Chapter Text
There was a trait inherent to these palaces, and as their architect he knew this lesson well.
As a palace is borne of a human’s unwillingness to face reality as it is and impose their will upon it, all those within it are forced into a form which complies to the architect’s design.
It doesn’t matter what form one might take in said palace, cognitive being or not. Of course, purely flesh and blood beings have a better time of it, compared to the more otherworldly denizens of these places.
Really, he goes through all this effort to attach figments of the sea of souls to spice up the place and the human unconscious can’t even appreciate it right!
They get all melted and stuck together into shapes that fit the palace, usually as guards and the like. As if the myriad demonic figures that were attracted to this place weren’t thematic enough as guards.
Beings from the mortal plane, well, those were treated differently in this plane.
They couldn’t be easily molded into a form fitting that pocket of cognition. No, instead it’s the cognition that bends around them.
Mortals will generally be treated as how the ruler sees the general populace. If they have a personal connection to the ruler, the ruler will act accordingly, if a bit more ruthlessly since they’re wholly in their domain.
Animals, of course, will be treated like animals.
He was lucky with this form, at least.
Majestic birds, especially ones with unusual coloration, tend to be regarded as omens and mystical things. He was both, yes, but it allowed him to pass through these places relatively unchallenged.
After all, why would they bother going after a measly buzzard when there were thieves to catch?
And thief garb was another matter entirely.
As it generally only generates after one activates their Persona (not designed by him, but very well done), the garb serves a double function. One, it is a signal that a Persona has been formed by the user, two it protects that user from the direct scrutiny of the palace itself.
That is only generally speaking, of course, as there are exceptions.
For instance, one could have only a partial awakening, where they only get the outfit and a little bit of power, but not a Persona.
Sometimes one’s garb is based on the Persona they have, such as Justice, his personal favorite.
He didn’t make these outfits himself, merely pulled them together out of the image of rebels directly from one’s own psyche. And, of course, added a bit of flair from their Persona as well.
Anyway, where was he?
Ah, yes, magic bird privileges.
It was no big deal for him to get so close to the fights there thieves would get into. No one would deliberately target him or really pay attention to him.
And in return he would watch. Yes, that was all he would do.
However, it was getting very difficult.
He tried not to stare too long at that demon, he really did. It wasn’t even in its full form and he was still uncomfortable looking at it.
Why did he design Mara this way?
If he wasn’t a bird, he would be blushing.
It wasn’t even in its, ahem, fully erect form, merely a flaccid sludge, which admittedly makes sense in this palace. This whole place was designed after, well, lust.
But the way it moved unsettled him greatly, especially the way it seemed to specifically target the Lovers. Gross.
He could hear every noise it made, every one of its very suggestive comments. It made his feathers puff up out of disgust.
All this for guarding a will seed? Very well played, me.
Smart choice for theming, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t get uncomfortable being in its presence.
Nothing he could do about it now and, oh look at that it’s dead.
The Lovers did it in, too. Good for her.
Anyway, now it was time for him to make a swift exit before—
Another mouse was tossed in front of him. He ate it, of course.
Then turned to look down at that awful Trickster who had located his hiding place. They stared at each other.
The Yaldabaoth opened his wings and flew away.
——-
Running around as a cool thief with supernatural powers is inherently very fun.
But you know what else is fun? Friendship.
Seriously, Ryuji, Ann, and even Morgana were the closest friends he’s had for as long as he could remember. And one of them’s a cat! (Or, not a cat, it’s yet to be decided.)
He was glad he was making progress with his fellow loner, Shigeru, but he still felt a little bad for turning him down in favor of thievery.
Well, nothing he can do about that now.
After all, he was in the middle of a palace-themed palace and also being hunted down by the guards.
That being said, these guards weren’t very good at guarding, were they?
They didn’t even see him as he dashed up behind one of them, planted both hands firmly on the sides of their helmet, and flipped off their shoulders over to their front, taking the helmet with him.
The helmet vaporized instantly, melting into a sludge with the rest of the shadow’s armor, a cocoon of bright red and white ribbons emerging in its place.
Out of the sludge came three of those incubus demons, floating and jeering. And leering at Ann, which is par for the course for this palace.
Good thing Ann could easily burn these guys up with her magic. She seemed eager to do so.
He barked out his orders for this round of combat, and they got to work.
First, Ann would dart in, Carmen at the ready with an Agi. The incubi were blindsided and knocked down, but the ones that weren’t in the direct line of fire got back up easily enough.
But that only played into the next part of his plan.
Ann turned in her heel, dashing back toward him. In one swift movement, Akira high-fived her, diving into the fray with renewed vigor.
From there, he ripped off his mask to summon Succubus.
Now, with Succubus being Succubus, she naturally turned a few heads. Not only was she just very attractive in general, she also had huge bat wings and a skimpy outfit, enough to attract the attention of the Incubi. (And Ryuji, and Morgana, even.)
Then he whispered “Dormina,” and his plan came into fruition.
The sleep spell hit the Incubi all at once, a glittery orb of magic that Succubus tossed at them. It was quite potent, layers of magic all bundled up into one spot.
It instantly sent the Incubi to sleep, where the third part of the plan would begin. Namely, hitting them until they died.
That part went extremely well, with Ryuji and Morgana going in for physical attacks and Ann continuing on with Agi. And before giving that final blow, Akira noticed something.
The bird was still watching them.
And Akira had an idea.
You see, Shigeru had recommended feeding the bird to befriend it. Akira had been feeding the bird. Therefore, he can do a pro gamer move.
You see, the concept of a Pavlovian response is a common one in the public eye. You get an animal to do something, train it to do that by giving it a treat, it then associates that treat with the action.
So, Joker tossed one of his dead mice at the next set of shadows they came across (another group of incubi) and watched for the bird.
Lo and behold, it swooped down upon the incubi, swiping the mouse out of the air. The incubi, predictably, were startled by the randomly appearing bird and scrambled out of the way, and subsequently ran into his teammate’s guns.
They didn’t last long after that.
——-
Shiho was going to be fine.
That’s what she told herself, at least.
The breeze was lovely as she sat down on the bench in the park. She closed her eyes to really taste the air, focusing on the slight sweetness of it.
Ann couldn’t meet her here today, and that was fine! It really was!
She just…
Whatever. It’s fine.
She opened her eyes and looked down at the book in her lap, a collection of fairy tales.
She’d gotten curious about abnormal things like that bird, unusual things. And, well, fairy tales seemed like the right way to go. So she’d bought the book and started reading.
But… there really wasn’t anything about hawks with golden feathers in there. Iridescent crows, yes, but no hawks.
Besides that, she was having fun reading this.
Eventually, she reached the end of the tale of the Rainbow Crow and closed the book, gazing down at the ground. She dragged one foot through the grass, watching it bend and bounce back up.
So what now…?
She was given a second chance for a reason. So she should use it.
Shiho closed her eyes for a second, breathing in the air. It’s a nice day, and she soaked in the scant few sunbeams that made their way through the tree leaves.
She startled a bit as footsteps passed nearby, opening her eyes. There was a girl there, her fluffy blue hair catching Shiho’s eye. The girl had her back to Shiho, gradually slowing her pace until she’d completely stopped in her tracks.
The girl slowly turned toward Shiho, and Shiho flinched at the girl’s hateful gaze. Her face was gaunt and tired, but there was a real fire in there that let Shiho know, without a doubt, that this girl was not to be messed with.
And Shiho…
…stood up.
She tucked her book away in her bag and started to walk toward the girl.
The girl looked shocked at this and averted her gaze. Her hands balled into fists at her sides.
But Shiho kept going, marching forward with her eyes on the girl. She didn’t know what was fueling her at this point, but she wasn’t going to stop. No, she knew what needed to happen.
She stopped in front of the girl, who finally returned her eye contact. There was a moment of silence.
“Do you need help?”
——-
The machinations of fate are ever flowing onward, fixing and twisting the world into the way it’s supposed to be.
This was something Yaldabaoth knew well, being the thing that made that fate true.
Yes, this city, one that he looked down upon from on high, was something that he had made. Every person was part of his design, even if they didn’t like the way their life had turned out. All of them are pulled along by his strings.
His feathers puffed up, talons digging into the stone below him as he wondered if the him that existed now was pulling he himself along. Then he dismissed the thought, as it was stupid.
He turned his head, idly listening to the people and cars passing by. Everyone’s fate was preordained… except for one.
He hadn’t really thought about it before, but Suzui Shiho presents an interesting conundrum.
He directly changed her fate, but what does that mean in the grand scheme of things? Did he change fate or was his actions part of the designs as well?
That… was something he should experiment with.
What does he want to change first?
That… is a hard question to answer. Maybe something a bit less direct? A different player.
Yes, yes. He sees who he need to tangle with first. Not something off of a list, something completely organic.
Maybe it’s predetermined. Maybe it’s not.
But whatever it was, Yaldabaoth was going to change it.
And with that, he took flight over the city, looking for that person of interest. Which would be mildly difficult if he didn’t know where she usually hung out for… nefarious reasons in his past.
And at last, the park blossomed beneath his talons, green and bright in the spring sunlight.
He lowered down to the tree tops, his talons brushing the leaves as he descended to the pathways. The dirt was hard beneath his talons, making it easy to hop along the path.
Ah. There! Talking!
He hopped into the grass and waited for the two to pass by. Coming around the bend in the path, speaking to each other in very low voices, were the two focuses of his attention.
With her dull blue hair, Tao was quite eye-catching among the greenery. She looked rough, a consequence of living on the streets.
And right next to her as a startling contrast, is Shiho herself…
Well, it seemed he needn’t have made any more moves, as fate had sorted itself out. Was that preordained as well?
He fluffed out his feathers before relaxing them once more, hopping backward into the brush so as to escape their view. It would not be wise to be caught now, especially if he were caught whilst dwelling on the past.
He watched the two pass him by, his golden eyes calculating his next move.