IC Contact: Recollé

[notyourutopian]

Eleanor Lamb

Hello you've reached Eleanor Lamb's voicemail. I'd explain what's next but I can't imagine you don't know what to do at the beep.

VOICE | TEXT | VIDEO | ACTION

Comments

[burningblossoms]

I don't know what she is, exactly. But it doesn't feel right calling her a guardian angel.

[A sigh, and she turns down another road.]

I remember them being called Personas, though. I don't know what they are, but that's the name.

[notyourutopian]

Personas. [Eleanor was just repeating everything tonight, wasn't she. She was trying the word though, it felt familiar, really, but mostly because she was pretty sure she'd read it somewhere.]

That's like...a mask? Like with actors when they're in character?

[burningblossoms]

It's...yes that's what the word means literally but I don't know what it means in this context. It's...a psychological theory about the masks people wear to hide themselves.

[Which is weird. But yeah she's just a high schooler.]

[notyourutopian]

Right.

[Eleanor frowns faintly, but not at Yukiko, just out the window, then shakes her head.]

So...okay, I'm confused. What exactly is it?

[burningblossoms]

It's something I can summon. Something I want to show you.

[notyourutopian]

...Well, alright. [Another little laugh.] So drive faster I want to see.

[burningblossoms]

I'm already going twenty over the speed limit but we're almost there gosh.

[VROOM VROOM]

[notyourutopian]

[And then, magically, they were there!]

Speeding is a victimless crime.

[burningblossoms]

Yeah well...

[Turning off the car, she steps out into the evening and starts off down the beach, expecting Eleanor to follow.]

We're not far. I've been practicing alone or with Souji around here, so none of the Sleepers freak out.

[notyourutopian]

[Eleanor slid out of the car as well, stopping long enough to grab her backpack before she headed out onto the sand with Yukiko.]

Is that what we're calling them now? Sleepers?

[burningblossoms]

That's what Yosuke and I started calling them. It seems to fit, since they feel like they are missing a part of themselves. Or are kind of dreaming, if they think Chocobos are normal.

[Yep.]

[notyourutopian]

...I guess it fits. It's better than anything I could come up with.

[As they got closer to the water, Eleanor slowed, her attention shifting to look out over the sea itself. Hm.]

[burningblossoms]

Mmm.

[Her steps slow when Eleanor looks at the sea, but she says nothing yet, just letting her friend consider it.]

[notyourutopian]

[Eleanor had stopped before she realized it, just looking at the water, and she suddenly pulled herself out of it with a little shake of her head and hurried to catch up.]

Sorry. It's just...kind of weird about the ocean now, I guess.

[burningblossoms]

Mm. With the whole...undersea lab, thing.

[She walks over and puts a hand on Eleanor's shoulder.]

I think that sounds really interesting, you know.

[notyourutopian]

I'm not sure lab is the right word. It really felt like something bigger. Like a...whole city.

[She smiled faintly at the touch.]

It does, right? Like something out of a sci-fi movie.

[burningblossoms]

[Sliding up behind her friend, she turned the touch into a full on hug from behind.]

Yeah. It does, kind of. The Depths or something. But it's still cool.

[notyourutopian]

[Eleanor let out a long breath as Yukiko hugged her, watching the water. There was something so familiar about this, being with someone she trusted, looking out over the ocean...Mm.]

Anyway. [She laughed softly, hugging Yukiko's arms with hers.]

I can't just dwell all the time. And I want to see this sun goddess of yours.

[burningblossoms]

[Yukiko nods and slowly slides back, starting off at a quick trot, leading the way in silence to a patch of trees that border the sand.

She slips inside and waves around the copse, showing burned ground and flecks of flame-cracked stone off to one side. There's also slice-marks in trees and other signs of training.]

This is where I've been practicing. And where some other stuff has happened. You ready?

[notyourutopian]

Wow. [Eleanor walked to the center of the clearing, looking around slowly.]

Makes my targets feel kind of silly.

[She said with a little laugh, swingign her back off her shoulder and setting it down by a tree.]

[burningblossoms]

I had some time to really set this place up. And...help.

[She winces, looking a little uncomfortable, but that fades quickly enough when Eleanor actually sits down.]

Alright. Here we go.

[The moment awaits. Yukiko holds out her right hand, blue flames beginning to ripple down her arm and coalesce into the form of a floating rectangle a little bigger than a playing card. It seems to solidify for a half second...]

Come Forth! Sumeo-Okami!

[Her fingers close, crushing the card. The air ripples with unseen energy and the sound of glass breaking shatters the silence...and behind Yukiko appears something. A figure made of golden metal, feminine, with no facial features beyond the ridge of eyebrows and nose. Her right hand holds an enormous katana, and her left grips it's matched set. The winglike arms, set with jewels, fold around Yukiko like a shield and there's a distinct pressure in the clearing as the Persona studies Eleanor with an eyeless gaze.]

I told you she was real.

[notyourutopian]

[Eleanor filed away the help comment to be nosy about later, settling on the grass, but only for a moment, standing up again as Yukiko began to concentrate and that...blue fire appeared. Blue fire and a...card...?]

[When in the...]

[She had just straightened up when the woman suddenly appeared, tall and well armed and faceless and Eleanor nearly fell back to the ground in surprise, only saved by her body going rigid for a moment at all those swords.]

Bloody hell!

[The exclamation was out before she realized it, her eyes wide as she forced herself to relax a bit, enough that she could move a little closer, staring up at the faceless woman. She hadn't expected...well. She didn't know what she had expected, frankly. Not this? Maybe not anything? Had she really believed Yukiko or had she been humoring her? Well...it hardly mattered now, did it...]

That's...uh. I mean. She's ...uh. [Another pause. And then, quietly.] Bloody hell, Yukiko.

[burningblossoms]

[The Persona flits across the space between Yukiko and Eleanor, hovering above her and watching, head tilted to one side in a birdlike fashion. The blades come no closer and with a flash of light they vanish, leaving the scent of chrysanthemums. Yukiko crosses the space between them and smiles almost slyly before gesturing to the being.]

I told you. I wasn't making her up.

[She knew damn well what you were thinking, Eleanor. Ever the skeptic, but not her. She was more willing to accept magic...]

[notyourutopian]

I believed you.

[Or she thought she had, anyway. Maybe believing was different from seeing, in a way. Still. She couldn't help but just keep staring at the floating golden woman. At least the term 'goddess' seemed appropriate, even if it was clearly completely not.]

She's...beautiful.

[Eleanor finally managed.]

[burningblossoms]

You didn't, but I never held it against you. You're a skeptic.

[Rather matter of factly, she looks Eleanor up and down with that same placid smile.]

She's certainly that. I...wish I knew what she really was, but she's definitely a part of me. As much as my heart, or my liver. I'm just not sure why I can call her out.