[ at the sight of the mask, he startles, some half-swallowed sound of alarm because that isn't what he expected to see at all. he thought for certain that he would never see any of those masks again, and seeing one on its own without the Phantom Thief ensemble, outside of the Metaverse— it's jarring. it feels wrong, somehow. like some cheap plastic imitation of the real thing, except that he can tell, intuitively, that it's genuine. he reaches to simply take it, and then stops short; turns his hand over instead, palm facing upwards, in silent request. ]

If mine is here, then I haven't seen it as of yet.

[ is it randomised, and he just drew the short straw? does he not have access to his Persona ability anymore because he died? could the absence of his own mask be deliberate somehow? —honestly, whatever the reason is, he's irritated by this, and it shows in the furrow of his brow, the tense slash of his mouth as it tightens at the corner. if he'd gotten his too, he wouldn't have to be trading and ingratiating himself for the sake of securing his own safety.

she'd asked his opinion on what it meant, though. he has to focus. ]

The fact that they can materialise outside of the Metaverse... I suppose it lends credit to my theory about reality being warped here. The separation between the real world and the cognitive one wouldn't matter to something that can tamper with different dimensions.

[ he's quiet for a moment, deep in concentration; he has his thumbnail between his front teeth while he thinks, biting down hard on it even though it's already bitten down to the quick, cut close enough to bleed. he misses his gloves. they'd been the best way to stop that particular habit, and now here, he's gone back to it without even noticing most of the time. ]

If we had the MetaNav app, I'd be interested in seeing whether the Metaverse exists here too, but... Can you summon your Persona with it?