Seeker of Truth

(( RP blog for Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4. This blog is Pokemon AU, but I'm willing to RP canon upon request. ))

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

[defenderofparis]

"What color is your hair?" It would probably be best to ask before proceeding.

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

"I'm... unsure why you're asking when you're looking at me. My hair is black."

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

"Honestly, you'd be surprised how often criminals consciously are the cause of their own arrest. I remember a particular string of burglaries I investigated years ago where the culprit called the local department after noticing a case of Pokemon abuse in the house he broke into. He made headlines for that."

[defenderofparis]

killjoy-sleuth

adaptablewarrior

lavendertownsleuth

"Is cool colored hair becoming a trend?"

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

"Oh? I'm not sure. My hair isn't dyed."

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

"Has it managed to become even louder here?"

[voleur-du-louvre-archive-blog]

     Smooth, indeed. Very smooth there, Naoto. Still, go figure there would be another private detective roaming around. There was never a shortage of them and you were just one scrawny magnet for law enforcement. Still, hardly see this Naoto Shi—Okay, wow, no. We are not trying to say that name. Forget that. Had your movements not been so restricted by the stitches in your side, you may of just roped your way right on down. Well, you’ll have to get down sooner or later, but Phantom R had an image. And that image was not huffing in pain while getting back on the street.

          ♪ ❞Naoto, huh? That’s enough alone to tell me you’re not from around here—not that, again, I’m shocked. Tourism, all that. Detective, though. Can’t imagine what dragged you all the way out to Paris.”

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

She had anticipated a bit more of a reaction from him at finding out her occupation. Not that he had any real reason to worry about her presence. Not only was she not from here, but she hadn't been invited to his case. Unlike a certain someone, she was a real detective. She didn't pick cases to grow a huge, unworldly attachment to, or any sort of attachment, since it was so unprofessional. Well, most of the time. Anyway, compared to things she'd seen, his crimes were petty.

"That's something I'd like to know myself. My assistance was requested in another city, but this was where I found myself. I'm not exactly here on vacation."

[too-much-green]

A cleaned up, more printing-friendly version of an old OLD piece. Recycling because I’m running out of time orz

I’ll be selling this along with other prints at AX.

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

"I remember a time when meeting multiple versions of a single individual would have been alarming, but this seems much different." No kidding. No one was dying.

[voleur-du-louvre-archive-blog]

    Except, y’know, you weren’t the same Phantom she knew—not that you knew any different. Clearly people were slowly, but surely, learning how to pick you from the crowd when you donned your suit. Or, that’s really how you saw it. It really didn’t matter how someone knew who you were when they did, did it?

          ♪ ❞I wish I could say it wasn’t that easy, but it is.”

     Rather unfortunately so, you would admit to none but yourself. It spoke so poorly of your city when a criminal—harmless or not—could more or less do as he pleased. Suit or civilian clothing, you could slip through the cracks relatively unnoticed; except you didn’t like to stay quite so quiet about your heists. You were either giving the constabulary a chance to arrest you, or subtly laugh in their face when you would get away.

          ♪ ❞You know something? I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before, not that I’m shocked about that. Who do I owe the pleasure to, anyway?”

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

Somehow she wasn't surprised to find out that he had no trouble voiding being caught, even if he did make himself rather obvious. It had taken Lumiose officers ages to get him off the streets, and that was with the Pokemon she had noticed this place lacked. If they truly mirrored that city of lights, well, it wasn't shocking they had equally incapable constables.

What had, if only for one brief moment, surprised her was that this wasn't the Phantom R she had met before. However, that was only for a second, and she quickly realized that she had wandered into yet another mirror world. Just how many alternate planes of reality existed, anyhow? And how many would she find herself in before all was said and done? It was really a troubling matter.

"I should have introduced myself sooner. I'm Naoto Shirogane, a private detective from-- Well, not here."

Smooth.

[fantomedulouvre-blog]

     New form of entertainment? Gee, wasn’t that just easy for them to tell you what to do! Any old person could just find something else to keep themselves preoccupied but you? You couldn’t just waltz your merry way out of the museum and find something else. Boredom was never easily cured, and being locked inside your metaphorical prison only increased your reckless tendencies.

          ♭ ❞And what d’you suppose I do then?”

          ♭ ❞I ain’t gonna stop just ‘cause you think I should or anything. Not gonna sit and twiddle my thumbs for the rest of forever either, bud. You try bein’ dead and tell me how that works out for you went you cant’ do nothin’ else.”

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

That had been the sort of reaction she had anticipated, really. It did appear that he was bound to this place, if he had no alternative but to move things around or simply do nothing. Of course he wouldn't want to give it up. But, see, this was problematic, because even if she said a Pokemon was behind this, if he persisted, that would not hold up.

"Have you tried passing the time with that 'nutty man' DaVinci? After all, there may be more than one ghost in this museum."

"Alternatively, I could request to return tomorrow for further investigation and leave a few books for you."

They'd last at least a little while. Long enough to make it seem that perhaps a different ghost-type had made its way in, hopefully.

[clivies]

naoto in a forest with some weird animal

[voleur-du-louvre-archive-blog]

    Look out below. Looks like you got a source of entertainment long at last. Boy, making bird calls was meant to attract birds, but all you ever got were detectives. Or, people who carried guns. Well, hopefully this time—unlike the last—you wouldn’t end up in the hospital again. Good Lord, can we not have a repeat of that mishap? That sounded great.

     Instead of making your way to the street, you kept yourself on the fire escape with your arms folded over its railing. You shifted your weight about your feet and settled your chin into the palm of your hand and the question arose briefly—who on earth was this Sherlock of yours? Certainly not a Parisian, not with that dialect rolling off her tongue. Curious as you were, you remained unwilling to budge from your little perch.

          ♪ ❞I wouldn’t say it’s too hard when you’re trying to find one person in a city as large as Paris. It’s easy to hide.”

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

It was a good thing Phatom R had kept that thought to himself about his source of entertainment arriving. There was no doubt it wouldn't be something Naoto would like to hear. She didn't much appreciate others seeing her as a way to amuse themselves. However, he was certainly safer around her than his previous company. She was less likely to draw her gun.

The detective would take a step back though, in order to get a better look at him. After her last meeting with him, she'd think that he wouldn't be so quick to climb up somewhere so high if it could be helped. Although, he did tell her he'd show her his perfected landing next time, didn't he? Some people never learn. Truthfully, she couldn't say much about it. It wasn't as if she had never been incredibly reckless before herself.

"Perhaps, but you don't appear to know how hiding in plain sight works. Assuming they know how to cover enough ground here, it wouldn't be hard to find a boy making bird calls in the fire escapes."

[lebruitpensant-blog]

Naoto Shirogane? That explained the strange accent- though she had been looking for that Lumiose City in another world, her voice had definitively the pecks of a mixed Japanese one, of location unknown. Not like he would attempt to retell it, in his own French accent, for it sounded too complicated for his flat tongue to pronounce, even by Japanese names’ standards- and knowing the affluence of tourists from the land of the rising sun, he started to have a collection of it. And not one single heist on sight! But she would be spared- she sounded far too sturdy to give him an opportunity to do so, and he had been in the middle of another chase anyway. So he just bowed lightly, just low enough to feel his hurt side complaining: “My pleasure. I’m Phantom R.”

Well, he did not know either how helpful that advice would be, but that was the sole one he got; the rest of her comment, however, would be drowned in his laughter. “Merci! Thank you! I’m sorry I can’t be of more help, but if you need a guide around Paris one of those days, you know who to call. I don’t look like it, but I know that city on the back of my hand!”

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

"Phantom R?" Ah, now that had gotten her attention. She'd heard quite a bit about the thief from those she worked with at the Lumiose Constabulary every now and then. One of those things she had heard, and one thing she was not at liberty to speak of outside of the workplace, was that said thief had been caught. Now, this could mean a few things. People, as well as places, could be mirrored here with a few inconsistencies, showing this truly was an alternate world as she believed. Alternatively, he could be an impostor, as she'd seen one or two while working. As strange as her situation was, it was more and more interesting by the moment.

"No, you've been very helpful. I appreciate it. And I'll keep that in mind if I ever find myself in Paris again." Although, it wasn't likely she'd find him very easily either. Even those whose job it was to track him down seemed to struggle. "It's been a pleasure, and thank you for your assistance."

[voleur-du-louvre-archive-blog]

          ♪ ❞—Ca-caw.”

     Raphael Sauveterre, do you not remember what happened the last time you decided to do this? Obviously not. So much for being Phantom R, the renowned slacker, tonight. Let’s hope you don’t get shot again.

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

Is this guy for real? Making bird noises in the middle of the night? Was he easily amused or just a moron? Even from her place on the ground, it was't hard to recognize the boy as Phantom R, and seeing him like this made her curious about something.

"I'm beginning to wonder how the constabulary hasn't caught you yet."

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

"It's going to be a busy night, and an early morning tomorrow." She sighed, dreading the experience already. "I may as well call it an all-nighter. I'll hardly have time for sleep anyhow."

[lebruitpensant-blog]

Trust his sorry smile that if he knew how to get to Lumiose, he would try to help; but he did not, and it was proven before that just mimicking his way to the center of the city through the mirrored Paris was not enough. And he effectively had other business to attend to, as he planned before he found that irritating private eye on his way- though that incident and the fact that he lost his partner in his fall put quite a delay in his daily scouting- surely she noticed, judging from that slight amusement that was the first positive emotion she displayed for him. Still, he knew that going back on her tracks would probably not help either, as he tried himself many times when it was his turn to get lost in unknown locations- in fact, there was no sure way to return to one’s world, it seemed, it depended of some astral playfulness, that running around was as effective as sitting on a bench.

“If I can only give you one advice,” he trailed off, as he did not ask for her name yet. Not that he had time to in those strange circumstances, but still, he marked a pause to signal it, then went on: “Maybe you’ll find your way near the Tour Eiffel here. Just a hunch. It should be like, how is it called again… The Prisme? Prism Tower?”

[lavendertownsleuth-blog]

The Tour Eiffel, huh? A tower that was similar to the Prism Tower in Lumiose City? Unless he was thinking something along the lines of what she was thinking, then it wouldn't make any sense for that tower to be any help in locating Kalos' famous city of lights. If he was, then she believed she knew what he was getting at. This place, Paris, was perhaps a mirror of the more familiar city she had been in previously? That would explain a few things she had taken notice of after realizing that her surroundings had changed. At the same time, perhaps she was getting ahead of herself here. She'd need to gather a bit more information before theorizing an explanation behind this madness. Hopefully, she'd find just that if she followed his advice, and a way back to where she belonged on top of it.

"Naoto Shirogane." She spoke, assuming that his pause was due to not knowing her name. Under normal circumstances, she would have introduced herself sooner. However, this was hardly a normal situation. "Thank you. I'll take that advice to heart. Good luck on perfecting your landing."