entranceway | [video]

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[video]

[If she could have, Hazel would avoid video. But the question had been nagging her ever since she woke up again. After...dying. Again. Only this time, it had been different. Her spirit hadn't gone to the Judgement Pavilion. Nor had she been sent back to the Fields of Asphodel. She's simply...remained. Incorporeal, but very much aware of what was going around her.]

[It was strange. Even by her standards.]

People told me that we could...come back. [The most delicate way of coming out and saying oh by the way I kind of died.] But I still don't understand how it happened.

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...oh.

[She relaxed a fraction, if only because that made slightly more sense to her. Sadly enough.]

That's not too different from anywhere else. I guess.

At least here it's not permanent, I guess.

[Still dang unpleasant, though.]

I...guess.

[She actually had to stop herself from making a different comment altogether.]

Better than the alternative. Although I'd rather not die at all.

What's the alternative where you're from?

[He just slips that in there all casual-like.]

You mean dying and staying dead?

Yeah. What happens to people?

They go to the Underworld.

[She wasn't entirely sure where he was going with this, but she was beginning to suspect.]

But which underworld?

What do you mean, which underworld?

Most cultures have some version of the underworld in their mythology, right? Which one is the one you're talking about?

[Or which one is closest to it.]

Does it matter?

I guess it doesn't. I was just curious. I've been to the underworld where I come from--or somewhere a lot like it.

[Well that--]

[Her lips parted in genuine surprise. Of all the reasons for somebody to be asking her, it really should have dawned on her that there were other people who had been there as well.]

Was it...ruled by Hades or Pluto?

[Souji shakes his head. He still isn't completely sure that where he went was actually Yomi, but it might as well have been. He's also not totally sure that he died there, but it certainly felt like it.]

I don't think Yomi really has a ruler.

I've...never heard of that name before.

It's Japanese. It's the underworld where Izanami, one of the creators of the world, went after she died.

[That would explain it. She had a couple languages under her belt, as did most of her friends, but none of them spoke Japanese. As far as she knew.]

None of that sounds familiar.

Back home, it was...Ancient Roman. Or Greek.

[Give or take a few subtle variations, they were basically two sides of the same coin.]

[Souji's gaze drifts to the side as he does the mental equivalent of shuffling through a deck of cards.]

I know the basics of their mythology. [Not as much as others, though. At the moment, he can't recall many or any Greek or Roman figures among his Personas.]

Most people do.

[Even in her time, mythology stories had been taught as a form of literature. But not much more. People forgot. No longer believed in the gods and goddesses that still existed right under their very noses. Not until they met one face-to-face.]

[And...well...]

[That was how Hazel and many of her friends were born.]

[Souji smiles a little.]

If you want, I can tell you about Japanese mythology some time. There are some interesting similarities.

[She returned it. Some of the nervousness had evaporated, now that she had a better idea of his motives.]

I'd like that.

Maybe I could tell you a few stories in return.

[Souji can be pretty nosy, but he's not doing it to make people uncomfortable or because he wants something to hold over them. He just pries. That's how he rolls.]

I'll look forward to it then.

[A beat.]

My name's Souji.

Mine's Hazel

It's nice to meet you. I'll see you around, Hazel.

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