[Art and story. Like a picture book, maybe, but he has such a specific name for it. She nods, interested, though holding her excitement. If they are truly child's books, that can't be a bad way to learn.]
You haven't talk me much about your fighting. [She prompts him, figuring that will be a worry in the back of Renoir's mind until he clarifies. Alicia remembers him describing his powers, but not... why they have them.]
[ Renoir's words give him pause. Unpopular decisions...well, he made one to charge in head first into battle on that train the first full moon operation. And while that worked out in the end, it probably wasn't the best decision. Maybe it wasn't a decision at all and more an impulse. Maybe he should actually spend more time thinking things through as Mizu had advised once before.
But he nods at the mention of graphical writing and before he can elaborate, Alicia's asking about his fighting. Oh. Usually Junpei wouldn't miss an opportunity to gloat and brag about what he and his team have to do, but he doesn't think that would be the best play right here. So, he turns to his pastry, picking at it. ]
Well, my world has a secret 25th hour of the day called The Dark Hour. It's when time stops and monsters we call Shadows come out to feed on people's consciousness, I guess you could say? Only people with my type of power can be awake during it. And me and my team, we're fighting to put an end to the Dark Hour and save our world.
[ Anywhere else, he would have elaborated and made this sound far grander but this is just the most generic version of things. Understated so Renoir doesn't think he's a braggart or something! ]
My power's called a Persona. Basically I can summon a part of me to battle and it takes the shape of Hermes. I could show you, but um....how I summon him might seem a little strange?
[The boy offers his explanation and he maintains a straight face. This information is absurd but his own world is strange - and his style of painting stranger. His works are full of symbolism and layered in multiple shades of meaning.
He says nothing while considering everything, passing no judgement as everything begins to digest.]
I imagine it no stranger than any other story.
[He breaks it down into something his daughter enjoys, demonstrating his love without words.]
[Junpei's explanation sounds like something out of a novel, wild and twisting and primed for a horror novel. She listens, enraptured. Fighting to save the world... Oh, just like the expeditioners. She remembers when she thought that was a romantic, hopeful notion.
She tries not to think about any unpleasant truths existing in his world, trying to stop him. She just nods.
And then looks at Renoir. (He'd be useful in a mission.) Might even be skilled enough to risk leaving her alone with him, right? After all, Alicia's hardy enough.]
cw: TALK OF P3 SUMMONING (whyyyy is this game like this lmao)
[ Junpei lets out a soft laugh. Well, it's....definitely a bit stranger than most of the stories Junpei's consumed so far. Then again, the movies and manga he was drawn toward possess a more childish notion of heroes and saving the day. The reality of his fight, while exciting, is something more akin to a horror movie with the coffins, shadows, and the means by which they gotta summon their persona. ]
It's true, though. Everyone here has got their own strange stories....to a point where it's not really strange at all, huh?
[ He scratches the side of his cheek. ]
But, um....to summon my persona, I use this tool called an Evoker. It kinda...looks like a gun? But it's not a gun. And I kinda gotta put it to my head and pull the trigger -- but it doesn't hurt!
[ A beat. ]
Much. I guess the reason it works like that is because when we face our own mortality, it helps us pull out a part of ourselves we wouldn't really be able to otherwise?
[Alicia does little but listen, nodding at spectacular and strange explanations, enraptured by every twist and turn. He recalls those golden years when she had colour and life; before the fire had drained every vibrant stroke. She was a hopeless romantic who had listened to their enemies because they could spin a good yarn.
He remembers this as truth and his heart recognises it as such, overloading with emotion that casts his gaze in her direction. The story this boy crafts might be the truth. But he has witnessed the destruction these stories can cause.
Not that he cannot appreciate the issue the boy speaks about. How much you are willing to sacrifice to protect those important to you. His demeanour feels heavy while he looks tenderly at his daughter, knowing he would sacrifice himself for her.]
[It's all very strange. A gun that isn't, mortality giving power. She's seen how impeding death can motivate people, but she's never heard of turning it into literal power. What would Expeditioners do with that power, she wonders?
She worries.]
We are far removed from mortality, and have lost something for it. [She glances at her father, giving a little head tilt to try and encourage him to say something reassuring to Junpei. Something... parental, even. Something wise.]
[ Right. That's what sets them apart, isn't it? Junpei looks between them, offering a faint smile and feeling uncertain. Maybe inept? Here he is, a dumb mortal boy explaining a power that forces one to face their own death each and every time...and these two are removed from it as Alicia says.
It's the 'lost something for it' part that makes his heart ache and fills him with some desire to help, even though he's entirely at a loss of what he could do. What he could possibly offer to two people who have likely seen it all? ]
How long have you been alive? Or is that kinda the thing you stop counting after a while?
[Because of their world, their existence is a blessing and a curse, depending who one asks. Their longevity is a gift that stops them being erased. But the minutiae of their lives are not something to share with this young man.
He catches his daughter's gaze and understands why she shares what should remain private. She wants to make friends. But he worries. So he offers what advice he can to her friend to make her happy.]
That is not the sort of question I find myself debating, monsieur. Life. Death. Neither matters more than the other. What matters is those with whom we spend our time.
[It's been a long time since Alicia actually tried to keep track of how many years it'd been. She watches the number on the monolith count down, every year, but tries not to think of what it means.
But she catches Papa's slight discomfort and the way he answers vaguely, but almost pointedly. Oh, he doesn't want people to know about it. Fine, fine. She'll tell Renoir later, maybe.
Time to change the subject.]
What art did you like most? [She leans forward a little bit, sipping her drink.] It's okay if you don't remember what it was called.
[ What matters most is with whom we spend our time. Junpei can't help the way his eyes drift to Alicia. Spending time with her had been an unexpected gift this world gave him -- meeting her, having stupid and silly fun, getting to have all these new experiences either because she showed him or because he got to see these things through the new lens of her reactions. If he can, he plans to fill the bulk of his days in Etraya with Alicia. So her father's words are something he can take to heart.
Although Alicia's follow up question strikes a mild fear in him...like he's being given an exam he didn't study for and he's totally going to fail it. There had been so much to take in and he's not sure he has a particular favorite. There is one that kind of stood out to him, though. ]
You mean I was supposed to pay attention to anything but you? Kidding!
[ He teases. Clearly Alicia is his favorite work of art!!! But he'll offer a serious answer (especially with her father right here.) ]
Ummm. That one with the raft? I keep thinking about it.
[ The Raft of the Medusa, he's referring to. ]
It really captured what they were going through.
[ He quickly finishes off the croissant so he doesn't have to keep talking, though. He's no artist. But he appreciates art....as a casual guy and not someone who's steeped in it like them. The longer he talks about it, the more he's worried he'll unintentionally offend them. ]
[He knows the artist was twenty seven when the work was painted. He knows the style. He understands from his perspective the emotion behind the piece.
It enters his mind this young boy might not comprehend the word in an artistic sense. His silence lasts for a moment before he asks another question after a statement.]
Individual pieces of intense emotion. These resonate with you?
[Junpei says that and she nearly chokes on her drink, coughing briefly in surprise. Maybe her cheeks are a bit flushed, darker grey instead of pink. She coughs, clears her throat, and doesn't look at her father.
Right. Um. Which was that.
Now she looks at Renoir with a dangerous eye. He better be nice to Junpei, because he's a novice in analyzing art but he's clearly trying. Alicia doesn't want Renoir to scare him off, the way Aline sometimes would scare Alicia off when she was little. (Or, those aren't quite her memories. She still feels them.)]
[ The romantics? Oh shit, is he being called out on his first comment to Alicia? Junpei has it in his mind to apologize, but just as he's swallowed his bite, Renoir clarifies. Oh. Ohhhh. And Junpei appreciates it. The way Renoir takes the time to explain. Patient. Not dismissive. Not calling him an idiot for not knowing.
A tiny smile creeps up on his lips and then he looks toward Alicia for a moment. The smile grows as he sees her exchanged glance with her father. It's nice to see this sort of relationship -- this teasing and clear love between a father and a child. Slowly, he nods to answer the question. ]
Yeah. It feels like they're trying to tell me something. Like they got something so strongly inside they gotta put to paint and get it out there. It kinda makes you wanna go back and take it all in so you can try to understand what they wanted you to know.
[ Junpei rubs the back of his neck with a quiet laugh. ]
Of course, I could be totally wrong! It's just what it made me feel when I looked at it.
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no subject
You haven't talk me much about your fighting. [She prompts him, figuring that will be a worry in the back of Renoir's mind until he clarifies. Alicia remembers him describing his powers, but not... why they have them.]
no subject
But he nods at the mention of graphical writing and before he can elaborate, Alicia's asking about his fighting. Oh. Usually Junpei wouldn't miss an opportunity to gloat and brag about what he and his team have to do, but he doesn't think that would be the best play right here. So, he turns to his pastry, picking at it. ]
Well, my world has a secret 25th hour of the day called The Dark Hour. It's when time stops and monsters we call Shadows come out to feed on people's consciousness, I guess you could say? Only people with my type of power can be awake during it. And me and my team, we're fighting to put an end to the Dark Hour and save our world.
[ Anywhere else, he would have elaborated and made this sound far grander but this is just the most generic version of things. Understated so Renoir doesn't think he's a braggart or something! ]
My power's called a Persona. Basically I can summon a part of me to battle and it takes the shape of Hermes. I could show you, but um....how I summon him might seem a little strange?
[ That's putting it lightly. ]
no subject
He says nothing while considering everything, passing no judgement as everything begins to digest.]
I imagine it no stranger than any other story.
[He breaks it down into something his daughter enjoys, demonstrating his love without words.]
no subject
She tries not to think about any unpleasant truths existing in his world, trying to stop him. She just nods.
And then looks at Renoir. (He'd be useful in a mission.) Might even be skilled enough to risk leaving her alone with him, right? After all, Alicia's hardy enough.]
cw: TALK OF P3 SUMMONING (whyyyy is this game like this lmao)
It's true, though. Everyone here has got their own strange stories....to a point where it's not really strange at all, huh?
[ He scratches the side of his cheek. ]
But, um....to summon my persona, I use this tool called an Evoker. It kinda...looks like a gun? But it's not a gun. And I kinda gotta put it to my head and pull the trigger -- but it doesn't hurt!
[ A beat. ]
Much. I guess the reason it works like that is because when we face our own mortality, it helps us pull out a part of ourselves we wouldn't really be able to otherwise?
no subject
He remembers this as truth and his heart recognises it as such, overloading with emotion that casts his gaze in her direction. The story this boy crafts might be the truth. But he has witnessed the destruction these stories can cause.
Not that he cannot appreciate the issue the boy speaks about. How much you are willing to sacrifice to protect those important to you. His demeanour feels heavy while he looks tenderly at his daughter, knowing he would sacrifice himself for her.]
no subject
She worries.]
We are far removed from mortality, and have lost something for it. [She glances at her father, giving a little head tilt to try and encourage him to say something reassuring to Junpei. Something... parental, even. Something wise.]
no subject
It's the 'lost something for it' part that makes his heart ache and fills him with some desire to help, even though he's entirely at a loss of what he could do. What he could possibly offer to two people who have likely seen it all? ]
How long have you been alive? Or is that kinda the thing you stop counting after a while?
no subject
He catches his daughter's gaze and understands why she shares what should remain private. She wants to make friends. But he worries. So he offers what advice he can to her friend to make her happy.]
That is not the sort of question I find myself debating, monsieur. Life. Death. Neither matters more than the other. What matters is those with whom we spend our time.
[And to do that, one needs to be alive.]
no subject
But she catches Papa's slight discomfort and the way he answers vaguely, but almost pointedly. Oh, he doesn't want people to know about it. Fine, fine. She'll tell Renoir later, maybe.
Time to change the subject.]
What art did you like most? [She leans forward a little bit, sipping her drink.] It's okay if you don't remember what it was called.
no subject
Although Alicia's follow up question strikes a mild fear in him...like he's being given an exam he didn't study for and he's totally going to fail it. There had been so much to take in and he's not sure he has a particular favorite. There is one that kind of stood out to him, though. ]
You mean I was supposed to pay attention to anything but you? Kidding!
[ He teases. Clearly Alicia is his favorite work of art!!! But he'll offer a serious answer (especially with her father right here.) ]
Ummm. That one with the raft? I keep thinking about it.
[ The Raft of the Medusa, he's referring to. ]
It really captured what they were going through.
[ He quickly finishes off the croissant so he doesn't have to keep talking, though. He's no artist. But he appreciates art....as a casual guy and not someone who's steeped in it like them. The longer he talks about it, the more he's worried he'll unintentionally offend them. ]
no subject
[He knows the artist was twenty seven when the work was painted. He knows the style. He understands from his perspective the emotion behind the piece.
It enters his mind this young boy might not comprehend the word in an artistic sense. His silence lasts for a moment before he asks another question after a statement.]
Individual pieces of intense emotion. These resonate with you?
no subject
Right. Um. Which was that.
Now she looks at Renoir with a dangerous eye. He better be nice to Junpei, because he's a novice in analyzing art but he's clearly trying. Alicia doesn't want Renoir to scare him off, the way Aline sometimes would scare Alicia off when she was little. (Or, those aren't quite her memories. She still feels them.)]
no subject
A tiny smile creeps up on his lips and then he looks toward Alicia for a moment. The smile grows as he sees her exchanged glance with her father. It's nice to see this sort of relationship -- this teasing and clear love between a father and a child. Slowly, he nods to answer the question. ]
Yeah. It feels like they're trying to tell me something. Like they got something so strongly inside they gotta put to paint and get it out there. It kinda makes you wanna go back and take it all in so you can try to understand what they wanted you to know.
[ Junpei rubs the back of his neck with a quiet laugh. ]
Of course, I could be totally wrong! It's just what it made me feel when I looked at it.