| Watershed Moment; [Chika] | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 18 2017, 06:12 AM (401 Views) | |
| Czernobog | Jan 19 2017, 10:38 PM Post #11 |
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Best Influence.
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Naoya smiled broadly when she blushed, and arched an eyebrow as if to say That. That, right there. She was, however, looking away, down at his hand. He felt her squeeze his fingers. She seemed to be doing her best to communicate that this was okay, that she was on board. He could feel a warmth thrumming behind his sternum. Tension he didn't know he was holding was slowly leaking from his back. He had almost tricked himself into thinking that he hadn't been fixating on this exact event for months -- it was kind of hard when you were someplace where literally nothing was happening. "I haven't...uh, haven't been to talk to my landlords. They're goin' to be sore with me for bein' behind on rent and not pullin' my weight on weldin'. But they, y'know, they knew that I had a medical issue, I think they'll understand. I'm more worried about the fact that all my stock's probably turned t' rust, if the others haven't been rotatin' it. Had t' leave someone who wasn't quite up to it t' handle things while I was gone, and for all I know, the back lot's just been growin' weeds this whole time." He sighed. "Nah...I mean, we just got back in two nights ago, and I've been strugglin' t' get everything sorted with school. I was goin' t' try to get bumped up to third year now that a new year's startin' up, but I think I might've missed that window. That's honestly the biggest concern I've got. Other'n, y'know...uh...where to take you for a first date...I mean, y'know, since we're...uh..." His own face began to turn a bit red as he trailed off, less because he thought she would disagree with what he was about to say, but because the concept was still new to him and he had no idea how to factor it in to things. It was a small shift in identity, subtly different from being friends, possibly because they had been friends, and now they were that and something else. |
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| The One True Nobody | Jan 19 2017, 11:17 PM Post #12 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Chika looked up, blinking as Naoya trailed off into uncertainty. She smiled a bit, having to restrain herself from laughing at how he danced around it, and said, to finish his thought: "Since we're a couple now?" She leaned onto her free hand again, thumb sliding along one side of Naoya's hand, foot having come to rest against his. "I'll help you clean up at the metalworks, how 'bout that? And if you're too behind on rent, we can make that up pretty fast... I keep my money well-saved for emergencies, anyway. Don't try t' say no to that, neither — it's important t' more than just you or me t' keep your work goin'. I'm sure the others'd offer to help too, if you needed it. But that's for later." Shifting off of her arm, she picked up her cup, blew on its surface again, and took a sip. She glanced around the coffee shop, wondering if anyone familiar was there besides the gossip-mongers she'd spotted before. She didn't immediately see anyone, so she turned her attention back to Naoya. "As for where to go on a date, I've never been on one," she said suddenly, blinking a few times. "I know places the other girls talked about their boyfriends takin' 'em, but that was back in Osaka." Chika gave it a few second's thought. While she could always ask Natsumi, who would probably know a thing or two about hot dating spots in the local area, the only other girl she could think to ask was Kyo... and Kyo absolutely hated formal dating. She treated everything she did with Hiroko besides actual intimacy the same way she'd have treated it with a good friend. But maybe that was the way to go about it, Chika wondered? Kyo's explanation for her attitude was that she saw putting too much focus on the formalities of a relationship as unnecessary stress at best, an encouragement to be dishonest with your partner at worst. Married couples, Kyo had said (having worked herself into a half-drunken sermon by this point in the conversation) had to learn to live with each other at the most casual and uncensored, and delaying the point where they got used to that just taught them to only love each other's most artificial aspects. She hadn't been quite as eloquent as that, but Chika knew how to translate vulgarity into vocabulary well enough to get the gist. "What sorta things d'you like to do on your own? Maybe that'll give us some ideas," Chika suggested, looking back at Naoya. Come to think of it, she didn't know much about his hobbies, outside of the metalworking. What did Naoya do for fun most days? |
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| Czernobog | Jan 20 2017, 06:31 AM Post #13 |
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Best Influence.
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Naoya grinned after she said "since we're a couple" and stammered happily for a second. He squeezed her hand gently. Part of him wondered if he could fit his fingers completely around her wrist, but he stopped himself from checking, thinking that it might trigger a reaction. It's something that he had wanted for a long time, now, and he was delighted that this is real, this is happening, it's not a mistake. "Yeah. Since, since we're a couple." Then Chika got to the issue of hobbies, and Naoya laughed. "Oh, man, I...I had like a dozen before I started up th' operation at the metalworks. I was tryin' out a whole bunch of stuff, y'know, mostly because I thought it'd make my brain work better? A lot of it kind of fell by the wayside, and a lot of it just made me act a bit like an old person? Like...uh, I got a garden I set up on the roof of the apartment buildin', an' I tried to learn the bass for a while -- I gave my bass away to Charlie, though, around the time I gave you th' -- " he made a gesture with his free hand, drawing with his pointer finger in the air to indicate necklace, " -- um...I still do yoga, like, if I'm up early enough, er...a lot of readin'...I, uh, don't really play many video games, 'r anything like that...and..." He chewed on his lip for a second. "In all honesty, most of 'em are kinda solo activities, an' most of them are either focused on learnin' something or makin' things. I mean, if'n y' want to come and hang out in the garden or do yoga, or something, that'd be more'n fine with me, but not really, y'know, date stuff. Like...I, uh, I ain't ever done this, either, and it seems like it'd be fun, y'know?" He chuckled. "So, uh, what about yours? Your hobbies, I mean. I, uh, I know you knit, 'cause of, the, uh, th' hat, but...uh, yeah." It took him a moment to realize that his errors in speech, from increased speed, weren't due to nervousness, but from excitement. All of this was really happening, he wasn't just some creep who she put up with. It was real. |
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| The One True Nobody | Jan 20 2017, 04:02 PM Post #14 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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The necklace. Chika had taken to wearing it since her ascension, had grown so accustomed to its presence that she'd quite forgotten about its powers; her own Persona had granted her a more potent healing magic on its own, so Chika regarded it mostly as a sentimental treasure. One of the five flowers that had originally born a dim glow of magic had gone dark, leaving only four spells inside of it. The necklace now sat inside of her shirt, since wearing it in the open was tantamount to announcing that she had magic powers, but she only took it off to bathe these days. The charm that Nana had given her remained clipped to her phone, now a memento more than anything else. It was not something that Chika gave much thought — the two objects were linked in her mind simply because of how closely together they had been given to her. But she no longer felt any discomfort at the thought of choosing to return Naoya's feels. She was certain that, if wherever it was the dead went, and if they were aware of what lives the living went on to live, Nana would not have wanted her to be tied down by grief the way she had been. Something amusing peeked out at Chika from Naoya's words and she ducked her head, lightly biting her bottom lip to prevent herself from giggling. The offer to hang out and do yoga in particular was one that she was quite certain he had not thought through. She decided not to tease him about it just now, though, and filed it away as ammunition for a later opportunity. There would be plenty of time, after all, more than enough time. And maybe some day she would feel comfortable taking him up on that offer. "I don't just knit actually," she said, straightening herself up and allowing some pride to leak into her voice. "I make clothes of almost any kind, and I'm gettin' better all the time. It's relaxin', and some day I hope t' get good enough that I can maybe sell some of it on the side. That's not the career I'm after, of course. But it's not somethin' I'm gonna stop tryin' at. As for other hobbies? I do read a bit here n' there, but I'm still, uh, still just trying to get into things. Didn't have a lotta time for hobbies in Osaka, and only really started lookin' for 'em these last couple o' months. I'm open t' just about anything right now, really." |
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| Czernobog | Jan 20 2017, 10:11 PM Post #15 |
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Best Influence.
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Naoya listened and nodded along. He had already known, on some level, that they both liked to make things: they just liked to make different things. That was something. Maybe they could learn to make something together? She skewed more towards clothing, and he knew nothing. Perhaps she could teach him -- he dressed something like a homeless person, sometimes, wearing so many hand-me-downs that barely fit him. He smiled at the pride that filled her voice. She seemed to come alive more. "I think that's a good aspiration," he said. "I mean, I don't know much about th' fiber arts, bu I'd lo -- I mean, I'd like to learn more. Um..." He took a deep breath. "You...well, you'n Kyo...an' more'n one other person told me that I needed t' relax. I...I feel like I talk about a lot of heavy shit a lot of the time, an' I could probably stand to loosen up a lot. Takin' things easy's kind of a foreign country to me." He thought back, and one word popped into his head. Mothra. "Er...I just remembered something. 'N'...well, it's, y'know, it's kinda dumb. There's this small movie theater not too far from th' metalworks, I used t' go there sometimes for the, y'know, uh...th' late showin' of old kaiju movies." He became a bit jittery, wondering if she would judge him for what he felt to be a somewhat trashy cultural artifact that he found himself enjoying. He repeated: "It's dumb, I just...uh...kinda like the fact that the monsters are out in the open and that people work together against them, y'know." He looked away, blushing. It was childish, and he knew it. She might laugh. He didn't think it would hurt if she did, but part of him worried. |
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| The One True Nobody | Jan 21 2017, 12:08 AM Post #16 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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The prospect of teaching Naoya how to work with clothes brought an interested but uncertain look to Chika's eyes. In truth, she didn't know how to go about teaching another person what she knew. She could barely even piece together how she'd learned it herself, the memories of her Fashion Club exercises were too scattered amongst memories of Osaka and all the struggles she'd gone through over the years for her to find and piece together into anything actually useful. She let Naoya talk right on past that topic, figuring they could revisit it later. Kaiju movies, though? As in monster movies, Godzilla and such? Chika had never seen one. It had seemed a bit childish, but she seemed to remember her brother enjoying them when he was younger. It was something he'd fallen away from as he got older, but that was more because they hadn't had much money for frivolous stuff and he'd saved what money he could spare for video games instead of movies. Chika sipped again at her tea, considering. "I'd like t' see one," she decided. It only occurred to her after she said it than Naoya had been suggesting that very thing. She blinked exactly once, laughed at herself, and added: "Oh, I mean, yeah. I'd like t' see one sometime, with you, if you wanna go. But I just realized, I've never seen a monster movie. I don't know whether or not I'd like it yet." Movies. When she'd learned how Nana felt about her, they had been watching movies together. Lady Snowblood. And Kyo, she had told Chika a story once of a time when she, Kira Kameko, and Aleksandria Fyodor had watched a western film together one night: the movie had been Ghostbusters, and Kyo (who'd been a bit drunk at this point, and Chika hadn't had the heart to tell her to stop talking) had reminisced about how Aleksandria had wished the way the Ghostbusters had triumphantly saved the day and been celebrated for it might come true for Persona-users one day. I just kinda like the fact that the monsters are out in the open and that people work together against them. "I think a lot of us would like that, if the monsters were out in the open and we all worked together against 'em," Chika added suddenly. Her eyes had gone off into the distance. Her own words from a few days before floated back into her head on the heels of Naoya's: It feels like I've always had to choose between feeling good about myself and doing the right thing. I get a little jealous of people who have the freedom to do both, sometimes. It'd be nice to try it, once in a while. A lot of them would like it, she thought. In fact, by now, she'd be surprised if most of the Persona-users in town weren't wrestling with that very idea in some form or another. Maybe that was why so many of them had turned to vigilantism over the course of the year. Fighting and defeating criminals out in the open... it had to feel more fulfilling than killing monsters underground, where the deed would never be known outside the Persona-user community. "Maybe that's also why your uncle was so set on solvin' that case before he came back to town," Chika added after another moment, looking back to Naoya. "Maybe it gave him a sense o' gettin' something done that he just didn't feel like he could achieve here. Or maybe I'm overthinkin' it, who knows?" |
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| Czernobog | Jan 21 2017, 09:07 AM Post #17 |
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Best Influence.
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Naoya nodded as Chika pointed out how that same desire that made him enjoy Kaiju movies had been at the root of his uncle spending several months hunting a serial killer in the back woods of Hokkaido -- a causal link that he could easily accept, but which he had never thought anyone would have to make. He drew a deep breath. "I mean, uh...I understand why it happened, 'n' I can accept it was necessary, but I still wish I hadn't been along for the ride. I, uh, y'know, I think yer right, though. It is probably the same impulse, just manifested differently due to different situations." He shrugged. It comforted him that she didn't think it terribly ridiculous. It was becoming apparent to him that she was willing to come along for almost anything. As a result, he was struggling to come up with more and more things that she would like. Because if she was willing to agree to something like that, if she was open to it, then he wanted, even more, to make her happy. He let his mouth run for a moment as he came up with other options. "Th'...uh, th' one problem with the kaiju movies is that they're usually th' late showin'. So it might, uh, might entail a bit o' sneakin' around," he said. Due to the amount of time he'd been a persona user his perception had shifted around to less "so sneaking out after curfew is a major problem" to more of a "well, that's something that happens." He'd had to do it a few times, but living with someone else who had also awoken made it a bit easier. A thought occurred to him, and he snapped his fingers. "If we could find an all-ages venue, we could go dancin'? Like...uh, I know a lot of guys are a bit nervous about that, but I kinda like doin' it," he said. As he cast about for another option, he let some thoughts slip out that were possibly not the most well-formed. "I mean, uh...I ain't really done it with a partner, but I'd like to, 'n' I got a pretty good sense of rhythm. And, uh..." Upon realizing what had come out of his mouth, he began to blush. While the meaning of his words was clear from context, he was somewhat worried about the other patrons having overheard just that portion and misconstruing his words. He knew that Chika had been slandered a number of times in the past year, and she didn't need anyone saying awful things about her because they had caught a portion of something he had said while not realy thinking. |
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| The One True Nobody | Jan 21 2017, 01:45 PM Post #18 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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"My foster parents've learned t' trust me goin' out late," Chika said easily. "If you wanna see a movie at that hour, it just has t' be on a day I don't have other obligations." By which she meant her volunteer work at the Samurakami Road & Building offices. It was the only obligation she had to speak of. Fortunately it wasn't one that normally ran late into the night, although she'd claimed it would, and used that as her excuse whenever she left home early. She never got into any trouble, so they never had a reason to distrust her. She felt a little guilty about it, but these days she could come and go from her foster home at will. They'd probably even have accepted it if she said she had a late-night date, come to think of it. They didn't seem all that conservative about such things. The suggestion that they go out dancing prompted a fidget, though. "I've never tried dancin', that was more my brother's sorta thing," she said, the speed and pitch of her voice going up (she'd drawn the unconscious association between this innocent suggestion and her brother's particular taste in venue, which had been less all ages and more wherever we can sneak a quantity of booze in). "But I wouldn't mind givin' it a try, it's just, well, I don't know that I'd be any good at it. Dancin', I mean. I've never tried." Even as she said it a thrill of nervous energy ran through her from toe to fingertip. She squeezed Naoya's hand, not in a nervous way, but wondering what it would be like to dance with him. The idea of dancing, alone or with a date, was one that hadn't crossed her mind once since long before she'd moved away from Osaka, and now that she had she couldn't let it go. Half of her was afraid she would find herself unable to do it, that in some way it would cross over into the same mental territory that always immobilized her with fear of the past. But she didn't think it would. She hope it wouldn't. Somehow she had to find out if it would. Or if she was even good enough at it for that to matter. |
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| Czernobog | Jan 21 2017, 03:00 PM Post #19 |
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Best Influence.
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Naoya watched her reaction. She was nervous, and he could understand because while it had a different root, a different shape, it was a similar feeling to the one that plagued him. He was struck again by how they were, in many ways, mirror images of each other: flipped on some axes and identical in others. He tried to think of what she needed from him: not for him to be careful, not for him to force things, but just for him to understand. He drank some of his tea, using the moment to compose hid thoughts enough to start talking. "I think it'd be fun. But, Y'know, if not, like, uh, that'd be...it'd be fine, Chika. I'm just...Y'know, I'm excited. I want t' be with you, 'n if you, um... And, uh...No eggshells here 'r nothing, but if I push too hard on something, just say 'stop.' And we'll do something else. No hard feelings, no protest, no explanation needed." His mouth worked, wordlessly for a moment, as he tried to summarize easily. "I just want t' be with you, because I like you. I don't want you t' be uncomfortable, because I like it when your happy. None...Like none of the rest -- movies, dancin', whatever -- is as important." It would have been a beautiful sentiment, if his stomach didn't pick just that moment to growl, quietly but noticeably. His earnest expression became tempered by a measure of the embarrassment he had just gotten rid of. |
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| The One True Nobody | Jan 21 2017, 03:43 PM Post #20 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Chika watched Naoya as he spoke, her face seeming to melt through a number of emotions: first, briefly, embarrassment as she realized the direction his words were taking; discomfort, followed by relief. Gratitude, then, amusement. The sound of his belly grumbling broke the tension, and she let out a soft, musical laugh. "Maybe we should start small... with dinner," she suggested. "And, thank you, Naoya-kun. If I didn't think you'd be understanding, I don't think I would be here right now. But it helps to hear you say that you will. So, thank you." One squeezed his hand one more time, and then let go, snatching up her tea and taking a long gulp to drain the rest of it. This pause was all she needed to reassemble her feelings and face Naoya again. She set the cup down and pushed it away, and met his eyes again. "Is there a place around here you like? For dinner, I mean," she said, smiling again. "Don't worry about treatin' me to anything this time. If you wanna be all chivalrous like that you can hold off until you've had time t' settle back in and figure out the metalworks situation. Let's just have a good dinner and talk, for now, and leave what comes later for later." |
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