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Post by Shizuka Nakano on Apr 10, 2009 1:21:03 GMT -5
[ooc: for Aki and-- anyone else, but Aki gets to post first /o/]
It wasn't worth it. It really wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth the time, or the money-- especially the money.
Shizuka kept telling herself the same thing, but every time she was sure she'd convinced herself to step away, her eyes would be drawn to the capsule machine and surely-- surely she'd be able to turn the dials! They were easier to turn when it rained, but then the prize would inevitably get stuck, and she always lost the nerve to ask the shop owner to help her.
It had to be because she wasn't strong enough. Everyone else could probably crank the old dials with ease, and yet here she was, being thwarted by a piece of machinery that was probably older than her parents. What kind of big sister would she be if she couldn't even return with the pinwheel that Hideo had always wanted? He was depending on her!
"... Come on," she growled, almost tempted to kick the machine in her frustration. "You are not going to swallow 800 yen and get away with it!!"
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Aki Himura
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Sugar-High Sweet-Heart
Posts: 22
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Post by Aki Himura on Apr 10, 2009 1:42:36 GMT -5
Aki stepped out of Shiroku, eagerly unwrapping the snack bar she had just bought as she balanced her sketchpad and stuffed frog under one arm. She decided that, after a good day of sketching nothing in particular, she deserved a reward. Then again, it would probably be much easier to handle what she was doing if she put some stuff down first. And so, the girl dropped down into a crouch on the lowest stair, carefully dropping the sketchpad and frog onto the ground before returning her attention to the snack.
But it was quickly pulled away by a small girl losing a fight with the capsule machine. Without saying anything, Aki picked up her camera and flicked off the cover. She stuck the snack bar into her mouth and held her camera up to her face, looking at the girl through the lens.
"You know," she finally said, adjusting the focus for a moment. "Sometimes it works if you kick it once or twice. But don't let the lady inside know or she'll get mad." Aki pressed the button and the shutter snapped in response. With a grin around the snack bar, she lowered the camera. "Or maybe a few good whacks would do the trick. They get rusted all the time."
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Post by Shizuka Nakano on Apr 10, 2009 10:37:26 GMT -5
"Eh--" As bad timing came through for her yet again, Shizuka turned in the direction of the voice, and had just enough time to look both flustered and confused before the shutter snapped and captured the expression for all of eternity.
She stood there for awhile, debating between asking why this absolute stranger was going around taking pictures of equally-unknown people or following her advice and just smacking the machine a few times. Either option could be misconstrued as rude (or destructive in the latter case), and she glanced about her, desperately searching for a way out of the awkward situation she'd just landed in.
"Oh! Is that your frog? It's so cute!"
And just like that, all embarrassment was gone.
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Aki Himura
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Sugar-High Sweet-Heart
Posts: 22
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Post by Aki Himura on Apr 10, 2009 15:20:24 GMT -5
Aki's attention had already shifted from the girl she had been talking to when a cat across the street caught her eye. Shifting around on the stair and bringing her camera back up to her face, she missed the distressed expression that she had caused. "Kitty kitty kitty~" she cooed, zooming in on the tabby and managing to snap a shot before a passing biker scared it off. Aki's eyes immediately began to search for a new subject when the girl next to her started talking.
"Frog? Oh, yeah!" She let the camera rest against her chest as she reached back for the stuffed frog. "His name is Alexander." Her fingers made the frog wriggle about for a second before she held out one of it's hands towards the girl. "I've had him for way too long, though, so he's a little raggedy. But still always the gentleman!" She made the stuffed frog pantomime taking off a hat and bowing.
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Post by Shizuka Nakano on Apr 10, 2009 16:12:26 GMT -5
"You can tell he's loved." Shizuka, ever one to oblige common courtesy, bowed politely in return and bestowed the frog with a pat on the head. She would be far too embarrassed to tow around one of her own stuffed animals, but it was admirable that this girl had no problems with it. In fact, she seemed proud of her little froggy friend. And why wouldn't she? He was adorable-- oh right, the machine.
Giving the dial a discreet (she hoped) yank, she looked over at the girl, deciding she could venture forth a question.
"You're into photography?" No, Shizuka, she just carries around a camera as a fashion statement. Just like that stopwatch of yours.
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Aki Himura
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Sugar-High Sweet-Heart
Posts: 22
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Post by Aki Himura on Apr 14, 2009 14:12:30 GMT -5
The girl settled the frog into a sitting position on her lap (even though he slouched to the side once she released her grip on him) and picked her camera back up. "I'm in the art and photography club on campus. There's only a few other students in the club, but we still get a lot of use helping out other clubs!" Aki began to scroll back through her pictures, then hesitated and looked up at the stranger with a curious expression.
"You don't go to Yasogami, do you?" she asked, tilting her head to the side and giving a grin. It might have been a Sunday, so neither of them were wearing their school uniforms, but Aki had made of point of trying to at least know as many of the students on campus by face as she could. And she certainly didn't remember this other girl. "I'm Aki Himura!" She held out her hand. "Second year at Yasogami. I guess that means you go to that Prep school, right?"
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Post by Shizuka Nakano on Apr 14, 2009 14:37:53 GMT -5
As one who did more observing than anything, she could appreciate the other girl's accurate guess. Bonus points were, of course, added for not giving her a label like "midget" or "elementary", and Shizuka happily took the hand and shook it.
"That's right! I'm Shizuka Nakano, second year. It's nice to meet you..." She trailed off, doing the usual headtilt of consideration. They had to be close to the same age, and this girl didn't look as though she'd mind a friendly honorific. "Aki-chan," she decided. "Come to think of it, I've been meeting a lot of Yasogami students lately... it sounds like it's a school with a lot of interesting people!"
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Aki Himura
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Sugar-High Sweet-Heart
Posts: 22
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Post by Aki Himura on Apr 15, 2009 16:15:03 GMT -5
Aki's grin brightened at the nickname and returned the handshake with enthusiasm. "Shi-chan, then?" she asked, and then laughed. She never got to meet students from the prep school very often, and so it made her very excited to get to chat with this girl. "You've been meeting a lot of Yaso kids...?" Aki hmm'ed and put a hand to her mouth in thought.
"Ah, I see!!" she shouted suddenly, hitting one hand into the palm of the other. "Zuki-chii said something about the prep school. Then you must be one of those... whatsits. TV-Justice-Fighters or... Ahhhh what was it again...?" She shifted her hand to tap against her forehead, a habit she developed when trying to remember something. "Per... Per...Persacoms? No, wait that wasn't it. Oh--Persona! That's what it was." Aki nodded and crossed her arms over her chest with a feeling of victory. Because if it wasn't for those, she figured that there was very little chance for Inoue Prep school students to be mingling with Yasogami students.
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Post by Shizuka Nakano on Apr 15, 2009 17:18:58 GMT -5
The sudden increase in volume level made Shizuka jump slightly, but it was Aki's next words that had her heart skidding to a halt, performing a backflip, and making a valiant effort to start itself again. This girl knew about Persona? And not only that, but about the television and...
"I-it's not really justice-fighting," she stammered, belatedly remembering they were out in public and lowering her voice. "I-I mean, I guess it is, but that's more Senpai and the others, I'm just there for support, really, um..."
An amused note in the back of her mind had her flushing even darker. She really had to wonder just how someone like her had gotten such a regal Persona, but Melete hadn't seemed to mind.
"... You really do know a lot about it." After she was certain that something stupid wasn't going to fly out the next time she opened her mouth, Shizuka heaved a sigh and leaned against the capsule machine. "Are you a member of that team, too?"
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Aki Himura
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Sugar-High Sweet-Heart
Posts: 22
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Post by Aki Himura on Apr 16, 2009 1:00:33 GMT -5
"Ehhh I can't really say I know a lot about it..." Aki looked down, and noticed her snack laying on top of her sketch pad. Brightening for a moment, she reached back for it and began to munch on it again. At Shizuka's question, she gave a small smile and shook her head. "I don't have one," the girl explained lightly. "But my best friend had been kidnapped a month ago and well... He tried to keep the Persona thing a secret--Souji-kun, too--but... Zuki-chii isn't very good at keeping secrets from me."
Aki laughed, pushing her bangs out of the way and scratching her forehead. "Sometimes I wish I did... just so I could feel like I knew everyone a little better... I mean, I know about it and stuff, and so it does put me a little at odds with the others." She gave a one-armed shrug. "But what about you? There seems to be a lot of people who can use it popping up lately."
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Post by Shizuka Nakano on Apr 16, 2009 1:34:16 GMT -5
"I can use it, too," Shizuka admitted, and felt the presence again. The nudge this time was more comforting, almost like a motherly touch. "But I'm kind of like your friend. I was also kidnapped around that same time..." A small smile lit up her eyes, even as she sighed. "I really thought I was going to die, and I had no idea what was going on, and I really thought I'd lost it when I saw our student council president. He was a lot better at keeping secrets from me, since I didn't have a clue that he knew about all of this, and..." A shrug. "I wouldn't want to put anyone through that whole experience, but I'm glad I can do something about it now."
The girl tipped her head back, taking in the clouded sky. "Even if you're not a user, I think it's a good thing that you know. You can be there when your friends just need someone to talk to, and I bet that friend of yours is glad that not only can he speak with you about it, but that you're safe. As for getting to know everyone better, well..." She laughed now, quietly. "There's tons of ways you could do that without having to throw yourself into a TV. It's probably easier to just give them a bit of a normal life!"
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Aki Himura
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Sugar-High Sweet-Heart
Posts: 22
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Post by Aki Himura on Apr 26, 2009 22:07:17 GMT -5
"I guess I'm scatter brained enough that having another voice in my head would just throw me for a loop," Aki joked, bundling up the wrapper to her snack bar and dunking it into the trashcan next to her. "But I think that's really awesome that you all have something like that. It's something that you would expect to find in like... a video game or an anime or something like that." She tilted her head to the side. "It's got all the requirements of one, you know? Sleepy little town where nothing happens, sudden transfer student and BAM!" Aki clapped her hands together. "That's when it all starts! The plot is afoot! Ahaha now I feel like a detective like Naoto-kun."
The girl settled into a sitting position on the stair, kicking out her legs and studying her doodled shoes. "And I suppose it's always good to have someone with a bit of normality around in this situation. Or well, as normal as I can be--which isn't that normal. But still. Saying that Zuki-chii needs me as a voice of reason is really saying something, but it's not something that I mind." She looked up at Shizuka and grinned. "I bet your Senpai felt the same way about having you as something stable instead of something 'Persona-y'. Well... before you got thrown into the TV and roped in to all the mess."
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Post by Shizuka Nakano on Apr 28, 2009 15:22:47 GMT -5
Oh, if only you knew... Luckily for Shizuka, she'd had considerable practice in schooling her expression, so that her face gave away nothing of her thoughts. Aki's breezy words had brought up memories of the time she had awakened her Persona almost a month ago-- and being thrown for a loop when it happened would have been putting it extremely lightly. The strong voice echoing in the very depths of her mind had provoked a response so startling that she'd had to keep from yelping out loud and/or falling over. But to be honest, Shizuka didn't know what had surprised her more: that there was now a voice in her head, or that the voice in her head felt... natural, as if it had meant to be there all long.
Much to her relief, Melete didn't speak to her much outside of battle, save for the occasional surge of emotion in regards to a conversation or situation. With how easy she was to read, the last thing Shizuka wanted was to have people asking her why she was talking to herself or grimacing for no apparent reason.
"I don't think that's it," she demurred with a laugh, turning to her new friend while still reclining against the capsule machine. "Even before that whole mess, I don't think you could call me normal by any means. I must have driven Senpai crazy, especially considering the kind of person he is... but you're definitely right about the anime thing. I keep expecting people to start sparkling or background music to start playing, or some evil villain rising from the shadows and sprouting fangs to claim more victims."
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Aki Himura
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Sugar-High Sweet-Heart
Posts: 22
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Post by Aki Himura on May 21, 2009 18:27:26 GMT -5
"Well, I'd be a little more concerned if someone started sprouting fangs. I guess I can't get away with saying "that's totally not logical" because it's not liking going into a TV world is logical... But vampires probably don't fit in too well with this story..." Aki shook her head, tapping her feet together absently. "But I do like the background theme music idea. I wonder if we can get away with costume changes and secret identities?" She was obviously enjoying this way too much, already trying to visualise a comic out of it all.
"I'm sure your Senpai wouldn't mind so much. Probably after getting a Persona thing all of your own, no matter how weird someone else was, it would be nice to have them around. So he couldn't have cared much, even if you might have driven him crazy?" Aki shrugged, cracking a lopsided grin. "Whatever the case may be, I think I'm one of the few people that know about this Persona fiasco and don't actually have one. I'll be like the crazy little reporter that follows you all around and records it all for posterity's sake."
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