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Rattled Skull and Burning Lungs; [Ask First]
Topic Started: Feb 14 2014, 09:23 PM (492 Views)
The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
"..."

Nishiyo had to wonder, if she had never been thrown to the spiders, if she had been born to a different family, would she have eventually grown to feel so passionately about these things? The girl listened and Mia went on and on, and she was quite intelligent, but more interesting to Nishiyo was the energy that went into the whole thing.

Somehow, it instilled in Nishiyo a strange need to actually defend herself.

"I didn't ask t' get shot tonight," she said in a slightly hoarse voice. God, she was thirsty, all of a sudden. That was ironic, considering she'd almost drowned. "I didn't ask any o' you t' help, either. I didn't... drag... anyone inta this. My problems with my family're mine. Once we're done... you all can stay out of it. They'll never even know ya helped."

Nishiyo's eyes flitted toward Jiro and Mia, and sh remained silent for a bit, contemplating the question of how her family would react.

"My family don't focus on Nagashima much," Nishiyo said in a simple, matter-of-fact tone. "They'll focus on competin' families. The only one that competes with them at all that happens t' be near Nagashima is... the Tsukuda family. But if they have problems with the Tsukudas, they'll focus on Iwatodai, where the main family is, not out here where they have branch operations only and all the other powers-that-be wouldn't let the Sadako clan get a foothold. Nah..."

Nishiyo closed her eyes.

"They'll put out feelers around here, try t' figure out who did it. The only leads t'be found're on Bedlam, so they'll miss 'em. And then they'll investigate other families, outta town." She paused. "I'd hoped t' fake a disappearance somewhere that wasn't here. Maybe it'd be a good idea t' get myself spotted somewhere else soon, before my family has a chance t' get clever. I dunno. But I don't want 'em pokin' around in Persona stuff any more'n you guys do. Trust me on that if nothin' else... I'll make sure it doesn't happen."

She closed her eyes. Took a breath. And then said:

"You've got me wrong if ya think I'm doin' this for me, though. I'm doin' it for my sister. I don't expect ya t'believe that, though."

Why say it so readily, Nishiyo wondered to herself? Opening her eyes and glaring at the sky with a look on her face that said she was angry with herself, she silently wished she hadn't said that. Maybe it was the continued buzzing in her head, or the feelings of vulnerability the whole situation inspired. But, maybe it was better this way. If she died before she could complete her task... if she did, she could at least go to hell knowing that other people knew about Etsuko, people who would help her, because helping an innocent girl like Etsuko was right.

But they'd probably think she was trying to glorify her own intentions, look sympathetic. Ha! Sympathetic. What a laugh.

The only sympathetic part of her had been the six-year-old girl she'd once been, and that part of her had been devoured by spiders years ago.
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Exodin
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MAHHA
Jiro fell silent as Mia ranted against the older girl. He gave her shoulder a small squeeze for a few moments before letting go. Each and every point she raised was something that was a valid concern. Yet that was when Nishiyo said it. The word that represented the familial bond some people were blessed with. Nishiyo Sadako had a sister, and chances were that of the two, Nishiyo was the older one.

Why, why, why, why? Up until now Nishiyo had just been some sort of horrible sub human thing that feasted on the underbelly of society. Except now it was different, now she was actually a person. With thoughts and feelings and concerns and a sister.

"What sister? Give us a name or something. You said you want to do whatever the hell it is your doing because of her, right? Because you care about her more than anything in the entire universe? So make sure that next time if they use something that isn't a bullet to your head, then there's people looking out for her! You know, so she isn't alone when...you know."

The situation very easily started to chew away at him at a rapid rate. Here it was. Happening again, and...it made him sick. He felt like he was going to vomit. Maybe he could stop it from happening this time another pair of siblings was going to lose the older one. Leaving the younger to wallow in despair and brokenness and hate. Who was to say Nishiyo hadn't earned every single enemy though? That the attempt to put an end to her life wasn't...no. No neither of them deserved to die. There was no way to justify that. He refused to think that way.

Nobody ever deserves to have their family killed, and the remainder of what was left to rip themselves apart from the inside out.
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Nonsequitur
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Yellow Bubblegum
"Yeah, no shit. People who ask to be shot are usually called suicides and cut out the middle man to do it themselves." Going by Mia's tone and the shortness of her response there wasn't much Nishiyo could have said to placate the growing irritation. Another obvious thing, at least to Mia? No one was shot for no reason, and given what they knew about her background it wasn't unfair to assume she'd done something that someone considered worth killing over.

"And no, you kind of did ask for help passively. What does one person do for another when they see them in distress? If they aren't given a reason not to, for example if the distressed person said: 'some Yazuka will probably be around to kill me and any witnesses at any moment?' They'll help them, they'll jump in to help." Though that time, it gave Mia pause. Anyone in that situation wanted to live. She was starting to let her perception of who she was and what she apparently did influence her judgement. She clicked her tongue and remembered: She was just passing though. All she had to do way stay in one piece long enough to get back to America. She was of Japan, by no means from Japan. It was probably a good idea not to get too involved in what happened there. She paused for a moment, just a moment to look behind them.

By now, they were quite a bit away from where Nishiyo was found, with several twists and turns already. Even, if her pursuers had gotten to where she was shivering and stunned by that time, Mia had her doubts they would have been able to catch up to the group if they fanned out to search for the Yazuka heiress.

They could hace concentrated on getting to the Training Center as efficently as possible then. Jiro's had issues with a dead sibling. Mia was an only child, never having a point of reference to a brother or sister might have helped her look at things more clinically. Without further context, she could have been reasonable to suspect Nishiyo's little sister was another product of her upbringing in a Yakuza household. Groomed to be another upholding a fine tradition of intimidation, extortion and murder. "Why, what'd she do?" She reached out for Jiro's hand. She held it rather tightly now. She let him keep pace with her so he could have it comfortably held against his chest. She tried to have the gesture convey the unspoken message of 'don't drop your guard.'

"So, which is it? You can't wait to get away from your family but you're breaking your neck to help that family? Besides, if you care about this sister? In the end? Yeah it's for you." Ah, what bothered her so much about it? She started to have an idea when Nishiyo gave them a crash course of underworld politics: The only thing keeping one clique of murderous criminals in check were competition and territorial issues with others who were just like them.

She'd possibly been spoon fed too much 'and liberty and justice for all' rhetoric in her nice upper-middle class American upbringing to have that sit well with her at all.
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Natscookie
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Shitpost Senpai

Toki seemed to grow increasingly irritated as the argument between the group went on. His eyebrows furrowed, his teeth ground annoyingly, his breath seemed to deepen somewhat as he tried not to blow up in the middle of the street, trying to shrink himself to the duty of 'carrier' and be out of there as soon as possible.

But he couldn't take it anymore.

"Hey, stop!" He finally let out with determination in his tone, looking sternly at all of them. "I'un care about all the shit surroundin' this situation, but this ain't the time 'n place to fuckin' argue about it. Wait until we're at the center at least, damn it! What if we drag unwanted attention with all that chit chat?"

He let out a sigh once he was done, willing to calm himself and just continue on their way. "I assume we're close to it anyway..."
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
So that was the answer: the boy instantly latched onto the problem of Nishiyo's sister, the girl continued to argue as if the whole situation were just the stage for an intellectual debate and she just knew she was right and had to prove it... the man alone kept his emotions in check and brought a voice of caution to the table. Nishiyo smiled softly and laughed a humorless laugh, as if Toki's protest amused her, just a little bit.

"He's right, y'know," she said simply, and closed her eyes. "But to answer your question... about Etsuko, my sister, that is... what she did was 'run away.' About ten years ago, now. She's just a year younger'n I am."

And let them do the math in their heads on their own, she decided. If they wanted to know more, she could explain at the Training Center, but whether or not these three got involved with that was immaterial. Etsuko was already being looked-after, and Aleksandria Fyodor would see to the matter of her education. The only thing that needed solving was the problem of their family, and that was a problem no good person could solve.

No, that was a problem she would need to recruit her fellow monsters to help with... these three were useless.
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Exodin
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MAHHA
He glanced at Mia with a look of confusion. What was with the hand holding? Did she need some sort of security anchor or something? He tightened his own grip on the hand as they walked. Only for it to go slack when his suspicions were confirmed. Younger, Etsuko was the younger sibling. There was a grim irony in the situation Etsuko was just like him. His eyes widened, whether it was panic or some sort of other emotion, not even he was certain. It felt like there was a knot in his chest, and it had suddenly become ridiculously hard to breathe. He opened his mouth to say something, only to find that there were no words for what he wanted to convey. If there were, he couldn't find them.

He felt like he wanted to scream at something. Shout his hate of this entire situation from the rooftops. It was going to happen again. Next time Nishiyo might not get attacked with bullets. Everyone, even persona user's were fallible. The person just had to find the right weakness, whether it be in a physical or emotional sense. He looked at Toki with a sharp gaze. The man was right, arguing now was just...pointless.

"Mia, we should listen to Toki. You're pissed, I get it. This isn't going to get anything accomplished though. We can get back to the ranting after we've made it to the training center, and if you don't want to stick around for that shit? I'll walk you home okay?"
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Nonsequitur
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Yellow Bubblegum
Mia took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Then she took another one.

She could have ranted forever about this, and she knew it. So if they were going to get anywhere she just had to…disconnect. To put herself away from the situation and act rationally, cold, analytical. The smartest thing, that is leaving her to fend for herself, was obviously out. The next best thing would be to do the least stupid thing as quickly and quietly as possible.

"There we are. The training center." They were making a delivery, if the cargo talked back? That was a curiosity, by no means worth getting worked up over.

They had made it, with no sign of her pursuers anywhere.
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