The almighty persona play thread

Evan doesn't notice for a few moments, almost just walking past before he pauses, staring.  Was that a kid?  How'd he get over there?  He glanced around.  No sign of anyone.  No bullies.  No friends egging him on to do something stupid.

He wasn't... it was none of his business, but... He had to at least ask...

"...Hey, what are you doing over there-" he stops, as the freshman reacts to his presence.  Did he recognize Evan somehow?  Or did he just not expect to see anyone?  And for that matter, why hadn't anyone else noticed him?  "Hey, wait a moment..." he says, taking a step forward.

"D-Don't come any closer!" The Freshnem shouts, sweat visibly pouring down his face. Though obviously panicking, the boy seemed to be well aware of what he's doing.

"I can't take it anymore, those glares, seeing those bodies hanging like they were!" The boy shouts as he turns to jump. "Don't you dare stop me!" the boy shouts as he begins to let go of the railing.

Evan blinks, shocked, and rushes forward before thinking.  "W-wait, don't!  Hold on a second!" he says, running forward, knowing full well he couldn't possibly get past the fence in time to do anything.  At least, just... maybe he could buy time, maybe, long enough to think of a solution, even if he wasn't sure if it was already too late to do anything... "At least tell me why!" he shouts, desperately wishing to slow time for just one moment.

Almost as if his wish had been granted, time seemed to slow to almost molasses. The boy was slowly turning back towards the gap and falling off, when suddenly something pushed him back to the fence. Evan couldn't be certain, but he could have sworn that someone was floating over the gap.

As he reached the fence and pulled the kid over it, he looked back to see what looked like a person in white wearing a robe floating above the gap, smiling at him, before vanishing. Evan didn't give his mind time to worry as he checked the boy who was now unconscious, a lump forming on his head from where his skull met the metal railing.

The boy continued to mumble something about glares and bodies, but Evan wasn't paying attention. Instead, he leaned the boy up to the railing and had a nearby student who had just left one of the dorms go get the nurse.

What the hell was, no, he corrected himself, is going on here?!

Lance grasped his head for a split second, the voice reverberating through his mind and leaving him slightly breathless. Just what the hell was that? It reminded him of that night in the shrine, but he already went through that whole mess... what just happened? Wordlessly, pensively he walked out of the room and through the hallways proper to his classroom when an odd thought crossed his mind. He'd always used his persona in the Nightfall World... but could he use it out here in the real world? He couldn't possibly perform this test in so public a place. He would have to wait until after class or when he could find a decent enough secluded place to give it a shot. He also mentally attempted to check the day trying to make sure he didn't have some club or another that he would need to attend to keep his place. He knew that drama club was currently out of the question, but that did leave swimming and after-school archery practice...

As Lance continued to walk down the hallway, he began to pass the notice board, and took a mental note that archery was MonWedFri and Swimming was TuesThursFri. Quickly pulling out his phone, he noticed that it was september 29th, a tuesday.

He also realized he had about 10 minutes to get his ass to the classroom before the bell rang...

Aiden was on his way to class for the day, and mostly thinking about what has been going on lately, trying to piece things together.

"Why did they take Hikaru, the hell was with that dragon and since when could shadows reason like that? And what the hell is up with this place and clocks?"

Unfortunately he ran into someone he'd rather not deal with.
"Hey there shitwipe, back again for another eye to match the last one you pussy?"
Aiden glared at the guy from a few days ago. "Can't you leave this for another time? I've got enough crap to deal with already"
-snrk- "You're just another one of the pansies around here, no one has any balls around here but me." he replied.
The bully started to walk away past Aiden and left a parting remark "I'm feeling generous today, I won't hit you again, I'm feeling sorry for you"

Aiden started to turn as he passed. He thought: "I'll give you something to be sor-". Aiden took a deep breath and stopped himself "I refuse to let someone like that get my angry like this, getting angry is what made me move to this school instead of being with my old friends."

From how he was walking, most people thought it might be a good idea to give Aiden a wide berth for a while.

Evan monitors the boy until the nurse arrives, all the while listening to the insane mumbling.  He thought back, trying to remember more details about the white-clad figure.  The mysterious floating being... This person's mumbling, and his strange actions... It could only be more of this insane supernatural stuff.  Shadows, and their ilk.  All of this could be desperately important.  He should stop and memorize it, bring it to the rest of the group's attention... Maybe this was the key to cracking this puzzle.

Yeah, right.

All these mysteries and bullshit phantasms just popping out of the woodwork, and not a single thing made sense!  They'd answered almost no questions about what was going on, or why it was happening;  No matter how much pain they had to go through, or how many times they almost died, it never got better, and they never got any closer to figuring out why it was happening to them.  Why bother even bringing this up, when it was just going to be added to the ever growing pile of unexplained phenomenon?  

He's too busy fuming to even really notice as the nurse carts off the still-mumbling boy.  He kicks a rock off of the sidewalk as he continues the long walk to class.

As the day continues on, classes continue with little problem, though a few students seem slightly on edge. As the bell rings to end the day, students began chatting and putting away their belongings and heading out of the classrooms.

Lance stands from his desk and makes a bee-line over to the gyms, hell bent on getting to swimming practice on time. It had been a while since he'd been able to attend, and he wanted to make sure people knew that he was serious about at least getting his training in. During his trip to the building, however, his mind continued to wander to the idea he had earlier in the day. Would he be able to summon his persona in the real world? He was almost tempted to try it here and now, but knew better than to at worst freak people out and at best make an utter fool of himself. He'd have to try that out behind the dorms later on. He also thought about the recent events and just how much had transpired since he started school here. The people he'd met... the friend he had made... the friends he should make next. He stumbled for a second over his own feet and landed rather unceremoniously on the ground, heaving a sigh of weariness and frustration and pulling himself to his feet. He continued the rest of the way to the gyms in relative silence.

He entered the locker room to seeing a few male members of swim club changing into their swim attire. He noticed the swimming captain for the boy's side, Gregor, standing in the middle of the locker room talking to a pair of other swimmers. After a few moments, Lance noticed that awkwardly Gregor was standing stark in the locker room while talking...

"Hey, Lance, good to see you make it!" Gregor happily stated as he walked over to Lance. Before Lance had a chance to react, Gregor had his hand on Lance's shoulder. "Don't worry, even with all these crazy things happening around school, we got to keep having club and classes to keep focused. Seeing you here definitely shows you agree." Gregor laughed. "Better get changed, we don't have all day!"

Lance's face couldn't be any darker red. He was used to several types of antics in the locker rooms considering his past with other schools' swim teams and other sports, but this was one that he never really got used to. True others had done it, but it was just a bit much for him, all things considered. He kept his mouth shut - better not to start stammering and cause a scene - and nodded tersely as he set his things in the locker and changed into his swimsuit quickly, hoping and praying that other usual developments didn't occur. The temptation continued to mount in his mind until he could no longer stand it, and when he thought he wasn't being watched, glanced down at Gregor...

His eyes bulged for an almost imperceptible second. He turned smoothly back towards the row of lockers and buried his head in his own, allowing his face to take on the shape of a fish out of water. The blush at this point had spread to his shoulders. Maybe this was a mistake, he thought to himself for a moment before shaking his head, making sure not to smack into the inside of his locker. He took a steadying breath, pulled his head from the locker...

And immediately found his eyes at the same level by mistake.

God Damnit. He sighed softly and quickly finished changing, rushing through the doors and diving in to the pool from the side. The slight chill of the water was refreshing, and the sounds echoing through the pool room cleared his thoughts as he started by floating on his back, performing a nearly perfect backstroke.

Hikaru slowly gathered her things and walked out of the hall in an emotionless daze. Glancing down at a sheet in her hand, she was reminded that science club had been cancelled - so that she could... what had Mr. Edogawa said? 'Focus on her real work'? Normally she'd curse at the idea, but... she didn't feel like it. She didn't have the energy to be angry.

Instead, she let out a sigh and turned to head off to the library. Self-guided study was one of the best mental distractions anyways. She'd have probably skipped science club today even if it wasn't shut down. Hopefully she wouldn't bump into anyone she'd have to interact with, let alone any of those assholes she was working with to deal with all this supernatural bullshit happening around this stupid fucking school.

Evan, to all outside appearances, is lost in thought, his nose buried in a book.  In reality, of course, he was silently cursing the fates while reading the same sentence about six times in a row.  He finally shakes himself out of it long enough to continue the paragraph.  He had kinda hoped that studying might get his mind off of it, but he was sorely disappointed.  If he at least knew why this was all happening, it might be a bit better, but...

He shakes his head again, realizing that he had read the first line of the next paragraph seven times in a row.  Honestly, at the very least he was glad for the peace and quiet.  He'd never found that misery likes company all that much:  At least here, there was no one else around to complain about this stupid fucking school and all its supernatural bullshit.

Hikaru gently pushed open the doors to the library... and spotted a familiar face. Fuck. This is... she sighs again. Fucking hell, she thinks, rolling her eyes and grabbing a random book off the shelves before walking over, not bothering to ask before throwing the chair back and taking a seat beside him. If fate wants me to be fuckin' social...

"Hey," she started, cracking open the book. Applied physics. Cool, this might work.

Evan jolts a bit when someone sits down next to him, and only becomes more surprised to find it's Hikaru. He doesn't react, for a moment... And then realizes he's too tired to be worried. "...Hey." he says, returning to his book.

He's silent for a few moments, before glancing over at what she was reading. "I'm kinda surprised, I never expected you to be much for serious studying." he says, biting his tongue on what he thought she might have been reading. He returned to his history textbook, having almost managed a whole three pages since he'd opened the book.

"...uh. There was an... incident this morning." he says, cursing himself as he says it before thinking. Damn it, why did he say that... he had decided to wait until later, he didn't want to deal with this now. "...Someone tried to jump off that cliff near our dorm. They got stopped by..." he pauses, struggling to find something that didn't sound stupid. "...something, all dressed up in white. It didn't look like a Shadow, but it just appeared and disappeared. Whatever it was, it wasn't normal." He looked down at his book again.

He sighed, and looks over at Hikaru. "I guess that's hardly useful information. More mysteries, huh?" he says, turning back again to scowl at his textbook.

Hikaru shrugged. Normally she'd be mad, assumed he meant he thought she was stupid... but... well, we've been over that. "I like knowing how things work," she says absentmindedly, her eyes never leaving the page. She shrugs after his explanation. "Yeah. From that kind of observation it coulda been anything. Angel's the usual guess, but faeries aren't necessarily small. Seelie, dola... hell, was it floating over the cliff edge? Coulda been a sylph or a vila, in that case, even," she shrugged once more.

"More fuckin' mysteries indeed."

Evan stops reading, staring at her as she starts listing off names. "How'd you learn so much about this sort of thing?" He paused, trying to remember in more detail. "It was definitely floating, yeah. All I know is that I think they were wearing a white robe, they vanished too fast to actually get a good look." He sighs. "I guess it's nice that there's at least one freaky supernatural thing that doesn't seem to have it out for us."

Hikaru sighs, setting down the book, putting her elbows on the table and rubbing her face. "I told you, I like knowing how things work," she muttered, holding her temples. She's silent for a moment, then she reaches into her tote bag, slapping the book she found in her locker onto the table in front of them. "Y'know how you fuckers haven't been bothered by that oversized black shitstain today?" she said, a hint of bitterness finding its way into her dead voice, doing fairly well with pushing the tears down. She glances at him from the corner of her eye, then with a loud sniffle, slams her hands on the table, picking up the book once more and violently shoving her nose back into it.

Evan's eyes widen as she pulls out the book, about to make a snarky comment before he notices the note on the cover.  He's silent for a moment, thinking.

Yurt's gone, now?  It couldn't be some sort of cruel prank, could it?  He wasn't sure if he could remember Hikaru ever looking like this....

...What should he feel about it?  What could he feel, after all that had happened?  What could he possibly do when even the most uselessly irreverent member of their little group had left them?

He stays silent, eventually reaching a hand up and resting it on Hikaru's shoulder, before returning to his own book, resting it on the desk and paging through with one hand.

Hikaru reaches over, gripping his hand tightly, a couple tears leaking out before she manages to steady herself, curling up into herself and resting the book on her knees. She continues to read silently until Evan decides to head back to the dorms, at which point she follows wordlessly, eyes buried into the ground now instead of a book.

Evan nods, not saying a word either as they both work on their respective studies, eventually packing up his things and heading back to the dorm with Hikaru, making sure she takes her book with her before she leaves.

Thankfully for Lance, club went with no incident and, more importantly, no more awkward situations. Lance changed back into his normal attire, talking with a few of his nearby teammates. In a break of the conversation, Lance hears another groups talking about a ghost near the main campus bridge.

"Ya, rumor has it the ghost is of a student who threw herself off the cliff when her boyfriend died in an accident."

"Nah, man, I heard the ghost is a teacher who taught here for years, but died before he could retire, so he haunts the campus making sure students behave themselves..."

Before Lance could hear anymore, the group left the locker room. So he decided to finish getting dressed and left the sports building, just in time to see Evan and Hikaru leaving the main building.

Meanwhile...

Aiden sighed as he woke up. He looked around and noticed he was surrounded by books. He must have fallen asleep in the library. He had come in after class to grab a book about myths and such, but must have fallen asleep here in this corner of the library. It was isolated enough that no one would find him if they weren't really looking, but then again, its a library...

As Aiden got up and left, he saw the punk from earlier in the hallway ahead of him. He began to turn to take the staircase when he suddenly thought he heard a loud smack and a tumbling of someone falling down stairs. He looked behind him, and didn't see anything, so he ran to the other staircase to see what the commotion was. He was disgusted by what he found.

It was a mannequin with a note on the torso saying, "you might be next!". Aiden ripped off the note, tore it to shreds and began to leave the building. Some people at this school are more messed up than he thought...

----

As the group manages to meet in the middle of the main campus, they begin to talk about their day...

Lance stepped out of the gymnasiums of the campus, blinking a little bit with his hair still wet from the showers. He mulled his thoughts around, in particular about that ghost that the others were talking about. He wished he had been able to hear more about it - whether or not he believed in half of the things he had been subjected to at this point was inconsequential considering his recent experiences. What interested him was the variability of the rumors. One said it was the ghost of a student who committed suicide after her love died in an accident, and another said it was the ghost of a teacher who died of old age. They said that it was 'before he could retire' but the never explicitly stated if the death was on-campus or not. He wondered to himself if that piece of information truly mattered.

The rumination over the rumor was helping to alleviate the more pressing matter on his mind. It was something he had been avoiding thinking about for the entire day so far, distracted as he was with class, his idea... and certain other developments... but even the rumor kept his attention for a limited time only. The flight of fancy drifted away leaving him with that one thought he didn't quite want to tackle just yet. I should tell them about what I spoke to the principal about. He sighed softly, walking down the pathway towards the dormitories and almost missed the fact that not a handful of steps away Evan and Hikaru were walking. He also didn't notice Aiden approaching, and was much more engrossed in calling out to the two ahead of him.

"Hey! Guys!" He picked up his pace to a slight jog to catch up with the two of them, reaching the two faster than he expected. He must have overestimated their walking speed. He was about to say something in a cheery tone when he picked up on the silence that persisted between the two. Hikaru was looking down, and Evan seemed to either be pointedly avoiding speech or contemplating something of his own. Now seemed like a terrible time to bring up much of anything he had heard or done for the day, especially not the personal drama that he had just taken the first step in conquering.

I really need to tell them though... but... now is not the time... it almost looks like they've got enough on their plates right now... Maybe I'll leave them a note sometime? No, that's stupid... I'm just going to have to wait a bit for the right moment. His brain flipped switches back to the idea he had about trying to use a persona outside of the nightfall world. That didn't hold a whole lot of emotional weight, he could probably get away with bringing that up at the very least. It was more than likely that Aiden rejoined the group as well at this point, maybe even sooner than that, but Lance paid little attention. It wasn't intentional in the least. He continued to follow along with Evan and Hikaru and cleared his throat softly.

"Um... S-so... I had an idea. As far as I recall we've only really ever been able to summon our personas around Shadows... I sort of wonder if we could summon them without those things around?" If he had been paying attention he might have noticed his lack of usual coldness or assurance in the tone of his voice. The events of the day likely had more of an effect on him than he would notice.