| Like Goddamn Adults For A Change; [Kyo, Eri, Yu, Makoto, Seiji, Maki, Shin - Closed] | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 2 2017, 07:17 PM (561 Views) | |
| FirebreathFishslap | Apr 16 2017, 07:19 AM Post #21 |
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I'm the best! I'm the king of me! I'm gonna eat chips out of the garbage!
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"Don't talk like you know why I did anything!" Makoto was on his feet as fast as Kyo was, Yu shooting to his feet beside him. Yu put a hand on his shoulder that Makoto quickly shook off as he turned toward Kyo, his fists clenching as she continued through her tirade. When she whirled toward him, his whole body was tensed, his expression set in a look of complete defiance. He kept quiet, still seething, still standing, as she finished up, turning her comments toward the others in the room. His hands began to shake. Yu looked extremely uncomfortable as Kyo mentioned that Goto had wanted to meet with him in particular. As Kyo finished up, he turned toward her with a concerned look on his face. "I didn't reach out to--" "Well maybe you should have fucking told me all of this shit!" Makoto snapped, suddenly. "How the fuck was I supposed to know any of this shit you just said about him? I asked you to look into him! I was waiting on you to tell me what was going on! And then the next thing I know, Susaki's posting up something saying someone's gonna murder him, and everyone's treating me like a criminal! I'm not a fucking psychic, Kyo! I didn't know anything you just said until you said it just now!" He swung toward Maki as she started next, his hands still shaking. Yu had taken a step back, but he was turning his head around toward the others in the group as they spoke. Chieko had sat up straighter, but she hadn't said anything during all of this. More than likely, she didn't want to get involved until she was sure that she needed to be. Yu nodded solemnly to Seiji as he made his exit. The room had gotten heated, and a lot of things were being thrown around. He couldn't blame him for wanting to make his exit now and cool down before he could say something he would regret. There were a lot of things being thrown around -- insults, plans, assumptions. And while Makoto seethed next to him, Yu mulled them over in his head. He didn't want to interact with Kou Goto -- the only reason he'd reached out to him in the past was to confirm his suspicions of their parentage. But he wasn't being given an option on that anymore. Goto wanted to talk with him, and the issue of their custody was reaching a head. But as Maki turned her attention toward Makoto again, he felt his brother tense next to him. Makoto was rigid, like a spring pulled taut. Yu met Maki's gaze as she turned toward him, looking away guiltily. "You don't get it," Makoto muttered, turning to look toward her with a disdainful look. "None of you get it! My brother and I have spent our entire lives in the foster system, alternating between living in crowded, abusive foster homes, and being shoved into orphanages to wait for our real parents to come back for us, even though it was one of them who abandoned us to first place, before we were even old enough to remember her face! We've spent our entire public schooling trying to stay on top of our grades and training ourselves into looking like the perfect children, with no strings tied, the perfect grades and an obedient personality, when we barely even have lives or people who care about us to begin with! For sixteen years, we've turned ourselves into commodities on the hope that we'll maybe, possibly find someone who'll adopt us so we can live that normal life we've envied, with the full knowledge that at any point, our biological parents can swoop us up and take us away, and the legal system will not only allow it, but will encourage it. Our parents! The woman who abandoned us because we reminded her of her rapist, and the man who raped her!" He threw his arm out to the side. "And now we've practically won the lottery with these things, with rich adoptive parents who want Yu to inherit their company, and brought me along to keep him happy. But we still have to commodify ourselves! We have to get through high school with no incidents, while keeping our grades and extracurriculars high, and making sure nothing goes wrong to hurt our chances for being adopted! And I have to keep my nose clean even more, because I wasn't even wanted. And then this idiot got a paternity check done and let that man know who he was, meaning that at any moment he could swoop in and claim paternity, and everything we've worked for will go up in smoke in an instant! "Is it wrong for me to want my life to go smoothly, when nothing in it ever has?!" He shot at Maki. "Is it wrong for me to not want my school to be known as a haven of bullies and superpowered freaks? Or to not want to let vigilantes walk freely, when there's people who want to lynch me for existing?! Or to not let my goddamned biological father show up and tear away everything I've ever wanted because I exist!? In that case, I shouldn't have been born at all! Neither of us should have been!" Yu's eyes widened, and Chieko sat up even straighter. Makoto stepped back, his forehead dripping sweat. He looked around one last time, and then collapsed back into the couch, apparently spent. Yu sat down next to him, looking somewhat shaken. "...That's all," Makoto said. "That's all the justification I'll give myself... And at least that guy's talking sense." He swung his thumb toward Shin. |
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| The One True Nobody | Apr 16 2017, 08:04 AM Post #22 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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When Seiji stepped outside and closed the door, it would take several seconds for him to notice a second figure sitting outside along with him. She was dressed most peculiarly: something resembling stylized Japanese garb, a kimono cut off just before the waist, with whitish skin decorated here and there by purple body-paint designs. A mask shaped like a downward-facing Japanese fan was stapped to her forehead, covering the upper half of her face entirely. Seiji would be able to sense nothing at all from this apparition, which had a faint, semi-transparent haziness to it on closer inspection, but he might recognize it. It seemed Kyo had summoned Ame-no-Uzume before anyone had arrived; perhaps it had been hidden on the roof until everyone entered the building. Its purpose was clear (it was there to provent Makoto from storming off should he feel fed-up with the proceedings inside the office) but its demeanor was at odds with that. Instead it sat down near the staircase leading to the lower balconies, legs and arms entwined with the railing, like a depressed slum teenager with nothing to do. Though its face was obscured, its mouth betrayed a trembling as if it were on the verge of tears, but more strikingly, not tears of sadness: Uzume was afraid of something. She turned her head slightly in Seiji's direction when he noticed her, then looked away, bowing it in the opposite direction. For a moment, there was a static flicker as if the Persona wanted to retreat back into its true self, but it immediately snapped back to solid form. --- Kyo's eyes had slightly glazed over for a few moments after Seiji left the room. When focus returned to them, her reaction was inexplicable: she hugged her arms to herself and walked away from the door, taking up a position by the window at the front of the building. She stared out as the others spoke. Outwardly, it looked almost like she'd been hit hard by Makoto's outburst. She didn't speak again until after Shin and Maki had both said their piece, and when she did, all she said was: "I only just learned it before this meetin', Makoto. And don't presume t' know how much I understand about your situation. I know more about it than you'd care to, believe me. Motou did a lotta diggin' on you two... just be glad it's someone like me he gave his files to. And don't expect me t' let you cook for anyone I know in the future." The green-haired girl, who normally would have spoken with heat and emotion, had begun speaking blandly, as if she were only half-there. Her eyes were fixed out at the buildings across the way. Kyo shook her head, and lowered it. Eri, disconcerted by Kyo's sudden change in demeanor, cleared her throat and slowly stood. "...As it happens, Nakagawa-kun," she said slowly. "There is at least one person in this room who knows something of what you and your brother are going through. That person being me. Your situation isn't so different from my own, although I daresay I never went as far as the two of you have in the past to get away from an undesirable guardian." Eri, put a hand to her collarbone looking from Makoto to Yu, to Makoto again. "We are attempting to arrive at the best possible outcome for everybody, Makoto-san... Yu-san. Please do not mistake my daughter's choice as forcing the matter in one direction. She only said what she needed to in order to delay Goto-san's return to Nagashima. If Yu-san does not wish to meet with the man, and I would not blame him for that, we will see first if Goto-san is willing to back off of his own accord. If he is still not, then we will pursue other means to protect your futures." Eri glanced back at Shin and Maki. "That is the primary reason my daughter wanted Inspector Imoto and Detective Yamada involved from this point forward... as for the possibility of another culprit, I raised that concern myself, but Kyo-chan just said that — " Kyo cut across her mother, not looking back, still speaking in a bland, distant tone: "The other possible suspect's the mother. Possible motives include guilt at not bein' able t' get past the memories when her son showed up, or just wantin' the guy dead, or even bein' afraid he'd force his way back into her life at some point. The fact that the prophecy's set for the place I specified is the reason I defaulted t' Makoto, though, 'cause originally he was the only person I was gonna tell about my arrangement there." Finally, Kyo turned around, regaining some semblance of focus... and seriousness. "...The third option is complete coincidence or some unrelated grudge, in which case, Makoto and Yu would still be suspects. And we need t' prevent that from happenin' to protect that lottery-jackpot future o' yours, too. Any questionin' the police follow up on would at least turn up Yu's search inta his parents. It is vital that Kou Goto doesn't die, do you understand? Not at your hands, not at anyone else's. Now that I've stuck my nose in it in such an up-front way, I might be a suspect, too." |
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| The One True Nobody | Apr 16 2017, 01:38 PM Post #23 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Posting as a proxy for NonSequitur: --- "Yeah, yeah." Seiji growled to himself as he noticed the Persona. The influence f things that couldn't be explained by conventional wisdom or science was an ever present and even oppressive presence. Everything from their current predicaments to even meeting or speaking to one another in the first place felt like it was done by something else and to which none of them had any consent or power over. The lingering apparition was the prefect face to that. He turned back and reluctantly returned. There was an angry rant about Makoto's circumstances that rang hollow. Everybody had a goddamn sob story when they were called on their shit, at some point they just all blended together. He sat back, folded his arms and remained stony faced, waiting for an opportunity of something constructive to say. "Inspector Imoto brings up a good point, yes." In truth, it wasn't impossible. She was hoping to rule out the usual suspects before she tried to anticipate what to do about forecasting Kou Goto simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time. "It was no accident that my first conclusion was you must be involved in this in some way." In a way, that was still true, even if Kou Goto wandered down the wrong backstreets alley and was killed for his trouble, unwanted attention would befall his sons regardless of their involvement or lack thereof. "But you are correct, Makoto. I don't know what you've been though. Beyond what information on your background available to me, what you can tell me, and what I've observed what do I know about you?" It was an admission, but not a concession. She got to her point. "I won't even argue that you've done the best possible for yourselves given those set of circumstances. Speaking frankly, as a part of the system that's clearly failed you and your brother at critical junctures, I must accept my own share of responsibility. That said, your behavior from here on out must change. If you don't care about the effects it has on others, do keep in mind you endanger your own position you've worked so hard to reach?" Maki spoke with an even-handedness. Calm and collected, but with the restrained, confrontational tones she'd used when locking horns with her so often. "I would ask that you make more responsible choices in the future. But for now? I'd get in touch with Kou Goto. Keeping him from getting into a hostile footing with the local authorities can only help both causes of keeping him unharmed and out of your lives. Which I understand is acceptable to both of you?" The question was directed at Yu, it was in part his actions that left ambiguity there. |
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| Czernobog | Apr 16 2017, 03:58 PM Post #24 |
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Best Influence.
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Shin sighed. "Okay, look, this is easy enough to handle," he said. "So how about we all take a deep breath. We're talking this over. That's great. But shouting about it won't help. We all want the same thing or at least things off of the same list of things that are not contradictory, so let's just spell that out." He pointed at Yu and Makoto. "You two want your living situation to follow the course it's on, -- " over at Kyo and Eri, then including Seiji, " -- you don't want this situation to blow up, -- " he pointed at himself and Maki, " -- and I think it's fair to say we're pretty staunchly anti-murder. I don't know anything about the last person in the room, so I will not speak for her." He coughed once, into the crook of his arm. "So how about you two," he looked at the Nakagawa brothers, "be absolutely anywhere else but near Kou Goto that evening, with a few people who can provide an alibi. We have someone follow Goto and keep an eye on him, and we have someone stake out the spot where it's supposed to happen. I'm fine coming along with the fact that this event is going to happen, but precognition isn't taken into account by the legal code, so unless we can talk about a crime in something other than the future tense, we can't do anything but try to head it off." He looked around the room. "As for the rest of this...forgive me, but I'm coming to the drama fairly late, and working off of definite information seems the best way to approach things." |
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| FirebreathFishslap | Apr 24 2017, 01:44 PM Post #25 |
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I'm the best! I'm the king of me! I'm gonna eat chips out of the garbage!
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It was Yu's turn to tense as Kyo made her crack about not trusting them to cook for anyone she knew. He turned back toward her, eyes narrowed dangerously, but said nothing. Whatever had been meant by that, the twins had clearly caught it. "Yeah, well, if Motou'd learned to trust people a bit more, he might still be alive," Makoto snarled at Kyo. He turned to look at Eri as she stood, his expression set in a scowl. But as she continued, his expression softened just a bit, and he leaned back into the chair, his head bowed as he crossed his arms. Yu leaned forward, nodding as she went on. As the discussion moved on to possible culprits, Yu shook his head. "I didn't really get to know our mother well, but I think that... she just wants to forget all of this ever happened," Yu said. "Maybe I just want to hope she doesn't want to get involved at all, but I don't think she's a murderer." Makoto nodded solemnly. "If at all possible, I'd like to avoid talking to our... father," Yu continued. "But if I have to, I can talk to him. If you think I'll be able to convince him, anyways." As Maki spoke up, Makoto turned his head toward Maki as she spoke up. He closed her eyes as she stated that the system had failed them, his expression softening more as she continued on. The angry energy that had propelled him until this point seemed to be rapidly draining from him as time went on. "Yeah... yeah I get it. I understand." He bowed his head again, nodding. Shin continued on from there, and Yu and Makoto didn't seem to have anything to say. When Shin pointed her out, Chieko shrugged. As far as she was concerned, he didn't need to know what her thoughts on murder were. Like she was going to give a cop an excuse to start profiling her too. The twins nodded as Shin suggested their course of action, at which point Chieko raised her hand. "Makoto and I have regular English tutoring sessions." Makoto looked taken aback. "Not in a few months we haven't--" "He can grab some of his girlfriends and we can have a group session. Bring Yu along too," Chieko said flatly. "That should get everyone who might be an issue out of the way for at least a few hours, right?" Makoto looked almost offended. Yu muttered something very rude under his breath that only Makoto, with his close proximity to him, was able to fully hear, and sounded distinctly like "fucking wingman bullshit". |
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| The One True Nobody | Apr 24 2017, 04:07 PM Post #26 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Kyo shook her head a few times after Seiji re-entered the room. She seemed to re-focus, but she didn't speak up immediately, either, apart from her previous interjection when Eri had been about to relay what she'd said about possible suspects. Eri, for her part, seemed pleased now that the conversation was taking a calmer direction than it had. It seemed everyone was willing to go along with the "let's keep the twins out of the way and watch out for Kou Goto's safety" line of reasoning, and that was fine by her. The woman allowed herself a small, satisfied grin. "Okay," said Eri, returning to her seat. "That will cover the night-of, anyway. As Kyo said, or, I think she said... somewhere... in all of that... I'm sorry for how much my daughter talks! ...I assume it was buried in there, but she recommended a specific bar to Goto-san and his friend when she heard that they would likely hang out in Nagashima instead of their own local place. She told him and his friend to go there so she would be able to keep an eye on him. So it will be easy enough to get in touch with the owner about this, as he is a Persona-user, as well." "Right, right," Kyo said, turning around (and looking a bit sheepish after her mother's apology). "Well, I'm not interested in blamin' anyone for somethin' that ain't happened yet and Inspector Imoto's got the right idea. We make sure he lives past the appointed day, and you two stay somewhere where you can't do anything to him, then we're past the stupid prophecy thing and that's that as far as that goes. It's an easy enough fix. That leaves the after, but..." Kyo sighed. "Now that this is all in the open, that's somethin' that can be figured out. It's also way outta my depth, so, I'll leave that t' the adults and all." Eri looked over to her daughter, and in an uncharacteristically bland voice (almost as if Kyo had taken over her body for a moment), she pointedly said, "You should have done that from the start instead of playing along with his request." Kyo shrugged, nodded vaguely and walked back to the couches, putting both of her hands on the back of it behind her mother. "Yeah, well, can't do anythin' for what's just a memory now," Kyo mumbled to herself, low enough that only Eri heard it. Then, looking up and around at the assembled group, Kyo decided to ask the key question: "That o' course assumes everyone here is fine with that general plan. You know. Step 1: head off the prophecy; step 2: figure out custody stuff; step 3: lotsa question marks, and then profit." Eri looked so baffled by how her daughter had decided to phrase this that the expression on her face would have been appropriate had Kyo dumped a bucket of water on her head. The woman coughed into her fist. "...Translation: 'Ah vote we all listen to them thar au-thar-ity fig'res and the quick-thinkin' gal with the brain in her head,'" Eri clarified, putting on her most hick-ass imitation of an immitated Osaka-ben dialect and pointing at Shin, Maki, and Chieko in turn. Kyo grunted lifted one hand to give her mother a light bop on the head. "It's your fault I talk like this, y'know," Kyo grunted. "I sure didn't get it from Dad. Since when did you grow a sense o' humor, anyway?" "I've always had one! What, you thought that came from your stick-in-the-mud father? Now be quiet, Kyo-chan, and let me do the talking: I'm better at it." "That's debatable... why would you even do a fake accent when you talk in a real one any—?" "Kyo-chan! I said 'relax your mouth muscles.' Please and thank you." The younger of the two green-hairs, who'd been looking more and more confused by her mother's behavior as this exchange went on, looked less like she was willingly complying with the request and more just too baffled to think up a response. Eri, sitting up straight and with her hands folded primly atop her knees, looked around at the room as if the exchange hadn't happened at all. "For now, can I assume everyone is alright with letting Detective Yamada be the one who gets in contact with Goto-san for now, and otherwise focusing on what we all can on our end? Yu-kun and Makoto-kun, is that agreeable for the two of you?" |
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| The One True Nobody | Apr 25 2017, 12:54 AM Post #27 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Posting as a proxy for NonSequitur. --- Seiji shrugged his shoulders as the plans for that fated night were all laid out. He wasn't an authority figure. "Well, I mean… I'm all for this study meet if it'd help. My English is awful." Basically, his biggest contribution was probably trying to make it more tolerable for Yu and loaning a patina of legitimacy to the alibi as an 'honor student.' "That alright?" Had to glance to Cheiko, it was her idea, and aside from just barreling right into it, the two of them didn't know each other very well. If she had something in mind and didn't need him butting in, well, guess he was staying home that night. Shin didn't find himself involved with these situations quite the same way that Maki was, but everyone was on the same page. "To sum it up, yes," she said. "Anything beyond averting the predicted killing or how to handle the next encounter any of us have with Goto-san is mid-to-long-term. We'll have the luxury of more time and resources to handle that later." Makoto at least seemed calm and reasonable, so it made it much simpler to address him and his twin. "I'll speak to him and ideally he can be persuaded to drop the issue knowing his children are well but want nothing to do with him. In the event he needs to hear this personally, you'll be prepared for this Yu-san?" He was the more reasonable brother, but they were twins thrust into situations they wanted no part of from conception. With no one else to rely on, how much had one brother's personality informed the other? "It will be considered a last resort. Is that acceptable? I cannot act beyond the capacity of the law, but I have no intention of disrupting the family situation you're happy with." There was more that needed to be done, but if she actually expected to steer the Nakagawas away from future incidents, she at least had to build up a bit of trust first, so she intended to handle the problem before her first then deal with the underlying issues at a later date. "So, beyond making sure he stays out of trouble without antagonizing him, what can be done to rule out random chance?" Makoto had no qualms harming people he didn't like, and there were few he disliked more than his father. Kou Goto didn't sound like the type of person who'd do anything reckless for the moment. But known quantities aside, how did they hedge their bets against the man simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time? |
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| Czernobog | Apr 25 2017, 01:40 PM Post #28 |
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Best Influence.
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Shin sighed. "Considering the corpse is found around three in the morning, it would have to go fairly late. I'm not sure when the Araboth closes, but I'm going to guess it's sometime before then, so there's about a one-or-two hour window between one in the morning and three in the morning, because I have doubts that a murder would happen while the bar is open," Shin said. "That's really when it needs to be clear that the Nakagawa brothers are occupied, so the study session might have to run long." His eyes swiveled up and to the left. "I'll bring the owner into the loop as far as necessary, and will be in the alleyway before the event is likely to take place. It's behind a bar around closing time, there won't be any questions about why an adult man would be there, as much as it pains me to say it. If there is an altercation, I'll interfere with it. Hopefully someone will be shadowing Goto before then, and possibly be able to give me a heads-up or backup. If need be, though, I can make alternate plans." Yamada was already going to try to talk to him, so perhaps she could try to keep tabs on him that night, though talking to him and keeping tabs on him were somewhat mutually exclusive; the Nakagawa brothers were specifically being kept away from him. The young woman and Fujiwara were providing them with an alibi. That left the Charinko women. He was already familiar with Kyo and Eri closely resembled her daughter enough that it would take an idiot not to see the connection between them. His bench had gotten a bit shallow recently, but perhaps something could be arranged. |
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| FirebreathFishslap | May 17 2017, 07:58 AM Post #29 |
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I'm the best! I'm the king of me! I'm gonna eat chips out of the garbage!
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Chieko nodded to Seiji when he asked for her affirmation. Overall, the plan seemed solid, and neither twin seemed to have any objections to it. "I'll prepare myself, just in case," Yu said, nodding to Maki. Like Shin and Maki had said, it was far enough in the future that it wasn't the immediate concern. But it was better to be safe than sorry. But as Shin suddenly brought up the need to establish a more firm alibi for Makoto, Chieko suddenly grinned. She leaned her head on her palm and turned to look at Shin. "You don't know much about how these study sessions go, do you?" she asked. "It's only really studying until someone gets bored, and then Makoto starts talking some chick into staying the night. Then after everyone goes home, they go up to his room and fuck like rabbits." Makoto looked like he wanted to drop dead on the spot. Yu suddenly coughed. "I'm... pretty sure we don't need to worry about that in this case. Worst case scenario, Seiji and Sato-san will need to stay the night to confirm our alibis, which means sneaking them into our dorm rooms. That pretty much settles our end of the plan." |
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| The One True Nobody | May 17 2017, 11:56 AM Post #30 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Kyo found herself pinching the bridge of her nose, looking deeply uncomfortable as Chieko decided to snark about the matter of Makoto and study sessions. Eri, rather than looking disapproving at the idea of Makoto casually inviting a girl up to his room to fuck like rabbits, kept a fairly stoic look on her face and just said, "Well, I'm sure there is reasonable expectation that even the unruliest meet-up my retain some sense of focus in the weeks leading up to an exam. Even I managed to buckle down and study every once in a while." "...I don't think I ever did," mumbled Kyo. "That's because no one caught on to how you learn best, Kyo-chan," Eri said, not looking at her daughter and suddenly speaking in a surprisingly delicate tone of voice. "If I had understood that, I would have helped you myself by quizzing you on things or something. But never mind. Anyway, it would probably just help if someone knew the four of you had gotten together for a study group beforehand, even if no one outside your group necessarily knows you intend to go overnight with it. And you know, since exams are approaching, you might as well at least try to get some honest-to-goodness studying in. I don't think rabbits know much about classic literature or arithmetic, do you?" Kyo shrugged a bit to herself, shaking her head to dislodge the "rabbits" thing, and she shrugged. "Well," said the teenager. "We all have some sorta plan, then. I might not be readily available at a moment's notice to stick my head inta this anymore, so I'll just have to trust you all to make good decisions about it from here on." Eri looked over at Kyo, frowning in sardonic fashion. When the woman spoke, she sounded uncannily like her daughter, except for the lack of an obvious dialect. "I'm sure that must be excruciating torture for you," she said in deadpan, with a matching expression. "Really, who are you and what have you done with my daughter? I'm surpised you even asked me to get involved." Kyo bristled a little bit, but mostly maintained composure. There was a particular reason that she wanted her mother more involved in things right now, but it wasn't something she could just out-and-out say. Instead she looked over to Shin. "You can probably tell Ken Aizawa everything about what's goin' on," she said. "He ain't had one long, but Spencer told me he awakened to a Persona recently. So the prophecy and all that, even me getting involved and everything to do with that, you can go ahead and tell him. Ah, better not t' bring up me gettin' involved with rescuin' Natsumi's friend unless he brings it up himself, though. I'm not actually sure he knows about that yet, and givin' what that involved, it might just lead to an aneurysm." Eri looked over to her daughter quizzically. "This is the time you disguised yourself as someone else and let yourself get kidnapped with a phone in your..." Pause. "A phone hidden away somewhere, and you had a police officer track you to their hideout, right?" Kyo scratched her nose. "Might've had my Persona seduce a guy to stop him shootin' at me, too," Kyo mumbled. "Not sure which felt grosser. Anyway, yeah, it was a bad situation. I think when the others found Eri, she was tied up in a refrigerator, too. They were downstairs, though, I was bein' the decoy — " "Eri? ...Oh, you mean Natsumi-san's friend. Right," the older woman clarified, looking away. "In any case, I'm just surprised you involved me in this. You usually try to handle everything yourself unless it involves some mad scheme you've already cooked up." "Maybe I'm a little less stupid than I was half a year ago," Kyo said so sharply that it was almost a snap. She turned around, leaning her pelvis against the back of the couch and folding her arms over her chest. She didn't seem to want to look at anyone else in the room. "...Anyway, y'all can figure out the specifics of whatever it is you're doin' from here. I don't see any reason that Goto should end up dead now, and I sure don't see any reason that Goto should end up interferin' with the twins, either; if you're gonna make extra sure it's not some other person he knows that's gonna end up shankin' him, I'd look into that friend of his. It's a long shot, but there's a chance that he might find out about Goto's criminal record. He didn't seem to know about that when I met him, and I didn't get enough of a read on him to figure him for the type to murder anyone over that kinda shit, but that also means I didn't get enough of a read to rule it out. Since I also recommended Araboth to him, though, that puts him on the list o' possible suspects, I just don't got a real motive for him. ...I suggest maybe lookin' into his past and seein' if anythin' supports that idea." Kyo turned her head to give Shin and Maki a sidelong glance. "You two would know how t' do that better'n me," she admitted, almost seeming a bit grudging about not having been able to follow up on this idea herself. "So... I'll leave that one t' y'all, too, if y'decide it's worth lookin' at." She turned her head away, falling silent. Eri Charinko looked to the twins, then to Chieko, giving her a barely-discernible shrug, as if she counted the other girl as one of the only other sane people in the room who was not an officer of the law: it was the kind of fleeting interaction that might have been expected from Chika when the two happened to make eye contact in the office when it was full of people Chika usually kept quiet around. Finally the woman looked over at Maki, cleared her throat quietly, and said: "W-well, er... this has all been quite an event, but perhaps we should all go about our day and cool our heads about it before making any further plans? I'd like to speak with Chieko-san about something, in any case, if that's alright with her." She looked back to the girl. "Perhaps over a meal at cafe a few alleys off, if you haven't eaten yet. Would you mind? It's not urgent, so if you have other things to do, I understand." Kyo's eyebrows furrowed, but she didn't glance around. She didn't know her mother as one to ever do this type of thing, but then, she was still sort of getting to know her mother. The only thing she'd ever felt confident in thinking of Eri Charinko was that she was a bit of a stick-in-the-mud old woman at heart, but obviously that had been more in Kyo's own head than anything. So who even knew how out-of-character her inviting Chieko to have a talk over lunch or dinner was, really? |
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2:46 AM Jul 11
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2:46 AM Jul 11