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Day of the Future
Topic Started: May 24 2014, 05:48 AM (302 Views)
Yosuke

It was rare to see stocks of goods such as discs, clothes, toys and anything that wasn't perishable be thrown out. As such, these items ended up "on sale" in order to try and move them off the shelves faster. Of course, "space" was often considered a premium for any storefront, so even if all that stock wasn't cleared at a lower price, they'd drive the price to a point where profit wasn't the aim anymore. The industry didn't really matter, but it was the same all around.

There were multiple reasons that a product could end up like this, but for now, we'll focus one: the debut album for a certain Christiane Westwood. The idol for the city's high school, she quickly rose to fame but...after her attempted suicide and the rumors that followed, her name became marred in controversy. Naturally, some of her fans left her because they weren't fans to begin with. Others left because of the actual incident and the limited truth behind it.

Needless to say, Chris was all but an unknown once again. It did not help her appearance, and personality (or lack thereof) right now did not match the advertised appearance...so she could freely walk around without having to deal withpeople who wanted to ask her questions so often. Still...it actually caused her to actually feel one sensation, one, powerful thing when she walked by a music store...

And see those CDs in the 100 yen bargain bin.

While her face didn't show it, while she she didn't even say a word, she found herself staring...her fragile heart sinking as she wondered why she was still alive.
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Lawman
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Selene couldn't help but sigh as she walked past the various establishments of the mall with two tall, burly blokes in Armani suits and sunglasses shadowing her moves - ever since the whole incident involving Jonny her family had been nothing short of paranoid over the corporate heiress' safety and as such these days she couldn't even go anywhere that wasn't Hyakuji High's campus grounds without a bodyguard or two escorting her - at Thomas' behest they would take alternating shifts to wait just outside the school gates, and against Selene's protests they would begin following her around the moment she stepped off the school premises, whether to actually make a trip to the Frostfire Building, or even when simply hanging out with her friends.

Although as time went by the corporate heiress basically stopped protesting, simply resigning herself to fate. With business matters settled over at Frostfire Building and with some time to spare before heading back to the dorms, the corporate heiress had decided to make a jaunt over to the mall to see if she could perhaps grab some snacks and confectionery for herself, Jen and Yuki, and maybe meet some of her friends along the way. "You could at least... make your pacing not be perfectly in sync with mine, you know?" Selene glanced over her shoulder at the two bodyguards, whose footsteps were timed similarly to those of the girl's own. Nodding, the two men instead opted to keep pace with Selene by taking bigger steps rather than synching the timing of their footsteps.

As she passed by a store having what appears to be a massive clearance sale. the corporate heiress would've simply walked on by, if it wasn't for a familiar sight - albeit one that she almost missed since it was hard to reconcile the current image of the girl she was seeing with the one that had impressed itself within Selene's mind. "Chris-chan?" the corporate heiress called out to the other girl as she approached. Like Yuki during the time when she emotionally unraveled, Chris was barely recognizable to the British magus as she approached, unsure of how to strike up a conversation with her.

Really, it was hard for Selene to pin down just what kind of person Chris was - she'd always known her as somewhat of a ditz, but ultimately noble of heart, with lofty aspirations, from the way she taxed her body and mind to their limits in their fight against the Machine Empire, almost killing herself in the process. One might say that while Selene was loathe to admit it back in the day, she had a deep respect for Chris. Then she started becoming the school's song idol, and everything just changed so fast that the corporate heiress found herself unable to respond to the almost sudden shift in Chris' attitude, at least until recently when she attempted suicide, and everything just seemed to go downhill for the poor girl.

"Hi Chris, it's been some time," Selene remarked as she approached Chris, her gaze briefly wandering towards the CD that Chris had been staring at; which was none other than her debut album, now having found its way into the 100 Yen bargain bin, a sad reminder of what the girl used to be, and just how far she'd fallen.
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Yosuke

It was hard to explain, really. Physically, Chris looked exactly the same, though her choice of attire wasn't as flashy, nor did it do any favors to show off her figure. She was dressed so...plainly, opting for pants, a shirt and then a hoodie to top it all off. Even more of concern was that her often trademark wild hairstyle was...notably tamed. In a matter of weeks she had changed to a completely different person.

And if people were to call her by any other name, it'd be believable.

Still, when her name was called, the blonde simply turned to face Selene, but there was no expression to be had. Her face remained neutral and the normal "sparkle" that she carried in her eyes was gone. Still, she simply tilted her head afterwards as she stared at Selene, somewhat lost and confused.

"Did I do something wrong?"

...

Not quite the question one would expect to hear. But even her voice made it apparent that Chris had been changed: not a single hint of emotion was present, providing an odd disconnect between the small amount of tears welling in her eyes.
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Lawman
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And then there was silence. That wasn't really wasn't a response that Selene would expect when one says "hi", but then again from what she'd heard Chris hadn't really been herself since her rapid rise to stardom - if one could even pin down "herself" to begin with, what with how rapidly her personality seemed to have morphed over a relatively short time frame. "...you didn't do anything wrong..." came Selene's awkward reply, it came to the corporate heiress' mind that she should just do as she always did. Smile. Be friendly. Perhaps, it was the seemingly emotionless state of the girl that caught Selene off-guard, making it hard for the corporate heiress to come up with an appropriate answer.

And then for some reason, the other girl began... tearing, although her expression remained blank as ever, almost reminding Selene of that half-zombie girl, Misora. Which had to make Selene wonder - just what was Chris trying to hide? In another way, it also reminded the corporate heiress of Yuki, who only recently she'd learned tried to hide her heartaches behind a smiling façade. Was Chris' blank expressions also meant to be a mask to hide her pain? To not let the world know just broken she was on the inside? Now she wasn't among the people who were closest to Selene, but the corporate heiress had seen enough of such cases that it just felt painful for her to watch. "Chris-chan... are you alright?" Selene asked, putting her hands on the other girl's shoulder and giving her a gentle shake, as a physical display of concern, as well as to get the girl's attention. Perhaps, where words might fail, a simple, sincere gesture of companionship might allow her to connect with the former idol?
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Yosuke

"I'm...fine?"

Another confused head-tilt.

Technically, Chris was. Physically, she could go out on her own, and her tendency to pass out from over-exertion had been drastically reduced. Yet, simply talking to her made it clear that mentally she wasn't "all there". The price she paid way back during her attempted suicide was most of her mind, rendering her personality almost non-existant along with other facets of her disappearing.

She was only half the woman she used to be, if not less if you consider her career as well.

"Everyone seems to worry about me. I'm not sure why..."

She was never a fan of attention, especially when it was pity. "So I wonder if I have to make up for something I did? I hurt people before...right?"
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Lawman
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And still the former idol-aspirant remained as inscrutable as ever. Gone was anything energy or sparkle that gave Chris any resemblance to her former self, and she seemed to have little recollection of her time as a rising star, or the shifts in her personality after her first taste of fame. But here and there she seemed to be giving off what felt like sudden flashes of recollection, or so it felt to Selene.

"You did hurt a lot of your friends back then, I shall be honest with you on this," the corporate heiress replied. She could only wonder if Chris was amnesiac, perhaps as a result of repressing traumatic memories, or that deep inside the girl remembered everything, but chose to go into a mentally regressed state as a method of coping. "But that's not important anymore now, Chris-chan," the corporate heiress continued, before patting the blonde girl on the shoulder as she realized how the shoppers were starting to form a crowd of onlookers.

"Would Chris-chan prefer to go somewhere else where we could talk then? Maybe over some drinks or desserts, for old times' sake?" Selene offered as she took hold of Chris' hand and gave the former aspiring idol a gentle nudge - these were issues strictly between Chris and her friends, and really, not something that a crowd of onlookers had any right to listen into as far as Selene was concerned. "I mean, all that window-shopping must've gotten you really thirsty, aye?"
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Yosuke

That same blank look.

It was hard to tell if Chris still understood, or if memories of her previous experiences just haunted her to the point of truly making her an empty doll: acting on the whims of those memories but nothing more. Still, at the mention of food, Chris' body reacted in a way that one would expect: her stomach grumbled and she quickly patted it.

"Onigiri."

A simple demand, yet at least one part of her old self remained. But right now...there wasn't much else. Chris simply wandered around, following basic needs but...nothing else. She had no drive, no passion. She had no real reason to "live" as she normally did. In a way, how she was now was worse than when she was constantly coughing up blood...

Because at least back then, she looked "alive".
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Lawman
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"Sure thing," Selene remarked, trying her best to maintain a cheery and upbeat mood as Chris' stomach grumbled rather audibly. At least if there was one aspect of the girl's personality that still remained, it was her passion for food - which somehow was a quality more than just a few in Selene's social circle possessed; with Yuki, Jen, and Chris immediately coming to mind. "Come on, let's go," the corporate heiress smiled and nodded as she gestured for the former aspiring idol to follow.




"Well, see if there's anything you like," Selene remarked as the duo arrived at a bistro one floor below; basically a medium-priced dining establishment generally targeted at middle-income families. It didn't take long for the two girls to be ushered to a table for two by the staff, who proceeded to prepare the table and hand them the menu booklets. Sure, Chris had asked for onigiri, but it never hurt to see if she might want something else on top of that too.

"So, how has Chris-chan been of late?" the corporate heiress asked as she paused perusing the menu items to take a look at Chris, trying to strike up a casual conversation with the blonde girl, anything, to try to get her to put on a resemblance of naturalness.
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Yosuke

"Disconnected."

...

Chris was normally straight to the point, but the way she was able to say what she felt was...jarring. She was always someone who didn't hold back when she spoke, but when she carried no emotions nor any true concern about herself. Even still, she was even quick to explain what she meant, it was a wonder how she hasn't collapsed given the circumstances surrounding her.

"I do not belong places. Everyone looks at me for different reasons now...people keep telling me to be someone else but...who am I, really?"

For someone so young, for someone who had such a bright future...the fact she was suffering a crisis of this level was truly terrifying. What exactly had she gone through? What did she want with her life now? She couldn't answer those questions, which was why she did nothing but wander...
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Lawman
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"I think I see where you're coming from..." Selene remarked at Chris' reply, the former idol-aspirant essentially summing up what she must've felt up to this point. At least, the corporate heiress would like to think she was starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together. There could've only been one reason to her drastic personality shifts over the past several months leading up to her suicide attempt.

"Because I've been in similar situations, attending social functions and business meetings, corporate showcases, press conferences and the like," the corporate heiress commented, summing up her own experiences. "Facing the press, the corporate moguls, the aristocrats, everyone expects me to be a certain kind of person depending on the situation," at least Selene guessed that the life of a celebrity wasn't that much different; between press interviews, negotiations for a recording contract, and meeting the fans, the girl probably faced a good deal of stress of trying to live up to an image, or several.

"That would be a question only you can answer," Selene replied, addressing the part when Chris asked herself who she really was. "What really matters shouldn't be what everyone wanted you to be, but who you wanted to be... who do you see yourself as?" the corporate heiress mused, reaching for the menu to resume going through the list, trying to decide on what to have.
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Yosuke

There was a pause. The answer should have been so simple, yet, when it brought up...the reaction told Selene that this was arguably the source of Chris' mindset right now. All her suffering, all her pain stemmed from one, single issue. She clutched her head, shaking it as if struggling to come up with an actual answer to that, but ultimately, when she spoke again...it was clear.

"I don't know."

Chris had worked at being "just an idol" for so long that she had long forgotten her sense of "self". She worked for others and just that, not once could she recall something that was her own. Her entire life was focused on other people's perception of her that she lost sight of what she wanted. She worked around improving based on what others wanted to be...but nothing more.

Beyond singing, beyond music...she had nothing. Once she came to that realization, the first hint of emotion began to crack...but it was the worst. She was panicking, about ready to cry...she was curling up in her seat...
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Lawman
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"......" For a moment there was only stunned silence at Chris' reply, but more importantly, the fact that the former aspiring idol was clearly troubled over it. For the first time since Selene had seen her after her meltdown and suicide attempt, the blonde girl was once again showing hints of emotion, but it certainly wasn't in a good way as the girl appeared to be on the verge of another breakdown. "No, Chris-chan, please... not here..." Selene whispered as she placed an arm around the other girl's shoulders in an attempt to comfort her.

The corporate heiress shook her head as some of the diners turned their heads in their direction; it wasn't really so much of that fact that Chris was just moments away from causing a scene with an uncontrolled outpouring of emotion that made Selene feel uncomfortable with all the onlookers, oh no. It was the fact that they had no business watching. It wasn't like they could really understand what Chris was going through, nor would they want to know beyond treating the whole scene like some kind of morbid drama.

And as such, when one of the café staff approached the two girls asking Selene if her friend needed an ambulance the corporate heiress merely shook her head as she rose from the table. "Oh, it's all right, I have this under control, thank you," the corporate heiress remarked as she moved to try to help Chris up. "Is it okay if I change my orders to take away instead?" the corporate heiress asked, having initially ordered for a dine-in, but seeing it wouldn't be convenient to remain here opted to switch to take away instead, to which the staff nodded and went over to inform the kitchen.

"I don't mean to trouble you this way, Chris-chan," Selene apologized, before sending a text message over her phone to her bodyguard detail to arrange for a Frostfire transport to arrive at the pick-up/drop-off point to pick them both up, as Selene prepared to cut short their shopping hangout to take Chris back to their dorms.
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Yosuke

Chris almost fell out of her chair at the physical contact, but managed to stay "calm" long enough until Selene finally managed to get her out of there. It was clear that Chris was only physically fine...she had a lot of inner demons and a lot of problems that couldn't be solved so easily. It was partly why she had caretakers when she went out...this wasn't the first time this happened, from the looks of it...

"It's...my fault..."

For now, it was best that she get away from crowds and get some rest. Trying to get more out of her in this state...was probably dangerous.
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