"It's good to meet you too. Floating around in mindspace isn't so bad, but this grounds me. It feels solid."

She loosens her grip on Shiho's hand a little, and leans back against the seat, crossing her legs. "Akira's got a whole little house locked up in that head of hers now. Well, less a bedroom. She seems to have decided that the pile of pillows in the living room is good enough for her." Joker rolls her eyes. "Typical of her. She never seems to feel like she deserves anything nice. We've been sorting through some of her feelings about her family together too, just like you've been. There's a lot to catch you up on, honestly. Akira's been super shy about talking about what she's been doing with me and Julie because a lot of it is kind of personal, but me? I have no such compunctions." She waggles her eyebrows.

I swear to all the kami, Joker, if you tell Shiho I fucked Julie —

Relaaaaaaax. I can leave stuff out of a story as well as you can. 

I suspect that if you told Shiho about that, the poor girl might combust. Let's not, amusing though it might be.

"Oh wow, you've been busy in there! You've made a whole house together? That's really cool. How does having a house in your head even work?"

"It's a long story, but the short version is it's mostly like any other house but we can mostly only seem to access it when we're asleep. We've got a kitchen, a living room, an office, and a couple other spooky things to do with Akira's stress level and Julie and where she comes from." 

Joker drums her fingers on her arm. "You might have heard from Ann that Akira said she had a bad dream last night? Yeah, we were messing around in there and it was stressful for her."

"Oh..." Shiho frowns. "It's important, though, the stuff you were doing?"

"Yeah, definitely. The house kind of reflects Akira's mindstate so we can sort of... help her cope a bit by handling and filing objects that represent her memories or emotions. It takes effort, but it gets processing done. And the Julie part is important too."

She nods. "That makes sense. Is there any way I can help?"

"Just keep being good to her. That helps a lot in and of itself. Makes it easier to keep the house in order, you could say."

"Definitely going to try." She looks down, then looks Joker in the eyes. "What about being good to you, too?"

Joker flushes and looks away. "I... generally have a better handle on things than Akira does, or at least I like to think so. I certainly have been doing most of the prompting for her to try and change how she thinks about herself... Well, Julie's on that too. But I appreciate the help. It's — yeah. I guess I haven't really gotten used to being a whole separate person yet."

Shiho pokes Joker firmly in the shoulder. "Well, you are one, and you get to have wants too. Including asking for dates of your own, if you want."

Joker grins at that. "Of course."

She reaches in and brushes an errant strand of Shiho's hair out of her face. "I would love to explore all the possibilites open to us." she murmurs. 

Shiho shivers and blushes. "I'm in danger~," she murmurs with a small grin.

Joker smirks. "Only if you want to be."

Still grinning and blushing, Shiho takes a breath before replying, "T-take me on a date first, you menace."

Joker grins, ducks her head, squeezes Shiho's hand. She looks down at their interlinked hands, then back up to meet Shiho's gaze. 

"I'd be honored," she says. And then her gaze darts away.

Shiho squeezes back. "What kind of dates do you like, if you know yet?"

Joker half-laughs and looks away. "I, ah..."

Yeah, huh, ain't it harder when you're in front and have to say it with your flesh lips?

It's not my fault that most girls don't find killing something together and making out afterwards to be fun!

Joker, I say this very affectionately, but you need a damn hobby. 

Joker considers for a long moment. 

"Do you know a good arcade? I feel like something competitive would be good."

"Hmm. I think Ryuji mentioned one somewhere in Shibuya? Don't know for sure, though."