| Unspoken Words; [Shizuka] | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 25 2017, 05:43 PM (245 Views) | |
| Nonsequitur | Nov 26 2017, 02:15 AM Post #11 |
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Yellow Bubblegum
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She wanted a confirmation, was it? Was that all? He took a sip from his drink, and then he spoke, concisely. "There is something down there. A presence deciding what happens up here. Either I'll kill it or I'll die in the attempt. There is no other way." Even to someone like Yuki, it was spoken with such a grim certainty. He was quite serious about all of that. His encounter with the Inverted World along with Kaede had made him start to believe that. Nothing he had encountered since seemed to disprove it. "If it takes all the time I have or my dying breath, I'll make it so." There was no mention of anyone else or what they were planning. They were free to do whatever they wished. He had to do this for no reason other than his own. For his part, he remained oblivious that their conversation was noticed by someone else. |
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| The One True Nobody | Nov 26 2017, 02:30 AM Post #12 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Shizuka relaxed, then. Well and truly relaxed. She nodded, slowly, and then smiled. "If you mean that, then we have the same goal. I want to avenge my mother. And... it seems that everywhere I look, someone I love has been hurt as a direct result of what's been happening. But I had to ask. Everyone behaves like it's hopeless or just... sort of messes around, or is too focused on things happening out here to put in the time. I had to look you in the eyes and hear your answer. I'm sorry." She looked down and fidgeted with her fingers. "Then, if that's the case... please take me with you whenever you go exploring. Not just for things that you might do with the group you've put together. Any time you go exploring. I don't have a part-time job and the only adult responsible for my welfare knows what's happening and why I do what I do. As long as it isn't school hours, I'll always be available. I may already be there, since I spend so much time patrolling for the butterfly's victims. I'm not strong enough, I've been away too long, I... I can't go alone. But maybe with my help you can go deeper into the ruins than you would otherwise, gain power a little faster?" She looked up, eyes shining with hope and nervousness, almost as if she'd asked Yuki on a date and was hoping and fearing his reply all at once. --- Violet blinked, and her head re-assumed a stance of neutral eye elevation. Were these two rehearsing for some kind of school play? ...But that girl had a uniform for a different school, so... ...Wait, were they seriously talking about killing something? Someone? ...Nah. Nah, that couldn't be. She laughed softly to herself, dispelling her anxiety through the exhale that accompanied it (or trying to), and then picked up her burger to take a big bite of it. What was that about a butterfly's victims, though? Sounded like a Monty Python sketch. Oooh, killer butterfly! Prepare the Holy Handgrenade... she glanced to the side, just in time to catch that hope-and-nerves look Shizuka was giving Yuki. She blinked again. Girl could be a soap opera star with expressions like that. God damn. Oops! Forgive me Father for I have sinned... again. |
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| Nonsequitur | Nov 26 2017, 03:25 AM Post #13 |
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Yellow Bubblegum
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Finally, Yuki turned to his still uneatten food. It wasn't the first time he'd choked down a cold burger, by his estimates. He began to unwrap it. "I already told you to do what you want. If you prove a burden, it'll be cancelled at once." That was an audacious thing to say with a straight face to someone who he knew for a fact was more powerful than him. At least as far as supernatural assets went. But there was more that was necessary to bring than heavy artillery. He also had to square away everything. Nothing was more useless than confusion over details after all. "Usually, I go with Fujiwara-san, that's not going to be a problem for you is it?" For that matter, while third parties are being brought up, he's surprised she hadn't said anything regarding Kyo Charinko. Not so much that he would have mentioned her himself, though. |
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| The One True Nobody | Nov 26 2017, 03:41 AM Post #14 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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"Not at all. He seems like a good guy to have on your side..." Shizuka said, sounding a little uncertain now... the way Yuki had answered hadn't really given her a sense that he had confidence in her at all, and in fact seemed a little melodramatic. Chalk that up to him being overly serious as usual, she guessed. Well, better overly serious than not serious enough... she thought. And then, feeling prickles on her neck, she turned to look to the side again... ...and met the violet-highlight girl's eyes. The two girls froze, staring at each other with identical looks of surprise and embarrassment. --- Violet hadn't meant to stare, but the whole thing was just so weird that she couldn't help it. And then the other girl was looking her way. Crap, crap, crap. She stared back, her brain kicking in seconds too late to remind her that staring back and wearing her heart on her sleeve was the exact opposite of how to go unnoticed. But she couldn't help it! The adrenaline kicked in and she felt an immediate fight-or-flight rush that shut down her brain and she'd done drills for ambush and home invasion and fires and firearms and certainly not for getting caught listening to strange but private conversations at the local McD's. She smiled weakly, raised a hand, and said, "H... hi?" Shizuka blinked. This girl was... a normal human. Not a Persona-user. But she was also wearing a high school uniform. Her face wasn't really all that Japanese, either... Shizuka couldn't recognize the ethnic features. Not white, certainly... "tan," rather than black... slight hints of a bone structure that Shizuka couldn't put to an image stereotype of any race off the top of her head. But there were hints of Asian in there. Half-Japanese, then. She looked to Yuki. "Er... she goes to your school, I think?" Shizuka said nervously, by which she meant, Do you know this girl?. Violet looked back and forth between Yuki and Shizuka, her tanned face rapidly reddening. Suddenly she blurted out: "U-uh, don't mind me! I didn't know you were into... uh... whatever game that is you're playing! It sounds fun, though. Is it, like, Dungeons and Dragons, are you rehearsing for a campaign? Is that even popular over here? It sounds like an inspiring story of power and responsibility, so, A-plus for theming, the game group must love it! Uh... oh fuck me, just stop digging the hole..." This last muttering under her breath came out in English as her embarrassment got the better of her. She turned away and started rapidly munching her food as if she had every intention of fleeing the scene of her crime as soon as she had relocated her food into her insides. Her eyes rapidly glanced back and forth from her tray to Yuki with a mortified wideness to them. She was quite certain she'd ruined any chance she'd had of the boy ever taking an interest in her. Not that she was broken up by it, but... well, who the hell liked making fools of themselves in front of cute boys?! Uuuuuuuuugh, what had she been thinking? Should've just minded her own business... |
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| Nonsequitur | Nov 26 2017, 03:59 AM Post #15 |
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Yellow Bubblegum
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He was occupied with eating until Shizuka asked him if he knew her. It necessitated him to look first to her, and then to who she was referring to. Oh, right. Her. The one with the AV Star's name. He didn't really understand why she had her hair dyed like that, and he didn't follow fashion closely enough to care. He treated it largely as a person did the brightly colored skin of a Poison Dart Frog. Upon learning she was apparently American didn't do much to encourage him to want to get to know her any better either. She was just something kind of gaudy in the background in his eyes, definitely not anyone he had any desire to approach without good reason. If there was any consolation, her worries about her personal stock rapidly dropping in Yuki's eyes were unfounded. Even if they were for all the wrong reasons. "Somewhat. But Sword World is still more popular, I think." He'd never played a game of either, but he had been in a gaming shop at least once in his life. It was just easier to just let her keep assuming what she was. Less questions to ask that way. He turned back to his meal. "You do plan to order something at some point, yes?" |
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| The One True Nobody | Nov 26 2017, 05:09 AM Post #16 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Shizuka couldn't help but admire how... unflappable Yuki was. He just completely ignored that this girl had possibly overheard everything they'd been saying since she had sat down, and went along with her ramblings about a Dragons and Dungeons thing. The violet-highlights girl seemed to relax a little (and slow her eating, which was probably a good thing for her stomach) when Yuki didn't show any negative emotion beyond what he normally did. Shizuka watched her slow her eating, though she didn't immediately answer. She just looked relieved. A thin, strained smile painted Shizuka's face as she turned to look back at Yuki. "Yes," she said, standing up. "I'll go do that now..." She turned to walk away, casting a suspicious look toward the unfamiliar girl as she went to order food at the counter. --- Violet had taken to chewing the same bite of Duck Burger for a bit too long by the time she swallowed and looked over at Harada again. "S-sorry," she managed to say nervously. "I didn't mean to listen in. It just sounded so, uh, dramatic that my brain couldn't help but latch onto it. I've never tried that kind of game, either. I knew there were people who took the roleplay side of things really seriously." Pause. "N-not that I'm saying that's a bad thing, in fact it always seemed like it'd be more fun to me that way, like running through a scenario with my dad and his friend or..." Pause. She looked away again. Blinking. Oh, right. Japan didn't really do the whole firearms-in-the-home thing. "Home defense," she clarified. "Dad takes it seriously, back home. So we did drills now and again. He'd get this cop friend of his to come by and pretend to be the bad guy. It got, uh, pretty intense. So I guess you could say I've roleplayed before. You probably don't do that kind of thing in Japan." Pause. "N-not many Americans do, either, but I lived in Louisiana. You can just buy guns without a permit there, any shop that stocks 'em, eighteen on up, so Dad takes home security seriously, and..." Pause. "I'll shut up now." Another pause. Then, more English mumbling: "Heh, well, if I can blabber on like this, at least I know my Japanese has gotten better." And she rushed back to eating her burger, apparently trying to make herself as small as possible while simultaneously trying not to look like she was doing so. Shizuka was standing in line behind two other people. Yuki would be stuck with the nervous, rambling Violet Rose for a little longer, it seemed. |
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| Nonsequitur | Nov 26 2017, 12:59 PM Post #17 |
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Yellow Bubblegum
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Yuki didn't get much out of her rambling. He just listened as she went on about this and that and just ruminating on his food. He wasn't sure he was able to locate 'Louisiana' on a map if his life depended on it, but it was a prefecture in America. Apparently. This was the most words he and violet had exchanged as long as she's been around. He hadn't been missing too much, it seemed. He held off the urge to glibly reply with a 'You do that' when she did that irritating thing where people said 'I'll shut up now.' If you spoke the words, the least you could do was stand by what you said. A quick glance to the side showed that Shizuka was still waiting in line to order. It was getting very tempting to just excuse himself and go home. He supposed that would have looked suspicious though. He'd have to find something to fill dead air with. "It's a bit rude to switch languages in the middle of a conversation." |
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| The One True Nobody | Nov 26 2017, 01:09 PM Post #18 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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"Sorry." She said it quickly and with a rapid bow of her head, though because of the way she was sitting and the direction she was looking, the result was that she bowed and apologized to her Number Six Duck Combo rather than to Yuki. She fell silent, then, looking lost and disheartened. Several times her eyes flitted up toward Yuki, betraying her self-consciousness. But she did not speak up again. Shizuka returned several minutes later with a tray on which sat a grilled-chicken sandwich, Wild Duck's "healthier" potato wedges (though most people chose these more out of a preference to standard thin-cut salted fried), and a plastic container of salad, as well as a small, clear plastic cup of orange juice. Shizuka made a point to moderate her fast food and work some less indulgent foods into her meals whenever she could, unless she had decided ahead of time that she was going to just treat herself to something heart-clogging to de-stress. It was a privilege she didn't allow herself often. She sat down and carefully set the tray in front of her, then turned to smile at Violet, seeming to have recognized the state she was in. "Don't take it personally. He's like that with almost everybody," she said unblushingly, before turning back to look at Yuki and raising her eyebrows. "Yuki-san doesn't need to roleplay 'in-character' because he's just naturally all stoic and determined like a Final Fantasy hero. He might as well just go the whole eight miles and make 'not interested' or 'whatever' his catch-phrase." Violet couldn't help it. She could just picture Harada doing exactly that and even managing to pull it off gracefully. She put a hand to her mouth and giggled, then coughed to abort the laugh, sent Yuki another brief look of apology, and continued eating. Shizuka politely unwrapped her sandwich and took a small bite, the amused twinkle in her eyes as she looked across at Yuki the only sign that she knew she was deliberately ribbing him a little. |
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| Nonsequitur | Nov 26 2017, 01:46 PM Post #19 |
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Yellow Bubblegum
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He paused and thought over what Shizuka said. He was deciding if he should be insulted or not, and definitely leaning towards the former. It probably didn't help that video games were not an aspect of his life growing up in any significant capacity. Everyone just took it for granted those were a common thread of reference with everyone else. He looked down to his food and he was about done. Shizuka and Violet could chat away to their hearts content if they so desired, but that didn't require him at all. He seemed to have reached a conclusion then. He pushed off of his seat and stood and calmly announced. "I'll be going, then." |
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| The One True Nobody | Nov 26 2017, 01:59 PM Post #20 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Shizuka sighed, shaking her head in faint exasperation. The poor boy was probably all put out that she'd called him on his behavior again. Probably thought it was the way to be, too. All serious and no-nonsense. She wondered if it was more because he felt that was the way the ideal man behaved, in control of emotions and all that, or because he had some sense of emotional superiority over others. Either way, someone needed to crack that shell of his a little or he'd seriously bother people with his attitude down the road. She looked up, letting some of her exasperation off of her face. "I wasn't being serious, Yuki-san," she said patiently. "But if you want to go, then fine. Just call me when you want to go. Please. You can say 'do what you want' all you like, but I can't be there to help if you don't actively make sure I know when to do that." She was referring to the ruins, obviously. Violet-highlights didn't have the context to get that without mention of it. She just looked guilty now, and ducked her head. "I didn't mean to get in the way of whatever you two are d... maybe I should just sit at another table so you can talk," Violet said, changing course mid-sentence and standing with her tray. "I'll, uh... I'll see you at school, Harada-san. Maybe. Sometime. I guess." She turned and made a beeline for the opposite side of the room before either Shizuka or Yuki had a chance to answer. Shizuka winced, and gave Yuki a low-key glare. "You really do make people uncomfortable, you know," she said, lowering her voice. "Maybe that seems fine to you, but sooner or later you're going to need someone's help and they aren't going to think kindly of you because of it. Go home if you want. I'll be ready for action when you go down there." |
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