| Stepping Up (literally, because you took the stairs to get here); [Ask First - still accepting one more player if anyone wants in] | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 3 2014, 09:28 AM (525 Views) | |
| The One True Nobody | Jan 3 2014, 09:28 AM Post #1 |
|
"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
|
For the second time in three days, Kyo Charinko was on the roof after school, when she should have been at club, and for the second time it was for the exact same reason: Archery Club was today. If it were Photography Club, she'd have been there in a heartbeat, but Archery meant Suzume was there. She'd been unwilling to put herself in that situation or cause that sort of atmosphere in the Archery Club room, although she was aware that between this and her absences during the Kirihara mess, she couldn't afford to miss many more club meetings... The familiar feeling of costume contact lenses in her eyes was more irritating than it usually was, mostly because Kyo only ever felt right using them when deliberately dressing in cosplay. Using them during her day-to-day was a pain in the ass: they weren't nearly as good as legitimate colored contacts and when it came down to it, Kyo just didn't like hiding her eyes, even if they were eyes she couldn't stand looking at herself. Those eyes, actually yellow, gazed almost unseeingly through the chain-link border fence of the Taiyoutono High School rooftop, as Kyo leaned lightly against it, one hand hooked in her pants pocket by a thumb, the other hanging above her head, fingers hooked in the links of the fence. Kyo's eyes swept over the city skyline (in her opinion, the view from here wasn't quite as impressive as the school she'd gone to back home), considering the scene if not the scenery. Buildings, students milling about on the ground below, so many people, all of them walking around and going about their lives and--what? Ninety-nine percent or more of them totally unaware of the stuff going on under their feet. And she, for the first time, was looking out at this and consciously realizing: She had spent months and months and months knowing and not caring. Oh, sure, she was almost always going to the ruins, less now that she lived on her own and had to deal with the financial stuff that came with that, but she was in the ruins all the time, strengthening her Persona. She was, when it came down to it, by far one of the most active Persona-users in the city--possibly the most active, and the speed with which she was gaining in power, catching up to her friends, that was just the perfect underline to it all. At one point, she might have been able to say that she wasn't strong enough to really take an active hand in things, but she had been second-tier for a while. During that recent, harrowing dive into the ruins, after encountering the Arrogant Qlippoth, she had even shed her last remaining first-tier spell: Mazio had become Mazionga. It was rather like losing one's virginity, or the psychological acknowledgement of it, or something--it felt like some kind of fundamental, permanent transition from childhood to--whatever it was that came between childhood and actually being an adult because fuck damn if most of the so-called "adults" she'd met could actually claim actual adulthood, but-- Do you just have horrible ADD or something? Nevan asked, cutting across Kyo's random chain of loosely-connected thoughts. One of these days, you're going to have to pick exactly one thing to worry about and then stick with it, instead of trying to think of EVERYTHING at once. "What's this? You, tryin' t' give legitimate, constructive advice?" Kyo said flatly, pushing a bit away from the fence and closing her eyes. "Careful, Nevan... your Morrigan is showin'." I always give constructive advice. For example: don't answer out loud, I think someone's coming up the steps. Huh--? Nevan had heard it before Kyo had, even though they shared the same ears and the same damned eardrums. Kyo didn't even have time to know how that could even begin to make sense, because no sooner had she turned around to see whose footsteps were coming from the roof-access stairway, then the door opened, and someone emerged. |
![]() |
|
| FirebreathFishslap | Jan 11 2014, 12:50 AM Post #2 |
![]()
I'm the best! I'm the king of me! I'm gonna eat chips out of the garbage!
![]()
|
The door swung open to reveal, of all people, Manabu. He didn't even look at Kyo as he proceeded to drag himself across the roof to the fence surrounding the edge, a few papers clenched in his fist. He was clearly limping as he walked, but it didn't really seem to concern him. Of note was the black and purple armband he had around his arm, which was clearly marked with the word "OCCULT". He stopped at the fence and held the papers up, squinting at it and turning it back and forth before holding them out toward Kyo, having finally decided to acknowledge her. "Does the sports field look like the Sigil of Amon to you?" he asked. There was some sort of arcane symbol on the paper that had clearly been printed out from one of the school computers in glorious JPEG quality. |
![]() |
|
| The One True Nobody | Jan 11 2014, 07:55 AM Post #3 |
|
"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
|
Kyo blinked a few times when Manabu stepped out onto the roof, and just watched him going about whatever it was he was doing with a blank look on her face. She was momentarily perplexed by the papers and the squinting and the obviously comparing the papers to what he saw, and actually almost missed the Occult Club armband at first. But then he turned to her and showed her the papers. She jumped a bit, not sure what he would suddenly want with her--and then he asked her the question. "Uh... the what." It was a question, but it sounded pretty flat, almost like a statement, in fact. She looked down at the paper, and squinted a bit at it herself. She stared a bit at the sigil in question, and then at the sports field. She had to squint a bit harder at that--it was a bit hard to make out the specifics of the sports field from here. She didn't remember having that much trouble before, but then, she'd never given half a damn about the sports field before now, so that was probably why. After a few moments, she looked at the paper again. "...I'd be more inclined t'say the Sigil o' Amon just happens t' look like a sports field," she found herself saying. "Maybe this Amon guy's just a really hardcore fan of American football. Also, hey, what's up?" |
![]() |
|
| FirebreathFishslap | Jan 11 2014, 10:36 PM Post #4 |
![]()
I'm the best! I'm the king of me! I'm gonna eat chips out of the garbage!
![]()
|
Oddly enough, Kyo was squinting at the field. Though, considering her eye had just been shot out by a ghostly apparition of Suzume Kageyama a few days previous, Manabu hadn't expected much else in that case. He sighed as Kyo gave her answer, and then turned around, leaned against the fence, and slumped into a sitting position. "I was hoping our fields were actually a summoning circle so I could open a gateway to hell, but looks like I'm off once again," Manabu said. "To be honest, I've been better. The last time I took monster form, I was in the hospital during the recovery time, too drugged up to feel any pain, and mostly insane. This time I'm actually fairly coherent, so I've been feeling the full brunt of its effects." He looked up at Kyo. Her eyes seemed discolored; he vaguely remembered her saying something about how "they'd be yellow" again, but they seemed to be a yellowish-green. Colored contacts, maybe? He looked back down at his feet. "Thanks for... helping me back there, by the way." |
![]() |
|
| The One True Nobody | Jan 11 2014, 11:00 PM Post #5 |
|
"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
|
"Casually gonna refrain from askin' why anyone would wanna open a gateway t' hell in the first place..." Kyo said in a neutral voice. "And, well, it's nothin'. I thought 'cause we barely knew each other you'd--" (Kyo paused just briefly, closing one of her eyes and rubbing lightly at it.) "--just sorta ignore me or somethin'. I'm glad y'didn't." Kyo sighed, and turned her back on the fence, leaning against it and closing her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. She muttered in a quiet voice, "Shouldn't hafta wear these things for so long without a break..." Then, she opened them and shrugged. Why the fuck not? And she sat right on down next to him. "Sorry t'hear you're still feelin' the aches n' pains," Kyo said. "I've been there a fair few times... couple Monster Form episodes, got my legs bashed t' pieces by a car once, feet blown off at one point... it's a bitch, I'll tell ya." Her head leaning back against the fence, she gave Manabu a sidelong look and said, "I'll tell ya this, though, it's a good thing y'figured out that thing's weak spot so fast. Rest of us woulda got there eventually, but I get the feelin' it wouldn'ta been fast enough t' stop everyone from blowin' all their magic tryin' ta hold the thing back." She paused, and then opened her mouth as if deliberating whether or not to go on. In the end, she did: "...I know you'll be fine physically, but like... are y'feelin' okay otherwise?" she asked. "No needta go inta anything specific, I just mean--well, y'know what I mean." |
![]() |
|
| FirebreathFishslap | Jan 13 2014, 12:02 AM Post #6 |
![]()
I'm the best! I'm the king of me! I'm gonna eat chips out of the garbage!
![]()
|
Manabu refrained from commenting on Kyo's refrained comment toward his hellraising attempts. He'd been hoping he could contract with the demon and possibly get a better view of the future than what they were currently getting from Susaki. And he just wanted to meet a demon with an owl's head, because that sounded adorable. He shook his head as Kyo mentioned the Qlippoth battle. "I should have stayed on the surface. I might not have been able to figure it out as quickly from there, but I wouldn't have put you all in danger or gotten hurt as badly either. But hindsight's 20/20, I guess, and about the only sight I've got that is." He sighed. "I've been better. I guess I'm just stressed, is all. My father's dead, and now my mother's in town and threatening to take me back to Osaka with her unless I give her a good reason to let me stay. Simple problems that don't have anything to do with the hellish maze underneath our feet. I suppose it's forcing me to think a bit more about the real world than I'd like, is all." |
![]() |
|
| The One True Nobody | Jan 13 2014, 12:32 AM Post #7 |
|
"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
|
"Huh," was Kyo's initial response to Manabu's answer--her curiosity had obviously been piqued when he mentioned his mother threatening to bring him back to Osaka. But mostly she was actually just surprised that Manabu had given her such a complete answer--she'd been expecting some resistance to the question, or just a vague "fine" or "not fine." It seemed Manabu had loosened up a bit since the last time they'd seen each other for more than ten seconds at a stretch. She kicked one knee up and folded her hands on top of it, thinking. "Well, it's true y'mighta been better off stayin' back, yeah, but y'still pretty much won the day for us. So that's somethin' t' be proud of. Y'realize that if that thing is as important as it looks like it might be, this was our first victory since--...did we have any victories before this? Somethin' about a pervy clown? Well, anyway, it's a step forward, and we owe it mostly t' you." Her thumbs twiddled with each other a bit. Thinking about the real world, hm? Yeah, she supposed that was something people used the ruins to get away from. It was easy to lose yourself in the empowerment of being a monster-slayer. It made all the mundane day-to-day problems seems so far away. "It don't sound like y'like your mom much," she observed. "'Cause y'don't sound remotely conflicted about whether y'wanna go or stay. How good a reason's she lookin' for? ...Maybe if y'asked Kawabata nice enough, she'd bullshit up some kinda incentive or scholarship or somethin'? She's a user, so I'm sure she'd at least see the value in keepin' ya around, if it comes to it." |
![]() |
|
| FirebreathFishslap | Jan 15 2014, 12:32 AM Post #8 |
![]()
I'm the best! I'm the king of me! I'm gonna eat chips out of the garbage!
![]()
|
Manabu smiled awkwardly as Kyo continued to praise him, but he didn't say anything. He didn't think he'd helped as much as she clearly did, but he couldn't muster the effort to argue with her either. He sighed. "The problem is my mom's convinced that me continuing to go to school here is detrimental to my education. Not that I can really argue with her too much there, but I get the feeling that's just an excuse. I think she's more concerned about me staying too close to my relatives." He rather neatly dodged around the issue of whether he liked his mother or not; that wasn't something he was comfortable talking about with Kyo. "You probably don't know about them, since you're a transfer student, but my family's an old Nagashima family, and they've still got a house up in the hills around here. It's really traditional, with sliding doors and bamboo flooring on everything. I haven't been there since I was a kid, though," Manabu said. He smiled. The last time he'd been there, his father had gotten into an argument with his grandparents over dinner and they'd been kicked out early into the night. "And my grandparents didn't like me or my mom much, anyways, so I can't really count on them." He shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe I should talk to Kawabata-sensei, but I just don't feel right asking for help from her. I've been living off of everyone else's help for quite some time now..." |
![]() |
|
| The One True Nobody | Jan 15 2014, 12:45 AM Post #9 |
|
"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
|
"Hm," Kyo hummed when Manabu mentioned his local relatives, and then she shook her head when he finished talking. "Yeah, I guess that's a thing. Not wantin' t' feel like a leech, yeah? If ya work t' make it worthwhile, though, I'd say y'can keep on keepin' on with a clear conscience about it. Give it a think, at least, okay?" She tapped her chin and frowned, tilting her head back. "Never heard o' your grandparents, no. I ain't been in Nagashima long enough t' know the local families. I mean well, I was born here but, I don't remember it. Only time I came back before movin' was when mom dragged me along on a trip to a friend's place and got all nostalgic about the shitty old apartment she had. Bleh. Saw a pretty bad accident on the street while I was there--" She paused then, looking annoyed at herself. "...I gotta stop doin' that..." she muttered irritably, before going on without elaboration: "Anyway, don't think of it like y'ain't doin' nothin'. You're doin' your part with somethin' that's a threat to a whole city o' people, and once y'get your Persona back you'll be watchin' people's backs in the ruins again, right?" Kyo looked at Manabu, and grimaced. "That's a fat lot more'n I've been doin' this whole time, honestly," said the green-haired girl dubiously. "I just ain't been payin' much attention to it at all. Like most everyone else who gets dragged away by that butterfly, I bet." |
![]() |
|
| FirebreathFishslap | Jan 16 2014, 11:54 PM Post #10 |
![]()
I'm the best! I'm the king of me! I'm gonna eat chips out of the garbage!
![]()
|
Manabu stretched his legs out, and his knees painfully popped as he did so. They'd been so stiff lately... probably a result of his time in monster form once again. It wasn't like he ran around and clung to ceilings on a regular basis, after all. Maybe he needed to get out more often. He lowered his head as Kyo tried to reassure him about his Persona. With how long it had been, he was beginning to doubt that Kuranes would ever return. It made him feel naked and completely powerless before everyone else. He sighed. "There were days where I felt like I was the only one who cared about what lay inside those ruins. Of course, that wasn't the truth; there was Mori's group, who were actively destroying information, and there was Susaki-chan's group, who were trying to recover as much as they could. But I acted alone for a time, and I'd be lying if the information I collected then hasn't been helpful to the greater community. Even if my reasons for collecting it was a bit selfish." He raised his arms and yawned. "No one really cared. I only cared because this is what I'd always dreamed of, and Kumori and Ashdown-san... well, I'm sure they had their own reasons too. There was some fighting over information for a while but... Mmm. It was probably Yaguruma's death that did it, now that I think about it. She was the first to actually die as a result of what we were doing, and people got scared. It was around that time that our Personas started really showing their instability and Hoculus showed up again, too." Had that been it? He could have sworn that Hoculus was later on. Maybe his memory was starting to fail him too, just to add the icing to the cake. "My intentions in exploring the ruins have always been simple, anyways." Manabu held up his hand. "One: To find the secrets behind Shadows and Personae. Two: to map the ruins and record any clues to what caused this. And three: to identify the cause of this anomaly and destroy it." With each number he ticked off, he raised a finger. "Of course, I can't do any of those now, so I just have to rely on you people to instead." |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Taiyoutono High School · Next Topic » |
| Track Topic · E-mail Topic |
1:27 PM Jul 11
|









1:27 PM Jul 11