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The Futility Of Good Intentions; [Shane]
Topic Started: Dec 11 2016, 10:21 PM (393 Views)
GKG
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when ur team wipes but ur ult is at 15%
Boy, was he tired.

The accumulated fatigue of a long day was one thing - he was used to it, and the simple remedy was nothing more complicated than lying down in bed and sleeping. But today had felt a little more malicious and decided to pile on a few more things, just for fun - getting whisked away by a golden butterfly, his neck wounded, part of his goddamn shin chewed up by a shark, and learning... well, learning stuff, alright.

Still, that could also be remedied by the same thing, in somewhat greater quantities. For the bloodied clothes, that was another problem. As for walking, well, it kinda sucked right this moment, but he wasn't going to complain.

Therefore, one could forgive Ken for feeling a bit weathered and impatient to get back home. He gave the door to the bar a pull - it didn't open. Good. Perfect. At least he'd locked the door before that fucking butterfly had taken him away. Only after he'd verified that did he go around the corner, to the more unconspicuous door that actually led to his home. His door. Behind it was a small set of stairs leading to the second floor, with a storeroom to the side that occupied the space besides and under it.

There was a neat, physical separation between the building's function as a bar and its function as a house. It'd needed some small adjustments to work, but he'd wanted it to be this way. The only link between the two was a single door that lead to the bar's own storeroom and its kitchen. Five employees, counting himself. Keeping the place small enough was how he'd managed to stay in business for fifteen years in a country where lucky bars could hope to live for three.

He slid the key into the keyhole. Oh, right. Nature had also seen fit to drop on him that his daughter was involved in this entire mess.

He hadn't spoken much on the way back, but he turned his head to the side just enough to make sure that Shane would register the next sentence as being spoken to him. "Come in and... help yourself to the food and drinks, if you want. If you're hungry or thirsty, of course." he said.
Edited by GKG, Dec 13 2016, 06:47 AM.
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
"I might have some water," Shane replied with a shrug. "I always eat before heading out, so I'm good 'til breakfast."

As it happened, Ken Aizawa was not the only person who just wanted to flop into bed and let one day fade into the next. Shane had learned to manage the time-crunch of patrolling and exploring the ruins couple with an ordinary day in the life of a teenager by going right to sleep the moment he got home after ever late-night excursion, a habit that had served him well partly because he was one of those lucky individuals who could fall asleep almost on command. He had, however, felt obliged to make sure that Ken made it safely home; the man had been through a lot tonight, and Shane knew from experience that a Persona-user's awakening day, the day on which reality itself seemed to turn topsy-turvy, always felt at least mentally exhausting even if they emerged without being exposed to much danger.

Shane followed the man inside, letting him shut and lock his own door, and he glanced around the room as soon as he was in, straining his ears for any sign that Natsumi was still awake. That had been the second reason he'd come along back to the house: if Natsumi was awake, well, this would be a bit of a scare for her. Shane had occupied half of his mind with ways to lessen the impact a little and had come up a bit dry in the attempt, so the biggest factor would be Natsumi herself. But he still wanted to be here. And, well, who knew? Maybe this whole mess would be the thing that bought him some genuine approval in her dad's eyes. It couldn't hurt to hope. Although now that the thought occurred to him, he had to wonder when he'd started worrying about long-term stuff like that.
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GKG
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when ur team wipes but ur ult is at 15%
A slight tip of the head was Ken's sole reaction to Shane's answer - he was past worrying about such details at this precise moment. Shane could raid his fridge until nothing was left, for all he cared. At least he had his wits about him when it came to his nightly adventures.

He, too, thought of Natsumi. Mostly he prayed that she was still fast asleep, and that he'd have the peace and quiet he needed to throw his torn, bloodied clothes away, take a quick shower and then sink into his mattress. That'd have been nothing short of just peachy. The day had sucked enough that maybe the universe would take some pity on him.

He savored the silence of his home for one moment before proceeding. The small lamp on the phone table gave them a tiny, non-intrusive bit of light. Shane knew where everything was already, so he didn't give him directions. The door to Natsumi's room was shut - good news.

Then, as if the world had been too impatient to deliver its brilliant punchline, it opened with the light squeak of well-worn hinges. Fuck.

"Shane?" The voice was hushed and slightly lower than normal. Natsumi was clad in the tank top and pyjama shorts she usually wore to bed, and her squinty eyelids told volumes about her state of wakefulness.

A small movement of the eyes, from left to right then from downwards from that, and they suddenly got wider. "Oh, f-" She stepped fully into the entrance. "What happened?"

Of course, the torn leg of his pants and the blood that quaked it were impossible to miss, as was the odd palor of the flesh and the red, regular marks on the skin. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

Natsumi was many things, stupid wasn't one of them. There wasn't anything he could have said that'd have made for a plausible enough lie to explain the state of his leg and shirt.
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
Well, shit. It wasn't surprising, but it was inconvenient. Shane turned toward the door, wincing a little and letting his shoulders sag just the slightest bit. Shane sighed, and shook his head. "I'll explain things to Nat for now, if you want," casting a weary look in Ken's direction. It was clear from his tone that this was an offer rather than an order. "You can get cleaned up, and we can all talk after. Is that alright with you?"

The question was directed at Natsumi, since Shane thought it was better to ask her permission to let her father step away before she had her answers. If nothing else, it would forestall any particularly loud protests, and he hoped she would trust him to tell her what had happened. Since he was here, and her father was sporting the remains of magically-healed injuries, Natsumi would no doubt put two and to together, so he decided to add, after a couple breaths:

"It was the butterfly."

...Which would confirm it, if she hadn't been too sleepy to do the math yet. Ken, if he wanted to stay and get things over with, could very well do so, but Shane had an inkling that perhaps he was too worn down to have the whole conversation tonight, and if he could talk to Natsumi alone, Shane figured he had a good chance of convincing her to put any interrogations off until morning.
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GKG
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when ur team wipes but ur ult is at 15%
Natsumi looked bewildered and almost furious for a few seconds - it felt like something she was most definitely involved in was being decided under her nose without her input, so to speak. Her eyes went from her father to Shane, then back again.

Ken scratched the back of his head awkwardly, giving a long sigh. "Ah, damnit." The last thing he'd ever wanted as a father was to be seen like... this. He'd already broken that rule, three years ago. That look on Natsumi's face was familiar - too familiar. He hated it. He hated it more than the gaping hole that his legs had been a few dozen minutes before.

Another question almost escaped Natsumi's lips when Shane chimed in again with the truth. It was the butterfly. For a moment, the meaning of that simple sentence seemed to escape her, then her expression morphed into one of recognition. "The butterfly." she repeated. Ken took his daughter's change of countenance as a greenlight to go do what he had to, and he quietly left for the bathroom, sending Shane a nod of approval from behind his shoulder on the way.

The bathroom's door closed, and then it was only the two of them. She sighed, in a way that was almost uncannily similar to her father's. "It always finds new ways not to leave you alone, doesn't it?"
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
"Seems like it's been pulling in a lot of parents lately," was Shane's sort-of-weary answer, returning her sigh with a shrug and an exasperated shake of the head. "Had a two-for-one deal a week or so ago with Samurakami's mom and some woman who runs a clothes shop down the road. So I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised when I saw him in there. I wonder if it's doing that on purpose. I guess we have no way of knowing, though."

He rubbed at the back of his neck, and with a glance back at the bathroom door, Shane walked over to where his girlfriend stood and put and arm around her back.

"I should thank Detective Imoto sometime for convincing me to patrol the ruins," he said, probably the closest thing he'd do within earshot of Mr. Aizawa to admitting he was glad he wasn't doing the vigilante thing anymore. "I've already explained the basics to him, but it was a tiring night, so we'll probably have to go through it again... I think it'd be better to let him get some sleep first, but it's your call."

He shrugged, and then had to admit something to Natsumi, keeping his voice down and leaning in so she could hear it without risk of her father hearing.

"He didn't want me to tell you about the injuries. He's doing that thing us guys do where we don't want our loved ones worrying about us," he said. "You didn't hear that from me, though. Isoroku patched him up, so you should thank her when you see her again."
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GKG
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when ur team wipes but ur ult is at 15%
"Ah." That was Natsumi's eloquent answer to the parent problem - if you'd asked her at this precise moment her analysis on Persona-awakening trends, she'd have probably chalked it up to dumb, random chance. Just because most of them were teenagers didn't mean all of them had to be. She just expected reality to slap her in the face and prove her wrong in less than a week.

She welcomed his embrace, and mirrored his gesture. "Nah, let him get some rest. If he wants all that info to get dumped on him, I'm pretty sure he'll let me know." Knowing her father, he wouldn't want to hear anything about it for a couple of days at the least. That was if he didn't persuade himself it'd all been a dream, of course.

She chuckled lightly. "That sounds like what my dad would do, alright". It was reassuring, him being there, wrapping his arm around her. "Isoroku? Oh, thank god." Competent hands, then - she'd have to thank her at lenght indeed, starting with tomorrow at school. "Yeah, I will."

The conversation, she reckoned, would be better continued somewhere else, rather than standing in the middle of the entrance holding each other close like the hormone-addled teenagers that they were. "You want, uh, something to drink? My hero deserves a little refreshment." There was a hint of nervousness in the smile she showed him.
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
Two things occurred to Shane at that moment that seemed out-of-character of himself as soon as he thought about them: that he had shifted his only vocalized credit for his part in protecting Ken Aizawa over to Detective Imoto, and that although he'd thought about winning points with Natsumi's dad, the idea that he might earn gratitude points from Natsumi, while it had occurred to him on the walk back, had faded to the back of him mind as soon as it had occurred. It was Natsumi calling him my hero in that offhand way that gave him pause enough to think about this.

As for responding to the offer of a drink, he grinned in a tired way and said, "Ah, why not. It's been a long night. What have you got?"

It would be almost impossible to tell that he'd taken anything else from the question. He slipped his arm out from around her back, letting Natsumi take the lead for as long as it was the contents of her refrigerator that were the subject of things, though his mind drifted back to the thought that had occurred to him. It wasn't so long ago that he would have been only too happy to bask in the satisfaction of a job well done, especially if it was a job done for the benefit of someone close to him. As he wondered about it, Shane guessed that maybe Natsumi's father being the job in question had struck too close to home for him to just look at it as a chance to do something cool that he could feel good about. But when had the last time he'd thought of any of this stuff that way been? Even straining his memory, he came up blank.
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GKG
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when ur team wipes but ur ult is at 15%
"We got Coke in the fridge. I can make you some tea or coffee, if you'd prefer. Or some milk or water." Her gut'd told her to continue the conversation in the privacy of her room, but if her father wanted to take part in the conversation once he was done showering, then the kitchen table would be a better place.

She hesitated. Did she truly want a detailed account of what had happened in the Ruins? Would there be anything to take away, a cautionary tale to learn from it? She answered by the negative. No point in planting these mental images in her brain, at least for now.

Her dad being safe was the important part of the escapade. All thanks to Shane. Even as he slipped his arm out, she spun on her heel to plant a massive kiss on his cheek, the kind only girlfriends could do, before heading to the kitchen.

After he'd told her what he wanted and she'd gotten down to either serving or preparing it, she'd begin with the questions. "So... What Persona did he end up getting in this fucked-up lottery?" That was fairly lighthearted as far as questions went, but it didn't generate any anxiety.
Edited by GKG, Dec 19 2016, 01:47 AM.
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
Shane, figuring he didn't really stand much of a chance getting to sleep anyway, just asked for a small cup of soda. There would be just enough sugar and caffeine, more than likely, that he'd fall asleep in spite of it if and when he needed to anyway. There was a small chance Natsumi might ask him to stay over, in which case he'd just hit the minor sugar burst in the head with a sledgehammer and sleep when appropriate. Otherwise it would help keep him cognizant for the walk home. The kiss on the cheek lifted his spirits somewhat, but ultimately served to stir up the small whirlwind of introspection he'd tripped over a moment before. Sitting down at the table, Shane would have been all too happy to snatch up the first change of topic to come his way. Unfortunately, he only had a partial answer for the first question Natsumi asked him.

"Ah, I don't think I caught a name," he said slowly, squinting his eyes as he tried to remember. He took a small sip of his soda, and then shrugged. "Armored guy. Spear, I think. Looked like it might be Greek, maybe. Probably one of the traditional mythological Personas, so I wouldn't worry about him being one of us weirdos who pull 'em from videogames."

Another sip of soda. It was a self-directed jab in part, but Shane had certainly noticed a trend of gaming-related Personas being attached to kind of loud personalities, or at least, to people with really loud issues attached to them.
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