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| The Dinner Party; [Shizuka, Hotaka, Shin] | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 16 2017, 06:48 PM (328 Views) | |
| Czernobog | Jul 13 2017, 06:33 PM Post #11 |
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Best Influence.
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Shin nodded. That was unexpected -- he had been unaware that such a thing had happened, and it was one of the few things he had learned recently that made him feel a small measure of pride in his countrymen, even though they had been fighting on behalf of another nation, he felt that that was a good and noble thing. Of course, the turn back to the ruins left him feeling sour, even if it was just Miyazaki explaining the extent -- the over-extent -- of his knowledge about the situation, and Shin went ahead and drank a sizable portion of the sake, the sour liquid burning his tongue and keeping him grounded. The thought that he was drinking more than usual occurred to him, and he pushed it aside. Drinking with friends and colleagues was culturally normative and thus engaging in it was thus a prosocial behavior. It was normal. "I imagine that was a very unpleasant experience," Shin said, about the trip to the ruins. Though Miyazaki did say that he would say no more for the time being. Still, he was a bit unclear about how the ruins seemed to someone without a persona. When Shizuka announced her arrival at the dojo, he glanced expectantly over to the door, but said nothing in response. |
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| The One True Nobody | Jul 13 2017, 06:43 PM Post #12 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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"It was certainly a rude way to learn that there's more in life for this old codger to see yet before he clocks out," Miyazaki laughed. He then called out toward the door: "Up here! The Inspector's already arrived." "Oh!" answered the voice from down the stairs. There was a shuffling sound that might have been shoes being removed and exchanged and then excited-sounding steps up the stairs. She stepped into view, looking a bit less drabbly-dressed than when Shin had last seen her, but otherwise much the same. She smiled at the sight of Shin and stepped into the room, setting a paper bag she'd been carrying on the table. As Miyazaki heaved himself up with a sound that let some of his age be known, Shizuka walked over to Shin. "It's good to see you again," she said. She blushed a bit, and looked around. She seemed a little wrong-footed that he had been up here and she hadn't known it; she hadn't recognized him with her Analysis skill from a distance. "This is the place I call home now. I'm very grateful to Miyazaki-sensei for allowing me food and shelter." "Ah, think nothing of it," Miyazaki said with the air of a man who had given this same answer several times already. "Now, I take some pride in my ability to craft fine homemade Japanese cuisine. So I hope you'll both enjoy what I cook up today!" Shizuka sat knelt down at the table between Shin's spot and the place Miyazaki had occupied. She looked over at Shin, and said, "So Kyo tells me you a little mystery adventure while you were out in the boonies. You'll share the details of the incident that kept poor Naoya-kun imprisoned in a boring country inn for months, I hope?" |
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| Czernobog | Jul 14 2017, 10:12 PM Post #13 |
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Best Influence.
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"It's good to see you, too, Setsuko-san," Shin said, with a smile. His manner was sedate, as he was, apparently, finally relaxing. He looked over as Miyazaki stood up to begin cooking. "I look forward to it! My diet these past few years has been heavy on takeout and street food. It will be nice to get some real nutrition in me." He looked back over at Shizuka as she asked about the incident up in Hokkaido. He leaned back and sighed in what passed, for him, as a dramatic fashion. He squared up and launched into his story: "So, my nephew had to visit a clinic in northern Hokkaido -- he had been part of a pilot study in post-traumatic brain injury rehabilitation. I don't understand it but my brother, who was been a forensic pathologist and thus knowledgeable about medicine, had been fairly excited about it when we first heard about it. In any case, due to various persona-related incidents, Naoya had fallen unconscious for several long periods last year, and so they wanted to examine him." Shin took another sip off of the sake cup, then coughed into his elbow. "Anyway, while he's being examined -- full neuro-psychological battery, PET scan, the works -- it begins to snow. And it snows for days. I'm holed up in the motel watching American television, going crazy, and then I go out for a drink. I hear a local cop talk about a homicide, and so I present myself to the chief of police up there, tell him that I'm bored out of my mind and would love to do some work. After confirming that I wasn't some tourist and could follow instructions, they put me to work." He slumped. "The details are too grisly to get too deep into, but we eventually settled on a local writer -- a hermit-type trying to write a great multi-volume novel -- as the probable culprit, though there are some holes. He had the opportunity and the means, but we had only circumstantial evidence, and there were doubts about his motive. The chief up there wanted to take him into custody and interrogate him, search the house for the trophies taken." Shin didn't say what the trophy was, but he looked down at his hand and ran his right thumb over the nail of his right ring finger. "They didn't find them, but I stumbled upon the actual culprit. The night manager at the motel. I wish I could claim that I had actually known it was him, but I had stumbled on him looking at his trophies while complaining about a broken ice machine. It was more dumb luck than anything." He stopped. "Sorry. Probably not suitable dinner conversation," he said, shaking his head. "How long have you been back, Setsuko-san?" |
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| The One True Nobody | Jul 15 2017, 01:20 AM Post #14 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Shizuka blinked as Shin expressed apology for this not being good dinner conversation; he hadn't gotten particularly graphic about anything, but she supposed it was harder on him as far as mental images go when he had actual memories of said images. She smiled apologetically and waved him off. "No, that was thoughtless of me; I should have asked some other time. But it sounds like it was lucky for everyone involved that you happened to be there. Well, lucky for everyone but the culprit. If you hadn't happened to have been staying at that particular motel, it sounds like an innocent man would have gone to prison and a killer would have been free to hurt someone else." Miyazaki, who had already set about preparations for oyakodon by this point, nodded fervently. "Good fortune for the citizens of Hokkaido that you were so dedicated as to stick around," he said. "They say luck is a part of skill, but it started with your decision to become involved in the first place." Shizuka nodded, then decided to answer Shin's question. "Only a few weeks," she said. "I would have gotten in touch sooner, but... well, I needed to end things with Akira-kun. And then... make sure Akira-kun didn't do anything stupid. He has a talent for doing stupid things." She smiled a bit awkwardly at that admission, and picked up glass, pouring herself some juice. "I've been patrolling the ruins as before, of course... I may have encountered someone you'd have an interest in, although, I can't tell you her name. And it's only a suspicion. But there is a woman exploring the ruins who identified herself only as 'Rusty.' It looked like part of her outfit might have had its color changed. Or bleached out. She was rather helpful but sustained some heavy injuries helping me and a few others take down a Shadow that was too powerful to allow to roam around on the first floor..." Miyazaki looked over his shoulder. "Hey, now that is what I call poor dinner conversation!" he cut in. "You can give him that sort of information by way of that message board of yours, so let's drop the heavy topics." Shizuka jumped. She blushed rather deeply, apparently realizing that she had been thoughtless immediately after apologizing for thoughtlessness. "R-right, that's a good thought," she said uncomfortably. "I apologize. Um, anyway, Imoto-san... to move past that, I've also resumed classes at Taiyoutono. Although, I've taken up Tennis instead of going back to the Kendo Club. I don't think my fighting style completely matches what one would expect of a competitive kendo practitioner anymore. Drama club, too! Although I don't think I'm a very good actress yet..." |
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| Czernobog | Jul 17 2017, 03:08 PM Post #15 |
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Best Influence.
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"Well, all that matters is that you make an effort," Shin said. "That's really the value of theater, I would imagine: getting used to extended periods of work as part of a team. Hopefully it's fun, as well, but there's a great deal of value there." He cleared his throat, and thought back. "Tennis, though? That's an interesting choice. It makes a great deal of sense: you probably have a lot of practice swinging for small, fast-moving objects." Of course, if she was used to using Japanese-style swords, which tended to be single-edged in almost every case, it would probably be difficult to get into the habit of using a backhand. At least, it seemed like it would be that way. In all honesty, he was somewhat ignorant about tennis and practicing for it. The persona-using black hood had come up, but Miyazaki steered conversation away. Shin's mind stuck on it, though. An alias. "Rusty" and a bleached outfit. Why were so many of these young people so theatrical as to require a special outfit? Why not just go in the clothes you were wearing? Obviously, it would be a better choice to have practical clothing, but where did the bleaching come into it? A way to differentiate herself from her former comrades, perhaps? Or maybe she just made a mistake doing the laundry? He couldn't discount the coincidental explanation, but he imagined it was something overly dramatic like the first. "And are you just a resident, or have you also taken up karate?" he asked, going back to the conversation at hand. |
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| The One True Nobody | Aug 26 2017, 09:47 PM Post #16 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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"Oh, well when you put it that way... I suppose I shouldn't feel so bad about my lack of talent at acting..." Shizuka said, taking a sip of her drink. "Mm. I always felt so self-conscious about how mediocre I was at kendo. Although, thanks to Kagura-san, I've gotten much better at it... just not in a way that lends itself well to the competitive scene. And I didn't want to hinder my fighting ability by getting too used to fighting according to competitive rules. So I decided it would be best to try and hone other talents in the meantime, and Tennis is quite fun. A friend of mine, back in Nagoya, got me into it. She keeps in touch, you know, to see how well I'm taking to the sport. I quite like it. In some ways it's not so different from competitive sword-fighting, but... I think I prefer hitting a ball instead of a person." She smiled a bit, then, and looked over to her caretaker. "I've learned a bit of the basics of karate. But Miyazaki-sensei hasn't been teaching me quite the same way he teaches other students. He says it would be better for me to keep a weapon on me at all times while fighting monsters, so he's been teaching me ways to use my body to fight, the sort of things that competitive fighters don't make much use of because the rules are stricter about what they can and can't do, or how far they can move. Practical self-defense is a lot different from fighting for sport. So he's helped me with mobility, and things like... kicking while I'm using a sword." Miyazaki hummed his affirmation of this. "Shizuka-chan's described a lot of situations that she knows you Persona-users have gotten involved in. It's been unorthodox, devising ways for someone to react to that kind of thing. I wouldn't suggest trying to do so without at least as much knowledge of the martial arts as I have. Trying to improvise one's own style can result in one... developing and sustaining bad habits. Worst case scenario, you could give yourself an injury just trying to self-teach the moves. Always, always train with a professional, even if it's just for the benefit of having a spotter to help you figure things out." "Always," Shizuka echoed, nodding. A sip of her drink later, and she added: "That goes for more sports, to be honest. The idea of running off into the woods to train in seclusion might seem romantic, but it's dangerous. You need a lot of experience just to self-teach existing things, let along make up your own style. I'm very grateful to have Miyazaki-sensei to help prepare me for what I might face in the future." She tilted her head slightly to the side, frowning. "Ah, darn it. It keeps going back to that subject, doesn't it? It's hard to put it out of mind. I apologize." Miyazaki threw his head back and laughed heartily. "I would say the fact that you can take the rough with the smooth so well that you talk about it like it's yesterday's weather is the sign of a healthy mind!" he said. "In any case, the food will be ready soon. I can tell you about how my students fared in the last big event we attended. It was one hell of a showing for that batch, let me tell you." |
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| Czernobog | Aug 27 2017, 02:35 PM Post #17 |
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Best Influence.
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"Well, I honestly think most martial arts are poor choices for the ruins -- the enemies aren't shaped properly for them to work. I've thought about using taihojutsu a few times, but inevitably it turns out that the thing I'm fighting has no bones or too many limbs or a drill for a face, or some similar nonsense," Shin said. He came up short when Shizuka mentioned that they had come back to ruins-talk. He swirled the remainder of his drink around the sake cup, but didn't take another drink. "It's kind of hard to ignore," Shin finally said. "It has a nasty habit of consuming every aspect of your life. That's how these all-pervasive mysteries are, it seems." He shrugged. "In any case, yes, Miyazaki-sensei: I would be delighted to hear about how your students did." |
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| The One True Nobody | Aug 27 2017, 05:49 PM Post #18 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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"Taihojutsu would be unsuited to fighting something not human, yes," Miyazaki said with a nod. He chuckled. "But anything that gives you the muscle memory and reaction experience to respond quickly to danger helps at least a little. Weapons are the only sure defense, though. Your nephew's performing quite the necessary service there, I judge, even if there are risks involved." Shizuka nodded to this, but without waiting for a response from either of them, Miyazaki launched into an energized, abridged narration of the proceedings at the last competition his students had entered into. Half of his class had been, unfortunately, lost to their early opponents. But he had watched their fights carefully and (as he had told them after the fights were finished) had fought with admirable skill and form; their opponents had simply been more advanced, a demonstration of what they could become with more practice. While the class had not won the competition, they had ranked quite well: a few of Miyazaki's students, who had been training longer or had made time for more lessons during the week, had performed well enough to make up for their classmates' defeats. One in particular was getting so good that Miyazaki believed he might be ready for his black belt earlier than expected — but Miyazaki was undecided on that point (he told Shin and Shizuka as he brought the food to the table) because this particular student's ego and attitude still needed some work. "Oh, he's improving, becoming less prone to bragging, less aggressive, a bit more mature, you could say... I think landing himself a girlfriend has done wonders for his temperament, as has the universal discipline exercise that is studying for college entrance exams," Miyazaki said as he folded his legs beneath him and pulled his dish toward him. Pouring himself a very small cup of sake, he took a tiny sip of it, sighed, and looked up, grinning. "The boy really is a natural. I believe he could go on to perform at my level or higher, if he sticks to it. When I heard he was dating, I admit I was kind of worried. Some young women are so encouraging of the kind of aggressive mentality I try to discourage in my students. But it seems he met this girl during a school trip to Tokyo. She's an athlete herself, he tells me, and his attitude put her off at first. Seems his fancy for her was the added motivation he's needed for a while. He even told me he's starting to understand what I've told him about the difference between confidence and pride. Ha! Imagine. I met her once, and I can see it. He's probably seeing it in action whenever he watches one of her tennis matches." Shizuka straightened up. "Tennis?" she asked, curiously. "What's this girl's name...?" "Oh, I think it's... yes, I remember. Kaméyo Eshima. She has a Japanese name and looks at least a quarter Japanese, but she's very obviously foreign-born, you can see it in her face when something really Japanese happens around her... still not entirely acclimated to the way of things here. Has quite the circle of friends, though, from what my student tells me. Model student, popular with her peers in high school and all. You don't see that happen very often with an immigrant student, but I suppose she worked hard to prove her worth. I'm told she's attending Rokujima to be closer to Akiko-san. So, perhaps you'll see Eshima-san during one of your own tennis outings." "I hope so... she sounds nice," Shizuka said, a bit of envy leaking into her voice. "I wish I could have had that kind of effect on Akira-kun..." "To be blunt, it sounds like the boy's temperament is an irredeemable dumpster-fire. He needs to grow up on his own or he'll never grow up!" Miyazaki said cheerfully between mouthfuls of oyakodon. Shizuka's face fell into a pout. Miyazaki chuckled, switched his chopsticks over to his other hand, reached over to pat her on the head. "Better luck next time, Shizuka-chan." |
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| Czernobog | Sep 1 2017, 12:16 PM Post #19 |
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Best Influence.
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The story was quite engaging -- Miyazaki was knowledgeable enough to know everything important on the subject, but a good enough teacher not to get bogged down in technical details -- but then the discussion turned to matters of the heart. This was far too common a discussion topic, and Setsuko had been attached to someone who had never budged from the "problem" category in Shin's mental ledger. If this went on much longer, he would have to find a way to get better at talking to teenagers about relationship problems, which was going to be difficult: no one wants a heart to heart from a cop, and that was his identity as far as many of them were concerned. Shin shuffled his feet slightly, which didn't make much noise beneath the table, and then cleared his throat. "Human relationships are never a straightforward calculus," he said with a shake of his head, as he looked down at the food and picked up his chopsticks. "I'm not much one for gut feelings and hunches, but that seems to be what most of them rely on. It's a messy business, being around other people." Which isn't to say that he preferred solitude, simply that he recognized that it was much easier for him to dissect people's behavior after the fact than try to predict their behavior beforehand. "It never gets easier, but you eventually learn to see things coming earlier." |
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