[He nods. The collective unconscious seems to be popping up a lot. He leaned his chin on his hand as he thought about it for a few more seconds. Izanami mentioned something like it, that the fog and the castles that had been built within were all because of what everyone else perceived about whomever was on the Midnight Channel.]
Well, before Rise, he was our navigator. At first, he was just there to shove us out of the TV World. While partner had the ability to go in from the get-go, none of us to get out. That's where Teddie came in. He thought we were the ones shoving people into the TV but once he got him to believe that we were innocent and wanted to solve who was doing it, we struck a deal with him. He'd help us navigate the area and also gave us glasses to see through the fog inside and we'd help him make his world peaceful again.
[It was here he pulled out the glasses in question. He had a feeling they'd come up at some point. They didn't look like anything special, just a normal pair of orange-framed glasses.]
I've seen Joker's outfit, same with Panther's and Skull's. It's not much, but these glasses helped us in the TV world like your guys' outfits in the Metaverse, I gathered.
[A part of her expected that, and was resigned that the reality of Prismatica was actually real. Still, she reaches and touches the glasses tenderly. She rotates them and gives them a closer inspection. Outwardly they looked like normal glasses, but could they perhaps be some sort of metaphysical manifestation like her costume?]
[She puts them on, and sure enough, they only look like regular, non-prescription glasses.]
[She looks at Yosuke... the orange color not really agreeing with her at all.]
These are incredible. [No, not for their complete inability to see through anything.] Even our outfits and masks would disappear outside the metaverse. Your Teddie must have been a really powerful shadow in order for these to maintain their form. They look and feel real.
[He couldn't help the soft snort of a laugh. No, orange really wasn't her color. She would probably look better in Naoto's. She seemed to work cooler colors better than warm, in his opinion.]
That's because they are real. He didn't make them out of thin air. I never saw the process or how he worked fast, but he makes them in the literal sense. When the fog spilled over onto our side during the winter, they were definitely a boon.
[While normally he'd deny that Teddie was a powerful anything, he didn't this time because that would be a lie. After all, what Shadow grew themselves a body? Formed an ego? Had a Persona of their own?
[She notes the smile, which make her share one of her own. She gingerly takes off the glasses, neatly folding them together before returning them to Yosuke.]
So, it sounds like Teddie allied with you pretty quickly. However, er... Partner? Kingpin? [Yes, that last one makes the most sense for her...] Kingpin did not absorb him into his mask? The way you make him sound he was a distinct and separate individual to everyone. Like he was an... ally, or even a friend.
Ah, sorry, I call him Partner all the time and he said I still could while he uses the Kingpin name for everyone else. [Look, he's just really set in his ways when it comes to Souji. He takes the glasses as he speaks.] Well, yeah, that's because he is.
A friend, I mean. He's all those things. There's no... uh, mask for him to be absorbed into? Partner doesn't do that with the Shadows. We all just destroy them.
[He scratches his cheek lightly in thought with the edge of his glasses, but then he pockets them and rests his elbows on the table.]
Is that what Joker does? He absorbs Shadows? What for?
I don't fully understand the exact metaphysics, but how it seems to work is that we talk to shadows to gain their compliance. [At gunpoint.] In some instances the shadow offers to lend Joker their strength. When he accepts this, the shadow gets absorbed into his mask and becomes another Persona for him to draw on.
We did destroy most of the shadows we encountered, but on occasion we would simply let them go.
Huh. [He frowns a bit, leaning back to cross his arms in thought.] The Shadows in the TV World didn't become Partner's persona. Like, ever. They didn't talk, either.
I'm actually not entirely sure how he got his Personas, I never really thought to ask since he's kind of a special case in general compared to all of us.
[He straightened, realizing something.]
No, okay, scratch that. Some Shadows became Personas. [He looked a little uncomfortable here.] Our Shadows did. Everyone but Partner.
Oh! You all met your shadow and, confronting something about yourself that you were suppressing, you accepted your will of rebellion and acquired your Persona. Am I wrong?
[Either someone already mentioned it to her or someone had experience on her end, since the last part she got wrong.]
There was not rebelling involved. What we were suppressing wasn't something that we were rebelling against. It was literally facing ourselves, the ugly and negative part of ourselves that we kept hidden away to the point that we didn't want to believe it existed.
[Her gaze drifts to one particular Shadow that she happened to encounter. Her hands clench the hem of her skirt and she shifts uncomfortably for a while.]
That must have been very challenging. Did everyone in your group do this as well? Face their Shadow?
Except Partner, he had a Persona and was able to get into the TV World from the get-go, like I said. It's kind of a long story and probably something he could better explain than I can.
That's curious. Everyone in our group had to face their inner spirit of rebellion...
[Wait...]
...except Mona. As it turned out he had special circumstances. I hope you may forgive me for doing so, but I feel like I should let him explain that should he ever arrive.
[She... realizes that may make asking about Teddie a little awkward.] I'd understand if you would like to stop answering my questions about Teddie. I do have a few more I'd like to ask.
[It's just something that he feels Souji could better explain than he could.]
No, it's fine. Teddie kind of found out things about himself at the same time we did, so I don't think he'd mind if I answered your question.
[Actually, Teddie would mind but that was more because Yosuke was sure he'd yell at Yosuke for probably not telling her how handsome he was or something ridiculous like that.]
Something I always found interesting about shadows is that they reflected repressed emotions or experiences that were buried away with someone. I would imagine this is why many of the shadows that we encountered had such a negative reaction to humanity, because they saw other Persona users as enemies or were themselves fragments of naked hostility.
That being said, it sounds to me like your Teddie was in stark contrast to that. That somehow he expressed repressed kindness and generosity. From how you described him, he had some serious concerns about your safety... or perhaps he was simply trying to protect his metaspace and was "pushy." Regardless, he did not seem to view humans as hostile, and was even helpful on multiple occasions.
This may be an impossible question to answer, but do you think that might be the case? That he was somehow a reflection of humanity's desire to be good?
[He looked down at the table in thought, a hand to his chin.]
But the TV World was apparently really peaceful before, according to him. And that the Shadows weren't always so hostile, not until the fog happened anyway. Once that all cleared up, supposedly all the Shadows would be calm again or something? It was a really pretty place once it went back to normal, anyway.
Then again... He's also the only Shadow I've seen who looks like him. The Shadows are normally pretty gross looking and sounding. He just looks like a mascot you'd find at a store, you know?
There's honestly a lot about the TV World that I don't think we'll ever fully understand, Teddie is part of that. [This was something he wasn't sure he should mention, but his lips thinned to a line as he sighed through his nose.] The thing is... he's a Shadow who had a Shadow much like we did. He gained his Persona through that as well. Everything about him is like an exception to the rule when it comes to how all this stuff works.
So it's hard to figure out if he's really just some kind of anomaly or if he's, as you're proposing, some sort of reflection on humanity.
Yeah, we learned that a long time ago. It sounds concerning when telling people he's a Shadow but I promise, it's mostly harmless. If he ever does show up, the only thing I would really need to warn you about is that he's an impossible flirt.
[He actually didn't have too many photos of Teddie on his old phone and he didn't transfer any of it to his new device yet. So he pulled out the group photo that they all had a copy of and pointed to Teddie.]
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Well, before Rise, he was our navigator. At first, he was just there to shove us out of the TV World. While partner had the ability to go in from the get-go, none of us to get out. That's where Teddie came in. He thought we were the ones shoving people into the TV but once he got him to believe that we were innocent and wanted to solve who was doing it, we struck a deal with him. He'd help us navigate the area and also gave us glasses to see through the fog inside and we'd help him make his world peaceful again.
[It was here he pulled out the glasses in question. He had a feeling they'd come up at some point. They didn't look like anything special, just a normal pair of orange-framed glasses.]
I've seen Joker's outfit, same with Panther's and Skull's. It's not much, but these glasses helped us in the TV world like your guys' outfits in the Metaverse, I gathered.
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And you said he made them? May I try them on?
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Exactly.
[He handed them to her.]
Sure, they won't do much out here though. There's no fog or anything like that.
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[She puts them on, and sure enough, they only look like regular, non-prescription glasses.]
[She looks at Yosuke... the orange color not really agreeing with her at all.]
These are incredible. [No, not for their complete inability to see through anything.] Even our outfits and masks would disappear outside the metaverse. Your Teddie must have been a really powerful shadow in order for these to maintain their form. They look and feel real.
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That's because they are real. He didn't make them out of thin air. I never saw the process or how he worked fast, but he makes them in the literal sense. When the fog spilled over onto our side during the winter, they were definitely a boon.
[While normally he'd deny that Teddie was a powerful anything, he didn't this time because that would be a lie. After all, what Shadow grew themselves a body? Formed an ego? Had a Persona of their own?
His smile turns fond.]
He's definitely something, I'll give you that.
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So, it sounds like Teddie allied with you pretty quickly. However, er... Partner? Kingpin? [Yes, that last one makes the most sense for her...] Kingpin did not absorb him into his mask? The way you make him sound he was a distinct and separate individual to everyone. Like he was an... ally, or even a friend.
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A friend, I mean. He's all those things. There's no... uh, mask for him to be absorbed into? Partner doesn't do that with the Shadows. We all just destroy them.
[He scratches his cheek lightly in thought with the edge of his glasses, but then he pockets them and rests his elbows on the table.]
Is that what Joker does? He absorbs Shadows? What for?
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We did destroy most of the shadows we encountered, but on occasion we would simply let them go.
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I'm actually not entirely sure how he got his Personas, I never really thought to ask since he's kind of a special case in general compared to all of us.
[He straightened, realizing something.]
No, okay, scratch that. Some Shadows became Personas. [He looked a little uncomfortable here.] Our Shadows did. Everyone but Partner.
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[It was how Oracle acquired hers, after all.]
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[Either someone already mentioned it to her or someone had experience on her end, since the last part she got wrong.]
There was not rebelling involved. What we were suppressing wasn't something that we were rebelling against. It was literally facing ourselves, the ugly and negative part of ourselves that we kept hidden away to the point that we didn't want to believe it existed.
Accepting the truth, as it were.
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[Her gaze drifts to one particular Shadow that she happened to encounter. Her hands clench the hem of her skirt and she shifts uncomfortably for a while.]
That must have been very challenging. Did everyone in your group do this as well? Face their Shadow?
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Yeah.
Except Partner, he had a Persona and was able to get into the TV World from the get-go, like I said. It's kind of a long story and probably something he could better explain than I can.
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[Wait...]
...except Mona. As it turned out he had special circumstances. I hope you may forgive me for doing so, but I feel like I should let him explain that should he ever arrive.
[She... realizes that may make asking about Teddie a little awkward.] I'd understand if you would like to stop answering my questions about Teddie. I do have a few more I'd like to ask.
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[It's just something that he feels Souji could better explain than he could.]
No, it's fine. Teddie kind of found out things about himself at the same time we did, so I don't think he'd mind if I answered your question.
[Actually, Teddie would mind but that was more because Yosuke was sure he'd yell at Yosuke for probably not telling her how handsome he was or something ridiculous like that.]
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That being said, it sounds to me like your Teddie was in stark contrast to that. That somehow he expressed repressed kindness and generosity. From how you described him, he had some serious concerns about your safety... or perhaps he was simply trying to protect his metaspace and was "pushy." Regardless, he did not seem to view humans as hostile, and was even helpful on multiple occasions.
This may be an impossible question to answer, but do you think that might be the case? That he was somehow a reflection of humanity's desire to be good?
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[He looked down at the table in thought, a hand to his chin.]
But the TV World was apparently really peaceful before, according to him. And that the Shadows weren't always so hostile, not until the fog happened anyway. Once that all cleared up, supposedly all the Shadows would be calm again or something? It was a really pretty place once it went back to normal, anyway.
Then again... He's also the only Shadow I've seen who looks like him. The Shadows are normally pretty gross looking and sounding. He just looks like a mascot you'd find at a store, you know?
There's honestly a lot about the TV World that I don't think we'll ever fully understand, Teddie is part of that. [This was something he wasn't sure he should mention, but his lips thinned to a line as he sighed through his nose.] The thing is... he's a Shadow who had a Shadow much like we did. He gained his Persona through that as well. Everything about him is like an exception to the rule when it comes to how all this stuff works.
So it's hard to figure out if he's really just some kind of anomaly or if he's, as you're proposing, some sort of reflection on humanity.
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I wonder what happened to cause it to change... though a part of me is afraid that I already know the answer.
[Her eyes furrow at that last one.] A shadow of a shadow. A reflection of a reflection. I...
...
I think I see what your group means when you say Teddie defies explanation.
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Yeah, we learned that a long time ago. It sounds concerning when telling people he's a Shadow but I promise, it's mostly harmless. If he ever does show up, the only thing I would really need to warn you about is that he's an impossible flirt.
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[If one listens really carefully, you could almost hear her lofty perception of Teddie shatter.]
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Yup. He will try to flirt with you if he comes here and you meet him. Just tell him no.
[Sorry not sorry, Teddie.]
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I... see...
Thank you for the warning...
[She's image-conscious, but not really one that is used to flirts. Those were more for cute and hot girls like Haru and Ann.]
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You don't need to worry too much about it, like I said, he's harmless. Especially when he's outta that bear suit.
[He's so much smaller and easier to drag off, that's for sure.]
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[He actually didn't have too many photos of Teddie on his old phone and he didn't transfer any of it to his new device yet. So he pulled out the group photo that they all had a copy of and pointed to Teddie.]
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