by a criminal's standards, this was disgusting. "Heh... well isn't this classic. " He calmed down a bit as he took a breath. "Trust me, I read the "Divine Comedy", i get angels can be real assholes when they want to be... but this? Wow..."

"Paints a pretty picture, doesn't it?" The raven squawked, having waited for Gabe to finish. "Gives us winged things a bad name as it is. "

Torn back to the bird, Akuma glared at him, then back to Gabe. "Okay... is the pigeon there a friend of yours or am I losing it?" AKuma asked, "After the cat-bitch demon tonight, I am questioning if I am seeing things."

At that time, angry, the bird hopped off the seat and flew right up to Akuma. An angry scowl was on its face as he fluttered in front of him. "Who you callin a pigeon?! I'm a graceful, handsome raven, I'll have you know. The Name is Talon." he said with overly prideful voice.

Akuma looked to Gabe, wondering if this bird was crazy, or if he-himself was.

"Well, if you want to put it that way. It's just as alive as you are, because it can't exist without you. Plus, just because other people can't perceive it, doesn't mean it won't affect them. The powers that you have and can manifest are very real to everyone else, regardless of the circumstances. Oh, they don't normally work int he morning unless it's a specific power, you'll know which one instinctively."

Gabe was talking about soul skills, but maybe he was getting ahead of himself.

"Oh, and another thing. With the presence of demons and other supernatural occurrences, it can cause spiritual distortions in the mornings or the middle of the day. At that time, when you know you have access to your persona, something is probably wrong. Not to say go put yourself in harm's way, but just to be cautious ."

As for the raven, he just shrugged.

"A friendly demon that frequents the platinum playhouse. You should be happy to make a friend in such a small amount of time. "

AKuma slowly began to put it together and nodded in understanding. "I see... well I suppose i should thank you for taking the time to explain, and for letting me in. I don't know what led me here really. Just a voice, but its clear I was in danger out there." he explained, and turned to the bird. "Was that you out there?"

"Nope-- but I did find you and led you here. Don't worry-- only people awakened to their Personas can hear me anyway," the bird said, using his beak to clean his wings slightly.

He tried to calm the whirlwind in his mind. "So... what is your goal? You got this Persona power too, don't you? What are you doing with it?" he asked, "I can't say I really know how to use this power right. Or rather what to use it towards."

"My goal? It's to return the city back to the people itself, for everything to run on a stable and honest democracy. Everything that's built upon lies, i'll pull out each and every building block until it comes tumbling down. My main idea is to use this power to reveal to the people of Endymion what the government is really doing, exposing them for their crimes and allowing the people to judge the government for what they are actually doing here. I also have been using my powers to take care of the obstacles ahead that try to stop me from doing that, like demons, probably other terrorists with different and more destructive agendas, and to retaliate against capture from cadet forces if i'm being honest. It sounds a bit hardcore, but the basis is centered on doing what we must, things like killing and excessive collateral damage is far from our viewpoint."

Gabe made it crystal clear, he even went as far as to elaborate on the parts that could have been possibly iffy.

"But to see if those same thoughts and desires align with your own, it's entirely up to you and it takes time for you to figure all of this out. There is no pressure to join us or do anything, what is important here is that you know of what we are trying to accomplish, and that are here to possibly pave the path to a world where we don get immediately prosecuted for having these powers in the first place. It isn't right..."