Shin Megami Tensei Persona: Dissonant Strain (Private RP)

[ShadowFolk]

Kumiko thought that it might be a little ridiculous to buy an entirely new outfit just to meet up by some train tracks for a meet up. She thought that for probably three seconds and the idea was tossed out of her mind when her eyes locked on what was possibly the cutest pair of brown, stiletto, fox fur boots equipped with furry pom-poms. She released an excited, girlish squeak before she could stop herself from pressing herself against the window that separated her from the newest 'most important thing in her life'. "I...HAVE to have them! Ooooh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Daddy!" Kumiko was happier than ever for her card. It was time to shop and she just found the basis for her new ensemble.

-----

Akinari kicked off his shoes at the threshold of his room and dropped his bag. He changed into his comfortable clothes and sat down in front of his laptop. His mother and father were only able to talk to him at a very specific time, at least for elongated periods. The poor boy was just itching to tell them that he'd made a new friend, so he'd just have to settle for an excited e-mail.
When that was all done, he checked his phone for any missed messages from the only people who ever call him (family). Nothing new there. So, he pushed his bangs back into a headband, plopped some books down on his bed, and dove into his homework.

 

[Cinnonym]

Isoroku: You fail miserably in your attempts to steal data. Perhaps your data-fetching skills are not as sharp as you remember. You have a close run-in with a third year who's checking the rooms for cleaning; he regards you with suspicion and tells you you'd better either grab a rag or vacate the building.

Kumiko: As you fawn over the masterpiece footwear, two girls sharing the same school uniform as you stand nearby, eyes locked on a large, full-color poster on the shop's window. A glamorous girl in a chic pose advertises that Okunote Cosmetics company is auditioning for models for their new make-up line. Successful try-outs get a year's supply of the product, and keep all outfits from the photo shoots. A website and phone number are listed.

"Make-up modeling! I could do that! Everyone says I look like a pop star!"

"No way! How many spots are open?! Quick, write down the number!"

Yukimura: The cram school is full of familiar faces; some fellow Akaito students as well as girls and boys from other schools that attended over the summer with you. As you prepare for the lesson, someone approaches and stands at a polite distance from your elbow.

"Yamada. I'm happy to see you." Hikaru smiles at you, patting the seat beside you, "May I sit here?"

 

[duckflesh]

Isoroku briefly considered listing for the third year all the things he'd rather have intercourse with than help clean the school, but instead he nodded and left the room.

He headed through the halls, thinking gloomily of how dire his situation was. His previous access to the school's system had been attained almost entirely through luck-- he did not have the means to replicate the feat now. He was vaguely aware that devices existed that could be plugged into the backs of computers to keep track of all the keystrokes made by the user. That would be worth its weight in gold to him right now... but where would one attain such a thing?

He spotted someone wandering the halls up ahead of him, and recognized Kojiro, who had managed to grab at least a little bit of his attention in class. He quickened his pace until he caught up.

"Are you seriously going on a date with Mizushima?" he asked, voice dripping with condescension.

 

[PresqueVu]

Yamada looks up, a bit startled at being addressed and gives her a small smile. "Of course. It'd be a pleasure, Seiya Sempai. It's very nice to see you too."

He tried to come up with something to say to her, but wasn't sure just what was not too invasive, but interesting enough. He closed his book so it wouldn't seem like he was paying attention to anything else but her. "How was your first day back to classes?"

 

[Rosen2012]

Kojiro turned to face Yoshida. He was surprised he was talking to him. Darn, plenty of people that normally looked through him were talking to him today. Although he was guilty of looking through Yosida, up until recently. Suddenly skyrocketing from the bottom of the barrel to the star of the class was no small feat. Kojiro's own grades weren't bad, he couldn't let them be he'd get kicked out, but still he had always been much better than Yoshida.

And now here he was, talking to him, why? He almost seems upset about the Mizushima thing...Did he like her?

"Why, Yoshida? You want to go out with her?"

 

[duckflesh]

A look of shock crossed Isoroku's face for a moment. "What!? No!"

He frowned. He wondered whether he should attempt mockery again, but decided that it was probably just going to have the same effect as before. Anyway, Kojiro had always seemed rather brooding, and Isoroku could get to like someone like that.

"No. I guess I was more saying that I don't understand why anyone would want to."

 

[ShadowFolk]

"Hm?" she peeled her eyes away from her new love interest to take a look at the poster. 'Make-up modeling? Oooh, and it comes with so many perks!', she glanced over her shoulder to get a good look at the girls who had the same idea. 'Oh I can SO take them.' she flipped open her heavily decorated cell phone and punched in the number. Kumiko made sure to make a memo of the information. Feeling satisfied, she walked into the store grabbed the shoes and a few earth toned articles of clothing, and rushed back to the dormitory.

Arriving at her room, she got online and checked out the website.

----

Now that his homework was out of the way, he popped back onto his laptop in search of new ideas for lunch. He was determined to one up himself with food. But as nothing was jumping off of the page he let his mind wander and it dug a little to find the dream that had woken him this morning. Akinari began to look up 'dream meanings' to see if he could make any sense of it.

 

[Rosen2012]

Kojiro almost laughed at Yoshida's response. He shook his head.

"Well, honestly...it was an accident." He shrugged. "But she gets bored fast, so this will be the only time hopefully." He paused for a moment. Despite rarely talking to Yoshida he had heard rumors the boy was quite apt at getting info, usually from being on his computer too much. But still, maybe he knew something.

"Hey, Yoshida, do you know anything about this rumor going around? About a train?"

 

[Cinnonym]

She gave a dramatic sigh, dropping into the seat, "Oh, it's so busy... I had to coordinate the first years' orientation alone, and, well, you saw how it was handing out schedules... And club rush, too! I always join too many things..." Hikaru's smile brightens, shoulders back, "But that's just habit, I guess. Oh, and I filed your proposal for Sojutsu again, I'm really interested to see your competitions." Distractedly, she speaks while digging her textbooks out of her bag, preparing her notes and writing utensils around her with much organization.

 

[duckflesh]

Isoroku laughed incredulously. An accidental date! Maybe it'd end up taking Mizushima down a few pegs. He listened to Kojiro's next question.

"A train..."

Isoroku recalled something black and viscous wrapping around him. He shuddered and forced the memory away.

"Hrmm. A bunch of kids got hit by a train or something recently, isn't that right? Is that what everyone was talking about during lunch today? I was... busy."

 

[PresqueVu]

He didn't mind her being distracted where usually he would. "Yes. They seemed to be a pretty rowdy bunch..." He trailed off, somewhat annoyed at remembering the scene and lunch. "Even at lunch the students seemed to be...uncontrollable."

He glanced at the others students briefly, then to the girl next to him again. "Most of it was shouting and rumors. I thought we'd have at least two days before that began again."

It was then he remembered the rest of what she'd said, getting over his initial agitation with the other students. "I appreciate your hard work. Thank you very much. I can only hope we have more dedicated students to keep them interesting."

 

[Rosen2012]

Kojiro nodded, totally unaware of how uncomfortable his conversation was making Yoshida. "Yeah, some kids went to check out the rumor about a ghost train. Apparently they got hurt...but uh, I was trying to figure out anything else about it. It's where Mizushima and I are going." He rubbed the side of his head. "Really I didn't want her to go, but she seems to take me telling her no as code for telling her 'yes'."

 

[Cinnonym]

"Oh, that rumor..." Hikaru pulled her books toward her and flipped them open to the current chapter. She no longer made eye contact, seeming uncomfortable with the topic. "Well, I'm very glad that you don't pay attention to those kinds of things, Yamada-kun." Within moments, the instructor enters and begins the lesson.

 

[PresqueVu]

Yamada was a bit surprised at her reaction, but appreciated the sentiment of it, and went to tunnel-vision class mode again, paying complete attention to everything the teacher said. He did, very occasionally, glance over at his upperclassman to see how she was handling the lesson.

When the teacher began going over some of the curriculum that he was already very familiar with he found his mind wandering to that rumor again, and wondered how things that far-fetched even got started and why something so unbelievable would cause Seiya Sempai to make such a face.

 

[Cinnonym]

Kumiko: The Okunote website is quite graphically advanced. Glittering petals drift across the home page, settling in the corner while the company logo and text come into view. According to the public relations page, this company is a branch of a larger conglomerate and sells cosmetics containing the finest minerals and richest colors, available since only last month. After perusing the online shops, you find the area of the site dedicated to their model search. It asserts the same information as the poster and requests that interested young women please meet at their corporate headquarters downtown on Saturday afternoon with a small portfolio.

Akinari: You research dream interpretation with comprehensive results. A railway, it says, represents a fixed routine in one's life that may become uprooted and thrown off track. Unknown men likewise indicate a coming change or disruption, though a mysterious woman represents emotional clarity and epiphany. You begin to think your dream was actually a very good omen for some important change in your life! Curious, you find yourself hovering the mouse over the word "MONSTER" on the website... You aren't sure you need to look.

--------

Hikaru is solemn and determined when the situation calls for it--she diligently takes her notes and completes the sample problems with ease. Her grip on her pencil is unnecessarily tight.

During your quiet reverie, the teacher asks you to please define variable 'a' in the equation.

 

[PresqueVu]

Yamada's eyes went slightly wide when he realized he'd, for once, become distracted. He stood straight up, and answered the teacher's question flawlessly, then sits down again, trying to concentrate on his lesson again, disappointed the day had turned out this way. He worried for the female student, but didn't want to say anything, afraid he'd offend her by saying something about it. He wondered if he should try anyway, to say something after class, but still wasn't sure it was a very good idea.

He'd had more interactions with Seiya than he'd had with most other students, and had rarely seen her anything but content or somewhat dazed. This tension was not something he'd have expected.

 

[ShadowFolk]

She fished out her phone once more and hit speed dial to reach her father. Scarcely were the words 'I need a portfolio.' out of her mouth before Ryuutaro responded with 'Anything for you, sweetie.' and like that, her competitive spirit lit up. She set up an appointment at a studio for tomorrow evening.

----

He hovered about the word monster for a full five minutes. Akinari was torn between finding out what the meaning of a monster could be and remaining blissfully ignorant to it. He of course chickened out of it, deciding to go back to looking up more recipes. But the word monster keep flashing at him everywhere. The back of his head, the names of drinks, 'cute monster' food. Reluctantly, he went back at clicked on the very word he tried to avoid.

 

[duckflesh]

Isoroku snorted. "Ah, that ridiculous wish-granting business. It's amazing, what people in this school will believe."

He considered briefly.

"That Mizushima... she's really something. You'll need to send a pretty clear message if you want to get rid of her. Talk about people other than her all night, maybe? Or better yet, bring someone else with you! God, I'd pay to see the look on her face."

 

[Cinnonym]

Akinari: The dream interpretation website relates to you that a "monster" appearing in your subconscious is a sign of some aspect of yourself going disastrously out of control. Your initial solace evaporates.

----

The instructor's lesson comes to a close. Hikaru lingers in her seat to scribble down the conclusion to her notes and try out a couple more problems; afterwards, she gathers up her things into her book bag and stands, smoothing out her skirt, "That was almost easier than regular classes, huh...? Well. I'll see you tomorrow. Please tell your family I said hello." She gives a rather conservative smile and heads out to the street.

 

[PresqueVu]

For the briefest of moments he considered following her, than decided just as quickly against if. He lowered his head just a bit, gathered his things and headed off to go and train. He could use something to clear his head, and was fairly certain that sojutsu was just the thing for it. It was already getting late, but he was sure he was going to be up for quite a while between being in the dojo and then studying, wanting to be prepared for the entire week. He did his best to push the rumors and Seiya's reactions from his mind.