Cutscene: White Pixie Reflection
The Dark Hour, while always giving her a slight feeling of being alive as her awareness was shot through the roof still left Himeru drained as if it had been a two hour walk, even with no Shadow encounter to speak of. If anything, it generally led to a very calm and deep night of sleep shortly after.
She did not expect once her mind drifted to what she believed to be unconsciousness to find herself again in company of that strange short man and young woman in blue for a second time. She moved among the mess in the small bedroom, recognising some discarded memento trying to slip out of the boxes within her own mind, all the boxes marked with a simple sticker: Incinerate well visible on all of their sides and yet they had yet to be disposed of. She barely gives them more than a momentary look before sitting down on that familiar and well worn desk chair.
"We meet again, my dear." rolls out the long-nosed man, "Your power seems to have grown since our first meeting, and your meetings have brought many things, delaying that very purging of the old you've been wishing for. As the new year approaches, allow me a reading, to see your path with greater clarity." asks Igor, to which Himeru only replies in a terse demand, "Do as you wish."
Cards dance in deft hands, "A simple reading, of your past, present and future...hmmm..." cards are placed on her desk, the worn lamp illuminating the three cards. "Interesting." he calls out, in a tone holding enough allure to bring the young girl to shuffle closer and see for herself.
"The past. The four of rods, reversed. You focused very hard on the big picture, worked tirelessly toward a goal. But that desire clouded your vision of the things around you, to appreciate what you had, and what you were. You had chosen to try and follow the expectations of others at the cost of your happyness, yes?" Igor' smile widens, as the glare shot from the young girl was all the confirmation he ever needed, not that he wished to know such things but rather make sure she was aware of it herself.
"The present: The Devil. You restrain yourself, hold back from seeking what your heart truly yearns for because you see the future holding only dark times. That what you may grow to love will be snatched away once more. Yet temptation hovers within your senses all the same, with only yourself as your own jail, my dear." A brief exchange of glances, as the young guest showed neither anger or denial, simply looking right back in the reader's eyes.
Igor motions to the third card, "And finally, the future is held in the Knight of Swords. A card of eagerness, of honesty. You may release yourself from your confinement, from what chains that suffocate the true You and prevent you from using the full power of your emotions. There is no reason to fear the conflicts that will arise from it, allow yourself to experience fully, trusting those around you to support you."
The cards are put away, as a deafening silence fills the room before Himeru says in a tone of honest fear: "I don't know if I can."
"I know, and that is why I will entrust you with this." gently replies the strange man, placing a card face down on the wooden surface and pushing it forward for her to take. A glance at the card before Himeru tentatively reaches for it, picking it up and looking at what is drawn on the surface. A familiar 'demon', one she destroyed with her own hands before. Those delicate-seeming wings, that childish smile, a Pixie. And when that realisation hits her mind, the card shatters in a dozen glass fragments as if the image punched it's way out, yet came out changed.
Himeru found herself staring at a glasses-wearing floating nymph in what seemed to be a full body exoskeleton armor heavily inspired from a certain book from a certain baseball loving Itoh girl, holding her glasses still with her left hand with a gesture all too familiar to the blackhaired girl and a shotgun in the right, the weapon held against the shoulder. "I'm you, you're me, you know the drill." calmly states the hovering Persona, "Call me if you need me. Let's make things right together."
A moment passes after the M9 Glasses-Custom Pixie vanishes into nothingness, Himeru staring blankly at the spot it was before her gaze sets back upon the man who gave her such a 'gift'. He likely knew, she thought, and no further is exchanged on the matter. "Thank you."
"Until we meet again." Igor offers back, words sufficient for Himeru to take her leave.
