| Watershed Moment; [Chika] | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 18 2017, 06:12 AM (400 Views) | |
| Czernobog | Jan 18 2017, 06:12 AM Post #1 |
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Best Influence.
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He felt like he had ice water running down his back. This would be unpleasant for most people, but for Naoya Imoto, ice water had been a deadly substance until recently. While Kalkin hadn't had the overactive weaknesses that Krishna had developed in those final days, Naoya still had the reflexive terror at the image. It made him think that he was going to suffer some horrible corroded wound. That he would have some kind of awful stigmata while trying to do what would be something reasonably normal for a young man of his age. He sat in the coffee shop. To justify his presence, he had bought and quickly eaten a small pastry before getting a quick drink of water to clean his mouth. As usual at this time, it was fairly empty. In front of him was a book he had been reading -- Kafka on the Shore, as he had been trying to read more Japanese literature, lately. Most of his friends seemed to live and breathe western culture when it came to books and movies -- but he was having difficulty with it. He had gotten to part where a man who claimed to be the avatar of a brand of whiskey was torturing cats to make a magic flute, and he was having difficulty deciding if it was realistic or surrealistic. It was having all of none of the calming effect he would hope it would have, hence the ice water feeling. Hence the tension in his gut. Life threw a lot of curveballs. He was tentatively hopeful about the meeting. He thought it might turn out well. He also didn't want to get his hopes up, in case it didn't go well. Even if she told him that she wasn't interested, he still wanted to be her friend. He could respect that: she was, of course, free to make her own decisions, and he liked spending time around her, regardless of the capacity it was in. He shivered. It felt cold. Even going into the ruins didn't make him feel this nervous, these days. He took solace in the fact that she definitely felt the same tension. Felt the same fear. He had been out of contact for months, after all. Regardless of how he had felt before, perhaps she was afraid that he had changed his mind in the meantime? If she wanted to say "yes" maybe she was afraid that he would say "no." But maybe she wanted to say "no" an put an end to his awkward attempts at starting something. Ugh. He wished, briefly, that he wasn't an adolescent. This was the worst period of life. |
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| The One True Nobody | Jan 18 2017, 11:46 AM Post #2 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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So, so, do you think he got the message, from my message? Chika had asked Kyo restlessly before they'd fallen asleep the night before. I mean, I didn't want to say-it say it, if it wasn't in person, but... I didn't want him worryin', either, so — Kyo had interrupted her gruffly: He's a guy, of course he didn't get the message. Guys only think girls like 'em when they don't and always think they don't when they do. Least, at our age that's how it goes. Sleep now, worry tomorrow. You'll laugh about it ten years from now — Chika had sat bolt upright in bed. Ten years! she'd yelped. I-I don't know if we even like each other enough t' stay together that long! Kyo had lazily turned her head to look at her, giving her that deadpan "you fucking idiot" look she usually reserved for the likes of Aleph, and just said, I never said anything about ya bein' together when ya laugh about it. Which had done nothing to make getting to sleep any easier for poor, young Chika Nakadachi, that was for sure! But she'd lapsed into a contemplative melancholy the following morning, which had carried her all the way out of her house, to the bus stop, and through the school day on a single, persistent thought: a few months ago, she wouldn't have even dreamed she could be this embarrassing or awkward about wanting to return someone's feelings; she would have just fallen to pieces and run off to some abandoned corner of the school until her panic attack died down. Back then, she had been ready to cut herself loose from the ropes Toru Watanabe had strung her up with purely so the people who'd come to rescue her would focus on stopping him instead. It was a chilling thought, one that felt like it couldn't have originated from her own brain, and yet it had. And yet it still could, sometimes, when she was alone with herself and her thoughts and had nothing to distract herself effectively with... and her mind turned to the past, or even to more recent tragedy. She'd learned to work herself through it, but one did not simply walk into depression and shrug it off. Even if she was lucky enough that it only lasted for a few minutes, it always felt like a desperate struggle to regain control of her own thoughts. It would have been infinitely harder with Izunome to whisper encouraging words in her ear. Izunome... a Persona that Nana had helped her attain. A little piece of her, maybe, that remained within her heart. A memory. As she came into view of the coffee shop, she slowed to a halt, biting her lip and closing her eyes. Taking a breath. Reigning in her mind. She knew where this train of thought was going (you failed to help Nana in turn) and also knew it was senseless to dwell on or act on (yet now that she's gone you throw yourself at another) because it was, in essence, no more trustworthy than a visit from one's personal Shadow (was she just an obstacle, an obligation? did you ever really care about either of them?) and could only be taken as a skewed, one-sided exaggeration of her deepest doubts (would you have thrown yourself at her if he had died instead?) and not something she should consider when she wasn't in a calm, level-headed state (pitiful) capable (useless) of making (self-serving) rational (whore) judgments about herself. If you are guilty of anything, it is simply of caring for them both equally, spoke the voice of her Persona. Calm, clear, yet firm, confident. It was not a voice one could have easily ignored even were it not sounding inside one's own head. You are not to blame for lack of clairvoyance. Many others in your place would have been reluctant to make such a choice, as well. "I know," Chika breathed, and forced her eyes open. The thoughts did not cease, but they... faded. It was enough. She put one foot in front of the other and resumed her walk down the street to the coffee shop that Naoya had asked to meet him at. She had told him they would meet there rather than at the school on purpose — an extended walk between school and here, together, before they had the privacy she needed to say what she wanted to say... it would have driven her crazy. --- Half a minute's walk later, and she had opened the door. The bell above jingled with her entry, and her eyes swept the room for Naoya. There were several high school couples here amongst the adult patrons, but Chika paid them no attention. Naoya took all two breaths' time to find, and her feet carried her toward him automatically. In spite of her nerves (which still showed on her face, and in the tension of her shoulders), she felt a warm smile spread across her face as she stepped up to the table, clutching her handbag in front of her skirt as she stopped there, seeing her friend for the first time in what felt like forever. She wanted to say hello, or that it was nice to see him again, but the giddiness that welled up inside her at that moment (as if a direct counterpoint to the wave of depressive thoughts she'd just fought off) bubbled out of her mouth in a laughing, random statement: "What is it about bein' our age that makes everythin' so darn... so darn, so darn soapy and opera-like!" she giggled, the laughter growing from a belly-giggle and closer to a full-blown laugh with every word. She doubled over, clutching her handbag to her stomach and the laughter threatened to overtake her. She barely restrained it enough to avoid drawing attention from nearby tables. "This is the part where... where I'm all wrestlin' with self-doubt and self-questionin'... and you're thinkin' I'm gonna turn ya down maybe even though I sorta wanted my messages to be obvious about sayin' I wasn't... a-and then, if I'm guessin' the script right, I look all stricken, like, 'No! No. Naoya-kun, that's not it. The truth is...' um... hang on, I can't ad-lib somethin' that dramatic, maybe I should go home and write somethin' heartfelt and poetic and... ha!" She collapsed into the chair on Naoya's left side, giggling and doubled over to the table, as if all the laughing she hadn't laughed over the last handful of years had been bottled up the whole time and the cork had just blown off the champagne bottle. "Naoya... let's just... skip all that... we can talk about it later! I like you, okay? I... oh god, that was easier than I.... hahahaha! Yeah! I like ya. A lot! Hahaha... hahahahaha!" Somewhere, amidst the barely-restrained volume of her euphoric laughter, tones of victorious joy emerged to join with the giddiness. The laughter took almost a full minute more to die away. |
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| Czernobog | Jan 18 2017, 12:27 PM Post #3 |
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Best Influence.
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He had been glancing up at the door every time someone entered. Part of him wanting to flee each time, thinking that he had made some titanic mistake, even though he thought that things were going to work out. Every instance of himself being a little shit, being overly dramatic, selfish...really, everything negative he had ever done, or everything that he had done which could be construed that way, came to him. A dumb, animal part of him almost made him flee. It was easy to overcome. He was going to be an adult about this. Or what he thought an adult was. He really had no idea how to approach the situation. Oh, god, he should have talked to Charlie about this. Charlie knew how to talk to girls. But this wasn't "a girl" this was Chika. He almost missed her when she came in, and when she did, and she looked at him, he felt a shiver pass over him. Should he stand? Should he smile? How would Uncle Shin handle this? Bad question. Uncle Shin never talked to women. He was going to be the police chief by thirty and would never get married. That wasn't a fair thought. It was nerve. The same nerve that was in her face. She approached, and started talking, and the sound of her voice made him smile, his grin turning lopsided. The right side before the left. He nodded along with her. They were of one mind on that. Being a teenager was the worst. And then she said it. What he had wanted to hear. What he had written He fiddled with the spine of the book as he waited for her to finish laughing. He grinned all the wider at it. Her laughter was not something he had heard much, but he wanted to hear more of it. She had healed a lot in the intervening months. There had been pain there, sure, but she seemed to be doing better. Did she need him? Maybe, maybe not. But she wanted him, and that was better. Need was never a matter of choice, it could breed resentment and dependence. Want was different. Maybe more fragile, but ultimately better. "I...uh..." he began. Eloquent. "I missed you, Chika. I, I mean, I like you, too." He licked his lips. "We can. Talk about it later, I mean. Let me, um, let me get us something, something warm to drink. I want to hear everything." He stood, his movement a little bit sudden, but he felt like he was floating. |
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| The One True Nobody | Jan 18 2017, 01:21 PM Post #4 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Naoya's suddenly buoyant aura was infectious, not that Chika needed the help in her present state. She straightened up, eyes sparkling as he gave his answer. She didn't burst out laughing again — thankfully the giddiness had passed — but her smile refused to fade. "I missed you, too," she said, as Naoya got up to get her a drink. She would let him pick out whatever he thought she'd like; she was feeling impossibly daring and experimental today, like nothing she tried could possibly go wrong (famous last words) (hush, you) so why not go full stupid with everything while her luck was good? She leaned forward in her chair and watched him go, resting an elbow on the table and her head on her hand, setting her purse at the middle of the table for early retrieval. She briefly pondered reimbursing Naoya for whatever he got, then wondered if he'd be one of those guys who took some weird kind of pride in paying for his date's things. Because that was what this officially was now, an extremely casual first date. Chika would have had butterflies in her stomach, if butterflies hadn't become a completely different mental association for her. Thoughts of what the other girls at school would think of her taste in boys didn't even enter her head (she cared so little about this that the whispering pair of Taiyoutono gossipers two tables over didn't register at all, in spite of one of them being from her very own homeroom class). She just occupied her mind with possible ways to spend time after they were done here. She'd never been on any real dates in her life, (at least that's one cherry you didn't pop) and the obvious bright side to that was... everything was new, so it was just a matter of figuring out what to try first! (too bad you can't say the same in the bedroom) And there certainly wasn't any need to think so far ahead, WAS THERE? (of course not, it won't make you any less revolting~) Focus on that which is right in front of you. The Persona's voice came as a whisper, cutting across encroaching doubt, stalling its advance. Do not forget, child, that sometimes "so far, so good" truly is good enough to be happy with. "Don't worry about me," Chika whispered aloud to herself, eyes still fixed on the direction Naoya had gone. "I've got this." |
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| Czernobog | Jan 18 2017, 03:51 PM Post #5 |
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Best Influence.
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His posture was better as he ordered a pot of tea and two cups. He didn't really have a well-developed palette for this sort of thing, so didn't take very long ordering gyokuro, which he understood to be fairly good from what he'd overheard. On the other hand, he was barely beyond thinking of tea as "hot leaf water" and so wouldn't have many thoughts on the particulars of the flavor. He paid for it, thinking that he would have to check in on the business, wondering if Aleph had been able to handle things while he was away, or if Seiji and the others had managed. It had been nearly a day, and he'd been struggling with keeping up with school and handling this particular situation, which he had let go far too long. It is a distraction. While not harmful, your dalliance here delays the great work of ushering in the new Yuga. Shut up. I've been cooped up in a small town for months, I'm allowed this. He picked up the pot of tea. His hands trembling slightly. Incorrect. You've been cooped up in a small town for months and have left your work undone. What is my work? He kept his eyes down as he headed to the table, moving slowly so as not to spill. To purge foulness from the world through any means, and bring about the restoration of the proper order. She has suffered greatly in the past. It is foulness that has been done to her. Bringing her happiness is a restoration of the proper order. You overestimate the purity of your own intentions. He sat down at the table, smiled up at her, and began to pour the tea. He shook off Kalkin's voice, and began to think. So much of pop culture focused on reaching up to this point, but didn't really give any information about what lay beyond it. Whenever there was a romantic plot, the sequels or followups to it always either ignored it or rolled it back. Which meant that they were useless. He thought about hiking with his mother when he was a child: When the map doesn't match the territory, you put away the map and trust your eyes. Besides, maps -- and popular media, in this metaphor -- were as much about hiding things as revealing them. "So...uh, you know just about all there is about where I was," he said. This next bit might be a bit of thin ice. "Boring as hell, I -- " don't say "missed" you just said that a moment ago, " -- feel like I shoulda been around, you know? So, uh...what did I miss?" He leaned back slightly, and placed his foot -- gingerly, but deliberately -- in contact with her own, the ball of his foot in the instep of hers, and vice versa. The new boundaries of their relationship were still unclear to him, and he had no intention of pushing at them, so the muscles of his leg remained tense for a moment, ready to jerk away, out of fear that she would feel her personal space violated. |
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| The One True Nobody | Jan 18 2017, 08:50 PM Post #6 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Chika's eyes were on Naoya for as long as he was in her field of view. She noted the trembling of his hands and her smile faded into confusion for a moment, but she told herself not to assume anything. Instinct told her there was nothing he could be nervous about regarding her anymore, not so soon after they'd had a laugh over her returning his feelings... not so immediately after he looked so light and carefree. Instinct told her it was someone else, and not his own natural anxieties as it was with what threatened her own carefully-sustained happiness at the moment. It's different for all of us. But we all have our tells. Me, Kyo, Nana... Naoya. None of us can hide it when our Persona says something we don't like. She said nothing about her suspicion as she sat down, figuring that if and when he wanted to talk about it, if there was indeed something to talk about in the first place, he would do it of his own volition. She tilted her head to the side as he spoke, her smile growing amused as she felt his foot make contact with hers. It was an odd choice for first physical contact, but she found it suited her: it was too far removed from the advances of someone who just wanted to use a woman to even brush up against old memories. She let herself respond in a semi-automated way, acting on instinct. She was wearing thin socks and sandals today, so what her instincts responded with was a gentle, fairly chaste brush up and down with the side of her foot, which continued without thought, albeit somewhat tentatively, as she spoke. "You say you 'should' have been around and maybe you weren't here to help us for a while, but in return for that a killer got put away and an innocent man who coulda been sent t' prison for someone else's crimes went free, and he'll be able t' keep on writing, and that might go on t' help someone else who's havin' a hard time. I'd say the karma's balanced, and on the plus side you were safe from all o' this for a while, which... well, you deserve a bit o' time away from life-threatenin' situations, I think. Don't worry so much, okay?" Still leaning on her own elbow to support her head, she put on a thoughtful look, trying to assemble the necessary information about what had been happening in Nagashima over the past couple of months. "I've been a little too busy doin' my part t' make sure Samurakami Road and Building doesn't fall to pieces so fast it puts people in danger, so I mostly hear about it through Kyo these days," Chika said quietly after a few moments. The somber tone did not interrupt the motion of her foot. "But as far as Persona stuff goes... the Black Hoods have gone silent. Kyo says one of 'em awakened to a Persona just before you left, but she kept an eye out for any sign they told the others and there's none, so our bet's she's hidin' her powers. Some other Persona-users went down inta the ruins to set up memorials for the fallen, and... Ms. Yellow showed up, but she didn't attack. Just talked like she wanted the Persona-users t' leave the ruins be, but gave 'em a disc or somethin' she said she had no use for, so... Yellow handed us a new document. Doesn't seem like a helpful one, but who knows." Chika shifted off of her arm, leaning back in her seat so that she could pick up her cup of tea with one hand. The other snaked along the table, as if hoping to meet Naoya's hand along the way, but seemed to give up halfway through the motion and just laid there, trying to pass itself off as lazily laying on the table for no reason. "After that news broke, Kyo got it in her head we oughta try makin' contact with Yellow, and got a big group together for that; she got some o' the newer users t' go with her, which I thought was weird. But it was Ms. Gold who showed up when she and the eight others she brought with her went in and tried t' call out to Yellow. Gold had found Kumori Yatsu in the ruins, unconscious for some reason, and looked out for him until he woke. But Kyo doesn't trust Gold at all, she told me. She'd been all set to record anythin' Yellow said with her phone and she did it while they talked t' Gold. The whole thing's up on Bedlam, if ya wanna listen to it..." Chika trailed off, then shrugged. "Anythin' else, you'd have to ask someone else about, or else it's really recent and still on Bedlam's front page, like the Swordsman's sister joinin' Bedlam and all," she said. "It feels like we're makin' some progress, but, it also feels like we ain't makin' enough that it makes up for goin' so long without it. It looks like my work in the backstreets might ease up pretty soon, so I should be able to do more once that happens." She smiled a bit sheepishly and added, in a more good-humored way: "As for stuff goin' on at school, you'd hafta ask more of a people-person." There were some worries she hadn't mentioned, such as Sachiko Samurakami having become a Persona-user and Natsumi's father following suit not long after, putting the parents of two of her closest friends at risk. But that was stuff she could bring up later. Best to stick to the utilitarian concerns that Naoya would be most interested in for now, she figured, although letting out some of her own regret over her inactivity for the past few months was a bit of an indulgence on her part. |
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| Czernobog | Jan 18 2017, 11:27 PM Post #7 |
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Best Influence.
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Kalkin had also been quieter in Hokkaido, further from the Ruins. He had been alone with his thoughts, unfiltered through the illusion of an Other. She was right, though: karma had been balanced. Things had worked out, after a fashion, and he was here now. Naoya seemed to relax when she responded to his light touch. It was a small thing, a crack in a wall that let the light in, but it was still something that he had needed. The months up in Hokkaido had been devoid of human contact for him, at least in a physical sense, and even before that it had been a rough thing. Usually a hug from Charles or Jiro as one of them was struggling through something, or recognized that he was. It was...admittedly kind of odd, but Naoya hadn't been uncomfortable with that degree of intimacy. It was nice, but this was something else. That had felt like something done to counteract strain. This was...he didn't even have the vocabulary for it. He listened as she talked, his eyes fixing on her mouth, brow furrowing in concentration as he watched how she formed them. The way that teeth and tongue and lips worked together to bring sense out. He said nothing as she spoke, focusing instead on each individual phoneme. Periodically, he would remember that he should respond and nod. He took a sip of the tea, which was still far too hot for most people to drink, and swallowed. Clearly feeling no pain whatsoever from the near-boiling liquid. Almost as if idly, he reached out and laid his hand so that their fingertips barely touched, like the spark gap in an engine. He could feel the barest warmth coming off of her hand, but held back from full contact: there were sharp-edged calluses on his hands, and his fingernails were too long -- should he have trimmed them? Oh, god, he should have trimmed them, who should he have asked about that? Everyone he knew to ask about life was either a teenager or a nearly middle-aged workaholic, who did he know who put time, energy, or thought into hygiene? -- and he didn't want to risk being too clumsy with her. As far as he recalled, physical contact might cause her injury. He briefly remembered the ambush at the metalworks, when his hand had been blown apart and Chika had stood there with steel in her eyes to protect him. He felt calmer, more at ease. She...as best she could, she had always had his back. Even when she had no reason to. He drew breath. "And how have you been?" he asked. "I mean...I didn't know any of that, or anything, and I need t' know, but, uh...yeah." He felt himself slipping back into old vocal habits. It felt natural, but they didn't push at him when he spoke to anyone else. He had a brief moment of double-vision, when he couldn't tell if he was being duplicitous or extremely honest. He remembered, briefly, that he had effected his speech slightly when speaking to her after he ascended, to make her feel more comfortable with him. She had felt more comfortable with the broken Naoya than the whole one, then. He felt she would accept him either way, and so it didn't really matter how he spoke: perhaps, in that, he was able to actually be honest? Or maybe he just wanted her to remember who he had been. Wait...he wasn't anyone different. He had changed, but he was still the same. And he was overthinking things. He had to be in the moment. |
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| The One True Nobody | Jan 19 2017, 01:00 PM Post #8 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Chika's eyes had been on Naoya's the whole time as it was, but the sudden flicker in them gave the sense that, had she been looking anywhere else at that moment, they'd have darted straight back to meet his gaze. When she felt his fingers come in contact with his, her hand moved, gently coming to rest on top of his. She could feel the contact, the texture of his hands and the roughness that his work had left there, more acutely than perhaps many others could have. It was so different to how his hands felt. She took her first sip of tea, eyes transfixed on Naoya's through the rising steam — steam that made it clear that, had she been a normal person, taking such a full sip of the liquid in it current state would have scalded her tongue and mouth, yet she seemed unbothered by it. The question, on the other hand, she still seemed to be trying to find an answer for. When she lowered her cup, she finally had a working substitute. "Better than I've been for a long while, though, I'll admit that's not sayin' much," she said. "It's hard keepin' at things sometimes. And I haven't talked t' many o' the others lately. Feels like, like I don't know how I can get 'em t' understand I don't need 'em t' walk on eggshells around me anymore. Easier t' talk to strangers who don't know what a wreck I was not long ago." She laughed a little bit, and looking away, she felt the heat of color rising in her cheeks. "But I ain't been avoidin' 'em, exactly, it's just been busy," she said. "Busy, busy. And with Kyo gone off t' college, well, she and Natsumi're the only two girls I know at school who really get me. The others are nice, but those two really give me." That Nana had been a third name on that list until recently hardly needed to be said, she figured. She looked up, her eyes brightening. "I guess I have someone else t' look forward t' spendin' my lunch break with now, huh? You just wait, we'll have the best boxed lunches you've ever tried. You won't know how y' ever got through your afternoon classes without me." She brought her cup up to her lips, made to take another sip. Only then did she finally notice the rolling steam, halfway through gulping it down, and she slowly lowered the glass, holding it out and looking at it cross-eyed. "...It's still that hot? I couldn't tell," she said softly. "Probably my Persona. Fire and water both heal me now, so hot water would... oops. I should probably at least pretend t' let it cool down so I don't give myself away." She blew on the surface of the liquid, and set the cup carefully down on the table. |
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| Czernobog | Jan 19 2017, 01:24 PM Post #9 |
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Best Influence.
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Naoya shrugged. "That's...that's part of why I was always so cagey. There, uh, might also be like...a thing there, though. Thinkin' that women are delicate 'n' men are supposed t' just shrug everything off," he shook his head. He was as guilty of treating her with kid gloves as others, he supposed. Of course, for a while, he had been exactly what would have been needed to destroy her and she had been the same for him: that they had not, had desired connection, had been the most fortunate thing. Boxed lunches? He blinked. The whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing occurring to him. He hadn't come into this meeting thinking of that. And with her other friends gone, hanging around Naoya was going to be a bit of a blow to her social stock -- the Burakumin kid that spent time with foreigners and delinquents and always smelled at least a bit like a camp fire? It might be good that she wasn't much of a people person. But who gave a shit what other people thought, anyway? This was going to be fun. "Well, I look forward to that...an', well, I mean, you'll have t' let me do the same, sometime. I'm not, y'know, I don't think I'm as good a cook as you, 'n' all, but Charlie's taught me a couple things, and...uh..." I can't keep showing my affection by making you things out of scrap metal? "I, y'know, I like givin' you things. Not, like, as in...uh..." He paused, closed his eyes and tried to parse his words, but was instead presented with a string of memories, and reformed what he was going to say. "It's just, you, y'know...you make this cute face when I do." He coughed, and then followed up, in a slightly different tone of voice, as if trying to move on from a statement he was embarrassed about making. "that bein' said, I really want to try a boxed lunch you make." He was conscious of the fact that he had been in the office trying to get his status worked out through most of the afternoon, and hadn't really had time to eat much. The thought of food was tugging insistently at his sleeve, trying to get him to pay attention to it. He couldn't, though. He still hadn't been back to the forge to look things over. That was probably something else he should do. Something he would do later. Without saying anything else, he looked down. He lifted his hand, indicating he would like its use for a moment, before simply flipping it over to lay it back where it had been. |
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| The One True Nobody | Jan 19 2017, 03:11 PM Post #10 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Chika knew she had it a little bit better in general than Naoya did, at least now that she had her head on straighter and a Persona living inside her that wasn't a megaphone for her worst and ugliest feelings. There wasn't much outward indication that she was troubled. But so many people at school had grown accustomed to seeing her as the girl who never spoke, rarely emoted at all; and those who knew her had all, at one point or another, seen her totally fall to pieces or else just knew about her past. Only Natsumi had grown used to it to a point where she knew the difference between Chika needing support and not needing it; Nana had understood Chika's feelings well enough to understand without thinking about it. As for Kyo, well, Kyo was Kyo. Chika had a feeling Kyo didn't know how to treat someone with kid gloves even if she wanted to. Even when Kyomu had been at her house, Chika had gotten the distinct impression that Kyo was more interested in helping her grow than sparing her feelings. Lord only knew whether she'd done so at all before the girl had left the city. The remark about her making a cute face when given gifts brought the same face he was probably remembering right on out, but this time she was aware of it as it happened, and couldn't stop herself from looking down. Color rising to her face was one of the forms of heat that she felt as clearly as she ever had in spite of Izunome's resistance to the element, which only served to make her really aware of how many times she'd blushed so far. "We can swap lunches sometime, maybe," she suggested, forcing her eyes back up. There was a happy hesitance to her tone. She wasn't about to resort to all the cliché girl lines that went the way of either soaking in the compliment and teasing out more of them, or playfully denying her own cuteness to the same effect; but in the absence of those, she didn't have anything clever to say. It was a good thing that Naoya gave her something to distract herself with during the pause that followed, turning his hand over so that she could take hold of it properly. Her fingers closed around it, giving him a firm squeeze. She let out a breath, and then looked up. "Did the owner of the metalworks give you any trouble over bein' away so long?" she asked. It was a question that had occurred to her at some point earlier in the day, though she'd only remembered that she had meant to ask about it now. As it resurfaced in her mind she felt a tinge of worry. She didn't have any real idea what the relationship between Naoya and the people who actually ran Ichiban Metalworks was actually like, or even how much they knew about the work Naoya did for Persona-users. |
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2:31 AM Jul 11
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2:31 AM Jul 11